Flareguns: Another guide from a pyro for the masses

So you've decided to play pyro. But now you've found something - a replacement for the shotgun! What the heck is this? How do I use it effectively? What situations will it be useful in, and what situations am I best off using a shotgun?

This guide aims to introduce all of the different flare guns in TF2 to players new to the class, and how to get the most out of your flaregun of choice.

Flaregun basics

The flare gun provides the pyro with the ability to ignite foes at long range, ideal for lighting snipers and fleeing targets. Each flare gun differs slightly in it's role and effectiveness in certain situations, and I will go more in-depth in each individual flare gun's section. however, all the flare guns share some common traits, listed bellow.

• Firstly, they all fire a single projectile before having to reload. This is actually more akin to how the sniper rifle doesn't actually reload, but rather has a timed interval between attacks.
  
• All flare guns have a passive reload. What does this mean exactly? Once fired, you can switch your flare gun with your flamethrower or melee weapon and it will still reload, even if not your active weapon. This means you can fire, switch to the flamethrower and burn something, then switch back and be ready to fire the flare gun again
  
• All flare guns deal fire damage and apply afterburn to their target, allowing for the ignition of long-range targets
  
• All flare guns fire an arcing, team-colored projectile
  
• All flare guns preform a kill taunt, detailed bellow

Now that that's out of the way, on to the individual flare guns themselves!

The Flare Gun

The basic flare gun fires a team-colored projectile at roughly 1450 hammer units per second, and has a steady vertical arc. Effectively, this means that you should aim higher above the enemies head the farther they are away from you. This slow-moving projectile also means that if the enemy is moving, you should lead your shot so it will hit them when the flare reaches where you think they're going to be. This can be tricky, but with a little practice you should be hitting moving targets in no time!

One of the distinct features of the flare gun is that the projectile does very little damage, but when it hits a burning target it will always hit for 90 damage. This allows you to quickly damage fleeing targets, and in many cases will outright kill your enemy. A common strategy used by many pyro's is to ignite them with your flamethrower, then quickly switch to the flaregun to instantly deal 90 damage to finish the job.

Statistics you need to know:

• Damage: 30
  
• Mini-crit damage: 41
  
• Critical damage: 90
  
• Afterburn Damage: 6 damage a second for 10 seconds (60 damage total)
  
• mini-crit afterburn damage: 8 damage a second for 10 seconds (80 damage total)
  
• Fire rate: 1 shot every 2 seconds

The Detonator

The Detonator functions similarly to the flaregun and can largely be used in the same way, except for some key differences. Most importantly, the flare can be detonated mid-flight by pressing alt-fire (default right mouse button), creating a small explosion that lights everyone in the explosions radius on fire. Because of this explosive ability, it can be used to "flare jump" to places a pyro normally couldn't jump to. It's ideal for lighting enemies who are behind cover on fire, as you can fire it over their cover and then detonate the flare.

However, this flare gun does have some drawbacks. It only mini-crits burning enemies, meaning it's less effective to use on fleeing targets. Secondly, it does self-damage; firing the flare at an enemy right in front of you causes you to take some damage from the small explosion caused (note that this self-damage is also what allows you to flare-jump).

Statistics you need to know:

• Damage: 30
  
• Mini-crit damage: 41
  
• Critical damage: 90
  
• flare detonation damage: 10-20
  
• Afterburn Damage: 6 damage a second for 10 seconds (60 damage total)
  
• mini-crit afterburn damage: 8 damage a second for 10 seconds (80 damage total)
  
• Fire rate: 1 shot every 2 seconds
  
• flare self-damage: 38

Note: Underlined stats are values that differ from those of the flare gun

The Scorch Shot

Now this is where we really start to see some differentiation in the flare guns. The Scorch Shot only deals half the damage of a regular flare gun, so you might be asking yourself: Why would I ever want to use this? Well, the Scorch Shot has some unique aspects of it's own. Firstly, the flare doesn't go out the moment it hit's a target. Instead, if you hit anyone - including members of your own team, it will bounce off, either exploding when it hits another player or any part of the map. (note that it will not damage members of your own team, only bounce off them).

The second thing that makes this flare gun unique is that when it hits a target, it will knock them back in a manner similar to airblast. The strength of this knockback is determined by how far away the pyro was when they fired the flare to the enemy. At long ranges, the flare will knock the enemy back 3 times as much as it would up close. This can be useful for anything from throwing snipers off to getting medics away from their heavy.

The Scorch Shot can also be used to flare-jump, but will not achieve as much height as the Detonator. It should also be noted that the Scorch shot does no receive any form of damage boost when hitting a burning target.

Statistics you need to know:

• Damage: 15
  
• Mini-crit damage: 20
  
• Critical damage: 45
  
• Afterburn Damage: 6 damage a second for 10 seconds (60 damage total)
  
• mini-crit afterburn damage: 8 damage a second for 10 seconds (80 damage total)
  
• Fire rate: 1 shot every 2 seconds
  
• flare self-damage: 10-18

Note: Underlined stats are values that differ from those of the flare gun

The Manmelter

Now we come to our fourth and final flare gun, the Manmelter. It has a 50% higher projectile speed and less of an arc, making it easier to hit targets. Along side this, it also has the ability to extinguish burning teammates by pointing it at them when you are close to your ally and holding alt-fire. Extinguishing a teammate in this manner will give you one instant critical hit the next time you fire the weapon. However, this is the only way to get critical hits with this weapon.

The Manmelter does not require ammo but has a slower attack interval, and no reload animation. Instead, a sound cue will play and a small spark will appear on the end of the weapon when it is ready to be fired again.

I've found this to be ideal for learning the basics of flare guns due to it's ease-of-use. Make no mistake though. Just because I consider this the beginners flare gun doesn't mean It's necessarily the least-skilled or the 'best', but rather that it's qualities can make it easier to get used to.

Statistics you need to know:

• Damage: 30
  
• Mini-crit damage: 41
  
• Critical damage: 90
  
• Afterburn Damage: 6 damage a second for 10 seconds (60 damage total)
  
• mini-crit afterburn damage: 8 damage a second for 10 seconds (80 damage total)
  
• Fire rate: 1 shot every 2.42 seconds

Note: Underlined stats are values that differ from those of the flare gun

Taunt Kills

As per request, I'm going to give a brief overview of the two taunt kills you can preform with the flare guns (and also the pyro's shotgun).

The Hadouken

The Hadouken taunt kill is activated by taunting while using any of the pyro's secondary weapons, excluding the scorch shot. When you do this taunt, the pyro will wind back his hands, concentrate for a moment, and create a blast of fire through sheer power of will. This will instantly kill any foe that isn't ubercharged or a building. While this isn't really practical in combat because it forces you to stand still (thus allowing your enemy to step to the side and kill you) it can be used effectively to humiliate unaware enemies like hardscoping snipers. It can also be used to kill people during humiliation.

The Execution

The Execution kill taunt is only availible by taunting when using the Scorch Shot. The pyro will turn sideways, aim the flaregun (striking a bad ass pose) and fire a single shot in the direction the character was looking when they activated the taunt. If it hits a target in close range, it will deal 400 damage. Otherwise, it will act as a normal flare. The Execution taunt takes slightly longer to perform than the hadouken, making it riskier to use.

Closing notes

Firstly, I'd like to thank you, the reader, for taking the time out of your day to look at my guide. I appreciate it. If you notice anything wrong with the guide, feel free to let me know in the comments. Likewise, any constructive criticism is welcomed.

All statistics and weapon demonstrations pulled from the Official TF2 Wiki.

Please, if you enjoyed this guide feel free to give it a thumbs up (or down, if you really hated it), and check out my other guides:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=121775526
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=244519737
I leave you with a question: What is your favorite flaregun? What strategies do you find yourself using with your favorite flaregun?

Change Log

August/22/2014 - fixed poorly worded section involving ubers and buildings.
March/18/2014 - Detonator section fixed
- Added taunt kill section
March/23/2013 - Typo corrected

[A Shiftry From Pokemon]

The Milestone Flare Gun is my favorite. Jumping high and locking enemies is no match for the satisfaction of a good flare hit.

[domDidom]

Thanks, this was especially useful since I'm choosing a flare gun right now :):):)

[ludicrouslemons]

You're Welcome. :)

[Jingle]

Same thing is happening to me for some reason as well. I'll see about finding some demonstration video's that aren't private. Thanks for letting me know! I appreciate it!

[ludicrouslemons]

I just wanted to let you know that for me the videos are "private". Not sure what they contained... :( Nice guide overall though.

[Jun]

nice guide, manmelter OP, 360 nosescope

[Kirk Kokaine]

Thanks, confused me for a moment when I read it.

[Jingle]

You're right, fixed for clarification.

[Kirk Kokaine]

You should changed "Ubercharged or bulding" to something like "Ubercharged or a building"

[Jingle]

Thanks for that. I appreciate it! :)