Comparison of the New and Old Weapons of Medics and Arsonists
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I don't claim to be a TF2 guru. But over the time I've played, I've made a few observations that I would like to share with you. The introduction sounds familiar, doesn't it?

So, let's start.

Kritskrieg

Vs

Medigun

The choice is very difficult because both guns possess:

  1. The same range.

  2. The same healing abilities.

  3. The same silly appearance.

  4. The same unclear working principle.

BUT! On the right mouse button, they have completely different abilities:

  1. Medigun grants invulnerability.

  2. Kritskrieg does not grant invulnerability.

To make the choice even easier - here's a diagram:

Speaking seriously - take kritskrieg only if you have adequate (I repeat, ADEQUATE) soldiers\demo men in your team, as they benefit the most from crits. It's advisable to take it in defensive missions, as a krit rocket in the cart = disaster for the meat around.

In attack, your main headache will be turrets, so invulnerability is better. What could be more delightful than the sight of a heavy under invulnerability, destroying the entire enemy team at a point? Only a headshot a second before the uber activates, heh. A pyro under invul = a nightmare for an engineer. However, as a bonus, after the invul wears off, the engineer ANNIHILATES the pyro and the accompanying medic. His key charges with pure rage.

BUT! The kritskrieg has an ace up its sleeve - a taunt that heals THE MEDIC HIMSELF for 10 hp. Take that, fuckers! But no, unfortunately, you can't emergency heal. And you can't hesitate with kritskrieg - remember that victory is achieved within terms measured in days or months, before the enemy can mobilize and deploy their main military forces. This person couldn't be wrong in his tactical choice.

Although, on the other hand, he isn't entirely to blame; the command made the decision. But we've strayed from the topic.

Verdict - if there’s an adequate soldier\demo or defense mission - go with kritskrieg. If it’s an attack mission or there’s an adequate heavy\pyro - choose invul. A tie, but the kritskrieg gets the audience's choice prize for its taunt.

Moving on.

Bonesaw

Vs

Ubersaw

Well, I think the winner here is obvious. The regular saw HITS 20% FASTER. Just imagine - while a medic with the ubersaw strikes 4 times and replenishes his uber charge to 100%, you will have struck 5 times and replenished NOTHING AT ALL. I think the winner is clear - the regular saw outperforms the uber version on all fronts.

BUT! The taunt with the saw makes a cello sound, while the taunt with the ubersaw is electric guitar. And we all know that electric guitars are cooler than cellos. So, by a slim margin (thanks to the taunt), the ubersaw wins.

If we're serious, there’s no shame in comparing them. Obviously, the ubersaw is better.

And we're approaching the most difficult choice for the medic.

Syringe gun

Vs

Blutsauger

So, the main difference is that the syringe gun can crit, while the blutsauger gives you hp. As we all know, a critting medic is death to all living things. That's why he was given the medigun - to deter any temptation to run with the syringe gun and crit. A critting medic is a terrifying weapon. Entire rounds have been won by teams of critting medics.

*the image depicted may differ from the actual situation

And what are we offered to trade this doomsday weapon for? A measly 3 hp per shot? Ha, kids...

Seriously - again, a foolish comparison. The blutsauger is much more useful than the medigun, as if you’ve engaged in combat, then 3 hp per shot means a lot. I’ve seen numerous cases where a medic defeated a pyro by sucking hp, as he burns slower than replenishes.

Definitely - blutsauger.

Now that we’ve mentioned the pyroman, it's time to consider his genocide tools that bring HELL to the land.

Here’s, by the way, one of the early concept arts of the pyro.

So, let’s go from the secondary to the primary.

Fire axe

Vs

Frost axe

The victory of the Frost Axe is practically obvious - it is double-sided, has additional ice (there are no resistances in TF2!) damage and looks cooler. Unfortunately, they didn’t bring it in. Instead, we have

Axetinguisher

Yeah, thanks...

So, let’s start with the differences:

  1. The fire axe hits straightforwardly.

  2. The extinguisher hits with aims, specifically - crits only on burning players, -50% damage to non-burning players.

What kind of pyro are you if the enemy isn't burning yet? You are a denizen of hell on earth, only ashes and indistinct sounds should remain after you. Undoubtedly, our choice is the Fire Axe because it's FIRE Axe. Seriously, you'll definitely set your target on fire before attacking, so the extinguisher is our choice.

You can’t do much with an ordinary axe, although there were guys making indistinct sounds, wearing red uniforms and chopping everything with axes, quite successful fighters - berserkers of Khorne.

I almost forgot; they are all lobotomized =(

But let’s not stray from the topic - BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!

Let’s move to the weapons:

Shotgun

Vs

Flaregun

So, the shotgun. A weapon that's so interesting and multifaceted that the developers decided to give it to FOUR classes, you could even count the scout, then FIVE. Srsly, what the fuck were they thinking?

Reminds me of the immortal dialogue between Vince and Saul:

Sol:

What’s that?

Vinny:

Ha, ha, this is a shotgun, Sol.

Sol:

It’s a fu**ing antiaircraft gun, Vincent!

Vinny:

Yeah, well I wanna raise some pulses, don’t I?

Sol:

You’ll raise hell, never mind pulses.

Unfortunately, TF isn’t nearly as powerful as in the Big Lebowski (if anything, that was the SPAS-12, with the characteristic folding handle). The shotgun in TF becomes effective at a very short distance, where it already inflicts some damage but the flamethrower doesn’t reach yet. Either, you decide to burn someone and then shoot them. Cruel. It's easier to finish them off. More humane, again.

But the shotgun works underwater. However, if you found yourself underwater - you are a bad, unworthy pyro. Moreover, in pyro duels, shotguns are often (but not always) more effective than flamethrowers. In general, it’s a back-and-forth weapon, especially since your team will already have plenty of shotguns.

So we move on to the signal rocket launcher.

Let me describe how it works:

Ffffsh! Pfff...

Something like that. Seriously, though:

  1. The projectile decreases over time, aim like a bow.

  2. The farther the rocket flies - the more damage.

  3. It ignites on impact. Snipers are always delighted with this weapon; their aim hilariously shakes and they spend hp. But just one can of ammo can solve this problem. But from this point, the sniper will be on alert. After all, you could just endlessly shake his nerves with rockets and eventually, he will give in and rush into close combat.

  4. You can shoot up, sending signals. There’s an entire alphabet of signals with signal rockets. Unfortunately, rockets in TF disappear very quickly :(

  5. For the reds - red rockets and rocket launcher, for the blues - blue rockets and launcher. I advise you to memorize this information; it's a crucial part of the guide.

Choosing is difficult. But you won’t deal much damage with the signal, it’s not your job - to bog down snipers. But the shotgun can always come in handy. So most of the time, I take the shotgun. But this is all ambiguous.

So we move on to the battle of TITANS. 2 weapons of immense power and capability must clash in battle against each other and with my impartial judgment.

BEHOLD!

It’s not all that pretty, but still.

A small note - in the war between flamethrowers and snipers, no prisoners are taken; they are killed on the spot. Good luck on the battlefield.

Backburner

Vs

Flamethrower

Alright, this is indeed a difficult choice. Let’s look at the specific features of each weapon.

Regular flamethrower:

  1. Deflects rockets back, can easily take out an entire crowd with 1 crit rocket.

  2. Deflects grenades back, although they come too frequently and are deflected too low to provide any real benefit, apart from avoiding the explosion.

  3. Deflects arrows (!!!) back. Although they decrease too much too.

  4. Deflects pipes. Pipes don’t become yours, but are pushed away to a sufficient distance not to pose a threat (for example, you can capture a point that has been pipebombed).

  5. Deflects baseball bats of scouts. MPHPHPHPH!©Pyro

  6. Deflects Jarate. Hehe, a terrible blow to the ego.

  7. Deflects turret rockets. If it’s not repaired - you can quite manage to destroy it, especially since there are only 3 packs of rockets on the turret and you can deflect them faster than the turret will inflict serious damage with its miniguns.

  8. Deflects players. An invaluable opportunity - you can push ubers away from turrets, separate the medic and their partner under uber, knock players off bridges, push rocket jumpers back.

  9. If you are under kritskrieg - all deflected items will be crits.

On the other hand, the afterburner has the following features:

  1. Crits from behind.

  2. The nozzle is painted like a snake. How cute <3

Hmm, tough choice, no doubt. I don’t even know. Mmmm... Man, it's almost impossible to choose; they’re equally useful for the team!

Hmm, on the other hand - in Halo, the flamethrower is also painted like a snake! And we all know that Halo is cool.

So the clear winner is... the regular flamethrower. No, seriously, who needs crits from behind when we can reflect a whole bunch of potential threats back at the enemy? The verdict is this - if you are a new pyro or love W+M1, then take the afterburner. A good pyro (or someone who wants to become good) I would advise to take the regular flamethrower. Your team will thank you. If you happen to sneak up from behind with the regular flamethrower - ignite and beat with the extinguisher.

Thank you for your attention, I hope this helps newcomers with their choice.