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Description
Team Fortress 2's basic information on class type, Offense - Defense - Support is primarily for beginners to the game that are fresh off the install and don't even have their Gibus or Pyrovision yet. For those of you already versed in the Meta-Game of TF2, you've probably already noticed that the Heavy, a guy that is clearly labeled as Defensive is more often than not the guy getting Ubercharged to rush a sentry nest. "The Heavy is a Defensive Class" is about as accurate as this quote, "I'm good at TF2 because I own two unusuals". - ReachNetwork, April 2016 Obviously, that's not the case. I'm mediocre at the game at best.

The key to understanding TF2's actual class types, which I'm labeling Power - Pick - Provision is that unlike the class selection screen which will tell you: Scout, Soldier, Pyro are the best for attacking - Demoman, Heavy, Engineer are the best for defending, and Spy, Medic, Sniper are the best for supporting your team. Is that the diagram above accounts for overlap between each of the class types to some extent. Now to defining each class type.

POWER Classes:
The Soldier, The Demo, and The Heavy are thrown into POWER classification. A very basic explanation of a Power class is "An ideal target for Ubercharges during a push." But you may be wondering why is it The Heavy, Demo and Soldier are "ideal" for pushes. This comes down to a bunch of reasons, the basic ones are listed below. This will be expanded on later.

- Average, or Greater than Average amounts of health. I'll be getting into this further on, but for now, I will tell you, the average health by MEAN is 166.66 repeated in TF2. This was calculated just using the stock loadout amounts of health - however, if you know anything about TF2, you'll notice that each of the 3 power classes has more than that average. With the lowest being the Demoman at 175 base health. 175 > 166, we all agree about that, right?

- Potential Damage Per Second (DPS) is incredibly high. The Soldier's Rocket Launcher, Demoman's Grenade Launcher and Sticky Launcher, and the Heavy's Minigun each have a ridiculous high DPS - in the case of the Heavy and Soldier, the closer they are to the poor bastard getting shot at, the more damage they do. In the case of the Demoman, his pipes and stickies don't have damage falloff, but they're a projectile like the soldier's rockets - shots have to be lead at longer ranges which means they function easier at closer ranges. Not to mention that Pipes and Stickies aren't direct fire, they're indirect fire in that they arc over distance further adding to the difficulty of use at range. Nutshell: Target is Close or Medium range = Lots of Damage.

- Easily dispatch groups of people. In the case of the Soldier and Demoman, the explosive weapons they carry can strike multiple people within an area of effect radius. This means you can potentially hit multiple with a single shot, adding to an already high DPS, Power Classes can reliably dish out damage to a group of opponents more than just ONE person at a time. In the case of the Heavy, he has so much health that he can shrug off decent-damage blows while continuously spitting out damage in return, and all three classes can continue to spit out continuous high amounts of damage to multiple people at once at the typical combat ranges of TF2, which is medium to short ranges, for even longer if they have a medic - Heavy gets classed as POWER for this reason. This is why the POWER classes are ideal ubercharges during pushes, and why your team will suffer if you don't have enough of these against a well prepared defense.

PICK Classes:
The Scout, The Sniper, The Spy, The Pyro, and The Heavy each fall into PICK classification. PICK classes summed up in a single line "Are good at killing, each in their own unique fashion, but not more than one or two opponents at once." Maybe you've noticed that The Heavy in the Venn diagram is overlapped by both Power and Pick classification. A heavy own his own, with no medic to sustain or group accompanying him, unlike the Demo and Soldier, can't hit more than one target at a time - and he's really slow. The Soldier and Demoman don't get slowed down by using their primary weapons, the heavy does. A slow target is easy to hit, and two people can easily gang up on a Heavy. He has a lot of health, and high DPS which is why he gets classed as POWER, but he's also vulnerable when on his own, which means he's best used to engage only one or two people at a time, which means he's also a PICK class.

- All of the PICK classes have one of the following that applies to them: Less Health than Average, Average Speed/Mobility, or limited effective range or limited/niche play style. POWER classes are multipurpose, they're good for just killing people, the soldier and heavy each can become more mobile using their weapons to explosive jump, the heavy has a lot of health, they're good for just about anything. PICK classes aren't as flexible in their purpose, Pyro and Sniper are both ends of the spectrum for effective range - Short and Extremely Long respectively. The Spy's job is the kill people that are distracted or not paying attention, if he gets found out, he's probably dead, the scout doesn't have enough health to shrug off successive blows, and his effective range is only slightly further than that of the Pyro.

- Weapons aren't suited for damaging multiple people at once. With the exception of the Pyro's VERY limited short range flame thrower, all the PICK classes have primary weapons best suited to be situated on one target for the duration of combat until they're dead. This doesn't mean they can't damage multiple people at once, the Sniper's Machina can penetrate players at full charge, the Heavy's minigun spread can potientally hit multiple people at once, as can the Scattergun's spread. However, these weapons get the full amount of effectiveness when they're kept on one target. In the case of the spy, he can insta-kill but only one target at a time, and he has to be at point blank range for it to work. Otherwise he isn't doing anything else when it comes to actual combat. Essientally, PICK classes have their weapons set to not be multipurpose like the POWER classes because of limitations like range or sustainability in combat.

- The term "Picking someone off" is self-explanatory with these classes.

PROVISION Classes:
The Medic, The Engie, and The Pyro are Provision Classes. Simply put, Provision classes "Provide a significant, reliable and on-demand service to their team beyond just directly killing other players." The keyword in that sentence being "Reliable and On-Demand". All Classes in TF2 can provide some sort of "Service". Each of the following classes can extinguish an ally if they're on fire, in some form or another: Heavy, Scout, Sniper, Pyro, Medic, Engie. So why aren't they all Provision classes? Well, the thing is with Provision classes "it's in the job description". You aren't playing a Provision class properly if you aren't providing the service they offer to your team. Yes, both the Scout and Sniper have an item, Jarate and Mad Milk, that can extinguish allies should they be on fire - both items also offer a bonus in combat. However, given the following scenario: You are on fire, you can't make it to the nearest health pack - there are two team members of your near you, you can't make it to both of them before dying of afterburn. The team members near are a scout and a pyro. Who are you going to run towards? Picking the Pyro is a safer bet, he can extinguish you by air blasting. You have no idea if that scout has the mad milk or not. You KNOW the pyro has a flame thrower, fair enough it could the phlogistinator, but still it is a safer bet to run towards the Pyro and hope he extingiushes you, as opposed to running towards the scout. This is what is meant by "Reliable and On-demand service".

- Medics obviously provide healing to the team, they can extinguish, remove bleeding, jarate and madmilk faster. They give over heal. A medic is required to make a proper push. Medics exist to do just that, keep the team alive and keep the team moving forwards. That is a service.

- Engineers, unlike medics, Engineers support and maintain the front or they defend key points. Asset Denial or The Forward Line. Engineers have teleporters which cut transit time down for their allies, dispensers which give both health and ammo, sentry guns for holding points. This like the medic, is another service.

- Pyros. The Pyro is unique in that his loadout options can provide multiple types of services to the team. Airblasting allies to extinguish, ruining Ubercharges (sans Quick-Fix), SPY CHECKING, and the fact that the Pyro is the only class other than Engineer that can remove sappers from buildings. The term "PyBro" exists for a reason. The Pyro's goal is to support his team in several ways. He provides a service, like the medic and the engie.

~Part 1, basic classification finished on April 28, 2016. Part 2 coming soon...

Description
Team Fortress 2's basic information on class type, Offense - Defense - Support is primarily for beginners to the game that are fresh off the install and don't even have their Gibus or Pyrovision yet. For those of you already versed in the Meta-Game of TF2, you've probably already noticed that the Heavy, a guy that is clearly labeled as Defensive is more often than not the guy getting Ubercharged to rush a sentry nest. "The Heavy is a Defensive Class" is about as accurate as this quote, "I'm good at TF2 because I own two unusuals". - ReachNetwork, April 2016 Obviously, that's not the case. I'm mediocre at the game at best.

The key to understanding TF2's actual class types, which I'm labeling Power - Pick - Provision is that unlike the class selection screen which will tell you: Scout, Soldier, Pyro are the best for attacking - Demoman, Heavy, Engineer are the best for defending, and Spy, Medic, Sniper are the best for supporting your team. Is that the diagram above accounts for overlap between each of the class types to some extent. Now to defining each class type.

POWER Classes:
The Soldier, The Demo, and The Heavy are thrown into POWER classification. A very basic explanation of a Power class is "An ideal target for Ubercharges during a push." But you may be wondering why is it The Heavy, Demo and Soldier are "ideal" for pushes. This comes down to a bunch of reasons, the basic ones are listed below. This will be expanded on later.

- Average, or Greater than Average amounts of health. I'll be getting into this further on, but for now, I will tell you, the average health by MEAN is 166.66 repeated in TF2. This was calculated just using the stock loadout amounts of health - however, if you know anything about TF2, you'll notice that each of the 3 power classes has more than that average. With the lowest being the Demoman at 175 base health. 175 > 166, we all agree about that, right?

- Potential Damage Per Second (DPS) is incredibly high. The Soldier's Rocket Launcher, Demoman's Grenade Launcher and Sticky Launcher, and the Heavy's Minigun each have a ridiculous high DPS - in the case of the Heavy and Soldier, the closer they are to the poor bastard getting shot at, the more damage they do. In the case of the Demoman, his pipes and stickies don't have damage falloff, but they're a projectile like the soldier's rockets - shots have to be lead at longer ranges which means they function easier at closer ranges. Not to mention that Pipes and Stickies aren't direct fire, they're indirect fire in that they arc over distance further adding to the difficulty of use at range. Nutshell: Target is Close or Medium range = Lots of Damage.

- Easily dispatch groups of people. In the case of the Soldier and Demoman, the explosive weapons they carry can strike multiple people within an area of effect radius. This means you can potentially hit multiple with a single shot, adding to an already high DPS, Power Classes can reliably dish out damage to a group of opponents more than just ONE person at a time. In the case of the Heavy, he has so much health that he can shrug off decent-damage blows while continuously spitting out damage in return, and all three classes can continue to spit out continuous high amounts of damage to multiple people at once at the typical combat ranges of TF2, which is medium to short ranges, for even longer if they have a medic - Heavy gets classed as POWER for this reason. This is why the POWER classes are ideal ubercharges during pushes, and why your team will suffer if you don't have enough of these against a well prepared defense.

PICK Classes:
The Scout, The Sniper, The Spy, The Pyro, and The Heavy each fall into PICK classification. PICK classes summed up in a single line "Are good at killing, each in their own unique fashion, but not more than one or two opponents at once." Maybe you've noticed that The Heavy in the Venn diagram is overlapped by both Power and Pick classification. A heavy own his own, with no medic to sustain or group accompanying him, unlike the Demo and Soldier, can't hit more than one target at a time - and he's really slow. The Soldier and Demoman don't get slowed down by using their primary weapons, the heavy does. A slow target is easy to hit, and two people can easily gang up on a Heavy. He has a lot of health, and high DPS which is why he gets classed as POWER, but he's also vulnerable when on his own, which means he's best used to engage only one or two people at a time, which means he's also a PICK class.

- All of the PICK classes have one of the following that applies to them: Less Health than Average, Average Speed/Mobility, or limited effective range or limited/niche play style. POWER classes are multipurpose, they're good for just killing people, the soldier and heavy each can become more mobile using their weapons to explosive jump, the heavy has a lot of health, they're good for just about anything. PICK classes aren't as flexible in their purpose, Pyro and Sniper are both ends of the spectrum for effective range - Short and Extremely Long respectively. The Spy's job is the kill people that are distracted or not paying attention, if he gets found out, he's probably dead, the scout doesn't have enough health to shrug off successive blows, and his effective range is only slightly further than that of the Pyro.

- Weapons aren't suited for damaging multiple people at once. With the exception of the Pyro's VERY limited short range flame thrower, all the PICK classes have primary weapons best suited to be situated on one target for the duration of combat until they're dead. This doesn't mean they can't damage multiple people at once, the Sniper's Machina can penetrate players at full charge, the Heavy's minigun spread can potientally hit multiple people at once, as can the Scattergun's spread. However, these weapons get the full amount of effectiveness when they're kept on one target. In the case of the spy, he can insta-kill but only one target at a time, and he has to be at point blank range for it to work. Otherwise he isn't doing anything else when it comes to actual combat. Essientally, PICK classes have their weapons set to not be multipurpose like the POWER classes because of limitations like range or sustainability in combat.

- The term "Picking someone off" is self-explanatory with these classes.

PROVISION Classes:
The Medic, The Engie, and The Pyro are Provision Classes. Simply put, Provision classes "Provide a significant, reliable and on-demand service to their team beyond just directly killing other players." The keyword in that sentence being "Reliable and On-Demand". All Classes in TF2 can provide some sort of "Service". Each of the following classes can extinguish an ally if they're on fire, in some form or another: Heavy, Scout, Sniper, Pyro, Medic, Engie. So why aren't they all Provision classes? Well, the thing is with Provision classes "it's in the job description". You aren't playing a Provision class properly if you aren't providing the service they offer to your team. Yes, both the Scout and Sniper have an item, Jarate and Mad Milk, that can extinguish allies should they be on fire - both items also offer a bonus in combat. However, given the following scenario: You are on fire, you can't make it to the nearest health pack - there are two team members of your near you, you can't make it to both of them before dying of afterburn. The team members near are a scout and a pyro. Who are you going to run towards? Picking the Pyro is a safer bet, he can extinguish you by air blasting. You have no idea if that scout has the mad milk or not. You KNOW the pyro has a flame thrower, fair enough it could the phlogistinator, but still it is a safer bet to run towards the Pyro and hope he extingiushes you, as opposed to running towards the scout. This is what is meant by "Reliable and On-demand service".

- Medics obviously provide healing to the team, they can extinguish, remove bleeding, jarate and madmilk faster. They give over heal. A medic is required to make a proper push. Medics exist to do just that, keep the team alive and keep the team moving forwards. That is a service.

- Engineers, unlike medics, Engineers support and maintain the front or they defend key points. Asset Denial or The Forward Line. Engineers have teleporters which cut transit time down for their allies, dispensers which give both health and ammo, sentry guns for holding points. This like the medic, is another service.

- Pyros. The Pyro is unique in that his loadout options can provide multiple types of services to the team. Airblasting allies to extinguish, ruining Ubercharges (sans Quick-Fix), SPY CHECKING, and the fact that the Pyro is the only class other than Engineer that can remove sappers from buildings. The term "PyBro" exists for a reason. The Pyro's goal is to support his team in several ways. He provides a service, like the medic and the engie.

~Part 1, basic classification finished on April 28, 2016. Part 2 coming soon...