Competitive TF2, Part Two: the Soldier
This article is part of ubercharged.net’s competitive TF2 guide.
Recently, essentially beginning with my foray into competitive TF2, I picked up the Soldier. At a glance, the soldier is a simple class. You shoot the rockets to make people-fetti, and use the shotty to finish people off. But it is within the simplicity of the Soldier’s arsenal that the true depth of the class lies. The rocket launcher is an extremely versatile weapon: It not only handily blows enemies into convenient chunks, but it can be used to bounce them, clear points, separate ubers, and launch people into the air, where, as luck would have it, you can hit them with more rockets. The shotgun does its job- absurdly powerful at close range, it’s excellent for finishing off weakened enemies and protecting the soldier when his rocket launcher is out of ammo. Lastly, there’s the shovel, which sees use only as a last resort. On a side note, it is preferrable to simply switch to the shotgun or shovel as opposed to reloading, especially while ubered, because reloading wastes several precious seconds out of 10 seconds of charge. Most new soldiers, and by new I mean public server players (no offense, you amateurs you) charge into combat, firing all their rockets as fast as possible and hopefully getting a kill. This is not the type of soldier I play, and will not be discussed in any manner of detail here. What I am going to discuss however, is what I do play, the competitive soldier.
In competitive TF2, and even in more serious pubs, players generally recognize that there are two main ways to play the Soldier. These two ways are known as ‘long leash’ or ‘roaming’ and what is known as ’short leash’ or ‘pocket’. These two soldier playstyles differ greatly, but of course there is a bit of overlap.
The roaming soldier in competitive play does essentially what the name suggests: he roams. Roaming soldiers flank the enemy and use the environment against them. This can range from ambushing the other team’s Medic to raining death on the other team from high points such as the crates at Granary mid, the spires in Badlands, or the roof of Gravelpit’s cap point B. Of course, it’s not always easy to get to these positions, so in order to play roaming soldier, one must have a solid grip on rocket jumping. Rocket jumping is what separates decent soldiers from good soldiers. The ability to ascend and cross terrain rapidly is often the determining factor in fights. Good roaming soldiers, and indeed, good soldiers, all possess a mastery of map verticality.
In competitive TF2, players must be cognizant of their health at all times; this is especially important for the roaming soldier, who may very well be separated from his team’s medic for extended periods of time. The roaming soldier’s position away from a medic and away from his team that puts him at great risk. However, taking this risk can allow a skilled soldier to reap great rewards. An advantageous position can stop the enemy team dead in its tracks.
Because of the great mobility possessed by a skilled roaming soldier, he will be ahead of his team at most, if not all times. This has benefits in addition to the soldier being to flank his enemy; namely, the soldier can protect his team’s scouts, who are also serving in a flanking role, and the scouts can protect the soldier if he gets into trouble with a member of the other team.
In addition to monitoring health, another good tactic to keep in mind when playing any class is to watch your surroundings. This is extremely important for the roaming soldier, whose entire strength lies in his ability to utilize the environment to his advantage. There are two main things to keep an eye out for as a roaming soldier: perches and cover. The former, perches, are high points from which the soldier can fire rockets directly down onto the other team. Cover is self-explanatory if you have played any shooter. It simply provides you with a place to reload or heal, and can be great for setting up ambushes, as well.
On the subject of jumps, there are several types of jumps that a soldier can perform to traverse a map. In order of difficulty, they are vertical rocket jumps, long jumps, and wall jumps. Vertical jumps are very useful for reaching perches, but do not provide the soldier with much horizontal momentum. Long jumps, while excellent for moving a soldier quickly over long distances, are not the best for clearing obstacles or reaching perches. Wall jumps give the soldier the best of both worlds. To perform a wall jump, simply jump and shoot a rocket at a nearby wall (the effectiveness of a wall jump is heavily increased if you vertical jump up the wall first). They can be used to scale great heights, and the can also be used to cross gaps not typically accessible via a simple long jump. Wall jumps also allow the soldier to reach areas which a typical rocket jump would not allow him to reach. In addition to this, wall jumps build up horizontal speed several times that of a Scout – perfect for running down fleeing enemies. However, wall jumps are not always entirely practical without a medic or plentiful health, due to the fact that they use multiple rockets.
So when you play roaming soldier, be sure to keep a look out for potential perches. Always head for vertical areas and areas that give you an uninterrupted view of the field. Use height to your advantage, using well placed rockets to break up combos and kill medics. Never underestimate the power of a few well aimed rockets from above.
Owned.
The short leash or pocket soldier, on the other hand, never ventures far from a friendly medic. Before I continue, let me stress that there is an immense gap between a public server and a competitive match. Soldiers make difficult uber targets on public servers. Soldiers don’t have the strength to take down a thorny sentry nest, and the low ammo reserves are off-putting to some.
At the same time, there is some virtue in staying with a soldier as a medic. Soldiers aren’t the most destructive buggers around, but at the same time, they really don’t have any counterclasses. The soldier has just enough firepower and mobility to keep most enemies at bay – and therefore, he can do a great job of protecting his medic.
Arguably, the heavy is a more destructive medic buddy, but at the same time, the heavy has several counterclasses and lacks the speed and mobility of the soldier. In a competitive match, speed is critical, especially in the initial rush to the central capture area. The soldier provides an excellent compromise between power and mobility, and therefore is the number one choice for medic buddy in a competitive game.
Back to the topic: pocket soldiers stick with the medic at all times, protecting him and taking advantage of the healing to land some serious damage on the enemy team. The pocket soldier-medic pair is often referred to as the “combo”, and it really is the core of the team. Good chemistry between the medic and the pocket soldier is crucial to a team’s success.
Pocket soldiers, in the interests of protecting the medic, should not rocket jump out of range of the medigun’s healing beam. However, long jumps and wall jumps can be extremely useful for a pocket soldier – they help propel the soldier along fast enough that the medic does not have to stop and wait for the soldier to catch up. In addition, it helps the medic charge his ubercharge faster.
If the medic goes down, the pocket soldier switches gears and goes into roaming soldier mode, which is why it’s crucial that the pocket soldier knows how to effectively rocket jump, as well. Depending on the strength of the opposing team, it may be beneficial to hold the current position rather than pushing, especially if the enemy team’s medic is still alive.
For either style of play, you should have a solid grip on rocket jumping. In addition, especially if you’re considering a challenging league, such as CEVO, ETF2L (the premier European league), or TWL, the ability to perform aerials and juggle enemies is absolutely crucial.
Juggling is one of the more difficult skills to learn as soldier. It requires precise aim and good hand-eye coordination. Juggling, at its simplest form, is firing a rocket at an enemy’s feet, so as to knock him into the air. Once in the air, the soldier should fire another rocket into the now airborne enemy’s feet. It will likely kill him if the unfortunate target has low health. While this may not kill a soldier, demoman, or pyro 100% of the time, there is a good chance he will die from fall damage. Despite the fact that you won’t be credited with a kill, your team still needs to worry about one less opponent.
Aerials are also a difficult skill to properly utilize. Aerials or ‘airshots’ consist of launching an enemy into the air, and killing him with a well placed rocket. The key to both aerials and juggling is prediction, which has to be learned through playtime with the class.
Special thanks to himmelstoss for helping me get images and writing the pocket/short leash section.
-clubtheseals
Stumble it!
BucKwiLD responded on 09 Aug 2009 at 3:23 pm #
Nice write-up, thanks. Looking forward to the rest, expecially one about the variable classes (those other than solly demo scout medic).
The Scoot responded on 09 Aug 2009 at 4:34 pm #
Damn, clubs.
You are awesome.
Matt responded on 10 Aug 2009 at 1:22 am #
Heavy has a lot of counterclasses, but the really good heavies aren’t bothered by them (dammit blackwatch, do you have some console command or custom sound that makes disguised spy footsteps REALLY LOUD? I don’t see you spinning around and gunning at any of your OTHER teammates!)
Wazzle responded on 10 Aug 2009 at 2:52 am #
Wow, this is an awesome guide so far. I can’t wait for the Scout section. Keep up the awesome work, clubs!
Corodan responded on 10 Aug 2009 at 3:35 am #
Excellent.
The Black Watch responded on 10 Aug 2009 at 5:17 am #
Ah, but you see Matt, I do. But once I know that a team mate is not a spy I won’t check them again. Thats one thing that a good Heavy really needs, the ability to keep track of movements everywhere. So when you come around a corner to find me and team mates I will have already checked them.
Comissar Cain responded on 10 Aug 2009 at 5:50 am #
@Matt: The problem is, when you have so few players as a six v six set up, the Heavy’s mobility is too big a problem. You’re essentially short one player, and if we’re serious, any environment where you know the Pyro’s and Soldiers are going to be a force to be reckoned with is going to *require* a Medic to keep the Heavy standing, which can put them both out of fights for extended length of times, if they’re not avoided entirely. In addition, at this level of gameplay you have to realize that every class used–Demoman, Soldier, and even Scout, have a very large set of tools to make the Heavy’s life hell–you won’t have players at this level blundering into close range with the Heavy, and will often use height, flanking, and dizzying footsteps (pro Scouts are something to behold). Meanwhile, a guy who sits there and practice Heavies gets… well, really good at aiming. He has no way of changing things up, he’s not fast enough to quickly shift to a better position (and the only way to move faster is to make himself extremely vulnerable–at that level, I literally wouldn’t take that chance as players will probably be reacting to the sound of the gun winding down), he’s got nothing. The class is too limited in scope (Really, Heavy can’t do much else other than “W + M1 and be accurate”) to be of much use. At that high a level? If ‘heavy hitters’ came to blows–Pocket Soldier + Medic vs. Heavy + Medic of roughly equal skill, my money would go on the high-skilled Soldier every time, because he can afford to play smart (staying at a range that neuters the Heavy or using terrain to limit time on target, which he doesn’t need but the Heavy does). The Heavy doesn’t get to change things up–either the battle starts at his advantage or it doesn’t, and he’s too slow to ‘pick battles.’
I stress however that it doesn’t mean people who get good at Heavy are bad. Heavies are devastating in pubs when used correctly, and it’s always refreshing to see.
DPErny responded on 10 Aug 2009 at 6:42 am #
Great stuff, clubs. I can’t wait for your piece on the Demoman.
Mexican Apple Thief responded on 10 Aug 2009 at 11:17 am #
“The roaming soldier’s position away from a medic and away from his team that puts him at great risk.”
Need to get rid of the “that”. I’m usually not this anal but I had to read that sentence a few times to understand what you were trying to say.
Oh the joys of sleep depravity…
n00bie51 responded on 10 Aug 2009 at 5:04 pm #
Basically, this was stuff I already knew; good job getting it down, club, I think you portrayed an accurate portrait of the competitive Soldier.
Lawlingbawl responded on 12 Aug 2009 at 10:31 am #
Pricedown font? Really? That’s gta/price is right font right there. I sperg out about such things
Tails responded on 12 Aug 2009 at 2:14 pm #
Man competitive games sound so boring. Everyone with the same team is totally fun
Gforce81 responded on 12 Aug 2009 at 3:16 pm #
I have to say, nice job here Club. Very in depth and in focus. Great job with your article. On a side note not really related to the article; I think the Soldier is way overpowered. I dont play competetively, so I don’t know if I have any right in saying this, especially here, but I greatly enjoy TF2, and Soldier continues to be my greatest frustration. I usually play Sniper or Pyro in a pinch, and I have extreme difficulty in subduing an enemy Soldier. I don’t know. Just waying in my opinion.
Taco Bueno responded on 12 Aug 2009 at 5:03 pm #
btw the scout is from Boston
Raffle responded on 12 Aug 2009 at 9:10 pm #
BROOKLYN? Get that outta here. He’s from Southie! (South Boston.)
Otherwise, very interesting article!
mm responded on 13 Aug 2009 at 1:19 am #
Soldiers do have a counter-class and that is the sniper. I’ve dropped hundreds of them with a well-placed headshot.
Hotpocket responded on 13 Aug 2009 at 6:09 am #
I’m really surprised that I know how to do a lot of this already. I suppose I should play competitively a bit more. Nice article.
Moose responded on 13 Aug 2009 at 8:02 am #
@ Gforce81
Soldier is actually considered to be underpowered when compared to Scout and Demoman. In competitive matches that is.
Team Fortress 2 - coldheat.de responded on 13 Aug 2009 at 11:11 pm #
[...] Juggling is one of the more difficult skills to learn as soldier. It requires precise aim and good hand-eye coordination. Juggling, at its simplest form, is firing a rocket at an enemy’s feet, so as to knock him into the air. Once in the air, the soldier should fire another rocket into the now airborne enemy’s feet. It will likely kill him if the unfortunate target has low health. While this may not kill a soldier, demoman, or pyro 100% of the time, there is a good chance he will die from fall damage. # [...]
Jaeger responded on 24 Aug 2009 at 10:31 am #
When doing these “long jumps” it is important to control your height so as not to take fall damage. This is a common mistake I see inexperienced competitive soldiers making.
There is also another jump which I suppose you might call a short jump. These are fast, low 27 damage rocket dashes. These are useful for catching up with your team, blocking capture points, denying health packs to enemies, accessing health packs which require a rocket jump when low on life, and chasing down a fleeing opponent.
In competition a soldier is often limited by his ability to kill before having to reload. Almost invariably you will kill someone and be rushed by an enemy scout while you’re weapons are empty. It is thus important to not overkill an enemy.
Make it a habit to use one rocket and one shotgun to kill unbuffed light classes and two rockets and a shotgun to kill unbuffed soldiers. After getting the kill with your shotgun switch back to your rocket launcher without reloading the shotgun until there is a lull in the action. A common mistake I see is for soldiers to only switch to their shotgun in desperate situations when they are caught without any rockets loaded. When switching from rocket launcher to shotgun make sure you press your key to switch to shotgun immediately after you fire your rocket, otherwise it will take too long to be able to shoot your shotgun and you might die or miss and easy kill shot while the enemy is recovering from the rocket hit.
Prefiring/spamming rockets at choke points or long range opponents is a common practice for soldiers and a good one. When doing this make sure to keep at least one rocket loaded to defend against unseen threats like scouts or spies.
Direct rockets do substantially more damage than splash rockets. When aiming at an enemy try to aim for the ground about a foot behind them. This will let you hit them directly and pop them up if you predict their movement correctly and if you miss slightly still give you good splash damage. A common mistake I see is people shooting rockets directly at the feet and allowing a mostly well-aimed rocket to fall just short of the enemy letting them get away with only splash damage taken instead of direct damage.
In general I try to fire one rocket and reload it before firing again if I’m shooting at targets that I’m not likely to immediately kill such as far away targets. You should note that a rocket finishes reloading before the animation of the reloading completes. Practice consistently firing one rocket as fast as possible after reloading it so you always have at least 3 ready for more immediate threats and opportunities.
Noobsolly responded on 29 Aug 2009 at 8:15 am #
Huge thanks to you jaeger for thoses advices.
himmelstoss responded on 29 Aug 2009 at 3:29 pm #
@Jaeger:
You don’t know what your mere presence has meant for my self-worth (and clubtheseals, too :3)
You bring up some great points. The competitive TF2 guide is running a bit longer than I’d originally expected it, so there may be an eighth article in which I’ll definitely give your comment a shoutout. Thanks!
Abjure responded on 31 Aug 2009 at 8:24 am #
http://www.ubercharged.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/sollypic22-600×375.jpg
What font is that?
himmelstoss responded on 31 Aug 2009 at 8:52 am #
@Abjure: It’s called Pricedown. The same one is used in GTA.
gasparmx responded on 27 Sep 2009 at 12:46 pm #
I will translate this article too to spanish http://foros.mexfrag.net/index.php?showtopic=2055
Un tf2 mas competitivo – parte 2 El Soldier » Clan Telmex tf2 blog responded on 28 Sep 2009 at 5:09 pm #
[...] -clubtheseals Este articulo no fue escrito por mi, si no fue traducido por mi (gasparmx), en total lo hice para el mayor entendimiento de las masas. El articulo original puede ser encontrado aqui http://www.ubercharged.net/2009/08/09/comp…wo-the-soldier/ [...]
RhusRadicans responded on 31 Dec 2009 at 5:13 am #
How has the competetive community responed to the new soldier unlocks? They seem to have done a better job of balancing the soldier unlocks that in the past.
I’m especially iinterested in seeing what they think of the Direct Hit, as it seems to have been designed with an emphasis on accuracy and airshots in mind, something I imagine competetive teams focus a lot on.
The Buff Banner is more of a mixed bag. Losing the shotgun would be a pretty serious burden by the looks of it but deploying mini-crits could seriously turn the tide of things. Still, I guess it’s too situational to really come into play. Same goes for the gunboats, the loss of a shotgun outweighs the health-saving advantages (which pro soldiers have probably made up for by memorizing all of the health pack locations anyway)
The equalizer I guess is one of the “straight upgrades” like the axtinguisher; they’re really isn’t a reason not to use one.
DarkLord responded on 10 Jan 2010 at 9:20 pm #
thanks. I found new things about solly. That will help me to be the best soldier in the world!
??? ?? ?????? Competitive TF2, ???? ?????: The Soldier « Fortress Strategizer responded on 11 Jan 2010 at 2:04 am #
[...] ?????????? ?????? [...]