TF2 Weekly
Boxing Bonanza!
Monday, January 31st of 2011
Again, just a reminder--I am an average TF2 player, not an expert by any means. Anything written is purely opinion.
Fists
Base: 65 (59 to 72)
Mini-Crit: 88
Critical hit: 195
Overview:
The base melee for the Heavy, with the gloves thrown off (except for his fingerless gloves, I guess), the Heavy's base fists are not the greatest weapon on their own. Just about every other melee weapon he owns outclasses the fists. They're only slightly faster than the K.G.B.s (along with everything else he can equip), and like all of his melee equips (or lack thereof in this case) they're not especially fast. So one asks themselves, why would they just go out with their bare fists?
Showdown, the Heavy's sole taunt kill, is only usable with his bare fists--and is arguably the BEST taunt kill in the game. It fires an invisible bullet in the direction of wherever you're aiming, and it even has rather decent range--Its length is about equal to nine classes standing in a line directly in front of the Heavy. Throwing in his massive health, he'll probably get a chance to get a kill with it if timed right, too. The Showdown has an attack interval of 3 seconds, so time it right.
...With that said, the Showdown is basically the only reason I ever pull out my bare fists. I don't personally recommend them otherwise.
Accompanying side weapons: Any really. If you're switching to your bare fists, you probably don't have a shotgun handy, and the other secondaries are more of a pick-your-flavor thing.
The Killing Gloves of Boxing
Base: 65 (59 to 72)
Mini-Crit: 88
Critical hit: 195
Overview:
The first unlockable melee for the Heavy. It packs the same amount of punch (no pun intend... well, okay, a little) as the Fists, but it's slightly slower. What gives? The nifty little bonus afterwards; Score a kill with the K.G.B.s and get critical hits for five seconds.
The critical hit bonus, lasting five seconds, is surprisingly long when you're using your K.G.B.s and you're surrounded by confused enemies by the flailing Russian in the middle of them. Which is great, but that's not all the bonus is limited to--It crosses over to your other weapons, which includes the Shotgun and your miniguns.
For Natascha and the Brass Beast, you probably won't even have them revved up in time to enjoy the critical hits. The Minigun itself isn't much better either, but it doesn't take many critical hits from one to take something down. If you have the Shotgun as your secondary, however, you can definitely get several critical hits in without impeding your movement speed, so it's definitely worth consideration.
The Gloves of Running Urgently
Base: 33 (29 to 37 damage)
Mini-Crit: 43
Critical hit: 96
Overview:
Here's something interesting here--the Heavy's melee playing a more supportive role.
The G.R.U. increases the Heavy's running speed by 30%, making him virtually identical in speed to the Engineer, Pyro and Sniper. While this may not seem like much, consider this: The Heavy's base running speed is 77% 'normal' speed, which is 100% for the above classes. The G.R.U. boost him up to just nearly 100%, which means the arguably most powerful and high-HP class is now running around at an alarmingly faster speed.
...At a cost: 6 health per second is loss while the G.R.U. are equipped. With a Medic, knowledge of health packs in the level, or even your trusty Sandvich, it doesn't take much to recover.
Granted, it's really worth mentioning that the Heavy's melee has always been more of an 'extra' slot--Worth tossing out more for fun rather than for strategy. The shotgun generally outdoes most of the Heavy's melee equipment in general considering his low speed, but the Sandvich is often too good to pass up, and thus its popularity has risen.
With the G.R.U., you can get into battle a lot faster, but the G.R.U. does less damage than all of his other weapons by quite a bit. Unless you have the shotgun as your secondary (which you may not want due to the HP loss with movement and the lack of a healing option), you might find yourself in trouble if you're unable to draw your Minigun in time to fight back. On the bright side, you've got a better chance of fleeing now.
The Warrior's Spirit
Base: 85 (73 to 97 damage)
Mini-Crit: 112
Critical hit: 250
Overview:
At the cost of 20 HP, you can deal 30% more damage with your Melee. Which, I guess, is somewhat fair. However, I'm not a big fan of the cons here. Consider this: How often are you going to have your melee out rather than your minigun? Probably not more often than you should.
Like I mentioned the Milkman set in my overview of the Shortstop last week, I should go over the the Hibernating Bear set. With the Warrior's Spirit, the Brass Beast, and the Buffalo Steak Sandvich, the Heavy gets a 5% critical hit resistance bonus.
...Which is exactly as minor as it sounds. Granted, the Heavy has minor health, but even so--that means a 200 damage attack will do 190. I guess it helps you deal with headshots while fully overhealed, but--
Wait, what's that? You have 20 less HP and can't survive a fully powered headshot anyways? Yeah. It's kinda like that. It's worth mentioning that with the Buffalo Steak Sandvich, you take mini-crits and have less HP, but you move a lot faster and deal 112 damage per hit, while running around fairly fast... which would help if you weren't so big. I can't say I recommend the Warrior's Spirit, or even the set, at all.
The Fists of Steel
Base: 65 (59 to 72 damage)
Mini-Crit: 88
Critical hit: 195
Overview:
It deals the same damage as the basic Fists at the same speed. And yet, it is possibly the best offensive and defensive weapon in the Heavy's arsenal.
The Fists of Steel, when equipped, cause the Heavy to take 60% less damage from ranged attacks (read: A LOT), while taking double damage from melee sources.
A fully-powered headshot from a Sniper Rifle will do 180 damage at most. A direct hit from a Crit Rocket will deal only 108. The Scout's bat will... actually... hurt a lot, with a crit swing dealing over 200 damage to you, never mind the speed of it.
But that's what you have guns for.
You can literally lure a sentry away, or step in front of your medic and take oncoming fire as he prepares his Ubercharge. The Fists of Steel make the Heavy a monster to take out. You can sprint across a field watched by snipers and easily make it to the health pack on the other side... Or hell, go run up to the Snipers and just punch them out--or even laugh as they switch to their Melee weapons and you're already revving up your minigun!
I'll recommended either the Sandvich or the Shotgun as your secondary. With the Sandvich, you play the Fists of Steel as defensively as possible--tossing it on the ground to quickly heal half your health back while on the run, and hammering unsuspecting opponents before they can switch to their melee weapons. With the shotgun, you simply charge your enemy or start swinging until they draw their Melee weapon--and then load their face with lead.
I love these things. They are by far my favorite weapons for the Heavy to be released since the Sandvich, and they change how I play the Heavy now.
That just about sums up the Heavy's assortment of melee weapons. If you have a suggestion for next Monday's TF2 Weekly, just drop a message in the thread. Notice any mistakes, or just want to share your opinion? Drop a message in the thread!
Thanks to the folks at Team Fortress Wiki for the statistics.
Thanks to the following users for pointing out my silly mistakes:
Yutaka
Thereven
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