Pyro Guide (3 of 3): Advanced Tactics

This is the last bit about how to play Pyro. This one will be shorter, because in depth tactics are fewer than standard skills. But these are probably going to be the defining skills. Any pyro who can perform these moves is deserving of the term "advanced player".

First, lets talk about what not to do. I have avoided mentioning this, because I personally didn't go through this phase. But many beginner pyros go through a phase where they are known as "W+M1 Pyro". This is a derogatory term that refers to the habit of many new pyros the charge straight at an enemy while spewing fire, no matter how far away the enemy is. Don't do this. It should be obvious based on what I have previously said, but this is the dumbest thing a pyro can do. You have no element of surprise with a head on charge, and your range is way too short for this kind of attack. Seriously, I can't stress this enough. DO NOT BE A "W+M1" Pyro!!!!!


Advanced Airblasting:
I have already talked about airblasting in great length. Here, I am gonna cover so more obscure tactics. An excellent trick is to airblast enemies into environmental hazards. These include pits, buzzsaws, and trains. Anything that kills instantly will also kill through an uber. The ultimate in airblasting is the pyro rocket jump. This is when a pyro reflects a rocket under her feet to get a jump boost just like soldiers do. Though this is seriously epic, the health loss rarely justifies the movement advantage.

Flare Jumping:
More so than the rocket jump, the pyro's flare jump is the pyro's best movement boost. By using the Detonator's explosion, the pyro can gain a little bit extra in a jump for a loss of about 30 health. The boost isn't very high, and the timing is really hard to get the hang of. But the benefits are outstanding. It only works are certain maps, but that extra boost can allow the pyro to get to areas usually reserved for scouts, soldiers and Demos. My favorite is on the map Doublecross. The pyro can flare jump onto the enemies battlement roof and drop down on enemy snipers. This is the real value of flare jumping: being somewhere the enemy does not expect to see a pyro. You'll have to do some exploring to find the spots where the boost is legitimately useful, but those spots are invaluable.

Finally, I need to talk about lag. The pyro's fire cone gets an unusual effect because of the way servers keep track of player locations and attacks. When moving forward, the visual cone of fire will actually lag behind the damage cone, reducing the range slightly. This means sometimes enemies will appear to be in range, but will just be outside of it. Similarly, when moving backwards, the damage cone is longer than the visible fire cone. This is most noticeable when two pyros attack each other. One charges forward, the other backpedals; both are spraying fire. Even though retreating is slower, the retreating pyro has longer range and will always hit the attacking pyro first. This can definitely be exploited with less experienced pyros. This deceptive range should always be remembered when attacking.

Well, thats it. Please don't flame me.