Team Fortress 2/Pyro

The Pyro is a close-range class, effective in both attack and defence roles. They have average speed, and 175 hit points, so they can take a decent amount of damage. They carry:

• a flamethrower (weapon 1) - the flamethrower is potentially the most lethal close-range weapon available. One hit is enough to set an enemy on fire and they will continue to take damage for a few seconds. Flame damage stacks, so the longer an enemy is bathed in flames the longer they will slowly be eaten away by fire, and so take damage for longer, often until they die or are healed. When a critical shot is granted, the flames become blue and become even more deadly, but only for a short time. The flamethrower's biggest disadvantage is its incredibly short range, and you can be quite easily killed before the flames even reach their target.

• a shotgun (weapon 2) - the shotgun is the Pyro's longer-range weapon. It's a lot less damaging than the pyro's flamethrower, but makes up for it with a longer range and so becomes a good choice when the enemy gets beyond the range of the flamethrower. It does a decent amount of damage and is quick to fire, but slow to reload (it reloads shell by shell), leaving you vulnerable. The shotgun gets more damaging the closer the enemy is, but once they get close enough, the flamethrower becomes much more useful. Use this only at mid-range targets or when your flamethrower runs out.

• an axe (weapon 3) - this is the Pyro's melee weapon. It's not particularly special, and each swing is quite slow, but it's immensely satisfying when you get a kill by sinking an axe into someone's back or face. It is said to be very accurate.

Using the Pyro

The Pyro is almost exclusively a short-range class. They are practically harmless at long range, but their combination of average speed and fair amount of health make them harder to hit than Soldiers or Heavies, and so able to avoid much hassle from Snipers or Soldiers firing rockets. The Pyro should try to get toe-to-toe with enemies as much as possible, since that's when the flamethrower is most damaging, and ambushing enemies by coming up behind them or dropping off a higher ledge often works very well. Offensively, a Pyro is a very effective anti-Scout class. If you hide behind corners, the Pyro can work well defensively by setting alight enemy attackers who run past without noticing. Heavy/Medic combos can be taken down easily too, if the Pyro hides and then runs straight at the Medic whilst spewing them with flames.

The stacking nature of the Pyro's flames also means that you can set enemies on fire, toast them for a bit, then run off and let the burning finish the job. This works well against low-health classes like Medics, Scouts and Spies (although not that well against Soldiers and Heavies). If you are under threat from enemy Spies, a paranoid Pyro who goes around trying to burn everyone on their team (assuming friendly fire is off) is a good way of rooting out disguised spies, since they catch fire and will continue to burn whilst cloaked, revealing them as an invisible blur surrounded by flames.

They are also effective against enemy Pyros too - their flame-retardent suit means that whereas they can take damage from fire, they don't actually burn, and a skilful Pyro can take out an enemy Pyro with little trouble and shrug the flames off afterwards.

Defeating Pyros

Unless you have good aim with another close-range weapon like the rocket launcher or scattergun and have a method of healing nearby, close-range assaults against a Pyro will likely result in your death. Staying outside the range of the flamethrower whilst continuing to attack an enemy Pyro works far better, since the range of the flamethrower is very short and many other weapons continue to be effective outside that range - even the Medic's syringe gun.

Good aim as a Sniper also helps; Pyros don't move as quickly as Scouts or Medics but they are still quite fast, but susceptible to Snipers if they can aim well. Soldiers or Heavies grinding them down from a distance also works. Basically, to beat them, stay out of the flames. As outlined before, Scouts and Spies are generally at a disadvantage when it comes to Pyros.