HANDS ON GUIDE

Support #1 - The Medic

When you’re charged, the enemy can tell you’re in a ready state, because the business end of your Medi Gun will be crackling with electricity. You can instantly become invulnerable with a single click of the second mouse button and you may suddenly become the focus of enemy attention if they see you’re ready to unleash a shield. It’s important that you start the shield when your partner is ready. The onus is on you as a Medic to start the invulnerability at the perfect time, but this is difficult to do without communication. If you’re the player who’s about to receive the shield, it’s a good idea to use voicecoms or the voice messages to tell the Medic to hit the shields.

Ideally you want to go invulnerable just before you enter an area congested with enemies and structures. If you’re a Heavy it’s very important that your changun is full. Running out of ammo and changing to shotgun is a disappointing way for a Heavy to spend his invulnerable period. The accepted way for a Heavy to end an unsuccessful invulnerability is with a fully charged Sniper bullet rattling around his skull, so keep that in mind during sudden death.

Melee Weapon: Bone Saw

Much like other melee weapons, the Bone Saw is best left until you’re out of ammo. The Medic has a decent running pace and plenty of health, so it’s possible survive a frantic bonesawing session.

*Update December 2008*
Blut Sauger

The Blut Sauger replaces the Medic's syringe gun. It fires in a very similar way, throwing a stream of syringes. However it has two main differences to the original weapon. First, it has zero chance of making a critical hit, but each syringe that hits an enemy player will allow you to restore 3HP. This health regeneration property is an excellent addition for medics, allowing them to quickly heal in the middle of a firefight. However, you need to resist the temptation to rush in after your target. Even though it restores health you’re still no match for an offensive class such as the Pyro.

Kritzkrieg

The Kritzkreg is an interesting weapon, as it appears to be the same as the medigun it replaces. After all, it heals teammates (and spies!) at the same rate. However, its ubercharge charges 25% faster than the medigun and when the ubercharge is engaged it doesn’t bestow the same effect as the medigun - instead of invulnerability you and your target are awarded 100% chance of critical hits.

If a medic is healing you with the Kritzkreig it will be clearly displayed under the medic’s name in the healing status bar. You can still rush the enemy as if you were invincible, but remember you and your medic are still vulnerable to enemy fire. This means that the heavy is not necessarily the best partner for a Kritzkreiging medic. Pyros, Soldiers and Demomen will be more effective allies as they can attack from longer range.

Ubersaw

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