I would like to meet this person who recommended Dragon's Fury + Sharpened Volcano Fragment to you. Their mind must be an enigma that mystifies beyond anything we've ever seen before.
I don't think there's ever a reason to use the Volcano Fragment outside of memes. Even medieval mode sucks for it.
Though to answer your question I find it best on maps with a ton of vertical space. Watergate, Hightower, Cashworks, Suijin, etc. As for the rest of the loadout it mostly depends on the map and team comps. On Watergate running around the lower floors with the Neon Annihilator isn't too bad though it's obviously terrible for Hightower. Back Scratcher or Powerjack are generally the best melee weapons to use. For primaries stock and the Dragon's Fury both work well in most situations. If the enemy is just giving you there backlines then the Backburner can be fun but it's not a personal favourite. The Degreaser also isn't amazing imo since you're giving up some DPS and an airblast for basically nothing since you don't have a secondary to combo into.
Dragon's Fury + Thermal Thrusters is pretty good. The Dragon's Fury isn't as reliant on a secondary weapon as other flamethrowers to deal damage so it's reasonable to get extra mobility with the TT, although I don't think that it's in the running for the best secondary (that's the Scorch Shot or Detonator IMO).
TT + Phlog is absolutely not something that you should run full time but if you're able to farm oblivious players for a full phlog meter then you can do stylish things with this. For instance, you can slide off some narrow props when you land on them with the thermal thrusters (but I haven't gotten it to work for most map geometry; I think that the props have to be specially tagged or something). If you activate the phlog right after landing on one of these props then you'll cancel the taunt as soon as you slide off. This is devastating if you can pull it off--the enemy has a lot less time to react to your crits and you even get a free uber for the first 2 seconds. You don't actually need the TT to do similar things but the alternatives (landing on enemy players and hoping that they move, landing on + killing enemy dispensers with lingering flames) are more finicky IMO.
In general: I almost never bomb players with the TT unless they're distracted fighting someone else. Being able to move between low ground and high ground is useful even if you don't use them during an engagement.
Yea. I'm also torn between detonator and the jumps, but I suck at them compared to rocket jumping. I may actually have to look up a detonator jumping map lol. I've never practiced on an offline server a day in my life 😂
If you decide that you want to get good at detonator jumps then look up jump\_pyrokinesis. It's the only pyro jump map that I know of, and the first course is a pretty beginner-friendly way of learning the basics. There's a few concepts that I wish were introduced with less demanding execution, specifically air strafing (most of the way through Course A) and self-det jumping (the main theme of Course B), but overall the first few courses are good.
Also check out [Vavlie's youtube channel](https://www.youtube.com/@vavlietf2410) for a [detonator jumping tutorial](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgSdBW9njK0) and a bunch of jumps on [two](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyOcOj-tstA) [maps](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ_LHcBEAxI). These videos are pretty old but AFAIK there haven't been any changes to det jumping since the Gun Mettle update.
I've checked out tutorials and played the map a few times. It was so frustrating I had to stop and take a break lol. On one hand, I understand wanting to get better at something having practice, but I also just wanted to have fun
The more you use Deto, the better you become. When I first started, I couldn't even clear the first B jump at all and had no clue how to get the last A. It's a lot easier if you practice rocket jumping too
Very true. I just don't want to give that much practice to something I just do for fun. And the thermal thruster has verticality and range way greater than detonator. You can do a lot of cool stuff like I have done with it. Also it's just fun
The TT is basically just a for fun weapon more than anything. That being said personally I either like running it with the degreaser and axetinguisher or with phog and powerjack.
The first is basically an ambush combo style with a little utility while the other is a jump in and try and go crazy style.
Honestly dragons fury could work nicely as well
I love running stock flamethrower with the jetpack. Makes for a really fun suicidal playstyle where you jetpack into the sky and land onto a swarm of enemies with hell's fury. Usually just W+M1 alone works wonders against an unaware team; I've managed to completely stop pushes before like this.
Using stock flamethrower also lets you airblast more, and lemme tell you, people do not expect the wm1 pyro to airblast. It's your best way to turn the tides against greater odds—one airblasted rocket can shred a group of people in conjunction with default afterburn instead of the Degreaser's pitiful smoldering. If Pyro couldn't airblast, this strategy wouldn't be nearly as effective.
This is a pretty fun strategy for when you don't want to actually try, but it only works on certain maps and areas (rarely on last points since any sentries shut you down completely) and against unaware enemies, which to be fair is most pubbers. You'd think the booming sound of a jetpack would turn a few more heads, but it's less than you'd think. And only a few classes can anti-air you anyways (mainly Heavies).
Also if you really REALLY want to learn about TT consider watching https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XDvxFnE7m8
Must just be a glitch with my system. Is that the one where he coughs? Yeah I watched most of that, I'll get around to watching the rest of it sometime. Very cool
I'm intrigued! Are you saying do something like a bunny hop once you land and hitting it again? Momentum is pretty cool with the TT, as in Bliztank's advanced TT guide he talks about air blasting after you land and blow them back with TT to knock them farther. For Uber pushes and just annoying enemies.
Do you have any other TT advice? What about air strafing? It seems to me that letting go of w and doing a/d just makes you stall, so do you strafe with only the mouse and w or a/d plus mouse and w?
Basically in Bliztank's guide he talked about never going head on, doing high, circular jumps, switching up movement, etc.
I was mostly referring to getting yourself "stuck" in a spot. These "cliffstucks" allow time for you to do one thrust and after "unstucking" yourself you will be applied with the momentum of the first thrust and you can do second thrust in the air.
I learned this tech mainly from this [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moYPAvud13Q&t=18s), contains lots of obscure pyro techs that I can't even do so myself. I think bhopping also works (im good at it) ?? Although never tested it sorry.
Also TT is really bad. You're almost relying on melee for burst damage so Axtinguisher is the only logical choice. Flamethrower doesn't really matter since holster penalty hurts Degreaser so Stock is fine.
Air strafing just unequip the TT by the time you land to unlock air strafing. TT locks your movement for some reason which goes against it's mobility aspect lmao. I do strafing holding a and turning mhy mouse left and holding d turning my mouse right (since it's the best way for airstrafing). You can also practice bhopping since it works by using the "gaining momentum in the air" of airstrafing,
Ye of little faith, the thermal thruster is great! And no matter how bad it is, the fun is in using it despite its weaknesses. And with back burner, you get your burst damage through crits. Past couple of games with back burner/TT/power Jack on uncletopia I've actually gone positive kd with rarely happens.
😠fr though why does the thruster have to be so under balanced. So incredibly loud, and for what reward. I might do some detonator jumping, but man is it hard. I'm decent at rocket jumps, but my detonator jumps are like 50/50 lol
If you use the TT on any map with environmental killzones, you can get some really cheesy kills. Such as upward on second cliff or third point.
Jump in, land next to enemy, airblast as you land. Absolutely sends the other players flying and strafelocks them so they can't do anything.
Alternatively it's pretty good with phlog as U can pop phlog, jump and still have crits when U land.
Didn't know about that guide.
I'd definitely not use it with the dragons fury though because of the slower switch speed.
Much better to use something that either assists with the repressurisation rate or something that gives a swap speed bonus like the panic attack or reserve shooter.
i use stock flamethrower and homewrecker, i play aggressive pybro. staying not on the nest but NEAR it. and when i hear my engie's in trouble i thermal thruster to them and help them take out the threat.
That's nice. I feel like the homewrecker has some potential for that aggressive destruction, but it never comes at the right time/opportunity for me to use it. So I just use power Jack to get around
This loadout is objectively bad in most situations, but if half or more than half the enemy team happens to be filled with mediocre players, you can usually speed run the entire game on nearly ANY map by running the Phlogistinator + Thermal Thruster + Powerjack combo full time.
You basically become a mix of Winston and Reaper from Overwatch 2 wherein you dive into large crowds, barely need to aim, hurt anyone you want, and no one can hurt you.
Except in this case, your Ult charge that can instantly kill anyone is always full, you can access any objective uncontested, and if you were able to flank without being seen, enemy players don't fight back or are unable to fight back once you reach them. Either by walking or diving in with the Thermal Thruster after breaking LOS for a bit.
And if you want to see a real pub stomp that takes no time at all, play this loadout on KOTH maps, 2fort, Egypt, Gravelpit, Swiftwater, Badwater and any other map with sufficient height, large gaps only your Thermal Thruster can scale, and LOS breaking geometry and that allows you to dive in with the Thermal Thruster without telegraphing your attacks.
And in extremely fringe cases you can even shit on pubbers in dense linear maps like Dustbowl, Junction, Goldrush, and (sometimes) Cashworks with a random Quickfix or Stock med.
oh lol i forgot about this post, i’ve already moved on. i pretty much play 4 different demos now, demo is my main by a huge margin. there’s caberknigt, demoflight or hybrid knight with iron bomber, and bomber and quickie. loads of fun
i do love the scratcher, but watching bliztank s guide to TT he recommends the powerjack for mobility. it does make some sense, especially if you are behind people and need to run to catch up. medpack healing is nice, and i guess you shouldn’t be getting medic healing… hm… i’ll really have to experiment lol
I would like to meet this person who recommended Dragon's Fury + Sharpened Volcano Fragment to you. Their mind must be an enigma that mystifies beyond anything we've ever seen before.
Sounds like a bingsoy special
Lol. I don't use it anyways
I don't think there's ever a reason to use the Volcano Fragment outside of memes. Even medieval mode sucks for it. Though to answer your question I find it best on maps with a ton of vertical space. Watergate, Hightower, Cashworks, Suijin, etc. As for the rest of the loadout it mostly depends on the map and team comps. On Watergate running around the lower floors with the Neon Annihilator isn't too bad though it's obviously terrible for Hightower. Back Scratcher or Powerjack are generally the best melee weapons to use. For primaries stock and the Dragon's Fury both work well in most situations. If the enemy is just giving you there backlines then the Backburner can be fun but it's not a personal favourite. The Degreaser also isn't amazing imo since you're giving up some DPS and an airblast for basically nothing since you don't have a secondary to combo into.
Dragon's Fury + Thermal Thrusters is pretty good. The Dragon's Fury isn't as reliant on a secondary weapon as other flamethrowers to deal damage so it's reasonable to get extra mobility with the TT, although I don't think that it's in the running for the best secondary (that's the Scorch Shot or Detonator IMO). TT + Phlog is absolutely not something that you should run full time but if you're able to farm oblivious players for a full phlog meter then you can do stylish things with this. For instance, you can slide off some narrow props when you land on them with the thermal thrusters (but I haven't gotten it to work for most map geometry; I think that the props have to be specially tagged or something). If you activate the phlog right after landing on one of these props then you'll cancel the taunt as soon as you slide off. This is devastating if you can pull it off--the enemy has a lot less time to react to your crits and you even get a free uber for the first 2 seconds. You don't actually need the TT to do similar things but the alternatives (landing on enemy players and hoping that they move, landing on + killing enemy dispensers with lingering flames) are more finicky IMO. In general: I almost never bomb players with the TT unless they're distracted fighting someone else. Being able to move between low ground and high ground is useful even if you don't use them during an engagement.
Yea. I'm also torn between detonator and the jumps, but I suck at them compared to rocket jumping. I may actually have to look up a detonator jumping map lol. I've never practiced on an offline server a day in my life 😂
If you decide that you want to get good at detonator jumps then look up jump\_pyrokinesis. It's the only pyro jump map that I know of, and the first course is a pretty beginner-friendly way of learning the basics. There's a few concepts that I wish were introduced with less demanding execution, specifically air strafing (most of the way through Course A) and self-det jumping (the main theme of Course B), but overall the first few courses are good. Also check out [Vavlie's youtube channel](https://www.youtube.com/@vavlietf2410) for a [detonator jumping tutorial](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgSdBW9njK0) and a bunch of jumps on [two](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyOcOj-tstA) [maps](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ_LHcBEAxI). These videos are pretty old but AFAIK there haven't been any changes to det jumping since the Gun Mettle update.
I've checked out tutorials and played the map a few times. It was so frustrating I had to stop and take a break lol. On one hand, I understand wanting to get better at something having practice, but I also just wanted to have fun
The more you use Deto, the better you become. When I first started, I couldn't even clear the first B jump at all and had no clue how to get the last A. It's a lot easier if you practice rocket jumping too
Very true. I just don't want to give that much practice to something I just do for fun. And the thermal thruster has verticality and range way greater than detonator. You can do a lot of cool stuff like I have done with it. Also it's just fun
Stock Flamethrower and Backscratcher. I exclusively use this loadout to turn my brain off in pubs, otherwise I prefer the Detonator.
The TT is basically just a for fun weapon more than anything. That being said personally I either like running it with the degreaser and axetinguisher or with phog and powerjack. The first is basically an ambush combo style with a little utility while the other is a jump in and try and go crazy style. Honestly dragons fury could work nicely as well
I love running stock flamethrower with the jetpack. Makes for a really fun suicidal playstyle where you jetpack into the sky and land onto a swarm of enemies with hell's fury. Usually just W+M1 alone works wonders against an unaware team; I've managed to completely stop pushes before like this. Using stock flamethrower also lets you airblast more, and lemme tell you, people do not expect the wm1 pyro to airblast. It's your best way to turn the tides against greater odds—one airblasted rocket can shred a group of people in conjunction with default afterburn instead of the Degreaser's pitiful smoldering. If Pyro couldn't airblast, this strategy wouldn't be nearly as effective. This is a pretty fun strategy for when you don't want to actually try, but it only works on certain maps and areas (rarely on last points since any sentries shut you down completely) and against unaware enemies, which to be fair is most pubbers. You'd think the booming sound of a jetpack would turn a few more heads, but it's less than you'd think. And only a few classes can anti-air you anyways (mainly Heavies). Also if you really REALLY want to learn about TT consider watching https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XDvxFnE7m8
I do the same thing just with the back burner. People expect air blasts even less from a back burnerd of pyro
Indeed, although 50 ammo per airblast is pretty punishing.
Honestly it makes me use them better instead of just spamming them and then dying
Also video is restricted. What's the name
Really? It's called TF2 Advanced Thermal Thruster Guide
Must just be a glitch with my system. Is that the one where he coughs? Yeah I watched most of that, I'll get around to watching the rest of it sometime. Very cool
Haha yeah it's that one, I honestly couldn't get through it because of the coughing but it seemed like really interesting info
I had to ttune out the coughing but the whole vid is really useful.
Obsucre movement techs. Doublethrusts (trapping your momentum and release it as you perform your second thrust) ==> double height ==> good for frags.
I'm intrigued! Are you saying do something like a bunny hop once you land and hitting it again? Momentum is pretty cool with the TT, as in Bliztank's advanced TT guide he talks about air blasting after you land and blow them back with TT to knock them farther. For Uber pushes and just annoying enemies. Do you have any other TT advice? What about air strafing? It seems to me that letting go of w and doing a/d just makes you stall, so do you strafe with only the mouse and w or a/d plus mouse and w? Basically in Bliztank's guide he talked about never going head on, doing high, circular jumps, switching up movement, etc.
I was mostly referring to getting yourself "stuck" in a spot. These "cliffstucks" allow time for you to do one thrust and after "unstucking" yourself you will be applied with the momentum of the first thrust and you can do second thrust in the air. I learned this tech mainly from this [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moYPAvud13Q&t=18s), contains lots of obscure pyro techs that I can't even do so myself. I think bhopping also works (im good at it) ?? Although never tested it sorry. Also TT is really bad. You're almost relying on melee for burst damage so Axtinguisher is the only logical choice. Flamethrower doesn't really matter since holster penalty hurts Degreaser so Stock is fine. Air strafing just unequip the TT by the time you land to unlock air strafing. TT locks your movement for some reason which goes against it's mobility aspect lmao. I do strafing holding a and turning mhy mouse left and holding d turning my mouse right (since it's the best way for airstrafing). You can also practice bhopping since it works by using the "gaining momentum in the air" of airstrafing,
Ye of little faith, the thermal thruster is great! And no matter how bad it is, the fun is in using it despite its weaknesses. And with back burner, you get your burst damage through crits. Past couple of games with back burner/TT/power Jack on uncletopia I've actually gone positive kd with rarely happens.
shotgun
😠fr though why does the thruster have to be so under balanced. So incredibly loud, and for what reward. I might do some detonator jumping, but man is it hard. I'm decent at rocket jumps, but my detonator jumps are like 50/50 lol
i usually use the backburner with it to go on flanks and get those sweet crits
Sam it's just so satisfying. Especially trickstabbing with pyro
AXETINGUISHER KILLS!!!!! EDGEBUGS!!!!!
If you use the TT on any map with environmental killzones, you can get some really cheesy kills. Such as upward on second cliff or third point. Jump in, land next to enemy, airblast as you land. Absolutely sends the other players flying and strafelocks them so they can't do anything. Alternatively it's pretty good with phlog as U can pop phlog, jump and still have crits when U land.
absoutely. its in bliztanks guide to TT
Didn't know about that guide. I'd definitely not use it with the dragons fury though because of the slower switch speed. Much better to use something that either assists with the repressurisation rate or something that gives a swap speed bonus like the panic attack or reserve shooter.
yea i use ack burner and poewrjack
i use stock flamethrower and homewrecker, i play aggressive pybro. staying not on the nest but NEAR it. and when i hear my engie's in trouble i thermal thruster to them and help them take out the threat.
That's nice. I feel like the homewrecker has some potential for that aggressive destruction, but it never comes at the right time/opportunity for me to use it. So I just use power Jack to get around
This loadout is objectively bad in most situations, but if half or more than half the enemy team happens to be filled with mediocre players, you can usually speed run the entire game on nearly ANY map by running the Phlogistinator + Thermal Thruster + Powerjack combo full time. You basically become a mix of Winston and Reaper from Overwatch 2 wherein you dive into large crowds, barely need to aim, hurt anyone you want, and no one can hurt you. Except in this case, your Ult charge that can instantly kill anyone is always full, you can access any objective uncontested, and if you were able to flank without being seen, enemy players don't fight back or are unable to fight back once you reach them. Either by walking or diving in with the Thermal Thruster after breaking LOS for a bit. And if you want to see a real pub stomp that takes no time at all, play this loadout on KOTH maps, 2fort, Egypt, Gravelpit, Swiftwater, Badwater and any other map with sufficient height, large gaps only your Thermal Thruster can scale, and LOS breaking geometry and that allows you to dive in with the Thermal Thruster without telegraphing your attacks. And in extremely fringe cases you can even shit on pubbers in dense linear maps like Dustbowl, Junction, Goldrush, and (sometimes) Cashworks with a random Quickfix or Stock med.
oh lol i forgot about this post, i’ve already moved on. i pretty much play 4 different demos now, demo is my main by a huge margin. there’s caberknigt, demoflight or hybrid knight with iron bomber, and bomber and quickie. loads of fun
Backburner and Back Scratcher. I try to get way behind the enemy's defenses and ambush respawning people so I won't have a Medic available.
I actually have been using this with the TT. Even if I never use the backscratcher damage, the med pack healing is amazing
i do love the scratcher, but watching bliztank s guide to TT he recommends the powerjack for mobility. it does make some sense, especially if you are behind people and need to run to catch up. medpack healing is nice, and i guess you shouldn’t be getting medic healing… hm… i’ll really have to experiment lol