Being a Medic and a Team Player (and get some points while you're at it)
Too often medics get a bad rap for "whoring" points and never caring about the fate of the team. While this is often true, it is very sad, because after Commanders and Squad Leaders, Medics can do the most to change a game. In this post I'd like to give some tips to new Medics and those who want to change the way they play. Feedback would be much appreciated (since this is pretty much my first substantiative post).
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Tip #1: The key to playing medic is to stay alive. Not only can you not kill enemies, you cannot revive teammates, so it's a double whammy.
- This means you shouldn't be the first to rush into battle, or even the second; leave that to assault and support. In fact, to be safe, you might want to be behind the squad leader, since your #1 priority is to make sure he lives.
- Know when you're beaten: As medic, more so than any other kit, it's better to know whether you're going to win/lose a battle than if you actually win. There are many cases where you should just press 5 (medic bag) and run: when you're up against against support at point blank range, when you're double (or more) teamed, against a sniper at extremely long range, etc. You have the advantage in these situations, because you can heal quickly, and re-engage from another angle. This time you'll have the advantage. You should never have to fight with less than full health.
Tip #2: Use your weapon effectively
- The medic class is blessed with some of the best weapons in the game, from long range (G36E/L85A1), to melee (AK47/101/L85A1). It could be said that Medic, even without healing/reviving is better at Assault than Assault itself.
- Choose your weapon wisely: As mentioned before, Medic has a plethora of weapons for different situations. Personally, I use the 36e for long range and the automatics (AKs if possible, else L85A1) for short.
- As a medic, you have the advantage of seeing where your dead teammates are on the map. This can help indicate where the enemy is. Use it to your advantage.
- Always keep moving. Even when you're reviving.
- Medics also happen to be great lone wolfers - since they can heal, and they have good, accurate weapons, they can kill many people before dying. I'm pretty sure my kill streak was as medic. The best advice for this I can give you is always expect that someone's at the next turn, and always be vigilant. If you see them first, you should always win.
Tip #3: Revive wisely
- This is why I said the medic can do so much to affect the fate of the team. Some people (many, actually), don't realize that when you revive someone, you just prevented the loss of one ticket from your team, the same difference as if you had killed someone. If used wisely, a few people can change the course of a match.
- This doesn't mean that when you see a dead comrade you rush blindly revive him. Know always that people die for a reason, and keep your gun out until the second you're next to him. In addition, try to be running if possible; it makes for a harder target. Keep in mind whether you need to recharge, though; whether or not you need to recharge could be the difference between life and death for both you and your teammate.
- I think I need a second bullet to stress that you need to be aware of your surroundings before you revive. The enemy may have left, but chances are he's close by, and he may be expecting you, so before you get to the victim, do a 720 to make sure you can revive safely. Keep in mind that there may be grenades or claymores in the vicinity (it seems popular these days to throw a grenade on a corpse), so look out for those as well.
- You might be wondering about the best way to revive someone: should you go prone, crouch, or just be standing? Before 1.3, the answer was unequivocally to go prone: your chances of missing are many times lower, and your footprint as a target is much less as well. Unfortuantely as of recent patches things have changed. Now it is impossible to do a quick "z click z" as it was before: DICE/EA has made there be a delay between going down and standing up. I believe that the prone way is still almost always the best, but if you're afraid of a grenade (you really shouldn't be, since you already took care of all enemies...right...RIGHT!?!), feel like there's a sniper afoot, or you need to get out of there fast, then crouching is the best alternative.
- Location, Location, Location: When it comes to your helpfulness on a team, a medic in a bad place is not a medic at all. The critical thing for a medic is to be in that fine area between the front lines and the middle of nowhere. He needs to be close enough to the action to revive anybody, but far enough to not die himself.
- Your defibrillator is a better weapon than your knife 90% of the time, but you shouldn't use it as a weapon 99% of the time. The time it takes to recharge (when it makes the funny sound) is longer than the time it takes to switch to a weapon.
- You can revive someone behind a fence/through a wall if their feet are sticking through.
Final Notes:
- I don't think there's much to be said about medic bag strategy. Don't place them in places where the next person is an enemy, and don't "spam" them. You or someone else may need them sooner than you think, so keep some with you. Know that throwing medic bags gives away your position, so if there are enemies, and nobody needs it, don't throw it.
- I didn't mention it earlier because I thought it was obvious, but when you get critically wounded, you don't get a death and your team doesn't lose a point. You only get a death and lose a ticket after 15 seconds if nobody revives you. (thanks G3|Genius)
- This is for anybody, not just medics: look at your mini-map when you're critically wounded. If you see that a medic is going to revive you, then get ready to run as fast as you can away once he does. I can't tell you how many times I've revived someone only to have them stand there and get shot again.
Others' tips:
- "Since 1.2 your medic bags and your revives are linked. If you revive a guy, your medic bag count goes down one, and vice-versa." - G3|Genius
- "People should always pick up medic kits on the ground to revive their teammates if there is no alive medic around. Also you should always try to revive squad leaders and other medics first." - Bidasse_Jason
EDIT: Btw, could you guys comment on things I missed? I haven't played that much and I'd like to see your tips too.
EDIT2: Formatting
EDIT3: Added people's corrections
Too often medics get a bad rap for "whoring" points and never caring about the fate of the team. While this is often true, it is very sad, because after Commanders and Squad Leaders, Medics can do the most to change a game. In this post I'd like to give some tips to new Medics and those who want to change the way they play. Feedback would be much appreciated (since this is pretty much my first substantiative post).
---
Tip #1: The key to playing medic is to stay alive. Not only can you not kill enemies, you cannot revive teammates, so it's a double whammy.
- This means you shouldn't be the first to rush into battle, or even the second; leave that to assault and support. In fact, to be safe, you might want to be behind the squad leader, since your #1 priority is to make sure he lives.
- Know when you're beaten: As medic, more so than any other kit, it's better to know whether you're going to win/lose a battle than if you actually win. There are many cases where you should just press 5 (medic bag) and run: when you're up against against support at point blank range, when you're double (or more) teamed, against a sniper at extremely long range, etc. You have the advantage in these situations, because you can heal quickly, and re-engage from another angle. This time you'll have the advantage. You should never have to fight with less than full health.
Tip #2: Use your weapon effectively
- The medic class is blessed with some of the best weapons in the game, from long range (G36E/L85A1), to melee (AK47/101/L85A1). It could be said that Medic, even without healing/reviving is better at Assault than Assault itself.
- Choose your weapon wisely: As mentioned before, Medic has a plethora of weapons for different situations. Personally, I use the 36e for long range and the automatics (AKs if possible, else L85A1) for short.
- As a medic, you have the advantage of seeing where your dead teammates are on the map. This can help indicate where the enemy is. Use it to your advantage.
- Always keep moving. Even when you're reviving.
- Medics also happen to be great lone wolfers - since they can heal, and they have good, accurate weapons, they can kill many people before dying. I'm pretty sure my kill streak was as medic. The best advice for this I can give you is always expect that someone's at the next turn, and always be vigilant. If you see them first, you should always win.
Tip #3: Revive wisely
- This is why I said the medic can do so much to affect the fate of the team. Some people (many, actually), don't realize that when you revive someone, you just prevented the loss of one ticket from your team, the same difference as if you had killed someone. If used wisely, a few people can change the course of a match.
- This doesn't mean that when you see a dead comrade you rush blindly revive him. Know always that people die for a reason, and keep your gun out until the second you're next to him. In addition, try to be running if possible; it makes for a harder target. Keep in mind whether you need to recharge, though; whether or not you need to recharge could be the difference between life and death for both you and your teammate.
- I think I need a second bullet to stress that you need to be aware of your surroundings before you revive. The enemy may have left, but chances are he's close by, and he may be expecting you, so before you get to the victim, do a 720 to make sure you can revive safely. Keep in mind that there may be grenades or claymores in the vicinity (it seems popular these days to throw a grenade on a corpse), so look out for those as well.
- You might be wondering about the best way to revive someone: should you go prone, crouch, or just be standing? Before 1.3, the answer was unequivocally to go prone: your chances of missing are many times lower, and your footprint as a target is much less as well. Unfortuantely as of recent patches things have changed. Now it is impossible to do a quick "z click z" as it was before: DICE/EA has made there be a delay between going down and standing up. I believe that the prone way is still almost always the best, but if you're afraid of a grenade (you really shouldn't be, since you already took care of all enemies...right...RIGHT!?!), feel like there's a sniper afoot, or you need to get out of there fast, then crouching is the best alternative.
- Location, Location, Location: When it comes to your helpfulness on a team, a medic in a bad place is not a medic at all. The critical thing for a medic is to be in that fine area between the front lines and the middle of nowhere. He needs to be close enough to the action to revive anybody, but far enough to not die himself.
- Your defibrillator is a better weapon than your knife 90% of the time, but you shouldn't use it as a weapon 99% of the time. The time it takes to recharge (when it makes the funny sound) is longer than the time it takes to switch to a weapon.
- You can revive someone behind a fence/through a wall if their feet are sticking through.
Final Notes:
- I don't think there's much to be said about medic bag strategy. Don't place them in places where the next person is an enemy, and don't "spam" them. You or someone else may need them sooner than you think, so keep some with you. Know that throwing medic bags gives away your position, so if there are enemies, and nobody needs it, don't throw it.
- I didn't mention it earlier because I thought it was obvious, but when you get critically wounded, you don't get a death and your team doesn't lose a point. You only get a death and lose a ticket after 15 seconds if nobody revives you. (thanks G3|Genius)
- This is for anybody, not just medics: look at your mini-map when you're critically wounded. If you see that a medic is going to revive you, then get ready to run as fast as you can away once he does. I can't tell you how many times I've revived someone only to have them stand there and get shot again.
Others' tips:
- "Since 1.2 your medic bags and your revives are linked. If you revive a guy, your medic bag count goes down one, and vice-versa." - G3|Genius
- "People should always pick up medic kits on the ground to revive their teammates if there is no alive medic around. Also you should always try to revive squad leaders and other medics first." - Bidasse_Jason
EDIT: Btw, could you guys comment on things I missed? I haven't played that much and I'd like to see your tips too.
EDIT2: Formatting
EDIT3: Added people's corrections
Last edited by parth (2006-10-29 14:50:07)