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I know headshots are a critical if you're a sniper, or if you're a spy using the Ambassador, because it's labeled in the weapon description. I can probably assume it is the same for any other weapon, but are there separate modifiers for the legs, arms, torso, and chest?

For example, when I am playing Heavy and get caught in a close range ambush with another Heavy, should I aim for their head, or does it really matter?

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There is no difference in damage from where you aim, with the exceptions of headshots for certain weapons.

Your example with the heavy, aiming for the head will not make a difference, what does make a difference in a lot of weapons' damage though is the distance of fire. The closer to are to the opponent the more damage you will do. Of course, this means they are closer and can do more damage to you as well, but this is why ambushing and surprise are always good ideas.

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    Also, aiming for the center will make more of the spread hit them, which could be a big deal.
    – Ullallulloo
    Aug 20, 2013 at 23:36
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    @Ullallulloo Exactly right. If you aim for the head you get no benifits and you'll probably lose a lot of bullets going over their head. Aiming for the torso assures if bullets go astray, they will possible still hit the enemy.
    – RoneRackal
    Aug 20, 2013 at 23:37
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    Thanks, also for the tips in the comments and the extra facts.
    – BitLion
    Aug 21, 2013 at 1:27
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    Although the choice of body part doesn't make any difference, don't forget weapons that hit differently from behind - the spy's knives, the Holiday Punch, and the Backburner.
    – user3490
    Aug 21, 2013 at 10:14
  • Yeah, well, a backstab to the achilles heel is just as fatal as a backstab to the head, so...
    – Shadur
    Aug 21, 2013 at 19:58
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Interestingly enough, this video does shed some light on some plausible body-part damage reduction:

Essentially, the jist of the video is that for some strange reason, the damage only hits up to 99 points of damage on the head for the grenade launcher, while bodyshotting yields more than 99 damage.

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    This isn't really because of body-part damage reduction, especially since projectiles use the collision hull which (aside from arrows) has no body-part mechanic. It's because explosions deal more damage when closer to the center of their target (a head hit means farther from center of target, so less damage) and when the target is encompassed by more explosion (a head hit means much of the explosion isn't in contact at all).
    – Toomai
    Sep 19, 2013 at 19:10

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