Anti-Heavy strategy

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This American boot just kicked your ass back to Russia.

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— The Soldier

”

The Heavy is the sturdiest class, but also the least maneuverable. He has a large amount of health and firepower but moves very slowly, requiring swift observation behind himself and ambushing. Generally, going against a Heavy head-on is suicide: his Minigun can mow down any class within seconds at close range, and Medics tend to hang around Heavies for protection and kill assists. While not having quite as diverse a loadout as other classes, the Heavy can nevertheless change his gameplay in several different ways, including the ability to heal, run substantially faster than normal, and even shrug off a majority of ranged damage. Surprise and distance are often the best ways to overcome a Heavy's massive amount of firepower.

General

Attributes	Anti-Heavy strategy
Role	The Heavy's large size and weapon makes him a great shield for his allies. Taking him out can make your assault far easier. The Heavy is often the focus of many pushes. Taking out the Heavy can often defeat an entire push.
Health	The Heavy can soak up a lot of damage, especially if overhealed. Teams should focus their fire on Heavies in order to take them down quickly.
Speed	The Heavy's slow movement speed makes him an easy target for Snipers and Spies. Try to catch him off guard and take him out quickly, before he can spin his gun up and start firing on you. Effects that depend on hits, such as Jarate and The Buff Banner, will be very effective due to the Heavy's inability to dodge.
Power	The Heavy's Minigun is quite a formidable weapon. It will quickly take care of any unaware class in seconds, so remain far away and wait for the Heavy's Minigun to stop spinning to strike.

Weapon-specific

A list of useful tidbits about the Heavy's tools, and how to counter them.

Primary weapons

All of the Heavy's primary weapons require a moment to spin up before he can start firing. This makes him vulnerable to ambushes.
When any of the Heavy's weapons are spun up, the Heavy moves much more slowly. A preoccupied Heavy can easily be taken down.
Keep your distance from Heavies with their miniguns spun up, as at close range, a Minigun can mow down you and your nearby teammates within seconds.
If a Heavy is careless, he can consume all of his Minigun ammo in under a minute, but this is easily remedied by standing near a Dispenser or by picking up ammo boxes and weapons dropped by the dead; your team can counter this by destroying Dispensers, stealing any ammo sources, and taking caution in attacking a Heavy head-on.

Weapon	Anti-Heavy strategy
Minigun / Iron Curtain / Festive Minigun	The Minigun has a shorter spin-up time than most of the Heavy's alternate primary weapons. Be aware of this and retreat if you are facing a Minigun-wielding Heavy at mid-to-close range.
Natascha	Natascha has a longer spin-up than the Minigun. Hit-and-run tactics are more effective on Heavies using this weapon. At long distances, this weapon's slow down has little effect, but don't get caught at mid-range or closer, or you'll likely be unable to escape. So long as they aren't caught off guard, Heavies not using Natascha will have the advantage against those that do, as it deals the least amount of damage compared to other miniguns.
Brass Beast	With the Brass Beast spun up, a Heavy becomes extremely slow, making it impossible for him to avoid oncoming fire. Take advantage of this by attacking the Heavy outside of this weapon's effective range; a Sniper can easily headshot a Heavy who has deployed his Brass Beast. The Brass Beast has an even longer spin-up time than Natascha, so hit-and-run tactics are much more effective against a Heavy using one. Be even more cautious when venturing into enemy territory; if you are ambushed by one or more Heavies using the Brass Beast, it is unlikely that you'll survive.
Tomislav	As the Tomislav sports a 10% faster spin-up time, hit-and-run tactics will be much less effective. Attack from afar. The Tomislav's firing rate is 20% slower than usual, but this also slows its ammo consumption; it's hardly noticable, but the difference exists. Trying to make a Heavy waste his ammo while using it becomes a slightly less viable strategy. Because the Tomislav has no spin up noise, it becomes more difficult to tell if a Heavy is lying in wait or is just coming around a corner. Be prepared, and attack in numbers; have a Demoman or Soldier fire his explosives to jostle or even kill a hidden Heavy, or make a Pyro go first to burn and push him away. The Tomislav's attributes encourage the Heavy wielding it to ambush his opponents; try to force him out in the open.
Huo-Long Heater	Spies can jump over the ring of flames let out by the Huo-Long Heater, making it possible for them backstab the Heavy without being set on fire or losing their Spy-cicle. Making a Heavy waste ammo by causing him to miss and stealing or destroying nearby sources becomes extremely effective due to the increased consumption of the Huo-Long Heater.

Secondary weapons

Weapon	Anti-Heavy strategy
Shotgun	Heavies will switch to their Shotgun when their primary weapon runs out of ammunition. Try to take them down before they find more. As with all the other classes that use this, the Shotgun is a point-blank-to-medium range weapon and will be ineffective at long range. The Shotgun only has six shots. Keep pressuring a Heavy so that he will be forced to reload, resulting in considerably lowered damage output and giving you the opportunity to move in close and deal damage.
Family Business	The Family Business has a 33% increased ammo clip compared to the Shotgun (for a total of eight shots), at the cost of doing 15% less damage. This makes the tactic of pressuring a Heavy to exhaust his Shotgun's clip and reload moderately less effective, but will also make combat beyond close-range less dangerous.

Edibles

A Heavy is relatively defenseless when consuming a Lunchbox item, especially if none of his teammates are nearby; try to kill a Heavy while he is eating.
- A Heavy makes a distinct noise while eating. Use this sound to track him down.
Watch for Heavies retreating from a fight in order to find cover; they are probably low on health and about to use a lunchbox item. At this point, dealing even a small amount of damage might finish them off before they get the chance to eat.
- Due to the length of time required for a Heavy to eat a Lunchbox item, it may also be practical to use kill taunts on one instead of conventional attacks.
A Lunchbox item replaces the Heavy's Shotgun, leaving him with one less weapon to attack you with.

Weapon	Anti-Heavy strategy
Sandvich	The Sandvich slowly restores a Heavy to full health over the course of its consumption, so he may be able to soak up the damage dealt by your attacks if they aren't strong enough. If you cannot kill him, you can at least harm him enough so that eating the Sandvich was a pointless endeavor. A Heavy can acquire a new Sandvich by picking up a medkit at full health; either take any nearby medkits for yourself, or damage him so that he does not receive a brand new Sandvich. A Heavy can throw his Sandvich or Buffalo Steak Sandvich on the ground for anyone else to pick up in order to regain 50% of their HP instantly. To prevent a successful pick up, you can either steal the Sandvich (provided you are not at full health), or push the enemy away using knockback. A Heavy cannot instantly recover health from a Sandvich that he dropped on the ground. It will instead refill his Food bar, allowing him to eat another Sandvich. A Heavy may also throw his Sandvich to a teammate (often a Medic) who is low on health; if you witness this, try to kill the recipient so that the Heavy's charity would be in vain.
Dalokohs Bar / Fishcake	This item only heals the Heavy by 100 HP, yet takes the same amount of time to consume as the Sandvich. As a result, the Heavy is even more vulnerable when eating the Dalakohs Bar/Fishcake. The Dalakohs Bar/Fishcake increases a Heavy's maximum Health by 50 for 30 seconds, which, while minimal, can make a differerence between who dies first: you, or him. Unlike the Sandvich, the Dalakohs Bar/Fishcake cannot be dropped. However, the item does not have a cooldown timer. Thus, while it cannot be dropped to quickly recover health during combat (for his teammates), the Heavy can eat it constantly to heal minor injuries and stay healthy.
Buffalo Steak Sandvich	Attack from a distance while retreating, as the Heavy can only use his melee weapon when under this item's effect. He can deal Mini-Crits, but he will suffer 25% more damage from all of your attacks. Like the regular Sandvich, a Heavy can toss his Buffalo Steak Sandvich for others to pick up in order to regain 50% of their health instantly. Like the Sandvich, it cannot be eaten by the Heavy who dropped it; it will refill his Food bar instead.

Melee weapons

Weapon	Anti-Heavy strategy
Fists / Saxxy / Conscientious Objector / Apoco-Fists / Frying Pan / Freedom Staff / Bat Outta Hell / Ham Shank	The Heavy's slow speed is a disadvantage that can be exploited by faster classes during a melee fight; strafe around him, or back up as you attack. However, the Heavy is the class with the highest health; it will take more hits to take him down, which may give the Heavy more chances to strike you with a random critical hit.
Killing Gloves of Boxing	If a Heavy gains the critical hit boost from the K.G.B., stay back until it wears off. If he kills you, your death will just reset the effect's duration. The Heavy can also apply his K.G.B. Crit bonus to his other weapons when switched. Take him down as fast as possible to prevent this from happening. A Heavy may switch to his Shotgun for the remainder of the bonus, as a Minigun takes too much time to fire.
Gloves of Running Urgently	A Heavy will usually only have the G.R.U out whilst running to a contested area on the map and switch weapons once he nears it. Therefore, the Heavy will likely not expect an attack while en route; this is a good time to ambush him. A Heavy can use his G.R.U as a means of pursuit. If you cannot escape one, turn around and try to kill the Heavy before he switches to another weapon. A Heavy with the G.R.U. equipped is an easier target than most; not only will he be marked for death while they are actively equipped (and for three more seconds once he switches them out), but in order to cause any significant damage, he will have to switch to his Minigun and spin it up - this extra time may be all you need to kill him. A Heavy wearing the G.R.U. will rarely use them in melee combat, as he also suffers a 25% damage penalty from using them.
Warrior's Spirit	The Warrior's Spirit inflicts more damage than other melee weapons. Try to retreat from a melee battle with a Heavy wielding them unless you know that you are able to kill him. A Heavy with the Warrior's Spirit will have 20 HP less than default. While he still has the highest health in the game, he will be slightly easier to take down - afterburn or bleed effects might finish him off when they ordinarily wouldn't.
Fists of Steel	A Heavy suffers doubled melee damage while actively equipped with the Fists of Steel. However, many tend to switch to their primary weapon before you can approach them with your own melee weapon out. If you insist on melee combat, ambush them.But be careful as can quickly take you out with a crit or if he has a medic to heal him If a teammate is trying to kill a Heavy with the Fists of Steel out from afar, you can help by approaching the Heavy with your own melee weapon in order to trick him into pulling out another weapon, allowing your teammate to deal full damage. You can also choose to ambush the Heavy if he is too preoccupied with your teammate. A Heavy with the Fists of Steel out is hard to shoot down, especially when being healed by a Medic. Use teamwork to overpower the Heavy from a distance, if close combat proves impractical for the situation.
Eviction Notice	The Eviction Notice attacks 50% faster than the default Fists, at a rate slightly faster than the Scout's default Bat, but deals 60% less damage, making it slightly weaker than the Scout's Bat, too. Attack a Heavy with the Eviction Notice out while moving backwards; since the Heavy is slow, and the Eviction Notice makes him deal significantly less damage, you are more likely to kill him first.
Holiday Punch	Try not to engage in melee combat with a Heavy using the Holiday Punch; if he manages to hit your back, or he scores a critical hit, you will laugh in place, giving him and his teammates more than enough time to kill you. If you must fight up close, attack the Heavy while strafing or backing up. If you jump, the critical hit's laughing will not do any damage OR make you laugh. If you're fighting an enemy with a Holiday Punch, constantly jump.