Moving to the frontlines as Heavy after Jungle Inferno
Long time ago, moving out of spawn as a Heavy is simple. If you don’t use the Gloves of Running Urgently, you are going to reach the frontlines just in time for Half Life 3’s release. But after the Jungle Inferno update, there have been various changes to the Heavy and his weapons. So maybe it’s time to take another look at the options available for the slowest, least mobile class in the game to get from spawn to the objective.
A lot of times, I will be talking about Heavy with a Medic rather than just him alone. A Heavy-Medic combo is a rather common sight, in fact one of the most common things you’ll see in pubs alongside the third Spy/Sniper. Thus, while considering Heavy’s viability, one must take into account both him alone and him as part of a Heavy-Medic combo.
In this article, we’ll be talking about HU a lot. HU, or Hammer Units, is the unit of measurement for distance in TF2. For reference, a Heavy’s normal running speed is 77%, or 230 HU/s. 100% speed is 300 HU/s, which is the default movement speed for Pyro, Engineer and Sniper.
I talked quite a bit about the new Eviction Notice here, so I won’t bother going on about it for too long. In short, it’s not as good as before, but it is still functional for getting Heavy into the fight sooner, especially if paired with the Dalokohs Bar. The Eviction Notice lets the Heavy run at 265 HU/s, at a cost of a 5 Hp/s reduction to his maximum Hp. At 300 Hp, a Heavy can run for 60 seconds before dying. If Heavy chooses to run for half that time, he will be covering a distance of 7950 HU. For context, 2Fort‘s bridge is approximately 1000 HU long according to this Reddit post, which means by sacrificing half of Heavy’s Hp he can run across the 2Fort bridge 8 times in 30 seconds. Normally, running across that bridge 8 times will take Heavy approximately 35 seconds. That … really isn’t impressive.
And as mentioned in the article, his steadily decreasing maximum health with the Eviction Notice out makes him a less ideal Medic buddy than before. Not only is he more vulnerable, it now takes less time to overheal him fully, making Übercharge building slower. Having a Medic to top up his health does aid his survivability when he is still weakened from using the Eviction Notice, just that it really doesn’t do as much for the Medic.
Personally, I will not rely on the speed boost gained on hitting enemy players. Chances are, you are pretty weakened if you are running around with the Eviction Notice out. Besides, you need to get into melee range to get a chance to hit someone in the first place, and you are still pretty slow.
(Also applies for the Bread Bite)
The GRU is similar to the Eviction Notice, just without the speed boost on hit. These gloves allow you to run at 299 HU/s at a cost of 10 Hp/s reduction to their maximum health.
If Eviction Notice Heavies are less-than-optimal Medic buddies due to the constant maximum health reduction, GRU Heavies are even worse in that aspect. Aside from that, you get to run faster, but also run for a shorter duration. By sacrificing 150 Hp, a GRU Heavy can run for 15 seconds, traversing 4485 HU, or approximately four and a half 2Fort bridges. Running across the bridge 8 times will take you about 27 seconds.
It should be noted that, when first deploying either the GRU or the Notice, the user will lose 20 maximum Hp, and the user’s maximum Hp will not drop below 100 Hp. But at that point, you are the weakest class in the game and still one of the slowest.
It used to be pretty good for rollouts on large maps, as you have a fair bit of buffer space to wait out the 3 seconds increased damage taken debuff. Now with the new maximum health drain mechanic, you definitely can’t run with it as long as before if you want to reach mid with a decent chunk of health left. It is probably still fine for rollouts on large maps since you can have a big buffer space for your maximum health to regenerate. As for smaller maps, I don’t know. Before Jungle Inferno I will recommend using the Eviction Notice over GRU as it is a safer option, but now that both lets you run about the same distance per maximum health deducted, I am not too sure about it. In general, it feels like the GRU is just the better choice over the Eviction Notice, unlike before where the latter shines on smaller maps.
The FoS has been reworked during the Jungle Inferno update. Now, a Heavy with it has a 40% increased resistance to ranged damage, but a longer holster time, 100% increased melee damage received, and a 40% reduction to healing received and maximum overheal.
A FoS Heavy can now only be overhealed to 390Hp. He can still survive fully-charged headshots from Snipers (after the 40% damage reduction, a fully charged headshot deals 270 Hp of damage), and since a Medic’s Übercharge build rate is at its maximum until the healing target is a 142.5% health (427.5 Hp in Heavy’s case), pocketing a Heavy with the FoS active will mean the Medic will always be building his Über at the maximum rate. Coupled with the Heavy’s bulk, this makes FoS Heavy rather attractive Medic buddies as they are still rather reliable meatshields. Sure, Heavy can only be buffed to 390 Hp now instead of the usual 450 Hp, but coupled with the 40% ranged damage resistance Heavy now has an effective HP of 546 Hp. Just pray that no one runs at you with a melee weapon, since you’ll now have an effective HP of 195 instead. And it’ll take you forever to holster the FoS to bring out your Minigun. And another eternity to spin it up and start firing.
But the FoS’s true potential when it comes to rollouts is when it is coupled with the stealth-buffed Buffalo Steak Sandvich. With a 16 second speed boost that lets the Heavy run at 311 HU/s, its only downside of stripping the user to melee is inconsequential in this context since you’re going to be running with them out to make use of the increased defenses anyway. And since the BSS’s effects no longer causes you to take extra damage, you’ll get to enjoy the full benefits of the FoS’s damage resistances as you run to the frontlines. And if anyone tries to fight you, your melee strikes are Mini-Critted during the effect duration, so you’re somewhat better off than with the Eviction Notice or the GRU. And if you are being pocketed, the fact that the BSS doesn’t heal you shouldn’t matter, since you’ll be using it as a portable Medkit for others most of the time anyway. The Buffalo Steak Sandvich is actually somewhat decent now.
This really doesn’t offer you anything. Unless you are playing Medieval Mode, there are better options out there. And if you are playing Medieval Mode, eat a Steak before you move out of the spawn door.
This really doesn’t offer you anything. Unless you are playing Medieval Mode, there are better options out there. And if you are playing Medieval Mode, eat a Steak before you move out of the spawn door.
This really doesn’t offer you anything. Even if you are playing Medieval Mode, there are better options out there. In fact, for moving out of spawn the Holiday Punch is about as practical as the stock Fists.
(Also applies for all stock melee reskins and the Apoco-Fists)
Among all the stock weapons you can roll out with for Heavy, this is the second worst option out there. In fact, rolling out with the Shotgun might be more practical.
(Also applies for the Family Business and the Panic Attack)
There is one scenario where rolling out of spawn with shotguns is a viable option. If you need to get to the objective but you know there’s a pesky enemy Scout or Pyro or some other flanking class nearby, you need a method of dispatching your opponents while you are on the move. In that sense, charging out of spawn with a shotgun might actually be viable, provided that the objective is nearby. Otherwise, just go with Steak + FoS and pray that your would-be assailant has no concept of personal space.
But really, if the objective isn’t that far away, the speed boosts probably won’t help much, but the safety provided by the shotguns might actually be more valuable as you move to position yourself at a good spot. This will probably work rather well for KoTH. Other than that, don’t bother. You need to reach the objective as soon as possible and you have a long way to run.
And if you are a pocket Heavy, the shotguns will prove valuable for you to protect your Medic as well. It definitely beats trying to run after Scouts while futilely punching the air behind him with the GRU. So yes, if you need speed, use something else. But if you need some immediate firepower for safety purposes, the shotguns aren’t too bad. Of course, which shotgun out of the 3 that you choose is pretty much just dependent on your preference. Personally I’m much happier with the Family Business.
(Applies for anything the Heavy can eat)
Look, if you are really that eager to heal somebody, go play Medic. Otherwise, I really have no idea why in the world with you choose to run out of spawn with a healing item out.
… just go home.