A Basic Introduction to TF2

Don't wanna read long and boring guides about TF2? This one is small and will get you a good understanding to start TF2. By small I mean it's not super complicated. This is a guide to give you a little push on the swing rather than to force you directly into driving. If you're reading this, chances are you're new and don't wanna read 2 hours worth of stuff you won't remember or use yet.

Introduction

Team Fortress 2 is a Free to Play class-based first-person shooter game that is a "sequel" to Team Fortress Classic, a remake of Quake World Team Fortress. TF2 uses the same game engine (Source) as Half-Life 2, and Counter-Strike: Source, Portal, L4D2, and many others. TF2 came out in 2007 after 9 years of development. There are 9 classes. In order of the class selection menu, it goes Scout, Soldier, Pyro, Demoman, Heavy, Engineer, Medic, Sniper, and Spy. I will give you a basic tutorial on each of these classes and I will also teach you some other stuff like basic trading and map selection. I suggest you also go through the training in TF2 before you go onto any games.

The Scout

The scout is the fastest class in the game, and is able to double-jump. His stock items are the Scattergun, the Pistol, and a Bat. The scattergun is like a shotgun, it does more damage from close up and less from far away. Use the pistol for far-away combat. Use the bat for close quarters if you're out of ammo or wanna do some nice damage with the bat's fast attack speed. The scout's double jump can be very handy, especially for dodging and confusing enemies. The scout has 125HP.

The Soldier

The soldier is one of the slowest classes in the game. He has a rocket launcher, a shotgun, and a shovel. The rocket launcher does high damage and can do splash damage. To land more hits with it you should aim at people's feet and the splash should take care of them. The shotgun should be used only to pick people off who you know are at low health and are running back to get health after getting hit by your rockets. The shovel should be used when someone is very close. You can also rocket jump with the rocket launcher, but since you are new you should not worry about this mechanic yet. The soldier has 200HP.

The Pyro

The pyro is a very close-ranged class. The pyro has a flamethrower, a shotgun, and a fireaxe. The flamethrower does afterburn damage when igniting someone and can hurt them while you burn them if you hold down your attack button. You have to be close to them for the flames to reach. The shotgun is used to pick off enemies running away. The fireaxe is used for close range, but the flamethrower usually does that better. Your stock fireaxe isn't very good, but soon you will get new items from drops that are better. The pyro can also airblast with the secondary attack button (right click) that can reflect rockets and grenades and other projectiles back at the owner of said projectile, the airblast (or compression blast) can also extinguish burning teammates. The pyro has 175HP.

The Demoman

The demoman (short for demolition man) is a class with explosives. His weapons are the grenade launcher, stickybomb launcher, and a bottle. The grenade launcher shoots grenades that do high damage on direct impact and can also bounce off of walls and bounce on the ground before detonating. If a grenade doesn't hit a player it has around 3 seconds before it detonates (explodes). The stickybomb launcher shoots sticky bombs that can stick to almost anything and can be detonated with your secondary fire button. You can also hold down the attack button to build up charge with your stickybomb launcher and on release, depending on how long you held it, the bomb will fly very far. The bottle is used for close combat (because it's a melee). This melee is actually very reliable. The demoman has 175HP.

It is always worth mentioning demoknights. Demomen with swords and shields (known as demoknights) are almost like a different class. They can run at high speeds and do high amounts of damage, while having a high amount of health points. Demoknights use melee only, and depending on which sword and which shield they have, their attributes will be different.

The Heavy

The heavy (short for heavy weapons guy) is the slowest and strongest class in the game. He has a minigun, a shotgun, and his fists. The minigun can be spun up and will shoot many bullets at a high attack speed that can do catastrophic damage. The shotgun should be used when picking off enemies or when out of ammo for the minigun. The fists are for close combat and when you're out of ammo. The fists deal high amounts of damage but have a very slow attack speed. The heavy has 300HP.

The Engineer

The engineer (engie for short) is a class that builds buildings to help his team. The engineer has a shotgun, a pistol, and a wrench (along with his construction and destruction PDA). The shotgun does more damage from close up. The pistol should be used for far away combat. The wrench can upgrade, repair, and speed up a build process of a building. It can also kill people, so that's a plus. With the construction PDA, you can build buildings, and with the destruction PDA you can destroy your built buildings. There are four buildings, the sentry gun, the dispenser, and the construction entrance and exit. The Sentry gun is a turret that auto-aims at enemies. Level one sentries have a small gun, level 2 sentries have two gatling guns, and level 3s have 2 gatling guns and a bazooka kind of thing that shoots four mini rockets at the same time. The dispenser can heal teammates and give them ammo. The teleporters get your team from point A to point B. Entrance and exit shouldn't need to be explained. Hitting any side of a teleporter will heal and repair both sides. Disguised spies will not be targeted by your sentry, they can also use your dispenser, and take your teleporters. They can also sap your buildings. Two hits with your wrench can remove the sapper, and then you will have to repair it and maybe even refill it's ammo. Make sure to be careful of spies or teammates that are acting funny. While buildings are being built, you can hit them with your wrench to make them build faster. The engineer has 125HP.

The Medic

The medic is one of the most useful teammate based classes in the game that can heal his teammates. The medic has a syringe gun, a medigun, and a bonesaw. The syringe gun shoots 40 projectile syringes at a high attack speed but with low damage. The medigun can heal your teammates by holding the attack button on them. The medigun builds uber with the more healing you do, and it can also over-heal (temporarily give teammates extra health) teammates. Once you are at 100% uber, you can use your secondary fire button to activate it, giving you and the person you're healing invulnerability (invincibility) for around 9 seconds. If you are getting close to 100% uber, try not to die since one uber can save a game. You will be targeted by the enemy team so try not to die. The bonesaw is for close-combat and is very useful for checking spies, since you can also heal disguised spies. The medic has 150HP.

The Sniper

The sniper is the long-ranged class. The sniper has a sniper rifle, a(n) SMG, and a kukri (it's like a machete). The sniper rifle can deal very high damage. It can also land headshots, which do a lot more damage. While scoping in, you can gain charge from your sniper that will do more damage. A fully charged headshot will one-shot-kill any class, wether they're overhealed or not. The SMG (sub-machine gun) does little damage but attacks at high speed. It should be used when somone is close, but not close enough for a melee attack. The kukri should be used for close combat in panicking situations, it can save your life many times. The sniper has 125HP.

The Spy

The spy is the class with probably the most uses and things to learn. He has a revolver, a sapper, and a knife (along with a diguise kit and an invis-watch). The revolver is effective when running away or in a stituation where your knife won't provide useful. The revolver is the "primary weapon" but in reality the butterfly knife is the actual most used and useful weapon of the spy. The sapper can deactivate a sentry and eventually destroy it if left on for some seconds. It can sap other buildings and can sap both the entrance and the exit of the engineer's teleporter. The knife can one-shot-kill any class, overhealed or not, by stabbing them in the back. It doesn't do a lot of damage anywhere else but if you stab someone in the back (it's called a backstab) you can kill them instantly. The invis-watch (short for invisibility watch) lets you go invisible for some time which can be used to get behind people easier, however you cannot attack while invisible. The disguise kit lets you disguise as the enemy team, and by pressing R on it you can also disguise as your own team. Attacking while disguised will remove your disguise, or disguising as your own team spy will also take you back to being a normal spy. Using the sapper while disguised will not remove your disguise. Pressing B will get you back to your previous disguise and pressing B while disguised will change the weapon of your disguise. The spy has 125HP.

F2Ps

F2Ps, short for Free-to-Plays are new players that haven't bought any fancy items. Do not be ashamed to be a F2P because everyone is a F2P at the start. Don't get mad if you get teased for being a F2P because they used to be F2Ps aswell. But not all of them were F2Ps because TF2 hasn't​ always been free. F2P is commonly used as a term to represent "noob".

Trading

I reccomend using backpack.tf (it's a site) to check prices if you wanna trade. But since you're new and the only trading you're probably gonna do is weapon trading, know this: 2 weapons is a scrap metal, 3 scrap is a reclaimed metal, and 3 reclaimed is a refined metal. I suggest that you do not use crafting unless it's to craft metal. Try to avoid trading since you may fall victim to scams.

Maps, Gamemodes, and Teams

Choosing the right gamemode for you is tough. Payload is very simple, and is good for starters. Maps are something you will have to explore for yourself. Try not to only be on one team because on some gamemodes different teams have different objectives to do so you shouldn't favourite a team completely. Here are the MAIN gamemodes:
Payload - BLU has to push an explosive cart to the end of the map before they run out of time, and RED has to stop them from making it to the end before the time ends.
King of the Hill - One team has to have a control point captured for 3 minutes.
Attack/Defense - BLU has to try to capture all the control points in the map before time runs out and RED has to stop them.
Capture the Flag - One team has to steal 3 briefcases (1 at a time) from the enemy and take them back to their base before the other team.
Control Points - One team has to capture all the control points on the map before the other team does.

Alternative gamemodes that people actually play (I don't reccomend thse to start with):
Mann vs Machine - Everyone is working together to fight a bunch of robots (AIs).
Mannpower - It's basically capture the flag but with grapple hooks and power ups.
Pass-Time - It's like soccer but with guns and an explosive you can hold in your hands.
Arena - It's elimination, RED vs BLU, no respawns until next match.

There's others but you shouldn't play them if you're new.

Casual and Competitive

DON'T PLAY COMPETITIVE IF YOU'RE NEW. PLAY CASUAL.

Choosing a main

Choosing a main is hard because there's so many different classes to choose from. Just play all the classes and soon you'll get a class that you'll like.

Weapons

From playing the game, weapons can drop. They are weapons for specific classes that people may like better than the default weapons. Achievements can also get you weapons.

Friendlies

Friendlies are people who don't take the game seriously and just wanna have fun. They don't kill anyone and I suggest you don't kill them either. If the are crouching down they are probably showing they are friendly. If they crouch three or more times at you it means they wanna be friends. Crouching heavies holding a sandvich are nice. Don't trust EVERYONE though...

That's it!

That's all you really have to know to get started in TF2. Just go play some casual and have fun! Thanks for reading this guide and please if you can support me by reading the next thing and sharing this guide, and also giving it a like and favouriting it. Leave a comment telling me you liked it! Hope you become a great TF2 player one day!!!

Sources: Official TF2 Wiki, Wikipedia (Team Fortress 2, Source (game engine)), over 1'000 hours of experience in TF2.

Special thanks to "EVDESTROY" for correcting a lot of my mistakes.

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-Dannypicacho

[PISTACHIO]

Ok

[󠀡󠀡]

I'll try both

[PISTACHIO]

Can I maybe suggest Windex? They don't get a good enough reputation but the flavor is just as good as Clorox.

[󠀡󠀡]

It's ok. I prefer Colorox though

[PISTACHIO]

I'm sorry I just get super T R I G G E R E D when someone says TF2 is dead.

luv u bb have some sodium hypochlorite

[󠀡󠀡]

LOL it's a joke calm down

[PISTACHIO]

Guys this game is dead because a few people got mad at it. What? There's still a lot of players, shut the fuck up it's dead, now excuse me as I go play overwatch and no the hype isn't half the game stfu.

You're like that one guy who buys a game the moment it comes out and after 3 months calls it dead and moves on to the next game.

No offense bro, but TF2 is NOT dead.

[EVDESTROY]

@Badja awa

Number 3 most populated game on Steam = dead. Sorry, my BS alarm is going on please excuse me while I turn it off

[󠀡󠀡]

Basic Introduction to TF2:
Dead game since the release of MYM

[PISTACHIO]

oh shit I should probably review that