Self-Imposed Crusade to Kill Others More (SICKOmore) - Improving One's Skills

[TOH]

Alright, so I've been playing on here for about eight months now...and in the past month or so, I think I've really been able to step up my level of play a fair bit (especially as Heavy). I've been noticing some tendencies and some things that can basically optimize my skill in TF2, and I've made some changes that have worked for the better (like dropping the Sandvich to restore health instead of eating it, little things like that).

However, I think I've hit a plateau for figuring things out on my own. You guys have been doing this way longer than I have, so I think it's finally time for me to come to you with a request for some advice on how I can improve my play. I've been playing alongside and against quite a few of you a lot lately, so maybe some of you have noticed some tendencies I have that I haven't noticed a way to improve upon (Basically, if you're killing me a ton or seeing me die a ton in a certain situation). I'm wondering what areas I might want to look into improving.

One thing to at least start on...my play as Scout. I'm definitely more of a capper than a killer when it comes to playing Scout, but I'd love to improve being able to kill some people and/or avoid dying. One of the things I'd like to do is be able to integrate a pistol more into my play. Some of you might have noticed that I like to use Bonk sometimes, but I know Bonk isn't always useful and just takes up a slot that the pistol can probably be better to use. The question is, how can I use the pistol effectively? I've used both the scattergun and FAN for a while and wound up sticking with the scattergun in the end, but how I can mix a pistol well into using a scattergun? What would be the best time to switch from one to the other? Things like that.

I know you guys have guides, but they're pretty outdated and not as useful with all the new items we've seen added over time. Plus a number of you have seen me play...so maybe you have a better idea of where I can improve. I'd be extremely grateful if anyone can offer some kind of hints or anything of the sort. And heck, maybe we can use this thread to help other new users with questions, too. So thanks a lot to whoever can offer some advice!

[CaffeinePowered]

Will edit this post at work with some tips, but Id recommend watching the demos from match play


Week 2 Pre-season - Upward - http://www.brbuninstalling.com/maps_ftp/...0Demos.rar

I know we have the other weeks stashed somewhere I think eightball or benito put them on mediafire

[K2]

Definitely watch frag videos to get ideas for good strategy. I don't know how much that applies to Heavy, but I'm sure you can find some good ones for Scout.

In my opinion, the absolute most important part of playing Heavy is awareness. Knowing when to spin up/down, when to retreat, who you should shoot first, etc. One specific thing to work on is paying attention to when people are flanking you. I feel there have been too many times recently that I'd get behind you as a Scout and you wouldn't notice me fast enough.

[[SiN] Merc]

Some great advice I can give for heavy is this: Be a coward.

By that, I mean don't ever rush with him, sure, 300 health seems like a ton, but due to your girth, you don't dodge much, and are focus fired religiously. If you find yourself down like 100 health after an encounter, turn tail and run, no shame in it. And try to avoid open areas whenever possible, corner jumps are your friends, first and foremost.

[[fr31ns]Karrde]

Aiming with the Heavy is simple.  The hardest part is picking your engagements and knowing before you commit whether you can win or not.  Almost every time with a heavy you should be able to predict the outcome (minus crits) to a reasonable degree of accuracy before doing anything.  Then there's the occasional dumb luck with sniper heavy.

[Didzo]

Form long, lasting relationships with medics.

I accomplish this through the liberal use of sammiches and yelling derogatory things at them when they die and giving them mild positive reinforcement when they help me not die and kill things.

[Spore]

Form long, lasting relationships with medics.

I accomplish this through the liberal use of sammiches and yelling derogatory things at them when they die and giving them mild positive reinforcement when they help me not die and kill things.

When somebody ubers me it's like rolling dice where you'll either get a real uber or fists of steel heavy.

[Luinbariel]

Form long, lasting relationships with medics.

I accomplish this through the liberal use of sammiches and yelling derogatory things at them when they die and giving them mild positive reinforcement when they help me not die and kill things.

I heard someone say sandvich?

[Hobospartan]

[quote author=Didzo link=topic=5439.msg195785#msg195785 date=1297244861]
Form long, lasting relationships with medics.

I accomplish this through the liberal use of sammiches and yelling derogatory things at them when they die and giving them mild positive reinforcement when they help me not die and kill things.

I heard someone say sandvich?
[/quote]

See, it's already working!

[[fr31ns]Karrde]

Yeah, I'll never go back to shotgun heavy since they implemented throwable sandvich.  Great tool and fast.  You can save medic's asses with it, and throw it for yourself.  I rarely use the full eating function as you can probably get to at least another small health pack, and by the time you get somewhere safe and eat, you*should* have been healed up by a medic or found a healthpack that would be enough combined with thrown sandvich.

*edit*

Oh, also, remember that in a heavy vs heavy fight, the winner is almost ALWAYS the one who shoots first.  If a Medic is healing the other Heavy, it's an issue of range.  Medium-Close it's whoever shoots first, but at range the healed Heavy has the advantage.

Also, make sure to roll GRU or Fists of Steel.  They give you a huge escape advantage.  Heavies are killers, but they also must be cowards when they realize they're going to lose a fight.  Run like hell   Sometimes there's no escape.  You'll hear me say "Well, I'm dead" seconds before it happens.  It's because I know exactly how it's gonna play out and there's nothing I can do   What else?  Jump a lot and do 180s to make it harder on snipers and spies.  Also, a competent soldier is your worst enemy.  Especially if they have something to hide behind.  Don't try to out shoot them.  Either charge them down or fall back because it's easy to pop shot a heavy from around a corner.

[beep beep diglett]

realize that heavy has a really low skill ceiling since there's really just one component to the class, aim at medium range (you dont really have to pick your battles anymore, if shit gets bad just swap to fos and run away)  and you've probably hit it.

[CaffeinePowered]

So in general in addition to Kirby's and my pyro guide, heres a few addendums for new weapons and some other observations in case you wanted to try something different  b)

The Backscratcher

From using it a few times the health pick-up bonus is nice, as is the additional damage, its nice for medics because they charge ubers as if they were charging on a heavy with the GRU equipped. I think this works best on offense vs defense maps like dustbowl where you will be playing offense.

Playing D you're going to be healing at dispensers a lot, and they suffer the same healing penalty as medics, so its painfully slow to get health from then, a level 1 dispense you might as well kill yourself and respawn, its faster.

Its great for medieval mode where people drop health kits, but if you are on a map that's health kit poor, dont even think about it


The Degreaser

Best combined with the ax-stinguisher and mashing the quickswitch key. The lack of an afterburn isn't much of a drawback when in a 12v12 game most classes are going to have a way of putting themselves out, so losing that extra damage doesn't hurt too much, but over time I have noticed a difference, and have gotten more than a few kills that i know I would not have gotten otherwise.

Its worth using this full time, especially for puff + anything if that's your style of play


The Homewrecker

Great for playing defensive pyro with an engineering buddy, not much else, sometimes lul-worthy to get player kills with, but the nice thing is that it one hit kills sappers, and is thus _much_ faster than the engineer. Can be good at killing mini-sentries since it one shots them.


The Powerjack

I have not found as much of a use for it, it does more base damage, and will overheal you when you kill someone with it, but I much prefer the ax-stinguisher to it.


Polycount Set

Can't comment on it too much as I dont have the hat, but I'd imagine the bullet vulnerability to not make up for the increased speed, especially considering bullets are what kills a pyro most often if you are playing the class right.



When it comes to reflecting, its all about a few things
- Knowing Cycle times
- Distance
- Reaction time

All of these can be improved with practice to some degree, watching models also helps, if you are fighting a soldier or a demo, their firing animations are very important to know as well as reload times, and yes, you can get reaction times down to even short to point blank if you know timings.

An important thing to know as well is that I believe with the exception of the sticky launcher no one can "out spam" your cycle time. Knowing reload times also helps, from the time the soldier runs out of rockets to when he can fire again (assuming he doesn't swap to shotty).


Soldiers - Point Blank and outward can be considered skill based, if they have a banner charge, if they have a shotgun fall back, direct hit is harder...but even at point blank, it has the same cycle time as normal rockets...

Demos - A good demo will fall back while using stickies, they are much harder to reflect and he can out spam you, a good way to get grenade reflects is to push the demo and his nades into a corner and just force him to stand on them while they explode

Pyros - Flares aren't too hard to reflect, just hitting anything with them useful is....

Scouts - Milk isn't hard to reflect, but I find it a bit hard sometimes to see the bottle depending on the environment, the sandman is fun to reflect, but more for your own protection than doing anything offensive

Snipers - The huntsman is the second hardest thing in the game to reflect, the arrow is fast, and the model cue is nil. At moderate to long range I recommend side stepping and attempting to gauge reaction, short and point blank ranges are pure luck. There really isnt much of a cycle time to memorize if you are breathing down their neck, they'll be dead before they notch another arrow. Jarate is about the same difficulty as madmilk, but it has a nice particle effect trail that makes it a bit easier to see.

Medics - Now reflectable! The crossbow is without a doubt the hardest projectile to reflect, it has the low visibility profile of the huntsman with zero...absolutely zero model cue that the  medic shot something. One cool thing though....if you reflect the arrow into a team mate...it will heal them.

Engineers - Well more about sentry rockets, they have a long refill time, but fire instantly, so you can pop around a corner and reflect the rockets at a cost of about 30 - 50 health depending on the distance. If you manage to peg the engineer with them it is a one shot kill. The sentry itself takes 3 sets of rockets to bring down, if you have a medic helping you tank this becomes much easier.

[Chief]

this is for any class which i have found improves my skill in any fps

always. fucking. move.
never be a standing target, never stop to think, just never ever.

1. this will help you get better at aiming at moving targets. even if they're standing still going all "durrrrr", you're moving, and therefore you have to move your mouse to account for it
2. you're near unpredictable. i say near because there's always a chance that the enemy will learn what you do, such as jumping to the left and then jumping to the right, repeat cycle.
3. snipers (except for liquid, versus, and other individuals (occasionally me, but hey im still bad anyway)) will go all durrr because they cant hit your head
4. in the case of tf2, if a medic is healing you, the medick will stand still when healing you, and therefore making you both vulnerable targets.
5. just keep on moving, whether it be just jamming a and d back and forth or moving in a circle, you should just always be ready to go

there's probably more advantages to it, but honestly if you see me play i'll be trying my best to never stand still. except when i type. even then i just hold w and open up chat and hope i never have to type a word with w, and i'll still be going forward. that's about it

[sk8mystery23]

4. in the case of tf2, if a medic is healing you, the medick will stand still when healing you, and therefore making you both vulnerable targets.

Hahahahaha nope. Not usually if it's me.

[Neptune]

[quote author=TheDarkChief link=topic=5439.msg195841#msg195841 date=1297291383]
4. in the case of tf2, if a medic is healing you, the medick will stand still when healing you, and therefore making you both vulnerable targets.

Hahahahaha nope. Not usually if it's me.
[/quote]

I'm always running in small circles, generally facing away from my Heavy.  The moment I look away is the moment I get stabbed.

[[SiN] Merc]

[quote author=sk8mystery23 link=topic=5439.msg195851#msg195851 date=1297297836]
[quote author=TheDarkChief link=topic=5439.msg195841#msg195841 date=1297291383]
4. in the case of tf2, if a medic is healing you, the medick will stand still when healing you, and therefore making you both vulnerable targets.

Hahahahaha nope. Not usually if it's me.
[/quote]

I'm always running in small circles, generally facing away from my Heavy.  The moment I look away is the moment I get stabbed.
[/quote]

Sorry.

[liquid108]

I've never been one for messing with the configs but I tried changing some from the defaults and it really does help.
By far, if you do any changes, change to cl_smooth 0 and cl_smoothtime 0.01
Makes sniping soooo much easier. 

[Kirby]

Just ask Liquid what version of OGC he uses, then you can be the best.

[ZargonX]

I've never been one for messing with the configs but I tried changing some from the defaults and it really does help.
By far, if you do any changes, change to cl_smooth 0 and cl_smoothtime 0.01
Makes sniping soooo much easier. 

brb editing config files

[liquid108]

Just ask Liquid what version of OGC he uses, then you can be the best.

i dont know what OGC is so i did a google search

I dont think that was what you were referring to