ÜberCharge strategy

This page lists common strategies for using the Medic's ÜberCharge effectively.

Background

Main article: ÜberCharge

The ÜberCharge is an ability of the Medic that enables himself and his healing target to become fully invulnerable to damage. ÜberCharge is built up by healing teammates and has the ability to turn the tide of the battle when used offensively, and lock down the enemy team when used defensively. There are two variations of ÜberCharge; the standard Medi Gun gives the standard invulnerability (or invuln), and the Kritzkrieg unlock for the Medic gives the Kritzkrieg ÜberCharge, providing the healing target with a stream of all-Critical hits.

Strategy

Using the ÜberCharge

• Delay using the ÜberCharge until the last possible moment, try to wait until your Buddy or yourself have received damage before activating the charge. The longer you wait, the better, but don't die.

• When ÜberCharged, focus more on clearing enemies than trying to achieve the objective, as you can't capture points or flags while the Charge is still active.

• Knock back is your greatest opponent, so let the Medic go first and draw Sentry Gun fire. Both the Heavy and the Pyro are more effective close up against Sentry Guns.

• Follow the ÜberCharged pair using them as a moving shield. If you follow them onto a control point, you will start capturing it.

• ÜberCharged pairs attract a lot of fire even while charged, as people want to take them down as soon as the charge dissipates. Use this distraction to move onto control points or take out enemies as they look elsewhere.

• If, in response to your ÜberCharge, the opposition activate their own, try to ignore them. Invariably, they've activated in response to your own, so concentrate on removing Sentry Guns, not ÜberCharged enemies.

• You can use your Medi Gun to ÜberCharge multiple players at one time by rapidly switching between healing-targets. However, your ÜberCharge meter will drain much more quickly if you switch healing-targets to more than one individual while ÜberCharging due to the April 1, 2008 Patch.

• Watch out for instant death spots, like pits around the capture point in Koth Nucleus and capture point E in Steel, since invulnerability doesn't protect against them. Also, do note that you can die via Telefrag.

• For a Medic on your own with an Über, you can activate the ÜberCharge to avoid damage, then quickly switch to the Übersaw and hit someone to extend the charge further before switching back to the Medi Gun. This may be repeated until victorious, safe or dead.

• As a Medic, watch out for enemy Pyros when using the ÜberCharge as they can easily airblast you into a corner and make your ÜberCharge totally useless for your teammate. Against Pyros, always remember to use your mic to warn the player you are ÜberCharging that you cannot move.

Defense Against ÜberCharge

• The best defense against an ÜberCharge is another ÜberCharge. At least one defending Medic should build an ÜberCharge and save it for when attackers come in with one of theirs. An ÜberCharged pair should body-block another ÜberCharged pair (stand in their way) to waste their ÜberCharge time, then finish them off afterward.

• There are a few ways to combat an ÜberCharged pair because, although you cannot hurt them, they can still be knocked back by Sentry Guns, rockets, and either of the Demoman's weapons. Just target the Medic to launch him away from his team-mate, and once he has been blasted far enough away, the ÜberCharge will be interrupted on the team-mate.

• Demomen are good counters to an ÜberCharge. As soon as you see or hear the pair coming, lay a string of Sticky bombs on the ground and wait until the first half of an ÜberCharged pair steps on it, then detonate, sending him flying into the air. Another strategy is to detonate just before the second half crosses it, hoping to send them flying in opposite directions. A third strategy is to try to blast them into a corner where they will be disoriented and waste their Übertime regrouping. A fourth strategy is to knock them off bridges or ledges if one is along their path. Note that sticky bombs on walls and ceilings do not affect an ÜberCharged pair, they must be on the ground and in close proximity of each other—and you need at least two for a noticeable effect, and the enemies must be right on top of them. Different classes have different weight - an ÜberCharged Heavy may take 5 or more stickies to successfully blast away, so it's better to try and blow the lightweight Medic away if possible.

• Soldiers can bounce an ÜberCharged pair around by firing rockets into their feet. Try to push them into corners or off ledges. If you can, try to bounce the Medic so that he cannot follow his patient, leaving the patient vulnerable to attack.

• A very good device for dealing with ÜberCharges is the Pyro's Flamethrower. The Flamethrower has an alt-fire ability that produces a blast of compressed air that knocks back enemies and can deflect projectiles. This ability can be used in several ways against an Über. First, the Pyro can pop in and out of cover in front of the Übered opponent and constantly knock him back, thus slowing or even completely halting his advance, wasting many precious seconds of Übertime. This tactic should only be used against regular ûbercharges; a charge from a Kritzkrieg is extremely dangerous to face, since a single hit by a rocket or a few hits from a Minigun will end the Pyro's life very quickly (if you manage to reflect a critical rocket back at a Kritzkrieged Soldier however, it will likely blow away him, his Medic or even both!). Another way of using the air blast is to flank the Übered pair. In this scenario, the Pyro targets the Medic himself, and blasts him away from his buddy; if he goes far enough, his connection to his mate will actually be severed, ending the Überrush prematurely. This is similar to the juggling effect used by Soldiers and Demomen, but better since it is more reliable and predictable. Alternatively, if the Übered opponent is a Soldier or Demoman, the Pyro can simply stand way back in front of them and deflect as many projectiles as he can to minimize the damage caused by the assault. Another good method of defending a Sentry Gun as a Pyro is to use the compression blast to knock one or both opponents into the air and have the knockback from the Sentry Gun push them far away. This normally works best if the Sentry Gun is already level 3, since it has a stronger knockback. Note that these tactics only work when using the regular flamethrower; if you have the Backburner equipped you lose the compression blast ability. However, your Flamethrower will not be completely useless in this case; Pyros can run up behind the pair and stay just behind them while keeping flames in their faces, hoping to confuse them and spoil their aim while not getting hit too badly. This can work if they are not focused on you. If the Medic is using a Kritzkrieg, try to run up behind him when he's not looking, and quickly kill him, since a Medic using a Kritcharge is not invulnerable, and end the charge completely.

• The most common target for an ÜberCharged pair is a Sentry Gun. The Engineer has two choices: hide behind his gun and frantically whack it with his Wrench hoping to repair it faster than it gets destroyed, or flee and be ready to rebuild as soon as possible. If the ÜberCharged pair includes a Heavy, and they are not too close or the ÜberCharge is almost done, the Engineer can probably survive if he stays protected behind his gun and has a Dispenser behind him to keep healing him and supply him with metal. If they get close, however, it is better to flee. If the ÜberCharged pair includes a Pyro and he gets close, the Engineer will certainly die, and the gun a few seconds later if the Pyro has enough ÜberCharge time left. Consider fleeing if they get close. If ÜberCharged pair includes a Demoman, the Engineer should stay if the Demoman is firing regular grenades. He may die but he will probably keep his gun alive long enough to survive the ÜberCharge. However if the Demoman gets three sticky bombs under the Sentry Gun, the situation is more difficult but not hopeless. Using the Wrangler it is possible to save a Sentry Gun from some Übercharges and it is particularly useful against Über Demomen planting stickies since it allows the Sentry to survive more damage and it can also be used to shoot the stickies. It may also be possible to shoot away the stickies in time with the Shotgun, if the Demoman is firing them slowly enough or is very inaccurate, but generally after the second bomb lands, the Engineer should flee from the Sentry Gun and either Wrangle or retreat to rebuild. See Engineer Strategy for more information.

• You can also try to slow an ÜberCharged pair down by body-blocking them (standing in their way). Chances are you will die quickly, but your sacrifice could cost them one or two seconds of precious Über time, especially if they are not focused on you. If you keep moving, and/or if you manage to block the Medic and separate him from his buddy, you may even survive. Scouts armed with the bullet-dodging effects of Bonk! Atomic Punch are especially effective at this, and can waste up to 6 seconds of an enemy's precious ÜberCharge.

• Although the opportunity rarely presents itself, it is possible to Telefrag those under the effects of an ÜberCharge. If both the Medic and his target are standing on the exit at once, both will indeed by killed by the telefrag. When this occurs, it is usually due to sheer dumb luck.

Kritzkrieg

See also: Kritzkrieg

• During setup time, help a Demoman lay an 8 critical sticky bomb carpet near the enemy spawn. The blast radius should be enough to kill most of the opposition.

• Kritzkrieg a Soldier to lay suppressive fire into choke points.

• When defending a point, waiting until the enemy ÜberCharge runs out and activating Kritzkrieg can help clear the point and wipe out the whole enemy assault in seconds.

• The Kritzkrieg isn't generally a great Medic item to use if you tend to rush up ahead with everyone else. Thanks to the quick charge rate, you don't always need to be up with the big guys. Use this to get a charge up, then take a Heavy, Soldier, or Demoman buddy to the front lines and unleash hell on them. If combined with an ÜberCharge from the Medi Gun, you can get even more done than with Kritzkrieg alone.

• Watch your back! You will be a prime target when you are using a charge, and you will not have the standard invincibility to shrug it off, and classes such as Spies can easily stop the charge abruptly with a backstab.

• On an individual case-by-case basis, the Kritzkrieg's charge generally isn't as useful as the regular ÜberCharge. However, the Übermeter increases faster by 25%, making it more likely for you to get a full charge before dying as compared to the standard Medi Gun. This also means that at the beginning of symmetrical maps, you will have the Kritz charge ready before the enemy Medic has the standard charge, and you can kill him before he activates it.

• The sudden and powerful damage spike from most critboosted weapons can allow you to kill a fully charged enemy Medic who has a regular ÜberCharge before he has a chance to react.

• Remember that Crits don't affect buildings so you might want to use the Medi Gun instead of the Kritzkrieg when fighting against a team with a lot of Engineers and Sentry Guns.

Chain ÜberCharge

Chain ÜberCharge is a tag team technique that allows two Medic players, equipped with the Übersaw and Medi Gun, to maintain a constant state of invulnerability.

To be successfully performed, one player must have built an ÜberCharge up prior to the start of the technique. The first player must then deploy their charge on the second, who in turn must use their Übersaw to attack enemy players and subsequently fill their own Übercharge meter. Once it is ready, the second player must then quickly deploy the ÜberCharge to the first Medic, who in turn must repeat the same action once they have built the charge with their Übersaw. If fluidly executed, both Medics can remain invulnerable for extended periods of time whilst killing a multitude of enemies.

The technique requires considerable communication between the two Medics. Both should be aware of the status of both ÜberCharges in order to continue the chaining uninterrupted, as well as when to break off the chain strategically.

Chain ÜberCharges can be an effective strategy for clearing a certain area of enemies, pushing through a strong defense or heading off an incoming attack. It is less effective, however, against buildings or for completing certain objectives such as capturing a point. The chain can be easily broken by Pyros utilizing the Compression Blast ability to separate the Medics, or with Scouts luring the chain into chasing them and wasting time. The attacking Medic, though, is not limited to using his Syringe Gun or Blutsauger to fend such classes off. Slower classes are a priority for the chain, as the Medics can easily reach and attack them.

Should the chain be broken, both Medics should escape the area and regroup later with another ÜberCharge ready.

Demonstration

Medics using the Chain Über tactic on Badwater Basin.

See also

• Medic strategy