Primary Role: Offensive Support
The medic is the most important support class in the game. Period. He is probably the most important class overall in the game as well. My point is a team with medics can consistently beat a substantially better team without medics. If two teams are of similar skill, medics make all the difference. Deep down, everyone knows this, and yet no one seems to want to go medic despite their multitude of good points.
The reason for the medic’s necessity is fairly common sense, but I’ll say it anyway. His medigun heals teammates very effectively, and spawn times are fairly long. These two facts together are the gist of it. If a player dies, they have to wait up to 20 seconds to respawn, and then they have to run all the way back to the front line to get involved again. If they’re on 30 health or so, they have 3 options: keep fighting and die, run away to find some health boxes, or find a medic. Both the first and second options are going to draw them away from combat, and make them ineffective. If a medic is present, they can be back to full health (or more) in a matter of seconds, and jump straight back into action. By keeping the troops alive and effective, medics increase the overall strength of their team.
Of course, there are medics, and then there are medics you want to marry because they do everything exactly as you’d hoped. The world needs more of the latter kind of medic, so I’ll attempt to give you some pointers on how to be that guy. First let’s go over the medic’s abilities. The medigun can heal injured teammates, buff them up to 150% health, grant 10 seconds of übercharge when the medic is fully charged, and the syringe gun and bone saw can dish out some doctor-assisted homicide when needs be. All of these abilities have a time and a place, and using them at those times and places is what separates an amateur medic from the übermensch I mentioned before.
You probably know what I mean by offensive support, so I won’t dwell on that. Basically you run around with your front line troops and help them out, but let them do the actual clashing with enemy troops. The medigun’s healing beam is conveniently very flexible, so you should usually have no trouble sitting around a corner from your healing target and dishing out the health while he gets down to business. If you must be out in the open, stay behind your buddy! Watch him closely and follow his lead. If the pair of you turn the corner straight into a heavy and your partner turns and flees, you want to go the same direction. Try to anticipate your buddy’s course of action, but always be careful to stay where you are most protected.
Healing is the most important of the medic’s abilities. Among the many troops on the front line, the medic is always in demand, so when healing you should try and satisfy the most people in the shortest amount of time. This means you should always be healing, and always on the lookout for people who need healing. The best course of action is usually dictated by the situation, but in general:
• a player in red health should take priority over those in the white
• in the presence of many injured teammates, heal them all to near-full health before worrying about buffing or even fully healing
• among those who call for a medic, those who make an effort to get close to you should take priority - there is nothing more annoying than seeking out an unoccupied medic and not being healed
• when a few people are in equal need of healing, start with those who are best able to hold their position (i.e. heal the soldier/heavy before the pyro/scout)
• when in combat, try to ensure the survival of the more effective players (not necessarily classes) - e.g. if a demoman is wreaking havoc on an enemy emplacement, he should probably take priority over a heavy who is just spraying at everything he sees.
The ability to buff players to 150% of their max health is a powerful one. It is commonplace in the event that you have a buddy, and they should be running into most fights at 150% (see the medic’s secondary role for more on buddies). However in an offensive support capacity, routinely buffing all your teammates can give them a great advantage. The important thing to remember is that injuries always take priority, so keep running around among your troops keeping them all healthy, and once they’re all in good shape you can start buffing them one at a time.
Eventually of course your übercharge meter will hit the 100% mark, and you can unleash the coolest (and really only) power in Team Fortress 2 - the übercharge. The first step is selecting a friendly target (or multiple targets - see Tips) to bestow its effects on. Let the situation dictate your choice - a room packed full of troops would suggest a heavy or pyro, while sentry guns usually call for a demoman. From experience, I find the overall top 4 classes to übercharge in order from best to least best are soldier, demoman with sticky bombs, heavy, and pyro, but of course that’s just a guide.
Once you have your target, the key to maximising the effect of the übercharge is communication. Talk to your überee and lay out a plan to ensure you’re both on the same page. Remind him to reload/fill up his ammo before you rush, and don’t activate your übercharge before it’s necessary. You want to pop it just as the pair of you come under concentrated fire (as opposed to stray bullets) so you don’t waste those precious seconds in transit. Focus on your targets (sentry guns, dangerous enemies, control points) and get the job done without being distracted, than as your charge is wearing off, fall back to the nearest cover and either hold your position or fall back to friendly support.
In the offensive support role, the situations where busting out the syringe gun and/or bone saw is the best alternative are few and far between, but they do occur. As a medic you are constantly looking around the battlefield, concentrating on the goings on, anticipating where you will be needed, and as a result you should have a better idea of what’s going on than your teammates. The best times to resort to main force are around an objective when an enemy has slipped in among your ranks and gone largely unnoticed. This is most common with a spy, but all classes can be devastating if unseen. Since you can’t save your teammates from a backstab with the medigun, pulling out one of your other weapons (depending on the range) can save lives.
Secondary Role: Buddy
The matter of staying with a single player and following them around (a buddy) is again very dependent on the players you have available. In general the only classes worth buddying up with are the soldier, heavy, demoman and pyro (on occasion). If you have a player who is doing well with one of these classes you may consider it, but if your good players are currently scouts and spies, you’re wasting your time if you decide to support a soldier who can’t hit the broad side of a barn. In summary, a good buddy is great (especially a heavy), but a bad buddy is almost counterproductive.
However let’s say you have got a great soldier or similar that you’ve decided to buddy up with. Good for you (and him), but you still have to remember the rest of your team. In the event that your buddy has at least 100% of his health and is not in combat (quite often), you should be healing and buffing other players around you. As soon as the fighting starts of course you can switch back to your buddy, but when it’s quiet help the others.
Once your übercharge is ready, you will probably want to use it on your buddy (again assuming you found a decent one). I already laid out the key points of using an übercharge effectively in the medic’s primary role, so I want bore you with that again. You’re probably more in tune with your buddy than any random teammate, so you should be able to use the übercharge well. Of course this isn’t an obligation to use it on your buddy, since he may not be suitable for the situation. If there’s a number of sentry guns sitting just around a corner, you don’t want to waste the übercharge on a soldier who might take out one of them. Instead popping it on a demoman can result in the complete destruction of everything in that general area with a few well-placed sticky bombs. Of course your buddy may be up to it, but just remember having a buddy doesn’t immediately decide on who gets the übercharge. Let the situation dictate your choice.
Other than that, being a good buddy is fairly self-explanatory. Keep healing whenever possible, stay in a position of maximum protection, anticipate your buddy’s moves but don’t pre-empt him, and lend a hand to your mates when your buddy is fully buffed. And remember, your healing beam works on virtual line of sight - you don’t actually have to be facing your target. As such it’s a good idea to be very paranoid and look behind you almost as much as in front. Picking out a spy early and sawing him down can not only save you and your buddy’s life, but in doing so prevent your team from being significantly weakened. It’s also incredibly satisfying.
