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Playing Team Fortress 2: 5 Secrets for Not Looking Like a Noob

Posted on April 25, 2023

Team Fortress 2 has an active playing population above 100,000 players. With such popularity, how can you avoid looking like a noob in Team Fortress 2? If you're trying to learn how to play Team Fortress 2, the learning curve can intimidate you!

We're happy to help with a list of Team Fortress 2 tips. Read on to learn how to get better while playing Team Fortress 2. We've organized the five best tips up front, but stay tuned for more basic ways to improve your abilities!

1. Learn Your Class

One of the most important things you can do is learn your preferred class. When you start up Team Fortress 2, you'll have the choice of several classes. These are:

  • Demoman
  • Pyro
  • The Heavy
  • Scout
  • Medic
  • Engineer
  • Spy
  • Soldier
  • Sniper

Each of these classes fulfills a different role and space on your team. You should pick one of these classes and focus on learning them.

Many beginners pick Heavy or Soldier to start. These two are ideal because they're relatively simple and require less knowledge outside of the class. However, you can pick any class and still excel!

Once you've picked which class you want to "main" - that is, focus your playtime on - you should begin learning them. Instead of switching repeatedly without mastery, focus on playing one role well.

In doing so, you'll find a comfortable fallback for games where you need to switch to something you're best with. You also will be able to learn other tactics and roles without constantly shaking up your own learning.

In any game that allows classes, learning your chosen class is crucial. Master the ins and outs of your chosen class to improve your skills.

2. Study the Maps

Another great way to improve your Team Fortress 2 skills is to study the maps. Each map is different and compliments a different playstyle.

You can learn this organically by simply practicing. With every game, explore the map and find the popular areas to play.

As you play, you'll learn the spots that snipers tend to camp. You'll see where engineers set up their turrets and what routes a scout can take to get your briefcase.

However, you can make this process go faster by scouting the maps out without being in a game. Consider starting a custom game to run around maps and see what's available.

You can also look up information on each map online. There are plenty of online sources and how-to's that'll show you how to master the maps!

3. Adjust Your Settings

Our third way to improve your skills is to adjust your settings. Many players don't veer away from the default settings. In Team Fortress 2, several options can improve your gameplay.

One option allows you to toggle your healing on or off as a medic. Using this setting stops you from needing to spam the healing button.

Another good option is to alter your aiming sensitivity to better suit your skills. A faster sensitivity means faster reactions, while a low sensitivity can cause you to take too long to aim at someone. Don't set your sensitivity too high and find the camera zooming away before you can aim!

There are several other settings you can make adjustments to better suit your playstyle. A good idea is to play a few games and see what you think of the settings.

From there, you can begin to take notes of things you'd like to edit. You can change the game's brightness, increase your FOV (field of vision), camera sensitivity, and more. Fine-tuning your gaming experience is a great way to improve your skills.

4. Understand Your Priorities

One of the most important things of any competitive game is understanding the priorities in a game. Most Team Fortress 2 matches have an objective beyond killing indiscriminately.

You'll often need to push a payload toward an enemy objective. The further you push, the closer to the enemy spawns you'll creep. Ignoring this objective will quickly lose you the game.

Still, there are more than game objectives. Who on the other team should you focus on first?

Generally speaking, competitive games have you focus on the supports and healers. You'll want to keep your eyes open for enemy medics. A medic can keep their team up and ready to fight for an entire match if you don't handle them.

Another important factor is the offense of the enemy team. Prioritize the scouts that are running behind your defense to grab the objective.

While attacking, you should also keep a lookout for the enemy's defensive players. Engineers will often set up a turret somewhere that can serve as a chokepoint. These areas will let the engineer get the most damage and value out of their turret.

Understanding what you should focus on at any given time is a core part of any competitive gaming experience. Learn what's the most important factor in a given match to help improve your skills.

5. Communicate

Finally, communication is key to better skills. It's easy to forget that the people on your team are real people striving to the same goal. Online matches are quick and hectic, and people aren't always polite, but you're on the same team!

Communicate with your team to call out enemies and positions. You can use your communication skills to help coordinate your team. An organized and skilled team will almost always beat an unorganized, uncoordinated team.

You should listen to your teammates when it comes to calls for locations or objectives. It's also important to communicate any class switches with your team.

Ways to Improve Your Skills

Now that we've highlighted ways to improve your Team Fortress 2 skills, what about your skills in general? These tips aren't specific to Team Fortress 2, but are still crucial points that will help you with the game.

Follow these Team Fortress 2 tips to help you improve your skills.

Pick a Skill to Improve

An important step is not to try to improve on everything at once. Instead, you should pick one or two facets of your gameplay to improve.

For example, focus on spending time improving your aim. Bit by bit, your aim will improve, and you'll be able to move onto other skills.

Picking these abilities one at a time will eventually hone your skills to a much higher level. It's much easier to learn your skills one at a time instead of trying to learn everything simultaneously.

Set Aside Time to Practice

Practice makes perfect and competitive games are no exception. You should set some time aside to practice your gameplay to help you improve.

Your method of practicing is personal, but the best way is to just keep playing. Set a goal for how many games you want to play a week, and do your best to hit that goal. Once you've adequately practiced, you can move onto something else.

If you want to master the Heavy, make yourself play him in several games in a row. You'll slowly become better at the game as you play to practice instead of rushing in.

Find a Dedicated Group

Competitive games are easier when you're in a group. if it's possible, you should find a group of Team Fortress 2 players to team up with.

Playing with a dedicated team will help you improve. You'll have a safe environment of skilled players that can help you see where you should focus your efforts.

You'll also find yourself dealing with fewer bad teammates. Unfortunately, random matchmaking can often pair you with less-than-ideal partners. Having your own group stops you from having to endure matchmaking.

Try Switching Controls

Another great method is to try the different controls out and see which fits you best. Team Fortress 2 is most often played on a mouse and keyboard. A mouse offers better aiming, while a keyboard has dozens of usable hotkeys.

However, if you prefer, you can use a controller instead. Team Fortress 2 is console-compatible, making its console controller support thorough and effective.

Practice Different Roles

While you should work on mastering one class at a time, you should practice different roles. Understanding different roles will improve your performance in yours!

If you know how snipers think, you'll do a better job of stopping the enemy sniper. Likewise, knowing how to heal will help you aid your healer in their mission. It's a great way to practice the game and become more knowledgeable at the same time.

Mastering Team Fortress 2

Team Fortress 2 has a high skill curve, but with dedicated practice, you can climb the leaderboard. Pick a skill or class and do your best to practice it with regularity. Once you're ready to move on to learn more, consider finding a team and practicing the various roles.

For more information on how to play Team Fortress 2 and other competitive games, be sure to contact us!

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