Pyro

The Pyro is a class who wields a Flamethrower as its primary weapon. Along with the ability to inflict burn damage and a relatively high damage output, the Pyro also has the airblast mechanic, which can neutralize an enemy's über with ease, reflect projectiles like rockets and arrows, and extinguish burning teammates.

6v6

Main article: Pyro (6v6)

In 6v6, the Pyro is considered an offclass. Most commonly run when the defending team has über disadvantage while defending last, the Pyro's job is to neutralize the enemy team's über and projectile spam from the Soldier and Demo through the use of the airblast mechanic. This situational use of the class allows the defending team to counter the enemy team when in disadvantage, against über it allows the team to gain precious time, often enough for the team to get über in time to defend last even counter-push if the Pyro manages to hold the whole über back. It has been tried and experimented through the years as a full-time competitive class and while it is encouraged in some competitive gamemodes it doesn't work in 6v6 because of the lack of mobility and low damage output of this class.

Highlander

Main article: Pyro (Highlander)

In Highlander, the Pyro is considered a support class. The Pyro's main job in Highlander is to protect the Medic. It also has the job of displacing and neutralizing enemy übers, spychecking to neutralize the enemy Spy, protecting its team's sentry gun by deflecting projectiles and providing flank support when required. The Pyro most commonly positions himself around the combo, so as to allow them to deal a lot of damage to the enemy team's damage dealing classes like Heavy or Demoman, without having to focus on classes like Spies or Scouts. This allows for the rest of your team to coordinate a push. Alternatively, if a Pyro's team is aware enough of the enemy Spy, then the Pyro could take the role of a roaming Pyro. This involves the Pyro flanking the enemy team and trying to deal a lot of damage, possibly to get a pick on the Medic, which could then allow their team to push in.

Weapons

Primary

			Weapon				4v4	6v6		Highlander
							UGC	Global Whitelist	RGL	UGC	RGL	ETF2L
			Flame Thrower				Always	Always	Always	Always	Always	Always
							The Flamethrower provides better upfront damage than the Degreaser as well as possessing a relatively cheap airblast in comparison to the Backburner and, although by no means a bad weapon, lacks either the ambushing potential from the Backburner as well as the weapon switching bonus of the Degreaser, which can often be invaluable. Since either of the allowed alternatives have an offensive focus (through different means) that means the stock Flamethrower will generally be used with a more passive play-style in mind, and often without tangible upsides in relation to the alternatives.
			Backburner				Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed
							The Backburner is a weapon made with ambushing and flanking in mind and is rarely used in 6's. Since the Pyro generally has responsibilities to either protect the Medic or the Engineer in Highlander, it requires a significant change to the team's overall strategy to be used effectively and is therefore rarely used in that format as well. The Backburner's unique ability allows it to critically hit an enemy from behind (approximately 90 degrees) allowing the Pyro to quickly kill an unaware opponent. This comes at the price of diminished support capabilities since the Pyro will only be able to use four airblasts with full ammunition and this greatly hinders the most powerful support tools in the Pyro's arsenal.
			Degreaser				Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed
							The Degreaser is the most widely used flamethrower in competitive. The weapon provides the Pyro with faster weapon switching which makes using weapon combos (such as the Flare Gun or the Axtinguisher ) far easier and allows the Pyro to handle combat situations that would otherwise be quite difficult to handle. The Degreaser's downsides come from the weapon's reduced damage upfront and weakened afterburn in relation to the stock flamethrower. This rarely affects the Pyro, still, given that the class' objectives in most competitive scenarios are to either stall the enemy or support his own team rather than actively getting kills.
			Phlogistinator				Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed
							The Phlogistinator is a unique Pyro weapon that exchanges the Pyro's ability to airblast with the ability to get crits after burning enemies. By charging "Mmmph" he will be able to taunt (either with right-click or selected taunt button) to become invincible until the taunt ends and then gain crits. To counter the crits enemy Demomen will sticky-trap the Pyro or the Sniper will aim at the Pyro's head. The crits are effective in small spaces where little to no strafing is available, or against power classes like Heavy. When using the "Mmmph" taunt, hiding around corners or where the enemy can't see you are effective to not get sticky-trapped or surrounded. The Phlogistinator is good for big pushes when the enemy team is distracted.
			Dragon's Fury				Banned	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed
							The Dragon's Fury it acts as a single-shot, projectile-based Flamethrower this takes away the automatic fire and replaces with it with a more skill based weapon, the weapon rewards the user with consistent strong damage.

Secondary

			Weapon				4v4	6v6		Highlander
							UGC	Global Whitelist	RGL	UGC	RGL	ETF2L
			Shotgun				Always	Always	Always	Always	Always	Always
							The Shotgun is a default Pyro Weapon. It is identical to the Engineer’s, Heavy’s or Soldier’s. It is a hitscan weapon and has 6 ammo in its mag alongside 32 additional ammo carried. For the Pyro, the Shotgun can be used in situations where the flamethrower wouldn't be as practical or useful. The Shotgun deals respectable damage at close-range and gives the Pyro decent abilities at mid-range. Even though its damage long-range is fairly negligible it allows the Pyro to harass enemies from a distance and support his teammates on occasion.
			Flare Gun				Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed
							The Flare Gun allows the Pyro to harass and even pick off targets at long-range. The Flare Gun's abilities allow the Pyro to light enemies from a distance (dealing 30 damage plus the afterburn) and it also crits on enemies that are already on fire (dealing 90 damage) without being affected by range. Just like the other flare guns, the regular Flare Gun is a projectile weapon and one has to predict the enemy's movement to use it effectively.
			Detonator				Allowed	Banned	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed
							The Detonator provides a useful boost to mobility as well as the ability to light entire groups of enemies on fire from great distances by detonating the projectile but loses the critical hit from the regular flare gun (the Detonator mini-crits on burning targets instead) and the projectile also harms the player. The Detonator is mostly useful to harass enemies and also, in situations where the Pyro may benefit from added mobility by using the Detonator's explosion knockback. The Detonator's explosion can also destroy enemy stickies allowing the Pyro to dismantle sticky traps without much danger.
			Reserve Shooter				Banned	Banned	Banned	Allowed	Allowed	Banned
							The Reserve Shooter is a shotgun that is rarely used as a Pyro secondary after the Jungle Inferno Update, in which they removed the ability to mini-crit airblasted targets. There is still a 20% faster switch to time though, which can be used as a more combo-oriented shotgun playstyle. This weapon has four shots per mag instead of six. Due to its effectiveness in most formats the weapon is banned from competitive play with the exception of RGL's Highlander league.
			Manmelter				Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed
							The Manmelter is rarely used since it has little going for it in most situations. It has an unlimited supply of ammo and can extinguish teammates, upon extinguishing teammates the Manmelter will gain crits, this is redundant because the Flare Gun already gives on-demand crits. This weapon relies on the enemy team having a Pyro. The Manmelter is also subjective to many visual glitches making it hard to know when you are able to shoot.
			Scorch Shot				Allowed	Banned	Allowed	Allowed	Banned	Banned
							The Scorch Shot inherits some key traits from the Detonator such as destroying stickies, having the ability to light groups of enemies on fire and allowing the Pyro to use its knock-back and diminished damage to add a bit of mobility. However, the Scorch Shot deals 50% less damage when compared to the regular flare gun and does not crit (or mini-crit) on burning targets, which significantly decreases the Pyro's offensive capabilities. Even with its damage downsides, its effectiveness as a deadly nuisance makes this the go-to weapon in many competitive formats, the afterburn and splash damage allows Pyro to disable Snipers when they are able to drop the Uber of the Medic, because the repeated fire damage knocks their scope up and down making it difficult to hit shots. This is also evident with the Detonator.
			Panic Attack				Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed
							The Panic Attack is a community-created primary weapon for the Engineer, and a secondary weapon for the Soldier, Pyro, and Heavy. The Panic attack has a 20% damage penalty from the stock shotgun, but it fires 1.5 times the pellets in a single shot. The switch-to speed increases by 50%. This weapon is good with combo-based strategies due to its faster deploy time. Even more so, it will do slightly more damage (108 vs 90 for stock shotgun) at point-blank.
			Gas Passer				Banned	Banned	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed
							The Gas Passer allows pyro to throw a cloud of gas that makes any class get set on fire when they take damage (including other pyros). Although this gives pyro a decent area denial tool, it is held back by its long charge time and the fact that fire can be extinguished fairly easily.
			Thermal Thruster				Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed
							The Thermal Thruster is a jetpack that allows the Pyro to move around the map quickly. Its two charges allow it to be a good mobility tool, when paired with the Backburner, Pyro can get behind the enemy and deal crits. Like the Mantreads when landing on an enemy, damage is dealt.

Melee

			Weapon				4v4	6v6		Highlander
							UGC	Global Whitelist	RGL	UGC	RGL	ETF2L
			Fire Axe				Always	Always	Always	Always	Always	Always
							The Fire Axe is the default melee weapon for the pyro; it is almost never used as it is considered almost a direct downgrade to other Pyro melee weapons, such as the Homewrecker or the Powerjack.
			Axtinguisher				Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed
							The Axtinguisher is a more aggressive weapon for the Pyro. It mini-crits burning players while also extinguishing them. When you kill someone with the weapon, it gives you a speed boost. It has a damage penalty of 33%. It also has 35% a holster penalty. The Axtinguisher is used rarely used due to its highly situational use and its nerf from being able to deal a crit to a mini-crit.
			Homewrecker				Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed
							The Homewrecker will do 100% more damage to enemy buildings compared to the stock Fire Axe, destroying most in 1 or 2 hits. This weapon can also remove sappers in one hit. This weapon isn't very useful when facing enemy sentries, it's mainly used to defend sentry nests against enemy Spies.
			Powerjack				Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed
							The Powerjack when active will allow you to run 15% faster, but all damage taken will do 20% more. If you kill an enemy with this melee you gain +25 health. It is generally considered to be the only other viable melee besides the Homewrecker as the faster speed and health can allow the Pyro to maintain a roaming playstyle.
			Back Scratcher				Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed
							The Back Scratcher does 25% more damage that the default axe. It also allows the Pyro to gain 50% more health from health packs, but he will heal 75% slower from Medics or Dispensers. This weapon is more useful if you plan on flanking the opponent and stealing all their health packs or if you want to help the Medic build ÜberCharge, since it will take a longer time to fully heal the Pyro. It will most likely hurt your team since you'll always have to look for health packs instead of just sticking to your Medic.
			Sharpened Volcano Fragment				Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed
							The Sharpened Volcano Fragment deals 20% less damage than the default axe, but it will ignite the enemy on hit. This weapon is considered unnecessary due to the fact that your primary already sets players on fire thus this weapon isn't used very much.
			Third Degree				Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed
							The Third Degree deals the same damage as the default weapon, but it will do damage to all players connected by the Medigun's beam. It is very rare for the Pyro to manage to get close to the combo and use this weapon, which makes the Third Degree barely used in the competitive scene.
			Neon Annihilator				Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed
							The Neon Annihilator can remove sappers on friendly buildings, but it will take two swings to remove a sapper. It deals crits to wet players, this includes being covered in water, being covered in Jarate, and being covered in Mad Milk. It does 20% less damage to players, so a crit on a player will deal 156 damage. This weapon is highly situational, therefore it doesn't see much use in competitive play.
			Hot Hand				Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed
							The Hot Hand gives a speed boost on hit but does less damage. This glove is considered a straight downgrade to other Pyro melee weapons because of its lack of utility and damage.

See Also

• Pyro (6v6)
• Pyro (Highlander)