Poll: Thinking of Playing Team Fortress 2... what Class is best for Newbies?

[Dagda Mor]

If you are new, you should play all of the classes, but you should get used to playing Soldier first.


DO NOT MAIN PYRO. People will tell you to play Pyro because it's easy. Do not do it. If you learn to play TF2 by playing Pyro, you will learn the game the wrong way, and you will learn Pyro the wrong way. The reason a lot of people say that playing Pyro is easy is because he has a good ratio of speed to health to DPS, and people just use him to charge directly at an enemy while holding down the fire button. This tactic does get some kills, but it only works if you have your team behind you, so it's pointless to just do it constantly. The Pyro is about zoning in the middle of a firefight and clearing enemies out of constricted spaces.

When you do play Pyro--and you should play all of the classes--don't just mindlessly charge at the enemy. Try to get close without being conspicuous, and be aware of your airblast, especially when there aren't any enemies within burning distance. And don't play too aggressively--the Pyro isn't necessarily about killing enemies. He's about punishing them.

 

[EmperorZinyak]

Soldier is a very simple class, but an effective Soldier can wreak havoc. He starts with a Rocket Launcher, a Shotgun, and a Shovel. Although you can unlock many more weapons, generally the most effective Soldiers use the RL and Shotgun. He is slow, but can deal high damage and is effective in most scenarios. Playing him will also teach you general skills for all classes, such as ammo management, leading your shots, and using your secondary correctly. Here are some general tips for playing Soldier, coming from someone who mains him:

-Aim for the feet, unless you're using the Direct Hit (which I almost never use, it's trash). The explosion will still do a ton of damage, and also bounce them into the air, allowing you to follow up with a Shotgun blast.

-To Rocket Jump, jump, fire a rocket at your feet, and press "control" at the same time you fire. With practice, you can Rocket Jump successfully. There's a map called "Jump Academy", look for it if you want to get good at Rocket Jumping.

-Always try to have a height advantage. The Soldier obliterates enemies from above.

-Pyros can blast your rockets back at you with Compression Blast, although a majority of Pyros are too dumb to use the Compression Blast. If you see a Pyro who is good at it, then use your Shotgun, as he can't reflect that. Also use your Shotgun against Scouts who are difficult to hit.

-Soldier has a small clip capacity and takes a while to reload. Don't be caught in the open without ammo. Try to keep your weapons reloaded at almost all times.

-One trick with Rocket Jumping is the "medic bomb". That's when you Rocket Jump into the air when fighting against a Medic and the person he's healing, and then bombard the medic from above. Use it, and you'll be one of the best Medic killers.

-Speaking of medics, medics are very good buddies for you. The Soldier injures himself a lot Rocket Jumping, and you are also one of the best combat classes. A good Medic can sustain you for a while. Plus, a Medic with a Kritzkreig can give you critical rockets (instakill almost anyone!).

 

[Mister K]

I started as a Heavy, because he has a minigun, but I'll vote for Medic. Ze gud doktor can help his teammates by healing them and he himself is the only one with health regen. Weak one, but still. Plus he has very nice speed, which will help you get used to TF2 pace.

Everyone wants to score kills, but know that Medic is ALWAYS welcome in the team. Just don't stay with one teammate and try to heal everyone as much as possible.

 

[Rolaoi]

Play a medic, find a player (first choice goes to heavy, but pick a soldier or a demo if the heavy can't do his job,) and hold down m1 while following him around. Click m2 when you're fully charged. Only break m1 and switch to healing someone else when your team is on fire or your have a soldier taking fire while pinning down the enemy team. Don't let people on your own team get near you. Turn around a lot to make sure no one is walking up behind you.

Another easy class to start is the pyro. Greet all your team members with m1. Spies love that stuff. Because every spy uses the dead ringer now, your job at spy checking is slightly more tedious. Airblast is the greatest thing ever for defending points. Use it to clear people off payloads or knock them off the map. You can also do no wrong by running into a large group of enemies and setting fire to everything. You'll die, but it breaks their momentum and forces them to regroup. Also, this is rare since the game became free-to-play, but find an engineer and stick to him. Guard his buildings by setting everyone who tries to get close on fire, including your own team, and reflecting grenades, stickies, and rockets with an airblast.

This isn't to say that the two above classes are easy to master, but they're easy to learn and use in a way which contributes to your team.

On the offense, always start as a medic to get an uber off for the first push. You can also play as an engineer and help the dedicated engineer build his stuff before switching back to another class.

As a sniper on the defense, the best thing you can do is sacrifice yourself by keeping a bead on a medic standing in front of the door before the game starts. Just keep that bead. Once the game starts, immediately shoot the medic before he can uber. Get killed a second or so later by either another sniper or a soldier and switch classes to something valuable.