THE TEAM FORTRESS v2.9 MEDIC FAQ by Timothy Demorest a.k.a Tickenest.M-MD tdemores@sas.upenn.edu v1.1 8-12-2000 This document is (C) 1999-2000 Timothy Demorest. Feel free to distribute this FAQ in whole - NOT in part - to the ends of the Earth. If you wish to include this FAQ in any form of publication or compilation (newsletter or book; electronic or paper product, CD-ROM or disk), please contact me first at tdemores@sas.upenn.edu. TeamFortress is written by Team Fortress Software, www.teamfortress.com. Revisions: v1.1: Cosmetic edits for submission to GameFAQs v1.0: Original version The combat medic is one of the most potent classes in TF, the best friend of his teammates, one of the worst nightmares of his enemies (a kick-ass soldier or sniper might be scarier, although I personally cringe from a good pyro more than anything). With the combination of speed, firepower, concussion jumping, healing, and infecting, the medic is well suited for just about any job. Offense The combat medic has the speed to be a flag-runner, and the firepower to frag, though he lacks the health simply to plow through the enemy defense. His greatest assets on offense are his quickness and his grenades. In support, a quick hack of a teammate with his medikit deep within the enemy base can mean the difference between life and death. When alone, the medic must rely on quickness more than firepower to survive. Outrun only by the scout, the medic, once past his enemies, can escape further injury from them fairly easily. When engaging the enemy, he must use his speed to evade the enemy fire and position himself well to attack. Later, I'll discuss specific strategies for attacking individual classes, but some general fighting tactics will do for now. Usually, the medic will want to use his super nailgun. It works well in most situations, and can cause a lot of damage in a hurry. Because the medic doesn't use explosive weapons such as rockets, the high ground doesn't really help his aim. It can, however, help him avoid enemy rockets. While shooting his SNG, he should prime a hand or concussion grenade, depending upon what his purpose for grenading the enemy. If he has softened up the enemy and wants to finish the job, a hand grenade is better. On the other hand, if he has just engaged and the enemy is still strong, a concussion grenade might be better. A concussion grenade is also better for evading an enemy the medic wants to avoid. If the medic runs out of nails, he'll probably resort to his super-shotgun. A strong weapon in its own right, the super-shotgun is most effective up close. A direct hit right next to the enemy really, really hurts, and there's no way that the medic can hurt himself with the super-shotgun (or the SNG, or any of his weapons for that matter, except his grenades). The medic gets 8 shots with this weapon (2 shells per shot), and then has to wait two seconds for his gun to reload. He can force a reload of his super-shotgun earlier with the reload command. This weapon is practically useless at long range. The medic's shotgun has a clip of 8 shots (1 shell per shot), and takes 1 second to reload. It has its uses (really, it does. No joke.) For example, if the medic has been engaging the enemy for several seconds, and has him really weak, but has run out of nails, and has almost emptied his super-shotgun clip, switching to the shotgun to finish the job can be the best solution, especially if he's run out of grenades. The medic's medikit/bioweapon is unique in the world of TF. Hit a teammate with it, and he's healed, unless he was at full health, in which case the medic will add 5 health to the teammate, up to a maximum of 54 health over that class's maximum. Hit an enemy, and the enemy will take a little bit of damage, and then lose some health every couple of seconds until he dies or is cured by a medic on his own team. The bioweapon isn't really useful in most situations, because it is a melee weapon, and most enemies won't stand still for you. It can be useful if you manage to hack some unsuspecting snipers who then run into their own respawn and infect their team, but this doesn't happen too often, and usually the medic is better served by plugging the sniper with his super-shotgun and killing him then and there. The medikit can be useful for healing teammates in the enemy base, but don't do it out in the open, and forget about it during a firefight. Also, keep in mind that the sound made when the medic heals a teammate is quiet, but the sound made when a medic gives his teammate megahealth is much louder. One further aspect of a medic's offense is his ability to concussion jump. This is done by using a concussion grenade to propel the medic far and high to reach otherwise-inaccessible places and to bypass defenses. I'll cover concussion jumps later in this document. Defense The combat medic serves multiple purposes on defense. Most obviously, he should make every effort to protect his flag. The medic also looks to heal his teammates whenever they need it. He can act as a delivery service for teammates (engineer in particular hate having to go far from their guns to get cells), and heal any ailments they may suffer from (especially concussions. Concussions are a defender's worst nightmare. Healing teammates' concussions are one of the medic's most important roles). With his quickness, he can keep up with enemy scouts longer than any other defender (save another scout), and forces other enemies to kill him to get by him (they certainly can't outrun him). With his firepower, he can engage most enemies without being overwhelmed. The combat medic should look to assist his fellow defenders whenever possible, and should be almost like a parent to his teammates (more on this later). Class Tactics In this section, I will discuss strategies for engaging each enemy class. Scout Forget the super nailgun. The nails are far too slow to hit the scout consistently. If the scout is up close, a few super-shotgun blasts will put him away. Otherwise, different tactics are needed. If he's far away, but coming towards you, use your shotgun (see, this is one of those times to use your shotgun. It's better at long range than the super-shotgun, and reloads quicker, too), and prime a grenade if you think the scout will try to run past you. When he arrives, switch to the super-shotgun, and toss him the present you primed for him. If he gets past you, switch back to the shotgun and just pray that he was weak enough that you can kill him this way. It might be the only thing that saves your team from being capped upon. Sniper Long-range nightmare. If he's on his nest on 2forts, spray him with nails if you've got them. You might kill him, or you might make him have to dodge them, giving you time to run across the bridge. If you don't have nails, use the shotgun (another use for the shotgun). The super-shotgun won't make him blink, but the shotgun, if the sniper was weak to begin with, just might bag you a kill. If you're up close, use your super-shotgun instead of your nails, since just a few blasts from your super-shotgun will kill him. Soldier Annoying bastards, they'll pummel you to death in moments if you're not careful. Avoid the walls (avoiding the ground would also help, but that's kinda hard) and try to dodge his rockets. Remember, if the enemy soldier fires four consecutive rockets, he has to reload for six seconds. In this period, get in really close and SNG him to death, or use the super-shotgun if you have no nails. The key point to remember is that during this reload period the soldier will probably have primed a grenade to explode during this time. By closing tight with him, he won't be able to injure you without injuring himself, and most soldiers would rather throw the grenade where it will hurt no one than hurt themselves. Meanwhile, you should have your own grenade primed, and just before you want to throw it, back off to give yourself some space. It is important to back off at just the right time to avoid injuring yourself with the grenade. A concussion grenade is also effective against the soldier, as his aim with his rockets will become erratic, and he may even become bored with life. Demoman Attacking demomen come in two flavors: grenade-launchers and pipebomb-launchers. Grenade launchers fire normal grenades, which explode after 3 seconds, unless they hit something. These guys aren't hard to deal with. Prime a grenade coming in if you can, get close, but not so close that you can't avoid his grenades, and SNG or super-shotgun him to death. A concussion grenade might help, but you should probably save them for more worthy opponents. Pipebomb-launchers are much harder to deal with. They fire pipebombs at you, and will try to detonate them next to you. If you're not careful, one of these guys will bounce you around like a pinball and won't give you a prayer of victory. Try to keep your distance and use your SNG (the super-shotgun isn't terribly effective at medium range, and the shotgun probably won't do enough damage), as well as a grenade or two (give him a lesson or two in the use of grenades). Demomen have clips of 6 grenades or pipes. If they exhaust their clip, use the tactics mentioned above for fighting a soldier reloading. Medic When fighting your counterpart on the enemy squad, try to get close to him and use either the SNG or the super-shotgun, depending upon how much ammo you have and what your preference in weapons is. A hand grenade or two can turn the tide of the struggle, and concussions can help, although against a good medic concussion grenades won't be too helpful, unless you're on offense and simply trying to run past him. Heavy Weapons Guy Far away, SNG him to death. Up close, run around him in a circle (a technique known as circle-strafing), SNG him to death, and chuck a grenade or two at him. Concussion grenades used to mess up the heavy weapons guy majorly, but in TF 2.9 he can stabilize himself by firing his cannon, reducing their effectiveness. DON'T STAND IN FRONT OF HIM! Pyro I don't like pyros. No one does. They're the most annoying class in TF. Stay far away from them. SNG them from a distance, toss hand grenades, toss concussion grenades, or, the best tactic, simply run from them if you can help it. If the pyro gets close and starts torching you, the only advice I can give is to keep your wits about you and pray that he's weak enough for you to take out before you burn to death. Spy One of the reasons that the medic should always look to heal teammates is that he can detect spies with his medikit. If he hits an enemy spy, he'll see a supposed-teammate yell in agony. This is the clue that he's a spy. If you're already this close, SNG him to death, and try not to let him escape. Hopefully, your teammates will realize that if they see a friendly medic shooting what looks like a teammate, the teammate being shot is a spy. Spies aren't much of a threat if they choose to engage you, as they have as much health as you do, but you outgun them. If they tranquilize you, remember that you can still fire your SNG at the usual rate, although your other weapons and your running speed will slow. Engineer About as weak healthwise as the scout, they aren't much of a threat as long as you make a point to discard rockets as much as possible. Engineer rely heavily on their EMP grenades, but if you discard often, you'll only be carrying shotgun shells, and the EMP won't hurt much. Discarding is extremely important in the enemy base. If you kill an enemy and take his pack, discard to a teammate, or into a dark corner if alone. There is nothing more annoying that having ammo you picked up from an enemy detonated by an enemy engineer. Otherwise, you outgun and outrun the engineer, so you can be aggressive with the engineer, although you must keep a sharp eye out for the engineer's sentry gun, as good engineers will try to lure you into its line of fire. Sentry Guns Not an enemy class, but a target for you nonetheless. Sentry guns cannot hurt you unless they can see you, so hide behind cover as much as possible. Use your SNG to take them out if you can get into a position where you can hit the gun but it can't hit you, otherwise use pre-primed hand grenades and pop out for just a moment to toss them at the gun. An unguarded sentry gun isn't hard for a medic to take out (or hard for most classes, anyway), but if you're being hassled by enemies while hiding from the gun, the best strategy is to prime grenades to take out the gun, and use your SNG or super-shotgun to keep the enemies at bay while staying behind cover. Concussion Jumping The scout and the medic are the only classes that use concussion grenades. Their primary purpose is to disable enemies for awhile, but they have a secondary use. Concussion grenades throw players within its blast radius a distance. A player farther from the center of the blast (but still within the blast) will be thrown farther, and a player moving towards the grenade (but still within the blast) will be thrown farther. Scouts and medics can harness this power and use it to propel themselves to new heights and distances unavailable to other classes. I prefer concussion-jumping as a medic to concussion-jumping as a scout for one big reason (and this fact probably isn't as well-known as it should be): a medic suffers from the effect of a concussion grenade for only half the time of the other classes, meaning that the medic gets normal viewing and movement back sooner than other classes. 2forts There are numerous concussion jumps to do on 2forts. My personal favorite is one of the simplest. This is the concussion jump from the bridge to the enemy's sniper's nest. Toss a concussion grenade so that it lands about two-thirds of the way between your end of the bridge and the enemy's end, near one of the sides of the bridge, then jump up onto the ledge, run a few feet (roughly) past the grenade, and then jump just before it detonates. If you do this right, you'll be thrown onto the enemy's sniper's nest. After some practice, a good medic will prime his grenade so that he can run forward, throw it, and then, without stopping, jump onto the ledge, and jump forward as the grenade detonates. Another concussion jump is from the water outside the forts to the enemy's sniper's nest. This is probably the most spectacular jump a medic can make. To perform this one, jump into the water, put your back to the wall, face the enemy's nest (you want to be looking right at one of the entrances to the enemy base, as those are the only places to jump up onto the nest). Align your crosshair with the junction between the bottom of the pond and the wall that you are facing. Then, prime and immediately throw the concussion grenade forward. Just as the grenade stops bouncing, swim forward, then a second or so later swim up (use your jump key) as your swim forward. As the grenade detonates, you want to be right at the surface of the water, moving forward, and somewhat ahead of your grenade. Again, practice makes perfect. Then there's the famous concussion jump up the elevator shaft. This jump will surprise any defense if you can pull it off. To perform this jump, you will need two concussion grenades (unless the server has extremely low gravity set). Stand facing the elevator, a few feet away from it. Prime and immediately toss the first concussion grenade so that it stops either on the elevator, extremely close to the wall, or wedged between the elevator and the wall. 1 and 1/4 to 1 and 1/2 seconds after PRIMING (not throwing) the first grenade, prime the second grenade and throw it in the same place. Now, the tricky part. Run into the wall, keep running forward, and jump just before the first grenade detonates. Your goal is to have just begun descending from your jump as the first concussion grenade detonates. This way, the first grenade will throw you almost out of the shaft, but not quite. You may even be able to see into the enemy's ramp room, but you won't quite make it to the top. But that's ok, because you have your second grenade still waiting to detonate. If your first jump was good, you'll be quickly descending towards the ground as the second grenade detonates, which will have the force to thrust you out of the shaft. It is important that you continue to run forward this whole time, so that you don't stumble back down the shaft once you've made it out. This jump, along with the water jump to the sniper's nest, is the hallmark of an elite medic. One further jump I'll mention here. This is the jump from the narrow hallway leading into the ramp room up to the elevator. This jump operates on the same principles as the jump from the bridge to the nest, but there's no ledge this time to jump onto. This one takes practice to nail, but it can be a life-saver for bypassing a tough ramp-room defense. This one will take any defense by surprise. There are further applications of the concussion jump on this map and others, but these are the most important jumps. How to Be a Good Medic In this section, I will discuss how to be a good medic. Now, when I say a good medic, I mean a medic who will be loved by his teammates on a public server (the ones that care, anyway). After all, in a clan match his teammates will love him anyway. Basically, the medic should be selfless. When he respawns, he should stock up on medikit ammo if possible and check to see if anyone in the resupply room needs healing. He should then hack everyone of his teammates he sees in his own base if possible before heading out to attack (unless he's playing defense for the time being, in which case he should stay in the base helping as much as possible). On the attack, he should assist any teammates engaged in battle (unless he has a more pressing matter to attend to, such as a loose flag in the enemy's base), healing them up and resupplying them after the enemy is defeated. While in the enemy base, he should always be looking to assist his teammates whenever possible, healing and resupplying. I mentioned earlier that the medic should act like a parent to his teammates. When I say this, I mean that he should take it upon himself to look after his teammates and his flag. If you see a teammate under attack, help him out. After all, the bastard attacking him is attacking one of your boys. One of YOUR boys. Don't let the bad guys punk your boys. Take it personally when your guys get attacked. Show the bastard who's boss, and then heal up and resupply your boy. The enemy is evil. They're trying to kill you and your boys. Don't let them. Take care of your boys. Conclusion Medic is my favorite class to play in TF. Want speed? Got it. Want firepower? Got it. Want mad skills to use? Got it. Want to help people? Got it. Have fun playing medic, because if you're not having fun, what's the point?