It’s been awhile since I’ve written anything. Considering that, I decided to rewrite this Medic Guide because things have changed in the game as well as my personal skill. This may apply to comp as well as to pubs.

PLEASE REFRAIN FROM ADDING ME. YOU CAN ASK QUESTIONS IN THE COMMENTS. ONLY ADD ME IF YOU HAVE SOMETHING EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TO TELL ME.

As I mentioned before in my guide, you are NOT an offensive class. Your role is NOT running in with your syringe gun and attempting to kill anyone because 100% of the time that will not work. You are not invincible regardless of what you think. Running off and feeding the opposite team free kills is just silly. Instead of playing the so called “battle medic”, be useful and stay back with your team.

Building ubers off your team mates is critical to the Medic, considering that it can initiate a team push if executed right. We’ll go over the heal rates and buffs for each class below:

Scout
Base health: 125
Overheal: 185 (Decreases)

Soldier
Base health: 200
Overheal: 300 (Decreases)

Pyro
Base health: 175
Overheal: 260 (Decreases)

Demoman
Base health: 175
Overheal: 260 (Decreases)

Heavy
Base health: 300
Overheal: 450 (Decreases)

Engineer
Base health: 125
Overheal: 185 (Decreases)

Medic
Base health: 150
Overheal: 225 (Decreases)

Sniper
Base health: 125
Overheal: 185 (Decreases)

Spy
Base health: 125
Overheal: 185 (Decreases)

These heal rates just apply to every Medi Gun except the Quick Fix. Now let’s take a look at the Medi Guns and their functions:

Stock Medi Gun:
Ubercharge: Gives 8 seconds of guaranteed invulnerability to himself and the patient.
(Matches the speed of any faster heal target.)


Kritzkrieg:
Ubercharge: Gives 8 seconds of guaranteed critical damage.
(Matches speed of any faster heal target.)
25+ Build rate


Quick Fix:
Ubercharge: Heal rate increases by 3x for Medic/Patient as well as being invulnerable to stun/damage forces.
Heal rate is increased by 40%
Overheal is decreased by 50%
Matches the speed of any faster heal target.
Medic mirrors blast jumps from their heal target


Vaccinator:
Ubercharge: Gives a 75% resistance to a certain type of damage for 2.5 seconds.
Reloading cycles through damage types,
+67% ubercharge rate.
Matches the speed of any faster heal target
-33% Ubercharge rate on an overhealed patient.
-66% Overheal build rate.

Crit heals is a mechanic that lets the medi gun heal 72 health per second instead of 24 a second. But you have to know how to make it happen.

Say I'm healing a Heavy and he's taking consistent damage. My medi gun will only heal 24 health per second. But if he hasn't taken any damage for 10 seconds the heal rate will bump up to 48 health per second. If your patient goes 15 seconds without taking any sort of damage, you'll be able to heal him at the max rate which is 72 health per second.

At the start of every game, each player will have crit heals.

I didn’t mention healing order in my older guide, but it varies depending on what kind of game you’re in. Pocketing one person isn’t good in all cases, spreading heals around to your team is beneficial to them as well as yourself because your ubercharge will build faster. Plus, it wouldn’t hurt to buff or heal someone who is in need. Your pocket (if they’re smart) can go a few seconds without being healed. But now for the healing order:

Your order most likely depends on who you prioritize most and which game mode you’re in. In terms of competitive Highlander, your team mates as their classes have specific roles.

Demoman:
He does the most damage in a short amount of time as well as being able to deny people with stick bombs/ sticky traps. He’s also able to spam chokes with his grenade launcher. He is the #1 heal target for a Medic, considering he is able to do so much damage so quickly. He’s part of the combo.

Soldier:
Depending on what type of game you’re in, healing a Soldier is always a good idea. But of course, you’d have to adapt to the type of game you’re in. In Highlander, he’s not one of the primary heal targets but it’s very important to buff him to make his bombs more reliable. (His priority changes in 6s.)

Scout:
Scout in Highlander works as a flank with the Soldier and it’s very important to give him a buff considering that he’s… well. A glass cannon. Giving him an overheal to 185 makes him harder to kill and it gives him a chance to do more damage. He’s able to do a lot of damage in a short amount of time like the demo.

Spy:
Spy is known for breaking and changing a game with a valuable kill, like the Medic, allowing your team to move forward. Buffing him might not always be the best idea because sometimes in a cloak you’ll see a visual effect of the heals which forces him to wait sometimes. It doesn’t hurt to heal him if he’s hurt, but he’s no primary target.

Engineer:
Considered an important class on defense and how his gun is used as a sort of “core” for his team. His sentry guns do a lot of damage in a short amount of time and does has a very good area denial which can take care of people trying to flank or get to him. He’s important on defense because he’s the only one who can repair his sentry. Keeping him buffed or healed is important in my opinion.

Pyro:
Pyro can keep Medic alive and spy check. He’s not a class that has much range, so he sticks with the combo and makes sure nothing gets to the Medic. Keeping him buffed is important so he can neutralize enemy ubers or spies.

Heavy:
Heavy, in short is slow and has hardly any maneuverability. He’s not entirely reliable for ubercharges, but he can easily stop anyone trying to kill a Medic. Keeping him fully buffed is one of the most important things so he can protect teammates and deal with bombing classes. He is part of the combo.

Sniper:
Sniper is deadly. A good sniper can kill someone across the map and change games, so keeping your sniper fully buffed so he can kill the other sniper is INCREDIBLY important. Making sure he always has a full buff so he can survive a headshot is vital to a Medic.

Playing Medic requires you to be aware of your surroundings, checking your back occasionally and watching for specific classes that are here to kill you. If you play competitive, you have to keep your team alive as well as getting an uber advantage on the opponent Medic. You have to think of the big picture while trying to stay alive. I mentioned this in my Heavy guide, do NOT walk into open spaces. That will leave you to get killed by a Sniper or any other class that can kill you. Also try to avoid choke areas as well because it might get spammed and you’d die for sure.

Classes that you’re most vulnerable to:
Sniper
Spy
Soldier
Scout

Also pay attention to the score board to see who's dead and who's up/or who spawned.

Positioning for Medic is based off of the map. But in terms of basics, if you're in a group with your players, you should be behind them around half of the max healing range. A lot of newer Medics stand still during the fight, but that's a bad thing to do because it makes you an easy target for almost any class. Instead of treating the Medi Gun beam as some sort of straight ruler, treat it like a rope that's able to move. Keep moving as if it's some sort of dance. Strafe left and right and make sure your movement is consistent.

If your team or heal patients start dropping and you see the enemy team pushing in, you should be far back at max range, making sure you're out of a Sniper's line of sight. Don't take damage for your team, make sure you're healing them and staying behind them. Using cover as an advantage is important as well.

In terms of pushing in to destroy a sentry, you MUST step in front of your pocket and walks towards the sentry or the knockback will push your heal patient back.

Surfing damage is incredibly important. As a Medic, you should practice learning how to avoid or even use damage to your advantage. Timing a jump with a rocket might get you out of a bad situation safely. Lots of Medics make the mistake of standing still and that’s what gets you killed. Learning how to move unpredictably might save your life, as well as surfing a rocket by crouch jumping off of a Soldier’s missile. Try to avoid running in straight lines as well.

Here's a video to help you learn how to surf:

When do you use your uber? Once you reach 100% on your Medi Gun, you can initiate a push, or a counter uber. Now the biggest problem, is not dropping it. Dropping means dying and losing your charge, leaving you with 0% when you respawn. In competitive, your team relies on an uber to get their work done. You’ve probably heard this before, but it’s better to pop it than drop it. If you’re alone and being attacked you can use your ubercharge and run away. I have a rule if my health is 50 or below I pop. Unless I can see the type of damage that’s going to hit me.

Do not KEEP an ubercharge for too long or else you’ll lose your advantage and maybe even your uber. Coordinate with your partner or your team to initiate a push.

You can build your loadout based on how you, your pocket or your team wants to play. I consistently run the Crossbow to heal my teammates from afar or I use it when normal healing will take too long. I run ubersaw as well, considering it guarantees 25% uber per hit. In competitive, getting a saw might change a game. Since we’re speaking about melee, try not to use it on anyone you see, ESPECIALLY spies. I wouldn’t risk going after one and neither should you.

I’ve gotten this question a few times about learning how to aim with the crossbow and how does it work. The crossbow heals from 70 - 150 health if you manage to hit it and it has damage from 38 - 75 with no headshots. Learning when and how to use it is incredibly important! If you’re healing more than 1 person at once and a few of them are hurt, arrow them. It’s much faster than using your medi gun. Say you’re pocketing a heavy, and he’s caught somewhere and he’s being spammed and he can’t stop shooting. He’s a pretty fat guy, so arrow him. You can’t heal him for 80’s or 100’s with the medi gun. Using that tactic can save his life. Same with any class. If you’re in a situation where you can see the damage hitting your heal target and you know you can’t heal them fast enough, arrow them.

How do you practice arrows? I practice in Ultiduo which is INCREDIBLY helpful. You learn how to heal someone who’s moving and not standing still as well as learning how to avoid/surf damage from the opponent. Remember, the farther you shoot the arrow, the more health you give.

When you first start off, you won’t be a professional. It’s a difficult class to learn because of all the things you need to worry about. Don’t blame people for your deaths and don’t listen to people if they make fun of you for being bad. Every class needs practice and they should know that. If you just keep on practicing, you’ll get much better.

(Ultiduo and competitive games are the best methods for practice, personally.)

Thanks for reading.