Some Ideas On How To Play The Heavy

[Rivanor 1]

Some Ideas on How To Play the Heavy

by Rivanor

13 Jan 2009

Intro:

My four favorite classes to play in Team Fortress 2 are the spy, the heavy, the medic, and the demoman. As the spy is my favorite class, the pyro is my most hated class, and therefore, I have chosen to write a guide about the class best suited for taking down the most annoying strategy employed in TF2 today: mass pyros.

The Heavy, in my opinion, has the potential to be the most powerful class in TF2, with the potential to wipe out large numbers of enemies quickly. I say that he has the potential because without a medic and/or played incorrectly, the heavy can be absolutely useless to his team.

Strengths:

The heavy excels at killing all enemies at close range, protecting his teammates, and (most importantly) countering mass pyros (a common and annoying strategy seen on many public servers).

Weaknesses:

The heavy's number one threat is the sniper, with the spy being a close second.

Purpose/Objective of the Heavy:

The heavy's main job is to protect his fellow team by steadily moving the army forward (for example, pushing the cart while spies, demos, and soldiers move ahead to clear out resistance). Especially important is for the heavy to kill all pyros who threaten his team. Pyros (especially suicide pyros) are extremely effective at stopping and/or delaying sentry-gun killing classes (such as demomen and spies), and if left uncountered, defensive pyros can successfully grind your offensive team's progress to a halt.

Medics:

Having a dedicated medic is extremely important to be an effective heavy. The medic boosts the heavy's health from 300 to 450, and also constantly heals the heavy, which allows the heavy to be effective against soldiers and demomen (where otherwise he would be forced to retreat).

Rules To Follow:

Kill all pyros who threaten your teammates, especially pyros who threaten your demomen.

When firing your minigun, put your back against a corner (like the corner on Steel's capture point A) or if that isn't possible, try to always be touching at least one wall. This minimizes the angles from which spies can backstab you. For example, when capturing the center point on Granary, hug one of the boxes in the middle; don't stand out in the open on the point itself where you will get sniped and/or backstabbed.

Fire your minigun only when you are close enough to enemies to threaten them! Although the minigun is very powerful, you are also extremely vulnerable when firing it (especially to backstabs) so you should avoid firing it unless it's going to pay off! The gun is only effective at close-range and is useless at long range. If an enemy is too far away too attack, you must either ignore the enemy or else “rush†them to get in range.

Avoid spinning your gun (without firing it) unless your back is to a corner or a wall.

If a medic ubers you, try to get as close to your enemies before you start firing (ie rush them). Enemies will either run away from you (the smart thing to do) or try to dance around you waiting for your uber to run out. When your uber runs out, immediately look behind you; there will often be a pyro waiting to flame you or a spy waiting to stab you. Make them pay for their insolence!

Always spy check every 2 seconds or so (seriously), especially when moving from point A to point B. Lazy heavies who are traveling to the battle front are extremely easy (and fun) to backstab. But if you are switching from running forward to running backward every 1-2 seconds, you will hardly ever get backstabbed. The exception is if the spy leaps at you from above. The reason you won't get backstabbed is that the spy must decloak before he can stab, and decloaking takes 1 second, which gives you a reasonable amount of time to see a “teammate†who suddenly is behind you.

When pushing the little cart, face backward and let your team face forward. If you're the only one on the cart, alternate between looking ahead of you and behind you. Spies (including myself) absolutely love to get a chain of backstabs on enemies who are all facing forward pushing the cart.

Avoid open areas as much as possible (such as the final downhill slope on Badwater where you are an easy target for snipers).

When attacking enemies who are around a corner, jump around the corner and start firing your gun while you're still in the air. This allows you to spin up your gun faster than if you are just walking. Never spin up your gun and slowly walk around a corner.

Keep your health at 450. If your health drops below 200, retreat temporarily and let your medic heal you back up. This charges up his uber faster and keeps you both alive.

Never run out of ammo!!! If you get low on ammo, retreat and find a dispenser/ammo box.

Only attack one enemy at a time. It is tempting when you find 5 guys below you, to just run your minigun stream across all of them. This results in all of them getting hurt a little bit, and you eventually dying. Choose your targets and stick with them until they are either out of range, or dead.

When ambushing a group of enemies, kill any heavies first, because if you don't they will kill you.

Class Match-Ups:

Scout:

If the enemy has a lot of scouts, consider giving Natascha a try. If you have a medic, then you are practically invincible against scouts, although your medic isn't quite so lucky. Scouts usually either have to run away from you or die. Beware of scouts trying to jump on your head.

Soldier:

Soldiers are one of the more threatening classes to you, but if you have a medic, they usually won't be able to kill you unless you try to rush them on their terms. Don't fight soldiers who have a height advantage over you, or who have a lot of cover. Soldiers with cover will pop out, shoot a rocket, then duck back again, which is a losing battle for you. A fully overhealed heavy will survive a crit rocket from a soldier (but once you survive this rocket, run and heal up). Up close, soldiers are no match for you and will hit you with 1-2 rockets before you finish them off.

Pyro:

You should own pyros, and if you don't you probably aren't paying enough attention. Killing them is a high priority because they threaten your teammates (especially your demomen who need to get close to enemy sentries). The best chance a pyro has against a heavy is to surprise him from behind and finish him off with 1-2 hits of the axtinguisher (usually 2). Despite all of this, if you have a medic, you should still survive this encounter.

Demos:

You are both a threat to each other in different circumstances. If a demoman has good cover, he is a big threat and you should retreat unless you have a medic; if you have a medic, it is usually safe to rush him and take his cover advantage away (assuming he doesn't have crit stickies waiting for you). Without good cover, the demoman must run or die.

Heavy:

This match-up is fairly simple. Whichever heavy starts firing his gun first usually wins this battle (random crits can change this). If you have a medic and the enemy heavy has no medic, then you should win almost every time. If both of you have medics, then I usually prefer to back off and try to find another angle to attack from (even if you do kill him, you will be so wounded after the battle that a random pyro could easily take you down, and we can't have that, can we?).

Engineer/Sentry:

Engineers without their sentry are no match for you, obviously.

Level 3 sentry guns can be killed easily if you are very close to them. If the sentry is a medium distance away, you must be ubered, and your medic must run in front of you so that the sentry shoots the medic instead of you. If the sentry is shooting you, its knockback will be too much for you to get close enough to kill it. Killing sentries as heavy is usually not the best idea (uber demoman is much better and uber pyro is usually better IMO) however in some situations such as on the final point of dustbowl 1 and 2, having a heavy+medic combo kill the sentry can be very good because the heavy can then focus on killing enemies after the uber wears off.

Medics:

Enemy medics must run or die. The exception is if they are uber'd by another medic, in which case you should try not to let them hit you with their ubersaw (good luck).

Sniper:

Your #1 nemesis. A fully charged head shot will take you down even with 450 health. You usually can't get close enough to these guys to kill them, so my rule is if I get sniped by the same sniper twice in a row, I just switch to spy and go own him.

Spy:

Your #2 nemesis. Unlike the sniper, you have more options to avoid being backstabbed. Remember that spies cannot stab while cloaked, and they will be drawn to the sound of your minigun firing like a moth is to light. So the rule is, fire your gun in short bursts (1-2 seconds) and then immediately look behind you for teammates rushing you for no reason. The longer you fire your gun, the more likely you are to get backstabbed. Also be aware that spies love to backstab heavies on capture points, on the little bomb cart, and when the map has first started, so these are times when you should be extra paranoid. A good heavy can usually only be backstabbed while he is firing his gun. Fortunately for spy players like myself, there are a lot of bad heavies running around

Map Specifics:

Gold Rush 2, Offense:

Defenders can have great success doing suicide pyro runs into the courtyard here. A dedicated heavy who guards this area can be a great asset until an engineer has had a chance to get a sentry up.

Dustbowl 2, Offense:

It is crucial for demomen to have access to this area so they can take out sentry guns. Defending pyros can clean up on demomen here which is why having a heavy and medic protecting the courtyard is great.

Granary:

Heavy owns on this map. I'm not really sure why

Turbine:

Another great map for heavies (and also spies ironically enough).

Finally, a video of me playing the heavy and hopefully demonstrating some of my tips:

[Mana 3,867]

I thought you play Spy? Or did I mix you up with someone else?

Mhh spy steak.

[h3gi 5]

As Heavy, you should know where all med packs are on the map, in case you have incompetent medics and/or your medics get killed/aren't near you. Med packs heal based on %, so with 300 health they will benefit you the most. Staying alive is key; the advantage you have over other classes is health; abuse it, but don't get cocky.

I prefer the shotgun to sandvich; I find myself with it out a lot of times when running from point A to point B in case there are pesky Spies about. Shotguns do much better long-range than the minigun, but it's not a replacement. But for this reason, I also use K.G.B. It's very satisfying in those rare moments where you can run up behind a wounded soldier, punch him out, switch to your shotgun, and empty your crit-filled shells on fleeing enemies, though it is a shame you can't POW! kill with them.

[Rivanor 1]

I thought you play Spy? Or did I mix you up with someone else?

Mhh spy steak.

I do play spy (see intro for explanation).

[Mana 3,867]

I do play spy (see intro for explanation).

You like pyros! I started playing Pyro just for you and BBS. You both just love them pyros.

Ooh custom colored party hats! *Runs away*

[jurah 0]

Lots of stuff up there, but most of it's just common sense when playing any class. Every class should spycheck. Every class needs to know where the health packs are (and ammo except for medic). You could trim your guide down if you make a "common class" area, for this stuff, then put the heavy specific stuff in a smaller section so it's less verbose to read.

My own thoughts on heavy:

1) Be a coward. The best heavies I've played with - and the best strategy for me - is to use corners and doors to my advantage. Wait for people to round the corner, then give them a full blast of the minigun. Ambush them from above. Pop out from an unexpected location. Take the long path sometimes, to get behind them. (Be unpredictable though, don't do the same routine more than twice, or someone will figure it out).

2) Shotgun > sandwich. Once you get the eating achievement, put the sandwich away. Aim for the center of mass when shotgunning, because the spray will scatter outwards. Keep the shotgun out while walking - a well placed shotgun shot can kill an enemy faster than you can spin up the minigun, if you're taken by surprise, especially in close quarters.

3) You don't need a medic. It's great to have one, and I'm truly grateful to those who decide to accompany me, but don't change class to heavy and then demand a medic. It's rude to the medics, who have their own plans, and it won't win you any respect. I often run around solo, without sandwich. Just be a coward, know where the medpacks are, and ambush. If you do have a medic, let them heal other people, keep an eye on when they are on you, and when they aren't. If they aren't on you, now is not the time to go take down that sentry gun.