Heavies, whether offensive or defensive, are key targets for enemy spies. Despite the massive amounts of health heavies can accumulate, a knife to the back is still a one hit kill. Not only are the heavies at risk but the medics that are putting themselves in danger by giving them their support. Since the medic is unable to defend himself, heavies must be responsible for both themselves and their medic buddies. Spies can be kept at bay by routinely looking around in all directions and shooting anything even slightly suspicious. Even just shooting at the air can reveal cloaked spies as they shimmer for a split second after being hit. The bottom line here is that the heavy is responsible for defence against spies, and must act as such; he cannot simply assume that his teammates will deal with them.
Another bane for heavies is the sniper, which can drop even a heavy with 450 health with one shot to the head. To avoid these snipers, heavies should always make sure they are running (not shooting or spinning) when they’re in the open, and spend as much time as possible in positions where there is something solid between them and the common sniping positions.
The two main strategies outlined above are pretty general and can be applied in a range of situations, or even combined. Similarly to the demoman taking a forward defence position to defend his attacking teammates, the heavy can cover any choke points, not just defensive ones. Don’t be pressured to move forward and attack, just make sure you are assisting your team where you are.
The heavy’s minigun takes a considerable amount of time to start firing from the moment you press fire, and unless there is no cover, a decent player will often be out of the line of fire before a bullet even comes out. As such it is often preferable to be wielding the secondary shotgun when running around since it can be fired on the move, and only switching to the minigun if the opposition gets more intense than a scout or two. Staying on the move allows the heavy to cover more ground, which in turn allows his whole team to push forward behind him.
Although the heavy is an ideal medic buddy due to him being a massive meat shield with a lethal weapon, his doesn’t simply have the automatic right to a medic. I’ve seen heavies that use up their entire supply of ammunition to take out one enemy at close range because they are simply too slow at aiming. These heavies are a waste of time when the medics could be pairing up with someone more effective, someone whose death would have more of an effect on the team. In short, don’t hog the medics if you can’t make full use of them. That said a good heavy should be a top priority for at least one medic.
posted on March 26th, 2008 at 2:54 pm