The Soldier is a jack of all trades in Team Fortress 2, and because of this, he’s often considered the most newbie-friendly class in the game. Soldier can deal impressive AoE damage with his rocket launcher, his rocket jump makes him one of the most mobile classes in the game, and his impressive health pool is only toppled by the Heavy.
While he might be one of the easiest classes to handle, being a good soldier in Team Fortress 2 requires some serious skill and practice. If you want to improve your soldier gameplay, we’ve got you covered! Here at Skinsmonkey we present our TF2 soldier guide, where you’ll learn everything you need to get on top of your game!
Also, if you ever need any new items for your Soldier loadout, make sure to visit Skinsmonkey, where you can always trade TF2 items for the best prices!
TF2 Soldier Weapons
Before we dive into different specific strategies you can use to improve your Soldier gameplay, its important to look over the Soldier’s arsenal in the game. Like most other classes, his inventory consists of primary weapons, secondary weapon and melee weapons.
Primary Weapons
The Soldier’s primary weapon is his trademark rocket launcher. One of the most powerful Team Fortress 2 weapons, the rocket launcher is capable of dealing massive damage, has an impressive AoE radius, and a direct hit with a crit rocket will kill enemies in a single shot. The rocket launcher is a highly versatile weapon, capable of easily destroying sentry guns and clusters of multiple enemies. Because of this, Soldier is extremely powerful when fighting in tight corridors, where players will have a difficult time dodging your rocket launcher.
Not only does the rocket launcher deal impressive damage, it also offers increased mobility to the Soldier, allowing him to navigate around the map with rocket jumping. One of the reasons to play Soldier in TF2 is his impressive mobility, allowing you to jump all over the map by firing rockets at your feet. This deals some damage to the Solider himself, but also propels him in the air, allowing him to reach parts of the map unavailable to other classes.
However, when using rocket launchers you have to keep in mind that a Pyro can reflect your rockets at you and even kill you with your own projectiles. Like other primary weapons in the game that fire projectiles instead of normal bullets, your rockets can be bounced back to you, so watch out when using them.
Secondary Weapon
When it comes to your secondary weapon as a soldier, you have three different choices:
- A shotgun
- Boots (passive equipment)
- Buff Banner
Shotgun is generally the most common choice among pros and experienced gamers since it helps offset some of the worst liabilities of the soldier class. The rocket launcher might have impressive damage, but it leaves you virtually defenseless when you’re stuck reloading. The stock rocket launcher only holds four rockets, and Soldier’s primary weapons have some of the longest reload times in the game. That is why a shotgun can be a real lifesaver in more intense firefights.
The different boots available to Solider make rocket jumps easier, and even allow him to stomp on his enemies, however, they are generally the worst choice of a secondary weapon. Although they can reduced self damage the Soldier takes from rocket jumping, once you get good enough at playing this class you won’t need a crutch like the different Soldier boots, which replace your shotgun.
The Buff Banner is an interesting choice, since it allows the Soldier to play a more supportive role. Although it’s still generally considered a worse choice than the shotgun, it can be useful in teams where you already have a lot of DPS.
Melee weapons
Finally, the Soldier also has an impressive selection of melee weapons, with different skills for different occasions. However, most players still choose the default shovel, or one of its many re-skins, since you’ll likely won’t be fighting too much at close range. Although the Soldier has a very impressive health pool, shotguns are still a better choice for fighting at point-blank range. However, some melee weapons, like the Disciplinary Action, are not meant for fighting and instead are more of utility items, and you should also consider them, depending on the situation in-game.
If you want to learn more about items in Team Fortress 2, make sure to check out our guide for the most expensive TF2 items!
TF2 Soldier Guide
Although the soldier is technically easy to play, knowing how to really master the Soldier requires some more practice and knowledge. Here are some of the best tips to improve your soldier gameplay. Also, if you’d like to further improve your game, make sure to check out our TF2 guide!
Watch Your Ammo
As we have previously mentioned, one of the weaknesses of the Soldier class is his low ammo count in the primary weapons slot. His rocket launcher generally holds a small number of rockers, and it also has the longest reload time and animation. The Soldier has to load every single rocket into the launcher individually, meaning that to fully reload his weapon takes a couple of seconds. Make sure that you’re never caught without ammo in your launcher.
Remember About Your Secondary Gun
On the topic of reloading, if you ever empty all your rockets but still find yourself in combat. Many new players forget about the Soldier’s secondary weapon, which is one of the worst mistakes you can make as a soldier player. While it might not have as much splash damage and won’t be able to take out multiple opponents with a single critical hit, the shotgun is still a perfect way to finish off your enemies, or simply take out lighter classes like the Scour or the Medic.
Keep A Pocket Medic Around
You might not be as tanky as the Heavy while playing as a Soldier, but you come close second, and the overhead from a stock medi-gun gives you a whopping 300 health pool. This still makes you incredibly tanky, and combined with the splash damage of your primary weapons, the Soldier and Medic are a duo capable of obliterating entire teams. The Medic also has a number of different medi-guns available, some of them working better with the Soldier rather than the Heavy, so if you have a Medic friend, you can easily dominate the match.
Practice Precise Aim
The Soldier might have some serious AoE firepower with his splash damage radius, however, when fighting at long distances, you should always focus on landing precise shots. This might be relatively difficult with the slow projectile speed of every individual rocket, but there’s a significant difference in damage when you score a direct hit with your rocket launcher, and when you shoot somewhere next to your opponent’s feet. With a single shot that’s a mini crit you can even take out some weaker classes, provided you land a hit directly on your enemy.
In Conclusion
The Soldier might look like one of the easiest classes to play, but only when you understand how the class works and know how to play cautiously you’ll be able to dominate the front lines. If you liked this guide, make sure to check out the rest of Skinsmonkey, including our all TF2 classes tutorial!
A true gaming enthusiast, especially Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Rust. At SkinsMonkey, he is involved in creating game guides based on his own experience.
