Who are the playable characters of Team Fortress 2?

Team Fortress 2 is the story of two feuding twin brothers hiring mercenaries to take each other’s lands. Lore aside, Team Fortress 2 is a class-based multiplayer First-Person Shooter game where you shoot at the opposite team and complete objectives. The game still tops the charts of most active players on Steam and has been going strong for almost 15 years because of its unique presentation and mechanics.

After nearly 15 years of updates, items, maps, cosmetics, strategies, and even memes, it may be hard for new players to know what to do since the game is so different from most FPS. With 9 classes to play, they’re each unique enough to fit a certain playstyle and fill specific roles that you will find addictively fun! 

For veterans or new players alike, here’s some information on every class so you can see yourself as the top player on your team! Or, at the very least, hopefully you will learn how to play better just so you can try some of the most whacky tactics the game has to offer!

Scout

Hailing from Boston, the Scout is the youngest mercenary of the cast with a base of 125 HP.

As the fastest class in the game with his unique double jump, he can maneuver around enemies to sting like a bee and fly away like a butterfly! He also has a +1 capture bonus when capturing objectives or pushing the cart.

His primary gun is the scattergun, a high-damage weapon with devastating potential at close range. While there are other unlockable primary weapons, such as the two-shot Force-a-Nature and Soda Popper, the scattergun is considered the best option in most situations since it’s the most reliable.

Scout’s secondary weapons are mostly different variants of pistols that allow him to finish off weakened enemies, with the notable mention of the Winger, a pistol that allows his jumps to be 25% higher while deployed in exchange for a smaller clip. The Scout can equip some beverages in his secondary slot for support, like extinguishing teammates on fire with the Mad Milk, or self-buffs with the Bonk! Atomic Punch and the Crit-a-Cola. There’s also the Flying Guillotine for ranged damage.

Scout is the only one who has ranged melee weapons, with the Wrap Assassin and the Sandman having a projectile. Scout swings his melee attacks twice as fast as the other classes, but only for about half the damage, making it not a very effective last-resort option. But hey, at least you can get a FISH KILL announced on the kill feed if you manage to hit and kill someone with the Holy Mackerel!

What the Scout excels at:

• High mobility to flank and find routes to get where you need to quickly. 
• High damage potential to win one-on-one battles; capable of killing most classes with two max damage shots from the Scattergun. 
• Faster capture rate.

Weaknesses:

• With only 125 HP and as a frontline attacker, the Scout is a very vulnerable class.
• Sentry guns obliterate Scouts and deny them the area they cover.
• Requires a high level of skill with aiming and movement to dish out max damage potential consistently.

You should pick Scout if:

• You like fast-paced gameplay with high-risk high-reward thrills.
• You like being aggressive and constantly pushing pressure into your opponents.
• You like having extensive movement options to deal with a variety of situations. 

Soldier

Despite being rejected from every branch of the U.S. military, nothing stops the Soldier from being a (self-proclaimed) true American veteran!

Whether you’re a pro player rocket jumping and flying through the map, or a newbie that shoots missiles at the enemies’ feet, the Soldier’s high damage output makes him the best offensive class in the game. 

The Soldier’s primary weapon is a rocket launcher capable of damaging multiple enemies at the same time. While there are a variety of rocket launchers to choose from, they all function the same. The true magic of the weapon lies in the ability to rocket jump, which is shooting at your feet to sacrifice a bit of HP in exchange for enhanced mobility. 

Even though killing is what the Soldier does best, his secondary weapon slot gives him some of the best offensive support capabilities in the game. With the Buff Banner, the Battalion’s Backup, and the Concheror, you can fill a meter after doing a certain amount of damage to activate buffs for you and your team. You can also equip some boots that give benefits to rocket jumping, but if you aren’t good enough, maybe it’s better to stick with the shotgun for close-range combat as your secondary weapon.

Unless you’re a real veteran at the class and a master of rocket jumping to use the Market Gardener (a “trolldier”), you shouldn’t be in a situation where you have to pull out your melee weapon. Your best melee options are the Disciplinary Action, which provides you and the teammate you hit with a brief speed boost, or the Escape Plan, which allows you to move quickly when your HP is low. 

What the Soldier excels at:

• High damage explosive output that can kill an enemy or a group of enemies in a few shots.
• With 200 HP and being able to shoot safely behind cover by peeking through corners or from a distance, the Soldier is the backbone of every offensive push.
• Rocket jumping is useful for mobility; whether you’re godlike at it and a master of the skies or a novice who uses it to reach higher places quickly, having more options is a huge advantage.

Weaknesses:

• With only 4 rockets in the clip (3-5 depending on the rocket launcher) and a slow reload speed, you have to make each rocket count.
• With the 2nd slowest movement speed, this class can feel very sluggish at times if you don’t have the tools to buff your speed or the rocket jumping skills to move faster.

You should pick Soldier if:

• You like being at the forefront of the offensive.
• You like being aggressive and having your initiative rewarded with kills and buff potential.
• You like training and getting better at the game and seeing noticeable improvements in your mobility. 

Pyro

As the most enigmatic of the mercenaries, not much is known about who is behind the mask.

Despite its respectable 175 base HP and imposing figure, the flamethrower makes for a game plan that is not very suited for offense despite being classified as an offensive class. Because of the main weapon’s shortcomings, the class has been relegated to an ambiguous mix of defensive and/or supportive roles rather than dominating the frontlines.

To put it bluntly, the flamethrower is a weapon that shines brighter when using its airblast mechanic to reflect certain projectiles to protect yourself and your teammates, or when using it to find pesky invisible spies. Because of its limited range fire doing damage over time, the Pyro is best used when flanking and/or ambushing unsuspecting and lone opponents. Pyro is a linear class, but whatever you do, please don’t run out in the open straight into a group of enemies!

Pyro’s secondary weapons don’t change the way he plays, except for the Thermal Thruster, a jetpack that makes it possible to make big leaps that improve mobility and flanking potential. The Detonator and Flare Gun are good secondary options to finish off enemies on fire, while the Scorch Shot is a long-range tool if you want to annoy the enemy team. Shotguns are a reliable secondary option, but at close range, it might be better to use your flamethrower.

As for melee options, in most situations it’s better to pick the Powerjack to move faster. If you decide to become a “Pybro” and help your team’s Engineer, you can use the Homewrecker to destroy enemy Spy’s Sappers that slowly damage your team’s Engineer’s buildings. If you prefer an offensive melee option, the Axtinguisher is a good combo to finish off enemies that you have lit on fire.

What the Pyro excels at:

• Being the best class at Spy checking to protect your team from one-hit kills.
• Defending the area around your Engineer’s buildings.
• Using airblast to reflect explosives from Soldiers and Demomen.
• Stalling an enemy ubercharge push with your airblast.

Weaknesses:

• Flamethrowers are linear, predictable, and easy to counter.
• Flamethrower and afterburn do damage over time, which makes it easy to counter by using different healing sources and various extinguishing options.

You should pick Pyro if:

• You like playing patiently to flank and ambush opponents.
• You like being defensive and supporting teammates by reflecting and denying explosives.
• You like pushing enemies off cliffs with your airblast.
• You really hate spies and want them to suffer. 

Demoman

This one-eyed man from Scotland doesn’t even need to look at you to kill you!

Equipped with his grenade launcher and his stickybomb launcher, the Demoman is an expert at explosive damage. Despite being categorized as a defensive class, his power is good enough to put him as a frontline attacker that excels in any situation. 

The Demoman’s grenade launcher is one of the strongest weapons in the game, dealing a whopping 100 points of damage on direct contact! A good alternative for the primary weapon is the Iron Bomber, which has a slightly smaller explosion radius in exchange for the explosives not bouncing as much. The Loose Cannon is a fun but skillful alternative that bonks and pushes enemies and then explodes after a certain amount of time. 

His secondary weapon slot is a stickybomb launcher capable of sticking explosives onto surfaces that can be detonated remotely. The weapon was designed as an area denial tool that surprises enemies by being placed in locations out of their sight, but sticky bombs are also a good offensive option at mid-range, so players sometimes refer to the Demoman as the “Demospam.” 

But we can’t talk about the Demoman without talking about the Demoknight, a subclass that specializes in melee combat by providing buffs and incentives for killing enemy players and collecting their heads. The subclass works with shield options in the secondary slot that allow the Demoknight to rush with incredible speed with a guaranteed critical hit that can one-hit kill most classes, making him an unstoppable force that wreaks havoc against the enemy team! There are a variety of swords and melee options, as well as shields and boots to make your own Demoknight based on your preferences. 

What the Demoman excels at:

• High and constant explosive damage that works well both as an attacker and as a defender.
• His grenade launcher and stickybomb launcher can shoot projectiles at an angle, which can be useful for damaging a position while being out of sight.
• Like the Soldier, the Demoman has his version of explosive jumping with sticky jumping, which lets him reach farther and higher places quicker.

Weaknesses:

• The grenade launcher shoots in an arc, so while powerful, it’s difficult to get direct hits consistently, so it takes some practice getting your pipes to do max damage.
• The Demoman is at its weakest at close range; his explosives can damage him as well if they hit an enemy player too close, leaving his melee as the only option to deal with enemies that insist on close and personal combat.

You should pick Demoman if:

• You like having the weapons when a situation changes between having to be aggressive or defensive.
• You like having mobility options that let you be useful in any situation. 
• You have fun being a melee monster that causes destruction in your path. 

Heavy

Boasting a minigun that costs 400,000 dollars to fire for 12 seconds, the Heavy Weapons Guy, a doctor in Russian literature, is also the face of the game.

Despite his iconic status, sadly, he’s considered to be one of the worst classes in the game. With 300 base HP, the highest in the game, along with possibly the highest DPS, what makes him so bad?

Heavy’s main weapon is a minigun that can mow down and obliterate the enemy team if it can get into a good firing position, but he’s too slow to get there. Being a slow and big-moving target is never a good thing, and Heavy will often struggle to catch people at the close range where he is the most effective. Even flanking enemies will be hard, since revving up the minigun is noisy and will give up your position unless you’re using the Tomislav, a silent alternative to the primary weapon slot.

If we talk about Heavy’s secondary weapons, we have to talk about the Sandvich, his other iconic item that restores health. Your team may hate you for this, but you could also try going “Fat Scout'' and equipping a shotgun to try and kill people exclusively this way, but at that point, you’d be better off playing Scout.

Using Heavy’s melee is like using the rain to collect water while already having gallons of fresh water available, which is pointless because at melee fighting range is when he’s at his strongest with his minigun, so there shouldn’t be a reason to use his melee to fight. The Gloves of Running Urgently are a notable weapon that grants a speed buff that drains health while active and slowly gives it back when not used. 

What the Heavy excels at:

• Devastating close-range damage.
• Being one of the best classes to use an ubercharge to destroy sentry guns and enemy positions.
• Being a strong defensive force that helps an area that an engineer’s sentry gun can’t reach.

Weaknesses:

• Despite having the highest HP in the game, Heavy’s size and slow speed make him a very vulnerable class to attackers that can fight outside of his range, and he’s also very susceptible to one-hit kills from Snipers and Spies.
• The design of the minigun is a point and hold click to fire, so you have to focus on one enemy at a time when fighting against more than one player.
• He’s too slow to get into the action. Some fast-paced matches can happen and he may be dragging behind only to find he’ll either have to keep catching on if his team advances, or find himself surrounded if his team was defeated.
• His full potential requires constant support from his Medic to make him a formidable fighting force. 

You should pick Heavy if:

• Your team can’t make an effective push because the enemy team is good at denying explosive projectiles 
• You enjoy the moments when Heavy works well and mows down your enemies quickly. 

Engineer

Despite the Engineer’s soft-spoken nature and 11 science PhDs, this Texan is a capable killer that doesn’t even need to get his hands dirty.

With the ability to construct buildings, the automated Sentry gun, the health and ammo Dispenser, and Teleporters, the Engineer is a crucial defensive and supportive class for any team’s success. As a popular class pick, even players that aren’t experienced playing FPS games can do well and score many points. 

We can skip most of the talk about the Engineer’s weapons because his most important tools are the buildings he constructs to help his team. The engineer has the unique metal stat that is used to build, upgrade, and repair his contraptions. You can build by using the construction PDA and then selecting and placing the building you want, and then hitting them with your Wrench to build them faster, upgrade them up to level 3, or repair them when they’re damaged.

Sentry guns take 130 metal to build, Dispensers take 100 metal to build, and each teleporter (entrance and exit) takes 50 metal. All buildings take 200 metal to upgrade a level, a worthy investment for the level 3 Sentry gun, which is a powerful area denial automated weapon. It may be painful to part ways with your buildings, but you can use the Destruction PDA to destroy your buildings, often better than going back to pick them up and placing them where you want when it’s faster to just build them again from scratch. 

For primary weapon options, the Rescue Ranger allows you to heal and pick up your buildings from a distance, improving mobility and different position possibilities. For the secondary weapon slot, the Wrangler is considered the best (and often overpowered) option because it allows you to take manual firing control of your Sentry gun with a health and damage buff while at the same time extending its range. As for melee options, all of them allow for building construction and repair by hitting them, but the most different option is the Gunslinger, which gives the Engineer an extra 25HP (moving his base HP from 125 to 150) in exchange for making his Sentry gun a mini Sentry that deploys quicker but is weaker.

What the Engineer excels at:

• Powerful area denial with the Sentry gun, an indispensable part of any defending team.
• He has essential support with his Dispenser and the Teleporters, a movement mechanic exclusive to him that makes his team move faster from spawn to where the battle is taking place.

Weaknesses:

• Engineer can be difficult to roll out in some game modes that are too fast for him to set up all his buildings. Especially in game modes with shifting spawn points, he may sometimes have trouble catching up with his gear. For this reason, he’s better at playing on defense (RED team) in game modes where you need to stop the opposing team.
• Spies are the bane of his existence because his Sappers disable and destroy buildings. One good Spy play can take down everything that the Engineer spent time and resources working on. 

You should pick Engineer if:

• Your team struggles to hold ground and is constantly getting pushed.
• You want to contribute to your team’s success but aren’t confident enough to fight on the frontlines. 

Medic

With great interest in mad medicinal experiments, this German doctor works as a mercenary just to fund his atrociously expensive but groundbreaking research, of which his healing abilities came as a side effect.

The Medic is the most consistent and efficient class to restore health and keep his team in top-fighting condition. When healing for a long time, you’ll be able to fill the ubercharge meter, one of the most central mechanics in the game, making the Medic one of, if not the, most important class in the game. 

The secondary slot in the Medic’s arsenal is the Medigun, the best tool to keep the fighting alive by keeping your teammates alive. The ubercharge mechanic grants the medic and his healing target full invulnerability to damage for 8 seconds and is the best way to break through enemy lines. Healing teammates that are already at max HP helps by giving them an overheal, a temporary buff that extends their HP up to 50%.

How the ubercharge is used can be the deciding factor in winning or losing a match, so while there are other healing alternatives, the stock Medigun is the best. As for the Medic’s other weapons, they should be used the least amount possible because when you’re not healing your teammates, you’re also not building the ubercharge meter. The best weapon for his primary slot is the Crusader’s Crossbow, which shoots a single arrow that either heals a teammate, or damages an enemy, with more healing/damage depending on how far away you are from your target.

Medic is not for fighting and he’s better off helping his teammates do the dirty work for him. If you can’t find anyone to heal, it’s better to run away. If all hope seems lost and you have to defend yourself at close range, the Ubersaw is the best option since every successful melee hit fills up your ubercharge meter by 25%, an extra amount that may save your life by filling your meter to use it to run escape safely or even turn the tables back on them!

What the Medic excels at:

• Being the best and most efficient constant healing source that keeps your team alive and in top-notch condition to keep fighting.
• Breaking through stalemates with the use of the powerful and game-changing ubercharge.
• An indispensable class; a team is always better off and stronger with a medic rather than without one.

Weaknesses:

• One of the most vulnerable classes in the game lacking in self-defense options.
• Being such an important asset in any team, Snipers, Scouts, Soldiers, Spies, and others will try to make you their priority target to eliminate.
• With a point and heal game plan and as a class that should stay alive at all costs and not engage the enemy, the class may feel boring to play.

You should pick Medic if:

• You like to contribute as one of the most important classes to win games.
• *ou like seeing yourself topping the scoreboards by sharing the success of the players you heal. 

Sniper

This New Zealander raised in Australia is a polite and professional killer with standards.

As the only class in the game that excels at long-ranged combat, the Sniper is a class that is loved by many and hated by twice as many others. The longer you’re scoped in with the Sniper Rifle, the higher your damage! 

The Sniper is a controversial class because of his devastating potential to one-shot with the relative comfort of being unchallenged and unbothered. With a fully-charged bodyshot, Sniper can deal 150 points of damage, enough to insta-kill five classes in the game, while headshots do that amount of base damage and fully-charged does 450 points of damage, just enough to kill a fully overhealed Heavy. Other Sniper Rifles and weapons exist, but there isn’t enough variation to change his gameplay, with the exception of the Huntsman, which replaces his primary weapon with a bow and arrow that are much harder to use and it’s quite frankly a downgrade.

His secondary weapon consists of the SMG, an underwhelming offensive option that is better used to finish off weakened opponents. The true golden beacon of the Sniper’s secondary option arsenal is the Jarate, to put it simply, a jar of piss, that soaks enemy players and makes all damage they receive become mini-crits. Besides making enemies easier to kill, it has more utility by drenching invisible spies and revealing their position, as well as extinguishing teammates that are on fire.

Since the Sniper is a long-ranged class in a game that focuses on close to mid-range combat, one would guess that fighting up close would be his weakness, right? Well, not quite, since the Sniper has a melee weapon called the Buschwacka that deals critical damage whenever it would normally deal mini-crit damage, so pairing it up with the Jarate makes the Sniper a monster at close range if he can pull off the combo, dealing a whopping 195 points of damage just for daring to fight him at close range. 

What the Sniper excels at:

• Being the only class that is the most effective at long range.
• Killing off priority targets.
• Supporting an offensive push with Jarate as well as extinguishing teammates on fire.

Weaknesses:

• It’s easy to get tunnel vision and get caught off guard and killed before you even know it.
• His game plan depends a lot on the map that it’s being played on. Some maps make the Sniper godlike, while others make him almost useless if there are no good sight lines.
• He’s not very good at making offensive pushes like pushing the cart or capturing a point, so he’s better when playing on defense.

You should pick Sniper if:

• You enjoy being able to put your sniping skills to the test and getting headshots for insta-kills.
• You’re good at tracking enemy movement and denying the enemy advances before they even start.
• You like to make people ragequit. 

Spy

From France with love, the Spy is a mercenary of many mysteries, but what is known for sure is that he’s not what it seems, and, who knows, maybe he’s not on your side at all.

Being able to turn invisible and disguise, he creates chaos with his powerful insta-kill backstabs that may leave the enemy scrambling to find this sneaky menace. Despite having one of the most unique gameplay in the entire FPS genre, there are so many things working against the Spy, making him one of the worst classes in the game. 

The spy can move while being invisible and disguise as a member of the opposing team to attack them from behind their lines and score a one-hit kill move with a backstab. But because of this game plan, with only 125 base HP and constantly being surrounded by enemies, the Spy is a very vulnerable class and a real glass cannon that is either kill or get killed. Constantly dying after getting one kill or two, respawning, and then moving all the way back behind enemy lines can be a frustrating process that only experienced players can make the most of.

As a Spy, you have to get into the closest of melee ranges to land a hit with your knife on the enemy’s back, a dangerous position since most classes are better at fighting at close range. If you have the misfortune of mistiming your melee attack, you’ll do “butter knife” damage, which is incredibly weak and you will die getting swarmed by your enemies. The Spy’s primary weapon, the Revolver can be powerful enough to damage or kill enemies to allow you to retreat, but it doesn’t make up for his shortcomings when he fails to backstab.

The Spy’s Sapper is a tool that you use to attach to the enemy Engineer’s buildings that disables and damages them, making him a good class to disrupt defenses to make your team push forward more easily. There are many things the Spy can do to help his team in significant ways, but the biggest downside is inconsistency; sometimes the game’s hit registration will rob you (or award you) backstabs, and sometimes there are bugs in your disguise (missing limbs as a disguised Demoman, for example) that make you even more obvious that you are a Spy, and some glitches (like floating icons) straight up reveal your position even while invisible. 

What the Spy excels at:

• Sneaky gameplay with insta-kills for priority targets that can disrupt the enemy team.
• Disabling and taking down enemy Engineer buildings.

Weaknesses:

• Very vulnerable class that will often get you killed after accomplishing (or failing) a kill if you don’t disappear and run away fast enough.
• Many players have it ingrained in their memory to always do spy checks to reveal enemy Spies. Good team communication and awareness make it hard for a Spy player to play well.
• Pyros, Scout’s Mad Milk, Sniper’s Jarate, and other classes and tools are good at countering the Spy, making his already hard job even more difficult.
• Spy’s priority target elimination can often be done better by the Sniper instead.

You should play Spy if:

• You like the highest of risks for the reward of killing the target that your team needs dead the most at the best of times.
• You are an expert on the game’s mechanics and proficient enough with this class to pull off trickstabs and other impressive feats. 

To put it bluntly,  the Scout, Soldier, Demoman, and Medic are the best classes to play because they will always perform well in any situation. That is not to mean that the rest of the cast is useless, but their true strengths shine in more specific situations that suit their role. However, all talk about which class to pick and skill honing for victory is something a lot of players ignore because they would rather relax doing conga lines and group dances and other funny shenanigans instead of going try hard all the time.

There may be only 9 classes in the game to play, but with countless weapons, maps, tactics, and player levels, Team Fortress 2 provides an endless amount of fun that always brings new and fresh experiences. Even after all this time, the game still welcomes new players and is an experience that lives up to its slogan as the most fun you can have online.

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