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The pocket is the Soldier assigned to protect the Medic for the duration of the round. In 6v6, the pocket is almost always a Soldier with the shotgun as his secondary, but in Highlander it can be the Soldier, Demoman, or Heavy.
Contents
Main Roles
The three main goals of the Pocket are as follows:
1 - Protecting the medic
2 - Lead pushes
3 - Effectively use übers
There are a lot of other roles the Pocket has to fulfill, these are just the main ones.
The Combo
The Pocket is a very important part of the combo, as it is an effective bodyguard for the Demoman and Medic due to his ability to tank damage and utilize explosive knockback. The Pocket's job is also to watch main choke points with the combo, and to punish any enemies who overextend near choke points. The pocket is where most of the fighting should be centered around, and he will usually lead his team into the fray.
Mid Fights
The Pocket, being one of the most versatile 6v6 class, has a number of ways to approach midfights. Usually, this involves protecting the medic from bombing soldiers and scouts, while putting out consistent damage on the other team. In some cases it is known for both Soldiers on a team to bomb the opposing Medic in a mid fight rather than staying to protect their own. The Medic will often be left to the Demo during this period, however this is largely a team preference as they may be using a strategy that requires higher aggression than normal. Normally, the pocket stays with the medic, while scouts and the roaming soldier pressure the enemy medic. This provides more protection for the medic, as a soldier can protect much better against enemy scouts than a demoman.
6v6 Pocket Unlocks
The Pocket Soldier, being heavily attached to the Medic, will usually use a rather stock like loadout due to the lesser need of the Gunboats unlock. This loadout would commonly include the Rocket Launcher or The Original together with The Shotgun and The Escape Plan.
The use of The Original or Rocket Launcher is a common usage by all soldiers due to it's reliability of 4 shots which is capable of killing almost all targets when hit for rather large amounts of damage, the Heavy is largely excluded from this due to the ability of 450HP through overheal. The Soldier on occasions may run The Direct Hit this is often to spam out a Sentry nest locations on maps such as cp_gravelpit as it is an effective use for the unlock with the lower splash and higher damage. The Direct Hit also may be used due to preference of the Soldier but this is rarely seen. The Original or the stock Rocket Launcher is usually the most preferred primary.
The use of the Shotgun on a Pocket as opposed to the Gunboats of the Roamer is due to the increased damage output. The shotgun is a very well rounded weapon for a pocket to use due to its ability to clear stickies and its 6 shells that can be loaded, making it effective at taking out many targets both alone or after using rockets. The shotgun is also very good at helping to defend the medic as the role of Pocket as it will cause jumpers or bombers of the opposing team to be slowed if hit while in the air and is a safer alternative to airshots with rockets. The shotgun is a great weapon to use if/when the rocket launcher runs out of shots loaded but the enemy is not yet dead.
The use of the Escape Plan rather than a stock Shovel will often be due to its use in Rollouts as the Soldier can cause enough damage to themselves easier than a Soldier with gunboats allowing them to be granted the movement speed bonus and reach the midfight along side the rest of the team members easier. After 10 seconds this Soldier would then be able to take "Crit heals" from their Medic and be restored to full health upon arriving at the midfight.
This loadout is well rounded and allows a Pocket to protect the Medic in a number of ways, give out damage in a number of ways and also a possible escape should they become to injured to stay in a fight. Additionally, anything besides stock is often banned in leagues, especially ETF2L.
Resources
Video Guides
POVs
Badlands
ETF2L Prem - broder vs BFF - (Zebbosai) (Includes team comms)
Zebbosai - Pocket - ETF2L Prem - broder vs BFF - cp_badlands Includes Team Comms
Shwan - Pocket - Vector vs Rando - cp_warmfront Includes Team Comms
