Ye olde Tf2 guide by a average player

[knifer21]

Now,about the title,yep I'm pretty average at the game,so if you see anything that can be improved on,just say say so.Between it's not gonna be a advanced guide,I made it in my clan forums for anyone whos new to the game.So it won't be chock full of supa duper advice.
Anywho,this guide is in parts.3 classes per part.To make it easier on the eyes.
But first off,to anyone new to the game...
The number one thing you have to know is to NEVER use daft speak(leet or daft speak ie hey im a noob your stoopid,or OMFG HAXXOR.You know the drill.)
Look,if you're new to the game,I seriously recommend you let your team know that.Just say in team text hey I'm new to this.That way you wont get shouted at for screwing up,and hey,your team will probaly help you and give you advice.

Next up,it's a good idea to have a working mic,it helps to tell your team where the enemy is and what they're doing eg they're building a sentry on our balcony.It's vital to use if you plan on using the medic class,as the medic you'll be the No.1 target for the other team.Use the mic, to tell the guy you're healing,what the situation is eg hey heavy I'm getting shot at here,turn around and help.Which brings me onto my next point...
As the guy the medic is healing,LISTEN to teamspeak,please.It's amazing how often I've heard guys yelling at their patients to turn around and help.So it's annoying for the medic cos they're being backstabbed/set on fire/hit with a shovel/whatever,but yet the patient is lost in his own world it seems.And then the medic dies.And then he's really pissed.
One last thing,You cant harm your teammates.Hence why being a spy is really dangerous now.Let me explain with the class tactics
Right...class tactics now,or rules of thumb.If you don't mind it being called that


Spy: Perhaps the most vulnearble of classes,if you get found,thats it.Say hello to mr shotgun in the face.
Dodge pyros like you would cancer.They often flamethrower their teammates,remember,you cant harm your teammates in any way.So if a pyro walks up to you,flames you and you go on fire,he's just found a spy.

You can walk through your teammates,but not enemy teammates,this is how most spys are found out.
Remember,disguise isn't meant to be the win button.It's useful if you're seen at a distance.Up close though,all it takes is for a pyro to set you on fire,or for some idiot to walk into you,and you're pretty much busted.
Now the cloak,you right-click to activate it.It makes you invincible for as long as your cloak bar lasts(It's in the bottom right cornor of your HUD)It's a case of timing with this and good situational awareness.What I do personally is disguise first then cloak,it means I can run out past the other team,run out of cloak(and providing I'm in a corner and no one has seen me),turn around and not get figured out.
Now the problem with the cloak is 1)the pyro,if he flames you while you're cloaked,you'll still be cloaked,but the flames wont.So basically everyone will see a fire moving around on its own.Hmm...and also,the collide thing.If a enemy walks into you,you'll fllicker and your shape will be revealed temporaliy.Watch out for that.

Now weapons.3 weapons,revolver,sapper and knife.All are important.
Revolver is hard to aim,and is to be used as a escape weapon.Run away from enemys chasing you and shoot them.You'll need a good aim,mind.
Sapper.This little thing is used to disable sentrys,dispensers and teleporters.It destroys them in 10 seconds.Why not just shoot the sentry,you might ask.Well,one if you use a revolver or knife,your disguise breaks.With sapper it doesnt.However,engineers can break the sapper by hitting it with their mellee weapon,the wrench,3 times.Remember that.
Knife,is pretty weak.However,backstabs are powerful.Hit somone in the back.1 hit=1 kill.However,it's bugged so at times you can miss when you shouldnt have,or you'll stab someone in their front and still get the kill.

Pyro:This guy is my favorite class.Hey,I like fire.It's fun.
Right,now pyro was first seen as the ambush class.It is now.It's no longer bugged.It's a hell lot more scary though thanks to the pyro update
Still,I've found it's really useful for pushing the enemy back(if the flame gets them,it'll be like poisen,slowly taking bits off their health after the intial burn.).And if you can get them in a group,you can cause absolute chaos.

The other thing about the pyro is if you uber him,you can actually steamroll the other team at times.Honest,he's basically unstoppable for 10 seconds.Sentrys cant get him,neither can the enemy,spys will deffo die.Pretty scary stuff.EDIT: The pyro now has a alternative function on his flamethrower.Airblaster.If you right click,you release a compressed air blast,taking up about 20-30 ammo.It can deflect stickys,grenades and rockets.What it does is if it deflects something it changes its propertes a bit eg a RED soldier fires at you,you deflect,now that rocket is a BLU rocket.Can also deflect critical grenades stickys and rockets as well.However,you can't keep deflecting stuff,once you deflect something,a 1 second delay kicks in meaning you can't deflect all the rockets or whatever being flung at ya.Oh,before I forget,you can deflect sentry rockets back at sentrys as well,if you're close enough.
Now,the pyro has 2 other weapons,the shotgun and axe.I'll cover the shotgun.

Heard the term run and gun?This applys to the pyro.Remember,second the enemy click on that you're setting them on fire,they'll try kill you as fast as they can.So heres what you do.1)set them on fire,2)begin to run back,switch to shotgun,3)proceed to shoot them until they're dead.Part 2 and 3 also apply to if the enemy runs away.You cant keep flaming them,if they run then shotgun them.
Now,the pyro has 3 new unlocks for his weapons.I'll go through them in order(primary secondary melee)
Backburneroesn't have the airblaster on it,so no deflecting.However,if you attack a enemy from behind,it's a automatic crit and you're given 50+health.I hate it personally.Airblaster is too fun to let go of

Flaregun.Single shot,16 shells.It's a ranged fireball really.Useful for deterring snipers(they can't aim properly if they're on fire).

Axetinguisher,the axe unlock.It's a trade off thing.It does less damage than the normal axe does if the person you're hitting is not on fire.If they're on fire though,that's a different story.It crits them then.


Scout:

Alright,first things first,the scout is built for speed,and to also be a nuisance.He's also used to annoy snipers on 2fort.You'll see what I mean if you try that map.
Right,tactics.The scout is the fastest class,but he's also the weakest.He isn't the most vulnearble if you learn to use his speed to your advantage.So it changes the game a little bit.

Perhaps one of the most essential things to learn when playing scout is to imagine that you're being targeted by a sniper at all times,and the only way to break that guys aim is to move unpredictably.Never run in a straight line,same applys for double jumping,jump in one direction and then jump in another at the end of the first jump.The imaginary sniper will never kill you,but if you move predictably,you'll be dead in seconds.Also by moving all over the place,the enemy team cant aim properly at ya,and you make it harder for them to kill you.This in turn makes it easier for you to kill them.Examples of killing include double jumping onto a guys head and blasting him for a second,jumping off,running around him,and then baseball bat him.Just a example of what you can do with this class.

Right,weapons.Scout has 3; scatter shotgun,pistol,and baseball bat.
Scatter gun;like the normal shotgun in this game except it has six bullets before you have to reload and it's faster to fire.Deadly at point blank range,useless at long range.This is where the pistol comes in.Run an gun applys here as well.Shoot the enemy with the shotgun a few times then run back and hit them with the pistol to finshe them off.
As for baseball bat?Not the best meelee weapon,but its good for humilation.Case in point,the sniper.I personally only use it on 2fort,jump over to the enemy snipers,and proceed to hit them till they drop,it's fun.

[knifer21]

Now onto the Heavy
Heavy:
Now the heavy is the opposite of the scout,much like the spy is the opposite of the pyro.He's huge,and he's as fast as a retarded,glass eyed turtle.However,to compensate for that,he's got a frickin mini-gun.For anyone who doesn't get the irony of this thing being called a mini gun,then look here at the meet the heavy trailer made by Valve
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A56yTM58-4Y

Also,this guy has the most health out of every class.He's basically a tank,and like a tank,his weakness is his back.Seriously.Spys have a field day if they see a lone heavy.Anywho,the heavy's strengths...

He's strong.He can kill anyone within a few feet of him.If he gets a critical he's absolutly devestating.He has the most health,therefore he can take the most damage.This makes him a great medic buddy,and usually you'll always find at least one medic whos glued to a heavy.
His weaknesses,make up for his strengths however.As said he is the slowest class,this is where engineers come in handy,but thats for another time.He isn't good at long range.The minigun is best at short-medium range,but absolutly useless at long.Best tactics for him would be to uber him(make him unkillable for 10 seconds if you're new to this)and then go for the nearest mob.He'll kill them in seconds.No point in ubering him if you're dealing with a lone enemy.

So best situations to uber is: 1)dealing with a giant group,2)to push the enemy back if they're entrenched in a certain area,3)to deal with any sentrys that are stopping your progress.
Right,now theres 3 weapons,again.As for all the classes.They are the minigun,shotgun,and fists.Tactics for these 2 weapons?Honeslty dont know,I only use the shotgun if I run out of ammo for the minigun,and thats it really.It's meant to be your back up weapon in this case as you certainly cant run and gun unless the guy you're taking down is Stevie Wonder.

EDIT:Some good advice here from SimOnlee,and I quote this
"a good thing to note about the heavy is that you can spin the barrel midjump, thus if you jump around a corner and spin mid jump you can usually catch enemies off guard. Not to mention that works against other heavies that have their barrel spun up, just make sure you hold crouch when you hit the ground."


Sniper:
This is deffo my weakest class.I'm crap at aiming,which with this class means that I'm just being useless.Right,tactics then(of a sort)
Okay,first things first,if you want to practice with this class,pick a map like 2fort or goldrush.

As I said,aim is important.Why?Your sniper rifle is a bolt rifle(this means you get one shot then reload,shoot then reload.)so if you miss,you've just given your enemy a few extra seconds to kill ya.Oh,and with this weapon,you dont get a crosshair,so you have to use the scope.Also,the sniper is the only class that can get headshots,so thats something.When you use the scope,you dont get a crosshair,you get a coloured dot instead(so the enemy know if theres a sniper around).

Now,the sniper also gets a smg as a secondary weapon,and a machette as a mellee.These are for if the enemy gets too close for comfort,also useful for spychecking. Sorry for this bit being short but this is my weakest class.Any input for advice would be great though


Engineer:
Now this class I'm kinda familar with.
Right,first thing to know about the engineer is what he can build.
3 things,sentry,dispenser,and teleporter.Sentry is a turret basically,it's used to protect a area or slow down the enemy a bit.It can be built up up through 3 levels.Level 1 it's just ye olde weak sentry,level 2 is a bigger version that can fire more bullets.Level 3 can fire bullets and frickin rockets.

However,to build up sentrys or anything,you need a certain amount of metal.You start out with 200 metal,and you can spend it on building stuff,and you can regain it through weapons lying around(everyone drops whatever weapon they were holding when they die),or through a dispenser(a dispenser recovers your health and ammo,it's kinda like a permanent medikit and ammo supply if you may).This is why you often see dispensers behind sentrys,to build them up and to repair them.
Warning though.I wouldn't put a dispenser right behind you and a sentry in front.If you have to do this,put the dispenser right up against a wall cos if you don't,a spy can actually cloak and disguise,crouch behind your dispenser,uncloak,and your sentry will fire at them,killing you in the process.Oh yeah I forgot to mention,your sentry can hurt and kill ya.

As for teleporters...I think you can guess what they are for surely.Okay if you dont,they're used to either arrive at the frontline faster,or to speed up reinforcements.

Stuff to remember,with the sentry,you have to know that sentrys are only meant to be used to hold the other team back a bit,it wont win the game for you.

Now,tactics.Always move and build in a new place after your sentry or any of your buildings have been taken down cos the enemy will eventually click on and see you as a easy predictable target.Always move your stuff somewhere else to keep the other team guessing.Also,always try to build somewhere they wont expect(you'll see what I mean when you start to get to know the maps well).
Now,beware the spy,if someone who appears to be in your team saps your building,kill him first then destroy the sapper(honestly,you really should,if you concentrate on your building,the spy will just kill you if he's any good).

The engineer has 5 weapon slots; shotgun,pistol,wrench,4th slot is for deciding what you want to build,and 5th allows you to destry your buildings.

One last thing.Important this.You can only build one sentry,one dispenser,and 2 teleporters at any time.Just so you know. Also,you can't walk through your own buildings,but your team mates can,so if a guy on your team jumps up on one of your buildings(except teleporter of course)he's a friggin spy and you should shoot him,like now.

[knifer21]

Alright first things first I decided to pick these 2 classes to put in the same part of the guide cos they're similar in some ways.Anywho,first up is the scottish alcholic...

The Demoman!:Alright,important things to know,the demoman is the indirect version of the solider,and he's the only class that has greneades,of a sort.Also,he cant defend himself really if any other class get too near to him.I'll explain this soon.
The demoman has 3 weapons,his primary is a grenade launcher,it can fire 4 grenaedes before having to reload,beware the reload is quite slow.On another note,these aint normal grenades,these buggers are bouncy.

Let me explain.These grenades dont explode on impact with stuff(unless you actually hit a enemy),and they bounce off stuff like the ground and walls.This is where part of the indirect aspect comes in.If you angle it right,you can kill enemys in the next room or area without having to go too near to there.Oh,one last thing.

IMPORTANT: you can take damage from your grenades if they explode too near you or they bounce of something and hit you,your teammates cant be harmed though so it's okaay!

Now his secondary weapon is a type of mine launcher.But it's called a sticky launcher.Stickys are just wee bomb versions of mines,and they can stick to walls,ceilings,the gro
und,not people sadly
You get 8 of these stickys before you have to reload.However,you decide when they blow up.So more like a remote controlled bomb then.However,you can only explode up to 8 stickys,if you try fire more without exploding any,then some of your stickys will dissapear depending on how many more you fire(again,max limit is eight).

Now,theres a trick you can do with the stickys ,it's called sticky jumping.It's where you fire a sticky on the ground,jump over it,and explode it while in that jump,to send you flying to greater heights.
Useful for jumping onto higher up areas other chracters cant reach,or to speed up the distance you have to travel(it can also send you just plain flying at a fast speed).However,the trade off for this is you lose a bit of health.So you have to be careful with how many stickys you use to try this(2 at most,3 is risky,4 or more you'll either go up so high in the air you'll die on impact with the ground,or you'll blow up.

And of course,theres his mellee weapon,the bottle of beer....the must have item for the discerning Scotsman.It's alright if you get into a close combat situation,but if that happens,chances are you're just gonna die.Sorry.

Right,a few tips before I move on.

People never ever look up(actual fact,listen to the commentary on portal and see what I mean.)
So use this to your advantage.For example,you're left with defending a control point,and it's in a building with a ceiling.Alright,sticky the ceiling then,cos the enemy will only look at the ground for any traps.
Only sticky the ground as a detterent or if you need to seperate a uber group(they cant be hurt but if you can seperate them,then the medic will stay ubered,but his pal wont)


The Soldier:Now,the soldier is often regarded as the easiest class to get to grips with,often known as the class for Quake players.It's direct,simple and straight to the point.It's a all-rounder if you may.It can be used for most combat situations.

Right,first off,the soldier has the second most health in the game,and is the second slowest,only Heavy is slower and more tougher in terms of health.

Now,weapons.The soldiers primary is a frickin rocket launcher.It can fire 4 rockets at a time,but these rockets are slow so they can be avoided.And the reload is really slow.

Remember the demomans trick?The soldier has the same trick except he uses rocket jumping.You have to aim at the ground,jump and then fire to go up greater heights.Just be careful cos you do take damage from this,and if it's a crit rocket,you're gonna lose a lot of health.Do this trick while running to help reach those higher places.
His secondary is the shotgun,just a normal shotgun.It's your backup if the enemy are getting too close for comfort(remember if you're too near one of your rocket explosions you do take damage),and providing you got a good aim at them,it can be pretty powerful in its own right.
And last up is his mellee weapon,the shovel.It's okay I suppose,but it's a fact it does the least damage out of all the mellee weapons,so it's a last resort weapon.
EDIT:More advice from SimOnlee
"the wisest move is not to aim directly for them but to aim at the ground near them.. That way you can knock them into the air then hit them with another rocket either midflight (if you can aim!) or when they land again. This is particularly deadly against medics pyros and other soldiers."

Here we are,end of the line for the classes.God this is gonna take a while.

The Medic:Now,the Medic is first off the healing class.In other words,you'd have more chance of killing more than one person per life by yourself if you played the spy without a disguise or cloak.While drunk or drugged.An exaggeration but it's neccessary.Rambo medic's tend to die A LOT more than the clever ones.
So how does the medic heal?Well,his secondary weapon,the healing gun(or uber gun)it restores other teammates health,but not the medic in question.

His other two weapons are the syringe gun(it fires 40 syringes per round) and the bonesaw.

Now the syringegun isn't like other weapons,cos you need to use gravity.Y'see,the syringegun fires in a arc,not straight at the target,so say theres a target a few feet in front of you,you'll need to adjust your aim and aim a bit upwards to compensate for gravity.
As for the bonesaw,it's superb for close combat cos it seems to crit a lot if you hit someone with it(again,crit is when you do a lot lot more damage than you usualy do eg normal shot->>crit shot)

Now,I need to cover 2 things for the healing gun,and a extra few things for the syringegun and bonesaw.Let's start with the healing gun.

Okay,when you heal your teammates,you can actualy increase their health over thier normal maxinum eg normal Heavy has 300 hp,when you overheal him,he now has 450.Another thing of intrest is the HUD,when you take the healingun out,look in the bottom right corner of your screen(where the HUD is)you'll see a bar,it'll be empty,and it'll say ubercharge above it.Ubercharge is when you and your patient become invulnerable for 10 seconds,it's devestating if used right.Now,you can only do this when the bar is full,and to get that bar full,you need to heal your teammates.However,to get the bar to go up faster,switch between healing teammates,don't just heal one guy all the time,it'll take much longer,and it'll annoy your other teammates.
Another thing about the healing gun is that it can stop fire.Seriuosly,if one of your teammates is on fire,just rush over to him.click on him and he'll be back to normal in a few seconds(oh forgot to mention,healing with the gun is just a case of aiming at someone then clicking left click.Right click is used to activate the ubercharge.IMPORTANT:You can't heal someone who's more than a few feet away,so you'll need to follow them to keep them healed.)

Okay,now,that's teh ubercharge version of the healing gun(I'll call it medigun from now on),there's another version,called the krietzkrieg.

Now,this version is hardly used and it's a shame really,cos in the right situations,it's pretty damn powerful.What the krietzkrieg does is instead of giving you a ubercharge,instead when the bar is full and you right click,your patient has a 100%chance of crits for 10 seconds,so he isn't invulnerable and neither are you.But,it's useful for clearing out mob's and chokepoints if you can get another medic to ubercharge your patient at the same time so he's invulnerable and supa-overkill for any bugger who gets in his way.Problem is,you'll not be invulnerable so you'll have a higher chance of being killed.This is why medic's need to communicate.So they can have a plan or team up to complete a objective.
Now,a list of who should be top priority for the ubercharge when you want to go invulnerable:

Top is best,bottom is worst.

Pyro or demo(pyro has speed,Demo has grenades and stickys)

Heavy(Ideal for dealing with the main assault,speed is a problem so it'll be harder to deal with sentrys)

Soldier(4 rockets then slow reload,at least Heavy can just keep firing,Soldier can't)

Scout(in certain situations eg need to defend a cap point and need to defend it quickly,scout is your man,otherwise,just avoid as his speed will mean he'll bugger off,right into a sentry if he's unlucky)

Engineer(defense only,say he needs to keep whacking his sentry to prevent it being destroyed,but the other team are just charging in,then use uber on him)

Sniper and spy(No,just no,unless the sniper is a really cracking sport and can get headshots with every bullet he fires.As for spy?C'mon,only if you're really desperate cos best he could do ubercharged is sap all the sentrys and try backstab the engi's.In other words,don't ubercharge these guys unless it's friday night and you're particualry drunk)


Okay,off the mediguns for now.Onto the syringegun and bonesaw again
Right,see the krietzkrieg?That's a unlock for the medic,so of course there will be a unlock for his other 2 weapons.And here they are...

The Blutsauger
This is the unlock you can use instead of the normal syringegun.More like a upgrade though cos although it can't crit like the normal syringegun can,every shot that hits a enemy gives you 3hp(it's a nice way of getting your health back).So basically,the Medic can defend themselves and even(if they're good)take down Heavys by themselves.It's annoying for pyro's,back before the unlocks,pyro's had nothing to fear from medics.Now,they need to set the medic on fire and keep the flamethrower on him cos he'll be firing back getting some health back. >

Ubersaw
This is the bonesaw unlock,it's powerful if you know when to use it aka in extreme close combat,in other words,don't go to the enemy with this,let them come to you.The ubersaw is slower than the normal bonesaw in that it swings a bit slower and takes more time for another swing.It also crits rarely.On the plus hand,if you hit a enemy with it,you gain 20% more of your ubercharge.So,if you hit enough enemys(5 times)then you'll have a full ubercharge.Also,it's more powerful than the normal bonesaw(in my opinion).Seriously,I jumped 2 guys on Goldrush and took them out in the space of 5 seconds with the ubersaw.

Tacticson't worry,this part is nearly over
Right,Important things to know.
When you uber someone and you're dealing with a sentry,always run ahead of your patient,the sentry will target you and not your patient so your patient wil be albe to destroy it with nearly no fuss whatsoever.

Get a mic and start communicating.Your uber is no use if the guy you're gonna use it on doesn't know when and where you're gonna use it,and what you want him to do eg try destroy that sentry.

Okay,tell your patient what's going on constantly,that way,you can hopefully get his attention if you're attacked.Failing that,run away and let your patient get killed.Seriously,your life is more important,espcially if you want to preserve that ubercharge.
Collegues before comrades.

By this I mean,heal other medics if they get attacked,then concentrate on the rest of the group.2 medics is better than 1.

And that's it from me.
And one last thing,a cheery pic

[Johnny5_Hull]

[knifer21]

Uh oh.That aint a good sign is it?

[Johnny5_Hull]

Nah...

Only kidding.....It's just that it's Monday, and in the afternoon....I was never gunna read it without my brain going AAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!



However, it does actually look like a good read, so I will read it later.... promise

[knifer21]

No probs .Sorry for it being a huge wall of text but I can't really do a lot about that.I think

[Johnny5_Hull]

Maybe break it up with some pics

[BeN]

WOW that is a long guide - did you write it all your self? or was it c/p?

:2guns: :2guns:

[knifer21]

I wrote it up in our clan forums(not the ones in this forum,the orginal MD uk one.)And just copied and pasted it from there.And added a few things.

[Sim0nlee]

Its a pretty good guide I must say, although it doesn't help that its a wall of text. Hurts the eyes to read so try dropping a space or two in there. Maybe a few images.

I'd say that comment on the scout is fairly accurate, never really thought of it like that to be fair. Sniper scope run little man, run! :P

You could maybe add a couple of things though, a good thing to note about the heavy is that you can spin the barrel midjump, thus if you jump around a corner and spin mid jump you can usually catch enemies off guard. Not to mention that works against other heavies that have their barrel spun up, just make sure you hold crouch when you hit the ground.

Also, with the soldier the wisest move is not to aim directly for them but to aim at the ground near them. That way you can knock them into the air then hit them with another rocket either midflight (if you can aim!) or when they land again. This is particularly deadly against medics pyros and other soldiers.

But yeah. Good job on writing the guide and taking the time to write it up.

[knifer21]

Yeah.Cool.I would put that advice in but I can't edit any of my posts.

[Johnny5_Hull]

You can now....

I've turned the time limit off.... just for this project especially

It is normally set to 60mins edit time (for future refference )

[CrushedSouls]

Knifer break it up a little with those cool, screenys you made ..

[knifer21]

Done,edited it and added a few screenies and SimOnlees advice.So cheers SimOnlee.And cheers for taking the time off the edit Johnny 5 Hull