What are standard weapon builds for a Heavy?

Question

What are the standard equipment/weapon builds for a heavy (both offensive and defensive), when combined with a Medic?

Answer

Note: I don't play Heavy a lot, so this is mainly observation from watching others play Heavy.

Heavy builds tend to vary depending on the types of enemies you're facing.

The standard "medic buddy" offensive build is this:

• Minigun (or Iron Curtain, which is a reskin of it)
• Shotgun or Sandvich
• Fists or Gloves of Running Urgently

The standard "medic buddy" defensive build is this:

• Minigun
• Shotgun or Sandvich
• Fists or Fists of Steel

Note: If you're having problems with lots of Scouts, swap the Minigun out for the Natascha.

Note 2: The new weapons aren't listed here simply because they're new and some people are still getting them... and thus they haven't been tested that much.

A new Offensive build may be:

• Tomislav
• Sandvich
• Fists or Gloves of Running Urgently

or

• Minigun
• The Family Business
• Fists or Gloves of Running Urgently

Defensive build is likely better unchanged from standard.

Now, as for the items above:

The Sandvich is a controversial choice. Generally, you have it so you can throw it to your Medic if his Health is low. However, you lose your Shotgun, and the Shotgun is both a good backup weapon, and a good weapon to have equipped in case someone surprises you on the way to the battle front.

Largely, the melee weapon isn't used that often by the Heavy. Therefore, choose it based on its effects.

The Gloves of Running Urgently is a good choice for offensive if the team has no teleporters, because you can get to the front lines faster with it. The constant source of damage also helps the Medic build his Ubercharge faster.

The Fists of Steel is useful if your Medic has died and you need to escape due to the reduced damage taken from ranged weapons. The GRU also works well for escaping, but the constant health drain can kill you.

Of course, there are other options.

In general, the Brass Beast makes you move too slowly when shooting it and the spinup time is too long... its drawbacks are too great and a Heavy vs Heavy battle will likely go to the other Heavy if they manage to surprise you. Also, the weaker classes already die quickly enough to the standard Minigun.

I've seen at least one person who mains Heavy switch out his Shotgun for the The Family Business... it does slightly lower damage, but you have 8 shots before reloading rather than 6 with the regular Shotgun.

The Tomislav is a new minigun with no spinning sound (although it does make a noise when you raise or lower it) and it spins up faster. This can replace the need for the Shotgun in your build, as your spinup time is decreased by 40%.

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What use is the shotgun for the heavy?

Question

Typically my loadout for the heavy is:

• Minigun
• Sandvich
• Gloves of Running Urgently

However, some of the players I play with (a 32-player server, but I have a reasonably close knit group of people I play Highlander with) have been moaning rather loudly about the amount of time I spend eating my sandvich.

Based on their advice (or to shut them up) I started playing with the shotgun, but I find that I never seem to use it - the minigun can usually shoot down most people attacking me.

What strategies should I be using to ensure that I'm using the shotguns potential?

Answer

You need a shotgun when you can't use you primary weapon because it's either slow or slows you down. This can happen in several situations:

• If you suddenly engage in a close-range fight. If you start spinning your gun, it's possible you'll be dead very soon.
• If you need to get somewhere fast and you still need to shoot on the way.
• To use a crit from K.G.B.
• If your main gun is out of ammo. That also happens.

The sandvich is a great thing, but it won't help you when you are out of ammo or if you need to fight in tight spots. I usually run with the sandvich, but I can't deny that shotgun is very helpful in some cases.

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What's so special about the Fishcake?

Question

Recently I had bought SpaceChem and upon completing all the research challenges, I was able to craft 2 items in TF2 and one of them was the Fishcake. The stats of the Fishcake are identical to the Dalokohs Bar, so is there a difference in what this 2 items can do?

Answer

No, there is no difference, it just looks differently.

There are many "copies" of weapons with different name and look, for example, HHHH and Nessie's Nine Iron act exactly the same as Eyelander.

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Of what use is the Heavy dropping a sandwich?

Question

Recently I've accidentally discovered that you can Right-Click to drop a sandwich (Heavy's 2nd weapon), but then I can't pick it up again.

Anyone know what's the point of dropping the sandwich apart from seeing teammate cluelessly gathering around it?

Answer

This is the best feature of the sandvich!

It works exactly like a health pack. It's great to be able to give a medic your sandwich, since he does not have a quick way to self heal. The sandvich will not regenerate after the timer expires - you still need to find a health-pack or dispenser.

Also, if you are under pressure and dont have time to eat the sandvich, you can drop it and walk over it. It only heals 50%, but the speed is the upside. Many times I'm being chased, I turn a corner, throw the sandvich, run over it, turn around, and mow down my attacker.

Just be careful the enemy can't get to it first. It can also heal them.

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