Being & Beating Heavies - A Noob Guide

[bill the noon]

Of the four classes in DUST 514, the heavy is unsurprisingly your big damage dealer. As the only suits that can hold the heavy infantry weapons, such as the heavy machine gun or forge gun, and being the most armoured, it can sometimes seem like an over powered monster. But like all classes, the heavy has many strengths and weaknesses. Knowing what these are will allow you to be a better merc whether you are a heavy or a guy aiming at one.

HOW TO WIN WITH A HEAVY

RANGE
Know who to shoot - because heavies are most effective in the short to medium range with a hmg and medium to long range with a forge gun. If you try to kill someone who is too far for your hmg all you will do is alert that person to your location. And if you get too close while using the forge gun, you should hope to be a good shot because the rate of fire is incredibly low. This advice while important to all classes and weapons is doubley important for the heavies who, being the slowest of the classes are unable to chase or flee its enemies.

This is where LAV's come in. As all players have the starter baloch, heavies should use this disposable LAV to help get right in the enemies face for some hmg action, or to get them up to the top of a hill to rain death with a forge gun. A usual tactic i employ is to drive my vehicle right at a group of opponents and bail about ten meters away from them, sending my vehicle at and past them. While you won't get a kill if your now unmanned vehicle runs some one over, you may get the squad of people to turn and keep their gazes on the vehicle. This should make the clone harvesting that much easier. Should you jump out of the vehicle after you fly through a group of enemies you may be in a situation where you have a group of enemies looking at your defenceless back.

A further option is to change suits. At supply depots you have the option of changing your fitting. This strategy is one I employ every battle. When I first jump out of the MCC at the beginning of a match I am in a scout suit not a heavy suit. I use my scout speed to rush in to a supply depot close to the center of the map then after claiming it for my team change over to a heavy suit. This puts me in a great spot because I will probably out class any dropsuit quick enough to have also made it into the center of the map.

OPEN FIELDS
If you have played for any length of time you have probably had a nice encounter with the front grill of a strangers lav. Heavies are both extra vulnerable to being run over and at the same time, the most capable of dealing with lavs. Due to the slow speed of heavies don't expect to just dodge out of the way when a vehicle approaches, instead look for a dip or bump in the ground. If you put some space between you and some uneven surfaces you may have a chance to fake out your would be killer. Just head in one direction until it looks like his front wheels are no longer in contact with the ground. Then go the other way. He won't be able to correct his course until his front wheels hit the ground and hopefully he will now be just a few feet away ready for your hmg to tear him up. (Or just one shot him with a forge gun.)

The second major danger in open fields are assault rifles. More so than sniper rifles, ARs will be the worst thing to be shot at with. A heavy can take a sniper bullet or two and so can stand a chance of finding cover. Snipers are also unlikely to come anywhere close to you so even if they wound you, they will not be likely to chase you should you find cover. Not so for some one with an AR, they are capable of both hitting you from outside your range and coming in to finish you off. In a situation like this there isn't much you can do, so it is best to avoid them. Make sure you move from cover to cover call in vehicles or have a friend with you.

BEING BAIT
You and your squad are on one side of a doorway the enemy and his squad are on the other. Who's gonna go say hi. By quickly poking your self through the door and immediate withdrawing, you may be able to draw the enemy back through the door. To make yourself more tempting hit the reload button. Since you can cancel a reload by using the melee attack you can surprise them with a few hundred bullets as they come through at you. Even if this strategy gets you killed your squad mates will now be able to rush an enemy with half empty clips.

Another time when it is valuable to stick your neck out is to locate snipers. By being able to take a sniper shot the heavy can step into the open and watch for the sniper to shoot. Once you know where the sniper is you can make decide what to do with him. If he's far you can just remember to keep a barrier between you and him. If he's close you could rush him or get a squad member to do so. If you do have a squad mate trying to take down a sniper help him out by distracting the sniper. Even if he is out of your range, fire a few rounds at him so he turns to look at you and not your sneaky squad mate.

FIGHTING A HEAVY
Gang up and suround
Flanking the heavy is an option that is much easier than other units due to his slow speed. With very little time you can run around nearby objects to get at his back. If one person distracts him all the easier.

Shooting from cover
if you can find some cover so that less of you is exposed you will last much longer. This is true of fighting anyone. But the spread on an hmg makes it that hard for a heavy to acurately place his bullets. If the heavy is aiming at your torso then his bullets will hit you all over. If you cover half your boddy then you are cutting out half the damage.

PRIME YOUR GERNADES
The less time the slow ass heavy has to get out of the way the better. The placement of the gernade is also important try to use it to prevent him from getting too close to you.

RUN
You don't have to kill a heavy just because you see it. You can take off until you find yourself in a better situation or can call some friends over. If you can get him to try to chase you you can lead him to your squadmates. And if nothing else you can get him to waste time and ammo chasing you rather than getting his objectives.

Keep moving
Don't stand still and try to put more bullets into him than he puts into you. Circle and fire from the hip, throw in some jumping. Remember heavies take a long time to reload if you can get him to run out of bullets you then are able to take him down with ease.

[Ghost-Rhayne]

Awesome guide Bill, thanks! I'm going to pimp it up a bit presentation wise.

[DEADMUDD]

Great guide !! it is going to keep me from a bullet cluster f--k

[bill the noon]

Ill probably add more later but im typing this on my phone while sitting on a forklift waiting for a robot, 30 seconds at a time. Posted it because my phone browser is crashy sometimes.

[Ghost-Rhayne]

Haha, man, nice work...Waiting for a robot?