To play Soldier, you must first understand Soldier. This will be a brief explanation on the Soldier's backstory and lore, but if you want to go more in-depth, check out After Breakfast with SquimJim's video on it here. The Soldier is a crazed, jingoistic patriot from the Midwest USA. He is around 45 when the main events of the game happen. Soldier wanted to serve in the second world war in 1945 but was rejected from every branch of the U.S military. Not one to give up serving his country, Soldier bought a ticket to Europe. After arriving, he taught himself how to use a variety of weapons and embarked on a Nazi killing spree, then he awarded himself several medals which he designed. He stopped his Nazi killing spree in 1949 after learning the war had ended.

The first thing you want to focus when learning any class is movement and positioning. Team Fortress 2 requires good aim for domination, as every shooter does, but your movement, position and prediction of other players' movement will give you a greater advantage.


When players think of movement, they usually think of explosive jumping, double jumping, and damage surfing. The Soldier can utilise his rockets to send himself in any direction, which is referred to as rocket jumping. A player can shoot at their feet while jumping and pressing their crouch button. Doing this will make them temporarily airborne, and it's best used to reach higher places or to gain a height advantage over enemies. This isn't the most important thing for beginners to learn, although it's a skill that needs to be honed if one wishes to progress. What every new player should first master is unpredictable movement. This is best accomplished through strafing and jumping patterns that are difficult to track. Make use of your movement keys (typically WASD and the space bar), especially when situated in a sight line or when an enemy Sniper is in view. You don't need to move constantly, but it's best advised to not stand still for too long.


The best place for a Soldier to be is anywhere higher than who they are fighting. This is for two reasons: it's easier to get splash damage by shooting at the ground near your enemy, and your enemy will have a harder time hitting you from below than if you were on the same level or lower. Even if you end up lower than them, you hold the ability to jump to or above them. Note that will you take damage from this, and that if you jump in a straight line, you will remain an easy target.

Wide, flat areas will usually be a weakness to the Soldier. Since there are less things to jump onto or off of, your mobility is heavily limited (until you learn how to pogo). Hitscan classes, such as the Sniper, Scout and Heavy, will have an easier time killing you. Avoid open spaces when you can. It's much better to be in a confined area where you can juggle an enemy with splash damage, even if you have to give up some speed.


To align a rocket effectively, a player should aim at a surface near an enemy, or where they think their enemy will be with enough confidence. Scouts will likely be the hardest to hit because of their speed. They can dodge projectiles, even without meaning to. Waiting for a Scout to use their second jump will make predictions of their landing location easier to calculate. Otherwise, a Scout with an available jump will have an easy time dodging projectiles.

It takes a lot of time and knowledge to become better at aiming any type of weapon. For many, it will come to them naturally though playing as they normally would. With only four rockets loaded up at once (with most primaries), they are a valuable resource to conserve. A poorly aimed or timed rocket can lead to your death or the death of a teammate. Learning how to adapt and make smart decisions may increase your entire team's preservation and defensive and/or offensive stance.

Despite being one of the slowest classes in the game, Soldier has the most opportunities to obtain high mobility and speed.

To perform a basic rocket jump, shoot in the opposite direction of where you want to go while pressing your jump button and crouching at the same time. Crouching is not required for every jump, but it gives you more height and aerial control (this applies to surfing explosive damage). You will gain more height the closer your rocket is and more distance the further it is.


A helpful video on learning the basics of rocket jumping:

A more advanced rocket jumping video:


Once you get the hang of basic rocket jumping, you can practice combinations with more complex maneuvers, such as pogos, speedshots, syncs, and C-taps. There are many custom maps designed to practice all types of explosive jumping. Jump Academy is recommended for all skill levels, especially beginners.

The weapons you equip may heavily influence the flow of a game. Choosing what works best for you and your style will benefit not only you, but your team as well. Being the most versatile class, there's not much you can do wrong with your loadout. Running a banner is great support for everyone you're playing with. Using a shotgun can ensure you more frags. The Gunboats will trade out extra damage and support for mobility. To best understand Soldier's weapons, they will be split up into four sections: Meta, Sidegrade, Gimmick, and Downgrade.

Class: Meta
Explanation: The Rocket Launcher is considered to be one of the best rocket launchers. It deals strong AoE damage and solid damage output. If you are a newer soldier this is by far one of the best rocket launchers you can use. It is good and reliable, as well as being an overall solid choice.



Class: Meta
Explanation: The Direct Hit is a good rocket launcher due to its strong damage output. However, it has but low aoe range. It is a good weapon if you are good at hitting direct hits, and is a great choice for airshots due to its fast projectile speed. However, there is a reason it has a nickname of the Direct Miss. Most soldiers who use this don't know how to aim, and is a really bad weapon for newer soldier mains, since you lose out on aoe damage potential. In the right hands, this weapon could be an unstoppable force that stomps the enemy team. If you know how to hit directs, this is the best option for you.



Class: Direct Downgrade
Explanation: Its only practical use in-game is for "People who want to trolldier but have a backup source of damage for when they inevitably fail at Soldier" -SoundSmith. For the most part, this is true. The damage downside is a huge penalty, and makes the weapon lose out to the stock/direct hit, making it an overall direct downgrade.




Class: Meta
Explanation: The Original is a reskin for the stock rocket launcher, with the only difference being that it fires the rocket from the center instead of the side. There is not much to say about this weapon since it's almost the same as the stock rocket launcher.




Class: Sidegrade
Explanation: The Black Box gives out health and increases your survivability, in exchange for a smaller clip in your rocket launcher. It is a good sidegrade, and good for some situations. It is commonly paired with the conch and is an overall good weapon. However, losing 25% of your clip is a downside which makes it lose out to stock.




Class: Gimmick
Explanation: The cow mangler is mostly used for the charge-up shot which is fun to play with and a good gimmick weapon. This weapon also replaces the ammo bar with the Ammo Meter. The Crits to Mini Crits downside doesn't affect gameplay all that much, especially if you're playing on a server with random crits disabled. A large downside is that you can't have a Kritz medic. The reason this weapon is held back is due to its 20% less damage to buildings stat which hinders your job as a soldier a lot, since destroying buildings is one of your main jobs as a soldier. The charge-up shot is fun to play with, and having infinite ammo is good, but if you know your way around rocket jumping, it doesn't affect you all that much.




Class: Gimmick
Explanation: The Beggars Bazooka is fun to play with and extremely gimmicky. With beggars jumping and doing the barrage mechanic, it is extremely fun to play with. The Beggar's starts with 0 ammo in your clip which you can load to a maximum of 3, which fire in quick succession upon release. You have to reload each time you fire this weapon. It has projectile deviation which makes it very fun to play with.




Class: Gimmick
Explanation: The Rocket Jumper deals 0 damage to you and your target, and is the weapon usually used in the Trolldier Subclass paired with the market gardener.




Class: Gimmick
Explanation: The Air Strike is usually paired with the Base Jumper, it acts as an eyelander for the soldier, It increases your clip every time you kill someone with a maximum capacity of 8. The best way to use this weapon is to rocket jump and then unleash hell upon your opponents. It's very satisfying to use when you get a random crit or a Kritz med as you unleash your 8 clip into an entire team in the control point, and is a good gimmick weapon as well.

Class: Sidegrade
Explanation: Good for damage and giving your team added damage. A good option overall.



Class: Sidegrade
Explanation: While the buff banner gives you damage, the conch gives you speed and mobility for you and your team, as well as giving you a passive health regen. The conch is usually paired with the black box.




Class: Meta
Explanation: If you are a newer soldier and haven't gotten the hang of rocket jumping yet, the battalion's backup is the best option for you. It gives you extra health and provides you with resistances which are super helpful for you and your team.




Class: Direct Downgrade
Explanation: This weapon is genuinely bad. I recommend never using it. The only time you will see it used is by soldiers looking to meme.




Class: Gimmick
Explanation: Most commonly paired with the airstrike, as previously mentioned. This weapon is also used for trolldier as training wheels, so you can get the hang of trolldier a bit. However, against decent players, you are a sitting duck. This weapon is only useful for Airstrike soldiers.

Class: Direct Downgrade
Explanation: The shovel is a direct downgrade from other options, as you rarely need to use melee while playing soldier. The only reason this could be useful is if you have an empty clip with a demoknight rushing at you, and you are completely out of ammo. Even then, if you use the escape plan it could be better to just run away.




Class: Direct Upgrade
Explanation: This weapon is being classified as a direct upgrade due to its obvious superiority over all other melee weapons.




Class: Direct Downgrade
Explanation: For the reasons mentioned above, it is still better to run away with the escape plan even in situations where you are in low health. This weapon is somewhat gimmicky as you could become a discount market gardener when you get to low health and pretend to be a trolldier, but even then why not just use the market gardener.




Class: Gimmick
Explanation: It is somewhat fun to use when you are playing control point maps. The 10% bullet vulnerability isn't that bad, and it can be fun to use occasionally, especially in MvM.




Class: Gimmick
Explanation: It is fun to use when you go discount demoknight and run around with the samurai loadout slashing people, but it isn't practical and is still a respectable gimmick nonetheless.




Class: Sidegrade
Explanation: It is good for team support and going fast when you don't quite know your way around rocket jumping, or if you wanna be a team player and push people around. it is also good for going speedy when you're alive and is a good utility weapon.




Class: Meta
Explanation: The Escape Plan Allows you to run faster while low on health. It's good for most situations where you are low on health and need to run away. It is also a great utility and one of the best soldier weapons.



Class: Gimmick
Explanation: It's fun for the aforementioned Trolldier Subclass which allows you to crit targets while airborne. If you are good at rocket jumping and timing, this weapon could be useful in other situations.

1. Aim at your opponent's feet.

2. Avoid shooting at an enemy Pyro with your rocket launcher. If they know how to reflect, they can easily kill your or your teammates with your own projectiles. Shoot them with a shotgun, and if you don't have that, shoot at their feet. It is harder to return your rocket if it'll only go into the ground.

3. Use the direct hit to take down sentries, or overwhelm the Engineer closest to it by spamming from afar.

4. You are a prime healing target for a friendly Medic. Learn what their primary is and play accordingly. The stock Medi Gun will make you invulnerable, the Kritzkrieg will give you guaranteed critical hits, the Quick Fix will take away movement-impairing effects (and carry your Medic with you, so rocket jump with caution), and the Vaccinator will give you resistances to all damage types except melee.

5. Avoid rocket jumping unnecessarily, especially if you don't have the Gunboats equipped. It may be tempting, but the self-inflicted damage is not worth the extra time unless you're in a high-level competitive environment.

6. Don't use the Escape Plan when you're running away from enemies who can catch up to you. It marks you for death, meaning you take mini crits when hit by an enemy. Go wild if you're trying to use the speed bonus as your last resort for a kill instead.

7. Don't hold W when rocket jumping. This limits your ability to strafe midair.


1. Go for directs if you can predict their movement but go for splash damage if you can't - Katyusha

2. If you fire your rocket launcher and quickly switch to your shotgun, dealing multiple clean shots with an explosive armament coming in can decimate your opponent. - Master of the ♥♥♥♥ R.Launcher

That was it, Maggots. Mann VS Machine and the Soldier's competitive roles were not covered as they require more detail. Guides may be made for them in the future.


Check out the Soldier Battalion, where much of the help in writing this guide came from.
-Aces

Steam Group - https://gtm.you1.cn/groups/SoldierTSB
Discord Invite - https://discord.gg/e5pAaXyrrE
YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCAWeMiov618xKEeouutHQA