As you probably already know Heavy is hard to play. I'm not kidding. It's the second smart damage dealing class next to Spy. All other classes have much more survivability with W+M1, camp or spam tactics. To be a good heavy you have to position, be aware of the surrounding, protect your medic, pest spy control etc.

This guide is not about weapons. You probably already know your favourite loadout anyway. For me it's Sasha, Sandvich & G.R.U.

This guide is about general smarts that separate good Heavy from a brilliant one. Believe me anyone and his grandma can rev up, follow the target and soak damage (this is not a skill btw). However not everyone can harase, retreat, spread the enemy thin and lead the team to victory.

Origineel geplaatst door Douglas Adams:

Mr. Prosser: Do you know how much damage this bulldozer would sustain if I just let it roll over you?
Arthur: How much?
Mr. Prosser: None at all.

So you are probably wondering why Heavy is classified as defence class. Because you depend on your teammates to do your job. And your job is heavy damage. Heavy is not very good at distractions, unless it's an Uber to the face. That's why you have to get your team to do distraction for you.

If you go on your own in the attack you will get blown to bits by enemy Demo, Soldier or Spy. However if you go slightly in the middle you will help your team by staying alive, reducing enemy health and protecting the flanks.

Always stay close to your medic. Heavy is so much better with medic. The only thing that can get in between you is a professional assasin. That's why you always control every direction including skyline. Even if you run towards enemy lines. Spin your head 360. Nobody will do it for you (not even that pyro who's job it is).

Heavy is very good at medium range. At close range not so good. If you ever try to kill a medic who's at your throat with his saw, you'll probably miss a lot due to dead reconing and lags. And good pyro will kill you in seconds with an axe. So keep your enemies close, but not so close.

And use cover. Cart pushing is good for cover. Also good for healing and ammo. If there's no sniper, you can push ahead of cart, so you don't get back-stab. You have advantage over Heavy using cover.

Heavy is also good at ambushing. (*sic* see 6/18) In close quaters, behind corners etc. If you jump behind the corner with your gun ready you will get a good head start. But when they start to return damage you should be prepared to retreat. A good Heavy always knows when to run.

You will have to learn all game mechanics and how other classes work. You have to be very good at calculating damage both to you and your enemies.

Team Fortress 2 is all about strategic map control. Valve has made every effort to make this game tense and for that they made it close to medium range combat. The only class that is long range is sniper, and his game mechanics is usually controlled by cover. There are usually no more that 2 or 3 lines of sight that are good for sniper, and you have to be aware of them. Also a good sniper will first take your medic, and a good spy will take you both...

Good spy is hard to counter. Every professional spy has his own strategy, and he will usually change from one to another (just as good sniper will change positions). But there are some very good spots on the map which you have to control always: door ways, small gaps in the walls, props that he can stand on, elevated positions, staircases. Be extra aware of spies 10 seconds before and after an Uber. You have to learn how back-stab works. There are about a dosen (!) stabing techniques described in the wiki. The one simple truth - you never run towards a spy, you only shoot one.

Priority wise you will get healed last. But when pushing your medic should always overheal you first. Keep your Sandvich in case medic is sick. A 100% medic can take that rocket and still pop Uber (there's always half a second delay). Pomson hit make Uber drop 10% (4 seconds delay!).

Heavy is good for pushing on Uber. The only thing that is better is Demo on Kritz. And heavy is sometimes good on Kritz when he can ambush, also ignore damage falloff. However enemy sentry is no small deal. You have to learn how it will push you back. Because of his big head Heavy has a raised center of mass point (for physics calculation) relative to all other classes. That's why when you run towards a sentry it shoots and slightly raises your above ground and you get pusshed back more. Also you never ever jump when sentry is firing at you. It's a good thing when your medic runs in front of you, and turns around (to look for spy behind you). If you get into a pyro, medic gets fun with air-blast and pyro gets you to the face. See this fun video

High ground advantage is very important. Try to stay in doorways and on top of the enemy as long as possible. However you will attract all enemy fire as well as spy. When you retreat it's sometimes better to stay and defend while your medic runs.

Origineel geplaatst door Gabe Newell:

6/18/14 All mini-guns now have damage and accuracy ramp up after they start firing. Full accuracy and damage is reached 1 second after firing.
7/14/14 Minigun: Winding up via secondary attack now counts toward reducing the one-second accuracy penalty

Well to those who didn't see it with their own eyes it was exactly like this... If you did main Heavy during that time, you must remember all the joy at first when you start doing better pushing against Demo. It actually takes skill to use GL in close encounter. Some people went as far as predicting the apocalypse pocket solly will be a thing in Highlander! Then the black cyclops started whining like beatches and Valve reverted the changes back for Demo only, with promise to keep monitoring the situation. I think they are going back to this after Half-Life 3.

Anyway, it was perfectly unnatural to add yet another pre- something mechanic to already pretty limited class. If we had to pre-spin before, now we have to pre-fire most of the time. You can actually get killed by a skilled solly with a f***en black-box. Pyros are not so annoying, most of them don't even know about backburner will not use the axe so they wouldn't even bother to melee.

After a while you get used to it. You have to actually shoot more. You can't ambush people (because of pre-fire). So...stay close to PUTIS (or big ammo) and watch your Medic more closely, because you have to start killing that spy a second earlier than before.

To reiterate: classes with high upfront damage (solly, demo, engi, scout) got better against Heavy.

You don't play a sentry.

You don't soak damage or create distraction with your life. If you shoot, you shoot to kill.

You don't try to be an hero when advancing towards the enemy.

You don't go with an Uber alone (this is just a waste) and if you see an Uber try to go along with it or at least cover it.

When holding position you protect your Medic and your Engi, not get some points the easy way. A sentry destroyed or Uber lost is no small thing.

You don't play Heavy unless you have read this guide absolutely mean it. Heavy is a rare beast, and a valuable asset to the team. So don't deprive your team of one.

You don't eat your Sandvich while your back is not next to a wall.

Above all enjoy the game. Go out there and get some heavy damage out! Inspire your team to win with your brilliant strategy.

You should also check my other guide on Medic because he's the main reason you are still alive.

Also get yourself a towel. A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have.

This guide was brought to you by a professional Russian Heavy.