Heavy (EU2012)

Heavy

A class specialising in firepower and damage, carrying both a Light Machinegun and a Rocket Launcher. They are essential to support squad attacks, engage enemies on their own or the demolition of terrain obstacles. Its main disadvantages are low accuracy progression and limited ammunition for the launcher.

• The LMG is the Heavy's main weapon, capable of dealing heavy damage to targets and also to suppress them, if the Heavy has that ability. It can later be updated to the more advanced Heavy Laser or Heavy Plasma models.
• The Rocket Launcher is the secondary weapon for the Heavy and grants 1 rocket, to use against groups or enemies or to take down terrain. The Shredder Rocket ability adds a special purpose rocket; and the Rocketeer perk allows one further normal rocket to be carried. The Rocket Launcher can later be upgraded to the Blaster Launcher, which increases the effectiveness of the rockets.
• Heavies can carry 1 additional item for customization. Frag Grenades/Alien Grenades are an essential item for Heavies that have taken the Grenadier ability.
• The Heavy's Ability tree choices are mainly divided between Damage Increase, Reactions and Equipment.

• Damage Increase - Fire Rocket, Shredder Rocket, HEAT Ammo, Danger Zone and Mayhem.
• Reactions - Suppression and Rapid Reaction.
• Equipment - Fire Rocket, Grenadier and Rocketeer.
• Unique - Bullet Swarm (firing doesn't use both Actions), Holo-Targeting (+10 Aim to squad mates) and Will to Survive (less Damage taken).

• Heavies receive lesser rank bonuses in stats upon promotion, specially in Aim (+10 Aim points total upon reaching Colonel), receiving also a total of 4 HPs and 14 Will points.

Rank	Ability
Squaddie	Fire Rocket Fire a rocket using an equipped launcher. This ability can not be used after moving, nor more than once per mission.		Fire Rocket Fire a rocket using an equipped launcher. This ability can not be used after moving, nor more than once per mission.
Corporal	Bullet Swarm Firing the primary weapon as the first action no longer ends the turn.		Holo-Targeting Shooting at or suppressing enemies also confers a +10 Aim to any allies' attacks on those enemies.
Sergeant	Shredder Rocket Fire a rocket that causes all enemies hit to take +33% damage from all sources for the next 4 turns. The rocket's blast is weaker than a standard rocket's. (67% normal damage)		Suppression Can fire a special shot that grants reaction fire at a single target. The target also suffers a -30 Aim penalty.
Lieutenant	HEAT Ammo +100% to damage against robotic enemies.		Rapid Reaction Confers a second reaction shot, if on Overwatch and the first reaction shot is a hit.
Captain	Grenadier Allows to carry 2 grenades in a single inventory slot.		Danger Zone Increases hit area of rockets and suppression by 2 tiles.
Major	Will to Survive Reduces all normal damage taken by 2 if in cover and not flanked.		Will to Survive Reduces all normal damage taken by 2 if in cover and not flanked.
Colonel	Rocketeer Allows 1 additional standard rocket to be fired per battle.		Mayhem Confers additional damage based on weapon tech level to Suppression and all area-effect abilities.

KEYCHART

Additional Shot	Improves Reaction	Extra Movement	Additional Equipment	Change Unit Aim	Decrease Enemy Aim	Change Damage Given	Decrease Damage Taken

Fire Rocket The Heavy's signature weapon. It provides a limited but powerful area effect attack that does heavy damage to targets and terrain. A Heavy can only use 1 rocket per mission at first, but has the potential to carry up to 3 by Colonel rank by taking Shredder Rocket and/or Rocketeer. Rockets require a full 2 actions to fire. Rockets do not need a solid surface or target to detonate. They can be set to explode in mid-air. The Rocket Launcher only fires in a straight line and has a chance to be fired off-target. Careful positioning of the Heavy is therefore a crucial element for an effective rocket attack. Once upgraded to the Blaster Launcher, all rockets will gain more damage, the ability to navigate around walls and obstacles. They can also travel through closed doors. The Heavy only needs to be within rocket range, and can otherwise stay safely out of sight. Rockets can be enhanced with Danger Zone and Mayhem. Danger Zone widens the blast area, while Mayhem adds more damage at the cost of the Rocketeer perk.

Additional Notes

• Heavy abilities are divided between Heavy Ordinance (Attack) or Heavy Supression:

• Heavy Ordinance path: Focuses on area effect damage. Suggested perks include Shredder Rocket, Grenadier and Rocketeer. This perk line is designed to accentuate area damage, good for taking out groups of weak aliens or to soften up and destroy the cover of hard targets.
• Heavy Suppression path: Focuses on suppression perks like Suppression, Rapid Reaction, Danger Zone and Mayhem. Suppression allows the player to pin down the enemy and freely move around Run & Gun Assault units to systematically eliminate the enemy. This would be good for scenarios that are not time sensitive so you establish position and plan out movements to minimize Overwatch consequences.

• The Heavy can provide general purpose squad-support with Holo Targeting, Supression and the Shredder Rocket as well as use any carried explosives to destroy enemy cover.

• Both Holo-Targeting and Shredder Rocket are designed for other squad members to take advantage of them, allowing the Heavy to act as a squad multiplier, including other Heavy units, if present.

• Bullet Swarm allows you to use both of your move to fire your LMG. It counts as using your first move action, so cannot be followed by a Rocket attack. Bullet Swarm only works with your primary weapon, so using an item or psionic ability as your first action will still end the turn.
• The Shredder Rocket deals 4 base damage as opposed to the regular rocket's 6 damage.

• Any targets hit by a Shredder Rocket will take on more damage from any subsequent attacks for the rest of the turn. This makes it a good opening attack on enemies with lots of hit-points.

• The damage bonus for HEAT Ammo is applied to all of the Heavy's damaging attacks, be it regular shooting, grenades, rockets, or Mayhem.
• Mayhem deals 1 damage per tech level of the heavy's primary weapon, so the LMG will deal 1 damage, the Heavy Laser will do 2 damage, and the Heavy Plasma will dish out 3 damage.
• The suppression ability of Heavies allows a pair of them to effectively immobilize a mind-controlled ally. This will save you from killing your own soldiers, or having an alloy-cannon-armed assault soldier turning on you on while you're in the tight spaces of a downed UFO.

Tactical Advice

Heavies are the class with the most varied choices: HEAT Ammo, Suppression, Shredder Rocket, etc. making each build an individual taste. You can have an explosives specialist capable of putting out major damage in an area, making big plays to pull your squad out of the fire when XCOM decides to be... well, XCOM. Or you can have a Machinegunner expert that crowds out the Support for his job with Suppression, Bullet Swarm and Rapid Reaction. As for the Heavy himself, he's in an interesting place. Though all soldiers begin with 65 Aim, Heavies gain significantly less through promotion than their peers. In contrast, his machine gun deals high damage, on par with a sniper rifle or shotgun. These facts, combined with his rocket launcher, make him a terror in the early game but potentially less reliable (and thus less relevant) as it progresses. Between their poor Aim and inability to fire rockets after moving, Heavies are the class most hampered by mobility.

In light of this, beginning players may find explosives-centric heavies preferable. Suppression-focused heavies take a while to come into their own and depend on their squad to provide killing power once they do. Explosives Heavies are somewhat more straightforward to play, and they themselves provide more firepower to carry your team before it becomes a well-oiled x-ray-killing machine.

Abilities

Corporal

Bullet Swarm

Holo-Targeting

Either choice will benefit both Heavy builds. Explosive Heavies usually go Bullet Swarm, although Holo-Targeting is also very useful for the rest of the squad to fire against the alien. Machinegunner Heavies may prefer Holo-Targeting in the long run, but also benefit from Bullet Swarm.

Bullet Swarm

• Gives tactical flexibility. It allows for Fire and Move, Fire and Reload or Fire and Fire. In particular, shooting twice ends up yielding a statistically better chance of hitting a particular alien than Holo-Targeting him and ordering the rest of your Rookies to open fire.
• Since the machine gun only has 3 rounds, even if you take Suppression, you need Bullet Swarm to Suppress two rounds in a row. Finally, firing twice gives the Heavy two chances to destroy his target's cover; in this event, he has just granted your squad more than the benefit of Holo-Targeting.
• The downside is its high ammo consumption plus using it can make the Heavy immobile and vulnerable against superior enemies.

Holo-Targeting

• Applies to both the Machinegun and the Launcher - Heavy shoots/blows cover and marks the remaining aliens for the rest of the team to tag.
• Helps the whole team to focus their firepower on a single alien - it can be very useful in taking down high-threat aliens, regardless of storyline progression.

Sergeant

Suppression

Shredder Rocket

Shredder Rocket for Explosive Heavies, Suppression for Machinegunner Heavies.

Shredder Rockets

• Useful throughout the game. On all difficulties except Impossible, they deal enough damage to one-shot Sectoids, Thin Men, and Floaters, making them essentially just another rocket when you first get them;
• Shred effect helps with high HP targets;
• The set damage provided by explosives can help set up aliens for capture.

Suppression

• Also a handy utility skill;
• Can be used to pin down an alien and prevent it to move (and flank your position);
• Suppression will also drop its target's Aim by 30% if it fires against an exposed squadmate.

Lieutenant

HEAT Ammo

Rapid Reaction

Similar to the Corporal choice, both Heavies like HEAT Ammo, but Machinegunner Heavies can consider Rapid Reaction.

HEAT Ammo

• Deals extra damage to robotic opponents. Put simply, in XCOM, robots are the devil. Anything that hastens Cyberdiscs and Sectopods to their circuity grave is awesome;
• HEAT boosted grenades will make short work of Drones, saving your squad a lot of wasted effort.
• One of few ways to scale your explosives damage, until Blaster Launcher is available;
• If combined with Bullet Swarm, Heavies can dole out massive quantities of damage to robots, and the team can even drop Cyberdiscs and Sectopods in one turn.

Rapid Reaction

• The complement to HEAT Ammo: an ability for use against weaker enemies as found in Council missions, specially during Overwatch ambushes;
• Rapid Reaction can also be very useful to guard rooms and corridors;
• Be sure you get the Ammo Conservation project done in the Foundry or you will find that this is a fantastic way to empty your magazine.
• The AI almost never moves when suppressed, so this has surprisingly little synergy with Suppression.

Captain

Grenadier

Danger Zone

Both types of Heavy like Danger Zone. Explosive Heavies should also consider Grenadier.

Grenadier

• Locks you into a single item to take advantage of it, but grenades are admittedly useful.
• Make sure you acquire some Alien Grenades if you go this route.
• Consider whether you typically have grenades on any of your other units. If not, giving up a wildly-inaccurate Heavy shot to hurl a grenade is not a big sacrifice by any stretch, and the rest of your squad will thank you for blowing the enemy's cover.
• Similarly, if you think you'd rather Kool-Aid Man through a wall instead of using the door, doing it with a grenade beats burning a rocket on it.

Danger Zone

• Explosive Heavies will love having a bigger boom, but Suppression Heavies being able to AOE suppress enemies is the big payoff.
• AOE Suppression requires fairly particular enemy positioning, but when you can manage it, it's great;
• You can also apply Holo-Targeting to the whole group, turning it into a nice combination.

Colonel

Rocketeer

Mayhem

Explosives Heavies will want Rocketeer. Suppression Heavies should take Mayhem.

Rocketeer

• Boosts your overall damage output while taking away some of the nerves you get when thinking about whether now is really the best time to shoot your one, single rocket;
• While Mayhem does add some damage to your rockets, Rocketeer ultimately amounts to more damage and gives you more control in how you apply it.

Mayhem

• The grand finale for the Machinegunner - makes Suppression becomes a reliable way to damage enemies;
• Can be a useful late game way of chipping the health off an enemy you want to capture.
• The extra damage on your rockets is a nice side benefit.

Equipment

Weapon: More than any other class, the Heavy doesn't need primary weapon upgrades. By all means do so if you can spare the resources, but keep in mind that rockets, grenades, and suppression all ignore your machine gun. Moreover, with the high base damage of the weapon, Heavies can one-shot Sectoids, Thin Men, and Floaters on Classic, mitigating the need to upgrade to Laser.

Armor: Heavies will typically be near the front of your group, as they need to advance and sit still in order to put rockets where they need to be. As a result, Armor is a fairly big priority for Heavies, and they should be considered after Assaults for cutting edge suits if you can't outfit your full team. Skeleton Armor and Ghost Armor eliminate all mobility issues, with the invisibility from Ghost Armor being particularly helpful in setting up rockets or flanks, counteracting the low Aim. Titan Armor, despite being the "heaviest," is not actually a great choice due to the aforementioned mobility consideration.

Item: If you went Grenadier, grab a Grenade. If you have HEAT ammo and are facing Cyberdiscs/Drones, grab a Grenade. Otherwise, S.C.O.P.E.s can offset the Heavy's low Aim if you find that you're using your gun a lot. Heavies also make decent carriers of Medikits if your Supports for some reason don't have enough, as their combat effectiveness drops after they run out of rockets.

Summary

Your glacier class, they're slow but essentially unstoppable. Their low aim means they can't hit the broad side of a barn, so the obvious solution is to level it instead. Besides the mandatory Rocket, HEAT Ammo is the go-to ability choice (and, like Squadsight, is reccomended to be ignored if you wish to make the game harder), while Rapid Reaction, similar to Support's "Sentinel", is dependant on the first shot hitting: with Heavy's aim, it is considered a soft option. Heat Ammo applies to the main gun, so with a Heavy Plasma Rife (easily acuired from Elite Mutons: MC an Ethereal's Elite guard, and it'll waste the next turn killing the elite, dropping it's gun intact!), even with your rockets used up, a Heavy is still a potential Sectopod Killer (you just have to get close enough), plus with Bullet Storm, it can potentially do so in one turn (again, the issue of aim, as well as the dangers of being in range of a Sectopod). Grenadier may be better for your early Heavies, but for a Psi Heavy with Mindfray, even two alien grenades are near-useless, even for destroying cover. Danger Zone would be better for your late-game Heavies, especially if you get a shiny Blaster Launcher: the ability to put your shots exactly where you want them, and the blast radius to, for example, damage several Sectopods while simeltanousely taking out all their Drones makes even Impossible-difficulty Terror Missions manageable.

On Classic and Impossible, a Blaster Launcher, even with Heat Ammo, cannot 1-hit Kill a Cyberdisc, unless Mayhem is chosen. Rocketeer gives you another shot, but obviously only one per turn. Between Heavy's abilities, this is perhaps the hardest choice: the +3 damage with a Blaster Launcher (+6 when HEAT is applicable) can help, but by the time you can get the Blaster Launcher, a difference of 3 (or 6) damage is more a matter of "is there another soldier there to finish it off?" Since the option means you've maxed the level of your Heavy anyways, the experience points of a downed Disc or Pod might be of better use of another soldier. If you took Shredder Rocket, Mayhem may be more feasable than if Suppression was taken, though You would be missing out on it's affects to supression: instead of being a 1-rocket wonder, you may prefer a total of 3 rockets. The choice is yours.

As mentioned, a Psi Heavy makes Grenadier almost obsolete, as Alien Grenades always do 5 damage, as does Mind Fray. And while grenades destroy cover, Mind Fray ignores it completely (though sometimes it'll inexplicably destroy any windows in the way), as long as there's line-of-sight. While you may like to destroy cover for your other soldiers with grenades: as a Psi Heavy will be late-game anyways, with a Heavy Laser/Plasma Rifle (wich, if misses, may destroy cover as well-- plus Bullet Storm doubles the odds of a hit or cover-destroy), and perhaps a Blaster Launcher, a Psy Heavy should take Danger Zone, as it makes more out if his limited rocket supply. Between Psi Inspiration and Panic, it's more on what you like to use more. And lastly, as a front-line soldier, Mind Control may suit a Heavy better, at least as a distraction to keep them and their cover from being attacked, keeping nearby aliens in position for a Rocket/Blaster attack. Finally, if you make your Final Heavy the Volunteer, the Rift attack does benefit from HEAT-- though, as the only mission you can do at that point is the Sanctuary Ship: it seems you cannot place Rift on the high archways where the Cyberdiscs appear in the first room, and the two Sectopods are in the middle of an open 'courtyard'-- and by requirement, your Volunteer, HEAT Heavy or not, cannot have the Ghost Armor to sneak up on them. Try MC'ing the Berserker right before them, and have it lead the way as a distraction.

See Also

• Classes (EU2012)
• Weapons (EU2012)
• Armour (EU2012)
• Equipment (EU2012)