• Good against vehicles

• Not defenseless against low altitude aviation

• Weak against infantry

• Very Slow

• Low Attack Range

• Mediocre strength against buildings and defenses

The Heavy Assault, alongside the Hammer is one of only 2 anti-tank units which are immediately available at HQ1. Its cheap price allows a player to produce them in huge numbers even at the beginning of the battle, which can be used for several rush tactics. These properties also make them the perfect counter for Coyote rushes, to which only Fortress with its Tier 3 armor turns out to be an better alternative. Heavy Assaults also tend to be one of the best counters to Alligator attacks as they receive minimal damage from them, have similar range and deal very high damage to them.

Even at HQ2 they still remain very valuable for countering units as they are capable of crushing Armadillo and Dragonfly attacks. Beginning from these points in battle, Hammers as anti-tank weaponry and Typhoons as anti-helicopter weaponry start to outperform it though. It needs to be mentioned though that this only applies to Dragonflies due to their low infantry damage and that when fighting Cyclones it is much better to instead rely solely on Typhoons.

The only real way for them to work in mid to late game (HQ3+) is if they either come as a surprise or are mixed with higher tier units like Zeus. This works especially great in same faction battles as the opponent will not have access to the Chameleon, the biggest hard-counter to Heavy Assaults.

The only exception to this rule is if the enemy decides to use Dragonflies against which they are relatively effective, as they can use their full firepower against low altitude air units too. This does not work in same faction battles though, as Cyclones are capable of dodging their projectiles due to a combination of high speed, higher range and their strafing ability.

As a general rule of thumb:

Against Resistance Helicopters: Heavy Assaults or Heavy Assault + Typhoon
Against Confederation Helicopters: Typhoon

In general, it is also recommended to use some kind of anti-infantry unit like Assault, Fire Assault, Fortress or Cyclone to support them. If a player has the resources for it, investing in Cerberus as an anti-infantry support is an even better option as it basically is a combination of all 3 confed infantry units. In the late game, Zeus with its splash damage can also protect them pretty decently from infantry.