Vitals
Health: 150
Speed: 107%
Type: Support
Weapons: Syringe Gun, Medigun, Bonesaw
Unlockables: Blutsauger, Kritzkrieg, Ubersaw
Ability: Regenerates health (up to 100%) over time. Faster passive health regeneration when using the Syringe Gun.
Weapons:
Ammo: 40/150
Damage: 8-14 (30), about 80-140 per second (300/sec)
Best range: Short to medium
Information:
The zmedic’s syringe gun is a custom-built flechette launcher that rapid fires up to forty syringes from a rotating clip on top of the gun. Each syringe is quite weak, but used expertly the syringe gun can at least put up a fight that demands respect. The syringes it fires are heavily affected by gravity, traveling in quite a steep arc; so practice is necessary to quickly determine how high to aim to hit a target at various distances. Also, like the grenade and rocket launchers, you should try and predict where the target will be in about half a second and aim there, since the projectiles are quite slow.
The syringe gun is best used in as narrow a path as possible, since the syringes flying towards the target form a kind of wall that they can’t avoid being hit by. For example, backpedaling in the narrow corridors in 2Fort while firing at a pursuing enemy means they can’t go forward without being needled. If every syringe hits, it’s about four-hundred damage, so it can also be effective if you can sneak up behind a stationary enemy (Heavy, Sniper or similar). However in this instance you may just opt for the bone saw.
The one advantage that the syringe gun has over the Blutsauger is an increase in the passive health regeneration that Medics enjoy. A Medic equipped with this will always heal at least three health per second. If you haven’t been injured for five seconds, the healing increases to four-and-a-half, then up to six after ten seconds. Note that you do not need to have the syringe gun in your hands to gain this bonus; it works just the same with any weapon equipped.
Advantages: Rapid fire, quick reload, projectiles traveling through the air create a kind of wall, potentially long range, quite effective against stationary targets, decent amount of reserve ammo, faster passive healing.
Disadvantages: Relatively weak, syringes heavily affected by gravity, difficult to effectively damage moving targets.
Ammo: N/A
Healing: See description
Best range: Short to medium
Information:
The medigun should really be considered the Medic’s primary weapon, since you will undoubtedly be using it the most. You can use it to heal a nearby teammate by pressing primary fire with your crosshair pointed at them. So long as they don’t get too far away and you can maintain line of sight, your healing beam should heal them constantly. Healing a teammate with full health causes their health to increase up to 150% of their normal maximum. If you stop healing them, their health will slowly fall back to 100%. As a reward for healing teammates, you receive one point for every six-hundred health you heal, which includes any over-healing you do 150%.
The healing speed is best explained by Valve in their official blog:
The rate of healing actually ramps up based on the amount of time since the heal target was last injured. If it’s been greater than 10 seconds since the target was hurt, the heal rate is increased. The amount of increase ramps linearly up to 3 times the base heal rate at 15 seconds since the target was hurt. So if you’re healing a target who’s been hurt less than 10 seconds ago, you’ll only be getting the base heal rate of 24 health a second. If the target was hurt 12.5 seconds ago, you’ll be healing at 48 health a second. If the target hasn’t been hurt for over 15 seconds, you’ll be getting the maximum heal rate of 72 health a second.
Regarding the somewhat liquid nature of the healing beam, you don’t actually have to be looking at your target. Therefore a good tactic is to look behind you often to watch out for Spies, especially when your buddy is tied up in combat. If you see one, bust out your bone saw and chop him down. Although the beam can kind-of bend around corners, it can only do so for a second or two before getting cut off; so either get behind your buddy and use him as a shield or sit against the wall as he goes around the corner.
The most awesome aspect of the medigun is of course the übercharge. When you heal teammates your übercharge meter fills up, with the rate depending on how much health the target currently has (it charges faster when you heal more injured players). When that meter hits 100%, the Medic can activate the übercharge by hitting secondary fire. The Medic will become invulnerable for ten seconds so long as the medigun remains equipped, and any target of the medigun’s beam during that time receives the same benefits as long as they remain the target.
Advantages: Heals teammates, can buff teammates to 150% health, ability to übercharge teammates, no ammo to worry about, flexible healing beam, decent range, keeping teammates alive gives the Medic a higher chance of survival.
Disadvantages: Utterly ineffective against enemies.
Ammo: N/A
Damage: 43-87 (195)
Information:
The bone saw is a weapon to be feared, despite the supporting role of the Medic. Taking advantage of his speed, the Medic can keep pace with any class except the Scout, so it is much easier to land consecutive blows. Overall, it is much like the standard melee weapons most classes get. See Valve’s TF2 Stats for current data on the rate of random critical hits with the Bone Saw (among other data available).
Ammo: 40/150
Damage: 8-14 (30), about 80-140 per second (300/sec)
Healing: 3 health per syringe
Best range: Short to medium
Information:
German for ‘bloodsucker’, the Blutsauger is a handy replacement for the syringe gun. By itself, the syringe gun was quite different from most other weapons in the game, and the Blutsauger makes a significant change to it. Every hit you land with the Blutsauger immediately heals you for three health points. With a clip of forty needles, there’s potential for significant healing, making it ideal for retreating from an enemy while leeching health.
The downside to using the Blutsauger is a reduction to the amount of passive health regeneration the Medic receives. The health gained by this bonus is effectively reduced by two points per second at all times (compared to the syringe gun). This lowers it to a minimum of just one health gained per second, with a maximum of four health gained per second. Due to this decrease in passive healing, the Blutsauger is only better than the syringe gun when you are actually using it to shoot at (and hit) enemies. If you rarely use your primary weapon, you’re best off sticking with the syringe gun.
Advantages: Rapid fire, quick reload, leeches health from target every hit, projectiles travelling through the air create a kind of wall, able to hit distant stationary targets, decent amount of reserve ammo.
Disadvantages: Relatively weak, syringes heavily affected by gravity, difficult to effectively damage moving targets, reduced passive healing ability.
Ammo: N/A
Healing: See the Medigun description
Best range: Short to medium
Information:
The effects of the Medic’s alternate medigun were the subject of much discussion leading up to the update, and with good reason. The use of the Medic’s übercharge is what changes games, and not having a balanced weapon would negatively affect everyone. The original concept of the Overhealer, which lost the ability to übercharge in exchange for permanent 100% buffing would most likely not have worked in the context of the game, and the end result of Valve’s headscratching was the Kritzkrieg.
The Kritzkrieg functions almost identically to the medigun. It heals the same, and also buffs up to 50% of the target’s health. The only difference (apart from its appearance, which isn’t all that different either) lies in the effect of the übercharge. While the medigun grants ten seconds of invulnerability to the Medic and his target, the Kritzkrieg grants the target ten seconds of having all their attacks become critical hits. In addition to this dramatically different effect, it also has the advantage of charging up at a 25% faster rate than the standard medigun.
Advantages: Heals teammates, can buff teammates to 150% health, übercrit ability gives target 100% crit chance for 10 seconds, fills up übercharge 25% faster than the medigun, no ammo to worry about, flexible healing beam, decent range, keeping teammates alive gives the medic a higher chance of survival.
Disadvantages: Utterly ineffective against enemies, übercharged Medic and their target are no longer invulnerable from damage and can be killed.
Ammo: N/A
Damage: 43-87 (195)
Information:
The Ubersaw is virtually a beefed up bonesaw. Aside from the awesomely gruesome look of the thing, it has the bonus of adding 25% to your übercharge meter with every hit. The drawback is that it has a 20% slower attack speed than the bonesaw, but I don’t see anyone finding this reason enough to not take it up. Did I mention it looks awesome?
posted on March 28th, 2008 at 1:04 pm