Patch date: 21st November, 2013

Amputator
- Added -20% damage penalty
- Added +3 health per second when Weapon is Active bonus

Now THIS is a knife. The amputator would now be viable when you want survivalblity from a firefight, as a +6 regen off the bat is not to be joked about. This weapon might be seen more frequently now.

Crusader's Crossbow
- Updated damage over distance: bolts now do a maximum of 75 damage (+variance) at max distance

lolkay, as far as i know it won't be affecting gameplay much. Crossbow airshots anyone?

Patch date: 1st November, 2013

Crusader's Crossbow
- Reduced damage from 75 to 50
- Lower reload time from 3 seconds to 1.5 seconds

Increased DPS, but really negligible imo. Better off charging uber :P

Patch date: 29th October, 2013

Medic
- In PvP Medics can now see the clip status of a patient’s active weapon

Always good to have, now no more kritzing demomen without any stickies loaded :D

Crusader's Crossbow
- Medic's Crusader Crossbow now silently reloads when unholstered, similar to Pyro flaregun

Now more spammy than ever, but healing with the medigun will still have to take priority. At this point it's your call on which is more important: Taking a second or two off your patient to try to heal a teammate in a firefight at a distance, or not to risk missing and just continue to heal/buff other teammates that are near you.

Patch date: 10th July, 2013

♥♥♥♥ just got real, major weapon mechanics update.

Patches (Medic)

Crusader's Crossbow
- Changed arrow projectile to a large syringe
- Fixed being able to heal players that are using items that block healing

Pretty meh thing, I can understand the change of projectile type. Pre-patch, you were able to explode rockets prematurely by shooting a crossbow dart into the rocket. (Yes it's possible.) Being able to heal soldiers wielding the escape plan shouldn't even be possible, but it isn't that big of a deal.

Crusader's Crossbow playable status: Same as before, don't look down on it :)

Quick-fix
- Added 50% Overheal
- Über now affects the medic when there's no heal target
- Shotguns with pushback (Force-A-Nature) no longer affect players under the effect of Quick-Fix’s Über

An extremely big buff to the Quick-Fix, if not overpowered for use in pubs. being able to overheal 50% of your team while still healing at an extremely high speed makes up for the 50% that the Quick-Fix does not overheal. When in trouble, get your pocket soldier to rocket jump you out of there. (Bet you forgot about that did you? :P) To add fuel to the fire, you still heal at the maxium charge rate even at the 50% overheal mark.

Quick-Fix playable status: somewhat OP

Vaccinator
- Über now fully absorbs crit damage for the selected damage type, but depletes Übercharge based on the amount of damage prevented

If it finally dampens the crits, it just made it much more playable. I have yet to test how much uber gets reduced with each crit damage but if it's decent, it just made it on par with other mediguns, if not surpassing the Kritzkrieg altogether. In the hands of a great medic who can effectively switch between the types, it can become a formidable weapon for slow pushing.

Vaccinator crit drain results:
Crit rocket: 2 + 1 drained
Crit sticky (after 5 seconds): 3 + 1 drained
Crit (full charge sniper rifle) headshot: 0 + 1 drained
Crit flamethower: 0 + 1 drained for one flame particle, Vaccinator reduces crit damage long enough (8s)u for you to escape and hopefully grab a healthpack.

Vaccinator playable status: Great, though the crit drain isn't entirely good.

Medieval Medic set
- Removed +1 hp regeneration on wearer

i.e. Nerfed amputator. If you checked the afterburn tests in the appendices you would have known that it could be a great damage shield for afterburn damage, but now it's pretty much gone.

Amputator playable status: Taunt's the only useful thing here, useful when you're healing >4 people. Otherwise just stick to healing with your medigun or switch to the Uber/Vitasaw

Some of you might just be like me, not really that keen into pugging. Some of you may just be regular pubbers, and you wonder how to win.You then recall that medics are the key to winning games. Given that there’re no other medics on the team, you instantly switch to medic.You build up your ubercharge to a nice 95%, only to get trapped and get raped by stickies.You then wonder, “How am I supposed to play this class well when it’s a 12v12?”.

Playing a pub medic well isn’t what you can do overnight.You’ll need to control your temper a lot.You’ll rage quite a lot. But above all, you’ll win games. Sounds good? You may need to take note of a few more pointers, before we start.

To make the full use of this guide, it is suggested that you first take a look at the terms that I will be using throughout the entire guide.You should get yourself familiarized with these terms, especially when you start playing serious games.

Basic terminology
Pocket - A player that you will stick on and heal for most of the game.
Patient -The person you are healing. (Note:Your patient is not necessarily a pocket)
Pop - Activate ubercharge
Drop - Die with a good amount of ubercharge
Push - An action where the team advances forward into the opponent’s territory.
Spam - Rockets/Grenades that will occasionally be shot over, dealing little to moderate damage

I don’t believe in learning everything at one go, as much as I don’t believe cramming all the revision until before an exam.You should just take in a point at a time, and then play a full match while keeping that point in mind, be it with playing with bots or a public server. If you do not seem to be playing that well, you should continue and try again and perfect that point.You should understand each point clearly, instead of blanking out during the actual game. Good luck! :)

As a medic, you’re basically making decisions every time. Where to stand, when to uber, how to engage, who to heal etc. You will be making decisions all the time, no matter how bad each decision is. You should be picking the better decision by arranging things by priority.The following are the main objectives that are arranged by in order of higher priority:

Staying alive
As a medic in general, staying alive is your primary role. Respawn time may cost your team a demoman or two who could have taken down a sentry gun. If you make it out safely and survive, you may just had saved that precious ubercharge for that push later. I will explain some tips on survival in Section 5.

Should you find yourself trapped and having ubercharge, it is better to pop it straight away and retreat to your teammates and continue charging since you would be able to start charging uber faster than after you respawn.

Ensure your pocket is alive
Also, you also need to ensure that your pocket is alive. (As a newbie, it is suggested to only heal your pocket, and other players that are on the verge of dying. e.g. soldier on fire with 30 health, and get used to your positioning before healing the entire team)Your pocket should ideally be a strong player. After all, he will be protecting you (hopefully) most of the time.

However, you must always have some form of common sense. Should you find that you are getting overwhelmed without ubercharge, it is generally wiser to retreat and ‘ditch’ your patient than probably facing death later.

Be part of a good push
Thirdly, be part of every push that seems reasonable. Players do get hurt from combat, and being a medic that will heal players in a push is vital to the success of a push. I’ll be explaining this in detail later in section 5.

Before we go through what you will want to equip to win the fight, you must first know what each weapon in your arsenal does. In this case, we will be focusing on the mediguns/ubercharges. The ubercharge is the backbone of every push. It can change the tide of battle, wiping the opposing force in mere seconds.The Medic was given a variety of ubers, ranging from the standard invincibility to the guaranteed crits.You should be familiarizing yourself to all the different types of ubers, and know how to use them.

Invincibility uber (Standard medigun)
Normally used to push past choke points & destroy sentry nests in vital areas. Invulnerable demomen are good for clearing sentry nests, invulnerable soldiers/pyros are good for clearing an open field, and invulnerable heavies may help you push back enemies along a corridor easily.With invulnerability, multi-ubers are even more dangerous when executed correctly. (Multi-uber: Flicking between several targets when ubercharge is active)

Crits uber (Kritzkrieg)
This special uber allows a player to fire critical shots for around 8 seconds. Kritzed soldiers can deploy around 5-6 critical rockets, destroying most enemies with just one hit. Kritzed demoman are more destructive, wiping an enclosed area with his critical stickies. Kritzed heavies are deadly even at long range, dealing 27 damage per bullet. It's preferable to deploy this uber against large groups of enemies (and as fast as possible) so as to neutralize the entire team with one single blow (and their Medic, if any).

Mega-heal uber (Quick-fix)
With the Quick-Fix now having a 50% overheal (i.e. Soldier gets buffed to 250 instead of 300) and a 25% faster charge time, it can now be a viable option. Its higher healing rate does compensate for its lack of the other 50% overheal. (Calculations will be made in a later appendice.) Buffs are important in a push, and that 50% overheal is good enough to make small pushes. Although the Quick-Fix can now be used to quickly heal/buff up anyone who just backed off from the front lines, note that the uber can only be used to make small to moderate pushes as it still fails to perform against sentries and the likes.

Resistance uber (Vaccinator)
For medics who know what they're doing and are extremely aware of their surroundings. The ability to switch between 3 different resistances and also with a very short charge time can be devastating to the opposing team if you are able to co-ordinate and execute swift and quick pushes. With the Vaccinator now being able to dampen crits (drain percent untested), a skilled Medic will be able to save his team from an opposing Kritz pop if he/she is able to swap between resistances correctly and uber the correct patient.

When deploying an uber, you must first consider if there is a need to in the first place. (May not hold true for the resistance uber -- just pop it if you or your patient feels unsafe.) You should be on the constant lookout and keep track on your patient’s health, and pop whenever necessary. Should you find that your pocket is about to be in deep trouble, pop it immediately. (e.g. Soldier + Medic combo vs Scout who misses most of his shots, dont uber. Soldier + Medic combo vs 3 Heavies with 1 Sniper, uber straight away. You would rather keep your pocket alive than delaying ubercharge for just a second, compromising his safety) As for the kritzkrieg, it is recommended to pop it early, so as to give your patient some buffer time before shooting his/her crits.

A medic is presented with many different choices, and you will have to be selective as to which weapon you are going to use, as that will be affecting your playstyle. If you are playing a loadout that you do not find comfortable with, there is no point in playing it. With the 10/07/2013 patch, all the mediguns are now prefectly viable options. Instead of tackling the issue from the issue of being non-experienced to experienced, I'd rather explain the problem in accordance to the situations I've experienced, in order of its occurence.

When attacking heavily fortified/entrenched positions, there will undoubtably be sentries or heavy classess trying to hold their ground. If you want to force them back and gain some positional advantage, you will need the Invulnerability uber, as the Mega-heal uber is unable to stand against heavy firepower. One of the loadouts I might use is the following.

Overdose, Medigun, Vitasaw

With the Medigun, you are able to make a teammate of yours (probably a demo) invulnerable for 8 seconds, allowing him/her to take down that stubborn sentry nest. If things worsen, take out your Overdose and start retreating at your slightly increased speed. Should you ever die, the Vita-saw keeps up to 20% of your ubercharge so all is not lost. By playing with the above loadout, you have probably made yourself an 'hardcore uber' medic, basically focusing on always getting the Invulnerability uber up and running for your team.

You then check again. This time, they have very few heavy classes, and they are all pretty weak in nature. Should you want to make the small pushes just to nudge them out of their comfort zone, this is another loadout to try.

Crusader's Crossbow, Quick-Fix, Ubersaw

The Quick-Fix gives your team that little bit of overheal enough for them to push a little harder, while not compromising your charge time for your uber. Once the uber is ready, pop it on your teammates who are low on health, and if there is no risk, spread the uber around so everybody gets heals. The rapid heal is able to make up for the opposing team's small and weak damage, and your team should be able to gain ground (almost) immediately. With the Quick-Fix, perhaps you might not want to focus too much on the short-range heals, and maybe perhaps want to sacrifice what firepower you have left to aid that soldier who's fighting a distance away. In that case, the Crusader's Crossbow can be a viable option, allowing him/her to finish off that small fight without letting a teammate die. The Ubersaw also helps you gain some ubercharge if it hits a spy, allowing your melee to gain some utility while still going about your normal business.

Great! You've won the round, and now you're put on defense. You scout for the enemy's medic, and find that he's wielding the Invulnerability uber. They want to hit you hard especially at the sentry nests, and you need some form of quick counter-attack. There is a solution for that.

Overdose, Kritzkrieg, Ubersaw

The faster charge time on the Kritzkrieg will allow your team to make a quick counter-attack on groups of enemies, especially once their uber has faded. If you got the medic, you preferably will want to stay alive and churn out another Kritz in time (or faster than) their next Invulnerability uber. The Overdose is chosen as it will allow you to retreat from a possibly losing fight, while the Ubersaw allows you to get a faster Kritz if you get any saws off.

And so you win another round. Next, you find that they changed their game plan: They now have Kritz so they can completely wipe your team before you can even retaliate. If you can somehow prevent your teammates from getting killed by crit stickies, you might be able to slowly push them back.

Blutsauger, Vaccinator, Ubersaw

Although untested, the short bursts of resistance from the Vaccinator dampens any form of critical damage, while also allowing you to gain some health from it. As such, you may think that you want to sacrifice a bit of the medic's passive regeneration for the Blutsauger. With the Blutsauger, you are able to retreat while gaining health should your enemies try to chase you, allowing you to escape in peace. With the Ubersaw equipped, you are able to get a 2 second uber with every hit, allowing you to block more damage from the enemy's crits. Don't forget to swap the resistance types!

As you can see, what loadout you may pick may depend on the game itself. To any medics that I happened to inspire through this guide, I hereby advise you to get a feel of each weapon and medigun, and change them around should the situation call for them. Team Fortress 2 is an extremely complex game of scissors-paper-stone, and what your loadout is determines how the game will be played.

So, what's your loadout?

Positioning defines a medic. Good positioning, and you may survive through the entire round and play a vital role in every push. (Unless a (un)lucky crit comes your way :(, in that case, tough luck) Bad positioning, and you may find yourself constantly dropping uber. Find yourself in the latter? Here are some tips you might want to adopt.

Always staying behind your patient (unless an enemy is behind you)
Most newbie medics make the mistake of keeping too close to the patient, and end up standing in front of the patient at the wrong time, probably getting yourself killed. In fact, the medic beam is actually longer than what you think it is.You should be able to maintain a relatively safe distance from your patient and be away from danger.

You should also be able to predict where enemies might be, and avoid being too eager to catch up to your patient, especially around tight corners or high-spam areas.Your patient might suddenly stop, and you will overtake your patient, absorbing spam, possibly dying.

Always be aware of your surroundings
Always look around, and make a mental note of how the battlefield is changing around you. Engineer just set up a sentry nest in that house? It could be apotential escape route for you. Pyro flames round that corner and appears to be approaching you? Get ready to run. One of your teammates at the choke continuously fighting? There must be quite a few enemies past the choke.

With these mental notes, you should be able to take note of how you should advance into the enemy's territory, or how you should make your retreat. With these 'plans' in mind, you should be able to adapt any given situation, allowing you to get an edge in battle and win.

Run when you are in danger
Most medics stay with their patients no matter how bleak their future may be. I do admire that spirit, but the respawn isn’t worth it. If you run when you see danger, you may potentially heal more players, building up ubercharge.You should have remembered that staying alive is your primary role.

Taking advantage will lead to success in pubs.You should know about the various types of advantages, and what you should note during each push.

Uber advantage
Uber advantage is somewhat simple to execute, and goes hand-in-hand with other advantages.

Pre-uber :
If you do not see any medics or healing beams, presume that there are no medics in the area. Pop your uber when you seem fit. If you do see a medic, you must be careful of their ubercharge, be it crits or invulnerability.

Post-uber :
Look around. Are you or your patient in danger? Run. As described in Section 2, running may allow your patient to die, but you will be able to fill your ubercharge, getting it ready probably when your patient has respawned.

Numerical advantage
When exploiting numerical advantage, you must be sure that the push must be successful (be it gaining ground, gaining positional advantage) as the respawn time is very short in (some) pubs.You may need to retreat if the opposing force starts overwhelming you.

Pre-uber :
Should your patient continue advancing, the coast should be clear. However do be cautious of flanks, and be ready to pop your uber.

Post-uber :
Have you achieved some form of advantage? (High ground etc.) If you do, continue pushing, exploiting that advantage. If you didn’t achieve much, it may be better to retreat, avoiding getting overwhelmed later.

Positional advantage
Usually a follow-up of exploiting numerical advantage, positional advantage is somewhat solid in a pub should the pushing team continue holding that advantage. High ground will prevent you/your team from absorbing too much damage, while securing a choke point with stickies/spam will allow every player to get ready and be efficient with a push.

Pre-uber :
Uber is usually not needed in this advantage, as having positional advantage is stable enough for holding a point. Should you want to initiate a push, treat it as exploiting numerical advantage.

Post-uber :
After an ubercharge push, fall back to regain that previous positional advantage if nothing comes out of it. Otherwise, continue pushing and exploit that advantage.

Conclusion
Keep pressing tab. See an advantage? Push. Wiped out most of the opposing force? Continue pressuring.To win a pub, you have to keep it fast. Keep it smooth and fluent when exploiting the various advantages. However, do not make the mistake of over-extending to the point that you get ambushed. Do wait for reinforcements if necessary

Below are some miscellaneous info that you may want to consider when playing the course of a medic.

Healing ramp
"You heal hp at a higher rate if your patient was not damaged for 10 seconds. Use this to prioritize your healing."
Pros of healing faster: Faster heal = Faster push
Pros of healing slower: Longer ubercharge rate (at its maximum), Uber earlier.
Pick your poison.

Medic's passive regeneration
The Medic regenerates 3 health per second passively, up to 6 health per second passively (if the Medic has not taken any damage in the past 10 seconds). Using the Blutsauger will only grant you 1-4 HP/s. Passive regen is elaborated in Appendix A, while my opinions on the weapon loadouts are stated below.

Medieval medic set
The +1 regeneration rate is somewhat negligible as you should be able to find a reliable source of healing by the time the regeneration reaches its peak. In addition, you must be able to find a good pocket that will defend you from scouts that might pick you, as your crossbow is an unreliable self-defense weapon. However, it may be useful on maps which have very few health packs, or if you think you are greatly hindered by afterburn.

Blutsauger
I have read that some competitive medics use the blutsauger at times. I do not strongly discourage this, however you will be more vulnerable to afterburn damage (<picherepl0x>) and you should be able to aim well with the blutsauger, to make up for the slower regen rate.

Criticism against newbies
Some people may think that you are a newbie medic and only heal a single person. Do NOT rage against that comment, and continue what you are doing. After all, you are practicing to play the medic well.

Your mood
Don’t play any games of TF2 at all if you are feeling tired.You may just feel frustrated after dropping an uber, worsening your mood. Instead, play some other alternative relaxing games. I’m sure nobody wants to see a raging medic late at night :).

Continuously getting killed by crits
Good for you, you’re surviving well! However, you may want to consider staying out of choke points or hotspots for spam.

Edits: Pladicus, b1, cleric
Thanks for pointing out the flaws and room for improvement so that this guide can be refined! :)

Guide branding image: Caldoran
I somehow have a picture that you gave me, and somehow it went on the branding image part. Thanks! :D

Weapon borrower: LOLFREDLOL
Thanks for generously lending me the unique weps :D

All times are in GMT+8

19/1/13, 6:27pm: Ported guide, will do proper formatting later.
11/2/13, 9:55am: Slightly more readable now. Happy CNY! :D
12/2/13, 9:11pm: A few pictures in, but will probably still need to update them soon :/
16/2/13, 11.22am: Slight edits, major update coming up! :D
16/2/13, 1.09pm: Personal to-do list added.
20/2/13, 8.33pm: Loadout screenshots much more proper now :)
24/2/13, 9.58pm: Added Appendix A on the Medic's passive regen, hoping to add Appendix B soon!
25/2/13, 10.15pm: Updated Appendix A on specific commands and date tested.
20/3/13, 6.47pm: Will finish up Medics and afterburn soon :D
31/3/13, 5.30pm: Enough procastinating, Appendix B complete!
14/5/13, 8.32pm: Added a Q&A section where I respond to YOUR questions and comments!
30/6/13, 12.28pm: Added a demo section, will be uploading future medic gameplays there.
07/7/13, 11.26pm: Uploaded another demo, it will act as a demo bank until I feel like making a video guide :P
12/7/13, 9.55pm: Updated guide in accordance with the new patches, especially for the medic weapons. Will update too for the next few days.
20/11/13, 5.21pm: Updated guide to account for some minor patches the medic/crusader's crossbow had over Halloween.
22/11/13, 4.36pm: Updated guide for the Two Cities patch.

This guide is proudly brought to you by Ariadne of [ℳσE]. (ℳσE is a group of casual gamers who appreciate the medic, link)
If you don't think this guide is complete, please comment on what you think can be improved! If you like this guide, do give a rating or leave some feedback, as I really look forward to creating a thorough and complete guide! :D

Here are a few demos I've recorded. They are listed in chronological order.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7131539/TF2/Medic/300613.dem
Map: pl_badwater, Attacking.
With the opposing team's medic running the Kritzkrieg (and me running the regular invulnerability uber), being slightly conscious of the other medic was key to victory in this round. My main focus was to play passive when my uber is being charged, and aggressive when my uber is charged.
Also, the victory was attributed to the team having good players, two of which were voice comm'ing. Meh.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7131539/TF2/Medic/070713.dem
Map: pl_badwater, Defending/Attacking
Staying alive is the name of the game for these rounds. Always be conscious of 'spam spots' and 'sniping ranges', and you should be able to produce ubers after ubers. I may have played a bit dumb while attacking, but here's a general tip: Don't chase people (with an ubersaw) unless you can get them without compromising your survival.
sad_katz is my demo pocket here, you will almost always want a pocket to defend you ;)

> Post 12/07/13 balance patch

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7131539/TF2/Medic/140713.dem
Map: sd_doomsday
sd_doomsday is one of those maps where I dislike charging up a 100% uber as there's always action happening on the (small) map. As such, I've decided to go with the Vaccinator. Though I'm not the best at swapping between resistances (yet), what you may learn from this demo is that by always being active on the battlefield near your teammates, you should be able to secure an advantage for your team.

(Note: The Medieval Medic's bonus +1 passive regeneration has been removed as of the 10/07/2013 patch.)

"To find how fast the Medic is able to regenerate all of his health through passive regeneration."
Values last tabulated on 27th May 2012.

A server config was not properly recorded.
sv_cheats were enabled in a private server, and the command hurtme was used. A demo was recorded to find out the difference (in 'ticks') of the time taken for the Medic to regenerate back to full health, starting at 1 health, with various loadouts. Results are tabulated below.


Discussion
It can be seen that the Medic passively regenerates health very slowly (Even at the quickest regen rate of 4-7 HP/s you only get back to full health at 26.1s!), thus emphasising the importance of grabbing health packs scattered around the map to ensure your survivability. The effects of the loadout on the Medic's passive regeneration and general survivability are not significant in this test.

(Note: The Medieval Medic's bonus +1 passive regeneration has been removed as of the 10/07/2013 patch.)

"To find how much the Medic will suffer from afterburn damage with varying loadouts and flamethrowers."
Values last tabulated on 20th Dec 2011.

A server config was not properly recorded.
A friend of mine played the Pyro and a demo was recorded to find out the difference between the initial Medic's health and the resulting Medic's health, with varying Pyro flamethrowers and Medic loadouts. Results are tabulated below. And yes I understand that I forgot to turn off weapon spread, otherwise I wouldn't have to go through all this trouble :(


Discussion
Afterburn is a tricky thing to take note of. At any point in time throughout the course of your game, it can be relatively hard to take note of what flamethrowers the enemy pyro is using, and your initial health before you get 'flamed'. Either way this 'experiment' tries to tell you that even though afterburn damage is slightly mitigated by the Medic's passive regen, you must still stay safe in order to avoid dying to a slow and embarrassing afterburn. You should also be aware of your health if you are wielding the Blutsauger, as it will not be an effective shield for afterburn damage.

The difference in 1HP/s of regen (comparing the normal regen and the Crusader's Crossbow set regen) is more prominent when facing Degreaser afterburn, bringing it to near 0. When contemplating about what weapons to use in your Medic games, I will leave it up to your personal preference. The Crusader's Crossbow set is entirely situational, and it is best for you to make your own decision of whether you want to make those cool long-range heals or whatnot.

Oprindeligt skrevet af naksiloth:

I use the same setups as medic besides I pick blutsauger with kritz and vita. Whenever I tried Overdose instead, I found myself dying regularly to the first Pyro -if not just a bit later-, I encountered. Blut allows you to heal while in combat, in case you got away; you can heal yourself with oktober taunt of kritz, give a try to kritz+vita+blut and tell me whatd'ya think...

Interesting loadout. To the part where "I found myself dying regularly to the first Pyro", try to work on your positioning. You may perhaps find that you are probably staying too close to the choke point, hereby being vulnerable to ambushes or spam. Another point to note is that the healing beam is longer than you think, so don't be so paranoid and stick together with your pocket ;)

"..heal yourself with oktober taunt of kritz.." I never personally feel a need to get that HP from taunting, taunting may even make you a delicious target for spies and snipers alike. If you positioned yourself well, you shouldn't be taking much damage.

To the loadout (Blutsauger/Kritzkrieg/Vitasaw), I can only give my personal opinion on it (since it's a matter of personal preference anyway, loadouts i've listed were just a starting point for newbie medics). I felt that the reduced passive regeneration greatly hinders my ability to heal and generally stay alive, since I'm not the type to stay at the front lines. (Unless it's a push, that's a different story) The Kritz + Vita combo is particularly interesting as it means that you'll be kritzing frequently. (Side note: Ubercharge is kept by Vitasaw even if the Kritz was only half-deployed) I usually use an ubersaw though, since I don't usually die in a pub game.