how to stay away

how do you guys stay away from snipers? usually when i see one, is when i'm either about to die or died. is this unavoidable or no?

If we bring in real life examples...run like a gazelle ^_^ Go left, then right, jump left, then jump right...switch it up...sometimes too when you shoot and kind of bullets or pellets, it kind of shakes their vision. Give that a try!

may be in public sometimes that might work but what if its like a private server or a clan??

i would refrain from jumping vs. good snipers. Unless you're a scout then you're dead.  When you jump you go a set distance and are in the air for a set time, once you learn this time (especially with demo grenade launcher) when someone jumps you know where they are going to land.  strafing left and right is the best way, ducking in this game wont do much, the head box in this game is large enough so that when you crouch, if hes aiming at the chin where he should be and you crouch then it hits your forehead. And he could just be going for body shots to weaken you for the rest of the team.

Do not run straight? Even good snipers miss a few times, just run for cover while strafing.

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i get killed like this 1/5 of the time. i eve ntried jumping and stuff, i guess heavy is just not my class.

best way to avoid this is to just run/dodge or lay cover fire so they move and then run

The way I run away from snipers is that I don't even go where the snipers are... Usually I look at the wall behind me and see if a blue dot exists, I wait 5 seconds to see if it does exist, if it doesn't I run to a safe zone. If it does exist, and comes on and off, I run somewhere else.

Well I'm generally the guy shooting the heavies in the head, and from what i can see, you guys are just too slow. If i didn't have freaking parkinsons and have my hand jumping all over the place, all the heavies would be dead. The only thing that slows down a sniper is charging, because it takes a near-fully charged sniper shot in the head to kill, and a full to kill with a medic on. If the heavy gets close enough, then he can kill the sniper. If not, just get out of the way. The maps aren't generally too sniper-friendly, and there's always cover. (i don't mean behind buildings, i mean like positioning yourself against a wall so that the sniper can't hit you because you're hidden by the roof.

damn, i wish valve releases something that makes the heavy at least a little less vulnerable to snipers