- For the older class in TFC, see Soldier (Classic).
| Soldier | |
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| Icon | 
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| Type | Offensive |
| Health | 200 / 300
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| Name | Soldier |
| Race | Caucasian |
| Gender | Male |
| Species | Human |
| Height | 180 cm (5'11") |
| Weight | 90 kg (200 lb) |
| Age | 43 |
| Date Of Birth | October 2, 1925 |
| Hometown | Minneapolis Minnesota, USA |
| Job | Interior design |
| Speed | 80% |
| Appears in | Team Fortress 2 |
| Voice Actor | Rick May (1940-2020)✞ Nolan North Takahiro Sakurai (Japanese) |
Meet the Soldier
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- "Give em hell boys!"
The Soldier is a mercenary from America's heartland. Being well-armed, he's versatile, capable of both offense and defense, and a great starter class to get familiar with the game.
Bio
- Motto: To help the team win! How? By killing a lot!
- Special ability: Rocket Jumping
- Description: Though he wanted desperately to fight in World War 2, the Soldier was rejected from every branch of the U.S. military. Undaunted, he bought his own ticket to Europe. After arriving and finally locating Poland, the Soldier taught himself how to load and fire a variety of weapons before embarking on a Nazi killing spree for which he was awarded several medals that he designed and made himself. His rampage ended immediately upon hearing about the end of the war in 1949.
Weapons
Primary
| Weapon | Kill Icon | Ammo Loaded |
Ammo Carried |
Damage Range |
Notes / Special Abilities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Stock Rocket Launcher |
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 Craft Original |
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 Rockets fly straight down the crosshair from the center of the screen.
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 Unlock Direct Hit |
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 Craft Black Box |
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Crits: 270 |
 On hit, restores 20 health. Has a 25% smaller clip size (clip size of 3).
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 Craft Rocket Jumper |
Grants the player triple max primary ammo.No self-inflicted blast damage is taken.
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 Craft Liberty Launcher |
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 Craft Cow Mangler 5000 |
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Doesn't use ammo.Deals 80% less damage to buildings.All critical hits are converted to mini-crits.
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 Craft Beggar's Bazooka |
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Hold Fire to load up to three rockets.Release Fire to unleash the barrage at 70% increased fire rate.+3 degrees random projectile deviation.Overloading the chamber will cause a misfire.Cannot collect ammo from Dispensers.
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Secondary
| Weapon | Kill Icon | Ammo Loaded |
Ammo Carried |
Damage Range |
Notes / Special Abilities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Stock Shotgun |
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Melee
- Shovel
- Frying Pan
- Conscientious Objector
- Freedom Staff
- Bat Outta Hell
- Memory Maker
- Ham Shank
- Saxxy
- Equalizer
- Pain Train
- Half-Zatoichi
- Disciplinary Action
- Market Gardener
- Escape Plan
The Soldier's Association
The Soldier's a crucial attacking unit in most modes and can easily handle himself in nearly any situation. He can beat the Heavy and weak classes due to their slow speed and/or lack of health, respectively. The Engineer can be beaten easily by the Soldier because the Soldier carries the Rocket Launcher, making it easy for him to overcome unguarded buildings from long range. With the help of the Spy, the Soldier should have no trouble taking down an Engineer. Against the Scout, Medic, Sniper, and Spy he will most likely be beaten because his little speed compared to theirs makes it easy for them to circle-strafe him and dodge his rockets. They can safely take him out from a further range than his Shotgun allows, putting him at a disadvantage. He can catch an enemy Soldier by surprise to easily beat him, but if both are alert of each other's position and presence, then a deadlock can occur, due to the long range giving them plenty of time to dodge each other's rockets. The Soldier can also use his Rocket Jumping ability, which entails the Soldier aiming his rocket launcher at his feet and pulling the trigger, sending the Soldier skyrocketing. This damages the Soldier somewhat (the Gunboats can help to eliminate this problem), but it's useful for getting you into places the other team wouldn't expect the slow, unwieldy Soldier to be and giving you an opportunity for a surprise rocket. His massive amounts of different melee weapons make him very dangerous whether at low health or right positioning.
The Soldier's early design for Team Fortress 2.
Quotes
- "MAGGOTS!"
- "You are apology excuses for infantry I have ever witnessed!"
- "You're dead, that's good, amen."
- "If God had wanted you to live, he would not have created me!!!!"
- "Do not look at me, I did not ask you a question!"
- "I am going to crawl down your throat and tear out your very soul!!!"
- "Last one alive lock the door!."
- "Pain is weakness leaving the man."
- "You will take your abuse like a man, Private Twinkle-Toes."
- "Are you all trying for a Section 8?"
- "I will eat the first born, I will eat them up!!"
- "Boisterous, Bird of Prey!"
- "I have done nothing but teleport bread for three days."
- "Down and give me 20!"
- "I am not trapped in facility full of robots, you are all trapped in here with me."
- "Trim your growth, Garbage disposal."
- "Hello Ms. Pauling, we killed everybody and took a briefcase!"
- "Each and every one of you will be sent home to your mama in a box!"
- "Yes, sir."
- "If fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight!."
- "Scotland is not a real country, you are an Englishman in a dress."
- "Merasmus, I will pull a rabbit out of your ass!"
- "Affirmative."
- "Roger that."
- "Son of a cussing cuss word!"
- "You can have this when you pry it from my cold dead hands, and even then, it will be difficult because I will have glued it to my cold dead hands."
- "I'm not going to just give it to ya, that would provide a sensation of pleasure."
- "We have you surrounded, at least from this side!"
- "Get a haircut, trashcan."
Strategies
- If enemies (especially Pyros) charge at you and you see them, shoot a rocket at their feet to hold them in mid-air for a while (though an experienced player might have no problem redirecting rockets using the compression blast).
- When dealing with Scouts, you need to rely on your splash damage to hurt them (splash damage is where the explosion of the rocket damages the enemy). Use the floor, walls, boxes, and even other enemies to hurt the Scout. This could be a problem for Soldiers using the Direct Hit, however, since it lacks splash damage.
- If you meet a Heavy at point-blank range (meaning that the Heavy is near to you), Rocket Jump away then shoot a rocket while you can still see him (Heavies are deadly at point-blank range).
- When dealing with groups of enemies, like shooting a Scout, use the splash damage to hurt all of them at once. (Note: if using the Direct Hit, shoot the floor if they're close to each other.)
- If ANY enemies get close to you, just do a Rocket Jump.
- Predicting enemies is essential. You HAVE to predict the opponent's movement, especially if using the Direct Hit.
- Don't think the Direct Hit's undodgeable- even Heavies can dodge it if they see it coming.
- If you notice any signs of Spies cloaking (a slight shimmer or a flicker), use splash damage to reveal the Spy's location and kill him. The Direct Hit works, too, but it's less effective.
Tips
- Reload regularly.
Your Rocket Launcher only holds four rockets at a time. When it's empty, you're vulnerable. You can reload at any time by hitting your "Use Special Skill" (right mouse button by default) or "Reload" (R by default) keys, so whenever you've got a moment to throw a rocket or two into your launcher. Smart enemies will be counting the number of times you've fired, and they'll try and attack you when they think you're empty. Reload before you run out, and you can give them a nasty surprise when they charge you.
- Learn to Rocket Jump.
One of the unique things a Soldier can do is a Rocket Jump. It's a term for a somewhat brute force method of gaining some height. Aim your Rocket Launcher straight down at your feet, and press your "Fire" button and your "Jump" button at the same time. The rocket will hit the ground at your feet, exploding and propelling you up into the air. It'll hurt you a bit, but it's an excellent way to get into areas of the map that's usually inaccessible. It takes a bit of practice, but once you've got it you'll be the bane of Snipers everywhere as you Rocket Jump into their sniping positions from the ground below.
Rocket Jump
As a Soldier, the unique thing about your class is your Rocket Jump. Use this to reach normally inaccessible areas and traverse terrain within a matter of seconds. Rocket Jumping can also be used for combat.
Epic Rocket-Walljump Kill - Team Fortress 2 Badwater Basin Replay HD
A soldier using rocket jumping and wall jumping in combat
Basic Rocket jump
To perform a basic Rocket Jump, you must jump, point at the ground, and shoot, launching you to a decent height. The Rocket Jumper is useful if you need to rocket jump and don't want to lose health.
Classic Rocket jump
Classic Rocket Jumps are the most useful. To perform a Classic Rocket jump you must hit the spacebar+Ctrl and shoot the ground. This will send you nearly double the height of the basic Rocket Jump and uses the same health, therefore making it the most useful.
TF2 Rocket Jumping Tutorial The 3 Techniques
A rocket jumping tutorial
Wall jump
To wall jump, you can either use a classic rocket jump or basic. To wall jump, you must be near a wall of some kind. First, Rocket Jump as you normally would, but ALWAYS stay crouched in mid-air and move towards the wall. When you make contact with the wall, start firing at the bit of wall beneath you. This propels you up and up and up until you either run out of health or reach your destination. Wall jumps can be performed vertically or horizontally.
Freedom - A TF2 Jump Movie, by Dellort
How professionals rocket jump
To wall jump horizontally, you propel yourself towards a wall while facing it and strafing to the side then when you make contact with the wall keep shooting at the bit of wall behind you but, flick your mouse towards the direction behind you, then flicking it back in position, then flicking it back again to the direction your rocket jumping from. Repeat this until you reach your destination.
Pogo Jumping
Pogo (or speed Pogo) is a series of Rocket Jumps low to the ground without stopping. it's considered to be a way of traversing when there are no walls present to Rocket Jump off of. this tactic is very well used by pro players in matches to start of their rollout. A good way to pogo is to simply jump forward and hold down the primary fire. after the first rocket (if connected well) hold down your crouch button and keep holding down the primary fire. use your movement keys as necessary. if done well, you will go faster as each rocket is beneath the player which will accelerate even further.
Trivia
- The Soldier's real name is revealed in the comic Grave Matters, as he is called Barrister Doe by Redmond, but he has been referred to as Mister John Doe.
- John Doe is a name used to refer to an anonymous male.
- In the comics, the BLU Soldier and the RED Demoman are great friends, even going so far as betraying their contracts with their employers, Mann Co. The administrator builds a plan to force them to betray and kill each other which leads to the WAR! Update. The fact that they are friends is referenced by the two when one kills the other.
- According to him, he just wants to talk about any news that will mark American history. In being patriotic, he hates the rest of the countries of unknown people like the Canadians and not of its group like Heavy (Russian), Medic (German), Spy (French), Sniper (Australian), Pyro (Italian), Demoman (Scottish).
- The Soldier is believed the oldest out of all the mercenaries (50 years of age).
- The Soldier calls everybody "Maggot", especially when he is irritated. However, he also calls his teammates (especially the Scout) "son" when not.
- He may also call his team "Numbnuts" if they are not helping him cap a control point.
- On May 1st 2020, when Rick May died from COVID-19 in April 8 2020, aged 79 in a nursing home in Seattle while recovering from a stroke, Valve released an update to Team Fortress 2 adding a tribute to May's voice work as the Soldier in the form of a new main menu theme titled "Saluting The Fallen" (a rendition of Taps), and locking the character image in the main menu to Soldier. The update also added statues of the Soldier saluting to most of the official in-game maps. These statues all feature a commemorative plaque dedicated to May, and will reportedly last through the end of the month of May. The statues emit a number of pre-selected voice lines from the Soldier when approached. Many Team Fortress 2 fans have released tribute videos on YouTube to tribute May.
- According to a Reddit user, who saw a YouTube comment containing May's final words, May, in his final hours, told a friend "It took a pandemic to kill me.".
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