Team Fortress II: Class Parity

One of the biggest problems that people always had when I was playing WoW PVP was how difficult it was to defeat a specific class with a specific build 1v1. If you specced your character a certain way, no matter how skilled you were, the other guy would likely beat you by following a particular formula.

This problem exists anytime you play a game with more than one class. TFII has 9 classes, and there is definitely class parity here. Ever try to take down a heavy with a pyro? Or a soldier with a scout? Yes, if you can ambush a person you have a great chance of taking them down. But in a one on one showdown, the demoman is going to kill the spy 98 times out of 100.

So why is this not a big deal in TF2? The primary reason is that people can change classes on a whim. If the heavy is pwning you as a scout, then go spy or sniper and kick his ass.

I get a lot of enjoyment out of playing each class, when the situation calls for it. When I connect to a game, I get two pieces of information: 1. the map I'm on, and 2. the classes that everyone else is playing. Using these, I decide what class to play. Here are my thoughts on when each class is most important, and when I switch to them.

Scout: Usually a poor choice quite frankly. Unless the opposing team has very few good engineers, this will be a difficult choice to make. However, if the map is very wide open, and there are plenty of the other classes, I will go scout. Scouts are great if you know the map that you are playing on. If you can get behind the opposition, and kill the medics, snipers and engineers (before they create a turret), it can make them play a lot more defensively. Two scouts working together are lethal against a team without any sentry guns up.

Soldier: A great choice if the map features a lot of long corridors, and if the team has few soldiers or snipers. Every team needs someone able to fire from afar, so if everyone is playing pyro and heavy, soldier is a great choice. Soldiers are also great with medics with a kritzkrieg and not quite as good teamed up with a medic uber. Finally, if there are great positions to rocket jump to, soldier is a great choice simply because of their ability to get somewhere unexpected. It's hard to stand your ground when rockets are being flung your way, so even if you aren't getting any kills, soldiers make the enemy run for cover - a valuable thing when attacking or defending.

Pyro: Contrary to the soldier that loves long corridors, pyros thrive around corners. They are great for sneaking up behind enemies, especially with the backburner. Pyros are one of the best uber targets, since they have practically unlimited ammo and if they can get in range, will destroy most fortifications. On the other side, the only true way to defend against an uber pyro is a pyro with the compression blast. The best counter to an uber-heavy team is a pyro with compression blast. Finally, pyros are great spy checkers - spies hate pyros.

Demomen: I love the demomen - they have rocket jumps like soldiers when used right. They can plant traps for the opposition very easily. A team with 3 demos playing defense is almost unpenetrable. Demos are great defending a small area with one entrance. They are also excellent destroyers of sentries, so on offense if the opposition has tons of sentries, sometimes all it takes is an uberred demo since you can toss your stickies out and blow everything up at once. Demos are great for offense too, since you can fire blindly from behind cliffs and ledges without taking fire from the opposition. Great teamed up with a medic.

Heavy: A heavy is an easy decision. If you have medics and engineers and no heavies, your team is retarded. A heavy is a fantastic medic and engineer friend. On offense, it means teleports and ubers. On defense, it means unlimited ammo from a dispenser and uber-counters. Nothing frustrates an offensive uber more than a defensive uber two seconds later. Not great against good enemy spies or snipers, but against everything else, if you can get your minigun spinning fast enough, you can hold ground exceptionally well.

Engineer: If you don't have any engineers, this is the most important job to have (toss up between medic). You provide teleports to get your allies closer to the action more quickly. You can defend a spot very easily. You provide more ammo and health for those who need it. The key to an offensive engineer is getting teleporters up quickly, watching for spies, and defending against the overzealous enemy trying to get behind everyone on your team (usually a scout or pyro). The key to a defending engineer is keeping a sentry up, watching for spies, and preventing any non-uberred opponents from killing you or your sentry. Also, help your fellow engineers! A level 3 sentry is better than 2 level one sentries. Work together to win.

Medic: If your team has no medics, do it. It's not a glamourous job, but an absolutely necessary one. Don't go medic if your entire team is engineers, snipers, and scouts. They are all retards - you need some heavy hitters like soldiers, pyros, demos, and heavys to do anything well. But assuming you have some of these, go medic. Your team will be much more effective than if you do anything else. Use your ubers wisely to take down opposing sentries or defending against other ubers. Use kritzkriegs when necessary (rarely are they better than ubers). Heal anyone who needs it, and make sure you don't die unnecessarily, unless you just finished an uber - dying at 90% ubercharge is frustrating as hell.

Sniper: I'm not very good as a sniper for the most part, but you have no snipers and the opposition has none, sniper is perfect. Nothing makes people duck for cover more than being one shotted from afar. If the opposition has a bunch of snipers, go spy instead. If you have two snipers or more, play something else.

Spy: If you don't have one, this is a fun class to play. If you have a lot of spies on your side, unless you coordinate it will likely be best to try another class. Spy checking comes in spurts - if there are a lot of you, they will watch more. Spies are integral to destroying opposing engineer stuff and killing snipers. They are also great against dumb medic/heavy combos who aren't paying attention.

Your individual role is very important. I think that everyone should learn how to play every class so they can figure out what their team needs the most. A team with 5 engineers should have a heavy or pyro so they can spy check. A team with a bunch of heavies really needs some medics. Hopefully I'll be able to post more often and talk about more about specific strategies, but remember to choose your class wisely - it may be the difference between success and failure for your whole team.