Pyro

For the older class in TFC, see Pyro (Classic).

"I fear no man. But that thing... it scares me."

―The Heavy on The Pyro

Pyro
Icon
Type	Offensive
Health	175 /260
Name	Pyro
Gender	Unknown
Species	Human
Height	175 cm
Weight	79 kg
Age	Unknown
Job	Pyrotechnics
Speed	100%
Appears in	Team Fortress 2
Voice Actor	Dennis Bateman
Meet the Pyro

The Pyro is a versatile attack/defense class, specializing in ambush tactics. This class is easy to use/pick up, but takes time to master.

Weapons

Primary

• Flamethrower:
• Backburner:
• Degreaser:
• Phlogistinator:
• Rainblower:

Secondary

• Shotgun:
• Flare Gun:
• Detonator:
• Reserve Shooter:
• Manmelter:
• Scorch Shot:
• Panic Attack

Melee

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

Pyro's Association

Although the Pyro can kill anything easily within range and has a solid amount of health, in long range it's as good as dead. This means although they 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 in close range you are likely to win due to his low health. The Soldier, Demoman and Sniper will easily take the Pyro out because of their long range weapons, if you are on low ammo and cannot airblast their projectiles (rockets and grenades/stickies respectively). However it is important 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 airblasts their rockets. Heavy, Engineer, and Medic classes can usually run from his flames while shooting at him/her, thus making ambushes essential. Medics regenerate health 3 hp/second (unless the Blutsauger is equipped), so afterburn deals no actual damage to Medics not using a Blutsauger. 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 main weapon is their 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 very 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 harms way to pick off the hapless Pyro. The Flamethrower also possesses a unique compression blast, or what some people call a "Airblast" or offically Compression blast ability. Not only is the compression blast able to blow away enemies far, but it can also be used to reflect dangerous projectiles (except bullets). It can reflect 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 from their own shot!

The Pyro's secondary weapon (default) is their Shotgun. 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 effective in a Pyro vs. Pyro situation, it still has a very short range, making it ineffective at mid-range targets. The Flaregun solves this problem, because it shoots a projectile that will, on hit, set the enemy on fire,but because of its slow traveling speed, it will descend, which requires it to be aimed above 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 much serious injuries. It is just like the other normal, pump-action shotgun used by many other classes in the game; but the rounds stay slightly more condensed at far range compared to the other classes.

In June 2008, Valve hinted that The Pyro may be in fact a female, or may not be human. 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 gender. Also, the recent spy update the sentence "When Pyro hears about this she'll be inconsolable." Was posted on 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 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 the Pyroland illusions. In the front of the mask, it reads "Optical Mask". Optical illusions, for example usually play tricks to your eye and mind, so the mask might plays tricks to the Pyros 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, when players take damage or die they laugh instead of grunting or screaming, and when players explode instead of 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 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 annihalation.

• If an Ubercharged character approaches, try to keep it in one place by using compression blast or separate it from the accompanying medic. Or, if you are defending, say a full-uber medic you may want to strafe forward and airblast continualy to waste their ubercharge for at least a few precious seconds.

• Attacking and retreating is generally 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.

• 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 make light work out of other Pyros.

• Keep puffing your teammates with fire if you have nothing else to do. Sometimes a disguised spy will burst into flames.  Pyros are probably the best anti-spy unit in the game.  The flames of your weapon will reveal all spies in it's 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 buildables. If anybody comes near, puff 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 is 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. However, sometimes this can be neglected with a dispenser giving ammunition, but you can't 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 quickly take care of sappers or spies by using the Degreaser.

Trivia

• In the menu after the Engineer Update, it can say that player needs to give HER a "shot". This is another hint of the Pyro's gender, but there is nothing official as of yet that confirms it.
• The Pyro can make fire come out of his hands (when using the Shotgun taunt), it's most likely a reference to the Hadouken.
• The Pyro is theorized to be a homosexual male according to YouTuber The Game Theorists
• The original concept art for the Pyro is that of an elderly man wearing a similar suit of the current Pyro, but without a gas-mask.
• The Pyro was the Last class to get a "Meet The Team" video