We are looking for new guides for our new section - "Guides" - on our website.

If you are interested in making a guide, please let us know and we will reserve the guide on the website.

Currently we are looking for updated guides for all maps and classes except the spy

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<@Howard_s> usa just has a made up economy - they can't really go broke

JuncoPartner: I could barely hold it up for long.

good luck finding writers ^^
I think it's a great idea <3

You mean there will be an extra section for the nine classes?
And u need somebody to write some guides for them?
If so, I could try and do at least a guide for Demoman

yeah, the website now has a list of (future) guides and they need to be written~!
I could do soldier, but rather not ^_~

The heavy

This guide will take you through your baby steps as a heavy weapons guy and will turn you into a mean lean killing machine.

Before you even start thinking about playing heavy, you need to realize the role that the heavy plays in Team Fortress. Personally I have started viewing TF2 as an MMO, where every character fullfills a role. If you are looking to zip accros the map, backstabbing and robbing people of their lifes then the heavy weapons guy is not your class. If you like taking crit rockets to the face and live, move around like a slow lumbering giant that destroys anything that comes close, then the heavy is the class for you. Lets not forget that when you go onto a massive rattatatata spree the heavy will shout all sorts of nonsense that will crack you up the first few times you hear it and will never be boring. In general people think that the heavy is quite an easy class to play, this is true but it is also a class that will take some time to master.

Anyhow, if we are to compare the heavy weapons guy with a term from an MMO, we would call him the tank. The heavy starts with a base health of 300, and if you manage to get a medic with you that amount of health rises to 450. It sounds like a lot, but remember you are big, slow and well... heavy.

Lets take a look at the arsenal of the heavy, before we go into any tactics:

1. Sasha, aka the Minigun

Aah the bread and butter of the heavy, riff this baby up to full speed and anything at close to moderate range will get cut up into ribbons pretty fast. So what are the statistics on this baby?
You'll get a clipsize of 200, this might sound like quite a bit, but if you keep constantly firing your Sasha you'll find yourself out of ammo in approximately 20 seconds. Thats not a long time, on the bright side if you manage to hit your opponents with all bullets at pointblank range you will do over 500 damage per second! One bullet does 50 damage, but you'll fire around 10 per second. Remember that these statistics are measured from pointblank range. A critstreak with Sasha will up your damage to over 1000 damage per second, if anything manages to survive that, they are ubered and you shouldn't have been firing at them.

2. The Shotgun

Well, fairly standard shotgun, you share this baby with the soldier, pyro and engineer. Its a decent weapon, but I say that that its use is very limited, since the minigun is flat out better in most situations. The shotgun comes with 6 rounds loaded and a supply of 32 slugs. A pointblank hit will do around 80 to 90 damage and a critical hit will double that.

3. Your fists

The heavy is the only class that actually gets to use his own fists in battle, its the only class that will allow you to relive the greatest moments of Rocky. A leftclick will swing the left fist, a right click will swing the right fist. A crit will deliver a powerfull undercut that will basically launch your opponents teeth through his brain. Too bad you are slow, else you wouldn't need to use your guns because lets face it Rocky is just soo much cooler. A jab with either of your fists will deal between 45 and 85 damage, an uppercut will deal 195 damage which will kill just about any class.

How to actually play the heavy

Well first up, play a spy and go find a heavy to stab. I think this will be the fastest way for you to get used to the idea of having a large back and moving slow. By playing spy and trying to backstab heavies you'll learn when to pay attention as a heavy and it will also make sure you will become paranoid since you have some experience as a spy. The spy is one of the classes that is well equipped to take down a poorly played heavy. You'll probably still die to spies every now and then, but you can cut the amount of deaths due to them down by a lot with a simple bit of experience. Okay, so now we have selected the heavy class and want to cut people down. Here is a couple of golden rules you will want to abide.

Rule #1
Get a medic

I swear, a good medic can turn the heavy in a truly nearly indestructable wall. Remember how I said the heavy is the tank off TF2? Well we all know that tanks need healers to keep the hurt coming to them. 450 health is a lot, and you will be able to take a crit and laugh. A good medic will most likely stick to you anyhow. The heavy deserves a medic, he is the biggest baddest guy on the team and the biggest baddest guy always gets what he wants. I mean, would you like to tank ragnaros in WoW while the healer goes heal the rogue? Ofcourse not, so get a medic. If you really can't get a medic and insist on playing the heavy, stay around chokepoints and make sure everyone else moves in before you do. That way they can take the brunt of the force for you.

Rule #2
Look around you A LOT.

Many of the faster classes will try and ambush your medic, specifically the scout, spy and pyro will try to kill your medic. They don't care if they die, since a heavy without a medic is a good as dead heavy. Look around, see if the medic is okay, even when you are firing guns ablaze at enemies in front of you it will never hurt do a quick flick around so you see if there is anything coming up behind you. You can do this because you have massive health and the enemy will take a while to take you down. Well longer then it would normally anyhow.

Rule #3
Use your ears

If you hear the medic cry like a little baby, that will probably mean he just got backstabbed by a spy and your next on the list. Turn around and check it out.

Rule #4
Learn the maps

This goes for any class, learn where the snipers are. Learn where the points of entry are. Learn where the chokepoints are, you'll love chokepoints as a heavy by the way.

Rule #5
For the love of god jump!

Okay here is a trick that will instantly improve your play as a heavy, if you know its likely that there will be enemies around the corner don't spin up your gun and slowly round the corner. You can jump around the corner and while in the air you spin up your gun, this will allow you to almost instantly fire at opponents around the corner and they wouldn't have heard and seen you coming for ages. The forward or sideward momentum you gain by jumping should be enough to jump right into the open with a little practice.

Rule #6
Patience is a virtue with the heavy. There is no point in rushing into a battle if the enemy is at a largish distance. Your minigun will not do much damage. If the rest of your team is pushing up, follow them but don't fire up your gun everytime you see an enemy. You might want to switch to a shotgun at this point but usually I don't even bother since it will do crap damage. When you get to a reasonably close range you can start firing at your opponent, if he hasn't died by the hands of your teammates.

If you are alone with your medic, try and stay around an enclosed area. You'll have the advantage on other classes here, because your minigun will rip them into ribbons and you can't get sniped by snipers. When your medic gets the uber ready you can try and run out and go for a point, otherwise just stay put because our friendly rogues ehm... dps classes... ehm assualt classes will be there soon.

Rule #7
OMG WHERE DID THE SCOUT GO!?

He is on top of your head slapping you with his bat dummy. As a heavy you are a slow moving platform when your gun is firing, scouts can use your head as a platform to sit on and bat you into the ground.

Rule#8
Use the bomb

On goldrush, you can increase your movement speed by quite a lot when your gun is firing. Simply stand infront of the cart, when there are around 3 people pushing the cart it will go faster then you could move by firing your gun. Basically you turn the bomb into a minecart with minigun in front.

Rule #9
Check your ammo

No action? Replenish your ammo. You don't want to run out while in a gun fight. In action? Still check your ammo when the enemy retreats you'll want to head for the nearest ammobox so you can hold them off on their next push.

Rule #10
He who runs away lives to fight another day.

Sometimes its better to fall back to a position thats easier to defend. You are the person who decides where the frontline is, and most likely the enemy will hang around you to try and kill you. You are buying your team time the longer you are a live, so go find a good spot that you can hold down for a while. The enemy should actually ignore you and your medic and find a different route so they can assualt the lower health classes, but somehow people refuse to give up. I've seen plenty of scouts annoy the shit out of a team and drag away valuable firepower from the frontline, the heavy does the same but he makes sure that his own team gets a chance to push up again.

Rule #11
A headset will make you awesome

You can tell what is going on, you can call out spies, you can tell people you are going to get ammo, you can tell your medic to fire up the uber. It will simply make the game easier.

The heavy and other classes

Okay, so since its a bit silly to go into a heavy vs <insert class here> discussion I'll just give a last few pointers on the tactics the enemy will try to use against you.

Pyro and Scout
They will try to run circles around you at point blank while bunnyhopping like crazy. There are two solutions to this problem, increase your mouse sensitivity so you can keep up with them. Or shoot them before they get point blank. Either way if you manage to hit them you will take them down

Demoman
Oh god, I hate these sticky abusing whores. They will launch stickies at your feet and blow you up. easiest way to make them fail is to stop firing and run for a bit. Hell you could even try and hunt them down with the shotgun. Someday I will ban all sticky abusing demoman anyhow.

Soldier
CRIT RAWKITS! They won't kill you in 1 shot, but they are still bloody well annoying. Other then that the soldier has 200 health and won't die as fast as other classes. Still he shouldn't be too much of a threath to you, since it will be hard for him to juggle a big guy like the heavy. You'll probably only loose from a soldier if he fires crit rockets at you. Else he will have to make a run for a medpack before he can even come close to killing you. (Since you should have a medic)

Spy
Well the only way to stop these buggers is to be a paranoid heavy. Look around you, learn where the spy can hide and where he will strike from (tip behind). I don't die as much to spies anymore, usually only once or twice since once I know they are there I will keep looking behind me A LOT

Heavy
If he has no medic you can take him, if he has a medic and you know you are the better heavy you can still take him. The better heavy always has a better chance on crits. I've won plenty of fights against heavies because of those lovely babies.

Medic
He will run away, if he is any good. Else you will cut him into ribbons, and show your medic he should be happy he is on your team.

Sniper
Well I can only say avoid open areas. Usually when I know the CP is in an open area and their are snipers I will wait till the medic has an uber. Then I will rush out jumping and doing all other crazy stuff while heading towards the point. When we get near the point the medic will deploy uber and I will rip the sniper a new one, or rip anyone else a new one.

Engineer
He will hide behind his turret. You can't kill his turret unless you are at near pointblank range. If you can shoot the engineer aim for him instead, if you can kill him you can easily kill the turret afterwards. If the engineer has no turret he will usually try to run away from you.

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Da boyz need themselves a Nob they do

Crovax guide to demoman

Press 2

Fire stickies and use rightclick to make them explode, they do over 125 damage and one sticky will most likely instagib the following classes: Scout, Sniper, Spy and engineer.
For anything else use two stickies
For a heavy that is being healed by a medic you might need three

Crit stickies will most likely instagib everyone, except for a fully overhealed heavy.

After a small bit of practice you can lay stickies at just about anyone's feet. If there are too many enemies coming your way, you can always pull back while firing stickies on the floor and make them detonate. Good chance that you will still blow some of them up

That concludes the demoman guide.

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Da boyz need themselves a Nob they do

I think this should be usefull enough as a newb guide and for some more advanced ones.
If needed I can do some map tactics too, but atm I´m a bit tired of typing.

:

Demoman
or
How to be "Bloody brilliant"


The explosive expert of Team Fortress 2 is no class for "close distance fights", he mostly operates rather indirect, but he is still usefull as offensive and defensive force. Playing the Demoman the first time can be hard, because its a really complex class, due of the lack that he hasnt got any weapons which are able to shoot straightly at a target, so some players rather join a class like soldier or something else, but they who will continue playing it, for those are the following "How to"s, infos and tips.


Weapons

Primary: The Grenade Launcher (splash)
Ammo loaded: 4 Ammo carried: 16
Damage: 65-125 Critical: 295

The grenade launcher shoots grenades which will bounce on any surface and will explode after 4 seconds or after hitting an enemy. You are not able to aim straightly at your target, so if you shoot the grenade will be influenced by gravity. At first it may be hard to hit the enemies at a longer distance but if you are more advanced you know which ancle you need to use. Also an advantage of the grenade launcher is delay from the explosion, because of that you are able to shoot at your enemies also they cannot see you, for example from above and also if they stand behind corners. Just make the gravity your friend. Sometimes it can be also advisable to shoot after prediction or just to spam them, believe me random frags are the nicest, because they come unexpected.

Secondary: The Sticky grenade launcher (splash)
Ammo loaded: 8 Ammo carried: 24
Damage: 90-140 Critical: 336-353

The sticky grenade launcher shoots small bombs which stick to nearly any surface (except gates, enemies, buildings), they do not detonate, the player detonates them manually. Because of that they are very usefull to defend control points and to place "hidden traps", just place them behind a corner or at the ceiling, where the enemy cannot see them, and make them explode as soon as an enemy appears. The trajectory likewise will be influenced by the gravity and the ancl you shoot them, so you need to practice that too. If ubered Stickybomby are the best way for taking out Sentryguns, a good demoman can take out 2 sentrys at different places. Stickybombs can also be used to shoot over a great disstance, you only need to hold Mouse1 and a meter appears displaying the force you will shoot with. Another nice action you can do is similar to reocktjumping, shoot a sticky at the bottom, stand on it, jump and let the bomb explode at the same time and you will fly. Thats very usefull to reach places other classes cannot reach or to move faster. Warning! These tactic will hurt you 2 times, after the explosiond and after landing, so make sure you have got enough health.

Melee: Bottle
Ammo loaded: / Ammo carried: /
Damage: 45-85 Critical: 195

The bottle is the only weapon for short distance and its also the only weapon which wont hurt you because of the splash damage. The bottle will break after hitting somebody or something with a critical. Only usefull as Anti-Spy weapon, if you dont want to waste ammonition or hurt yourself or if you wanna blame your enemy by hitting him from behind.


Playing the Demoman in general

Mapknowledge
Mapknowledge is the key to place your "stickytraps", you need to know from where the enemies will come and you also need to know, where you can place your sticky bomby, so the enemies wont see them.

Weaponhandling
Because of the gravitiy, the ancle you shooting with and the enemy movement, you need to know exactly how to shoot where so you will hit the enemy, the weaponhandling is the mainkey to become a good demoman.

Always fully loaded
Make sure both grenade launcher are always fully loaded, because the 4 grenades of your primary weapon are fastly gone and maybe you need to switch fastly to the secondary, and if this one is empty and you face a heavy, then my friend, you are dead.

Patience
Patience is also written big as Demoman, because sometimes you have to wait some time, untill some enemies will cross your way and your sticky bombs. Patience is the key for long kill streaks without dieing.

Sentry guns and ubers
Demomans are mainly used to destroy sentry guns, so if you will receive an uber charge, concentrate on the sentrys ahead, just dont care about the other enemys, after you placed your stickys retreat and enjoy the sound of crashing metal.

Sticky Jumps
Learn them, if possible call for a medic so he can buff you up to 150% of your health, after that there is nearly no place you cannot reach. At any map you will get an advantage by Stickyjumping.


Matchups

vs. Scout
The chance of killing a good scout is barely small. Because of his speed he can pass your stickybombs from one second to the other, if you dont look. And its very hard to hit them with the normal grenade launcher, you need to be very advanced to do this.

vs. Soldier
Easier to kill as the scout, but only in a "mid distance fight" because if you get to close you will hurt yourself too, and if you are too far away, he will not hit you, but the chance of hitting him is also ver small. Make his slow spped your advantage and use stickys.

vs. Pyro
At long range not such a big problem, also they are fast. At mid range advisable to place stickys between him and you, at a close range, if you are unprepared you got as good as no chance.

vs. Demoman
The best will win.

vs. Heavy
Try to catch a heavy when he is busy. Place stickys around him and make them explode, if he is still alive finish him off with your normal grenade launcher. If you face a heavy, who is alone, try to lead him into your stickys and avoid his fire.

vs. Engineer
Its unlikely to see an Engineer running around in openfloor, because the most time these creatures are hiding behind their sentry guns. These are one of your mainenemies, a good placed sentry is only hard to destroy, mostly only possible with an uber, a not so good placed sentry can be also taken out with your grenade launcher by "hida and shoot" or shoot out of a psoition where it cannot spot you.

vs. Medic
If you find one alone, just try and get him with your bombs. Its likely he will run or if he is brave, he will try and finish you with his bonesaw. Its up to you.

vs. Sniper
A good sniper will headshot you at a long range easily. You need to be fast and use every place to hide, stickyjumps are also usefull to get close very fast. If he is "zoomed" 2 or 3 stickys will kill him.

vs. Spy
Spys normally concentrate on backstabbing Medics, Heavies and Soldiers. The chance of getting a spy by hunting him with grenades is also very small, so just watch your back if you are waiting for enemies walking in yout sticky bombs and maybe try to "bottle" him or use some stickys.

guides how to grow weed and make funky stuff?

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M.A.S.K. , is the mighty power that can save the day

Mine is easier and has the same effect :p

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Da boyz need themselves a Nob they do

Particularly enjoyed reading the heavy guide - very well written. Actually enjoyed reading all the submissions - thanks guys.

Would be good to see both demomen guides on the site

For spy would suggest adding a paragraph break in the particularly long paragraphs (spy vs engie particularly).

For spy could also add about name your disguised toon might carry, weapon shown in disguised form (ie not a shotgun etc), tell tale give aways (tp trails etc)

Two questions -
1) Disguised spy speed only reduces to copied class I assume - so if you are a disguised heavy you go at heavy speed, and if disguised scout you go at scout speed?
2) If you are disguised and standing by a dispenser, does the dispenser link attach to you or not?

I tought spy is always on spy speed without any change by disguise?

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SaintK: I'm completely lost

Nope the spy will slow down to the speed of the class it's disgised as. He can't however speed up to scout speed.

Ah ok... but isn't scout the only class which is faster than a spy?

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SaintK: I'm completely lost

Scout and medic are faster than a spy.

Ah ok... another lesson learned. Thx!

btw: Great guides! I could try to write something for pyro, but I think there a better guys for this around.

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SaintK: I'm completely lost

I wrote the spy guide a while ago.
for your questions, a disguised spy will move at the same speed as he the person he is disguised as. However the spy can't ever move faster than his own basespeed. So you can effectively disguise as 7 out of 9 classes without having a different runspeed then those classes. Also when you are disguised the dispenser will heal you and refill your ammo, the colored beam is there. However you can't move through the dispenser.

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Da boyz need themselves a Nob they do

I think I could look into a scout guide.

Didn't we have a medicguide somewhere here on the forums?

We had, but it was from Teddy

That no longer happens. Valve patched it

Even the cart heals a disguised spy