Anti-Heavy strategy

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Hey lard-fat, those hard arteries don't stop bullets, do they? Click to listen — The Scout

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This article is about Anti-Heavy strategy.

The Heavy is the sturdiest class, but also the least maneuverable. He has a huge amount of health and heavy firepower, but is poor at speed and maneuvering, requiring the swift observation behind himself and ambushing. Generally, going against a Heavy head-on is suicide: his Miniguns 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 a diverse 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 is often the best way 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 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 all 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.

Weapon	Anti-Heavy strategy
Minigun / Iron Curtain	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. The Natascha deals the least amount of damage per second compared to the other Miniguns; if two Heavies started firing at each other, the one with the Natascha would most likely fall first.
Brass Beast	With the Brass Beast spun up, the Heavy becomes even more vulnerable to projectile weapons fired from afar. Take advantage of this and attack the Heavy outside of his weapon's effective range. The Brass Beast has an even longer spin-up time than the Natascha, so hit-and-run tactics are much more effective here. A Heavy's speed while spinning his Brass Beast drops significantly, making him an even easier target for Snipers to headshot.
Tomislav	As the Tomislav sports a 40% 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.

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 40% increased ammo clip compared to the Shotgun, 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. As the Family Business is more or less the same weapon as the regular Shotgun, whatever applies in the latter case will also apply here.

Edibles

• Dropped lunchbox items can be picked up by anyone. Try to steal them before the Heavy or his team reaches them.

• Watch for Heavies retreating from a fight to run around a corner. They are probably low on health and about to use a lunchbox item. At this point, even a low-damage attack might finish them off before they get the chance.

• A Heavy makes a distinct noise while eating. Use this sound to track him down.

• The Heavy is relatively defenseless when consuming a lunchbox item. Try to attack a Heavy while he is eating.

Weapon	Anti-Heavy strategy
Sandvich	The Sandvich fully replenishes health, but leaves the Heavy distracted for a significant period of time. Should you come across a Heavy that has just started on his lunch, it will usually be an easy matter to dispatch him before he is done. If the Heavy is nearly finished eating, there is still a window of opportunity in which one can inflict damage upon a Heavy at close range before retreating. Please note that due to the length of time required to eat a Sandvich, it may also be practical to use kill taunts instead of conventional attacks. A Heavy can drop his Sandvich to recover half his health quickly during combat. It will be in your best interests to intercept the Sandvich or otherwise prevent the Heavy from acquiring it either by knocking him back, physically obstructing him, or outright killing him (afterall, he must be damaged enough to decide to toss it). A Heavy may also throw his Sandvich at a teammate (often a Medic) to heal them instead; if you see this, try killing that teammate so that the Heavy's charity would be in vain.
Dalokohs Bar / Fishcake	This item only heals the Heavy for 60 health, 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. Regardless, it does give the Heavy a temporary increase in maximum health, so try to prevent him from finishing his snack if you can. 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, it can be eaten at any time to heal minor injuries and keep the Heavy at full health. Eating this while not guarded by his allies will prove to be very disadvantageous to him, though.
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 also receive Mini-Crit damage from all of your weapons. Like the regular Sandvich, the Buffalo Steak Sandvich can also be dropped then picked up to quickly recover 50% health. As above, it will be in your best interests to intercept the Sandvich or otherwise prevent the Heavy from acquiring it either by knocking him back, physically obstructing him, or killing him.

Melee weapons

Weapon	Anti-Heavy strategy
Fists	The Heavy's slow speed is a disadvantage that can be exploited by faster classes during a melee fight. However, as the Heavy has the most HP out of any class, it will take more hits to take him down, which may give him enough time 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 extend the effect. 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 these selected whilst running to a contested area on the map; he will then change to his Minigun when he gets closer. Therefore, the Heavy will likely not expect an attack while en route; this is a good time to ambush him. Beware that enemy Heavies will try and chase you down with the increased movement speed from these gloves. Try to kill them before they switch to their other weapons. A Heavy with the G.R.U. equipped is an easier target than most; not only will his health be slightly below maximum (and continue to decrease by 6 HP every second he has 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, due to its reduced damage penalty; you may gain the upper hand if he is forced to fight with them.
Warrior's Spirit	The Warrior's Spirit inflicts more damage per hit 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 easier to take down - afterburn or bleed effects might finish him off when they ordinarily wouldn't.
Fists of Steel	Heavies take double melee damage with the Fists of Steel equipped. However, they tend to switch to their primary weapon before you can approach them with your own melee weapon out. Try to ambush them. If a Heavy with the Fists of Steel is taking any ranged fire from one of your teammates, approach him with your melee weapon to trick him into pulling out his Minigun or Shotgun, allowing your teammate to deal full damage. Otherwise, just hit him with the melee weapon. A Heavy with the Fists of Steel out is hard to shoot down, especially when being healed by a Medic. Use teamwork to kill 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 with each hit, making it slightly weaker than the Scout's Bat, too. To deal with the Eviction Notice, attack while moving back; since the Heavy is slow, and the Eviction Notice makes him do significantly less damage, you would take him out before he takes you out.

Class set

Set

Anti-Heavy strategy

The Hibernating Bear

A Heavy wearing this set is especially vulnerable to ambushes because of his lower health, slow spin-up speed, and even slower movement with the Brass Beast deployed. Hit-and-run tactics may prove to be effective against a Heavy using this set. A Heavy using this set can heal themselves quickly by using alt-fire to throw out their Buffalo Steak Sandvich for themselves to replenish half their health, providing more reason to finish them off sooner. A Heavy may alternatively eat the Buffalo Steak Sandvich and try to deal Mini-Crits on you; if you can, shoot him down before he can get within melee range. The critical hit resistance this set provides is easily overcome by having you and your team unleash a barrage of attacks on the Heavy. Because the weapons in this set do increased damage, it is best to attack the Heavy from long-range.

See also

• Team strategy