This is the Pyro.
He is in the Offensive tier with 175 health. With normal 100% speed, the Pyro is the best class with the health to speed ratio. His 3 weapons are the Flamethrower, the Shotgun, and the Fire Axe. With the flamethrower, you can inflict afterburn on the person for 10 seconds at 6 health a second. The Pyro is impervious to afterburn from other Pyros, but the direct damage will still be taken. The Pyro specializes in close-quarters combat and ambushes, and uses alternate routes on maps to kill his prey. That is all for the basics. Now lets move onto other things that you may not know about Pyro.

Airblasting as pyro is one of the most underlooked things when newbies play TF2. To use your airblast, press the Alt-Fire button (Right-click on your mouse on default controls). It uses up 20 ammo in your ammo counter on all flamethrowers except:

The Backburner: It uses up 150% more ammo when airblasting, which is 50 ammo

Degreaser: Uses 25% more ammo on use.

The Phlogistinator (Phlog): This weapon doesn't airblast.

The Manmelter: This weapon, although not a flamethrower and can't airblast anything except teammates, it doesn't have any ammo. Unlimited airblasts!!!

Airblasting can be used to:
-Extinguish Teammates
-Pushing enemies into hazards (pits, trains, sawblades, etc.)
-Pushing enemies away that are too hard for you
-Pushing enemies into a corner to kill them easily
-Reflecting any non-bullet projectiles (rockets, Huntsman Arrows, Jarate, etc)
-Seperate Ubercharged pairs

Airblasting is so helpful but I never see people do it. I have even put it to the test. I loaded up as any other class except Pyro and got lit by one. I ran back and forth in front of a frendly Pyro, hoping to extinguish me. And you know what?
I died from afterburn

So, if you don't learn anything from this guide, learn this: AIRBLAST AIRBLAST AIRBLAST. Wheather you are in a competitive game or playing for fun, do it to help out your teammates and yourself. Also, you get 20 health from doing it, so why not?!?

Flanking is important as Pyro. If you don't know what flanking is, essentialy, is taking a lesser used route to get behind enemie lines. There are flank routes on all maps, but I will list some here.

-<koth_harvest_final> There are flanking routes on the edge where the truck is. Go through that door to the barn and you are there. This is really helpful as Scout, Spy, or Pyro because they are quick classes and ment to annoy people.

-<pl_upward> This map has a cliff all around the edge, but be careful. Pyros and other knockback classes can knock you off the edge. There are so many, I even made a video about it.

There are alot more. Go on a certain map and find them to help you out.

Here are all of Pyro's Primary Weapons. I will list everything, except reskins.

Flamethrower/Rainblower: This is good if you are looking for damage. This is also a good weapon to go W+M1 if you want, although you will look like a n3wb13. Also worth noting again that you gain 20 health on extinguishing teammates across all flamethrowers. The Rainblower is the same thing, but enables Pyrovision to see really trippy things. Also with the Rainblower, if you taunt with it, you will do the Armageddon taunt kill. It is a highly noticable taunt kill, so don't expect to kill players easily with this.


Degreaser: This is a good weapon if you are looking to do a combo kill with some other weapons. It has a 60% faster weapon switch-to speed, and 30% switch-speed. When this is in your loadout, it makes a great weapon to have with the flare gun and/or the axtinguisher. This is not a good weapon to use by itself because it uses 25% more ammo on airblast and 66% less afterburn damage.


Backburner: If you want to be a Spyro (Pyro with characteristics of Spy), this is the weapon to use. It has guarenteed crits when you hit someone in the back. Since crits on this is 460 a second, this is deadly. Don't expect other Pyro's to airblast with this, since that takes up 50 ammo on an airblast.


Phlogistinator (Phlog): Using this weapon is like using a car to finish the Boston Marathon; a crutch it is. This weapon sucks, not because it can't do anything, but it's too good. Dealing damage fills your "MMMPH" meter, and when you activate it when you are full, you are unable to be pushed back, Ubercharged, and deal crits. Jesus Christ, who thought this were good stats? Don't use this weapon, unless if you want to be called a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ loser and disgraced upon the server you are resided in.

Here are all the Secondary Weapons for Pyro

Shotgun: This is the stock weapon you get and this weapon, along with the Flare Gun, is the one you should always have in your loadout. It will damage players from distance and is a pretty standard weapon. When you taunt with the Shotgun, Flare Gun, Detonator, Manmelter, and Reserve Shooter, you will do a Hadukon taunt kill.


Flare Gun: This is the other weapon that you should have in your loadout. On hit, it will inflict afterburn on players. It also has a longer range than the Shotgun. The reason why you should have this weapon is that it deals crits on flaming players. Thats 90 damage, which is about the amount the stock Scattergun will get at short-medium range. However, Pyro's don't burn, so the Flare Gun is only good with 8 of 9 classes. You can, however, do something called a 'flare punch', where you walk backwards with your Flamethrower, quickswitch with M1 still down, and the flare will hit the person when they are taking direct damage, and for some reason, it deals a crit on them. It is very hard to do, and I've been only been able to do it on training servers with bots.


Detonator: This weapon is good when you need to light players on fire that is behind cover. When you press Alt-Fire when you have the weapon out when a flare is in the air, it will explode into a little fire bomb. You can also use it to Flare Jump to get to places where normal Pyros can't get to, but you will recieve 25% explosion damage if you jump. You will also deal mini-crits on burning players, so it is at least something good to have on you.


Reserve Shooter: This is an okay weapon to use if you want the mini-crits of the Detonator but the versitility of the Shotgun. When you pull it out, for 5 seconds, you will deal mini-crits on the player that has been airblasted or knocked back. However, there are only 4 shots before you reload. This also has a 20% faster switch-to speed and 15% switch-from speed. When you want to mini-crit other Pyros, pack this up in your loadout.


Manmelter: This is the weapon that you need in your loadout if you have the Phlog. It is a laser weapon that arcs (wut?) and every time you extinguish a teammate with Alt-Fire, you get a stored crit when you shot the Manmelter. Because of stored crits, there are no random crits, and there is also a 20% slower fire rate.


Scorch Shot: This weapon is fun to mess around with. It deals 35% less damage than a regular Flare Gun, deals mini-crits on buring targets, but it knocks the player back, so you can use it to make WTF moments. When you taunt with this weapon, you will perform the Showdown taunt kill. Unlike other taunt kills, this one takes up ammo when you taunt. At close range, it is effective, but if you use it at range, it deals the same damage if you just shot the SS.


Panic Attack: This ambush styled weapon is very much like the Soldier's Beggar's Bazooka, where you start with an empty clip, and when you hit fire, you rapidly load it up and can contain your shots until you release the fire button. This has a faster reload, so you won't be left in the dust, and you can load up to 4 shells to shoot at once. The lower your health gets, the faster you shoot, and so does your bullet spread increases. The Panic Attack encourages high-risk, high-reward to get in their faces and pump their ass full of lead. As a ranged weapon, it doesn't work that well.

When should you use this? Absolutelly ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ never. It's absolute garbage.

Here are all of Pyro's melee's!

Fire Ax: This weapon you should not use if this is not the only stock you have. It's a basic melee weapon that has nothing special about it.


Axtinguisher/Postal Pummeler: This is a weapon you should have if you are being a tryhard Pyro. If you hit someone when they are on fire, you will deal crits. Since it deals crits on command, there are no random crits. You will also deal 33% less damage total, 20% slower attack speed, and 75% slower switch-to speed.



Homewrecker: This is a weapon that you have to have on when you are playing Support Pyro. It deals 200% more damage to enemie buildings than the normal Fire Ax would, and can remove sappers on friendly buildings. This will deal 25% less damage to players, but this is not a killing weapon at all.


Powerjack: This is a weapon that you want if you want to get health. When you kill someone with this weapon, you will get 25 health back, and possibly, get overheal. You will move 15% faster, at the cost of 25% more damage from everything.


Back Scratcher: This is a great weapon to have on when you have no dispensers of medics on your team. You will deal 25% more damage with this and get 50% more health from health packs. You will get 75% less health from other healing sources, like dispensers and Medics. This weapon doesn't have that much use though, except for the damage dealing freaks out there like me. If you get a Kritzkreig Medic to uber you, you can deal 244 damage swings. That's a stupid amount of damage.


Sharpened Volcano Fragment: Other than Medival Mode, you shouldn't have this weapon in your loadout. Its a flamethrower in an ax form and deals 20% less damage. If you are close to hit them with this, you should be using your flamethrower for maximum damage.


Third Degree: This weapon is also garbage. Any players connected to a medi gun healing beam will get damaged. And...thats it. Nothing else to make it special. So really, all it is, is a fancy ax from the future.


Neon Annilator: If you are screwing around on 2Fort or someother level with lots of water, this is the weapon to use. It will deal crits to any wet player, jarated, or mad milked player. Like any other weapon that guarentee's crits, this will not get random crits. This is also a weapon that can remove sappers, but less efficiantly than the Homewrecker can. This will then deal 20% less damage to other players. People that use this weapon are refered as 'Pyro Sharks' and hang out in the water parts of maps.

There are cetain loadouts that you want to have. The loadout that I will always use is
-Degreaser
-Flare Gun or Shotgun
-Axtinguisher/The P.P
All of these weapons work togeather as a combo loadout, meaning you have to use 2 or more weapons to kill a player.

The MAXIMUM DAMAGE LOADOUT
-Phlog
-Manmelter
-Back Scratcher
This loadout is made to output the most damage possible. Use the Phlog for general buring to build up your MMMPH meter while extinguishing teammates with the Manmelter to get stored crits. If there is an enemie Pyro or some other class that can't burn (i.e Charge 'n' Targe Demomen) use the Back Scratcher.

My Screw Around Loadout
-Backburner
-Shotgun
-Neon Annilator
This is my loadout for screwing around on 2Fort or other maps. Not much to say here.

If none of these loadouts help for you, go and make your own loadout and put it in the comments. I won't include them in this guide, but put them in the comments for others to see.

To wrap things up, here's a recap
-AIRBLAST, DAMMIT
-USE FLANKING ROUTES
-USE WEAPONS RELATED TO SCENARIO

Some other little tidbits
~ Don't do W+M1. If you don't know what that is, that's walking up to enemies while shooting your flamethrower. People that see others do this think them as noobs. Since this is a guide on how to not be a noob, don't do that.
~ Reflecting projectiles that harm others do mini-crits unless if it is a critical projectile.
~ Have fun!

I am making a How to not be Noob for every class in the game. All of my guides can be found in my guide portal.

Now you will never be a noob at pyro again!

June 7th, 2014: Guide posted
December 22nd, 2015: Updated guide to fit changes in Tough Break update.