Rocket jump

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Surrender now maggots and you will not be harmed! Click to listen — The Soldier

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Rocket jumping and Sticky jumping refer to using the knock back effect of an explosion from the Soldier's rockets or the Demoman's sticky bombs to propel yourself great distances at the cost of some health. (Note that Demomen take 25% reduced damage from their own stickies and Soldiers take 40% reduced damage from their own rockets; however, this reduced damage only applies when rocket/sticky jumping. Critical hits do not do any extra damage to the jumper, nor do they propel the jumper any further.) This tactic is frequently used by Soldiers and Demomen to go to unusual places in maps or to take creative detours and catch the enemy by surprise. A smoking particle effect is added to the Soldier's feet when rocket jumping.

A skilled Pyro using the Flamethrower can use an airblast to deflect a rocket to his feet, and rocket jump.

Basics

Soldier

• Fire a rocket at your feet as you jump. There are two types of rocket jump with this method:
  • The standard way is to simply jump and then shoot, which propels you a small height, and is good for getting onto a small ledge.
  • The second is the "crouch jump", also known as the "ÜberCharge Jump", which is when the jumper crouches in mid-air and then fires the rocket, resulting in a much greater height.

Demoman

• Detonate a sticky bomb at your feet as you jump. Stickies shot from the Scottish Resistance will detonate when close to your feet even if they are not in your crosshairs.

Pyro

• Using the Flamethrower, correctly time a deflection of either a Soldier's rocket or the rockets fired from a Sentry Gun built by an enemy Engineer, while aiming at the floor and jumping simultaneously, to perform a deflected rocket jump. Caution should be taken using Sentry Gun rockets, as they do much more damage and you need to contend with both the damage and knockback of the bullets it fires.

Engineer

• See Sentry Gun jump

Advanced jumps

Wall-climb rocket jumping A Soldier rocket jumping on Skyscraper. Several times during this clip the Soldier uses the wall-climbing technique (such as at 0:04, 0:10, and 0:18).

Soldiers and Demomen can use multiple rockets or stickies to launch themselves even higher, at the cost of losing more health. These advanced jumps are usually most frequently seen in custom rocket jump maps, where health pickups and water are plentiful to help break their fall.

Soldier

• Start with a normal rocket jump while near a wall. While in mid-air before reaching the peak of your jump, fire at the wall close to your feet for an extra boost. (See the "wall-climb rocket jumping" video on the right.)

• An advanced jump style used is the "Crouch Rocket Jump", also referred to as the "ÜberCharge Rocket Jump".

Often required for long distance jumping in custom jump maps (see below), this technique exploits several mechanics in the Source game engine, namely how it calculates momentum and rotation.

In brief, the technique involves:

1. Tapping crouch, then pressing jump straight after (similar in timing to the Long Jump Module in Half Life
2. Firing the rocket immediately after the jump (NOT as many suggest, at the peak of the jump, as the blast radius of the rocket would mean the boost effect is diminished).

The 'get-up' phase of the crouch adds to the vertical momentum, which increases the height of the jump.

This technique is often compounded with a 'flick', which exploits a mechanism that has existed since the Quake engine (of which GoldSrc and the Source engine are based).

While in midair, holding down Strafe while rotating the player's view in the same direction (i.e. slowly moving the mouse LEFT in order to look towards the LEFT while strafing LEFT [pressing A in WASD]) increases the momentum and hence velocity of the player. This very same mechanism has allowed the existence of the infamous bunny-hop, air-strafing, surf maps, and in TF2 it can be used to increase the horizontal trajectory of the rocket jump.

Using the 'flick' has the added bonus that you begin to fire the rocket BEHIND you as opposed to directly underneath, further increasing horizontal trajectory (overlaps with the now-obsolete point briefly mentioned below).

Combining the above techniques leads to a huge jump that can cover great distances at the cost of around only 50 health, plus fall damage. Note that with the combined flick-crouch-Über-rocket-jump the FORWARDS and BACKWARDS keys (W and D of WASD) are NOT USED at all.

• Backwards rocket jumping, this style of rocket jumping is used to jump over far distances in quick speed, as opposed to rocket jumping which lets you gain access to previously inaccessible areas. To do this, you must run backwards, aim downwards, but not all the way down, but far enough so that is can still cause mild splash damage, then jump and fire the rocket, this will propel you over far distances, for example, over the water in 2Fort. This can be combined with "Crouch Rocket Jumping" to produce much more distance.

Demoman

• Use two sticky bombs instead of one.
• Demomen can also wall-climb jump like Soldiers by placing and detonating a sticky bomb on a wall as they pass it before reaching the peak of their jump.
• With the assistance of a Medic, an ÜberCharged Demoman can use all fourteen sticky bombs (with the Scottish Resistance) at once for the maximum possible jump.
• Another jump, usually only utilized in trick-jumping maps, is "pogoing." Pogoing is the continuous release and detonation of stickies such that, as the Demoman is being boosted by the first sticky, he lays the second one, so that it detonates as he falls, and repeats the process. Pogoing, for obvious reasons, is near-impossible without a constant source of health.

Example strategies

Some maps have specific locations where Rocket jumping can give you a great advantage, allowing you to skip enemy defenses or launch a surprise attack:

• In 2Fort, a Soldier can launch themselves up onto the Sniper deck to enter the top floor of the enemy base. With some skill, you can also launch yourself through a hole in the metal grille in the ceiling, just after entering their base. This route may give easier access to the Intelligence room.

• When trying to capture the last point on Gravel Pit, you can jump onto the little hut from the central entrance and from there can Rocket jump straight to the capture point. Perfect for taking advantage of a weak defense.

• You can also use the rocket to hop your way across the map. Just shoot at the ground that is a few feet away from you when you jump. You can get about 20 or more yards of distance in one hop. Make sure you have a med kit or Medic nearby if you want to try it some more. You can also do this with the Demoman by using one or two sticky bombs.

• One tactic for sticky jumps is to launch more horizontally than vertically, covering large distances quickly. This can be done by placing a single sticky bomb, running up to it, jumping at around the location of the bomb, and detonating it when it's behind you. With this method, it is possible to clear the water at 2Fort without using the bridge. Also, this produces little to no fall damage.

An example video also shows some of the more useful locations of where you can rocket jump and sticky jump to, this includes examples of rocket jumping and crouch rocket jumping, also referred to as by some "ÜberCharge Rocket Jumping", this video can be seen here

Custom jump maps

Several custom maps have been created specifically to emphasize Rocket jumping by providing a goal that significantly requires this technique. (The "Wall-climb rocket jumping" video on the right was shot in Skyscraper, one of the earliest of these maps in TF2.) While these maps vary in many aspects, they all tend to share at least a few features. The teams are separated into two sides of the map and cannot reach each other except by Rocket jumping (a few maps are entirely separated, however). At the top of the map, it might have a control point and/or provide access to the opposing side. Capture the flag jump maps are less common.

Some surfaces are covered with a thin layer of water to prevent falling damage. Health and ammo packs are found in key places on higher ledges and often play into the strategy of choosing which ledges to jump to and familiarizing yourself with the map. Many ledges are placed to require advanced jumps and players sometimes measure their skill by how many jumps they do to reach the top. Ledges might be intentionally small or require horizontal motion to reach, calling for accurate air control by the player. Similarly, many maps feature small holes in ceilings and walls that the player must fly through. A few of these maps also include tricks, such as moving platforms, mazes, and secret passages that you need to figure out. Plus speed is important if you want to be the first to the top.

Related Achievements

Soldier

	Where Eagles Dare Get the highest possible rocket jump using jump and crouch.		Death from Above Rocket jump and kill 2 enemies before you land.
	Duty Bound While rocket jumping kill an enemy with the Equalizer before you land.

Pyro

Pilot Light Ignite a rocket-jumping Soldier while he's in midair.

Demoman

	Highland Fling Sticky jump a really long way...		Double Mauled Scotch Kill 2 people in a single sticky jump.
	The High Road Sticky jump onto a cap point and capture it.		The Scottish Play Get a melee kill while sticky jumping.

Sniper

Jumper Stumper Kill a rocket or grenade-jumping enemy in midair with your Sniper Rifle or the Huntsman.

See also

• Jumping, an article on all the different ways to jump
• Double jump, the Scout's special ability to jump a second time while in mid-air
• Needle boosting, a way for Medics to boost friendly Engineers to great heights (removed from the PC version on December 31, 2007)