TF2 Wiki

Welcome to the Team Fortress 2 homepage of the Community Wiki. This section of the wiki is focused on the three different dimensions of taking part in competitive TF2: getting started, playing competitively, and participating in the competitive scene.

If you are skilled at Team Fortress 2 but you want to test yourself outside of the pub setting, you need to check out this section for guidance on getting in touch with competitive players. The getting started articles explain how to use the basic tools that are used by the competitive TF2 community. The home page of this section also includes many common terms and abbreviations used by competitive players. The section itself is separated into two subsections:

Within the joining in subsection, you can learn about the nuts and bolts of competitive TF2. Many of the articles within this section can be applied to other competitive games, such as Left 4 Dead and Counter-Strike. The early articles in this section are very basic so if you have played other competitive games, skip over them and check out the later ones or move to the tools subsection.

Connecting via IP - As a competitive gamer, you will need to connect via IP thousands of times. This is simple and fundamental but many newer players are unaware of this capability.

Adjusting Your Graphics - This article contains information regarding graphics optimization. It discusses resolution, frame rate, in-game settings, launch options, and FOV.

Mouse Sensitivity - This article needs to be written. It needs to contain information on what sorts of mouse sensitivities are recommended for each class.

The tools subsection highlights some of the tools that competitive gamers use to enhance their gaming experience outside of the game itself. All of these tools involve external applications that can be downloaded for free from the links provided within each article.

GameSurge Authentication - The majority of competitive TF2 players use Internet Relay Chat (IRC) to communicate outside of the game. Many channels (what chat rooms are called in IRC) exist solely for gamers and their games. The primary IRC server used by North American TF2 players is GameSurge. This article explains how to authenticate with the server.

Using Mumble - Mumble is an open source voice chat program that many TF2 players prefer over Ventrilo. It has lower voice quality but is much more responsive.

Using Ventrilo - Ventrilo is a free voice chat application that has been used by competitive gamers for years. It has higher voice quality than Mumble but has slower response times.

Playing Demo Files - Many TF2 leagues require their competitors to record demos of matches. Oftentimes these demos are uploaded to the CommFT files section. Read this article to learn how to watch them.

After you get started, the next step is actually playing TF2 competitively. These write-ups attempt to explain the nine TF2 classes in a competitive context in addition to describing basic competitive map strategies and terminology.

Scout - The scout is an agile, fast, offensive class who has low health but can quickly deal impressive amounts of damage to an opposing team. Most teams use two scouts at all times.

Soldier - Two soldiers are the backbone of every push and without them the enemy heavy classes will decimate the rest of your team.

Pyro - Although pyros can deal damage rapidly to multiple enemies at close range, most other classes either have the firepower to defeat the pyro at close range or the mobility to stay out of the pyro's flamethrower range.

Demoman - The demoman is often considered to be the most important class in the game and the only non-medic class restricted to one per team in 6v6.

Heavy - The heavy is often considered to be the “tank” class of Team Fortress 2, sporting the highest HP in the game. Unfortunately, the heavy also has the worst mobility in the game, and his primary weapon limits that mobility further. Many North American teams do not use the heavy.

Engineer - The engineer is only used in certain situations in competitive TF2 but can be incredibly powerful if used properly.

Medic - The medic is the core of any Team Fortress 2 team. He possesses the unique ability to heal his teammates as well as dish out game-changing charges of invulnerability or 100% crits.

Sniper - Although many teams choose to run a sniper quite often, most would agree that replacing that sniper with a scout would be more powerful in more situations.

Spy - The Spy is the most situation-reliant class in competitive play and relies on a combination of luck and skill to be successful.

Control point maps are commonly referred to as push maps and feature five control points in a row on a symmetrical map. When a game starts, each team controls their two control points and the middle point is neutral. Both teams race to the middle and fight their first battle over the middle point. The first team to capture all five control points five times (or the most times in an hour period) wins.

Badlands

Fastlane

Granary

Well

Follower

Freight

Resonance

Yukon

Stopwatch maps are a stark change from the control point map type because they allow teams to alternatively attack and defend. From the CEVO rulebook:

All stopwatch maps will be scored using the best of three (bo3) format. Each round, both teams will attack and defend. The first team to win two rounds will win the match. There is no time limit for this map.

* All stopwatch maps will be scored using the best of three rounds (bo3) format. One round consists of each team attacking and defending once. One point is given to the winning team of each round (one round is equal to one point). The first team to win 2 rounds of the three wins the entire match. There is no time limit for stopwatch maps.

* All stopwatch maps will follow an ABBA format: Team A attacks and team B defends. Next round, team B attacks and team A defends. If the third round is played team A will be the attacking team. By default Team A is the HOME team, but teams may agree to let the visiting team be considered Team A.

They are also the only map type that allows competitive teams to successfully use the Engineer class.

Gravelpit

Broma

Furnace Creek

Capture the flag maps are seldom played in the United States competitive TF2 scene but are very popular in Europe. They are typically played with two 20-minute halves with the most captures deciding the victor.

Turbine

In the Competitive Scene section, articles cover the past, present, and future activities of the TF2 competitive scene. These are articles range from league information to tournament results to team information to website destinations.