Team Fortress 2/Heavy

Health: 300 Type: Defense Description: The Heavy is a tank. He has the highest health out of any class but is also the slowest. Because the Heavy is a big target and moves slow he's best used defensively, but with a Medic and some teammates he can be a powerful offensive foe as well.


 * Primary Weapon: Minigun - Max Ammo: 200 - No Clip - No reload needed - One second spin-up time

The Minigun is a mobile machine gun which can deal insane amounts of damage in a small time period. The minigun is best used in short to medium range due to its poor accuracy at long range. The minigun must be spinning before it can fire any bullets. There is a one second spin up time before bullets start firing. While this may seem like a short time, this can be just enough time for enemies to get away and avoid you entirely. You can hold down to keep the minigun spinning but not firing. Your speed is dramatically reduced while spinning the minigun, timing and knowing where your enemies are can really help you out using this weapon. A common, yet effective, tactic to surprise enemies is to jump and spin up at the same time. If you do this around a corner, for example, you will quickly appear and ready to fire at your enemies giving them little time to react. Never under any circumstances should you spin up in a wide open area where there are Snipers, you move so slow while spinning just about anyone of any skill level could snipe you. A fully charged headshot will kill the Heavy in one hit, even with a Medic. The minigun can take out sentries easily, but only at close range.


 * Secondary Weapon: Shotgun - Max Ammo: 32 - Max Clip: 6 - Reloaded one at a time

The Shotgun allows the Heavy to keep his normal speed while having some firepower. While the minigun can deal a lot more damage, the shotgun allows the Heavy to keep his speed and have a weapon. It's great to have this weapon equipped if you get ambushed because of how slow the minigun is.


 * Melee Weapon: Fists

You can choose to use either the left or right fist while punching, but which one you use doesn't matter. They both deal about 70ish damage a hit. Great for humiliating opponents, but due to the Heavy's low speed, enemies can easily run away and shoot as you try to punch them.

Using the Heavy
The Heavy is very useful in defence, but even without the backup of a Medic can still be a formidable offensive force (providing there are no skilled Snipers or Spies around). If you get a Medic healing you and he has an Ubercharge, you're pretty much set to cause carnage, so just rush straight for the enemy. Whilst Ubercharged, destroy any sentries first - otherwise, pick a target and get as close as possible to them whilst firing the minigun. Once they're dead, move on to the next target - and so on.

The Heavy isn't really an ambush class, but beware of Snipers when using one out in the open. Just run to where the action is and pull out your minigun aiming for everything that moves. Becareful about fighting Soldiers or Heavys with Medics, as they usually kill you before you can kill them. Another thing to look out for is Spies, as they can backstab you quicker than you can turn around. Make sure you call out Medic when one is near, so that they will concentrate your healing on you.

Make sure you also go for any ammo boxes or weapons on the floor, as the Heavy uses ammo at an alarming rate. Alternatively, defending teams can use Dispensers to fire the minigun continuously, never running out of ammo (providing you stay near the Dispenser - this also applies to the Pyro, but the range of the flamethrower means that this is only really good for eliminating Spies).

Defeating the Heavy
Snipers and Spies will have the easiest time killing the Heavy. A fully charged headshot will kill a slow moving Heavy without any problem, but unless the Heavy is far away the Sniper has no chance in close quarters. Unless a teammate, typically a Medic, warns the Heavy in advance, a Spy can drop a knife in a Heavy's back easily. Soldiers and Demoman have a chance against a Heavy if they can get the jump on them, but if you get ambushed by a Heavy you're in trouble no matter what class you are. Of course, other Heavies can take out the Heavy. In general, whoever has the Medic wins. If both Heavies have medics, then whoever spins up or gets critical hits first wins the fight. Heavy's are a lot harder to defeat if they have a Medic with them, typically you will want to kill the Medic first.

Pyros will typically die against a Heavy even if they ambush them. Unless the Heavy was at low health to begin with, there's not much chance for the Pyro.

If you manage to kill a Heavy with the Scout's bat, he will taunt that player by yelling out "Eat it Fatty!". Scouts will die against Heavies a lot, but killing them with the bat and hearing the taunt is well worth it.