From TF2 Wiki

This article contains a User Guide. It may be biased, inaccurate, or improperly formatted. Enjoy it with a grain of salt. Contact the guide's creator before making substantial edits.

While Team Fortress 2 is known as a fairly easy game for new players to jump into and quickly enjoy, it also lacks thorough, consolidated documentation on pretty much all topics, and I thought I'd take the time to write a brief introductory guide for new players to start playing the game. I'm pretty sure I was sober for at least some of it, so I hope you return the favor, because you should be saving your intoxicants for quality alltalk blathering (also because people don't want clueless teammates I guess).

This guide seeks (but clearly fails) to be at least somewhat concise, but it should be readable even if you have no TF2 experience beyond maybe seeing someone else play a couple minutes or going in an empty game and shooting each weapon once.

I guess I should add that I'm assuming you're playing on PC with this. The game is pretty different on consoles. If you bought it for 360, maybe you can still return it for some store credits.

Contents 1 Before You Start 1.1 Launch Options and Mouse Settings 1.2 Scripts 1.3 Advanced Keyboard Options 1.4 Field of View 1.5 Enable the Minimal HUD 1.6 Other Options to Consider 2 Game Information 2.1 Basic Mechanics 2.1.1 Weapons 2.1.2 Maps 2.2 The Classes 2.2.1 Scout 2.2.2 Soldier 2.2.3 Pyro 2.2.4 Demoman 2.2.5 Heavy 2.2.6 Engineer 2.2.7 Medic 2.2.8 Sniper 2.2.9 Spy 3 Metagame 3.1 Origins 3.2 Updates 3.3 Community 3.4 Meet the Team 4 Closing Thoughts 5 See Also 5.1 Game Information 5.2 TF2 Modification 5.3 Community Information 6 External Links

Before You Start

Before you even learn how to play the game, there are a few things you'll want to get out of the way to optimize your gaming experience. Most players that know these learned them the hard way (and by hard I mean on accident or by overhearing it when others are getting advice), and a majority of players haven't even done these basic things yet, so after you read them, you'll already be ahead of the curve (I'm excited for you).

Launch Options and Mouse Settings

If you plan on making a hobby of first-person shootery, you should go the extra mile and be anal with your mouse settings. People are uneasy to do this, but the sooner you get it out of the way, the sooner you will have precise and intuitive aiming. It's like chicken pox, except that instead of risking your life, not getting it out of the way early might make you perform a bit worse in a video game. If you plan on only playing first-person shooters briefly, then I've gotta wonder why you're reading some dude's internet tutorial about a game you'll hardly play.

If you've chosen to take the red pill of first-person-shooter addiction, follow the steps below.

1. Close TF2 if it's running.
2. In the Steam window, under the Games tab, right click on Team Fortress 2 and click on Properties.
3. Click on the Set Launch Options... button.
4. Paste the following text into the input box: -novid -noforcemspd -noforcemaccel -noforcemparms
5. Click on OK to finish setting the Launch Options.
6. Open your Windows Control Panel (yes, I went there; WindowsKey+R, Control Panel, Enter).
7. Open up your Mouse Options.
8. Under the Pointer Options tab, uncheck the box next to the text "Enhance pointer precision".
9. Move the slider under "Select a pointer speed:" to the very middle-most spot you can get it.
10. Click on OK to finish.

Quite an adventure. I bet moving your cursor feels weird now. Like it went to summer camp and came back with less perkiness and a nonchalant opiate addiction. Don't worry, though--they're actually just steroids, and until someone finds out about them, he'll be much better at getting clutch headshots on your enemies.

Assuming you've actually followed the instructions, you just made the way Windows and TF2 react to your mouse movements more accurate. You'll appreciate it when you're older.

If you find the idea of perfecting your mouse's accuracy particularly arousing, read more about it here.

Scripts

Valve games come with a feature known as "scripts", which are basically customized functions and inputs for your game (written as a series of text files with the .cfg extension). The game already has most of the script files made for you upon installation, but they don't actually provide any functions unless you add script text to them.

At this point, it might be good to pause to point out that scripts, like condoms, are a somewhat debated feature, and that not all players condone their usage. I will not take it upon myself to tell you whether or not they are ethical/fair to use, as I'm not a believer in abstinence-only education. The goal of this article is to inform you of the options and tools at your disposal, and scripts won't be given exception. If you don't want to use scripts, you can still play the game just fine, though I recommend you at least use the "autoexec" script provided (as it's just for optimized settings and a display-refresh button).

If you apply the given autoexec script, you won't have to do the three next tasks in the "Before You Start" section.

If you're down for the autoexec script, follow these steps...

1. Navigate to your TF2 scripts folder. If you don't know how to do that, follow these steps:
   1. Open My Computer by pressing WindowsKey+E.
   2. Open your Local Disk.
   3. Open the Program Files folder.
   4. Open the Steam folder.
   5. Open the steamapps folder.
   6. Open the folder with the same name as your Steam account.
   7. Open the team fortress 2 folder.
   8. Open the tf folder.
   9. Open the cfg folder.
2. If there's already a file called autoexec, then go to the next step. If there's not, make a copy+paste of the file demoman (or any other class cfg file) and rename it autoexec (.cfg).
3. Open up autoexec with Notepad or Wordpad. Paste the following text into it and save:

cl_cmdrate "101"
rate "35000"
cl_interp_ratio "1"
cl_interp "0.033"
cl_updaterate "100"
fov_desired "90"
cl_hud_minmode "1"
con_enable "1"
hud_fastswitch "1"
tf_colorblindassist "1"
hud_classautokill "0"

unbind "f10"
bind "backspace" "+refresh"

alias +refresh "echo REFRESH_PART1;record delete-this00"
alias -refresh "echo REFRESH_PART2;stop;hud_reloadscheme"

Here's what the script does:

• Networking tweaks you probably won't notice.
• Automatically does the advanced keyboard options, field of view, and minimal HUD options for you.
• Turns on color blind mode and disables class switch suicide. Color blind mode lets you see jarate icons above heads when they're affected by R Kelly justice, and disabling class switch suicide makes it so switching classes doesn't kill you immediately.
• Adds a "Refresh" key. Press and hold backspace down for 3 seconds if your game is being weird and it might fix it if you're lucky.

With that done, if you like, you can add more scripts as you choose, such as auto jump-crouch, fast disguises, assisted rocket jump, and fast class join keys. If you find such aids objectionable, that's fine, but keep in mind there's nothing stopping others from using them against you. You can learn more about scripting here: TF2 Wiki's Scripting Page and Steam Forum's Stickied Scripting Tutorial

Advanced Keyboard Options

If you chose to reject the provided "autoexec script", you should manually enable both Fast Weapon Switch and Developer Console. Follow the steps below if you don't know how to do this.

1. While in the Team Fortress 2 main menu, click on Options.
2. In the Options window, click on the Keyboard tab if it isn't already active.
3. Click on the Advanced... button.
4. Click on any unchecked boxes.
5. Click on OK. In the Options window, click on Apply or OK to finish.

Fast Weapon Switch makes it so clicking a weapon slot key automatically draws the weapon of that slot. This saves you the time of having to confirm every weapon change with left-click. Not particularly essential, but it's pretty much the most important in-game option I've mentioned so far, so take it to heart.

The Developer Console (referred to by players simply as console), which can be accessed by default with the ~ key (left of the horizontal number keys), opens a window that can be used to input custom and obscure commands. This lets you run any TF2 function, including many not found in the Options window. You may not need to use it regularly, but it's always nice to have just in case.

Field of View

If you chose to reject the provided "autoexec script", you should manually increase your Field of view (fov) to the full 90 degrees. Follow the steps below if you don't know how to do this.

1. While in the Team Fortress 2 main menu, click on Options.
2. In the Options window, click on the Video tab if it isn't already active.
3. Click on the Advanced... button.
4. Move the slider under "Field of view" to the very right end of the line.
5. Click on OK. In the Options window, click on Apply or OK to finish.

The term Field of view refers to exactly how wide your cone of vision is in-game. The higher the value, the more you can see, and in TF2, this matters a lot. If your TF2 fov were a bikini spread, those 15-degrees of vision are like the paper fold hiding sea shells and discarded clothing on the sand: you won't realize you wished you saw them until they backstab you and taunt on your corpse.

Enable the Minimal HUD

If you chose to reject the provided "autoexec script", you should manually enable the Minimal HUD. Follow the steps below if you don't know how to do this.

1. While in the Team Fortress 2 main menu, click on Options.
2. In the Options window, click on the Video tab if it isn't already active.
3. Click on the Advanced... button.
4. Click on the box next to the text "Enable Minimal HUD".
5. Click on OK. In the Options window, click on Apply or OK to finish.

The acronym "HUD" stands for Heads-Up Display, which refers to the visual overlay that keeps you informed on various game standings, such as your current ammo and the round time remaining. Enabling the Minimal HUD makes the HUD elements on your screen smaller, shrinking your blind spots and freeing up more of your peripheral vision. Admittedly, this makes some text smaller, so if you have really bad eyesight, you should probably not have done the stuff I just said.

Other Options to Consider

Mouse

The mouse options includes a rather important slider for it labeled "Mouse sensitivity." Be sure to adjust that to fit your playstyle (will require some trial and error).

Multiplayer

The Multiplayer options has a few things to consider:

• Custom Crosshair: Set the file to "none" for default. Change the color with the sliders.
• Custom Content Downloading: This determines what custom files you download from servers. I recommend disabling sound downloads, as sounds can take up a lot of space and worsen gameplay.

Advanced Multiplayer

While in the Multiplayer options window, clicking on Advanced gives you even more options to consider. A few of them have been addressed in the scripts. Others include...

• Medigun Autoheal: Medigun heals even when not holding down fire button. I suggest enabling it to most new players.
• Automatic Reload: In TF2, all reloads can be interrupted with attacking, so the only reason to not have autoreload enabled is if the animation bothers you (might happen if you play spy a lot).
• Draw Viewmodels: Once you're used to the game weapons, consider disabling this. It will make your vision clear up by hiding the weapon.
• Disable Sprays: If you have a are easily offended, easily distracted, or have a weak constitution, I suggest you turn this on.
• Disable HTML MOTDs: Unless you're involved in a community that NEEDS a fancy message of the day, turn this on.
• Spectating Non-Standard Item: Once you get a good feel for the unlock weapons, go ahead and disable this.
• Disable Weather Effects: Generally good to turn this on unless you live for ambiance.

Game Information

By now you're probably excited to get down and start playing. While I appreciate that you put your motivational shirt on and wet yourself, I think you're forgetting that we actually haven't started talking about the game yet.

Keep in mind that this information is subject to becoming out of date because I am subject to being lazy.

Basic Mechanics

Weapons

All guns other than the grenade launcher, flare gun, and sniper rifle have damage falloff, meaning that the further their projectiles/bullets travel, the less damage they deal. Slow projectile and shotgun weapons (except the Force-A-Nature) reload one ammo at a time. A weapon from any class (except for Pyro) that fires very rapidly by holding down the attack key fires at 10 ammo per second (unless it's a pistol, which fires at 8 per second).

Classes that have been given their "class packs" have alternate unlocked weapons and items. Medic, pyro, scout, and heavy have an unlock for each weapon slot; sniper has an extra unlock for his secondary slot instead of a melee unlock, and spy has only a primary slot unlock and two cloak watch replacements. Unlock weapons are generally weirder than the regular weapons, though not necessarily (nor usually) better. You get them by unlocking class achievements (every Achievement Milestone achievement means a new unlock) or randomly finding them.

Most non-unlocked melee weapons (Shovel, Fire axe, Bottle, Fists, Wrench, Bonesaw, and Kukri) attack at the same speed for the same damage. The bat attacks faster for less damage (both per hit and over time) and the knife does less damage unless it lands a backstab.

Criticals occur in 2-12% of the time (based on recent damage dealt), with melee weapons getting a +15% chance, as described here. Critical damage is the same for every shot from a given weapon, though the multiplier is different for different weapons (usually in the 200-300% range).

Maps

There are a variety of maps in TF2 (though there weren't really when it first came out), and each is classified by its mission objective type. To be quite honest, you'll get the ideas behind the mission objectives almost immediately when you join a map, so I won't get into them. If you want a refund, check your pockets.

On that topic, once you've been familiarized with the map types, you should locate your Map Views file, located in C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\YourAccount\team fortress 2\tf\media\viewed.res. Open the file with Notepad or Wordpad and edit all the numbers in quotes to be larger than 50, then save and override the old file. This will stop that really long-lasting mission objective dialogue box from appearing in your HUD at the start of the map.

If I had to pick one map to recommend to a new player that had the most class variety and was most flexible in terms of team sizes and skill levels, I'd say cp_gravelpit probably stands out the most, but pretty much any non-arena, non-custom map will give you good practice if you're new. If I had to pick one map new players shouldn't go to, I'd say cp_steel, as it's kind've weird and complicated.

The Classes

The nine TF2 classes are Scout, Soldier, Pyro, Demoman, Heavy, Engineer, Medic, Sniper, and Spy. If someone tells you there's a cow, announcer, or bomb cart class, they probably just know more about TF2 than me. If you're interested in the specific numbers of their mechanics or want expansive advice, click on those class names.

Scout

General Information...

• Health: Baseline 125 hit points, can be overhealed up to 185.
• Movement: 133% run speed. Depending on equipment setup, can jump either twice or thrice in a single leap.
• Standard Weapons: Scattergun deals ~95 damage with very high falloff. Pistol deals ~21 damage with moderate falloff. Bat deals ~35 damage and its attacks take only 5/8 the time normal melee weapons do (still worst DPS of standard melee weapons not counting non-backstab knife).
• Unlocks: His primary unlock, the "Force-A-Nature", has a lot of knockback and gives him an extra mid-air jump, but has to reload every 2 shots. His secondary unlock, "Bonk! Atomic Punch", lets him become invulnerable and blurry for a 6 seconds, followed by 6 seconds of movement speed being reduced from 133% to 78% (though if you strafe side to side while moving forward, speed isn't reduced nearly as much). His tertiary unlock, the "Sandman", gives him a ranged stun with a long recharge that lowers his max health by 30 (stunned targets gain damage reduction 25% and a +5 to saving throws against spell-like abilities) (taunt is melee-range instant-kill).
• Notes: When capturing a point or pushing a cart, a scout counts as two people. Also he's the ShamWow guy.

Playing Scout...

• Know where med kits are and take advantage of them.
• Double-jumping is good for going over people, but can make you easier to hit at mid-far range.
• Use pistol at far range to get people to switch to distance weapons, then run in and blast them.
• Of all classes, you're possibly the most suited to pick when your fights start and when they end (though not always where). Take advantage of that.
• Scouts work great in pairs, so if you have a buddy, stick with him.
• Stay moving.

Fighting Scout...

• Don't let him find your medic alone.
• Try to keep him at mid-long range.
• Don't try running unless you're bringing him into a trap.
• The best counter to a scout in neutral/contested areas is, well, a better scout. To defend a spot against one, use sentry guns and/or heavies.

Soldier

General Information...

• Health: Baseline 200 hit points, can be overhealed up to 300.
• Movement: 80% run speed. Can use rocket jumps to gain significant burst movement at health cost.
• Standard Weapons: Rocket launcher deals ~108 damage with moderate falloff. Shotgun deals ~85 damage with high falloff. Shovel deals ~65 damage.
• Unlocks: None yet.
• Notes: Solid and straightforward. Rocketjumps deal at most 46 damage to self.

Playing Soldier...

• Stick with your medic, assuming you have one. His healing will offset rocketjump costs and let you tank a lot of damage during your slow-ass rocket reloads.
• When using your rocket launcher, aim at people's feet, as splash damage is more reliable for dealing damage than direct hits.
• Always consider rocket jumping.
• Well-placed rockets will launch enemies into the air to some extent. Doing this is called juggling. Use it to set up air shots (or at least splash damage shots where they are going to land).
• Air shots are when you hit enemies with direct rockets while they're mid-air. Practicing these, along with juggling, will make you better at duels.
• Go for the height advantage.

Fighting Soldier...

• Avoid getting too close if he's noticed you and hasn't used up his ammo.
• Strike when he's reloading.
• Go for the height advantage.

Pyro

General Information...

• Health: Baseline 175 hit points, can be overhealed up to 260.
• Movement: 100% run speed.
• Standard Weapons: Flamethrower deals ~153 damage per second with moderate falloff and limited range; it can airblast to deflect projectiles, push enemies, or extinguish allies. Shotgun deals ~85 damage with high falloff (taunt is melee-range instant-kill). Fire axe deals ~65 damage.
• Unlocks: His primary unlock, the "Backburner", gets no random crits or airblast, but crits whenever it hits a target's back. His secondary unlock, the "Flare Gun", can set people on fire from a distance (taunt is melee-range instant-kill). His tertiary unlock, the "Axtinguisher", deals half damage on non-burning foes and gets no random crits, but crits against burning foes.
• Notes: Generally an ambush class. People set on fire take 5-6 damage per second for 10 seconds, or until submerged in water or healed.

Playing Pyro...

• Avoid going rambo on enemies all the time (known as W+M1).
• If there's an enemy medic in the crowd, he should be your main target, because anything else will generally have extra health (which means more reaction time during your ambushes) and will be quickly extinguished.
• Don't be too reliant on airblast for soldier fights unless you have an ally, because his rockets have a faster attack interval than airblast.
• If you're using standard primary and secondary, a good tactic is to light people on fire and then immediately airblast; when they're floating, switch to shotgun and blast them while they can't dodge.

Fighting Pyro...

• Projectile harassing doesn't work well if the pyro has airblast (might be better off conserving ammo).
• Stay near your medic, if you have one.
• A heavy will generally out-damage a pyro in straight-on combat.
• Save medkits for those on fire if possible.
• Lit team mates can be extinguished by medic healing, friendly airblast, or friendly jarate.

Demoman

General Information...

• Health: Baseline 175 hit points, can be overhealed up to 260.
• Movement: 93% run speed.
• Standard Weapons: Grenade launcher deals ~98 damage on direct hit, ~43 on post-bounce splash. Sticky bomb launcher deals ~124 damage on perfect detonation placement with moderate falloff if the sticky is younger than 5 seconds old (older has no falloff). Bottle deals ~65 damage.
• Unlocks: None yet.
• Notes: Demoman has great damage output but can have trouble in straight-up combat and sudden encounters. Stickies can be destroyed with bullets and pushed by explosives. Though it costs more life and takes more time than a rocket jump, a demoman can "sticky jump" very long distances. Holding the attack button with the sticky launcher charges the shot, giving it more range.

Playing Demoman...

• Be in the general area of your team medic (you don't need to attend to him like a soldier or heavy, but he should be pretty close in general).
• Unlike rockets and stickies, grenades are best used if you can hit people directly, which takes some practice to do reliably.
• It's a good idea to make sticky traps above doorways, as they are usually the hardest to avoid and accidentally see (make sure the door isn't too high, though, or it might not be close enough to damage).
• If the server you're in allows it, camping spawns with stickies can make a good window for your team to push or maintain a hold. Make sure the server you're in allows it, though (many don't).
• If you know there will be a medkit or medic on your arrival, stickyjumps can be a great way to get around. In combat, however, they're generally not as good as rocket jumps.

Fighting Demoman...

• If you see a demo in a room camping or reloading where there's no combat, he's probably trapped the area.
• If you're soldier, rocketjumping can usually give you a window of advantage against a demo.
• If a demo retreats from you behind a corner or choke point, he's probably trying to bait you into a trap.
• Remember that you can destroy/push stickies, but be careful about where they go and how close you need to get to hit them.
• If sticky traps are becoming a problem, consider using a spy.
• If an enemy demo is nearby, don't run through automatic doorways (get close enough for them to open and immediately pull back to get them to detonate).

Heavy

General Information...

• Health: Baseline 300 hit points, can be overhealed up to 450.
• Movement: 77% run speed. While revving, his move speed goes down to 27% (0% while also crouched) and he can't jump.
• Standard Weapons: Minigun deals ~520 damage per second with high falloff. Shotgun deals ~85 damage with high falloff. Fists deals ~65 damage (taunt is short-mid-range instant-kill).
• Unlocks: His primary unlock, "Natascha", deals 25% less damage but slows when it hits. His secondary unlock, the "Sandvich", eliminates his shotgun in exchange for a taunt that heals 300 and the ability to drop his sandvich like a mid-size health kit (picking up a health kit while at full health restocked the sandvich). His tertiary unlock, the "K.G.B.", attacks 20% slower but gives him 5 seconds of crits when he kills with it.
• Notes: If he dies while holding a sandvich, the first person to run over it will gain 50 hit points (75 if scout).

Playing Heavy...

• Stick with a medic whenever possible, because you'll be absorbing a lot of damage due to your size and speed.
• Natascha's damage is notoriously buggy. Don't expect to win a 1v1 if you're using it against an enemy heavy with the standard minigun. If you're fighting scouts, spies, or pyros, though, it can be quite good.
• It's usually worth waiting for a teleporter to recharge.
• While in-transit, it's usually better to keep your shotgun out (reacts to ambushes much faster).
• Mind your surroundings. This is especially important for heavy, because not only is he a prime target for spies and snipers, but he also needs to predict when enemies are coming to avoid being vulnerable during windup time.

Fighting Heavy...

• Use spies and/or snipers.
• If he has a medic and spies/snipers aren't working, try kritzkrieg or going solely for his medic first.
• Listen for the windup.
• Keep your distance if he's revved.
• If you're a soldier, scout, or demoman fighting him at mid-range, hit him in short bursts by peeking around corners and using cover.

Engineer

General Information...

• Health: Baseline 125 hit points, can be overhealed up to 185. Buildings have hit points based on upgrade level (150/180/216 for levels 1/2/3).
• Movement: 100% run speed.
• Standard Weapons: Shotgun deals ~85 damage with high falloff. Pistol deals ~21 damage with moderate falloff. Wrench deals ~65 damage; hitting a building with a wrench makes it build faster, removes sappers (takes two hits), repairs damage, upgrades, and restocks ammo (the latter three cost metal). Sentry gun deals ~33/61/132 damage per second (level 1/2/3), with level 3 also dealing ~40 damage per rocket cluster.
• Unlocks: None yet.
• Notes: Sentry guns are oftentimes known as "sg's" or "turrets"; teleporters are oftentimes known as "tp's" or "teles". Friendly engineers can use their wrenches and metal on each other's buildings. Sentries will not shoot at cloaked or disguised spies (exception: if the spy is undisguised and disguises in front of the sentry, it will keep firing at the spy until he finds cover or cloaks). Disguised spies can use your dispensers and teleporters (the former even while cloaked). Sentries cannot shoot through friendly buildings. Sentries can damage their creator in full if he gets in the line of fire. Enemies can sometimes avoid sentry fire by circling it faster than it turns. If you have an engineer ally during setup time, you should temporarily switch to engineer to upgrade his teleporter for him and then switch back to whatever you were before setup time is over. Buildings function underwater. Sappers can be placed and removed from both teleporters simultaneously from either side.

Playing Engineer...

• Watch out for enemy spies. If one saps a building near you, it's usually better to kill the spy first before breaking the sapper (unless he leaves completely).
• Don't forget you can rotate buildings while laying out their blueprints. Sentries have to waste time turning if their target is too off-center, and teleporters spawn the ally facing the direction of the arrow on the teleporter exit blueprint.
• If a friendly engineer dies, look after his buildings for him as best you can.
• If a demoman is trying to stickybomb your buildings, try to stand away from the bombs while staying within the dispenser radius and shotgun the stickies. If he is able to place three in a row, their detonation will destroy all your buildings.

Fighting Engineer...

• Use a demoman.
• If spy, try to get a stab before the sap and circlestafe to avoid immediate sentry gun fire. Also, you can stand next to/on top of dispensers while cloaked and stay there indefinitely.
• Remember that sentries can't shoot through friendly buildings and will hurt their creator if he's within the line of fire.
• Worst comes to worst, use an uber. Have the medic walk in first (sentry guns target closest enemy and have strong knockback).

Medic

General Information...

• Health: Baseline 150 hit points, can be overhealed up to 225.
• Movement: 107% run speed.
• Standard Weapons: Syringe gun deals ~125 damage per second with moderate-high falloff. Medigun heals 24-72 hit points per second based on how recently the target was last damaged (the less recent the better, based on these mechanics); it also can overheal a target up to 150% max health and charges up Übercharge when healing (takes 40 seconds total while on targets with <150% health, half that speed while targets are at 150%); activating uber gives healer and target invulnerability for 8 seconds. Bonesaw deals ~65 damage.
• Unlocks: His primary unlock, the "Blutsauger", can't get random crits but gives the medic 3 hit points per hit. His secondary unlock, the "Kritzkrieg", makes its target get 100% crits instead of making the medic and partner invincible during ubers, and it fills uber at +25% speed. His tertiary unlock, the "Übersaw", attacks 20% slower but fills uber 25% faster.
• Notes: Medics are a keystone to an optimal team. Overheals and ubers/kritzes can easily give the advantage that wins the game. Medics can use the voice command "I am fully charged!" at will. "Kritzkrieg" is oftentimes referred to as "KK".

Playing Medic...

• Learn footwork. Know how to dodge, when and where to hide, and how to take cover behind team mates.
• Try to spread overheal around. Not only is this optimal for a team, but it fills your uber faster than if you stuck with one target.
• Try to get a microphone if you don't have one. Communication is key for medics.
• When ubering, stand in front of your ally to absorb as much knockback as possible (your probably slower team mate needs a window to get close or his attacks will probably suffer damage falloff, or at least worse accuracy).
• If you're using kritzkrieg, it's usually optimal to use it on a demoman (who has the most damage output and largest damage spread), though most other martial classes can work in a good number of situations as well.
• Save uber for when you or your partner is taking damage, but don't wait until the last possible moment or you risk hitting it too late.

Fighting Medic...

• If you're a sniper, a single headshot will kill even if uncharged. A fully-charged body shot can (but won't always) kill instantly.
• If you're spy, you'll probably need to pursue the medic from a side blind-spot or get him while he's distracted, as he can outrun you in straight transit.
• If you have uber, try to use yours after the enemy uses theirs (if they have any). If you have kritzkrieg and they have medigun, try to attack as soon as you get kritz, because once they get ubercharge full, they will be able to override your kritz.
• In addition to spies and snipers, scouts make good medic killers (scouts actually get double points for killing a healing medic). Two clean shots at close range will do the trick.
• If an enemy medic gets uber, try to kill him quickly or get him to waste it on pressure spam.

Sniper

General Information...

• Health: Baseline 125 hit points, can be overhealed up to 185.
• Movement: 100% run speed. 27% while zoomed (1.3% while also crouched).
• Standard Weapons: Sniper rifle in non-headshots deals ~50 damage uncharged and ~150 damage while fully charged; in headshots it deals 150 damage uncharged and 450 while fully charged. Submachine gun deals ~100 damage per second with moderate falloff. Kukri deals ~65 damage.
• Unlocks: His primary unlock, the "Huntsman", replaces his sniper rifle with a bow-and-arrow meant for faster, closer-ranged combat. His first secondary unlock, "Jarate", is a jar of piss whose splash will extinguish flames on friendly people and cover enemies in urine (visible when cloaked, receive mini-crits from damage, including fire). His second secondary unlock, the "Razorback", temporarily disables the first spy attempting to backstab him on any given life.
• Notes: Straightforward class. When a sniper zooms, there is a 200ms window wherein he can't get headshot crits.

Playing Sniper...

• Make medics your primary target, followed by enemy snipers.
• Don't forget to charge up shots if the enemy has overheal particles around them.
• The 125-hp classes will generally go down in a single fully-charged bodyshot (medic is 50-50 chance).
• The classes with 150 hp or less will die in a single uncharged headshot.
• Try to avoid letting your enemies see your zoom laser.
• Watch out for spies. If you're alone in your sniper post, you can usually hear their footsteps and/or decloaking sounds.

Fighting Sniper...

• Snipers and spies make the best sniper-killers.
• When spy, if an enemy sniper always hears you coming, either crouch-walk up to him or (usually preferably) just shoot him three times with your revolver.
• If an enemy sniper can see you, don't walk in straight lines and try to mix up your movement with crouches and jumps (and, of course, whatever you do, don't stand still).
• If you're fighting a sniper at mid-range, spam attacks at him (hits jostle aim, which greatly reduces chance of headshot).

Spy

General Information...

• Health: Baseline 125 hit points, can be overhealed up to 185.
• Movement: 100% run speed normally. If in a disguise with slower speed, he will reduce his speed to match (never goes faster than 100%).
• Standard Weapons: Revolver deals ~57 damage with low-moderate falloff. Electro sapper deals ~25 damage per second on buildings upon which it's placed. Knife deals ~41 damage and has no random crits, but instant-kills if it hits the back half of the enemy (backstab).
• Unlocks: His primary unlock, the "Ambassador", has worse stats overall than the revolver but is more accurate and can headshot if fired slowly. His first special unlock, the "Cloak and Dagger", is a cloaker replacement that drains power from cloaked movement instead of cloaked time and constantly refills, but can't use ammo/metal to get more power. His second special unlock, the "Dead Ringer", is a cloaker replacement that feigns death with an instant cloak (which also provides damage reduction) and false ragdoll if hit, but cannot cloak manually and has less power.
• Notes: Backstab registration is done by checking the spy's position in relation to the hit target's horizontal facing (vertical looking doesn't move the back area, so if the spy is on top of the target, once he passes their center point, a knife attack will backstab). Sappers can be knocked off by two wrench hits.

Playing Spy...

• When stabbing, as long as you hit with melee, the actual body part you look at doesn't matter (just your position and their facing).
• Always consider using revolver instead of knife.
• Take advantage of the fact that you can see enemy hit points while disguised. Use this to share information with your team and personally pick off hurt foes with your revolver instead of risking a stab.
• Use enemy dispensers to refill cloak and health (you can do this while cloaked).
• Enemy sentry guns won't shoot at you if disguised or cloaked, but if you are undisguised and put on a disguise in front of one, it will shoot you until you cloak or get out of its vision.
• Remember that you can circle-strafe to avoid immediate sentry fire after stabbing an engineer.
• With practice, you can juggle your sapper and revolver and take out a wrench-spamming engineer even if he's in an un-stab-able position.
• Try to go for height advantages. People don't have as much vertical vision as horizontal, and even if they did, they are less likely to look above them than to their sides/back. Learn to leap from high distances and stab while landing.
• Keep in mind that you produce audible sound with upright footsteps and decloaking (usually only noticed if in quiet area).
• Pick up ammo/metal to refill your cloak.
• Donning a friendly spy disguise (or, if you're using the previously provided scripts, the alt button) will immediately drop your disguise with no smoke. If you do this at the start of decloaking, you can capture/defend a point during the full second of decloak (otherwise you'd have to wait to decloak and attack with your knife). This matters when trying to defend/capture a final point in a 5-point cp.
• Reapplying your current disguise (lastdisguise key) will make it switch weapons to whichever slot you have active.
• If you're being pursued up a slope, you can try doing a stairstab/leap-stab/overstab/jump-stab/whatever you feel like calling it (they look like this). Don't become reliant on them, as good players will intercept it.
• 

  

  Surprisingly straight or dedicatedly closeted?
  If you want to play smartly, you can generally assume enemies will have reaction times of ~1 second. If you see a group of enemies, you're probably pushing your luck if you take significantly more than a second getting a followup stab. Going for more will sometimes work against inattentive/bad players, but don't rely on that unless they are clearly distracted or bad.
• Disguising while the cloak is on will produce no smoke, even if you decloak before it finishes.
• If you backstab someone who's not completely alone and you're not going for follow-up stabs, it's generally wise to cloak immediately afterwards and then start disguising.
• If you become completely submerged in water, you will be covered in droplets when you get out for a few seconds, even if cloaked.
• Use friendly disguises to trick, scare, and trap foes.
• You'll quickly learn to avoid pyros (it wouldn't be so bad if fire could be cloaked or disguised).
• A building under the effects of one of your sappers takes much less damage from your other attacks.
• Be sure to look at your keyboard options and bind the lastdisguise key.
• If you're having trouble tricking enemies, try faking a reload.

Fighting Spy...

• Obviously, keep turning around and shoot at possible spies (TF2 almost always has no friendly fire damage).
• If engy, shoot spies before wrenching unless they retreat.
• Listen for screams of pain (generally means a nearby team mate was backstabbed).
• If a spy is above you, backpedal to avoid the stairstab.
• Try listening for footsteps and decloak sounds.
• As a general rule of thumb, if you notice something unusual (be it behavior or something like smoke, water droplets, colored blurs, or disappearing pickups), shoot first and ask questions later (no friendly fire in TF2).
• Outside of restricted zones, the only way to be certain someone isn't a spy is to see them fire a weapon/use a special ability. Disguised spies won't even bleed or grunt if you shoot them and they can go so far as faking death, voice commands, reloads, and holding unlocked weapons.

Metagame

This section contextualizes the game so you can stay mad topical like a hemorrhoid cream.

Origins

Before TF2, there was a game called Team Fortress Classic, a mod for Half-Life 1, which itself was a port of a mod for Quake. In this version of the TF, classes had grenades (both generic and class-specific), lots of bunny-hopping, and medics were shock troopers.

After a year of development, Valve had a working sample of TF2 ready. Then Valve started working on the source engine and realized that their game was crappy, so they scrapped it and never thought of the words "Team Fortress" again.

Updates

Valve believes in servicing (hah hah) their customers with frequently occasionally at-best-sporadically occurring blog posts and game updates. Since its October 2007 release, TF2 has seen huge changes to a wide variety of game elements--class unlocks, a vast increase in official maps (originally only 6), new achievements, class balance changes, and new game modes--all brought to you in nothing less than the astounding Valve Time™.

Because of the constant changing nature of the game, you really should occasionally check the blog and/or update news (in your Games tab in Steam, right-click on TF2 and there's a View Update News option). A lot of people don't read update news and are therefore old farts (this explains why you'll sometimes hear people say spies should never teleport even though what they're bitching about was patched f***ing ages ago).

Community

TF2 has a diverse (not physically, obviously) base of players, ranging from aggressively casual to casually aggressive. Some like 32-player orange map instant respawn servers while others are partial to eccentricities like teamwork and game balance. The important thing is that you understand people's unique tastes and don't ridicule them with sarcastic comments on an instructional reading piece.

TF2 has an active subforum on the Steam forums, which you can reach here. I wouldn't particularly recommend you read it sober.

If you're interesting in playing competitively, read that one guide someone already wrote about it. I'm not much of a writer.

Meet the Team

Since Valve is one of the few video game companies that doesn't sneak off to smoke in the bathrooms of Uncanny Valley Elementary during recess and actually bothered to make a half-decent facial animation system for their engine, they thought they could make funny promotional videos to go along with their game and that they wouldn't look crappy. Well, they did make funny promotional videos, and they didn't look crappy. Fancy that.

Closing Thoughts

I hope you enjoyed the instructions. Whether you did or didn't, feel free to leave comments on the discussion page.

HF, GL, OGC,
G-Mang

See Also

Game Information

• Classes
• Official Maps
• Strategy
• Weapons

TF2 Modification

• Customizing
• Custom Maps
• Mods
• Scripting

Community Information

• Community Portal
• Sharing Game Footage
• Meet the Team

External Links

• TF2 Guide List (Steam Forums)
• TF2 Instructional Videos (Steam Forums)