Some thoughts on the pyro

Maybe I get incredibly lucky, and my experiences with pyros are outliers but I really think people have got the wrong idea about pyros. I know that Valve intended pyros to be the up close one on one fighter, and I know that this just isn’t the case – any one gibbed by a crit rocket at close range can tell you that. However, just because they do not fulfill the role as well as they could doesn’t mean they are bad. Pyros can be super effective but only when used within the confines of what they are good at.

So I guess my main point is that being a one vs one pyro wont get you very far, but that’s ok. A pyro working within and around a team’s main offensive punch – medic/heavy, soldiers whatever – can be a great boon to the team. Once the pyro is not the focus of the enemies fire, he can run around skirmishing particular high value targets and generally getting up in every bodies business. Pyros are the force of entropy within the TF2 universe. We spread chaos, a spinning-burning pinwheel of flamey point assist getting goodness. So while we may not always be able to skirmish on our own, or kill every single soldier that we see, its ok. Pyros are good because they have the capacity to wreck havoc on groups and completely stall any enemy offensive push for that bit of time necessary for your slower teammates to get on the scene. While working with the Team pyros can do pretty spectacular things. Isn’t it funny how the games called Team Fortress 2 after all.

Pyros are also double fine as defense. Working with demos – perhaps your sensing a theme by now – makes for an unbeatable defense team. Demo sticky traps, pipe bombs far targets, pyro burns those who come in close, destroys intelligence carrying scouts, and fills the tight quarters of any base with walls of flame. In addition a pyro is the spy checker and any Engy worth his salt will be glad to have a friendly pyro about to ensure few surprises. Pyros also serve as Sentry gun killing fiends, as long as the sentry is focused on someone else. But within an assaulting column this is completely feasible.

Weapon wise, I think most criticize the pyro because those players rely entirely too much on the flamethrower. The shotgun is a pyros best friend. The whole point is to burn when you can, get out of dodge, and then shotgun the sucker to death. The fire axe is also just about the greatest thing ever. Lighting Heavies on fire and then axing them to death is an experience worth paying for. 

It’s true that Pyros have issues, hit box problems are constantly frustrating and detract from the pyromaniac joy that comes from playing this class well. Many on these forums, (I’ve been lurking around until now) like to list how many downsides you have when you play a pyro. But every class has its pros and cons. And if the Pyro has more cons than most classes, it just means it’s a difficult class to play, and is even more rewarding to master.

Sauce Master, you are a spectacular writer, I congratulate you.  You have distilled the essence of the Pyro into a delectable essay on Pyrocitic tactics and thinking.  If you were to write a more detailed essay on tactics, I should be proud to welcome you into the ranks of the rest of us crazies who have picked up the pen.

Cheers,
            -Scorch

Well thank you, I really appreciate the support. I really think pyro-ing can benefit a team. Its a lot like how I imagine it must be to wrestle a bear. You can die a lot in the attempt, but if you can do it well, your about the most badass person ever and a little insane.

I agree with you Sauce, but I have yet to see a Pyro used competitively, and until one is, few others will realize just how useful the Pyro is.

Yeah, I think the problem with that is that pyros do so much that they don't get points for. The psychological scare factor of a pyro leaping out of no where has impact, even if the score does not recognize this. ( Personally I wish that the on fire graphics were a little more distracting, people don't freak out about it like they used to.) Pyros don't get congratulated for securing a flank, or wasting the time of a medic who gets stuck in one place dealing with flaming allies rather than helping a soldier kick apart your teams defense. Pyros can be more pest-like than scouts, but the game doesn't account for that. Which for me, is entirely ok. I gain immense satisfaction from lighting a soldier who then runs past a door to get health and is promptly popped in the head by my teams sniper. I may not get assist points for it because I did minimal damage compared to the sniper, but I know that I set that kill up. Its a pity most people don't recognize the private, and often poetic joy that comes with changing the course of a battle, even if it doesn't change the score board.

soldiers are the absolute WORST thing to try and kill with a pyro
its ok, every class has their weakness
i still love the pyro, how can you not love toasting a whole crowd of people and then rushing out before they know what happened? xD

nice post sauce
oh and by the way, dont you love it when you set someone on fire, they run to get a health pack, but fall down dead right infront of it

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I use it competitively, in fact i'm going to pyro it up when the TWL league starts, and finally people will fully realize just what the pyro can do and why they are important

Eh, you can kill soldiers, but only if your really stylish -- and by stylish I mean lucky -- and you have a good plan in mind. Mostly though you get them when their distracted, or when your below them and you toast their feet and they don't notice immediately. I love burning from below.

I also agree, you have given the Pyro justice, well in a sense. True I get discourage when my rank is lower then others, constantly dying as I helplessly watch my burning target not only kill me but get healed, my own attack being ineffective, I feel as if I am not doing my part. But when I ignite a spy just about to make his back stab on a engine removing sappers from his turret, or set ablaze a whole attack force, causing the two medics to panic and use their uber-charge early, only to waste them when they get flattened by the defensive position my team set up. And even the feeling of superiority when I outflank and outsmart and take out a Solder or a Heavy, without them noticing my approach. True a Pyro's effectiveness is in luck, aggressiveness and timing. But use of brains, stealth, and some faith is also needed.

Excellently written article, Sauce Master! I agree with you that the pyro's function, besides ambushing, is being a distraction and causing chaos. I mean, you have a decent amount of health, move relatively quickly, and have a weapon that causes residual damage. Like Kill it with fire! said (nice name, by the way!), even making a medic uber early is fulfilling your function, especially since first they have to deal with you, then they have to move to the frontline if they were not their already, thus wasting the uber. One point I would like to disagree with you is that pyro shouldn't work alone. I have found that being able to sneak pass the lines and take out medics that have spawned and missed the teleporters is a very valuable function. This is somewhat to difficult to do with more people, as there are more people to sneak in, less people on the other front, ect. This is just my opinion, however, and I have done well with both methods.

Also:
Rizzilio can use the pyro quite competitevely. Have you seen his demo?