Aside from Soldier, the Heavy is one of the easiest classes to play as in Team Fortress 2. He doesn’t have too many subclasses, and his playstyle remains constant for all situations. The tank class’ approach is simple and straightforward. Rev-up, shoot, and be a bullet-sponge.
Spray groups of enemies with the high rate-of-fire minigun; showering them with $200 custom bullets. The Heavy riddles holes in his foes and slices through hordes like fire through paper. Despite this ease-of-use for the Heavy class, there are still some mistakes that players, both new and veteran, still make. Here are 10 common mistakes Heavies make.
10 Shooting at Uber
The stock medi gun of the Medic grants momentary invulnerability to both him and his patient. They can’t be penetrated and damaged. Mistakes some Heavies make is shooting the shiny opposing team-colored duo, thus wasting bullets on them. This chews through ammo and places the Heavy in a vulnerable spot where he can be taken down by the Uber duo.
This is a huge mistake since none of Heavy’s weapons, especially not the minigun, deals knockback effects to separate the Medic from his patient. The Heavy is better off retreating when enemy Uber is popped. However, he should also anticipate when enemy Uber wears off so he can strike.
9 Not Pre-Spinning
Pre-spinning the Minigun does two things: 1) It readies the gun to fire allowing for spontaneous blasts of bullets, and 2) It makes the minigun spray more accurate. Pre-spinning when expecting enemies around the corner readies the Heavy to retaliate immediately; as opposed to having to spin up the gun in front of the enemy.
Spinning the gun when under threat opens a window for aggressors to take out the Heavy. The Heavy should pre-spin the gun when behind cover, before entering a hostile environment, or when expecting a foe. That way, when an enemy shows up, all he has to do is spray away.
8 Not Giving Medic the Sandvhich
Medics keep the Heavy alive to sustain suppressing fire on the enemy team. But who’s keeping the Medic alive? It’s not enough that the Heavy protects the Medic from four on two assaults. Though the Medic has a regenerative ability, the Heavy should also supply him with health whenever available.
Throwing a Sandvhich to the Medic is not only an act of thanks and courtesy, but it is also an essential strategy to keeping the Medic alive, thus keeping the Heavy and the team alive. With a Medic, the Heavy will rarely even need the Sandvhich. Since the Medic can’t medi gun himself, it’s up to the Heavy to do so.
7 Undervaluing Shotguns
Sandvhich is to health as shotgun is to ammo. Though a lot of Heavies swear by the Sandvhich, the good ole trusty shotgun should not be dismissed as inferior to the Sandvhich. The shotgun is not a redundancy to the minigun. Once the minigun runs out of ammo or has already spun all the way down before the Heavy is surprised by a flanker, the shotgun is the go-to in those situations.
For example, the Heavy has used up all his ammo before being able to finish off a retreating Soldier. A Heavy can’t chase him down with his fists since Heavy’s too slow. The best option is to finish the Soldier off with a shotgun.
6 Using The Brass Beast Offensively
Though the brass beast does more damage than the stock minigun, it has huge drawbacks on the Heavy’s movement when spun up. It makes Heavy a near-stationary defense unit like Bastion in turret configuration. During pushes, the Brass Beast makes going in and out of firefights much harder.
In addition to this, the spin up time is also slower for the brass weapon. Pair the slower spin-up with the almost non-existent movement speed then Heavy becomes more vulnerable than he is damaging. With the Brass Beast, it’s best to be pocketed by a Medic to compensate for the vulnerability.
5 Hugging The Dispenser
An Engineer’s dispenser is a stationary building that provides health and ammo. Heavies firing with a nearby dispenser will have both their health and ammo constantly resupplied. However, since the dispenser is a stationary unit, the Heavy can’t push while keeping close to the dispenser. This limits the team’s offense by having the Heavy near the dispenser at all times.
Additionally, the Heavy is a bullet sponge target. He risks getting Soldiers and Demomen to destroy the dispenser, an essential building for the team’s health and ammo provisions, via splash damage. The Heavy should only ever be near the dispenser when he’s in need of resupply. Not use the dispenser as a modified Medic replacement.
4 Unmindful of Ammo
Health and ammo are two things that a Heavy should watch out for. But sometimes, in worrying so much about health, Heavies tend to disregard their ammo reserve. Before engaging in a hostile environment, a Heavy should see if he has enough ammo to engage in the firefight. And, while in the heat of battle, a Heavy should check his ammo to know when to retreat.
Being caught in the crossfire with no ammo is the last thing a Heavy wants, especially considering that the minigun makes a loud ticking noise one it runs out. While a Heavy’s ammo is running down to zero, he should retreat to resupply.
3 Unmindful of Snipers
Beyond the guns blazing and the screams of dying, a Heavy should be mindful of the presence of Snipers. A Sniper could charge up a single shot that will instantly kill an overhealed Heavy. Being mindful and cautious of Snipers will allow a Heavy to make better decisions on the battlefield.
Upon seeing a Sniper, a Heavy shouldn’t gun him down unless within an effective range. Attempting to gun down a Sniper from medium to long-range won’t be effective, and it will slow down the Heavy. This makes him an easier target for the Sniper.
2 Not Looking Around
A Heavy should be wary of Snipers and in the same way, he should be on the lookout for flanking classes. While focusing his fire on one direction, enemies such as Scouts and Spies could be coming in from different directions, enabling them to eliminate the Heavy.
By simply checking all 360 degrees around himself, the Heavy turns into a much harder threat to fight against rather than being a backstab magnet for Spies. Newer players would be so committed to killing an enemy from a medium to long-range that they forget to look behind them and around them. A focused fire Heavy is a vulnerable one.
1 Overextending with the Gloves of Running Urgently
The gloves of running urgently, or as it’s abbreviated, the GRU enables the Heavy to move much faster while deployed. This lets him get to the frontlines quicker with a sense of urgency. Though a very useful weapon in sustaining a team’s push, the GRU has one major drawback.
Besides faster movement speed, Heavy’s max health slowly drains down to 100 while the gloves are deployed. Overextending with the GRU will result in the Heavy engaging the enemy with a third of his health. A rocket and a shotgun shell would kill him. As the Heavy runs to the frontlines with the GRU, he should deploy his minigun while still some ways away to allow his health to fill up back to 300.
NEXT: Team Fortress 2: 10 Weapons That You Should Own
