Yes.

But Shotgun Heavy is better.

i agree because sometimes if you get chased or if you're low on health you can just break it out and not worry about spin down time, plus you cant always depend on your teammates in certain situations

but is it in the actual rules that you absolutely have to run it, or are you allowed to use other unlocks? just curious

Unless I misread something, all Heavy secondaries are legal in UGC HL play.

It's certainly not required, but it's sorta become the standard since it's often useful for healing up your medic.

In my experience, shotgun is usually more useful if youre without a medic. And you should always be with your medic as a highlander heavy. But no, you can use whatever secondary you want.

sandvich heavy is everyone's favorite heavy in hl

its better to play sandvich dispenser rather than real heavy in highlander

If you want to be healed, yes, it's a requirement.

If your team is playing properly, you shouldn't be on the first line of a push and you should hopefully maintain at least 400 health. If you are being killed, generally that means you should have already fallen back with your Medic. I've always had my hwguy run sandvich just in case I get randomly hit with splash.

Its similar to a Sniper running Razorback. Its a selfish weapon to run shotgun when you are basically another health dispensing unit for anyone on your team, just in case you can get that 1 or 2 kills per match with your shotgun.

But....if you're on a strong enough team that your Medic can pocket the Demoman/Pyro combo and you can roam, then by all means do it up big. Usually this can only happen vs weaker teams though.

don't forget those clutch sandvich airtoss.