My all encompassing Pyro guide. (Outdated for now)

It's been a while, hasn't it? Let's get right into it. Pyro is by far my favorite class, which has led to a lot of mockery from people who don't think too highly of the class. I was reluctant to make a guide on Pyro because I have some rather unpopular opinions about the subject, and nobody seems to stir up controversy in the community the way Pyro seems to.

Nevertheless, it's a subject I know a lot on, and I'd love to help all of you aspiring arsonists be the best Pyromaniacs you can possibly be. So sit back, relax, and we'll go on an adventure full of agony and suffering.

Stats and focus points.

Pyro is designed to be very well rounded as far as stats go. S/he runs at the average speed of a Spy, Sniper, or Engineer (300 Hammer Units per Second). S/he also has the same health as a demoman, which is to say 175, and even a passive immunity to afterburn from other Pyros, or any other source of afterburn. Pyro can do up to 150+ damage per second with just his/her flame thrower. S/he actually has the best speed-to-health ratio in the game. "High damage, good speed, good health? What's not to love!?" A lot, actually, as we'll find out soon enough, pyro has shoddy range, and can be countered all kinds of ways. But we're not the average W+M1 pyro, are we? We won't let that happen to us!

Primary weapons.

Pyro's flamethrowers are NOT necessary his primary source of damage like a Scout or Heavy. It all depends on which secondary s/he's using, what primary weapon s/he's using, and the situation s/he's in.

Stock - Pyro's stock flamethrower does 153.5 damage per second, uses up 10 ammo per second, and inflicts 10 seconds of afterburn, which does 3 damage every half second, doing a total 60 damage. Do note that it has DREADFUL range however. It also has a secondary function called "airblast". Friends, listen. This gust of wind. Will be. Your best friend. EVER. The airblast cost 20 ammo to shoot a gust of air. You can do it every .75 seconds. The airblast has three functions. It can reflect projectiles away from you, and return them to the enemy as minicrits. It can extinguish burning allies, giving you a point, and making your team mates LOVE you. Finally, it can blow enemies away from you. Why you'd want to do that varies. If they're caught in the air, they can't run away, and they're easy to shoot with dangerous secondary weapons. You could blow them into dangerous environments like buzzsaws, or blow them right off a cliff. Finally, if the enemy is uber charged, you can blow them away from your allies, effectively saving the day and wasting the enemy's uber. You may be asking "What can the Pyro reflect?" A better question is "What the Pyro NOT reflect?" Here's a short list: Bullets, Syringe Gun needles, Pomson 6000 lazer beams, and Righteous Bison lazer beams. That's it. Everything else is fair game.

Backburner - The Backburner cannot get random crits, although they don't tell you that for some reason. It also costs 50 ammo instead of 20 to airblast, meaning you can only airblast four times instead of ten before you're out of ammo. The good news is that it does critical damage when you're behind the enemy. Please note that the Backburner is VERY strict about what it considers a back. Where a Knife will consider the entire back half of the enemy to be a back, the Backburner only consider half of that radius to be a back. This weapon gets flak for being a "noob weapon". The thought process behind it is that only bad Pyros don't airblast, and instead opt for running straight at enemies with no sublety and trying to burn everything down, but the logical flaw is that this weapon is no better at thoughtlessly derping forward at the enemy than stock. It requires stealth to actually get behind enemies and burn them down. As for the idea that bad Pyros won't miss the airblast because they tend to not, while that is true, that doesn't mean that only bad Pyros use the weapon. I personally LOVE the Backburner. Contrary to popular belief, it can still airblast. There's nothing more satisfying than killing a soldier with his own rocket with a Backburner. Ammo is easy to come by. Assuming you can kill a soldier by reflecting once or twice, the 100 ammo he'll drop for you will reimburse you. The issue is that mediocre Pyros might airblast incorrectly and need more than 100 ammo to kill a soldier, so I suppose this weapon is only good for beginners who don't plan on airblasting, or skilled Pyros who are efficient with their airblasts.

Phlogistonator - Easily the most hated flamethrower by a long shot, and completely undeserved. The Phlog does 139.5 damage per second, which is 14 less damage per second. That amount is completely unnoticable. 10% more or less of anything except health or speed tends to be a complete joke of a nerf or buff. Do not be fooled. It also does not get random crits, which, unless on a melee weapon, also tends to be a complete joke of a nerf. Now its REAL downside is that it cannot airblast. That's right, a most Pyros' main way of killing enemies, any Pyro's way of saving his/her teammates, and most Pyros' main way of defending his/herself against most classes is out the window. So what could possibly be the good side of this weapon that redeems itself? Well, if you manage to do 225 fire damage, even if it's done with your secondary or melee, you can taunt for 4 seconds, taking 75% less damage, completely refilling your health, and giving you crits with your flamethrower for 10 seconds, but 4 of those seconds are wasted taunting. If you get knocked into the air while taunting, interrupting your taunt, however, you'll get those 4 seconds to keep burning. Do not listen to people who tell you this weapon is OP. If you tactlessly run at people with no sense of stealth just because you have crits, you WILL get shut down easily. I personally cannot use this weapon, I rely far too much on airblast to defend myself. It makes you much less of a combat oriented class and much more of an ambush and sneak attack class, like the spy. If you can be stealthy however, and you're good at positioning, you can make an entire server errupt in rage over your "Stupid OP broken weapon trash".

Degreaser - Mother of god. The Degreaser is the only flamethrower used by Highlander Pyros, and what few sixes Pyros you'd see in Sixes. It has caused a lot of elitist opinions and contempt for all other flamethrowers, claiming all other flamethrowers are for W+M1 noobs. Personally, I feel that the Degreaser simply encourages the same playstyle, but requires you to press Q occasionally, but now I'm ranting. What does the Degreaser do? The Degreaser does 10% less damage, just like the Phlog (remember how we talked about how pathetic that is?), and 25% less afterburn, meaning afterburn does 2 damage every half second, doing a total of 40 damage over 10 seconds. The enormous upside to the Degreaser is 65% faster at switching weapons, allowing you to pull off devastating combos with your secondary or melee weapons, allowing you to do huge amounts of damage. Remember how I mentioned that the Pyro's primary weapons aren't always his/her primary source of damage? This is what I was talking about. Degreaser Pyros rely on their secondary and melee weapons as their main way of bringing the pain, which is fine, but please take note that Degreaser combos aren't ALWAYS the best thing to do. A lot like the Demoman, being a good Pyro is all about knowing when to use what tools in your utility belt. Degreaser combos can do a lot more damage and control than just W+M1ing a single enemy down, but Degreaser combos can only hurt one person at a time. W+M1ing can be devastating against a group. Bright, disorienting flames everywhere, making it hard to see, loud flamethrower noises, all the classes screaming their lines about being on fire, your health draining fast, it can cause a lot of panic and chaos, that a good Pyro can take advantage of, and tear an entire group down. Frankly speaking, as much as I love the Stock flamethrower, and hate Pyros who crutch on the Degreaser, and can't play without it, the Degreaser is pretty much a direct upgrade. 10% less damage is laughable, and less afterburn doesn't matter when you can pull off devastating combos at lightning quick speeds. At the very least the Backburner and Phlog can do something that the Degreaser can't, but the Stock really can't do much that the Degreaser can't also do. HOWEVER. If you're not using a powerful secondary, or melee, then you should probably plan on using your primary a lot. In which case, the Stock is better, even then, only by so much. I use Stock all the time because I'm a filthy, grubby hipster, and I like a challenge.

Secondary weapons.

Pyro's secondary weapon can either be his/her main source of damage, or a very useful supportive tool in his/her toolkit. Or it could also be a useless piece of trash.

Stock - Pyro's stock secondary weapon is his/her shotgun. The shotgun shoots 10 bullets in a cone. Each bullet does at most 9 damage, allowing you to do 90 damage per shot. It has 6 shots in its clip before you have to reload it. Reloading it takes 1 second, but if you reload again immediately after the one second reload, it'll only take half a second. The shotgun is extremely versatile and very deadly. I'd highly reccomend it to beginners.

Flare Gun - The Flare Gun is an achievement weapon. It shoots a flare that flies quickly and has a slight arc when it travels. Once it hits the enemy, it does 30 damage, and inflicts afterburn. If the enemy is already on fire, not only will it reset the afterburn time left, and it will crit, doing 90 damage instead of 30! It's not as flexible as the shotgun, but it's great for harrassing enemies over range, since it does, or dealing a ton of damage to a single enemy by burning them, and quickly switching to the flare gun to finish them off. This technique is called a "flare punch".

Detonator - The detonator does 25% less damage, and only does minicrit damage instead of fully critting the enemy. However, in return, you can explode the flare in mid air by pressing alt fire. This firey explosion can light whole crowds on fire. It also hurts you if you shoot too close to yourself, but this is a good thing, because it means you can shoot the ground while jumping and crouching to do a miniature rocket jump. Don't bother detonating the flare to flare jump. You go higher by simply shooting the ground. This thing gives you amazing mobility and great crowd damage at the cost of a little bit of some of your single target damage. A great offense support weapon.

Scorch Shot - This is such a fun weapon. It does 35% less damage, substantially harsher downside than what the Detonator deals with. It hurts you when it hits something too close to you, and does 50% less damage to you than the detonator, but it makes you go 35% less high. It minicrits burning enemies just like the detonator, but instead of being able to explode on command, it explodes about a second after it hits a surface or enemy, which makes it a lot easier to light groups with, but also gives you less control over it. Finally, it knocks the enemy back, sending them flying further and further the further you are from the enemy. If the enemy is on fire, it knocks them back even further! This is a great defensive tool for harrassing Snipers, putting damage on crowds, and defending the highground. My favorite map to use it on is Badwater. I've shot so many Heavies off the cliff at the first point and the roof at the second point. A great defense support weapon.

The Manmelter - The Manmelter does NOT crit burning enemies. It doesn't minicrit them. It can't even get random critical hits! AND it shoots 20% slower. The weapon's description doesn't even have the decency to tell you that it shoots 20% slower! What could the good side possibly be of this weapon? Well, it has infinite flares, said flares fly through the air 50% faster, and it lets you extinguish allies with it, which will store one crit that you can hold on to as long as you stay alive. The faster flares tend to throw off most Pyros, since they're usually used to timing slower flares and their arcs. The unlimited flare gun ammo is completely useless. Trust me. Free extinguises are only really useful with the Backburner's expensive extinguishes, or the Phlog, which can't extinguish, except if you're using the Backburner or Phlog, you really should be behind enemy lines, not anywhere near allies who are on fire. I've given it a lot of trying, and thinking, and honestly, this thing is just bad, and I usually love even the dumbest weapons.

Panic Attack - The Panic Attack has seen a lot of buffs lately, but honestly, the Panic Attack is much more of a soldier weapon than any other class. Heavy and Pyro both have ammo pools instead of clips in their primary weapons, meaning that unless they run COMPLETELY out of ammo, they usually won't HAVE to rely on their secondary (even though many do anyway). Not to mention that for soldier, it makes sense. It's usefull to be able to spray a ton of bullets in quick succession at an enemy, but for Heavy, he can do that with a minigun. Not to mention that revving up the minigun is faster than loading even 3 Panic Attack shots. As for Pyro, typically a flamethrower can spit fire better than the Panic Attack can spit bullets, and the Pyro doesn't even have to load or rev up the flamethrower before firing! Honestly, it's very redundant unless you're playing soldier. I'd stay away from it.

Reserve Shooter... - The Reserve Shooter is absolutely and completely unfair in my opinion. I didn't want to let too much opinion into this guide, and start arguments, but I think it needs to be said that this weapon is absolutely vile. It will minicrit any enemy in the air as long as it hasn't been in your hands for less than 5 seconds. It even increases your weapon switch speed by 15%! Its only downside is 2 less shots in the clip, which isn't much of a problem, honestly, since you can oneshot almost anything. Imagine a Flaregun, but with a few changes. It doesn't have the afterburn utility. Instead, it has the amazing versatility of the Stock Shotgun. You have to spend at least 20 ammo to get the enemy into the air instead of just 1 to light them on fire, and you get a few second long window of them being in the air, where the Flaregun has 10 seconds of afterburn to work with. You have terrible range, but instead you get 15% faster switch. This all sounds like a fair deal, right? Except for a few things. One, it's way easier to aim a hitscan weapon than a projectile, it does a sizable chunk more damage, most Pyros will airblast an enemy before shooting a flaregun so they can't dodge anyway, it can be used easily against enemy Pyros and Chargin' Targe Demomen, and the FIRE SPEED. People forget that the Reserve Shooter has the Shotgun's firing speed, allowing you to get 2, sometimes 3 minicrit shots in on an enemy you've airblasted thanks to knockback. It does so much damage for so little effort compared to the flaregun, has no real downside compared to the shotgun, and is completely unfair to fight against as almost any class. It is for these reasons that the Reserve Shooter is banned in all comp, and if I kill an enemy with the Reserve Shooter, I make SURE to taunt (but that's also because I'm an ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥). I suppose if you use it with the Stock Flamethrower instead of the Degreaser, it's a bit more fair, but even then, it's still pretty overpowered.

Melee weapons.

The Pyro's melee weapon can, much like his/her secondary, can be a deadly source of damage, a hugely supportive tool, or a piece of trash.

Stock - The Pyro's Stock melee weapon is a fire axe. It can swing every .8 seconds and does 65 damage. Like all melee weapons, it has a 15% chance to critically hit, and is more likely to crit based off how much damage you've done in the past 20 seconds, scaling all the way up to a 60% chance to crit if you've done 800 damage in the past 20 seconds. These numbers as opposed to the 2-12% chances of primary weapons.

Axtinguisher - The Axtinguisher is an achievement weapon, so don't stress about trying to obtain it. This weapon cannot get random critical hits, and does half the stock fire axe's damage against enemies unless they're on fire, but it will get minicrits against enemies that are on fire, and full crits against enemies that are on fire if you hit them in the back. It is therefore a great source of damage as a finishing weapon, like the flare gun. As far as I can tell, the Axtinguisher considers someone's "back" to be 180 degrees, like the Spy's knife. Please note that it'll be difficult to "trickstab" with this as opposed to a Spy's knife because unlike a knife, but much like every other melee weapon, this weapon actually takes a second to swing before hitting the enemy. This weapon used to be the only melee weapon Pyros ever used, but it has suffered a harsh nerf. As of right now, few people touch it. It is awfully fun, however, and is for all intents and purposes, a direct upgrade to the Stock fire axe, since there's no real reason an enemy shouldn't be on fire in your presence. Unless you're trying to melee a pyro (which is a bad idea) or you're running around with your melee weapon instead of burning people (which is also a bad idea).

Powerjack - Pretty much the only melee weapon Pyros will use as of right now. Holding this weapon in your hand will make you run 15% faster (45 hammer units per second more). It also will give you 25 health if you kill an enemy with it, and can even overheal you (not that 25 overheal will last more than a second). The downside however is that holding it in your hand will make you take 20% more damage. It used to be that this thing was great for keeping yourself healed, but after many buffs and nerfs, it's pretty much the Gloves of Running Urgently for Pyro. The healing is sub par at this point. Do NOT let me undersell this. It's the most used Pyro melee weapon for a reason. The speed is such a huge utility that it's hard to see the benefit of many other melee weapons.

Homewrecker - The other comonly used melee weapon for pyro as of right now, the homewrecker is the ultimate utility weapon. It does 25% less damage, but in return, it does 100% more damage instead against buildings. It also can damage enemy spy's sappers. A very rare ability for non Engineer melees. Because sappers count as buildings, the Homewrecker also does double damage against sappers, allowing you to knock off a sapper in one hit, instead of the two that it takes an Engineer's wrench to do. Being able to oneshot minisentries and dispensers is fun, but not exactly useful. Most Pyros adore this weapon for its ability to make you an effective "pybro", or "housemaid". The Homewrecker is great for hanging around with an Engineer, spychecking for him, blowing back rockets trying to spam his sentry down, repelling ubered enemies trying to destroy his buildings, and knocking off sappers in the event that he dies, or is too far away from his buildings.

Back Scratcher - A highly underrated weapon, the backscratcher does a whopping 25% more damage. That's almost the damage of a minicritting axtinguisher. It also increases the health gained from health packs by 50%! Medium health packs heal you for 3/4s of your health, and small health packs heal you for 1/3 roughly. You become very self sustaining. The only downside is that you take 75% less healing from healers, including payload carts, Medics, and dispensers. This would be a huge downside, but if you use the Backscratcher as intended, and play as a roaming Pyro, behind enemy lines constantly, you'll probably not get much healing from Medics anyway, as opposed to health packs, which you'll be living off of.

The Third Degree - The Third Degree is a direct upgrade to the Stock fire axe. Not just statistically so, like how the Axtinguisher is pretty much a direct upgrade to the Stock, but 100% in the stats no downside and one upside. Most people will tell you that there's no reason to use the Stock fire axe, because the Third Degree is just BETTER, but honestly, it matters so little, you may as well use Stock for the cool dude factor. It doesn't matter. The Third Degree's damage will travel through medigun beams, meaning that if you hurt a Medic, whoever he's healing will get hurt too. If you hurt someone being healed by a Medic, the Medic will get hurt too. If a Medic is healing a Medic who is healing someone, and you hit any of them, all three of them will be hurt. If someone is being healed by two Medics, and you hit one Medic, the other Medic will get hurt. It can also hurt everyone being healed by a Medic's Amputator taunt. Interestingly enough, hitting an enemy being healed by a Medic's Amputator taunt won't hurt the Medic, but it will hurt EVERYONE being healed by the taunt. Hitting the Medic healing everyone will hurt everyone including the Medic though. Unfortunately, the damage does not travel through payload carts or dispensers. A lot of people will tell you that hitting a Heavy with your melee weapon to kill his Medic is just stupid, and you're better off burning both of them with your primary weapon, and for the most part, they're right, but if you get creative, this thing can be pretty devastating. A lucky crit can annihilate a Medic combo. It can be great for shutting down a Medic Chain (when two Medics heal eachother and get infinite uber with the Uber Saw by rotating who's healing and who's hitting enemies). If you see a Medic combo, you could burn both, airblast and critflare the Medic away (or the pocket if they're a squishy class like Demoman), and then hit whoever you didn't blow away to finish the crit flared enemy off. Then you have one enemy on fire and missing 65 health. Not a bad combo. Honestly, I wouldn't try to use this weapon seriously, but it is just so much fun with a little bit of ingenuity.

The Neon Annihilator - This is by far my favorite Pyro melee. It's extremely situational, not practical in any sense of the word, and over all just bad. But by GOD if it isn't hilarious and fun. The Neon Annihilator does 20% less damage, and cannot get random critical hits. On the bright side, it can damage sappers. It will also crit wet enemies, meaning that if an enemy tries to escape by jumping into water, you still have a distinct advantage. Being "wet" is a very loose term for the NA. If an enemy is in water or has been in water in the last 5 seconds, even if the water is or was ankle deep, that enemy is wet. That means that standing in the sewer tunnels of 2fort, or the flag room of Sawmill is considered being in water. An enemy covered in Mad Milk or Jarate is also considered wet. This weapon seems to fill no exact niche. Do you use it as you would the Homewrecker and not take advantage of the wet crits? Probably not, since the Homewrecker does that job better unless the nest is in a wet area. Do you swim around getting crits with it in sewers and water and not take advantage of the sapper damage? Probably not because being a "Pyroshark" in a serious game is just stupid. Do you use it as a utility tool and only bring it out to finish off enemies who flee into water? I suppose so, but that's so situtaional.

In Defence of the SVF.

Finally, one last melee weapon I didn't mention. The SVF.

The Sharpened Volcano Fragment - The Sharpened Volcano Fragment does 20% less damage, but it lights the enemy on fire. No, the fire doesn't do more damage than normal afterburn. It's not harder to get rid of. It doesn't last longer. It doesn't stack with flamethrower afterburn. It is literally useless, right? Why on earth would you want to use a melee weapon to burn people when you have a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ flamethrower that can do that already? Usually the only time your melee should be seeing any use whatsoever is when you're switching to it to deal busrt damage, as if you were using an axtinguisher. The Sharpened Volcano Fragment is considerably worse at this, for no tangible utility whatsoever. But if you know anything about me, I'm going to tell you that it's hilarious and underrated.

You see, a comon tactic, as I've explained, is flare-punching. Flare punching if you've already forgotten is the act of burning the enemy (usually and most effectively with your Degreaser), switching to your secondary (usually and more effectively the Flare Gun), and doing up to 90 burst damage. Now, adding the Degreaser's maybe 10 damage before switching, and the 30 damage afterburn, that's a combined 130 damage; now imagine using the Sharpened Volcano Fragment instead of the Degreaser for the flare punch. You'll do 52 damage right off the bat, plus the 90 from the Flare Gun, plus the 30 afterburn comes out to 172 damage. If the enemy is still alive, you can quickly switch back to the SVF for another 56 damage, which should kill almost anything except a heavy. So in conclusion, if you plan on using this thing because you're a filthy hipster, flarepunch with it. It's amazing. As for how actually practical it is: It's blatantly trash. I'm sorry.

Weapon synergy.

The Degreaser goes best with powerful secondaries instead of utility secondaries. Here are a list of secondaries that function more as tools for control than weapons for killing, which you should therefore shy away from with the Degreaser: Detonator, Scorch Shot, Manmelter, and Panic Attack. The Shotgun can work absolute wonders as a burst damage tool, but it is mostly used over the Flare Gun because of its vesatility and flexibility, not its deadliness.

If you do want to use the Degreaser with a utility secondary, then you should probably use a powerful melee instead of a utility melee to compensate. Here's a list of melee weapons that function better as useful tools than powerful killing weapons, which you should therefore only use with the Degreaser if you have a strong secondary: Backscratcher (Useful tool AND dangerous weapon), Powerjack, Neon Annihilator, and Homewrecker.

If you have both a "utility" secondary AND a "utility" melee, but still plan on a playstyle involving airblast, then consider using the Stock Flamethrower, as it'll be your primary source of damage. Especially on defence.

Obviously the Degreaser goes great with all of the secondary and melee weapons I didn't mention, as they're all "powerful weapons" as opposed to "utility weapons", so I'm not going to go over each and every individual combination of "power weapon" and the Degreaser. I will howerver, cover everything that I can think of that isn't inherently obvious.

The Degreaser allows you to switch quickly to your Powerjack, kill the enemy, and switch back, greatly decreasing the amount of extra damage you'll take while trying to kill with the Powerjack to heal.

The Reserve Shooter goes horribly with the Phlog and Backburner, as they discourage or outright deny the use of airblast, your primary source of damage with the Reserve Shooter.

The Backburner and Phlog both go well with the Stock Shotgun. If you airblast with the Backburner, you're likely to run out of ammo, and the Shotgun is probably the best secondary for using without a primary. As for the Phlog, the lack of airblast really hinders your deathmatch and flexibilty. The Shotgun mitigates this issue.

The following weapons encourage or assist in a "roamer" playstyle: Backburner (Crowds), Phlog (Crowds), Degreaser (Single Target), Detonator (Mobility), Flare Gun (Single Target), Reserve Shooter (Single Target), Powerjack (Mobility), and Backscratcher (Health).

The following weapons encourage or assist in a "pocket" playstyle, protecting your medic or engineer: Flame Thrower (Crowds), Shotgun (Flexibility), Menmelter (Extinguishes), Scorch Shot (Crowds), Neon Annihilator (Sappers), and Homewrecker (Sappers).

Positioning and Gamesense Tips Pt. 1: Travel

This small write up is about a 2-5 minute read, yet works wonders for your understanding of pyro. I can't stress your reading of this enough. http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showpost.php?p=31174486&postcount=167

I will be talking about something similar, but using Harvest as an example. If you aren't familiar with Harvest's layout, I'd suggest playing a small bit on it before reading this section.

As a Pyro leaving the spawn of Harvest, you have a lot of options of where to go and which route to take to get there. Typically speaking, we're going to ignore actually capping the center point, since nobody actually tries on a typical Harvest game, but do note that the point on Harvest is an ideal area for you. Very closed in, and perfect for holding. Just be careful of soldiers and demomen who managed to find their way on top of the open roof.

Since there's almost never an actual "combo" (A medic and a powerclass that usually spearheads the team and acts as the main focus point of the team, which the rest of the team plays in response to) in pubs, and certainly not on Harvest, you're probably not going to be sticking with them as you would in Highlander, so let's assume that you're a "roamer" Pyro, not a "pocket" pyro.

Now, if you have a Powerjack, taking the right-side pathway out into the open isn't quite as bad as usual. Your increased movement speed makes your travel time much shorter, and makes you slightly harder to hit, but even then, I'd suggest never spending too much time around the right side of your spawn or the left side of the enemy's spawn, or around the shed which holds the medium health pack. The open area will allow Scouts to heckle you easily with ample breathing room, and Snipers to line up clear shots without you being able to do anything about it. No roof will allow Soldiers to rain down upon you. No cover will make you easy pickings for Heavies. Finally, being under the main houses on either side will allow Spies to jump down upon you. You're generally in a terrible area. Do NOT take "main" or the most obvious, usually open pathway as a roamer pyro on any map.

So let's say instead you go into your house. Holding in here is absolutely perfect. Closed off and small areas, but not cramped enough for you to get easily spammed, unlike the medium health shack, where you can't stay for long without being spammed to death. The only problem is that there's nothing here to kill. We need to get to the enemy's house. How can we get there? Well, we have three viable routes.

You can go out the main door that has the small health pack on your right, and be facing the building with the point in it. If your team has the point, or nobody is actually on the point, you can easily slip by unhurt and walk straight into the same door on the enemy's side (ideally by walking to the right of the point, as the left side is the side with the enemy's deaded Medium Health Shed, which is far more open, and usually infested with Sniper sightlines.

Alternatively, you can run to the roof of your team's main house, and jump from the corner of the roof to the roof of the point, and then again to the roof of the enemy's house. This path is a LOT safer if the point is occupied with enemies. The highground is also very rarely checked in TF2, for some reason, so you'll find yourself running right above swarms of enemies undetected. Just be careful, as failing the jump from roof to roof will leave you stranded. This path also offers very little cover, and makes you susceptible to Snipers.

Finally, you can attempt to run from your house down the left tunnel. This Tunnel is very safe and effective for holding, but one you walk out of it, you're stuck out in the open. Again, with the Powerjack, moving from cover to cover is a lot safer, but for the most part, route is dangerous. It's only really effective situationally, like if your team is being spawn camped, or the enemy expects you to take the other flank routes. Use it at your discretion.

Positioning and Gamesense Tips Pt. 2: Holding

So you've gotten to the enemy team's house on Harvest. Congradulations! I always knew you could do it! Now what? Now, in an actual Highlander game, you're going to want to hold, and watch flanks. In a Sixes game as Pyro, you're usually on the defence, where you'll find yourself holding and watching flanks. So looking at Harvest, how and where can we hold? Well, you have three options.

You could hold the first floor near the small health pack. The tunnel gives you a splendid environment where you can hold near the corner, bait enemies around said corner and ambush them as they chase you, or run all the way down the tunnel, giving yourself distance to shoot flares right down a tunnel at an enemy who can't dodge, and giving yourself a healthy amount of space to reflect. You could also hang around the small healthpack, where you have a small board that you can hide behind and ambush enemies running out the main door of the house. Remember that your flamethrower will stick out around corners. If you're trying to hide behind that board, or really any short wall, try switching to your secondary or melee so your flamethrower doesn't blow your cover. If you get hurt, you can also retreat to the medium health pack in the "attic", the next holding place.

Holding the attic is common practice on Harvest. Having the lowground makes airblasting the enemy and switching to your secondary easier, as you'll blow them into the air longer, but holding the highground, like the stairs to the attic will give you a significant advantage against Soldiers and Demomen to a lesser extent. If push comes to shove, you can slink further back into the attic, where you put the enemy into your element once more. Starting to see how this works?

Finally, there's the roof. Holding VERY highground like the final point of Gravel Pit, the "Spire" or second point of Badlands, or this roof in Harvest gives the pyro a huge advantage. You're very susceptible to Snipers here, so be careful. The advantages of this area is that enemies have to run into the attic to approach you usually, which you can see and anticipate. If you have a Backburner, Axtinguisher, Phlog with crits at the ready, or even if you don't for that matter, you can jump down on unsuspecting enemies running down the "main" pathway and ambush them, embracing the original role of the Pyro, long ago, since before airblast. There's more to this area however. Much like holding very highground on any other map, a Pyro can use airblast to deny rocket and sticky jumpers and make his/herself basically untouchable. S/he can also reflect explosives or spam scorch shots down with the height advantage making dodging much harder for the enemy. Once again, if push comes to shove, you can retreat into the attic.

Now get out there and stomp some noobs on Harvest.

Deathmatch and Anti-Class Tips.

The Phlogistonator and Backburner both encourage a playstyle of positioning, stealth, and gamesense to make you a more effective ambush class, but severely hinders your deathmatch ability. The Stock puts you in a strange middle area. The Degreaser has the best ability for DM. For the intention of simplicity, we're going to be talking about deathmatch from the perspective of a Degreaser Pyro, as it is the mot ideal and comon situation to be in. We'll also cover only 2 of the 3 best secondaries for the Pyro in DM (Flare Gun and Shotgun), due to my open hatred of the use of the Reserve Shooter with the Degreaser. Sorry about that. :(

Allclass Deathmatch Tips: Something frustrating I see is Pyros treating the airblast like part of their "rotation". If you don't play World of Warcraft, a rotation is a sequence of attacks used in EVERY FIGHT with almost no variation to maximize damage. Airblast is an effective, and versatile situational tool to be taken advantage of. It is not a part of your attack plan to be spammed and abused. If you're hurt, try baiting enemies around the corner, or keeping your distance and using your secondary. For the most part though, advancing on your enemy with your flamethrower is probably a better idea.

Versus Scouts, Playing Chicken: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showpost.php?p=31174465&postcount=166 This link will go over a lot of what I'm already going to talk about, but I'd DEFINITELY give it a read if I were you. It's worth it.
The neat thing about Pyro is that he's all about psychological warfare. Not just causing panic in a crowd like we talked about, but even in deathmatch. Especially with Scout and Soldier. The trick to fighting scouts is get him lit on fire, even if you do it with a single Degreaser flame particle, if you can get them ignited, they'll get nervous. Afterburn ticks away at your health quickly, and Scouts will get desperate to kill you so they can go find a health pack. Once the enemy Scout gets nervous, he'll get sloppy. He'll get in closer for meatshots. This is a good situation to be a part of in general. Now let's talk about how we go about killing the Scout once we get him ALL NICE AND SLOPPY. Airblasting the Scout is absolutely vital. As soon as he's in your range, airblast him. When he's in the air, he's either still in the air, or he's falling in a very easy path to predict. He can't run away. Use this opportunity to shoot a flare at him and almost oneshot him. Sounds simple, right? Except a good Scout will jump as soon as you airblast him to dodge the flare. If the enemy Scout does this, or you anticipate his doing this, then you have to wait for him to jump, and then shoot the flare at him, as he will be falling in a predictable pattern again. But then he might NOT jump to throw you off, and land back on the ground running away. You have to anticipate his actions. The best advice I can give you past this meta game is airblasting the Scout a second time once he double jumps.

Versus Soldiers, The Reflect Metagame: Read the following. http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showpost.php?p=32816606&postcount=247
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showpost.php?p=31227655&postcount=191
There's a map called tr_pyro_compression_v1 that I go on to practice airblasting against Soldiers. Personally, I find that training yourself to reflect based on sound as opposed to sight is very helpful. I could talk for hours about how to fight Soldier, but honestly I'd just be repeating what those two links said, so I'll leave you with this. If you try to reflect based off of prediction, and fail, only blowing the Soldier away, ride off your failure by hitting him with your secondary, or backing up to an easy distance to reflect. Also, remember what I said about panic and getting the enemy worried. Try W+M1ing the Soldier to A) Make him panic-shoot, and B) Make him think that you're a W+M1 Pyro who doesn't know how to airblast.

Versus Pyros, S+M1: I want you to take two lighters and light one in each hand. Put your hands right next to eachother and move them both quickly to the left. You'll notice that your right hand is getting burned while your left hand is fine. This is essentially what to do in a Pyro VS Pyro fight. If you walk backwards, your flames will stretch out towards the enemy Pyro, while his will turn back towards himself. If done perfectly, you can kill a Phlog pyro with crits with a Degreaser. Speaking of the Degreaser, Charge N Targe Demomen and Pyros are considered "on fire" for a half a second or so, which means that if you're at point blank, you can burn the enemy with your Degreaser and switch instantly to your Flare Gun to pop a free 90 damage, and effectively Flarepunch a Pyro, a task often thought impossible. Of course, the Shotgun is always a great option, especially if the enemy Pyro has a Flare Gun. If you don't think you can pull the S+M1 tricks on him, then WHIP IT OUT.

Versus Demomen, Shields vs Stickies: As I mentioned in the Pyro section, it is possible to crit flare an enemy Demoman who is using the Charge N Targe. It's not best to rely on this trick though. You're better off reflecting his pipes from a distance and whittle him down with your shotgun. If he has stickes instead of a shield, then try to sneak up to him. If you're at long range, disengage and try to get up to him safely. If you're at close range, kill him normally, but beware pipes, and if you're at medium range ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. RUN. The Demoman's specialty is medium range, and he's not expected to top damage in 6s and Highlander for nothing.

Deathmatch and Anti-Class Tips Pt. 2

Versus Heavies, It's All in the Approach: If you run circles around the Heavy, and switch directions often, you can usually W+M1 a Heavy, ESPECIALLY if you get the drop on him before he's spun up, but that implies that you managed to safely get close to him. If not, either leave and try to sneak up on him later, or peak from around a corner and spam flare shots at him. It should take three or so to take him out. Always listen if he retreats or if you retreat for his Minigun to spin down (Unless he has a Tomislav), and more importantly the OMNOMNOM of him eating something.

Versus Engineers, Taking Out Sentries and Purging Gunslingers: Reflecting sentry rockets will completely ♥♥♥♥ up the Engineer. It will ALWAYS oneshot the Engineer assuming he's not running Gunslinger (in which case his sentry won't shoot rockets) and he's not overhealed. It will also deal half the sentry's health. If at all possible, try and get right around the corner from the sentry. Your flames will curve around the corner and take it out easily. Now what if he's running Gunslinger? Well take out the mini by spamming it with your Shotgun, or just W+M1ing it. If the Engy drops a mini right in front of you, he'll do one of two things. He'll either leave it to build slowly, in which case you take it out easily with its 50 health, or he'll sit there punching it, in which case you have a golden opportunity to kick his ass.

Versus Snipers, Harrassment and Reflecting Huntsmen: If you see a Sniper far off in the distance, you can't do much to him, but what you CAN do is shoot him a flare (works best with the Scorch Shot). He'll get nervous (our best weapon), and he'll be twitching, making him more likely to miss a lot of shots. If he just sits there like a dummy, then shoot another one. If you're running the Flare Gun, you'll kill him. If a Huntsman sniper shows up drawn and ready to pew pew you, reflecting will be hard. Snipers will line up shots, making them much less predictable. Also, the arrow is quiet and hard to see, making it hard to reflect no matter how MLG your reactions are. If you wiggle around and stand still for a second though, you can FORCE the Sniper to line up a shot, tempting him to take it. Finally, Huntsmen Snipers can't fire in the air. If you airblast them, they're likely to shoot as soon as they land, allowing you to know EXACTLY when they'll shoot.

Versus Spies, How Not to Get Trickstabbed: Unless the Spy is good with the Revolver (in which case try to Shotgun or Flare Gun him, shouldn't be a problem) just W+M1 him. All you have to do is be careful of trickstabs. The following are ways to avoid ending up in some edgelord's ♥♥♥♥♥♥ frag video: Don't let him get in melee range while facing you. He'll try to matador you. Don't follow him around corners unless you go around said corner as widely as possible. Finally, if he has THE SLIGHTEST amount of highground. I mean the TINIEST BIT. If he's standing on a damned teleporter, get ready to airblast him if he jumps. He WILL try to jump over you and "stairstab" you. Also, don't airblast him into a corner and burn him from underneath him. Once he lands on you, he'll backstab you.

Flamethrower Strategy and Tips.

Stock - Compared to the other three, the Stock flamethrower is much more defensive oriented. It's great for assaulting groups, great for Spy hunting, and the second best for deathmatch. Use it if you're on defense, or if you're using a secondary and melee that aren't good for killing (which usually is what ends up happening when you're on defense).

Degreaser - As I've stressed enough, the Degreaser is dominant for deathmatch, which makes it ideal for roaming about and picking off stragglers, much like a Scout. You're also great at guarding flanks with the Degreaser, and killing flank classes like Scouts and lone Soldiers, making it great for pubstomping alone or playing 6s. Keep in mind that using it defensively is also perfectly viable, as you won't miss the damage or afterburn much at all.

Phlog/Backburner - Use stealth to cause pressure, panic, and rage. Stay behind enemy lines, assault groups, and shy away from 1v1s in favor of luring the enemy into a "situational kill" as opposed to a "deathmatch kill" much like a Heavy or Demoman would.

I wish there was much more to say here, but I've droned on long enough in the rest of the guide about how to use all the weapons. Hopefully you get the idea by now.

Thanks for reading!

Hopefully I took you on a ♥♥♥♥♥♥' journey, and I'll see you out there in your swimming pools tying balloon animals. If you liked my insight, I also have a Heavy, Medic, and Scout guide right here.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=362017855
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=392826400
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=382113221
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=390523270

[Seraguith]

@Tenju
Ah yes, I went through your link then did the math, you're right. Thanks for correcting me.

[crime (Tenj)]

Oh shit, Kylo. You're right about the switch speed. Wow, I've palyed with the degreaser for god knows how long and I didn't notice that. Thanks. The afterburn however, I'm going to have to disagree with. https://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Degreaser

[Seraguith]

and 25% less afterburn, meaning afterburn does 2 damage every half second, doing a total of 40 damage over 10 seconds. The enormous upside to the Degreaser is 60% faster at switching weapons,
It's 45 damage over 10 seconds, and 65% faster weapon switching.

[verbalase did nothing wrong]

This guide is realy useful for noobs. You should make a guide like this for all the classes ^-^

[YOUR MOMMA'S WET PANTIES]

good guide i mainly play pyro with degreaser/powerjackhave over90k on degreaser and over30k on powerjack love my pyro

[pgapepper]

Backscratcher is most underrated weapon in history of tf2.

[BOY♂NEXT♂DOOR]

I can't agree enough about the cringe-inducing degreaser users. I use the stock because of its all-round effectiveness. I used to run the Backburner which forced me into flanking, but since I switched to the stock, I've been able to flank and suport. It has also allowed me to take out a Medic and his pocket rather quickly especially with the backscratcher or even a couple randos left behind. It also allows for more open airblasting and rapid role changes.
It has its pros and cons which I will list.

Pros
Flanking and support
High damage
Airblasting into traps
You don't have to rely on your secondary

Cons
No backburner crits
No phlog heals

tl;dr stock>degreaser

[volpics]

GREAT GUIDE B

5 GOOSE AND SOBES OUTTA 5 FLAWLESS VICTORY

[Sandwich Man]

I think people are immediately turned off by the slower initial charge, or undervalue the bonus.

[TwonkThunder]

Pyro is trash.