Basic Heavy strategy

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Let us fight; man versus tiny baby man. Click to listen — The Heavy

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The Heavy is the toughest, but slowest class in the game. His vast firepower and health pool will almost ensure that he'll be found at the front lines as a shock trooper, where his Minigun dominates at close range. The Heavy acts as a beacon for his team to rally behind and is often a designated Medic buddy. However, his large size and slow speed make him a juicy target, especially for enemy Snipers or Spies, and his general loudness makes him subpar at ambushing. A good Heavy will coordinate with his team to tackle mission objectives together.

Primary weapons

Minigun + reskins

Think of the Minigun as a rapid-fire Shotgun; it can shred anyone at close range, but the wide bullet spread causes its damage to heavily fall off over distances. Although the Minigun possesses a lot of firepower, it has a moderate wind-up time and revving it brings your speed to a crawl. Thus, you'll either want to have it as your active weapon at all times or simply use a different weapon when moving between areas. You can rev it while in midair, allowing you to catch enemies by surprise as you jump around corners.

Natascha

Natascha's bullets come with a unique slowdown effect that forces enemies to stop and face you in combat. While spun up, it reduces damage taken by 20% if you're below 50% health, placing you firmly in the role of an attention-grabbing tank. While Natascha still deals a lot of damage at close range, it deals 25% less damage and is 30% slower to spin up, giving enemies ample time to react if you aren't already revved up. These factors significantly cut your offense against bulky classes like the Soldier and Demoman. In particular, you will be at a disadvantage when facing an enemy Heavy with the normal Minigun, which revs up faster, or the Brass Beast, which by far outdamages Natascha.

Brass Beast

The Brass Beast is the strongest weapon in the game in terms of damage per second, but has a 50% slower spin up time and slows you to a crawl when deployed. You need to play around the Brass Beast's long spin up time; if the weapon isn't already deployed, you are vulnerable to even frontal attacks. Once you do manage to spin it up, the weapon also grants 20% damage resistance if you're below 50% health. Thus, the Brass Beast is suitable for defensive situations where you need to move around less. Be very careful to not overexpose yourself, as your glacial movement speed makes you an even easier target for enemy Snipers and Spies.

Tomislav + reskins

The Tomislav has a faster spin-up time and revs up silently. The sound of your Minigun is a signal for the enemy to stay clear. However, the Tomislav's silent spin-up and superior accuracy makes it an excellent choice for ambushing enemies offensively or concealing your presence when guarding a location. However, the Tomislav fires 20% slower, causing it to deal far less damage in long battles despite the faster spin-up. Use the element of surprise to deal enough damage to your target before the Tomislav's firepower disadvantage becomes significant.

Huo-Long Heater

The Huo-Long Heater is slightly weaker in comparison to the default Minigun, but repeatedly emits rings of fire around you when revved up. The Heater deals increased damage against burning targets, making enemies lit by your flames or friendly Pyros easy prey. The flame rings act as a deterrent for any opponent who wants to get inside your personal bubble, particularly enemy Scouts and Spies. Overall, this makes the Heater a strong choice in situations where enemies must approach you, such as when contesting a Control Point, but not when they cowardly stay at range. Keeping your gun revved consumes ammunition even when not firing, so ammunition can become a problem. This can be alleviated by defensive play near Dispensers or the Payload cart, which will automatically refill your ammunition. Don't entirely rely on the flame ring to reveal surprise attacks; enemies can time their approach between waves.

Secondary weapons

Shotgun + reskins

Although the Shotgun is a secondary weapon and weaker than the Minigun, it can still deal plenty of damage. Notably, it gives you a firepower option where you can still remain mobile. Use it when moving between areas, when slowing down to fire your Minigun would be inefficient.

Sandvich + reskins

The Sandvich lets you replace a source of mobile firepower, the Shotgun, with the ability to fully heal yourself. Consume the Sandvich to patch yourself up in between fights. Make sure to begin your meal somewhere peaceful, as you are helpless during its long consumption time. Use alternate fire to throw the Sandvich on the ground to heal allies, particularly any Medic you may work with. Picking up any type of health kit when the Sandvich is consumed will instantly recharge it; make a small health kit more effective by recharging the Sandvich, which acts as a medium health kit when thrown.

Dalokohs Bar + reskins

The Dalokohs Bar cannot heal you as quickly as the Sandvich and only heals for a small health pack if dropped for allies. However, you can eat it to heal minor wounds and overheal yourself to 400 health without a friendly Medic. The Dalokohs Bar can be beneficial if your team lacks a Medic but does have a constant source of healing from either a Dispenser or medkits.

Buffalo Steak Sandvich

Consuming the Buffalo Steak Sandvich does not heal you, but instead gives a special buff that temporarily locks you to your melee weapon while granting increased movement speed, guaranteed mini-crits, and increased damage vulnerability. If you seldom use your melee weapons, it is best used to move towards the frontlines quickly while your teammates keep you safe; consider using it alongside the Fists of Steel to mitigate the increased damage from ranged attacks. If you prefer to use the buff to improve your melee combat, use the increased movement speed to avoid attacks and overpower opponents with mini-crits. Like the Sandvich, it can be thrown onto the ground to heal injured teammates.

Family Business

The Family Business is a faster, weaker Shotgun with a larger magazine size. While the Shotgun deals more immediate damage, the Family Business deals more overall damage if all shots hit, making it more viable for prolonged combat. It can also be used to pester opponents at a distance due to its high fire rate. Do note that due to the gun's magazine size, it takes a significant amount of time to fully reload.

Panic Attack

The Panic Attack works differently than the other Shotguns; upon holding the fire button, you load up to four shells. Releasing the fire button will cause all stored shots to fire one-by-one, with fire rate and bullet spread increasing as your health drops. It is less effective than the Shotgun as a backup weapon, as the time taken to load bullets can be comparable to winding up your Minigun. A Heavy who retreats is sometimes assumed to be finding a safe place to eat a Sandvich or heal. You can load the Panic Attack while a foe is pursuing you, then turn the tables; unlike the Minigun, enemies won't hear you preparing the weapon.

Melee weapons

Fists + reskins

If an enemy takes you by surprise at close range, it may still be worth it to just spin up your Minigun instead of switching to your Fists; you are slow and will probably be unable to get within melee range of your foe. Still, your large health pool does give you an advantage in a melee fight against single opponents.

Killing Gloves of Boxing

Obtaining a kill with the Killing Gloves of Boxing will grant guaranteed critical hits for five seconds. You're still as slow as ever, so use this weapon when you have the enemy in a corner and can easily land your punches. Once you've obtained the critical hit boost, pick a weapon to rampage with. Switching to and revving the Minigun still gives you a good three seconds to shred nearby foes. You could also switch to the Shotgun or the Tomislav for the faster spin-up time, or just continue swinging if you'd prefer to use the boost for as long as possible.

Gloves of Running Urgently + reskins

Because you rarely engage in melee combat, you can use the Gloves of Running Urgently solely for its speed boost. This speed boost is useful for reaching the front lines or positioning yourself for an ambush, but not for retreating, since taking the Gloves out will mark you for death and cause all damage taken to be mini-crits. If you're expecting combat, switch back to your primary weapon early to compensate for the long weapon switch time and allow the debuff to time out.

Fists of Steel

The Fists of Steel make you very difficult to kill with ranged weaponry, but causes you to receive double damage from melee attacks. They are particularly useful when you need to cross through open areas or retreat from a firefight. You can also deploy them as you approach opponents while being protected by the weapon's ranged resistance. It takes a very long time to put the Fists of Steel away, so preemptively switch to your Minigun if an enemy decides to run at you with his melee weapon; it's very possible for you to be killed before the Fists can be holstered.

Warrior's Spirit

The Warrior's Spirit causes you to deal and receive 30% more damage, allowing you to defeat certain enemies in two punches rather than three. This can also affect you; for example, you now can be killed in four melee attacks, rather than five. The 50 health restored on kill compensates for the increased damage taken, provided you win. You can use the Warrior's Spirit alongside the Buffalo Steak Sandvich to further amplify damage dealt and taken for a risky, mobile melee playstyle.

Eviction Notice

The Eviction Notice swings twice as fast as the Fists, but deals 60% less damage. It also grants 15% movement speed and an additional speed boost on hit. However, you take 20% more damage while this weapon is active. The increased attack speed does not fully make up for the reduced damage, but the ability to actually keep up with an enemy in melee combat can allow you to outlast them. Outside of combat, the Eviction Notice can be used as a lower-risk version of the Gloves of Running Urgently, granting lower movement speed but not marking you for death.

Holiday Punch

When using the Holiday Punch, critical hits or attacks from behind deal no damage, but do force opponents to laugh in place. Like when using the default Fists, the Holiday Punch is inefficient in standard combat due to your slow movement speed. If you do, however, catch a foe off-guard and force him to laugh, you can finish him off with almost any method of your choosing, including the Showdown taunt kill. This is not negated by invulnerability, so it is possible to sneak up and cripple an ÜberCharged enemy. Characters cannot be forced into animations unless they are grounded, so use a different weapon against a foe who insists on staying in the air or swimming in water.