Aim for the feet, then time your next shot so it hits them as they land.

Try shooting 3 rockets then switching to your shotgun for a few shots then switch back to your fourth rocket to finish him off.

Don't be fooled by the other moronic soldiers, you don't need to be jumping around the map to get a good shot off.

I shoot rockets at people.

>>39222162
Agreed, jumping is useless.

>>39221975
Watch this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI29xEnfTzI

It will help tons.

I Get Crits all the time and hit people in the foot. That's how everone plays Soldier.

>>39222167

>shooting rockets at people

>>39222233
Thanks that helped alot

Definitely soften people up with 1-3 rockets then finish with shotgun. You don't want to be stuck without rockets when you really need it.

AN ADVANCED GUIDE TO PLAYING SOLDIER
THE PREMISE:
The premise of the Soldier is simple; firepower and prediction. You pack quite a punch with a rocket launcher, a shotgun, and 200 health that can be buffed to 300. However, you and your weapons are slow to cool down after a shot, leaving you vulnerable to enemy attack. The key to playing Soldier effectively is to maximize every attack by predicting your opponent's movements and reacting as such. After a while, this will become second nature to you.
The Soldier's role within a team is to protect the medic and provide a backbone for the team's offensive push. You are the core of your team's attack and must act accordingly. With a large amount of knockback and damage power invested in your weapons. It is up to you to push back the enemy for your team to enter. We will discuss the other mentioned role later on.
This guide assumes you have a basic grasp on the Soldier. I would suggest to have at least 20 hours (bare minimum) invested in the Soldier, but would recommend around 40 or 50, though this is not required. You should also have played a fair amount of the other 8 classes in the game. When playing a class about prediction, it is good to have an idea of what the enemy might be thinking.

HOW TO AIM:
This may seem elementary but you'd be surprised at how many people get this aspect wrong. The proper way to aim the rocket launcher is to click every time you want to fire, not to hold down the fire button and flick your mouse at the enemy's position. It may seem advantageous to get every rocket out as fast as possible, but you will miss most of them, guaranteed. This is a class about risk and reward. After a while, you will start to develop a sixth sense and will automatically shoot on or around the time when it would be the fastest, eliminating the previous variable.
Make sure to make crisp, quick movements. The RL is a projectile weapon and a slow one at that. You do not want to twitch necessarily; this isn't Quake. You will want to, however, make very fast and precise movements. This has a lot to do with muscle memory, and it is something that you will develop over time. With the shotgun, however, you are free to twitch and flick, as this is a hitscan weapon, meaning its bullets impact instantly upon firing. In addition, make sure auto-reload is enabled. This is crucial.
The direction of your rockets should be downwards most of the time, travelling towards the ground near your enemy. Not only will this knock the enemy up and back (more so if they are jumping), but this will guarantee damage if you aimed it properly. Maximizing this splash damage is essential to making every rocket count. Direct rockets are situational, but not uncommon. You will use them often, as they inflict maximum damage on the enemy and are the only way to get airshots. In addition, jumping and crouching shifts your view up and down, allowing you a better vantage point to fire rockets from. As a Soldier, you always want to be aiming down....
(cont'd)

....to maximize damage. After a few dozen hours, the rocket's direction will become natural to you. This is important, since it suppresses the Z dimension of the rocket, leaving you with only X and Y to worry about most of the time. This is also the reason height is beneficial to a Soldier. When you have a height advantage, you are eliminating an entire dimension from your aim while maximizing damage. More information on height will be provided later on.
ROCKET JUMPING:
Let us dissect WHY a Soldier might want to jump before we discuss HOW. Rocket jumping grants you mobility and height, the two most important things to a Soldier, in exchange for health. This is another reason why the Soldier is the best Medic buddy; you rocket jump to gain mobility, and the Medic heals the lost health, building a faster Ubercharge at the same time. It's a win-win situation.
Height:
To perform a regular height jump, flick your mouse to the ground on the side of your character. This means flicking the mouse either right or left, and down at the same time. Simultaneously, you will want to jump, crouch, and fire a rocket, then quickly move the mouse back to its original position. This will give the Soldier a large boost in height and some mobility in terms of distance, though not much.
(cont'd)

Distance:
To perform this jump, you will need to perform a height jump, but instead of aiming it at the ground, you will aim it at an object or wall that will grant you a significant distance boost in exchange for almost no height gained. You will want to aim downwards at the object, not upwards, as that would cause you to "spike" towards the ground in front of you and lose a large chunk of your health.
Wall jump/Double rocket jump:
To perform this jump, perform any of the above mentioned rocket jumps, then, when contacting a wall or any other vertical obstacle, perform another distance jump in mid-air. This will not only double your height, but will launch you at a velocity of almost 500 points. Keep in mind the Scout runs at only 400 points. However, this jump is very advanced and is difficult to achieve for a newer player, in addition to being hefty in terms of a health penalty.
You can also change small variables for these jumps. For example, letting go of crouch midair will drop your distance and height if you want to avoid fall damage or slow down. Experiment with different combinations for different maps and situations.
(cont'd)

>IN
what?

AIRSHOTS:
Let's discuss the philosophy of airshots before we begin. When you knock an enemy up in the air, or the enemy travels to you in the air, you will naturally want to eliminate them as fast as possible. This is where the prediction and risk and reward elements come into play. You must now aim on all three dimensions to land a rocket on the person, and naturally, you will want to land a rocket as soon as possible to maximize effectiveness. An airshot will usually if not always turn the tide in your favour for a number of reasons. It kills the enemy's momentum, stalling them mid-air. It does the most amount of damage possible for a rocket at that range, and, if it doesn't kill, it will cause the enemies to route and to escape.
The method of landing airshots is mostly practice, so you must practice and practice hard. Keep in mind airshots are the most difficult thing for a Soldier to achieve consistently. You will not learn this skill over a few sessions.
(cont'd)

Let's discuss why an enemy might be airborne for a moment. This does not include normal jumps. They have either A. double-jumped, B. rocket/sticky jumped, or C. have been knocked up by your rocket. In all cases except for case A, the enemy will be already damaged off the bat, in addition to the fall damage that will be caused upon landing. If you land an airshot on any airborne enemy that isn't ubered, they will be significantly damaged and will almost always attempt to run or try to trade out their life by suiciding on your Medic/teammates. Either way, they will be easy pickings. As for case A, the only situation in which that can occur is with a Scout, and Scouts only have 125 HP, so they will die after two full rockets anyway. If they enemy IS ubered, they will try to use their invulnerability to cover the distance between them and you, provided they are able to. If you were to airshot them while they jumped, regardless of invincibility or not, you have not only just stalled the enemy midair, but you have wasted almost two full seconds or more of their ubercharge time. This is a major advantage, as you can shut down ubers if you are able to get enough rockets on the enemy.
(cont'd)