Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory/Classes

In Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, the player can choose 5 different classes. Each has a different task in the team. This page also lists the weapons available to each class. Some weapons, however, are used by all classes, and are described below. As aforementioned, each class has a particular role in combat - it is very difficult, and sometimes impossible, to win using one class alone. The best players are the versatile ones - ones that can play any class well.

The diagram to the left allows players to pick from one of three sides, starting from left to right:
 * Allies (represented by the US)
 * Axis (represented by Germany)
 * Spectators

Spectators can view the match from any angle they wish, or can jump into a particular player and watch them.

Axis and Allies have identical classes, and are represented by the various icons beneath each team's flag.


 * Knife: There isn't much to say about the knife. It's simply a knife, with no special features. It fires very quickly, but the "swish-swish" of the knife can sometimes give away a nearby user. High-levelled covert ops can use a knife on the back of a target to instantly kill them. Knife kills are difficult, but not unheard of. Using it with surprise is best.
 * Pistol: Consists of either the Colt .45 or the Luger for Allies and Axis respectively. They generally aren't favourable fall-back weapons, especially when compared to the two submachine guns, but they can prove much better than the knife at long distances. In their favour, however, pistols reload quickly. Experts in the Light Weapons category can wield two pistols at once. While the rate of fire is doubled (putting it on par with a submachine gun), the reload time is also doubled, making it tougher to reload.
 * Submachine gun: Consists of either the Thompson or the MP-40 for Allies and Axis respectively. The bread-and-butter weapon of the game, available to all classes except Covert ops. Each makes a distinctive sound, so a submachine gun isn't the stealthiest weapon around. With a reasonable rate of fire, average accuracy, and no major advantages or disadvantages, the submachine gun works well in almost every situation. As with most weapons, however, submachine gun damage drops the farther the target is.


 * Grenade: Every class carries a grenade. Engineers carry the most, while field ops and medics carry the least. Grenades can be throwna reasonable distance. It does, however, take several seconds for them to explode. This can be remedied by holding the fire button. Doing so allows players to "cook" the grenade. The grenade's fuse is five seconds long, and will tick down as you cook it. Ensure to throw the grenade before the fifth tick.

Soldier
Soldiers are the base grunt on every team. Despite this you won't see too many of them amongst experienced players - while they can wield the largest number of weapons, they also do not have the healing power of medics, the dynamiting ability of engineers, or the explosive power of field ops. Since every class - except the covert ops - can hold the submachine gun, it is often not a good idea to have a soldier with a submachine gun. One might as well, if one is a soldier, use the specialized weaponry that only soldiers can use.

Weapons
Heavy weapons are the soldier's specialty. Heavy weapons, however, slow your character down considerably while equipped (though movement speed can be recovered through experience). Soldiers have a semi-exclusiveness to the heavy weapons skill. Other players can upgrade it by using mounted MG-42s, but soldiers can use mounted MGs, portable MGs, flamethrowers, Panzerfausts, or mortars to gain EXP.
 * Flamethrowers have a short range but they are very deadly. A flamethrower, when fired, sends a spurt of flame. It takes a while to dissipate, so a good flamethrower person can cover an entire room of flames and hit large groups of enemies. Flamethrowers are deadly in close quarters, making it deadly in rooms and at chokepoints, where the enemy has little place to run. Flamethrowers are useless at range and in open areas. If used incorrectly, however, a flamethrower can easily harm yourself and/or your teammates, especially if friendly fire is on. It works well in an ambush since the flames often obstruct a player's view and prevent them from firing back (though it does not prevent lucky hits). Flamethrowers do, however, have weaknesses - their short range means that backpedaling enemies are tough to incinerate. As aforementioned, friendly fire is always a factor.
 * MG-42s are the opposite in flamethrowers for the most part. MG-42s are not useful at all at close range, but excel at longer ranges. If you want to release some bottled up teenage angst, try walking into a field of enemies with the MG-42 and just start shooting. It is highly inaccurate, but somewhat damaging. Where the MG-42 really shines though is when the user goes prone and right-clicks. This sets up a bipod and, while it reduces mobility, vastly increases accuracy. An MG-42 is ideal at the end of a long hallway which gives the enemy little room to manoeuvre yet is at a long distance. MG-42 soldiers can be often easily flanked, necessitating their defence. Machine guns often also run out of ammo, making best friends with Field ops.
 * Mortars are a highly explosive weapon, but tough to use. Mortars can only set up from a crouching position, just like a machine gun (except the machine gun must be set up while prone). You will then be prompted to adjust the elevation and the azimuth (vertical and horizontal settings respectively) and then use the primary fire key to lob the mortar. The G key can allow you to see where your mortar landed. Any artillery strikes called by Field Ops will also appear on your map and in your sights, so you can sit back and let others pick your targets for you. Note that, assuming equal elevation and no intervening barriers, each 5 degrees of elevation below 90 will lob a mortar round almost exactly 1 square's distance on the command map. The mortar begins with 12 shots, and each drains 1/2 of a full power bar.
 * Panzerfausts are the other highly explosive weapon. Unlike mortars, Panzerfausts are ridiculously easy to use, and very easy to get a kill with - to the point of overpowered-ness. When triggered, the launcher charges for about two seconds before firing a ridiculously fast-moving rocket. The resulting explosion is often more than enough to disintegrate a target. The explosive power of panzerfausts works against infantry and vehicles (ones that can be disabled, anyway) to equal effect.

Medic
Medics often start with barely any ammo (a single clip for a submachine gun and a single grenade) but the power to create health and use syringes to assist your teammates more than compensates. Whenever a player is shot, she or he can either sit around and wait for a medic, or press jump to attempt to respawn. If a medic is nearby, the medic can use the syringe on the wounded player (with the red syringe icon appearing over them) and let them back into the game. They won't have to walk all the way back to where they died previously, or wait to respawn. It also gives the medic some experience, so resurrecting players is almost always a good idea.

Weapons
Medics carry either the Thompson (Allies) or MP-40 (Axis) as a primary weapon.

Special Abilities and Items
As mentioned earlier, medics can use the Syringe on wounded allies. So long as the icon to the right is visible, prodding an ally with the syringe will allow them to get up and fight again. Aside from giving you experience, it also allows an ally to not wait a full spawn cycle and get back in the game sooner. Additionally it helps your friend by making him or her not have to walk to where he or she was previously. The syringe can be activated with the 5 key and be used with the fire button. Medics also carry Health Packs which players of either team can pick up. It is best, therefore, to use it at point-blank range on a wounded ally, so that the enemy will not pick it up later. Medics gain experience for every health pack they pick up. Note, however, that enemies can pick them up as well. Naturally, medics do not gain experience when an enemy picks them up.

The presence of medics also slightly increases every player's max hit points for your team. The bonus, however gets smaller and smaller the more medics there are. Beyond four medics, there is no change at all. Two medics is often ideal.

Engineer
Engineers are the core of objective-completing. Most players pick the engineer for one of two reasons - the rifle grenades, or the ability to complete objectives. Both are the engineer's strengths. Dynamite is the strongest explosive in the game - if it can't be destroyed by dynamite, it either requires a vehicle or it simply cannot be destroyed. Engineers specialize in explosions - they carry up to eight grenades, the most in the game. Combine this with the ability to lay mines and the dynamite to fill the entire map with explosions sooner or later.

Weapons
Engineers can carry either a submachine gun (Thompson for Allies, MP-40 for Axis) or a semiautomatic rifle - the M1 Garand or the K-43. Both cause, shot-for-shot, more damage, but have a considerably lower rate of fire. The M1 Garand has the unfortunate disadvantage of not being able to reload mid-clip, requiring a player to expend all of his or her ammo before reloading (though some servers have removed this). The K-43 is generally much better than the M1 Garand as a result. These rifles have remarkable power, however, when outfitted with a grenade. By right-clicking, an engineer can attach a grenade to the end of his or her rifle. When fired the grenade flies in an arc and explodes almost as soon as it hits the ground. The latter element is what makes rifle grenades so deadly; unlike hand grenades, which must be cooked first, rifle grenades are already cooked for you. Additionally they have a very long reach, and are second only to mortars for range. This makes rifle grenades effective against enemy emplacements, namely machine gun nests.

Note that rifle grenades take a sizable chunk out of a player's power meter. A rifle grenade can be attached, but not fired, when there is not enough power.

Items and Abilities
Engineers, as mentioned before, specialize in lots of explosions. When near an objective or near an enemy dynamite or mine, an icon appears to let you know that you can use the pliers on it to either build it or disarm it. Note that while engineers have the pliers, they are not immune to landmine explosions. The flak jacket gained when the player's engineering skill is maxed out, however, can make the engineer a powerful mine-clearer by simply sprinting through an enemy minefield.
 * Pliers: Arguably the most versatile "weapon" in the game, the pliers are the engineer's primary tool. Using it on an objective causes that objective to be built - on a vehicle, it allows it to be repaired - and on dynamite and mines to either arm them or defuse them (it is possible to defuse your own mines and dynamite). Pliers, obviously, are not weapons.
 * Land Mines: Mines are explosive devices laid in the ground (they cannot be laid on concrete or pavement; they must be laid in the dirt) that click and hiss when a player (allied or enemy) steps on them. Stepping off of them causes the mine to explode, dealing damage. Mines only explode when they are stepped off of. Mines can be countered through a sharp eye (a high levelled battle sense allows you to see them when in close proximity), a Covert ops using binoculars, or an engineer stepping on an enemy mine and then using the pliers on them (whilst not stepping off of it). Mines also work well on vehicles.
 * Dynamite: Dynamite is used to destroy objectives. Fortified doors, command posts, and other objectives necessitate dynamite. Dynamite is laid by an engineer, and then must be armed using the pliers (which are automatically selected once the dynamite is laid). Unarmed dynamite glows yellow and disappears after a while. When armed, both sides announce "Dynamite Planted!" and the dynamite glows red (only if dropped near an objective; dynamite not armed by an objective does not have any prompt at all). A prompt also appears on screen noting all players where the dynamite was planted. The enemy must then attempt to run an engineer to the dynamite and disarm it in thirty seconds - before the dynamite explodes.

Field Ops
Field Ops are essentially a more offensive supporting role. They are considerably deadlier than Medics, but have a similar ability. Field Ops can distribute ammunition in the same manner Medics dispense health. Field Ops, however, are deadliest when employing their marker flares and binoculars. Pressing B and then firing will summon an offscreen artillery strike in a hexagonal area in the vicinity of the target. The resulting explosions are often more than enough to kill mostly anything, and can make an area impassible for the duration of the strike.

Marker flares work similarly to the binoculars, but instead have an airplane fly overhead and drop a string of bombs perpendicular to the Field Ops' facing direction. The explosions are more concentrated and thus more deadly, but against infantry they are somewhat overkill. They are extremely powerful at, however, disabling vehicles, whose large profiles mean they are struck multiple times.

Weapons
Field Ops have only either the MP-40 or the Thompson submachine gun as a selectable weapon.

Special Items and Abilities

 * Marker Flares: Not to be confused with a Covert Ops smoke grenade, marker flares emit a plume of coloured smoke which serve as a beacon for an airstrike. A string of bombs dropped by an invisible plane (all players see are the explosions) decimate pretty much anything they contact, and the splash damage is more than enough to kill completely healthy players or, at the very least, have them wait for a medic. Like the binoculars, however, marker flares cannot be used indoors. There is also a limit to the number of airstrikes that can be deployed at once. Additionally, the plane must be able to see the marker flare - if the flare is covered, either by a building, underneath a tank, or even under another player - the flare will explode with the force of a grenade, but the plane will not drop any bombs. If an airstrike marker is thrown at you, therefore, lie prone on it until you hear the plane fly by. Then get off the flare before it explodes.
 * Binoculars: Field Ops can activate their binoculars with the B key. Doing so and pressing fire summons an artillery bombardment in a hexagonal area around the designated target. The strike lasts several seconds, unlike the marker flare (which puts all its power into one or two attacks), and can make an area impassible for several seconds. Like the marker flare, however, they cannot be used indoors; there is also a limit to the number of artillery strikes that can be on the map at once.
 * Ammo Packs: Ammo packs contain some ammunition, and can be upgraded through experience. At higher levels, they contain more ammunition. Some servers have ammo packs also contain helmets, replacing one if you lose yours. Helmets can protect a player against a headshot or against light damage. Other servers, however, have removed this feature. As a result of their ammo packs, Field Ops players are held in high regard by players who expend a lot of ammunition - flamethrowers and portable machine gunners in particular.