Exhort's medic tips

[}SoC{Exhort]

I put these together because people have been asking me. This is the way *I* medic, not necessarily a universal way of playing medic. Hope this is of some value to people who are medics out there. Note: No i don't focus on combat medic so no need to say I don't, because I already know.

Also, I have only posted this because it's a class I have played over 600 hours of and I consider myself to have sufficient experience to discuss it.


GENERAL

Healing
- heal other medics - make it a priority for yourself
- double or multiple ubers can extinguish and save people. Switch the uber between them if you need to or if they are burning. one second of uber will put a flame out. BUT... try to avoid moving your uber to multiple people if one of the people you are healing is in forward battle, because they are relying on that uber to fight more aggressively.
- let the healing partner go through doorways and paths first, not you
- don't ribbon in front of the person you are healing anywhere (in closed or open spaces) -- unless it's a sentry and you are charging with an uber. In the case of an uber to destroy a sentry, the medic should be first in to distractg the sentry and take the knockback.
- always look for people to heal, BEFORE they call for you.
- always try to overheal everyone or as many people as you can out of the spawn
- when you respawn after dying, heal whoever is coming out of spawn with you. You should always be healing. Always. The power of your uber is HAVING it, so
build it on whoever you can.
- look UP. Soldiers and demos are often on the roof of buildings and don't call medic, but NEED healing because they have jumped up there.
- if you are burning and you know there is no way you will live, heal as you go out. Heal as many people as you can.

Communication
- communicate clearly about things you see - spies, sentries, incoming people. Be as specific as possible about the location of the attack or problem.
- communicate clearly when using your ubers. Okay, there are some times that you need to pop an uber to save someone and you don't need to ask permission. But when possible, coordinate with the person you want to uber.
- Speaking of coordination, coordinating two or more ubers with other medics and attacking teammates is a very powerful way to destroy an enemy stronghold, especially if they are relying on multiple sentries or heavies. Try to wait for multiple ubers to be ready and then pick classes like demo and pyro that can rush in quickly. Ask the rest of the team to follow your ubers in when you do this.
- Don't use the voice chat for a bunch of random chatter. You are like a quarterback. You can see things that other people can't, so do the team a favor and
point those out. Try to avoid simply babbling.

Staying Alive
- always remember that the medic is the most important, so get out alive when possible. That may mean you have to sacrifice someone. Sorry, but scouts
and spies are expendable unless involved in immediate battle.
- don't be afraid to use an uber to save your life and ignore the ignorant people who scream at you when you do. You're a medic and your life is the glue that holds the team together. Accept it and treat yourself that way.
- better to pop an uber when you are in trouble than to die with a full one, which is just misery for you and your team, basically. Your death is misery and a lost uber is misery. Pop it. You never know when you can save yourself and even some people around you (multiple ubers).
- if you are in trouble in battle, try to go as close to the person you are healing as possible, especially against scouts. The attacker will be forced to go
through your healing person to get to you. This is generally not true for demomen (see below), but very true for soldiers and heavies.
- You need to turn around a LOT as a medic and constantly be looking for threats from the back as you are a big target for EVERYONE, especially spies and
scouts.
- You need to know where on each map the nearest health packs are, because when you are burning, you often will not have another medic nearby to save you (or the one who is nearby is clueless or has tunnel vision).
- You also need to MOVE around a lot as a medic or you will die. Jumping and moving around in varied patterns is a good way to stay alive.

Kritzkrieg versus Uber
- This is covered in specific classes (see below), but generally speaking, the kritzkrieg requires you to medic in a much different way than the regular uber. You will need to be even more cautious than usual because you cannot protect yourself simply by hitting the uber in a bad situation. You can think of the kritzkrieg as the ultimate jackhammer, disintegrating or scattering enemies, because if they don't run away in fear (which they usually do at the first krit), then they will die.
- Take more cover while using the kritzkrieg. The best way to stop a kritzkrieg uber is kill the medic, so the target you already have on your back is even larger in this situation.
- It can be highly effective to work with another medic carrying a regular uber if you need to destroy both sentries and enemies at the same time. Go in together and uber-kritz the person (preferably a soldier or demo). It's sure you are likely to die in this situation.

PYROS
- generally if you have to pick between people who are all in trouble (on fire, etc), you can leave the pyro till last UNLESS he is the one in combat
- the pyro will not burn to death generally because they do not ignite like other classes.
- pyro to pyro battles are generally bad for medics because the flames go to you - it is generally best not to get into them
- generally avoid following pyros unless you are ubered and have a specific goal in mind (clearing a point, destroying a sentry, etc.)
- When backing away from an attacking pyro, try NOT to back up in a straight line because your hit box will be really vulnerable to the pyro flamethrower, which has a very long reach. Try to back away in an arc while firing the blutsauger. Also - try NOT to turn your back on an attacking pyro as he may have the backburner, which crits on all back hits.

DEMOMEN
- Usually NOT a good medic protector, ESPECIALLY against scouts, unless the demoman is VERY good.
- Generally if you uber a demoman against a sentry or sentries, you will need to run toward the sentry because the demoman will fly back like he weighs nothing.
- Overheal demos because they should be jumping a lot.
- Kritzkrieg can be highly effective with a good demoman.
- Try not to uber or kritzkrieg a demo without FIRST checking if he has reloaded because the demoman has a slow reload and dropping an uber on him without
telling him first can mean a really bad uber.

SOLDIERS
- Usually the BEST class for a medic to stay with IF the soldier is aware that one of his most important jobs is to protect the medic, especially against scouts.
- Overheal soldiers predominantly as a good soldier will rocket jump to advantageous points or to get out of a bad battle situation or simply to advance more
quickly.
- Stay close enough to intervene for the soldier, but not so close that you take hit damage. Since soldiers often get into 1 v 1 battles with other soldiers, there's a good chance you will take hit damage following a soldier, so try to get into a protective area of the map while your soldier is fighting.
- Kritzkrieg can work well with a soldier, but use wisely as the soldier only has 4 rockets at a time before he has to reload - be sure he has reloaded and if there is a big crowd, that's a nice time to use it.

HEAVY
- Unless a very good heavy, overrated for "medic buddies." Why? Because they normally react very slowly. They are also major spy targets which will further draw spies to you.
- Good to stay with on three-point stopwatch maps, such as Gravel Pit. Example: you may have your uber ready prior to the round starting and if there is no
sentry at B, but there is a heavy, your uber is a good way to protect the point.
- Kritzkrieg can work well with a heavy if you are trying to disintegrate a strongly fortified enemy hold (no sentries).

SCOUTS
- Healing scouts can be tough, since when they are on fire or in trouble, they usually tend to run AWAY from the medic or simply run in circles -_-. Since they are accustomed to fending for themselves, they will want to head for the nearest medic pack. So you will need to be quick to heal them. If possible, tell a scout that is in trouble where you are standing so he can find you more quickly.
- Overhealing can really make a difference for scouts since they have such low HP to begin with. Overheal scouts especially at the beginning of point maps
since they are the ones who will get to the point battle first.
- Fighting against scouts is tough since a good scout's primary target is usually the medic. If you are confronted by a scout with no other classes nearby to
protect you, try to back away in a non-linear path, jumping and firing your blutsauger as you go.
- If you are healing someone, like a soldier, and a scout tries to punch through to you, try to move as close to your soldier's character model as possible because that forces the scout to go through the soldier to get to you - and hopefully die trying.
- Really a good idea to go into an empty server with a good scout and have him rush you over and over in varied patterns so you can get used to the firing/leading patterns on the blutsauger and learn how to keep yourself alive.

ENGINEERS (AND THEIR EQUIPMENT)
- Use dispensers and building engis as a temporary safe place when... a) you are waiting for someone specific to respawn, b) you are waiting for an entire
team to respawn lol, c) you are burning.
- When a sentry is under attack, and you want to heal the engi or others nearby, usually the worst spot to stand is behind the sentry because that is the focus of all attack. If you stand there, expect to be directly blown up by stickies that the demoman, for example, is using against the sentry. Not a good idea.
- Engis need healing, too. I would rank them slightly higher than non-burning spies on the priority list because their shotgun is powerful and they can be good offensively. Of course, they do have their own dispensers, BUT... (see next point)
- Engis can really use healing when their sentry is under attack and there is no one else nearby you can be healing. You can help the engi stay alive and save the sentry if you heal him. I have even ubered an engi that was under heavy attack and saved the sentry this way (thus protecting the point, etc.).

SPIES
- Try to save burning spies when you can. But... personally I find spies are at the bottom of my healing priority list. I always TRY to save everyone, but there are times when you simply can't.
- If you bump into another player, it is a spy (or an enemy). Sounds simple, but I really find some people don't know this.
- With the new spy update (5/09), feel free to ubersaw people asking for healing that seem even the slightest bit suspicious.
- Many times a spy will give himself away by the fact he is a) slower than the disguised class should be or b) calling for health when he has full health.
- If teammates nearby are screaming "spy," be careful about simply healing anyone you find. It might be the time to first ubersaw or blutsauger anyone who calls for medic. I have seen medics just continue to heal a spy who has already been identified as a spy... -_-
- When you are healing someone, constantly be aware of the possibility for spies and warn your healing person immediately. This sounds obvious, but I have
seen medics just watch a spy stab the person in the back as they were healing them. -_-

SNIPERS
- Okay maybe there is one class lower than spies LOLOL
- Snipers are good to heal as you come out of spawn
- Also if all you care about is having points, you can heal snipers
- I generally heal snipers if they are on fire IF I can and there are no heavier classes around or classes in direct battle. Otherwise snipers can drop dead in flames, sorry XD
- The only time you want to uber a sniper is if you are desperate and there is no one else around to defend you. Then tell him to take his kukri out because his other guns are basically useless with an uber.

[}SoC{Brian]

Thanks for this, Jenn! I will have to try exercising all these tips today at some point.

[}SoC{Laddy]

Good tips, thanks! You should have a TV show

[}SoC{Brian]

I finally figured out the problems I had as medic.
A) I didn't prioritize who I healed
B) I tried to kill things instead of heal a soldier or demoman nearby and let them take care of it
C) I didn't communicate at all.
Other factors included me running a little ahead of the bunch and not being vigilant when behind a Heavy or soldier. (I only got back stabbed once and it was by Atticus! )

Once I took all those things into effect, I started playing much better and my Assist-to-Death ratio started looking a lot better. Thanks Jenn!

[}SoC{Kaz]

Thanks!

[}SoC{Kaith]

The part about staying alive made me smile. It took me forever to figure it out, but it's very true. If your buddy thinks that just because he's got a medic he's going to single handedly destroy all the sentries surrounding the final point on gravel pit, then you find a new buddy. I could really work more on my communication skills though. Screaming spy isn't exactly helpful if I don't mention the class. I keep forgetting to do that.

[}SoC{ZEDD]

Thanks for writing that out Jenn!

- heal other medics - make it a priority for yourself

YES! Especially if said medic is on fire.

[Vlad]

<snip>

Well thought out guide and helpful to new medics . The only thing I'd suggest adding is whenever everyone around you is at max/overhealed health, it's very possible and productive to shoot at the enemy to healyourself as well as add your Medic damage into the blender of death. Regaining health with the Blut is very fast, and it only takes about a clip of Blut ammo to get a decent chunk of health back. Just keep the rest of the team healthy and make sure no one drops too low and this is a perfectly viable strategy to add to the medic playing style.

[}SoC{Crumpt]

<snip>

Well thought out guide and helpful to new medics :D . The only thing I'd suggest adding is whenever everyone around you is at max/overhealed health, it's very possible and productive to shoot at the enemy and add your Medic damage into the blender of death. Unless under direct fire, there's no reason you can't take out your Blutsaugher and needle some people to regain some health as long as your team is kept healthy while you do it. Just make sure not to over do it and become a battle medic :D .

But when you're not healing, not only are your teammates slowly losing health, but you're also not building an uber. Uber > 10 damage needles.

[Vlad]

<snip>

Well thought out guide and helpful to new medics . The only thing I'd suggest adding is whenever everyone around you is at max/overhealed health, it's very possible and productive to shoot at the enemy and add your Medic damage into the blender of death. Unless under direct fire, there's no reason you can't take out your Blutsaugher and needle some people to regain some health as long as your team is kept healthy while you do it. Just make sure not to over do it and become a battle medic .

But when you're not healing, not only are your teammates slowly losing health, but you're also not building an uber. Uber > 10 damage needles.

With all due respect, I don't think an uber will make a real difference when you have a large group of friends with you. Even if they are losing health, easy come, easy go, then easy come again. Your own health takes priority over everyone elses, so the point of my post was if you need a quick heal from some Blut needles, take it. Don't be so paranoid of your medic buddy losing 5 health that you let yourself die because you weren't watching your health, because if you die, then the offensive is crippled (if you're the only medic).

[}SoC{Kaith]

It's all circumstancial really. There are times where it's okay to pull out your gun to get a bit of health, and there's times when it's not. However, if the rest of your team is firing at the other team, you probably shouldn't. You'll want that medigun ready when the enemy returns fire. There are some things worth more than a slight threat to your own survival. Even then, if literally everyone on my team is fully buffed, there are no other medics, there isn't a dispenser or medpack around, and I have almost no health, then I'll pull out my blutsauger even if healing targets were around. That's a lot of ifs though. The decision to pull your gun depends on a LOT of factors. Most of the time knowing when it's okay just sorta comes naturally after a while. I have to vouch for their effectiveness against pyros tho. A lot of pyros just charge straight into all the needles, happily donating health.

[}SoC{Unity8]

o.0 I was going to read this then I saw how long it was lol will come back later XD I like being a medic just dont know what to do so i am sure this will help a lot.


Thanx in advance.

[}SoC{Brian]

With all due respect, I don't think an uber will make a real difference when you have a large group of friends with you. Even if they are losing health, easy come, easy go, then easy come again. Your own health takes priority over everyone elses, so the point of my post was if you need a quick heal from some Blut needles, take it. Don't be so paranoid of your medic buddy losing 5 health that you let yourself die because you weren't watching your health, because if you die, then the offensive is crippled (if you're the only medic).

The only time you should really whip out your blut-whatever, is when you're A) Alone or B) Retreating with enemies right behind you. Other than that, you should be healing your teammates constantly. If you see an enemy they don't, then speak up and direct them. Playing the medic is all about communication as well as vigilance,

[Vlad]

The only time you should really whip out your blut-whatever, is when you're A) Alone or B) Retreating with enemies right behind you. Other than that, you should be healing your teammates constantly. If you see an enemy they don't, then speak up and direct them. Playing the medic is all about communication as well as vigilance,

The way I see it, you don't need to heal if your Uber is full and your team isn't taking damage - unless, of course, you have OCD and everyone has to have overheal whenever it will really probably only be whoever is leading the charge that will be taking noticable damage. That, and the post you made doesn't talk about healing yourself, which is arguably one of the most important problems with new medics. They get so caught up healing their teammates non-stop that they get flaregunned one time and die, either forcing a coordinated offense to wait on them or to go on without the medic, which will hamper them considerably at the first sign of heavy resistance.

[}SoC{Crumpt]

The only time you should really whip out your blut-whatever, is when you're A) Alone or B) Retreating with enemies right behind you. Other than that, you should be healing your teammates constantly. If you see an enemy they don't, then speak up and direct them. Playing the medic is all about communication as well as vigilance, ;)

The way I see it, you don't need to heal if your Uber is full and your team isn't taking damage - unless, of course, you have OCD and everyone has to have overheal whenever it will really probably only be whoever is leading the charge that will be taking noticable damage.

nonononononono

1: if you've got an uber, you'd best have a really good reason to switch to a weapon where you cannot deploy said uber. that is, unless you enjoy being twoshotted by scoots when you're at 100% but too busy trying to needle them.
2: people other than the pointman take lots of damage. I play loose, I would know.