As the Pyro ...
Obviously, what the Pyro has going for him is fire. Players caught on fire will visibly burn. Unlike the Medic's "tropical disease", fire damage will eventually end after a while. The damage is not extreme, but enough to perhaps kill those who've seen a lot of action. Also, water will (sometimes) put out fire. It all depends whether you were totally in the water when the flame hit. I've seen people fry pretty severely after jumping or falling into the water, too. Keep in mind, too, that the pyro is not useless underwater; the Incendiary Cannon will work in the water. It won't lite your opponent up while submerged, but it will take some health away from them.

The Incendiary Cannon is the Pyro's long range weapon. What it lacks in "oomph", it makes up in blast radius and annoyance. True, you're not likely to kill anyone outright with it, but you'll most certainly make them easier to kill later on for your teammates, or yourself. You can use the Cannon liberally because it requires no reloading and you don't suffer very much from being in your own Cannon's blast radius. Also, use it to light Snipers on fire, so your team can spot where they are hiding.

A Pyro can even perform tiny rocket jumps with the Incendiary Cannon. This does hardly any damage at all to the Pyro, and can be used to jump over people blocking your way or leaping over dispensers. Rumors have been floating around that the Pyro can use this little rocket jump to get to some useful places in some maps, but I'll leave that for you to find yourself!

The Flame-thrower can be especially deadly. All it takes are a few seconds to toast someone to a crisp. Since the Pyro is faster than the heavier classes (Hwguy, Soldier), it won't be hard to keep them in the flame. However, those are the classes most capable of killing you (with a rocket or a quick sweep of the AC), so be careful. While it can be a deadly weapon, I greatly prefer the Incendiary Cannon aimed at an enemy's feet. This will burn cause damage from the initial hit, leave them toasting for a few seconds, and blow them off of their feet giving you enough time to get another great shot at them.

Jump around! Dance about! It may look and feel a little stupid, but in a fight the Pyro is fast enough to dance and dodge around the enemy or enemies trying to kill him/her. Keep in mind, things become very difficult for the enemy once you hit them with your Flame-thrower or Incendiary Cannon. They jerk back and forth a bit, in flames, and it makes it more difficult for them to hit you. Running, circle-strafing, or jumping around will pay off even more at this point. Even if you are at close-range using your Flame-thrower, keep moving! While the enemy is roasting they usually will have time to fight back, but if you try to remain behind them no matter where they turn, you've just bought yourself some valuable killing time.

In a fight between a Pyro and a Demoman, I'd have to give the Pyro the advantage, as long as it's in an open area and not a pipe-bomb trap kind of deal. The Pyro has range and all the Demoman has is some grenades. Dodge and run around him, jumping over his grenades when you see them and generally trying to stay outside of his immediate throwing range. Keep dodging and make sure you keep the Demoman on fire. Whoever comes out alive from this fight will probably be pretty badly damaged.

Don't forget those regular grenades either! The Pyro starts with only one, but that one grenade is your most powerful blast weapon. While you are slowly toasting an enemy, dodging and running around, and some point it's a good idea to begin priming your regular grenade (and yes, you can still jump and shoot and everything else while the grenade is priming!). After two seconds or so, let it roll right at the loser(s) you are burning and they will never know what hit them. So far my record is four kills with one measly regular grenade as a Pyro. Getting a few kills with one grenade is probably more common than you'd think, as long as you have the element of surprise.

The Napalm grenades are now a wonderful addition to the Pyro's weapons. These things used to be pretty useless duds that barely did a thing, but now they explode 9 times, igniting everyone in range! Dropping several of these in a heavily defended area will absolutely keep enemies away for a decent amount of time, unless they enjoy roasting (some actually do, it seems). Apparently, Sentries didn't take much flame damage in previous versions of TeamFortress. Things have changed, though, and the Napalm grenade is now an extremely useful tool for destroying Sentries. I've seen some people express outrage towards this idea, but I think it's pretty logical that intense heat erupting from 9 explosions (per Napalm grenade) is bound to screw something up. Smart Engineers with lots of health have time to repair the gun before it finally blows, however.

Against the Pyro ...
Avoid fire if possible. But don't let that consume you. If you're close to full health, you should be able to take the damage rather easily. Otherwise, head to water or the resupply room. The Flame-thrower especially can be a pain, especially if you're a slow class. If a Pyro is on your tail, try to kill him first before he can toast you. (This might mean firing backwards or bouncing grenades behind you)

Otherwise, treat the Pyro just as you would the Medic or Demoman. His range weapon isn't very powerful, but he has some speed to compensate.

Last updated: December 4, 1997