The Medic Dichotomy
When playing a medic in Team Fortress 2 there are basically two ways you can be an effective Medic both you the Medic and the rest of your team need to understand these two types of play. As a medic you can either be a Heavy-Medic or a Team-Medic, and the difference is quite important.
The Team-Medic
This is the medic in the traditional sense of a team-class based game. You run around, helping the assault and healing teammates as they require it. In Team Fortress you are less effective in helping the assault, because usually your teammates are always getting injured and requiring your assistance. This means you run around healing teammates who are injured, boosting their health when they aren’t injured, and occasionally getting an ubercharge that you will expel on the most effective teammate around. When all your teammates die, you retreat until you find more bodies for the assault and begin the cycle again. You must pay careful attention to people calling “Medic!” because then you have a teammate in need and you must assist them.
The Heavy-Medic
The features and abilities included with the Medic in Team Fortress 2 also allow for a drastically different way to play medic. This method I call the “Heavy-Medic” and it is very specific as to how it is played. The Heavy-Medic is a team consisting of a Medic and a Heavy constantly assaulting the opposing team. The Medic ALWAYS has their medigun on the Heavy while the Heavy is constantly pushing against the opposing team. The Medic will typically follow the Heavy while hiding in nooks and crannies to avoid being injured. The heavy will always try to take damage (to assist in getting an ubercharge) but only enough damage to hurt, not kill the Heavy. When the Medic has an ubercharge, he will use it on the Heavy and make a large push (usually leaving turrets and other engineer buildings in their wake). The Heavy-Medic team can either be part of a larger assault, or they are a pretty effective force all by themselves. The key to this team working effectively is communication between the Heavy and the Medic and the Medic NEVER EVER under ANY circumstances taking the medigun off the Heavy. The only time a Heavy-Medic can be free to heal teammates is if he is waiting for his Heavy is dead and he is retreating or waiting for his Heavy to spawn.
What this means
This means that if you see a medic pushing with a heavy and you are injured, don’t expect that Medic to stop healing his heavy in order to give you health. A good heavy will be pushing constantly, and if his Medic takes his medigun off him for even a second it’s game over. Also, as a Medic try to pick one of these strategies and stick with it. Your teammates will be very confused as to why you were healing EVERYONE in the last assault and now you won’t seem to heal anyone but a random heavy that popped in the server. Communicate with your team and let them know what you are doing!
Tags: heavy, medic, medigun
Some maps require demoman ubers to destroy engineer buildings. As a medic your ubers can make or break the game.
Demos are the best for destroying sentries if they are trained to use the three sticky method. Communicate with your team and time your ubers for sentry demolition!
Oh agreed, the heavy is so slow when his gun is spun up that he can often only take out one turret. I’ll gladly work a demo as a medic as well, but usually you just need them for one destructive spurt while a heavy medic team can go the distance the entire map.