Basic Pyro strategy

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Mmmphya harrgh mrgha hrghgph! Click to listen — The Pyro

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The Pyro is a moderately tough class that specializes in close range combat and excels at ambushing enemies with his various flamethrowers. The afterburn he inflicts will steadily damage fleeing foes, making him decent at hit-and-run tactics. His compression blast is extremely disruptive and can be used to reflect projectiles, extinguish burning team mates, or forcibly shove enemies around. His flames nullify Cloak and disguises, making him a hard counter to the Spy. While easy to learn, mastering how to properly use his various weapons takes time. A good Pyro will often switch between weapons to maximize damage. At longer ranges, the Pyro is vulnerable to hitscan weaponry, such as the Minigun or Sniper Rifle.

Primary weapons

All of your primary weapons burn through ammunition quickly, so frequently pick up dropped weapons, collect ammo boxes, and visit friendly Dispensers to stay replenished.

Flame Thrower / Rainblower

To easily get into range to use your Flame Thrower, take alternate paths to ambush your opponents. Once in combat, circle-strafe around your foes to make yourself more difficult to hit; the wide spread of your Flame Thrower makes your aiming easier. If opponents flee, don't rely on afterburn to finish them off, as there are many ways to extinguish fire. Switch to your secondary weapon for any enemies at medium range or beyond. Spy-check suspicious teammates by firing short bursts of flame.

• The Rainblower functions identically to the Flame Thrower but also has a taunt attack which can severely damage unaware enemies.

Backburner

Position yourself for ambushes often to make use of the critical hits dealt by the Backburner when attacking from behind. To maneuver behind an enemy in direct combat, make liberal use of circle-strafing. Overall, you sacrifice defense for offense; the increased compression blast cost will make it more difficult to disrupt ÜberCharges as well as defend yourself at long range.

Degreaser

The Degreaser's faster weapon switch time is highly versatile. It pairs particularly well with your compression blast; after igniting and airblasting an enemy, quickly switch to another weapon, such as the Shotgun or Axtinguisher, to deal severe burst damage. Make use of these weapon combinations to compensate for the decreased base damage; combat with solely the Degreaser as well as hit-and-run tactics will be less effective. The Degreaser's fast weapon switch pairs well with the Reserve Shooter's ability to mini-crit airborne players, a basic strategy could be to airblast an enemy and finish him quickly with the Reserve Shooter while he's in midair.

Phlogistinator

Dealing any sort of fire damage when using the Phlogistinator, including that from the Flare Gun or afterburn, will cause your "Mmmph" meter to fill, Instead of the compression blast, using secondary fire when the "Mmmph" meter is full will cause you to perform a taunt that refills your health and grants guaranteed critical hits for a short time. You receive heavily reduced damage while taunting, so you can activate your "Mmmph" both before a fight as well as during one. Because it lacks the compression blast ability entirely, your defensive capabilities are limited and you should focus more on ambushing enemies to deal maximum damage.

Compression blast

The compression blast is a powerful source of utility that can be used both offensively and defensively. Offensively, use it to force ignited enemies into map hazards, out of cover, or into corners, where you can then easily finish them off with powerful weapons like the Axtinguisher. Defensively, use it to reflect projectiles, shove dangerous enemies away, and extinguish teammates who are on fire. The compression blast can even move invulnerable players, such as those under the effects of the standard ÜberCharge.

Secondary weapons

Shotgun

The Shotgun is your most reliable ranged weapon. Use it to engage enemies at medium range, especially when they retreat out of the short range of your Flamethrower. The Shotgun is powerful and is your weapon of choice against other Pyros, who cannot be ignited.

Flare Gun

The Flare Gun fires slow, arcing projectiles that can deal reliable damage to enemies outside the range of even your Shotgun. The Flare Gun deals critical hits to burning enemies, allowing you to finish off retreating foes from a distance. If you cannot safely approach an area, you simply can duck in and out of cover while using the Flare Gun to harass at long range; if you consistently land your shots, you'll be able to deal deceptively large amounts of damage, particularly against immobile targets like a Heavy.

Detonator

Much like the Flare Gun, the Detonator is useful for harassing enemies that are far away or behind cover. The ability to manually detonate your flares gives you a bit of leeway when aiming and allows you to ignite multiple enemies at once. However, the Detonator only deals mini-crits to burning enemies, making it less effective as a finishing weapon. You can use the explosion to flare jump upwards to unusual locations at the cost of a small portion of health, which helps in accessing alternate routes with which to ambush your opponents.

Reserve Shooter

The Reserve Shooter reduces weapon switch time and synergizes very well with your compression blast; use the airblast to force an enemy into the air, then switch to the Reserve Shooter to deal devastating Mini-Crits. Its reduced magazine size makes it less reliable as a standard sidearm, especially when dealing with enemies at medium range or beyond.

Manmelter

The Manmelter functions similarly to the Flare Gun. It has infinite ammunition and a faster projectile speed, but does not deal guaranteed critical hits to burning players and fires more slowly. Alternate fire can be used to extinguish teammates in place of the compression blast, particularly useful if you want to conserve Flamethrower ammunition or are using the Phlogistinator. Each successful extinguishing will cause the Manmelter to store one guaranteed critical hit, allowing it to be used as a strong finishing weapon.

Scorch Shot

The Scorch Shot functions similarly to the Flare Gun but deals less damage and cannot deal guaranteed critical hits to burning players. However, it has the ability to knock back enemies struck by its flares. The farther the flare travels, the further the victim is launched; this makes it useful for shoving enemies that are outside the range of your compression blast, particularly if they're standing near an environmental hazard. Because the Scorch Shot has more utility than damage, pick a stronger primary weapon to use alongside it. Like with the Detonator, the flare's explosion can be used to flare jump.

A unique strategy in Mann vs. Machine is to upgrade the Scorch Shot's reload speed, firing speed, and ammo capacity to make it act like a rapid-fire gun that deals Knockback and afterburn. This strategy is useful when there is a horde of robots approaching from one area.

Melee weapons

Fire Axe / Saxxy / Conscientious Objector / Frying Pan / Lollichop/ Freedom Staff

Seeing as how the Pyro is usually a fairly short-range class, the Fire Axe and its alternatives are mostly used as fall backs and "last resort" weapons. If the player is out of ammo or doesn't have the time to reload, a few hits with the Fire Axe should enable you to finish off any enemy and then give you time to prepare for the next encounter. A viable strategy for the Axe would be to hit the enemy with the flamethrower, airblast them into a wall and then melee them while they are unable to escape. The majority of pyro players use one of the alternative melee weapons in order to gain some extra utility.

Axtinguisher / Postal Pummeler

The Axtinguisher deals guaranteed critical hits to burning enemies and is arguably your most powerful weapon. After igniting an enemy, combine it with the compression blast to easily reposition and kill him from full health. It pairs particularly well with the Degreaser and its faster weapon switch time.

Homewrecker / Maul

Use your Flamethrower and Homewrecker to defend friendly Engineer buildings from enemy Spies and their Sappers. Offensively, it will destroy any unshielded building in no more than two hits. Because of its limited melee range, initially approach a Sentry Gun with your Flamethrower before switching weapons.

Powerjack

When fighting alone, use the health granted by the Powerjack to stay healthy. You need not worry excessively about the melee vulnerability; as the Pyro, you hold a clear advantage when it comes to close range combat. Compared to similar melee combat methods using the Axtinguisher, you sacrifice a hefty amount of burst damage in exchange for survivability.

Back Scratcher

The Back Scratcher is best used when your team lacks a Medic or when you're fighting behind enemy lines, where the increased health gain from pickups will allow you survive better when alone. When concerning interactions with a friendly Medic, the reduced healing rate makes you a poor Medic buddy but allows you to help a Medic build his ÜberCharge at an increased rate for a longer period of time.

Sharpened Volcano Fragment

At melee range, your primary weapons already deal significant damage and set enemies on fire. Thus, you are best off using the Sharpened Volcano Fragment only in Medieval mode, where it is the only weapon that can reliably ignite enemies.

Third Degree

The Third Degree has no downsides and is a straight upgrade from the Fire Axe. It can deal damage not only to struck enemies, but also to any player healing or being healed by the victim via Medic beams. When targeting a Medic's buddy, you can use this weapon to damage both of them at once, particularly useful if the Medic is low on health or difficult to reach. The Third Degree still only deals damage identical to that of the standard Fire Axe; if the connected targets are within close proximity, it may be more efficient to attack all of them at once with your Flamethrower.

Neon Annihilator

The Neon Annihilator deals guaranteed critical hits on wet targets, including those covered in Jarate or Mad Milk. It primarily gives you an effective method for dealing with enemies in water. While it does less damage than your standard Fire Axe, your Flamethrower should suffice for close range battles above the surface. Like the Homewrecker, the Neon Annihilator can additionally be used to defend Engineer buildings from enemy Spies.

Item set effects

The Gas Jockey's Gear

Main article: Item sets

The Gas Jockey's Gear
	Degreaser Powerjack Attendant
Effect	Leave a Calling Card on your victims

The increased move speed granted by the item set allows you to outrun any class but the Scout, allowing you to position yourself for an ambush or retreat more easily. The slight increase in bullet vulnerability is negligible and does not significantly decrease your survival time against classes that utilize hitscan weaponry, such as the Heavy.

See also

• Ambushing
• Team strategy