Team Fortress 2 Strategy

An übercharge in the right situation can make the world of difference, but if you’re good enough it can be even better. When you activate an übercharge and click on a teammate, they become invulnerable. The thing you can take advantage of however is the fact that when you release the healing beam they remain invulnerable for about 1 second until it wears off. In this one second, you have time to quickly click the übercharge onto another teammate before switching back to your primary target. By alternating between them rapidly, you can effectively keep 2 teammates übercharged at a time (and if you’re fast enough, even 3 teammates is possible). This multi-über method is incredibly powerful, and should never be overlooked. Communicate with your team for best results.

NOTE: This ability has since been nerfed in the April 1st, 2008 update. No, it wasn’t an April Fools prank, and fair enough too, the multiuber was pretty overpowered. I believe the time is now 10 seconds ubering 1 target, 7 seconds while ubering 2 (~14 secs total), and 5 seconds while healing 3 (~15 secs total). Hence the multiuber still has its place, but it now has more of a tradeoff. The situation will dictate whether it’s worth it or not.

A heavy/soldier double übercharge can yield some awesome results

While healing a teammate, the medic is unable to defend himself, so a good medic will make use of the environment to stay behind cover from possible enemy attacks while maintaining sight of his buddy. This usually involves using angles to stay ‘around the corner’ of a corridor as his buddy proceeds down it, or simply hiding behind his medigun target (especially if it happens to be a heavy).

Try and stay out of the enemy’s line of fire whenever possible

Medics, like heavies, are primary targets for spies since they are unable to defend themselves, often standing still, and if they die it can turn the tide of a battle since their teammates have to wait about 30 seconds for them to come back and heal. To avoid becoming spyfood, always stay on the move, look behind yourself often (you don’t have much else to do while healing) and if you see anything suspicious whip out your syringe gun/bone saw and open fire. In truth, your buddy should be responsible for your safety, but over time you will learn that your teammates leave much to be desired when it comes to defending each other, especially you.

Eventually I’ll have moar pictures, but this will have to do for now

On the topic of being a target, if your übercharge is ready, use it as soon as you find a half-decent opportunity to wreak some havoc. I have seen (and been responsible for) so many medics being stabbed in the back or crit rocketed just before they get a chance to use their übercharge. The thing is not only are you a prime target normally, but when a spy hears “I am fully charged!” and sees your medigun glowing with lightning, he starts salivating (or sweating profusely, depending on the situation) and makes a beeline for your spine.

On a similar note, remember that you probably won’t get that absolutely perfect opportunity to use your übercharge, so you’re usually just better off charging at the enemy wherever they are and popping it as soon as you justifiably can. My reasoning is that as long as you’re fully charged, you’re not charging anymore and hence less effective than you could be. The sooner you use your übercharge, the sooner you can get another one. If you think about it, there’s no point in holding onto an übercharge for as long as it takes to recharge before you use it again.

If your buddy is at fully buffed health, don’t be afraid to help him out with a quick syringe spam, especially if there is a target he hasn’t seen. Even more importantly, if your buddy is at greater than his base health, look around for teammates that could use a quick heal (they’re generally calling for you and within range anyway) and fix them up. Your buddy should be able to fend for himself for a few seconds, and you can always get back to healing him if he gets attacked.

If you see a teammate in flames (they should be running towards you screaming), quickly heal him for a second just to extinguish them. Sometimes it seems to take longer to extinguish the flames, so it may be necessary to stick with them for a couple of seconds, but if there are other burning players alongside, switch between them quickly to at least keep their health survivable. If you have more important issues to deal with get back to them, but if you can spare a few seconds heal him back to full health before finding your buddy again. There’s nothing worse than being seemingly ignored by a medic as you burn to death.

With the medic, score is not necessarily proportional to impact. You can run around all day just back of your front line troops healing them back to health but unless you’re healing them at the time they make a kill, you won’t get that ½ point for an assist. For this reason a medic with a low score isn’t necessarily doing a bad job, but when well handled, medics are often right up the top of the scoreboard for their team. As far as scoring is concerned, it is often best to latch on and buddy up with the highest scoring soldier, heavy, demoman or pyro and go along for the ride, benefiting from every kill. This doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the most helpful course of action for the rest of your team, so don’t get too greedy.

Speaking of assists, there’s one little trick you can work into your play if you really feel the need to rack up some points. While healing your front line troops, be on the lookout for a player who’s about to get a kill or two. An obvious example is a demoman who’s just spammed a bunch of sticky bombs under a bunch of enemies. If you start healing him just before he detonates them, you get an assist for every kill he gets. After that you can run off and heal someone else. Other examples are any teammate who has just recognised someone as a spy, a soldier firing into a pack of enemies, or a heavy with enemies running towards him.

Finally, the best tip for medic is BE A MEDIC. Your team needs you. If you are any other class and you’re simply not going well, whether it be a bad day, unfamiliar class or you’re just a noob (though you shouldn’t be if you’ve read this far!), change to medic. You will gain a lot more respect this way than taking up space as a sniper that misses every shot.

Seriously, they’ll go all the way down to here!