Pyro

""One shudders to imagine what inhuman thoughts lie behind that mask.""

―Spy, on Pyro

Pyro
Icon
Type	Offensive
Health	175 /260
Name	Pyro
Race	Unknown
Gender	Unknown (presumed male referred as "He" by Miss Pauling)
Species	Human?
Height	173 cm (5'8")
Weight	79 kg (175 lb)
Age	Unknown
Date Of Birth	Unknown
Hometown	Unknown
Job	Pyrotechnics
Speed	100%
Appears in	Team Fortress 2
Voice Actor	Dennis Bateman
Meet the Pyro

Pyro is a class that carries a deadly Flamethrower in Team Fortress 2 |Pyro specializes in close quarters combat with a flamethrower, a shotgun and a fire axe |He also has a blast of compressed air which will cost 20 units of ammo and will reflect projectiles and push players away.

Pyro is able to operate both as an offensive class and a defensive class due to its effective combination with Engineers for defence.

Weapons

Primary

• Flamethrower
• Nostromo Napalmer
• Backburner
• Degreaser
• Phlogistinator
• Rainblower
• Dragon's Fury

Secondary

• Shotgun
• Flare Gun
• Detonator
• Reserve Shooter
• Manmelter
• Scorch Shot
• Panic Attack
• The Gas Passer
• Thermal Thruster

Melee

• Fire Axe
• Frying Pan
• Conscientious Objector
• Freedom Staff
• Bat Outta Hell
• Memory Maker
• Ham Shank
• Saxxy
• Golden Frying Pan
• Axtinguisher
• Postal Pummeler
• Homewrecker
• Maul
• Powerjack
• Back Scratcher
• Sharpened Volcano Fragment
• Third Degree
• Lollichop
• Neon Annihilator
• Hot Hand

Pyro's association

Although the Pyro can kill anything easily within range and has a fixed amount of health, at long range it is as good as dead. This means that although it will run over the Scout and Spy (the Scout can be tricky, however, as he tries to stay away from you, and will try to pick you off with his Pistol; if you meet him at close range, you are likely to win due to his low health), the Soldier, Demoman and Sniper will quickly take the Pyro out because of their long range weapons, if you are on low ammo and cannot Air blast their projectiles (rockets and grenades/stickies respectively). It is important, however, to note that Snipers are vulnerable once exposed to a Pyro, but beware of their Jarate; if they coat you and hit you with the Bushwacka you will instantly die (as it is a critical hit), so try to reflect it, and the Compression Blast can allow Pyros to negate damage dealt by Demomen, as they use purely projectile weapons. Soldiers can still use a Shotgun if a Pyro Air blasts their rockets. The Heavy, Engineer, and Medic can usually run from the Pyro's flames while shooting at it, thus making ambushes essential. Medics regenerate health 3 HP/second (unless the Blutsauger is equipped), so after burn deals minimal actual damage to Medics not using a Blutsauger (Medics using the Blutsauger will be backpedaling and shooting at you regaining their lost health, so your damage done practically is undone. Be aware of that and if Medics are backpedaling and is out of Flamethrower's range, shoot your secondary at them. (The Flare Gun works really well in this case)). Against another Pyro, the Shotgun is best as the Pyro's suit prevents being lit on fire, though the direct damage from the Flamethrower itself still occurs.

The Pyro's default primary weapon is the Flamethrower, which appears to be constructed from a propane tank, an old gas pump, a shower-head and other assorted plumbing parts; the overall appearance of the weapon is a unique "homebrewed" effect. The Flamethrower weapon deals plenty of damage in close-quarters but has a phenomenally short range. This means that an enemy can quickly move out of harm's way to pick off the hapless Pyro. The Flamethrower also possesses a unique Compression Blast, or what some people call an "Airblast". Not only is the Compression Blast able to blow away enemies, but it can also be used to reflect dangerous projectiles (except bullets). It can reflect anything from rockets to even an arrow from the Huntsman Longbow. This blast can also be used to help your team in a way; by blasting it at a teammate who is on fire, you will blow off the fire leaving your teammate saved. You also have to be cautious when using this ability as it uses a considerable amount of ammo, 20. Reflected projectiles do mini-crit damage, so if they hit the user who shot them, they will take mini-crit damage of their own shot!

The Pyro's default secondary weapon is their Shotgun. It is just like the other standard, pump-action Shotguns used by many other classes in the game, but the rounds stay slightly more condensed at far range compared to the other classes. It is very reliable to the Pyro as it's the best weapon for the Pyro to use when combating another Pyro. Despite it being more efficient in a Pyro vs. Pyro situation, it still has a very short range, making it ineffective at mid-range targets. The Flare Gun solves this problem, because it shoots a projectile that will on hit set the enemy on fire. Because of its slow traveling speed, it will descend, which requires it to be aimed at the head. Because of both the Shotgun and Flamethrower having such a short range, the Pyro must use ambush tactics in order to kill enemies without getting many serious injuries.

In June 2008, Valve hinted that the Pyro may be in fact a female, or may not even be human for that matter. On the TF2 Official Blog, Jakob Jungles posted an image that referred to the Pyro as "he" in the description. Although clearly referred to as a male, the card ends with the phrase 'if he is even a man at all.' This most likely suggests that the Pyro might not be human at all, but is also likely to keep players guessing at his/her gender. Also, the Spy Update added the sentence "When Pyro hears about this she'll be inconsolable." to the TF2 Blog, which was changed a few hours later to "Pyro's going to be inconsolable now." In the "Meet the Pyro" video, a mini female gender sign is put in the sky of "Pyroland", which is the land in which Pyro thinks he/she is in.

In July 2012, after years of fans telling Valve to finish the Meet the Team Series, Meet the Pyro was finally released showing not only the weapons of the Pyro, but also showing the mentality and understanding of the Pyro's psyche. Compared to the other classes, the Pyro is the most insane. He sees everything as a magical fairy tale land, which Valve dubbed "Pyroland". In Pyroland, he sees enemy players as small, round, flying babies, and his acts of killing and maiming them to him is nothing more than playing with them; however, his mask might be the cause of the Pyroland illusions. In front of the mask, it reads "Optical Mask". Optical illusions usually play tricks on your eyes and your mind, so the mask might play tricks on the Pyro's mind, thus causing Pyroland. This has been hinted by the Pyrovision goggles which were introduced after Meet the Pyro. If any class wore the goggles, all players both friendly and enemy will sound high pitched, explosions will be shown as confetti, the fiery trails of rockets and flare become bubbles, when players take damage or die they laugh instead of grunting or screaming, Ammo boxes and health packs are replaced by presents and candy/cakes, and when players explode instead of exploding into body parts, players explode into random items like bike wheels, cheeseburgers, and more.

Strategies

• Use your Compression Blast to help your teammates and yourself. Reflect rockets, grenades, and even stickies away; you can even reflect an enemy Spy from backstabbing or sapping. You can also reflect people off cliffs to ensure their deaths. However, careful when doing this to Scouts as they have their double jump! Maps such as Nucleus in King of the Hill and Upward in Payload have many cliffs and lethal drops, perfect for blasting airborne Scouts and other units down to their annihilation.
• If an ÜberCharged character approaches, try to keep it in one place by using the Compression Blast or separate it from the accompanying Medic, or if you are defending, say, a fully ÜberCharged Medic, you may want to strafe forward and Air blast continually to waste their ÜberCharge for at least a few precious seconds.
• Attacking and retreating is often better than attacking until one of you is left standing. Afterburn is very helpful, ensuring you take a chunk out of that Demoman's or Soldier's health after your obliteration over time.
• Always ambush and cover weaker units at hand (Medics, Engineers, Snipers(scouts can help themselves))
• Never charge head on, as the Pyro needs ambush tactics to survive. It's much easier to wait for Heavies and Soldiers to come to you and run them over with your Flamethrower instead of hitting the deck as you run down a corridor to your imminent doom.

• Switch to your Shotgun to hurt enemies that are not in Flamethrower range. Also, use the Shotgun to do light work out of other Pyros.

• Keep checking for Spies if you have nothing else to do or when traveling to the front line. A disguised Spy will burst into flames. Pyros are the best anti-Spy units in the game, as the flames of your weapon will reveal all Spies in its range, highlighting the Spy and marking him for destruction.

• You are an Engineer's best friend. Reflect rockets, grenades, or stickies that come near his buildings. If anyone comes near, shoot them with fire.

• You can also take a sub-class, commonly called "Pybro", where your main focus is guarding an Engineer's nest/buildings. The set always has the Homewrecker or either the Neon Annihilator or the Maul, melee weapons that are capable of removing sappers on a hit or two, very useful against a Spy's Sapper. The primary and secondary can be generally anything, except the Phlogistinator (lack of Airblast can't reflect people/projectiles away) and the Backburner, due to the high Airblast cost. Sometimes this can be neglected with a dispenser giving ammunition, however. You cannot put out too many Airblasts at a time, and you won't need the crits on back attribute on defense as much as, say a faster weapon switch to take care of Sappers or Spies quickly by using the Degreaser.
• Whenever in doubt, W+M1.

Trivia

• In the menu after the Engineer Update, it can say the player needs to give her a "shot", with Valve once again teasing players regarding the Pyro's gender.
• The Pyro's taunt kill Hadouken (when using the Shotgun or Flare Gun) is a reference to one of the moves the character Ryu uses in the Street Fighter series.
• The original concept art for the Pyro is that of a senior man wearing a similar suit of the current Pyro, but without a gas-mask.
• Pyro's cosmetics have included numerous Mexico-themed ones, including a set called "The Gas Jockey". A Gas Jockey is a derogatory name for an immigrant, usually Mexican, who pumps gas. Many players theorize the Pyro comes from Mexico.
• The Pyro was the last class to get a "Meet The Team" video.
  • Meet the Pyro didn't have Pyro using its default load out. The Scorch Shot replaced his Shotgun.
• In the Team Fortress #3 A Cold Day in Hell it is shown that Pyro hates bears because he views all of them as Smolders who is a parody of Smokey Bear. Smolders hates fire in contrast to Pyro's love of fire.

•The Meet the Pyro Video seems to be set up like a Reality TV show scene like the "Meet the Heavy video" before going back to the classic style of Tf2 "Meet the class" videos.

Meet the Pyro

References

• Team Fortress #3 A Cold Day in Hell