Here's Everything Featured in the Team Fortress 2 'Jungle Inferno' Update

Team Fortress 2's newest updates provides a change of scenery for the mercs. Here's everything that players can expect to see.

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Earlier this week, Valve announced that Team Fortress 2 would head down to the tropical jungles of Mercenary Park. The highlights of the first day's reveals centered around the game's new maps, created by both Valve and the TF2 community. Now that the rest of the week has unfolded, it's time to round up everything that will be featured in the Jungle Inferno update.

Maps

The following maps will be made available with the Jungle Inferno update:

  • Mercenary Park (Control Point)(Created by Valve)
  • Lazarus (King of the Hill)(Created by Aeon 'Void' Bollig, Fuzzymellow, Tim 'SedimentarySocks' BL, Tim 'Sky' Dunnett, Benjamin 'Badgerpig' Blaholtz, and Stiffy360)
  • Mossrock (Attack/Defend)(Created by Freyja, E-Arkham, Michal 'AsG Alligator' Byczko, PEAR, Andrew 'Dr. Spud' Thompson, Jake 'Xi.Cynx' Handlovic, Fuzzymellow, Aeon 'Void' Bollig, Neal 'Blade x64' Smart, and Harlen 'UEAKCrash' Linke)
  • Banana Bay (Payload Race)(Created by Neal 'Blade x64' Smart, Jennifer 'Neddement' Burnett, PEAR, Stiffy360, Fuzzymellow, Aeon 'Void' Bollig, and Freyja)
  • Enclosure (Payload)(Created by Michal 'AsG Alligator' Byczko, Aeon 'Void' Bollig, E-Arkham, PEAR, Stiffy360, Andrew 'Dr. Spud' Thompson, Fuzzymellow, Maxime Dupais, Freyja, and Ioan 'Crowbar' Sokolov)
  • Brazil (King of the Hill)(Created by Jeremie 'Ravage' Nicolas, Tyler 'Yyler" King, Sean 'Heyo' Cutino, and Nassim 'Nassimo' Sadoun)

New Weapons

Valve recently pit the Heavy and the Pyro against each other during the Meet Your Match update to see who would emerge with new gear. The Pyro emerged victorious and is set to receive a new bundle of weaponry, including a cool new jetpacks. Because jetpacks rule!

Here are the new Pyro weapons that players can pick up, via free contracts:

  • The Dragon's Fury (Primary) - This is a single-shot flamethrower. Scoring consecutive hits reduces the reload time and increases its damage output.
  • The Thermal Thruster (Secondary) - Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's a fire-obsessed maniac! This jetpack allows the Pyro to take to the skies! It won't deal damage... unless the Pyro lands on somebody. Then it'll deal 3x falling damage!
  • The Gas Passer (Secondary) - This is exactly what it sounds like. The Pyro basically farts out a giant gas cloud. That cloud can then be ignited, burning any enemies caught in its range. That's any enemy, including other Pyros!
  • The Hot Hand (Melee) - What did the five fingers say to the face? SLAP! That's what the Hot Hand does, not only granting a Pyro a speed boost for every successful slap, but also announcing that slap in the kill feed. Unfortunately, the Pyro gets a 20 percent damage penalty when this weapon is equipped, so you'd better make sure all those Charlie Murphies don't catch you.

The Pyro is also getting some tweaks to his (or her) existing arsenal. All fire effects are getting a visual boost. Afterburn effects are now based on how long the flamethrower hit an enemy. Airblast has been tweaked for better targeting, as well as refined physics. Both Pyros and their targets should notice a different in how airblasting works.

Finally, the Heavy doesn't come out completely empty handed. For his second place finish, he gets:

  • The Second Banana (Secondary) - Completing a free contract gives all players the Second Banana. It works just like the Sandvich, except that it only replenishes half the health. However, it recharges twice as fast.

Taunts

The following Taunts will be made available with the Jungle Inferno update:

  • Yeti Punch (All classes)(Created by Valve)
  • Yeti Smash (All classes)(Created by Valve)
  • The Dueling Banjo (Engineer)(Created by SedimentarySocks and Nonamesleft~)
  • The Jumping Jack (Engineer)(Created by The Winglet, XB33, Zxo Pink, Karma Charger, and SedimentarySocks)
  • The Soviet Strongarm (Heavy)(Created by Hypo, Codenator, and FiveEyes)
  • The Russian Arms Race (Heavy)(Created by _kyle)
  • The Headcase (Pyro)(Created by Hypo, donhonk, and Greg)
  • Gas Blast (Pyro)(Created by Valve) (Note: This is a Kill Taunt that comes free with the Thermal Thruster.)

Remember that Taunts are earned either via random drops, can be found inside crates, or purchased through the Mann Co. Store.

The Jungle Inferno Campaign Pass

The Jungle Inferno Campaign Pass gives users 36 skill-based contracts, allowing those users to progress their way towards premium rewards. While previous campaigns had players complete a couple of tasks at a time, all 36 contracts are available out of the gate. Players can easily keep track of individual contracts through the new ConTracker item.

Individuals that have trouble completing contracts can now opt to work with friends. Friends in a player's party or on the same server can assist with contracts, with both players receiving credit for a completed task.

Completing tasks will earn special items or Blood Money, a new currency that can be exchanged for War Paints and War Paint Cases. War Paint is a new item that allows players to paint their weaponry. Like most other items in Team Fortress 2, they come in standard and Unusual variety. Paints and the like can be stored in Cosmetic Cases.

Here are some examples of War Paint colors that players can work towards earning:

  • Anodized Aloha
  • Bamboo Brushed
  • Croc Dusted
  • Leopard Printed
  • Macaw Masked
  • Mannana Peeled
  • Park Pigmented
  • Piña Polished
  • Sax Waxed
  • Tiger Buffed
  • Yeti Coated
  • Bank Rolled
  • Bloom Buffed
  • Bonk Varnished
  • Cardboard Boxed
  • Clover Camo'd
  • Dream Piped
  • Fire Glazed
  • Freedom Wrapped
  • Kill Covered
  • Merc Stained
  • Pizza Polished
  • Quack Canvassed
  • Star Crossed

Other campaign rewards include the usual hats and outfits. These include:

  • The Kathman-Hairdo (Heavy)
  • The Himalayan Hair Shirt (Heavy)
  • The Abominable Snow Pants (Heavy)
  • The Saxton (Any class)
  • The Monstrous Mementos (Any class)

The Rest (Including Major Balance Updates)

As for the rest of the game, Valve gone to painstaking measures to balance nearly every class and weapon in the game. This goes back all the way to nearly the beginning of the game, with the Spy's Dead Ringer, the Scout's Sandman, the Soldier's Cow Mangler 5000, the Medic's Vita-Saw (which now uses collectible "Organs"), and the Heavy's multitude of Miniguns, among many other changes. For all of these adjustments, check out the game's recent patch notes.

The Team Fortress 2 'Jungle Inferno' update will be available Friday, October 20.

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?

From The Chatty
  • reply
    October 19, 2017 6:45 PM

    Ozzie Mejia posted a new article, Here's Everything Featured in the Team Fortress 2 'Jungle Inferno' Update

    • reply
      October 19, 2017 7:22 PM

      I was really hoping today's portion of the update would at least *mention* Halloween. Last year's Halloween (Scream Fortress) even started on the 20th. It's always my favorite time of year in the game.

      I'll be more than a little sour on the whole update if it killed Scream Fortress--- though it does look good otherwise.

    • reply
      October 19, 2017 7:23 PM

      lol theres tons of changes. good for people still playing I guess but its funny seeing balance changes for a pretty casual game

      • reply
        October 19, 2017 7:25 PM

        The game is well balanced, fun, and competitive at it's core.

        It's the mostly shitty community in pubs that has lent it a casual name.

        (And the memetic, pointless hatred of the hats. That's somehow contributed to people calling it a causal game as well, for whatever reason)

        • reply
          October 19, 2017 7:28 PM

          The majority of games being on spammy random high population servers are also responsible for it being casual. 6v6 addresses that.

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