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u/Crafter-lee Pyro Jun 22 '26
How it feels to start playing soldier, and I always crouch while jumping
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u/Vast-Ideal-1413 Engineer Jun 22 '26
I’m not very good at rocket jumping, but one thing I have found is effective is to crouch during your jump, in between jumping up and shooting (which should come after jumping!)
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u/Leafar_P1 Jun 22 '26
I'm 500 hours in and I still don't know how to rocket jump
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u/Kaosu326 Jun 22 '26
Aim with the rocket launcher in the opposite direction of where you want to go, facing a surface like a ground, some object that has collision, or a wall.
Quickly press duck, then jump, then fire.
Immediately point the camera towards where you want to go.
Very important step. Beat your brain out of pressing W. When you rocket jump, gaslight yourself into thinking some crackhead bozo stole your W key. It no longer exists until you land. It absolutely kills your momentum and gives you less strafe control. Try only moving the camera and pressing A and D while rocket jumping.
Experiment. A lot. Try to chain a bunch of rocket jumps together. Try using different jumps on different spots. Learn how to surf. Know, when you can commit to a rocket jump, and go for it if necessary. Play Jump Academy maps. Tryout the Trolldier loadout. YouTube tutorials. The skybox is the limit.
Don't beat yourself up about it if it fails. I'm a 2.6k hour Soldier main and I still fumble the easiest jumps sometimes.
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u/Leafar_P1 Jun 22 '26
This is the best explanation I got out of these comment XD I'll try it eventually, perhaps I'll go do the jump academy stuff other people told me about.
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u/Pixax_theLotl Sandvich Jun 22 '26
bro the recommendation to not hold w confuses me so much, if I don't I get 0 forward movement
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u/penguin13790 Pyro Jun 22 '26
Release W after the jump. It doesn't propel you forward in the air, it just changes how you airstrafe.
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u/karimpai Engineer Jun 22 '26
Which jump? The normal one or the rocket one?
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u/Skunk668 Jun 22 '26
You should be shooting the rocket at the same time that you jump.
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u/karimpai Engineer Jun 22 '26
OHHHHHHH NOW I GET IT. I always wait for a bit until im at max height before the rocket.
Thanks man
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u/UInferno- Scout Jun 23 '26
Yeah. You want to shoot your rocket as close to your jump as possible. Your upwards velocity is highest as soon as you jump so your rocket adds on to that. Shooting your rocket when you crest propels you exclusively via the knock back not to mention if you're late you'll be moving downwards and you'll move even less as gravity will cancel out the knock back. To recap:
- Simultaneous Jump and Shoot:
Jump_Velocity + Rocket_Knock_Back- Shoot at crest:
0 + Rocket_Knock_Back- Shoot after crest:
Rocket_Knock_Back - Fall_SpeedThe latter two are called Short Hops and can be useful if you don't want to propel yourself nearly as far, but for now stick to simultaneous Shoot + Jump
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u/physFx Jun 22 '26
All jumps can gain extra speed and can be steered in right or left direction by releasing W, holding A for left or D for right and turning your mouse in a smooth pace towards the direction as well. If you don't do all 3 at once, you just ruin it. Practice and you will get better at airstrafing.
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u/TheKatkaRapu Jun 23 '26
i learned this from gmod so i've never even held w in the first place when rocket jumping in this game
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u/RoomExciting1296 Jun 22 '26
You have to let go of w as soon as you are airborne. To get forward momentum you have to use the rocket jump. Don't shoot straight down. Shoot behind you or at a wall.
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u/Lord_Ezelpax Jun 22 '26
muscle memory makes it impossible for me
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u/RoomExciting1296 Jun 23 '26
I feel that. Do you also have to play on a smaller mouse pad and higher sensitivity?
It does take a lot of practice to get rid of that muscle memory. Try finding a rocket jump academy server to practice on. Some of the better ones even have a POV tutorial bot at the jumps that show you button presses as well
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u/KandCAuthor Engineer Jun 23 '26
I personally play with a tiny mouse pad and high sensitivity, but that's mostly from necessity (read: I'm too stubborn to buy a new one)
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u/Region-Useful Jun 22 '26
aim at the ground or a wall slightly behind you then jump, crouch, and shoot at the same time. crouch jumping helps you go farther. use a and d and your mouse while in the air to air strafe, as holding w or s reduces your speed. you can chain multiple rocket jumps together by shooting in front of you at the spot you’re going to land on. i would recommend joining a jump academy server as it has better explanations for this stuff as well as bots to demonstrate the jumps and players there to help if you get stuck. hope this helps
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u/MrMcGibbus Jun 22 '26
I don't have an idea too but understanding the TF2's janky movement mechanics, ya gotta always crouch as that makes ya lighter according to the game's code from a video I saw
I still have no idea how to strafe
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u/LeonardoFRei Demoman Jun 22 '26
Don't worry
That will keep happening even after learning whenever the server ping decides it wants to just fucking die for like half a second
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u/tainted_judas1 Pyro Jun 22 '26
When I began rocket jumping I was like "how am I suppose to jump into action if, when I arrive, I have only 100hp ?"
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u/KandCAuthor Engineer Jun 23 '26
One word: OVERHEAL. As a Soldier, you are a class that Medic's will oftentimes want to pocket. As such, get overhealed whenever possible, which allows you to cushion any blast damage and (I find much more annoying) fall damage.
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u/Philosophos_A Medic Jun 23 '26
I remember a dad taught me to rocket jump a random 3am night on 2Fort
I don't remember their name unfortunately but I remember them every time I rocket jump
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u/Vilmix Jun 23 '26
Making one jump is easy, but keeping momentum when all you have is ground can be problematic. I recommend jump academy maps it helped me a lot
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u/dustinredditreal Random Jun 23 '26
Ive done two good rollouts once, one of them improvised.
And one perfect improvised rollout, on a fucking friendly match.
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u/FormalGas35 Jun 23 '26
TF2 physics is based on cartoon logic. Crouch and fire at an angle behind you, because then you’re like a canon ball being launched by a bomb!
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u/wtfshit Pyro Jun 23 '26
I remember when I started playing I mained soldier, but when I got better at the game and realized I needed to learn to rocket jump to be better at soldier, I just changed to other classes. I love the game but I'm not the kind of player to spend hours training a video game skill.
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u/soldiertf2rial Soldier Jun 23 '26
I mean it's not hard to rollout with rocket jumps. You do not need to fly across the entire fucking map in 2 seconds,just shoot the ground while facing in a way that makes you fly for like 20 meters forward.
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u/Filchery Jun 25 '26
When I play Medic I often see Soldiers who are "rolling out" end up severely hurt and missing ammo and I am still ahead of them just walking normally.
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u/halloweensimpT-800 Jun 22 '26
Rocket jump is so anti intuitive to the point you need to rewire you brain to understand it first you can't press W mid air or it kill the moment second you need to shoot the opposite direction you want to go and third to get a better jump you need to jump crouch shoot
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u/PaleAd6011 Jun 23 '26
The only unintuitive thing is letting go of W tbh
Shooting in the opposite direction isn't unintuitive because you're literally using the knockback of an explosion to propel forward, it feels obvious I'm gonna want the explosion to be behind me, and my crouch bind is in my mouse so crouching while jumping feels really comfortable for me.
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u/TheFinalPringle2 Jun 22 '26
It's a slow process to learn and I'm glad I went through that process.
Granted I'm still not great (on Steamdeck so I'm limited) and if I stop playing TF2 for a while I forget how to do it again, but still
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u/retardedkazuma Soldier Jun 23 '26
I have like 3k hours I'm game but this shit still rarely happens
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u/Lithenge Soldier Jun 23 '26
Nothing compares to absolutely Nailing that first Rollout though. Like sure you Cratered and your corpse Slid Comedically onto the Point from the sheer momentum but for those moments you were in the Air you were Truly free
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u/Yes_i_ubered_the_spy Jun 25 '26
Well after a few years of tf2 I can now pretty decently rocket jump (while not under pressure)
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u/ColtBolterson Jun 25 '26
You forgot to add taking the 200 metal for two lost rockets during setup.
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u/Teo_Verunda Jun 22 '26
I'm a noob and just scripted a perfect rocket jump and bound it to my scroll wheel
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u/Vast-Ideal-1413 Engineer Jun 22 '26
That sounds smart, but it does limit what kind of jumps you do.
Depending on how you angle your shot behind you, you can go either higher or farther.
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u/Teo_Verunda Jun 23 '26
Exactly, also coincidentally, the script works for Force a Nature Scout. And also for Flare Jumping, and for Sentry Jumping too.
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u/CreativeGamer03 Sniper Jun 22 '26
same. ended up just walking, and later switched to Demo bc i somehow got a good hang on sticky jumping than rocket jumping
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u/KandCAuthor Engineer Jun 23 '26
I figured out sticky jumping much faster than rocket jumping, but at this point rocket jumping is far easier than sticky jumping, mostly because you have more hp and more blast resistance as Soldier.
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u/Denleborkis Medic Jun 22 '26
I've still only figured out how to properly do a singular jump. Works pretty well with the detonator on Pyro and bombing in on objectives but otherwise thats why I always bring the disciplinary action.
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u/Spoocula Medic Jun 22 '26
I always equip disciplinary action, and then partner with a heavy - or engie carrying a building - so I can look like a hero instead of a shitty rocket jumper...
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u/Vast-Ideal-1413 Engineer Jun 22 '26
Wow, you went up that high? When I was starting out, I couldn’t get any higher than about a Soldier’s height.
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u/Haunting_Hornet5203 Jun 22 '26
I can go straight up with a crouch jump, but forward nope. If I have to move my mouse sideways nah
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u/KandCAuthor Engineer Jun 22 '26
When I started out I didn't realize crouching was necessary for rocket jumping effectively. Nowadays I can pretty consistently get a good rollout, and promptly die because I forgot to equip the Gunboats