Having spent the majority of time at HH healing my combat comrades I feel inclined to write a little on the subject. What follows shall be mostly a collection of my thoughts on various matters and therefore won't flow as coherently as my clanmate's well constructed essays. Nonetheless I hope it may be of use to someone.
Being A Medic
Most of it is really obvious and I feel a bit patronizing pointing some of it out. But, I've played with enough shit medics to make it worthwhile being thorough. If you're already a good medic I'm probably not going to tell you anything you don't already know, so no flames plz. The principle is simple. Stay alive and keep your teammates alive. Putting that into practice is another matter altogether. The following are a few things to bear in mind.
- Seriously, stay alive. Even if that means running away like a little girl and making a b-line for the nearest medkit. In 99% of cases you are more important than the person you are healing. You can easily retreat and pick a new heal buddy to attack with. Dieing takes you out of the picture completely. Not only will you lose valuable uber chargeness but losing a healer can easily change a rush into a counteroffensive and vice versa. Even on instant spawn maps the time lost in getting back to the front might be the difference between a successful capture or a failed defense.
- Be the Energizer bunny. Don't stop moving. You are a favourite target of Snipers and Spies. Use the speed of the Medic to your advantage and move erratically so your head does not present an easy target.
- Heal people. I know, duh. But running around trying to Bonesaw Soldiers and spamming needles at a charging Heavy will get you killed quicker than Steve Irwin in a tank full of stingrays. If no-one else is around, run away and find someone to heal. You will be killed in most lone combat situations.
- Heal everyone. Even Spies (except when disguised and the enemy is likely to see, you might as well point at him and shout "Kill this guy!") and Scouts (if they ever stand still). If everyone around you is not boosted above standard health you are failing as a healer. The obvious exceptions are when your current target is under fire or when it's more important to needle spam that crafty Spy or Pyro. Also see below.
- Nothing says I love you like a needle to the face. When possible needle (or Bonesaw if you like that sort of thing) anyone that runs at you wanting a healing. Wasting a few seconds needling a teamate is better than ubering an enemy Spy disguised as a Heavy and allowing him to shank half the team.
- Burning people need healing asap. When multiple friendlies are franticly running at you heal someone till they stop burning then switch to the next crispy teamate. I've stood next to medics and burnt to death whilst he makes sure his current target is fully boosted.
- When you can, walk backwards. As far as I have noticed so long as fire is depressed and you have line of sight before you turn round the medigun remains effective. Even if you can't manage that rotate regularly and always keep an eye on your surroundings. Whoever you're healing should be keeping an eye out in front of you, it's your job to inform them of a rear attack (or in the case of Spies and shit Pyros, stop the attack if you get the chance).
- Use corners and cover and stay well clear of walls with fresh blast marks. Let your target stand in the line of fire whilst you stay well out of the way round the corner. Even better if you can, use elevation. On maps like 2fort (Snipers aside) you can usually use elevation to heal friendlies and stay well out of the way of a rampaging Pyro. Also, duck. It might limit your movement severely and leave you open to an easy backstab, but in areas such as the final cp on Granary it can keep you out of sight and out of harms way (a Snipers reticule).
- Spies are needle fodder. If you don't have ample time to inform your healing buddy you should be able to take them out on your own. If you manage to avoid a backstab and the Spy is insistent on shanking you, either Bonesaw the bastard (fairly high chance of crit) or unload a needle clip at point blank. Either should drop him quick. Especially if he's on fire. He should be on fire. In fact wait till he's on fire than needle him. Yeah. A sensible Spy will run away of course and possibly down you with some nifty Revolverage, but shit happens.
- Shit Pyros are needle fodder. By shit Pyro I mean a Pyro that runs at you in a straight line blazing away. You are fast, so needle him in the face as you back away. So long as there is enough distance between you to avoid getting too burnt you should survive. Alternatively, run past him so he has to readjust and yell to your healing buddy who should now be able to shoot him in the back. When it comes to quality Pyros just lay down and die, because you'll save time in the long run. Even if they die in the process, they'll get you.
- Try and get confirmation on the uber. Nothing is more frustrating to a player than a premature uber. Get your target to tell you when they want it. If for whatever reason it isn't possible then make sure there is at least one enemy to use it on. Bursting into an empty room ubered up and spraying bullets makes you look and feel a bit silly (although, for these cases see above).
- Uber the injured. It lasts longer as you gain charge whilst doing it.
- When uber charging a sentry, go first. The sentry will target you allowing your ubered up buddy to kill it sans harrassment. There is a chance of you being knocked too far away and losing contact, but as uber status persists briefly after the loss of contact there is still a better chance of destroying the sentry. Plus it's still targetting you, and not your attacking teammate.
- Multi uber. Uber status continues briefly after the connection is lost, effectively allowing you to juggle multiple ubers. Nothing says "Git off ar point!" better than two or three ubered heavies.
- Use the uber, but don't waste it. An uber doesn't need to be used right away, but dieing without using it is even more of a waste. Worst case scenario? Use it to escape then switch weapons and save the last bit of charge. Even a glimpse of an uber can be enough to halt an enemy attack.
Being Mediced
Being a Medic isn't a walk in the park. There's more to it than prancing about the battlefield spraying people with your love gun like an excited Bonobo. It makes life much easier if your teammates can help you out. For example:
- Protect your Medic. If he shouts for help, give it to him, straight away. Even if this means turning your back on your current target who has 1 health point left and would have netted you a kill. Having a Medic available is more important than your score. And hey, you can make up for the loss by killing his attacker.
- MEDIC!MEDIC!MEDIC!MEDIC!MEDIC! If you need healing, you will get healed. If I am not healing you, it is because I'm healing someone in combat, someone on fire or I'm preoccuppied with something more important than the 15 health you lost from a stray Pistol round. Or I'm ignoring you because your E key is apparently broken. If a Medic appears to be genuinely clueless or needlessly ignoring you, say something. Hitting E a few more times helps neither you nor the Medic.
- Get your hands off my medkits! Funnily enough Medics can't heal themselves (although they do regen, slowly). If it is a choice between you dieing without the medkit or the Medic dieing, sadly you will have to die. If the Medic stays alive he can heal you. Problem solved. If the medic dies he can't heal anyone.
- Get off my teleporter! Medics are more important than you. They need to get to the front and get healing. Heck, if you're lucky he'll be half way to an uber by the time you arrive. You can walk, or wait. The only exception to this is on a major last ditch offensive where an extra gun is more critical than keeping anyone alive for longer. Otherwise, Medics first.
- If you are out of combat and in desperate need of healing use a medic, not a cupboard! Fine, you lose a few seconds fighting time, but that is more than compensated for by the gained uber charge. Too many people run past me shouting medic, then go and heal themselves anyway.
- If you happen to see your Medics name appear after a little backstab icon, for the love of Satan turn the fuck around! Watch the video on "How To Be A Better Spy" for a prime example of what happens if you don't.
- If you want healing, find cover and stand still. Yes, standing still in TF2 is extremely dangerous. But, the slight delay on the mediguns activation makes it very difficult to target coked up Scouts double-jumping over your head and running round in circles. If it's in the middle of a firefight the Medic should do their best to keep as many people alive as possible. In most cases though its tough shit, as it probably means letting the current target die.
- If he hasn't got a visible measurement for an ubercharge he is a Spy. Burn him. Then burn his corpse. Then taunt him. Then burn the floor where his body was just to make sure.
My brain is now collapsing in on itself so I'll leave it there for now. Additions are more than welcome, I'll edit them into these lists if they are particularly useful.
|
cruel but very funny 