Saint's General Guide for Medic

 

Saint's General Medic Guide

The Medic is a class in Team Fortress 2 and is listed under the support tree. This class can be the only one in the game to really be called a true support class. In this guide I will outline the general uses of a Medic and various other things I see as important. I have 80 hours in Medic at the time of writing so I know what I am talking about enough to write a guide on this stuff. I dedicate this to the stupid medics who won't heal the soldier at 10 health burning to death but can heal a heavy who is at 450. who have made me rage quit and hopefully it helps them get better.

Weapons

Syringe Gun-10-15 per syringe that hit you at 10 per second. This is a Medics standard weapon that you get out of the box and is overshadowed by the Bloodsucker. This is used for taking out sentries at a distance if your buddy is dead or you need to defend yourself. If a teammate is near you under no circumstances should you use the syringe gun over healing them.

Medigun- The main weapon a Medic uses. A Medic has to charge to 100% by healing teammates and once the bar on the bottom right of the screen is filled you can right click to initiate an ubercharge which grants you and your buddy invulnerability for 10 seconds. Use this wisely as it can make or break a game.

Bonesaw- 43-87 (197 critical hit) damage at one hit per second. This is the other out of the box weapon that is often overshadowed by its big brother, the Ubersaw. The Bonesaw is used if your buddy is busy and you spot a spy about to put a knife in his back and you don't have the time to alert him. The Syringe Gun should always be used over this for general defense.

Bloodsucker-10-15 per syringe that hit at 10 per second. This steals 3 health per needle that hits. This is the upgrade for the Syringe Gun. In any situation this should be used over the Syringe Gun. This is best used for defending your life and is a good way to gain some quick life back when your buddy is dead and you need to back off to find some health.

Kritzkrieg- The alternative for the Medigun. This builds ubercharge 25% faster than the regular medigun so it is ideal for arena mode. This is no different from the Medigun except for instead of making you invulnerable it makes you get critical hits nonstop for 10 seconds. This is best used at medium ranges as you are very vulnerable while using this.

Ubersaw- 43-87 (197 critical hit) damage at 20% slower than the Bonesaw. This is the alternative for the Bonesaw and should always be used over it. If you hit a target with this you get 25% onto your ubercharge bar. 4 hits equals a full ubercharge bar. That doesn't mean you should go battlemedic with it though, this should only be used on spies trying to get your target when you don't have time to say anything or when your buddy is dead and you need to try and dispatch a heavier class with a couple of swipes so you can retreat. DO NOT USE THIS ON HEAVIES!!

General Rules

A medic has many rules that he must follow in order to be useful to his team instead of a hindrance like the battlemedics you see.

1. The most important rule a Medic must follow is STAY ALIVE. You are no good to your team when you are dead and your ubercharge is wasted as it resets every time you die.

2. Know the health packs on a map so you can pull back and grab health when needed.

3. When someone is on fire drop whoever you are healing and put out the fire for them.

4. If multiple people are on fire start with the lowest one and put all of them out before buffing them.

5. If you yourself are set on fire remain calm, the fire is meant as a tactic to scare you and your natural regeneration can all but make up for the damage it gives you. Once the combat is over and the Pyro is dead back off and grab some health.

6. As a Medic you must know to move around. Staying still is asking for you to get hit by stray projectiles or a little dot.

7. Know the map, if your buddy dies then you need to know a good path to use so you can back out and save that valuable ubercharge.

8. Another important one, if your buddy rushes into a situation that will most likely kill you both cut the healing from him and back off. He will cry but you are no use to your team dead.

9. Save the ubercharge until you really need it, Using your ubercharge on a soldier to take care of a scout is just wasteful considering it is the most game breaking thing sometimes.

10. BE VOCAL, you are the eyes of your team and without your communication your buddy will only have his set of eyes. You can look in every direction while your buddy focuses on the action and point out key targets like a sniper or medic.

11. Don't use weapons besides the healing beam unless you have good reason to. Needling a heavy being healed by a Medic while a Demoman burns to death next to you does nothing to the team and just makes you a hindrance.

12. Know who to heal first and who not to. Later in this guide I will post a hierarchy for targets I consider most important to least important.

13. Don't stick with one target. Your team consists of more than you and your buddy. Keep everyone healed equally.

14. Make sure everyone is overhealed. Going into battle with everyone on your team at 150% gives you a huge advantage over your enemies.

15. If someone calls for a Medic but is to far away don't run across the map to heal them. Tell them where you are and let them come to you so you don't get caught alone and killed.

16. Keep an eye on everyones health. Some people don't like to call for a medic for some reason and as such it is a good idea to occasionally do a 180 checking everyones health.

17. Keep an eye on your backside. I have saved my teams ass so many times by calling out an attempt to flank us or a spy trying to get my buddy.

18. Know who to trust and who not to on your team. Everyone deserves heals but sticking with a few people for the most part is a good idea as you know they won't rush in and leave you to dry.

19. If a Soldier or Demoman call for a Medic and are at 100% heal them as they may want to sticky or rocket jump to high heights.

20. Have a Demoman or Soldier hurt themselves in down time to make your ubercharge build faster.

 

Healing Hierarchy with reasoning (most to least important)

Most classes need to be healed over others. This is a good look at the order of people you should heal.

Medic- You don't heal a medic all the time obviously but if he is hurt you drop whatever you are doing and heal him.

Heavy- Heavy is a good class to stick with as he has large health and a good chance to critical hit.

Soldier-The all-around best combat class but lacks the area denial nature of a Heavy so is good to heal but is sometimes hard to defend you.

Pyro- Is mobile and does as much damage as a heavy. Has a lot of health when overhealed also.

Demoman- A good class but lacks in defense department unless they set up traps.

Scout- Useful for flanks and gets hurt easily. The most important of the 125 classes.

Spy- Doesn't usually get heals and is a valuable asset to breaking turtling matches. Buff him if he is going on a sap run.

Engineer- He should be sitting on his gun and watching for spies. Not overly important.

Sniper- This guy was built to be a lonewolf and as such doesn't need heals usually unless he is under fire by a focused assault. Don't go out of your way to heal one unless your teammates are all buffed though.

Combat Guide

There will be times when you are forced to fight for your life and in this section I will cover how to defend yourself.

Scout- These little pests love to catch me alone and put scattergun into my chest. Back off and needle making sure not to get to close as 2 hits up close and you are down. Try to move from side to side to confuse him while putting needles into him.

Soldier- Back off and pop in and out of cover shooting needles while slowly making your way back. If you get caught in the open with one your are most likely dead but if you know you are going to die just pull out the old Ubersaw and try to take him with you.

Pyro- Not much you can do here but backpedal and try to get him off you. You need to find a healthpack or water asap as he will try to come after you again.

Demoman- Don't let these guys get you into close quarters or you are as good as dead. What I do is circle strafe them while putting some needles into them until I figure they are at about 50 and then I rush them with the ubersaw (they almost never expect it).

Heavy- Just run, there is nothing you can do unless the player is a complete newb. Heavies are the one class you have no chance in hell against.

Engineer- Just spam needles at him while listening for a sentry that is most likely nearby. Don't let him lure you into a sentry nest though.

Medic- My favorite matchup, needle him until he is decently low and then pull out the Ubersaw (he will usually follow suite) and finish him.

Sniper- These guys are usually scoped so just use the Ubersaw and get some free % points. If he does notice you shoot needles and back off as quickly as you can.

Spy- Seriously, just rush this guy with the Ubersaw. If he is good with the revolver or you are low on health then back off while using needles.

This wraps up my basic guide to being a Medic. I don't claim to be the best but I hope this helps the newbs get a little better.

By Saint aka Whiteblade.

Good job.  It was insanely helpful, especially to newbies.

I don't really think the uber and kritz hierarchies are necessary, as they are completely situational and sometimes a matter of opinion. We don't want players thinking one class is always going to get more out of an ubercharge or kritz than another.

Also I would like to add that when you are backpedaling your movement speed is reduced, meaning classes with normal running speeds can catch up with you, especially Pyros. You do not, however, lose your speed when you are strafing and backpedaling. So always zigzag when backpedaling away from classes in pursuit. The Blutsauger is your best friend when running from enemies with large hitboxes.

I would also like to mention that the charges are NOT INSTANT. They never will be so don't treat it like so and wait for your healee to be at the lowest health possible before hitting mouse2. This is especially important for healing Heavies. If they are in the thick of it, the moment their HP goes red you RIGHT CLICK. For the love of god. It takes a good bit of delay before the invincibility actually kicks in, which explains why so many patients are killed before the medic can ubercharge them.

Krtizkriegs are quite viable to use and I implore you try them more often. They charge much faster than uber and can sometimes give you that extra oomph to push onto the next objective.

I would take issue with your Ubering and Kritzing Heirarchy - who you uber and who you kritz is so situational that i don't that there's a single heirarchy that can get it.  as well, in most situations if you know what your going up against, a soldier's rarely the best choice for an uber, rather you're better off with a demoman for sentry nests or a pyro for clustered enemies, with the heavy good for all-around wipes, especially with spread out enemies.

Took out the heirarchy.

Very well written.

Just wondering though, didn't Valve debunk the heal rate of the Medi-gun?  It won't charge faster for someone who hurts themselves in game and immediately has the doctor on them.  It heals at 24HP/sec.  But then that doubles to 48HP/sec if they havn't been healed for 10 seconds, and becomes its highest (72HP/sec) if the character hadn't been healed in 15+ seconds)

I know they debunked it for setup. From what I have seen the bar charges faster when someone hurts themselves in regular game but I would need to test before I gave you a definite answer.

Some days, I do play medic, and those who have seem me play, I think can say I do alright. I know basics, share the love with my healing and..pretty smart with my ubers. The only reason why I don't play  it as much is the lack of mic. I really feel bad that my only way to communcate is through the auto commands then able to say things like "Watch your back Heavy" or "Pyro, when I uber, let me get up there first, I'll distract the SG"  or "Watch your head Demo, I saw a sniper dot for a moment" I can never assume that they know whats going on. So when I do take medic, I do my best, use the voice commands and just hope they don't blame me for not telling them a threat I can see but they can't

I got a mic, and I tell ya, I wish the Medic wouldn't say "Achtung, Spy!"  Time is critical when you see/suspect a Spy.  In the time you can say "SPY!" or use in-game, plus the average response time + bad hitbox recognition with the Spy as it stands, the success rate of saving a patient often comes down to whether I have an invuln uber at the ready, in which case, popping to save the patient is a waste if he at least doesn't turn around and off the Spy.

Quote:

Yes, uber does charge faster in-game but not during setup.  You obviously can't heal someone faster if they are damaging themself.  I find that it works best with soldiers and demomen.  Always do it in a spot with a medkit and ammo box.  That way you can insure that you won't run into battle without ammo, and you can take advantage of the health if an enemy ruins your damage party.  This is really a key strategy during the last couple minutes of a round when charging up an uber quickly is extra important. 

Getting a mic is probably the easiest way for a lot of medics to improve their game.  You don't need to be constantly talking, but there are lots of times when you will want to communicate with your teammates in the midst of battle.  The keyboard voice commands are nice, but I rarely used them before I purchased a mic with the exception of the uber related keys.  If everyone on your team is using a mic on a pub server, especially the medics, you will enjoy a large advantage if the other team is not taking advantage of several microphones.