I am heavy weapons guy, and this, is my weapon. (Heavy Tactics)

Heavy is my favorite class, what's more fun than running around with a minigun?

Well anyways, tactics. Probably one of the most important things you can do as a heavy is stay in medium-range situations... Get close range, pummeled by scouts, soldiers, etc. Long range? That ruddy aussie and his rifle will play headhunter with you. Because you can't spin up your minigun very quickly, when you're about to enter a building or go around a corner, spinning up is a must. Spies? Heavies are very prone to spies because they walk so slowly. So always try to look back periodically, or if you have a medic, make him watch your back. Speaking of medic, STICK TO YOUR MEDIC. As heavy, you'll be a big target. And if you have a medic fully overhealing you, only two things can kill you in one attack- a fully charged headshot via sniper rifle (or fully drawn bow) and a backstab. Lastly, you can be a help to your engie because you can fairly effectively minigun spy check, and plus, you can fire unlimited amounts of bullets while at a level 3 dispenser, so you are basically a moving, big, sentry gun.

Weapon comparison

Natascha vs. Sasha: I personally tend to use Sasha, because Natascha does 25% less damage, but still has the same amount of shells. So that means you can't kill as many tiny-itsy-bitsy-cowards in one full set of rounds as Sasha can. However, Natascha can be very useful. Because you slow down enemies you can shoot, long range situations where there aren't snipers become you're advantage. Scouts aren't fast anymore, and you can use teamwork to make headshots easier for snipers, or backstabs easier for spies, etc. Both are good, but require different situations.

Sandvich vs. Shotgun: The sandvich is awesome. No denying it. If you're going all out by yourself, it tends to be good if you can run off and hide, and then eat it. (Takes four seconds to eat, if I recall correctly.) The shotgun is the same shotgun that the pyro, engineer, and soldier have. It can be pretty useful if you're out of minigun shells, but really, a heavy with a shotgun isn't the best thing in the world. Sure you have all that health, but reduced range and long reloads aren't helpful. On Orange maps, where there are no health or ammopacks (GRRR), you have to kill to get more ammo, or use a dispenser. So it's worth it to take the sandvich, because you kill someone, take their weapon, and then you have 100 more shells to play with. And of course, you can always heal fully now thanks to the update. (not sure which update was, I think it was the classless)

Fists vs. KGB: This is simple. If you are fighting a 1 on 1, or a 2 on 2, go fists. Faster, and you probably won't get to use the 4 seconds of crits. 3 on 3 or more? Go KGB, it's not good to see a crit heavy running at you.

Go ahead and throw input in if you like.

Hyce777 wrote:so you are basically a moving, big, sentry gun.

Only a half of a level two... one gun and no rockets.

But I like the rest, and you seem to be rivaling my record of writing an enormous post.

Now I don't have any heavy strategies, just stuff from what I know about how to kill them. If you see a sniper with a rifle, get up close and personal, expecially if you have a medic. It's just the opposite for the huntsman: try to get as far back as possible and take him out with your shotty, or let a teammate finish him off.

And if you want to play heavy, make sure to be oblivious. With just a little teamwork, i.e. a soldier distracting and a scout running right up against the heavy and popping six shells into his fat ass. Always go for the closer enemy.

If you have the shotty equipped, don't try to run from a sniper or anything else for that matter. The minigun is useless at long range, but the shotty is not. However, if you have the sandvich equipped, RUN AWAY AND EAT.

Shotty is still not great for long range so i never use it. Also a good strategy is to allways run in the direction of fallen weapons so you will have a full ammo supply all the time. When the heat is on you can easily shoot 200 rounds.

Eraserhead wrote:Also a good strategy is to allways run in the direction of fallen weapons so you will have a full ammo supply all the time. When the heat is on you can easily shoot 200 rounds.

Abide by that. To often I hear Hyce:
"Oh shit oh shit I'm out of ammo/rounds/bullets shit shit"
*click click click*
and then someone runs up and owns him.

Usually I actually do that on purpose when Kane and I play, I just let it keep spinning and he comes and laughs at me, then kills me. I don't think I've ever run out of bullets by accident and kept revving, lol.

I'd like to add on to this.

-The most important part about a heavy is knowing your situation, and knowing when to spin up your gun.
I know that knowing when to spin up your gun seems fairly trivial, but asides from having good aim and spatial awareness, it's basically the only part of a being a heavy that someone can get better at. Always jump, then start spinning in mid-air. This can be surprising for foes, and it's a good way of eliminating some of the heavy's incredible lack of speed. The best heavy I know (BIG BIRD) has a constant 15:1 or so record as heavy (Playing on stock maps of course, not Orange ) Part of this is because I dry-hump him as a medic 24/7. But I only do this because he is an amazing heavy. He knows when to spin up and how to aim, and has amazing spatial awareness. But what he does isn't hard to do. He just plays smart. Lastly, a good heavy knows when to back off. Sure, you're a 300 health tank, but you can still die! My rule of thumb is in smaller encounters, I retreat at around 100 health. In big ones, at 150. You're going to lose health retreating, so it's a good idea to give yourself a buffer so you don't die while you're racing for that health pack.

Spatial awareness, haven't heard that one before. I keep learning..

best advice from me is to keep that barrel spinning. if u have to spin up when u come around a corner your dead start b4 the corner to have any chance.

scouts are the hardest next to snipers. u must do your best to predict there movement and hope your gun is spun up b4 they see u or they have the advantage. same goes for snipers....crouch is your biggest advantage

sol/demo are the next biggest challenge. if your not spun up your done....if your spun up but they have a medic and are any good your done. only hope is surprise (aka doping from height behind them and shoot them b4 they shoot you.)

ALWAYS turn around when entering the tower when you know there are spies, they like to jump off and fall down behind you.

You should drop that sandwich (right click) for your medic so he doesn't lose his uber progress.

Scouts will -get close and circle strafe you, or -double jump over your head
Make sure you have a high enough sensitivity to turn faster than the scout can run.
If they double jump, do a 180 and try to aim where they will land.

You will almost always beat a pyro that runs at you if you are already spun up. It's a little harder when you aren't spun up.

See that guy behind you running in a straight line to you? He's probably a spy.

If there is a scout attacking your medic, make sure you kill the scout as fast as possible(your medic is important).

Even though you have 300 hp, it can be depleted quick without a medic. You aren't invincible. Unless your ubered.

Low HP targets can be killed from afar with your minigun. Don't be afraid to try.

You can beat a level 1 sentry by yourself. You can beat a level 2 with a medic. Don't try to take on a level 3 though.

In a heavy versus heavy fight, always keep moving. I can't count how many times I beat that stationary heavy because I was moving.(I don't know why this seems to work, but it's they only thing that's different that I do that other heavies don't) You won't win a heavy fight with Natascha, unless you start firing way before they do.

Don't eat your sandvich in a high traffic area (like a control point).

-These are some of the things I do when I play heavy. Just thought the heavy tactic thread was looking a little neglected.

Actually, you'll destroy unattended level 3s at close-range if you can open fire as soon as you see it (like rounding a corner with your Minigun revved). You'd probably fail if you're wielding Nastasha, though.


An important thing you should be sure to note is that Sasha is a ing meat-grinder at point-blank. You can mow down a fully overhealed Heavy in less than a second without taking a scratch (it takes him longer than that to spin up his Minigun).

Just for example, not too long ago two players I was playing against were going Medic-Heavy combo during a two-versus-two game. My teammate and I were getting our asses handed to us because we weren't coordinating. After going Heavy, I was able to single-handedly dominate them both. Each time I got the jump on them, the Heavy tried to rev, was promptly ended, and the Medic was toast.

Rich, what do you mean by crouching, why is that important?

Two tips on orange i tried out yesterday as a heavy:

-When your last CP is under pressure just run op the stairs and jump on the wall. Pick medics and all other targets from up there. They are running around there to build their uber so they won't expect a heavy coming from there for some reason. Mostly it's scouts and soldiers coming over the wall, not heavies.

-I was on blu team and red did not have any snipers and our engie had made a tele up the tower roof. I just stood there standing from the upper ledge of the tower on blu side picking of scouts and demo's. It was wonderful. I got a 10 kill streak. Just kept fireing and the scouts could not get near the tower. Of course this will not work when the other team has snipers and soldiers. You are also a target for spies up there.

Btw i would say the biggest enemy apart from spy is the sniper when it comes to heavies.

HEAVY PRO-TIP -Never ever use Natascha. EVER. You will never win against other heavies with it. Or most sentries.

Indeed. Only time when i use it is when we have a lot of scouts against us and no heavies. gg yesterday Alex!