Pyro (6v6)
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The Pyro is considered an offclass in the 6v6 metagame. The Pyro's strength is its ability to lock Übered 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 and 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 Über in a Scout and get the Pyro down, significantly hampering the team's effectiveness.
- Try getting in-between the Über. It's risky stalling the pocket because you're reliant on reflects to not be killed. If you can separate the Medic and pocket, the teammates can pick off the non-Übered players while the Medic can't reach them.
- The Pyro can stall a few Kritzkrieg 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, which makes killing the Pyro a lot more difficult.
- Consider using the Detonator. While the Pyro loses his only damaging ranged weapon, he is usually run against Übered targets, which means he wouldn't get that much use from a Shotgun or Flare Gun anyway. The Detonator is good for discouraging Snipers and can easily destroy sticky traps. Because the secondary isn't used when actually fighting (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 Über the Pyro onto the point and use his airblast to knock off the enemy team while the 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. It can be helpful to turn the flamethrower viewmodel off to get rid of the conflicting image and prevent the flames from obscuring the battlefield.
- Remember that the flamethrower particles penetrate. If the Pyro can line up multiple targets to burn, his DPS becomes extremely potent.
- There is a 0.75 second cool down time after airblasting, during which you cannot attack or airblast. During this downtime, switching to your secondary and firing off a shot or two is a good idea.
- 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, Über 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, or try to shoot at angle that is hard to reflect at but will still deal splash damage. Alternatively, switch to the Shotgun.
- When playing against Pyros, it's best not to fire reflectable projectiles at mid/long range at them, because they could send it back with a minicrit, which is not subject to falloff.
- As a Demoman, if a Pyro is stalling you, shoot and detonate stickies at their feet as fast as possible. The fire rate of the Sticky Launcher is faster than the airblast and the projectiles do not change teams, so he will likely take significant damage. However, this is likely to deal a heavy amount of self-damage.
- The Minigun shreds Pyros, but the Heavy's slow mobility means they can airblast him away and make it difficult for the Heavy to get into position to shoot the Pyro.
