Pyro (6v6)
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Overview
The Pyro is considered an offclass in the 6v6 metagame. The Pyro's strength is its ability to lock Ubered opponents into chokes, stalling them for significant amounts of time and preventing the rest of your team from taking damage. However, its mediocre speed and poor range and power make it mostly worthless in transition plays.
Strategies + Tips
- With the Degreaser, hold out your Shotgun to bait reflects. People don't expect Pyros to switch back so quickly, and once they do expect it, it can force them to switch to Shotgun or not shoot at all.
- Try not to let the enemy know you have a Pyro. Hide somewhere close to the choke and don't hold out your Degreaser so the flamethrower model doesn't stick out. If they know, they might Uber in a Scout to kill you, significantly hampering your effectiveness.
- The "Universal Reflection Time" of Soldiers is one second after they notice you. This cannot be relied upon, especially if they are allowed to prepare for a Pyro.
- Try getting in-between the Uber. It's risky stalling the pocket because you're reliant on reflects to not be killed. If you can separate the Medic and pocket, your teammates can pick off the unubered players while the Medic can't reach them.
- The Pyro can stall a few Kritz stickies with good timing, but the fire rate of uncharged stickies means that if the Demoman gets into mid-range, the Pyro will eventually go down. Once this happens, get closer to the Demo so it's harder to aim at you.
- Against megahesled targets, remember that the Axtinguisher can take down a 125% overhealed Medic in one shot.
- Consider using the Detonator. While you lose your only damaging ranged weapon, the Pyro is usually run against Ubered targets, which means you wouldn't get that much use from a Shotgun or Flare Gun anyway. The Detonator is good for discouraging Snipers and can easily destroy stickytraps. Because you don't need your secondary when actually fighting things (compression blast + minicrit is actually weaker in terms of DPS than flaming with the Degreaser, although it's better at finishing off some targets), consider using the stock flamethrower to get some extra flamethrower damage.
- Pyro can be run to push last on some maps. Use the Detonator to clear the point of stickies, or Uber the Pyro onto the point and use his airblast to knock off the enemy team while your team caps.
- On points with high ground, such as cp_gravelpit C, the Pyro is great for airblasting people off the tower on defense. The height advantage makes reflect airshots much easier.
- Aim your flamethrower. Remember that the particles of the flamethrower do not follow the animation. Turn your flamethrower viewmodel off to get rid of the conflicting image and prevent the flames from obscuring your vision.
- Remember that the flamethrower particles penetrate. If you can line up multiple targets to burn, your DPS becomes extremely potent.
- You have to wait 3/4 of a second after airblasting to flame or airblast again. During this downtime, switch to your secondary and fire off a shot or two.
- When Detonating stickytraps, look for the white sparks that signify that stickies have been removed. Remember, one Detonation may not have removed them all, so be careful.
Counters
- If you know they have a Pyro, uber in a Scout or two. The Pyro is helpless against hitscan weapons and will go down quickly, then you can flash your pocket as needed.
- As a Soldier, if a Pyro is stalling you, one strategy is to wait until he airblasts to shoot rockets. Alternatively, switch to the Shotgun.
- When playing against Pyros, don't "feed" them reflectable projectiles at mid / long range, or he could send it back with a minicrit, which is immune to falloff.
- As a Demo, if a Pyro is stalling you, shoot and detonate stickies at your feet as fast as possible. The fire rate of the Sticky Launcher is faster than airblast and the projectiles do not change teams, so you will get him down.
- The Minigun shreds Pyros, but the Heavy's slow mobility means they can airblast you away and make it difficult for the Heavy to get into position to shoot the Pyro.
