TF2 Zombie Escape Guide
  • What is Zombie Escape?
  • ⭐Highlights
    • Bhopping
    • !zload
    • Gamemode Changes 5/20/2025
    • Recent Maps 6/3/2025
      • Legacy Maps
    • Map List (+Map Records!)
  • 📖General Overview
    • Mod Mechanics
    • New Player's Guide
    • How to Play as Humans
      • Human Class Overviews
      • Human Mechanics
    • How to Play as Zombies
      • Zombie Mutations Overview
      • Zombie Mechanics
      • Niche Mechanic Uses
    • Leading
    • Defending and Falling Back
    • Boosting 101
    • Terminology and Slang
    • Useful Commands
    • Where to Play
  • ⚔️Human/Zombie Guides (Stats Here!)
    • Meet The Humans (+Weapons!)
      • ⚾Scout
        • Scout Primaries
        • Scout Secondaries
        • Scout Melees
      • 🚀Soldier
        • Soldier Primaries
        • Soldier Secondaries
        • Soldier Melees
      • 🔥Pyro
        • Pyro Primaries
        • Pyro Secondaries
        • Pyro Melees
      • 💣Demoman
        • Demoman Primaries
        • Demoman Secondaries
        • Demoman Melees
      • 👊Heavy
        • Heavy Primaries
        • Heavy Secondaries
        • Heavy Melees
      • 🔧Engineer
        • Engineer Primaries
        • Engineer Secondaries
        • Engineer Melees
      • 🏥Medic
        • Medic Primaries
        • Medic Secondaries
        • Medic Melees
      • 🇳🇿Sniper
        • Sniper Primaries
        • Sniper Secondaries
        • Sniper Melees
      • 🗡️Spy
        • Spy Primaries
        • Spy Secondaries
        • Spy Melees
        • Spy Sappers
    • Meet The Zombies
      • Zombie Scout
      • Zombie Soldier
      • Zombie Pyro
      • Zombie Demoman
      • Zombie Heavy
      • Zombie Engineer
      • Zombie Medic
      • Zombie Sniper
      • Zombie Spy
    • Human Meta (+Loadouts!)
      • [OPTIMAL DPS] + Team Comps
      • Class Loadouts (Scout/Soldier/Pyro)
      • Class Loadouts (Demoman/Heavy/Engineer)
      • Class Loadouts (Medic/Sniper/Spy)
  • 🌀Elements of Zombie Escape
    • Parkour
    • Surf
    • Lasers
      • Ping Issue
    • Items
      • Common Items
    • NPCs and Bosses
      • Bosses
  • ⚙️Miscellaneous Info
    • Miscellaneous Info...
    • Stat Explanation
    • TF2 Systems
    • Useful Console Commands and Keybinds
    • Better Flashlight
    • Map Guides
    • Editor Notes
    • ⭐Afterword⭐
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On this page
  • Shotgun
  • Reserve Shooter
  • Panic Attack
  • Detonator
  • Manmelter
  • Flare gun
  • Scorch Shot
  • Gas Passer
  1. Human/Zombie Guides (Stats Here!)
  2. Meet The Humans (+Weapons!)
  3. Pyro

Pyro Secondaries

Pyro Secondary Options

PreviousPyro PrimariesNextPyro Melees

Last updated 3 months ago

The Thermal Thruster is banned and unable to be used.

Shotgun

Attributes

Clip Size - 18 Shots

Weapon Spread: 30:1

+60% Faster Firing Speed

+60% Faster Reload Time

+20% Damage Bonus

The stock shotgun is pretty much the de facto weapon used by new players or those overwhelmed by all the weapon changes. It also sets the precedent for pretty much all shotgun-esque weapons. This weapon's base DPS is around ~150, which is a damage range all weapons will hover around with a lowered fire rate to compensate.

Reliable as a mid ranged option, the stock Shotgun is the premier choice for pyros in ZE. Since flamethrowers are short ranged weapons, the Shotgun is a good way of keeping zombies a safer distance away - especially in cases where your airblast isn't going to work on knocking zombies back. The Shotgun also lets pyros damage NPCs and bosses as flamethrower fire does nearly zero damage against them (or if they can't land their flares.) This is just a solid, reliable option.

Reserve Shooter

Attributes

Clip Size - 12 Shots

Weapon Spread: 50:1

+60% Faster Firing Speed

+60% Faster Reload Time

+20% Faster Weapon Deploy

+40% More Accurate

+20% Damage Bonus

Mini-crits targets launched airborne by explosions, grapple hooks or rocket packs

The Reserve Shooter in base TF2 is a shotgun primarily utilized as a follow-up weapon for enemy players launched in the air. With its faster deploy time and ability to mini-crit airborne targets, it can more easily take them down. Since a majority of the time, the goal is to simply shoot at zombies with ludicrous amounts of HP, this mechanic doesn’t really play much of a role.

What can instead be taken advantage of is its faster deployment time, allowing players to respond to immediate threats much more easily. From there, this weapon has been remade to accentuate accuracy among the shotguns much like how a player would need to accurately shoot enemy players launched in the air. The difference in DPS compared to the stock Shotgun is practically negligible.

The goal of these attributes is to provide a higher-accuracy hitscan weapon for the Pyro and Soldier. They reduce the weapon's horde-stoppability while making it great for fighting bosses or NPCs that are far away or fast-moving. To an extent, this can make it less effective for fallbacks with larger hordes but greater for single-target stalling. The smaller clip size and higher accuracy may be a bit more perilous for Pyros defending up close and for Soldiers boosting zombies in front of them. In a pinch, the faster deployment time can help, but, in the heat of the moment, the smaller clip size and lesser spread may prove fatal.

Attributes

Clip Size - 18 Shots

Weapon Spread: 20:1

+80% Faster Firing Speed

+45% Faster Reload Time

+50% Bullets Per Shot

+50% Quicker Weapon Deploy

+25% Damage vs Players

-37% Damage Penalty

-50% Less Accurate

Fires a wide, fixed shot pattern

Successive shots become less accurate

The Panic Attack in base TF2 has gone through many revisions. It was originally a charged burst weapon that fired much faster the lower one’s health was. Now, it’s a rapid-fire burst weapon that loses accuracy the longer one keeps firing. These modifications follow the trend of the latter, as this weapon has been reworked into an immediate response option for players caught out by groups of zombies.

Even if this weapon has low sustained DPS, it evens out by being given a damage bonus to players in an attempt to make it more effective for close-range knockback in hitting multiple zombies due to the spread 'penalty' applying to extra pellets. With all this in effect, hopefully this becomes a weapon Pyros, Heavies, and Soldiers can consider as an option should they tend to over-defend or get caught out often. The low damage and high spread also make this weapon less appealing for fast-moving boss fights, so try to avoid using it on maps that require optimal DPS or accurate shots to win unless you're comfortable with getting up close.

Attributes

Blast Radius: 110

Projectile Speed: 2000

+600% Damage Bonus

-57% Damage vs Players

+25% Faster Firing Speed

+50% Damage to Self

100% minicrits vs burning players

Can not be crit boosted.

Alt-Fire: Detonate flare.

Sets weapon mode #1.0 (Hidden)

The Detonator in base TF2 is a weapon enjoyed for its explosive flares. It was the original flare gun for Pyro's explosive jumps and is something they can use for area denial from a distance.

In Zombie Escape, it functions similarly aside from the explosive jump mechanic. It shares the same fire rate as the Flare Gun but with lesser overall damage leading to ~140 DPS.

Since it doesn't pack a -z velocity attribute like the other flares for balance reasons (AoE afterburn all causing z-velocity jump denial); The Detonator particularly specializes in a focus on slowing down zombies through its right-click AoE damage, akin to the Short Circuit.

While it can theoretically perma-slow zombies, it requires much more skill than either the Flamethrower or the Short Circuit, and a well-timed and placed detonation to send zombies off pitfalls - or at the worst boost them in the air some; the detonator also has some lower-end damage against NPCs/bosses in pyro secondaries; but it's ranked higher due to the skill ceiling in being able to launch away groups of zombies from specific angles.

Attributes

Projectile Speed: 3000

+50% Projectile Speed

+70% Faster Firing Speed

+160% Damage Bonus

+49% Damage vs Players

Does not require ammo

Applies -125 z velocity on hit (Hidden)

Minicrits whenever it would normally crit.

Alt-Fire: Extinguish teammates to gain guaranteed critical hits

Extinguishing teammates restores 20 health

Sets weapon mode #2.0 (Hidden)

The Manmelter in base TF2 is probably among the least-used Pyro secondaries. It does have unlimited ammo and a unique mechanic of being able to extinguish teammates while providing crits, but these are relatively pointless and non-unique in Zombie Escape.

What this weapon now works as is something like a rapid-fire unlimited ammo, igniting pistol with -125 z velocity applied on hit; continuously pulling down multiple zombies attempting to jump in the air as they take damage from afterburn.

Attributes

Projectile Speed: 2000

+25% Faster Firing Speed

+700% Damage Bonus

-58.5% Damage vs Players

Applies -125 z velocity on hit (Hidden)

The stock Flare Gun is a weapon that can be satisfying to use if one can land their flares on burning players for crit damage. This effect does make it one of, if not the best, flare guns for single-target damage. With increasing the damage on hit - it can result in extreme boosting of zombies; so it has also been given an applied -125 z velocity on hit. This applied z velocity also reapply as zombies take damage from afterburn, so it does have the unintentional capability of sustained hinderance and can pre-emptively shut down a zombie from jumping over defendable gaps as they will instead get pushed downwards.

Essentially, each class has a weapon that deals damage significantly greater than the average damage output of their secondaries or primaries. The Flare Gun acts as this option for Pyros, in which they can specialize in damage at the cost of their defensive potency, self-protection, and the potential liability of unfavorable boosts. Hitscan will still be easier to land, so shotguns will remain a decent option, but this opens the door slightly for squeezing out a bit of extra damage should it be necessary.

Attributes

Fires an incendiary rocket instead of a special flare

Blast Radius: 73

Projectile Speed: 1999.8

+700% Afterburn Aamage Bonus

+100% Damage Bonus vs Burning Players

+81.8% Projectile Speed

+10% Faster Reload Time

+740% Damage Bonus

-50% Damage vs Players

-50% Explosion Radius

-67% Afterburn Duration

-100% Self Damage Force (No Flare/Rocket Jumping)

100% minicrits vs burning players

On Hit: target is engulfed in flames

The Scorch Shot in base TF2 is a very controversial weapon. It's fairly easy to use, much like the other flare guns, yet it provides an extremely strong utility for area denial due to the properties of its flares. They can halt the momentum of players and even explode on contact with the ground to ignite nearby players. They can even allow Pyros to flare jump due to the explosion.

The knockback mechanic of the flares being so powerful may have been why this weapon was previously banned in Zombie Escap. It has been added back under a rework where this weapon now fires a mini-rocket that ignites zombies. The only thing that really hasn't changed—the primary concern - is its erratic boosting potential, as it can still launch zombies fairly easily.

For those worried, currently the server plugin makes it such that players launched will either be flung back and to the sides at ridiculous angles or find themselves flung directly upwards with little to no momentum to air-strafe around and take advantage of it. As a precaution, this weapon has also been given 0% self-damage force to prevent "rocket-jumping" with it.

Attributes

+50% Deploy Speed

+50% Holster Speed

Now throws an incendiary grenade instead.

Deals 100 splash damage to players on direct hit, inflicting afterburn on any hit players

Deals 1000 damage to bosses on direct hit

8 second delay before each throw

Has 200 ammo to make it last the entire round

Instantly kills all the zombies coated by this, revives your entire team, destroys every single NPC and Boss, does your taxes, solves world hunger, and can even win the Nobel Prize. The Gas Passer will make your team question whether you're trolling or genuinely clueless. Old version's decription was funny enough to keep; it's not this bad now.

A complete rework to the Gas Passer since the former versions were extremely buggy. Essentially this option throws an incendiary grenade that damages both zombies and bosses, making it useful for flinging zombies and taking down bosses. However, it deprives the Pyro of a reliable knockback option, making it less useful for defending (not delaying) alongside the team in places where you may need to hold.

Panic Attack

Currently the weapon stands as the fastest-firing yet slowest-reloading shotgun. With a TEC time of 2.43 seconds and a FRT of 5.4 seconds, this produces an extremely low uptime-downtime ratio of 0.45. This means that this weapon is highly unsustainable for long-term defenses and should only be used if necessary. This weapon has a 37% damage penalty, leading to the lowest sustained DPS among all shotguns at ~130. But, because this weapon boasts an extremely high fire rate, its nonstop DPS is actually one of the highest among all weapons at 420 (provided that you have an )

Detonator

Manmelter

Flare gun

Scorch Shot

Gas Passer

⚔️
🔥

[Timings]

Attack Interval: 0.255

TEC: 3.06 seconds

Reload Time (First): 0.405 seconds

Reload Time (Consec.): 0.21 seconds

Full Reload Time: 2.715 seconds

Damage [Func_Physbox]

Base Damage: 72 per shot

Real DPS: 149.609 DPS

Clip DPS (Nonstop): 282.352 DPS

Damage [Func_Breakable]

Base Damage: 36 per shot

Real DPS: 74.804 DPS

Clip DPS (Nonstop): 141.176 DPS

[Timings]

Attack Interval: 0.135

TEC: 2.43 seconds

Reload Time (First): 0.555 seconds

Reload Time (Consec.): 0.285 seconds

Full Reload Time: 5.4 seconds

Damage [Func_Physbox]

Base Damage: 56.7 per shot

Real DPS: 130.344 DPS

Clip DPS (Nonstop): 420 DPS

Damage [Func_Breakable]

Base Damage: 28 per shot

Real DPS: 64.367 DPS

Clip DPS (Nonstop): 207.407 DPS

[Timings]

Attack Interval: 1.5

Damage [Func_Physbox]

Base Damage: 210 per shot

Real DPS: 140 DPS

Clip DPS (Nonstop): 140 DPS

Damage [Func_Breakable]

Base Damage: 105 per shot

Real DPS: 70 DPS

Clip DPS (Nonstop): 70 DPS

[Timings]

Attack Interval: 0.6

Damage [Func_Physbox]

Base Damage: 78 per shot

Real DPS: 130 DPS

Clip DPS (Nonstop): 130 DPS

Damage [Func_Breakable]

Base Damage: 39 per shot

Real DPS: 65 DPS

Clip DPS (Nonstop): 65 DPS

[Timings]

Attack Interval: 1.5

Damage [Func_Physbox]

Base Damage: 240 per shot

Real DPS: 160 DPS

Clip DPS (Nonstop): 160 DPS

Damage [Func_Breakable]

Base Damage: 120 per shot

Real DPS: 80 DPS

Clip DPS (Nonstop): 80 DPS

[Timings]

Attack Interval: 1.8

Damage [Func_Physbox]

Base Damage: 252 per shot

Real DPS: 140 DPS

Clip DPS (Nonstop): 140 DPS

Damage [Func_Breakable]

Base Damage: 126 per shot

Real DPS: 70 DPS

Clip DPS (Nonstop): 70 DPS

[Timings]

Attack Interval: 0.255

TEC: 4.59 seconds

Reload Time (First): 0.405 seconds

Reload Time (Consec.): 0.21 seconds

Full Reload Time: 3.975 seconds

Damage [Func_Physbox]

Base Damage: 72 per shot

Real DPS: 151.312 DPS

Clip DPS (Nonstop): 282.352 DPS

Damage [Func_Breakable]

Base Damage: 36 per shot

Real DPS: 76.656 DPS

Clip DPS (Nonstop): 141.716 DPS

ammo item.