Team Fortress 2

The standard competitive lineup is made up of the following team composition:

1 Medic
1 Demoman
1 Pocket
1 Roamer
2 Scouts

Primary Classes
Standard play involves a team of two Scouts, two Soldiers, one Demoman, and one Medic. The Demoman is usually the damage dealer and the most important class following the medic. The scouts play similar roles, but one is usually supposed to be more passive than the other. The soldiers play completely different roles, the Pocket Soldier protects the medic and spearheads pushes, while the Roaming Soldier helps the scouts and is usually the first player to initiate, or to create a window of opportunity for his team.

Offclasses
In some cases, a team swaps a class of the cookie cutter lineup for a utility class, in order to create an advantage for your team, to help in a defensive situation or even to break a stalemate. This is called offclassing. A scout or the roaming soldier generally switches, which allows classes such as Sniper, Spy, Engineer, Heavy, or Pyro to be utilized. In general, offclassing means trading off the mobility of the standard cookie cutter lineup for damage or positional advantage or even a suprise effect.

Snipers and Spies are often referred to as "pick" classes, as their different playstyles and ability to 1-hit kill any class are very valuable when attempting to gain an advantage. Pyro, Heavy and Engineer are often called "defense" classes as they trade the mobility of one of the scouts or soldier, for better area control and/or damage output.

Sniper is perhaps the most common offclass, and a scout is the most common offclasser.