Cuh-rit!
I’ve just had a sudden change in heart for everyone’s favourite (and only, to be quite honest) militant.
Originally, I didn’t like Soldiers. In my opinion, they were meat shields. The bog-standard-average-joe class that wasn’t all that fun. They stalled the enemy while other classes did most of the heavy work that required just a inch more skill.
Before you start to throw the rotten tomatoes at me, hear me out. The other day, I was in a match of CP Well. I picked a random team and got put on the short end of the stick; I was on RED, who were being heavily pounded for their second point. BLU had heavily defended the middle point; no way could I go Pyro, I’d be seen and shot by the sentries as soon as I walked out the door. So, I went Demoman.
One word: Ugh. What a horrible start. Whenever I tried to take out a sentry, an ubered Heavy or a sneaking Pyro would send me back to the resupply. I decided it was time to look at my options.
-Heavy? Nah. The enemy team had around 4 snipers, and the Heavies giant egg head would just be a bullet magnet.
-Medic? No. I like Medics, but our team already had around 2-3 already, with more people considering to use him. It’d just be too many.
-Sniper? Nada. I only get a decent round with the sniper when I get the ‘vibe’ so to speak.
-Spy? I swear, Murphy’s law applies whenever I play him.
-Engy? I wanted to be offensive and try to get the middle point back to us.
-Scout? Haha. No.
All that left, was the Soldier. One of the main reasons I didn’t like Soldiers was the slow speed of them. Without being able to successfully rocket jump (you can tell by this point I didn’t really play Soldier often). But this was when it all changed.
Someone gave me a little tip that jumping around a lot while firing makes you a much better Soldier. The quick answer? It works. The long one? The enemy rushed in through our doors, blood and control points on their mind; I wasn’t going to let them complete their objective and neither was the rest of my team. Pyros rushed in, their masks muffled, one the same bane who had caused me so much trouble as Demo, flamethrowers burning.
“Maggots!”
Boom. A blast. Splat. Body parts sprawled across the room like confetti. Boom. Another blast. More gibs to add to my growing collection. Haha! Get out my way! I had never had this great a run on TF2 for a good while. In the last few minues of the game I managed to scrape myself a new Soldier kill and kill assist record (that may not be much though, considering it was horrible before anyway). In the 30 hours I’ve played with the Demo, I nearly beat his kill record with the Soldier in just a few minutes. I was amazed. It was so incredible how just pressing the space bar (’A’ for all those Xbox 360ers out there) from time to time made such a huge difference to my performance.
Since that day, I’ve had a great respect for Soldiers; No longer am I ignorant of the power a Soldier wields. Hats off to you! Time for me to get out of your way to let you do the heavy* work.
*Not to be confused with the Heavy Weapons Guy.
Stumble it!
Unorthodox responded on 10 Sep 2008 at 8:59 pm #
I play pretty much nothing but the Soldier, and i’ve been using the heavy for defense lately. Quite fun isnt it?
edinbugger responded on 10 Sep 2008 at 9:27 pm #
I’d play soldier more if it wasn’t for the whole “good lord I suck at this” thing. I’ll try the jumping thing, maybe it’ll help. Great pic btw.
FunkyB responded on 10 Sep 2008 at 9:47 pm #
Soldiers are an essential backbone of any team. They can’t do much amazingly but they can do everything well. Plus there is nothing like RJing up to C on Gravel Pit and clearing the defenders with a mid-air crit.
supremesonic responded on 10 Sep 2008 at 10:30 pm #
Haha, I’ve been playing quite a bit with the Soldier myself recently. Something oddly satisfying about rocket jumping into places no-one expects then blasting them to bits while they stare around confused.
I’ve been getting better at it as well. I was thinking of writing about it…
Xeno responded on 11 Sep 2008 at 1:13 am #
The soldier is a very fun class – it’s good when you’re on your own, more than anything. However, please – medics. Do not uber a soldier with anything but a kritzkrieg.
It just doesn’t work. After those 4 rockets are fired, invulnerable or not there is not a lot of damage he can do with just the shotgun.
Britisit responded on 11 Sep 2008 at 5:29 am #
I had the same revelation a few days ago. It’s a lot of fun playing soldier as I recently discovered. Crockets are one of my favorite things ever.
Sanns responded on 11 Sep 2008 at 6:01 am #
@Xeno: it’s all about bludgening that L3 SG with your shovel.
Rubenes responded on 11 Sep 2008 at 6:37 am #
Soldier’s a great universal class and the master of midrange. That’s why I love him.
n00bie51 responded on 11 Sep 2008 at 7:02 am #
Soldier ÜberCharges are quite effective. Hey, it’s used in CP matches well, isn’t it?
n00bie51 responded on 11 Sep 2008 at 7:06 am #
Also, I think all the classes have their own merit and appeal. I certainly have a fun time playing as any of them. I think it’s a shame when I hear about people ignoring classes because they can’t see the appeal in them.
Risk responded on 11 Sep 2008 at 7:29 am #
I had this revelation recently as well, now Soldier is creeping up to rival Scout and Pyro for MPC.
Nothing more satisfying than seeing a pyro waiting to airblast a rocket. Crit hits wall, soldier wins.
GuiltyFish responded on 11 Sep 2008 at 7:46 am #
I too have been using the Soldier much more recently. Its the class to be when you cant decide what to be
General Balls responded on 11 Sep 2008 at 11:38 am #
I’ve been playing a lot of Soldier simply because no-one else has been. Lately he seems to have fallen out of favour in most pubs.
3del! responded on 11 Sep 2008 at 7:06 pm #
might be because of the updates to the heavy and the pyro that nobody wants to play as soldier anymore.
You shouldn’t necessary ubercharge a soldier when facing more than one sentry, but against an enemy team he’s one of the most effective classes (besides the heavy).
one tip on how to play medic: Split your ubers to give more than one player the uber.
Say you are turning a corner with a heavy giving him uber. a soldier and a demo are behind you. most players will stay behind the corner and not take part in the action. but if you take the time to switch the uber to one of them they might just help out.
play smart
xeno responded on 12 Sep 2008 at 7:47 am #
@Xeno: it’s all about bludgening that L3 SG with your shovel.
Hah, when that works, you can’t help but feel good.
ingiltere dil okulu responded on 16 Sep 2008 at 1:07 am #
I am not surpr?s?ng to anything. But thanks..