Team Fortress 2/Medic

The Medic is an indispensable part of any Team Fortress 2 team. His ability to heal saves a lot of people from death and respawning, and is, due to his Ubercharge, one of the best classes to turn a battle around.
 * Health: 150
 * Speed: 107%
 * Type: [[Image:TF2_achievement_with_friends_like_these.jpg||20px]] Support
 * Special Ability: Ubercharge

Weapons
The Medic's weapons are not generally suited for combat, and one of them isn't a weapon at all. However, all of them serve a purpose to a good Medic, regardless of their power.

Syringe Gun
The Syringe Gun deals weak damage, but it's fast firing rate and large clip can make it surprisingly deadly. The needles travel slowly and arcs slightly, making aiming hard, so you have to lead the target. The arc of the needles trajectory means you can fire over obstacles. The Syringe Gun us best used when retreating from an enemy, as it deals good damage while keeping the enemy at a safe distance. The Syringe Gun is a better choice than the Blutsauger if you're more dedicated to healing or your teammates are more reliable, as the passive self-healing rate is better.
 * Clip Size: 40 - Reserve Ammo: 150
 * Point Blank Damage: 10-12
 * Mid Range Damage: 5-10
 * Long Range Damage: 5-6
 * Critical Hit: 30

Blutsauger
The Blutsauger is the unlockable alternative to the Syringe Gun. Although it cannot crit outside of crit-boosts, each hit gives the Medic 3 health, and it still does the same damage to the enemy. However, your passive self-healing rate is reduced by 2 HP per second. It's a good idea to play more offensively with this weapon, as you will rely on the heal on hit attribute of the weapon than your own self-healing. It is also useful for survivng and getting away after your healing target gets killed. This weapon cannot overheal yourself, so you can't use this as a self-buff weapon.
 * Clip Size: 40 - Reserve Ammo: 150
 * Point Blank Damage: 10-12
 * Mid Range Damage: 5-10
 * Long Range Damage: 5-6
 * Critical Hit: 30
 * Health On Hit: 3

Crusader's Crossbow
The Crusader's Crossbow damages enemies and heals teammates with it's bolts. The distance the bolts travel increases the damage or healing of the bolt. The bolt cannot overheal teammates. The Crossbow is very different from the first two primary weapons, relying more on big damage done with one shot than multiple shots with low damage. It functions similar to a Sniper's Huntsman, so try to use it that way.
 * Clip Size: 1 - Reserve Ammo: 12
 * Point Blank Damage: 38 - Healing: 75
 * Mid Range Damage: 56 - Healing: 112
 * Long Range Damage: 75 - Healing: 150
 * Critical Hit: 113 - Healing: 225

The Crusader's Crossbow allows the Medic to play as a long range support class like a Sniper, eliminating enemies from afar and being able to heal teammates from a distance. It is useful for healing a teammate when you can't safely reach him for the Medi Gun heal. Be careful of ambushes or enemies getting too close, as your reduced damage and slow reload time makes you ineffective at close range combat outside of using your melee weapon.

The Crusader's Crossbow is the go-to primary weapon in Medieval Mode, as it is the only weapon that gives you a range attack and allows you to heal teammates without being able to use the Medi Gun.

Overdose
The Overdose's shots deal 10% less damage, but increases the Medic's speed by up to 10% as his Ubercharge meter builds up. The speed boost only applies when you have your primary weapon out. The Overdose is more of an escape tool, as it allows you to get away if your healing target is killed after building some Ubercharge. It also pairs well with your Vita-Saw, as the preserved Ubercharge meter helps you get back to the frontlines after respawning.
 * Clip Size: 40 - Reserve Ammo: 150
 * Point Blank Damage: 9-11
 * Mid Range Damage: 5-9
 * Long Range Damage: 5-6
 * Critical Hit: 27
 * Speed With Full Ubercharge Meter: 117.33%

Medi Gun
Although it's listed as your secondary, you'll be using this "weapon" the more than your others. Point at a teammate and hold down your fire key and you'll start healing them. Let go at any time and you can switch targets, or click again, if you changed the settings. While you're locked on to a target, you can jump, look around, anything as long as you stay in range. The beam can go even go around corners. The medigun heals at a base rate of 24 HP per second. If your healing target hasn't been healed for more than 10 seconds, your healing rate will be increased until at 15 seconds you heal at a rate of 72 HP per second.
 * Normal Healing Rate: 24 health/second
 * Maximum Healing Rate: 72 health/second
 * Ubercharge Type: Invulnerability
 * Ubercharge Time: 8 seconds
 * Charge Speed: 2.5%/second
 * Maximum Charge Time: 40 seconds

Just because a player isn't damaged doesn't mean you can't heal them. If you heal a player already at max health, you will start to "overheal" them, boosting them to up to 150% of their normal health. A full overheal only lasts for 20 seconds, but you can overheal as many times as you like.

The crowning glory of the medigun, however, is the ubercharge. When you heal people, your ubercharge meter slowly fills. Once it's full, you can right click and both you and your patient will turn invulnerable for 10 seconds. This can be used for anything from killing sentry nests to defending control points to just saving your own skin. Everyone can be ubercharged, but some are better than others. Note that you are still affected by knockback even if you're invincible, so a Pyro's airblast or some well placed stickybombs can impede your progress forward or even break the connection of the Uber. Be wary of enemy teleporters, as an enemy using it can still telefrag you even if you're invincible.

Your ubercharge builds much faster if you're healing people who aren't fully buffed. Healing a fully buffed person (sticking to one person for too long) will charge your uber by 1.2% per second, whereas healing anyone during setup (even if they're overhealed), healing hurt teammates or overhealing teammates who aren't at maximum will charge your uber by 2.5% per second.

Remember, you can't ubercharge people who are carrying the intelligence, and if you're carrying it you can't uber at all. Drop it (default L) if you need to.

Kritzkrieg
The unlockable alterative to the medigun. It still heals the same amount (though it charges uber 10% faster), but instead of ubercharge granting invulnerability, it gives your target 100% criticals for the duration of the uber. This makes it more useful in some situations (clearing large amounts of people off the cart) but practically useless in others (clearing out sentry nests). In most cases, the regular ubercharge is more versatile, but which you choose will depend on the map and which team you're on. Keep in mind that criticals do not affect buildings.
 * Normal Healing Rate: 24 health/second
 * Maximum Healing Rate: 72 health/second
 * Ubercharge Type: Critical Hit Boost
 * Ubercharge Time: 8 seconds
 * Charge Speed: 3.125%/second
 * Maximum Charge Time: 32 seconds

Taunting with the Kritzkrieg let's you heal 11 health for yourself. However, you're completely vulnerable while taunting and this time could be spent healing other teammates. Only do it in a safe place devoid of enemies.

Quick-Fix
The Quick Fix heals 40% faster, builds UberCharge 25% faster and let's you move at the speed of your heal target, but you lose the ability to overheal. The Quick Fix's UberCharge is the MegaHeal, which heals three times as fast, heals the two of you and ignores movement impairing effects like a Sandman shot or the Nastacha. The Quick Fix is all about speed. Heal a scout to get to the frontlines quickly, heal multiple teammates and steadily build your UberCharge. Stay in groups to heal many teammates quickly and protect yourself.
 * Normal Healing Rate: 33.6 health/second
 * Maximum Healing Rate: 100.8 health/second
 * Ubercharge Type: Megaheal
 * Ubercharge Time: 8 seconds
 * Charge Speed: 3.125%/second (1.5625%/second)
 * Maximum Charge Time: 32 seconds (64 seconds)

Only activate your UberCharge during a team push. This can help your teammates survive heavy enemy fire and push through defenses. Don't be afraid to drain your Charge and use it on multiple teammates. Keep in mind that you're not invincible, sufficient firepower or an enemy spy can completely stop your UberCharge push.

Bonesaw
The bonesaw deals more damage in a single hit compared to the Syringe Gun, but deals less damage over time. It also has a higher critical hit rate than his Syringe Gun, which makes it better at killing enemies. It is best to deal the first hit with the bonesaw on a distracted enemy, then switch to the Syringe Gun to inflict more damage at a safer range. The Bonesaw is also more useful at spychecking, as it is more accurate. However, don't go running around to cut enemies with your Bonesaw, as your main role should be supporting, not killing.
 * Attack Interval: 0.8 seconds
 * Normal Damage: 65
 * Critical Hit: 195

The Bonesaw is often outranked by the Medic's other melee weapons, including two which are direct upgrades, so it's rare to see it being used by experienced Medics.

Ubersaw
The ubersaw is the unlockable bonesaw. It attacks 20% slower, but each hit gives you 25% ubercharge instantly. Try to use it as another way of building your Ubers and not as a way to kill the enemy, so employ hit and run tactics with it. The Ubersaw is good at killing spies who have another target, since the spy dies in a few hits and is safer to get close to. Your Ubercharge meter does not increase when "killing" a dead ringer spy, so check your meter when you kill one. The Ubersaw isn't as useful when using the Krizkrieg or Quick Fix due to the faster charge time, so switch to another weapon if you have one.
 * Attack Interval: 0.96 seconds
 * Normal Damage: 65
 * Critical Hit: 195
 * Spinal Tap Duration: 4 seconds
 * Spinal Tap Damage: 500

A difficult but powerful technique is the Chain Uber, performed by two medics with the Medi Gun and Ubersaw combination. Once one medic builds up an Ubercharge, he deploys it on the other, who then goes to hit enemies with the Ubersaw. Once he builds up an Ubercharge, he deploys it on the first, who does the same thing of hitting enemies with his Ubersaw. Doing this repeatedly can theoretically mean you can get infinite invulnerability time while still being able to attack, but note that it can be easily stopped by a Pyro's airblast.

The Ubersaw has a special taunt called the Spinal Tap. The Medic thrusts the saw forwards, stunning any enemy hit by it, and pulls it back, instantly killing the enemy an giving the Medic a full Ubercharge. This taunt is very slow, so only use it on distracted enemies. If you're feeling bold, you can Spinal Tap an Ubercharged enemy to slow their progress and get your own full meter, but run away afterwards.

Vita-Saw
The Vita-Saw allows the Medic to keep up to 20% of his Ubercharge after respawning, but reduces his health by 10, giving him 140 remaining. The Vita-Saw allows you to obtain an Ubercharge faster upon respawning, especially with the Kritzkrieg or the Quick Fix. However, the health penalty also means that you will get killed more easily.
 * Attack Interval: 0.8 seconds
 * Normal Damage: 65
 * Critical Hit: 195

The Vita-Saw as a weapon has the same speed and power of a regular bonesaw, but the health penalty can decide who wins in a melee fight. It is useless without respawns such as sudden death or Arena mode, so pick another weapon.

Amputator
The Amputator let's you use the taunt Medicating Melody, which heals all teammates close enough to you at once. It has no downsides and is a direct upgrade to the Bonesaw, so always pick this weapon over the Bonesaw. The taunt should only be used for healing multiple injured teammates. It cannot overheal and doesn't build your Ubercharge. You're better off using the Medi Gun for healing in most situations, but using this taunt multiple times while in a crowd, you can be more useful than by healing teammates one by one with the Medi Gun.
 * Attack Interval: 0.8 seconds
 * Normal Damage: 65
 * Critical Hit: 195
 * Medicating Melody Duration: 4 seconds
 * Medicating Melody Heal: 75

The Amputator is also useful in medieval mode, as it is one of the very few sources of healing without your Medi Gun.

Saxxy
The Saxxy posseses the same attributes as the Bonesaw, so all strategy related to the Bonesaw also applies with this weapon.
 * Attack Interval: 0.8 seconds
 * Normal Damage: 65
 * Critical Hit: 195

Solemn Vow
The Solemn Vow let's you see your enemies health similar to a spy. It has no downsides, making it a direct upgrade to the Bonesaw, so use it if you have it. The Solemn Vow's ability to see enemy health allows you to hunt down sufficiently weakened enemies, identify enemies who merely retreat to lure you into a trap, and let's you direct your teammates firepower to finish off weakened enemies. Using this weapon effectively requires good communication with your team.
 * Attack Interval: 0.8 seconds
 * Normal Damage: 65
 * Critical Hit: 195

Conscientious Objector
This weapon is similar to the Bonesaw in every way, except you can apply a custom decal onto it with the Decal Tool.
 * Attack Interval: 0.8 seconds
 * Normal Damage: 65
 * Critical Hit: 195

The Medieval Medic
In normal situations, this set focuses on supporting more than attacking. The Crusader's Crossbow and the Amputator both provide alternative methods of healing for different situations. In medieval mode, this gives the Medic the ability to fight offensively, as it gives him one of the very few ranged weapons allowed in this mode. The lack of a Medi Gun is also compensated by the ability to heal shared by both weapons.
 * Composed of Crusader's Crossbow and Amputator
 * Set Bonus: Self-healing rate increases at 1hp/second.

Clinical Trial
This set let's the Medic heal teammates quickly and effectively, and is the most effective in groups. The Overdose allows the Medic to escape from battles and rush to other teammates aid. The Quick Fix heals and charges quickly, which allows the speed boost from the Overdose to be achieved faster. The Solemn Vow's ability to see enemies health let's you direct teammates at weakened enemies to finish them of.
 * Composed of Overdose, Quick-Fix and Solemn Vow

The Mad Doktor
Purely cosmetic set.
 * Consists of the Einstein hat, the Dr. Gogglestache item and the Emerald Jarate item.

Using the Medic


Prioritize who you heal. Normally, those about to die come first, then people on fire or otherwise taking mild damage, then unbuffed people, then buffed people. Sometimes dying people will die even if you heal them. Sometimes you should heal these people anyway to buy time, other times you should just ignore them and heal people who will actually live. If an undamaged soldier or demoman is calling for a medic, they usually want you to buff them as they are about to rocket/sticky jump. Obviously, damaged people still take preference, but try and take time out to heal them if you can.

Using your ubercharge correctly is a core element of being a medic. Ubercharges win games. Do not just fire it at the first given opportunity, but wait until the situation is just right. For instance, if you are healing a sniper your uber will be no good unless you are the only two left to defend a contensted point, neither is it a good idea to uber someone if you are only facing one enemy. Normally, the two classes which are most suitable for an ubercharge are heavies and pyros, depending on the situation and availability soldiers and demomen will also work. When you are facing a big amount of sentries in a relatively compact space the best thing to do is ubering a demoman, who can put stickies on the area and destroy most of the sentries. If, on the other hand you are in a tight defensive situation the best way to use it is usually a heavy. It can be very hard to time your ubercharge correctly, but normally it is a good rule of thumb to fire it when you hear a sentry, spot a lot of enemies within a short proximity or if you or your target is just about to die. When you are ubering a pyro or a heavy and they need to take out sentries, run in front of them to absorb the knockback. A pyro stuck 2 meters away from a sentry doesn't do much good.


 * 1) Scouts should be ubered only as a last resort. On defence they are better than other last resort classes.
 * 2) Soldiers are decent general purpose uber targets. Unfortunately, due to the low clip size of their rocket launcher they can only make good use of the first half of the ubercharge. Soldiers are also fairly bad against sentries.
 * 3) Pyros are usually the best targets for ubercharge, hands down. They can chase down most enemies, they don't have to reload, they can make short work of sentry nests and they can defend themselves once the uber wears off.
 * 4) Demomen are, unsurprisingly, demolitions experts. They can lay down multiple stickies next to sentries and detonate them all at once, taking down entire nests in one fell swoop. The main disadvantage is that once the uber wears off they will likely be out of stickies and nearly out of grenades.
 * 5) Heavies are also good canditates for ubercharge. They aren't the best sentry killers, and any smart player will just run away from an ubered heavy. Their main advantage is that even when the uber wears off they are still very difficult to kill, making them very effective for taking those tricky final points.
 * 6) Engineers are normally a last resort uber. When fighting a soldier uber, however, you can uber an engineer and the soldier will be unable to kill the sentry.
 * 7) Medics are normally a last resort uber, unless both you and the target have the Ubersaw. If that's the case, you can uber him, then he can hit enemies to fill up his uber, then he ubers you, then you hit enemies and so on. While this tactic is easily countered, inexperienced teams will often not know how to deal with this tactic, allowing for an easy win.
 * 8) Snipers are also last resort ubers.
 * 9) Spies are usually last resort ubers, but for a laugh you can try "ubersapping". Run in ubered and sap all their stuff. When they knock off the sappers, just resap. They can't kill you, they can't kill the sappers and normally their sentires will go down, especially if your team helps out by throwing some explosives into the mix.

When using ubercharges there are a couple of tricks you can make use of. One of these is bodyblocking. Enemies can't pass through you, so when you uber you can often stand in a narrow doorway to prevent people getting out. Another is defending with ubercharges. Even if you have no team member standing around, you can just uber yourself and stand on the point, hopefully buying your team enough time to get back. On some maps (namely 2fort) you will often be prowling around on your own. If you encounter an enemy sticky carpet you can uber, run through and bonesaw the demoman.

The most effective tool for countering an uber is another uber. If you see an enemy uber and you don't think your team can handle it, use your own uber. Yours will outlast theirs and you can kill them when it wears off. For this reason, it is important to save ubercharges when you're on defense.

Even if you don't have an uber of your own, there are other counters. A Pyro can use compressed air to keep them away or separate them, a Demoman can do the same with stickies, a sentry nest can keep them back until the uber wears off and a Soldier can help the sentries by knocking the players into the air.

Having a mic is a very good idea when you are a medic. It makes it easy for you to tell other players where you are in case they need healing and you cannot move, and you can easily find the desired class for your ubercharge, without having to take a break from the game to write for one.

Although healing other people and providing ubercharges are important parts of being a medic the most important goal of any medic should be staying alive. Every time a medic dies, there will be about 2-4 other people who will die because you were busy waiting to spawn instead of healing them. The qualities of a great medic are knowing how to avoid getting hit and knowing when to run away. Learning how to size up a battle and determine if your team has a chance of winning is extremely important. There's no point charging into the line of fire to heal a soldier who is battling it out against three pyros no matter how many times he calls for a medic. Be wary of people who charge out into a fray then try to call in a medic. Maybe your target wants you to follow, but it would be a great loss to the team if you lose a 50% progress on an ubercharge. A lot of the time it can be strategically better for your team if you let one or two of them die and just run away. By surviving you can find other skirmishes where a medic can turn the tide of battle and apply your skills there. Remember: If a team member dies, they lose 20 seconds at most. If you die, you can lose up to 100 seconds worth of respawn and ubercharge.

After playing as a medic for a while you might start to think that everybody is after you, and most of the time this is true. It helps to think of yourself as having a giant bullseye on your back. Most experienced players know that you always shoot the medic first and this is exactly what they will do. Soldiers and demoman will direct their considerable splash damage towards you, heavies will attempt to jump down in between you and your patient and kill you both, snipers will go for your head, spies will go for your back and pyros will often go on suicidal charges just to inconvenience you. As a general rule of thumb, if you are a medic you should be looking behind you at least once every 5-10 seconds, probably more. Paranoia pays off here. Never, ever, ever stop moving. By moving around you can avoid backstabs by spies and cause snipers to miss you. If you see a spy, alert your team and go in with the bonesaw. Often your team will have their minds on aiming and such, you are not restricted in that manner.

Your worst enemies as a medic are scouts. You can run away from every class except scouts. A veteran scout player is just as sneaky as any spy, can take a medic out as fast as a sniper can and will chase you down if you run away. Although against many scouts you can use your needler and kill them with ease, expert ones will drop back to where they can dodge after one scattergun blast and pistol you down. Your only hope as a medic against a good scout is that one of your teammates will shoot them for you, or you manage to pull off a very lucky bonesaw attack.

On this note, the offensive abilities of a medic are pretty limited. Although you can usually beat classes not designed for direct fighting (engineers, spies, snipers, other medics), against better combat classes your best option is often to run away. When you need to run away, always backpedal while flinging needles at their face. Trickery and deceit are your best tools when defending yourself as a medic. Most players view medics as being easy kills when they are unprotected and you can use this to your advantage. When a player starts chasing, run away while firing needles as this heightens the impression that you are an easy kill. Once you have rounded a corner, stop, wait for them and hit them with more needles as they come around. If you time it right you can start firing before they come around the corner and the needles will arrive when they do. A well aimed cluster of needles will do more damage than a bonesaw hit, and in some places you can hit them with needles while you've already gone round the next corner.

Remember that medics are the backbone of the team, everybody else is busy shooting at things, but medics have a unique third person perspective on most battles which makes them very effective at calling the shots and organizing the team. Always stay as close to the battle as possible, but try to keep away from the line of fire, and heal the people you can see. Let your team mates know via mic where they can find you, and let your target know when you are not willing to go any farther.

Defeating Medic
The best way you could defeat a medic is as a sniper, spy or scout. Good medics usually stay outside the line of fire, to avoid losing the progress they have made with their ubercharge, which is also why most other classes have a problem getting to them, unless their patient is killed unexcpectedly.


 * 1) Scouts are excellent for killing medics. Their speed combined with double jump means they can quickly get behind the medic, and their primary weapon downs them in 2 hits. Against a good medic the scout can usually only get one hit in before the needles start flying, but then he can just pistol away the medic's remaining health.
 * 2) Soldiers are not the best for killing medics, but they are still good. In areas with no ceiling the soldier can often rocketjump over to the enemy medic then kill him point blank. Even if this is not possible he can aim behind the enemy team and do decent splash damage, forcing the medic to retreat and recover.
 * 3) Pyros are normally just best at harassing the medic. It is rare to have 2 medics on a team in most maps, so hitting a medic with the flare gun repeatedly will force them to go find health or die.
 * 4) Demomen are about as good against the medic as a soldier. Though their jumping is much more risky, his weapons are very well suited to indirect fire so you might not have to jump.
 * 5) Heavies are only good against the medic in specific situations. If the terrain allows it, a heavy can jump down in front of a medic and kill him before he knows what's going on.
 * 6) Engineers are bad against medics. Leave it to the rest of your team.
 * 7) Medics are normally a last resort; if all the other classes can't kill the enemy medic you will be forced to counter uber.
 * 8) Snipers are very effective against medics if the terrain allows it. Other than jump around, the medic can't do much about you, so he is at the mercy of your aim. If you're good enough, he won't be able to leave cover without an uber.
 * 9) Spies are fairly good against medics, but mostly just inexperienced ones. Good medics will never stand still and are more likely to kill you than the other way around. If the terrain allows it, you can sometimes hide somewhere and take potshots at the medic, this will force him to come after you or retreat.

In general though, the best way to kill a medic is to avoid his patients.