*NOTE: Work in Progress - Last updated 26th March 2007
Also, i am throwing ideas up at the moment and then i will go through and add aditional details.
*NOTE: This is not being updated - its here as a reference - 18th Nov 2011
Team Fortress 2 HWguy Guide
Introduction
Firstly, let me introduce myself, my name is PowerFang and i'm a HWguy addict. Ever since TF1 i have played HWguy almost exclusivley. There will be the odd time i will change class simply to muck around but i would put my playtime break up to be 95% HWguy, 5% other classes. In TF1, this was a rareity. I was probably only 1 of 4 other people who played HWguy in the Australian scene, Fleshy,Beowolf and Snowflash being the other 3 (this is from memory i hope its right :)
I didnt actually play any of the inbetween version of TF (Quake3 Fortress, TFC etc.....) simply because they didnt get the HWguy correct. Escpecially after seeing the HWguy in TFC, i was worried about where the HWguy would be in TF2. Thankfully, the team at Valve have hit the damn nail on the head when it comes to the class. It only took me a few seconds into the TF2 beta to make me realise that PowerFang the HWguy was back! :)
The point is, this guide is coming to you from a passionate HWguy, not some part time HWguy who only uses him situational. There is not a situation i dont use the HWguy as if played right, he can conquer them all.
Overview
To play the HWguy to his full potential, you need to understand what the classes limits are. To see this more clearly i will start off with a list of advantages and disadvantages of the class:
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
| + Deadly at Point Blank Range | - Windup time of Minigun |
| + Best Medic Target | - Slowest Class |
| + Fat (good for medics to hide behind) | - Very vulnerable while firing |
| + Can move with the minigun ready to fire | - Cant win a fight without sustaining damage, unless you ambush |
| + Can fire non stop for around 20 seconds | |
| + No weak matchup - can beat every class | |
| + Leader Class - can fire up his team, leads from the front |
* Note: I dont think a list of advantages and disadvantages really paints how to use the class. There are sooo many factors that go into each decision and i think its painted more clearly in my class matchups.
The other aspect of the Heavy that is often overlooked is they are a natural leader class. Being the best class to use when pushing forward, they make perfect play makers / leaders to guide the rest of their team. It can't be emphasised how many times i have won game by simply encouraging the team to push at the right time and over-run the point. Theres no better motivation for people to attack then seeing a heavy medic combo charge forward with some "Go Go Go" over the voice comms. That being said, make sure you know what your talking about when instructing people else no one listens to you and therefore you have shot yourself in your own foot.
Another must for the Heavies out their is to play on the max sensitivity. You need to be able to spin around in a split second. You know you are spinning fast enough when you react to a "Spy!" call and constantly get face stabbed because you spin soo fast the animation hasnt completed before you are stabbed. Another good test that i have only recently been able to complete "satisfactorily" is to constantly spin in a 360, firing, and keeping your gun level the whole way round. Doing this slowly is cake but doing 3+ 360's per second is where you want to be. At the start you will find your gun will go vertical alot, but if you are persistant and get control of your hand, you will be able to achieve this easily. Test it out next setup on Granary/Dustbowl.
Heavy's Weapon Choices Analysis
| Minigun | |
| Weapon | Analysis |
Minigun |
Unlike the other classes out there, the default Minigun is by far the best weapon for the heavy to use. The reason is it doesnt have any weaknesses which makes it the best all round weapon to use. The other miniguns come with some pretty heavy drawbacks and they are very situational. |
Brass Beast |
The brass beast has a potential to be useful in certain situations but i'm yet to find a situation where i would rather the extra 20% damage at the cost of movement. I would definatly not be attacking with this gun but if i had to sit in one spot and defend its possible its better then the minigun. One situation i have thought about using it is defending the second point of the first stage of dustbowl. But i still feel the movement penalty is too much. i.e. you are weaker against soldiers and demos with this gun. |
Tomislav |
Now you would think the faster spin up time and no sound would be awesome for ambushing right? well it is except when going up against Heavies or Sentries. If you go point blank with a heavy with a regular minigun, you will die. So by using this gun, you are now weaker against other heavies. You are also weaker against fast agile scouts due to the slower speed so if you struggle to kill scouts with the regular gun, you are going to REALLY struggle with this gun. The last weakness is the fact an engineer can sit behind a sentry and out repair the damage you do. So you uber and charge the sentry and the engineer keeps repairing the gun and it doesnt die. I dont know about you but i want to be strong against other heavies and turrets because they are very common. This gun looks and sounds cool but i would never use it. |
Natascha |
Worst gun ever made. The damage penalty is just too much for for me to like this gun. My playstyle is very much lead from the front and for that i need to be able to push and do damage. By using this gun, you are no longer capable of being the primary offensive player - you become weaker against all the main classes and against sentries. The only time i would use this gun is if we were playing on a very open map in 6's and the opponents scouts were tearing us up and i wasn't the lead offensive class. Because this gun does own scouts in the open but for me and my playstyle it just doesnt suit. Dont try and push with this gun. |
| Secondary Gun | |
| Weapon | Analysis |
Sandvich |
You only have 2 choices with the secondary weapon, either the sandvich or the default shotgun. Now for me, the absolute best one to use is the sandvich. It heals you to full or heals a teammate for half, has a short cooldown which can be instantly reset by walking over any size medkit while full health. 95% of your time as a heavy will be spent with the minigun out so not having a shotgun to use is not a massive drawback. The only times i used to use a shotgun as a heavy was going up against a demo so i could chase and strafe his stickies while he retreated. Apart from that , i have not noticed the fact i dont have a shotgun. But the amount of times that i have either healed myself or my medic at clutch times with the sandvich far outweighs any kills i may of gotten or deaths i may of prevented with the shotgun. For those who will no doubt bring it up, a heavy should NEVER run out of ammo - if you do you are doing something wrong. Either your position is wrong and you are trying to kill people at range or you have never killed anyone so you havent been able to restock your ammo. You just need to kill someone every 100 bullets - not hard to do. |
Shotgun |
By using the shotgun, you are now alot stronger when going against demo's. But its only against demo's, it doesn help in any of the other match ups. But you lose the ability to heal yourself if your medic dies and you cant heal the medic if they are close to death. I feel the sandvich just has too much utility that i will happy be weaker against demo's in that i cant chase them but you just handle the situation differently to compensate. |
| Melee | |
| Weapon | Analysis |
Gloves of Running Urgently |
Yes i know there are other melee weapons but there is only one choice for the heavy and that is these gloves. I've already talked about how 95% of the time a heavy uses his minigun, it would be close to 0.1% of the time you would use your melee weapon. So the amount of damage your melee weapon does is not important. These gloves make you run the same speed as a medic for the sake of damage. This movement speed advantage is just crazy but it makes the heavy alot move mobile then he ever was before. I wouldn't suggest moving in contested areas with the gloves but there are times when you do have to just "hope for the best" and these gloves atleast give you the option to "sprint" if ever required. |
HWguy vs [Insert Class Here] - The Matchups
Intro
These tips and strategies are written with the enemy being a good player. We have all mowed down 4 soldiers while they are all trying to kill you, but this doesnt mean the HWguy is good at that matchup, it just means those 4 soldiers were useless. So keep that in mind while reading these.
Demoman
If you have a shotgun (even though you shouldn't if you have read my guide): This is the only matchup that i use the shotgun on. If you get the jump on the demoman, obviously you can just wind up your mini gun and wipe him out. But if you meet on even terms, a good demo man will be able to land 3 pipes at your feet before you can kill him (obviously depends on cover etc...but remember i'm writing this with good players in mind, not just random players). So the best way to deal with demoman is to strafe/charge with your shotgun. This enables you to avoid the stickies and should result in a quick demoman death. With no Shotgun: Without a shotgun it is very hard to charge a demo who can just retreat around corners. If a demoman has retreated around a corner after running into you, you can bet that there will be stickies on the corner just waiting for you to charge around. So dont just get blood lust and run after him. What you should try and do is wind up your gun and approach the corner at a distance where if there are stickies that they wont be able to hit you if they explode. Keep the gun aimed just away from the corner so if the demo tries to pop out and shoot you, that he cops a mouth full of bullets for his trouble.
The main problem you are going to have with demoman is if they permanently defend a choke point with stickies. I play Heavy very with a super offensive focus. This means i am typically up the front encouraging people to push. This means that i usually encounter the nice fresh stickies with the demoman ready to blow something up. The only real option you have is to shoot the stickies out of the way, or find an alternative route. Shooting the stickies works fine except for the fact it takes alot of ammo to move them so its safe to travel. Taking an alternative route is by far the best but its also alot slower. Sometimes though, you need to take a hit for the team so the rest of your team pushes forward to take the point.
Soldier
This is a match up i have had to review after my initial thoughts. 1 on 1 with no medic, this is a 50% win for me. A good soldier has the aim to never miss a rocket on you, unless you can do the same by keeping the minigun hitting him back, you will lose.
Amazingly when its a Heavy/Medic vs Soldier/Medic, you almost have a 100% win ratio. Its wise in these instances to actually kill the Soldier first and ignore the medic. That is because you can kill the Soldier faster then the medic can heal. The only exception is if you are at long range but hey, why are you taking on a combo at long range?
HWguy (Heavy)
Barring any other interference, if you shoot first in this matchup, you will win. Nothing else to it. Hardest matchup for the Heavy. This matchup is all about positioning and avoiding getting caught with your pants down. If you are assaulting the enemy base (or even defending for that matter) and you here an enemy Heavy around, you should NEVER be moving without your gun wound up. That is because any good heavy will be turning corners with his gun primed and ready to fire, if you dont have your gun wound up, you will die.
At point close combat range, a heavy/medic is ambushed by a solo heavy with no medic, who wins? A solo heavy at close range can kill a heavy medic combo without taking damage. Ofcourse if you meet face to face with both your guns wound, then obviously the heavy/medic wins. But just realise that ambushing at point blank range, you are deadly to ANYONE.
Engineer
Engineers arent a threat but there sentries are which is what i will talk about here.
Scout
This is another matchup i have had to rethink (and am still doing it). At point blank range, a scout will kill a heavy before the heavy can wind up his gun and kill the scout. This is VERY important to understand. Where i use to ignore the scouts some what, i now am constantly aware of where they are going. The point is this, if you see a scout running at you and you dont have your gun wound up, you better start winding else you will die first.
The other thing you need to be able to do is track a fast moving, agile scout. Scouts will strafe you and double jump to keep you having to re-aim. If you arent able to keep up ane be accurate, you will again die. This is a matchup that i find i have about a 75% win ratio on. Like the Heavy, the trick is to avoid situations where you are vulnerable or counter it by being prepared. The main area i have trouble with scouts is the center point of Granary. The boxes provide endless opportunities for the scouts to get to point blank range if you are not careful. So the tip is, if you know a scout is around and you are moving through that area, have your gun wound up. Failure to do so will result in your death.
Pyro
Prior to the last patch, i used to see pyro's as just a big ammo box. Provided you are observant and quick on the reflexes, pyros are an easy kill. They need to get close to you to be able to kill you, you kill anything that is close to you. Therefore, unless you get caught with your shotgun out or are slow to turn, pyro's are an easy kill.
This matchup is the main reason i dont move with the shotgun out. If you have your shotgun out when a pyro point blanks you, you will die before you can switch weapons and wind up the gun. So basically, if you play the Heavy correctly, Pyro's should never give you any issues.
Sniper
You should not be trying to engage snipers unless you happen to be on random crits and you have killed all the people around you and its only the snipers at range left alive. Snipers counter the heavy soo badliy that it hurts. What snipers do is effectively prevent you from going into certain areas. I find i have quite a bit of problems with snipers because of my playstyle. I'm aggressive which means i am constantly pushing the enemy back and this makes me a sitting duck for snipers. So the way you deal with them is to avoid putting yourself in an area that you are vulnerable to them. The problem is if your team is not harassing the enemy snipers at all, they can get into some pretty powerful positions. The important thing is you dont throw your life away stupidly to snipers. Everytime i die to a sniper i ask myself "Did i have to be in that position?", sometimes the answer is "yes" and other times its "no". But i evaluate this on a death by death basis because sometimes you have to rely on your teammates to clear out a threat. And if that isnt happening then you are going to struggle.
Spy
Another powerful class against the heavy. When dealing with spies, you should keep the saying "Fool me once, shame on you, Fool me twice, shame on me" in your head. A good spy will kill you with a particular trick/strategy once unless you go into super paranoid mode (this slows down your attack so can be counter productive if not used correctly). However, you should not be killed twice by the spy doing the same thing, if you do then this is your fault completely.
Medic
Medic's arent a threat.