Anti-Medic strategy

“

Your doctor is dead! Click to listen — The Heavy

”

The Medic is the main source of healing for his team and deploys game-changing ÜberCharges. This almost always makes him the highest priority target. He moves somewhat quickly and has a decent health pool, but his poor personal firepower means he relies on his team's protection to survive. The Medic's unique ability to overheal teammates means that a team without an active Medic is at a severe disadvantage, as the bonus health and constant healing guarantees that his team will outlast yours in a long battle.

If a Medic stays alive long enough to build up his signature ÜberCharge, he can grant a game-changing effect such as invulnerability, 100% critical chance, or a powerful healing buff and immunity to knockback for eight seconds. The only exception to this is the Vaccinator, which provides a 75% damage reduction and a full crit resistance to the selected type for 2.5 seconds. As such, it is generally a good idea to kill the enemy Medic at any cost, even if it means sacrificing your own life.

General

Attributes	Anti-Medic strategy
Role	Killing the Medic should be top priority when fighting multiple enemies so that the enemy team cannot recover from injuries. The Medic is typically found behind his teammates, but can be ambushed and defeated when on his own. The healing connection between a Medic and his patient can be broken using Knockback.
Health	The Medic has a moderate health pool and natural health regeneration. Combined with his speed, he can flee if his teammates die. The longer the Medic is out of combat, the faster his health regenerates. Consistent damage will keep his health regeneration rate low.
Speed	The Medic has the second highest base speed of all classes, making him agile in firefights. If he flees, you'll have to use alternate movement options. The Scout's agility, Soldier's rocket jumps, or Demoman's Sticky jumps are great options to chase him down.
Power	The Medic's weapons deal only fair damage at close range and are ineffective further out. Most classes should be able to take out an unassisted Medic with little trouble.

Weapon-specific

Main article: Medic weapons

Primary weapons

• Needles fired from Syringe Guns are individually weak, but can quickly add up for huge damage. Don't underestimate the Medic and blindly rush towards him.
• Needles fired from Syringe Guns travel slowly and are ineffective at medium range; zig-zagging lets you avoid most of the syringes.

Weapon	Anti-Medic strategy
Syringe Gun	A Medic will probably take out his Syringe Gun when there are no teammates to protect him. A Medic with the Syringe Gun out is likely retreating. Take care not to chase him into too many enemies.
Blutsauger	The Blutsauger's syringes restore health to the Medic on-hit; zig-zag at medium range so the Medic does not heal from shooting you. The Blutsauger decreases the Medic's regeneration rate, making him more susceptible to afterburn and bleed. The Blutsauger can be hard to distinguish from the Syringe Gun since they share the same sound effects. Take a good look at his hands or know what you are dealing with before attacking.
Crusader's Crossbow + reskins	The Crusader's Crossbow deals more damage the further away a target is. Close the distance to reduce the damage a bolt will deal. The Crusader's Crossbow, unlike Medic's other primaries, deals burst damage and travels very quickly, making it difficult to dodge. However, it has a slow reload, giving you many opportunities to retaliate. Bolts from the Crusader's Crossbow can also heal the Medic's teammates. Long range shots heal up to 150 health but are difficult to aim; keep up pressure on the Medic and his faraway healing target so each shot misses.
Overdose	A Medic with the Overdose can be harder to catch up to, especially if he's had time to build up his ÜberCharge. Pursuing this Medic may not be worth the risk of leaving your post or running into enemy forces. A Medic using the Overdose is slightly easier to attack when he is separated from his team, as the weapon does 15% less damage than the default Syringe Gun.

Secondary weapons / ÜberCharge

• Try to kill enemy team members as quickly as possible before the Medic has time to heal them and juice up his ÜberCharge percentage.
• While healing, the Medic stays in close range to his Medic buddy. Notable Medic buddies often include a combat class such as Heavy, Soldier, or Pyro.
• When the Medic's secondary weapons reach 100% ÜberCharge, (with the exception of the Vaccinator, which reaches usable ÜberCharge at 25%) a voice line will automatically be called out along with a corresponding visual and audio effect. Players may try to conceal this with another voice line, paying attention to these can help determine whether to attack or retreat.
• Refer to Medic responses for further details on the specific quotes relating to his ÜberCharge; you may be able to pick up observations about his ÜberCharge status.
  • The different secondary weapons have different voice lines when an ÜberCharge is activated. The Kritzkrieg and the Quick-Fix share the same activation voice lines, which differ from the stock Medi Gun, while the Vaccinator can use any of the voice lines.

Weapon	Anti-Medic strategy
Medi Gun + reskins	Against an active ÜberCharge, the general advice is to use knockback to push away the pair, activate another ÜberCharge yourself if you also use the Medi Gun, or back off quickly if there are no other options. The Medi Gun charges up ÜberCharge the slowest among the Medic's secondaries, giving him a minor disadvantage compared to other Medic secondaries in the short-term. For further information about countering an ÜberCharge, see Defense against ÜberCharge.
Kritzkrieg	An activated Kritzkrieg ÜberCharge offers critical hits instead of damage invulnerability, switching immense defense for a stronger offense. The Kritzkrieg has a 25% faster ÜberCharge, allowing for much faster buildup than the standard ÜberCharge. For further information about countering an Kritzkrieg ÜberCharge, see Defense against Kritzkrieg.
Quick-Fix	The faster healing offered by the Quick-Fix makes the Medic adept at healing his teammates quickly, especially for sustaining large groups. When activated, an active Quick-Fix ÜberCharge heals 3x faster and makes the buffed targets invulnerable to enemy knockback. Consistently high sources of damage should overwhelm them. For further information about countering an enemy's Quick-Fix and their Quick-Fix ÜberCharge, see Defense against Quick-Fix.
Vaccinator	A patient healed by the Vaccinator gains passive resistance to a specific damage type (Bullets, Explosives, Fire) as set by the Medic. Watch for an icon above this patient's head to look for the resistance type. Unlike other Medic secondaries, the Vaccinator can activate its ÜberCharge ability in intervals of 25%. This is offset by the slower ÜberCharge rate on overhealed patients. An activated Vaccinator ÜberCharge has a stronger resistance to the chosen damage type, resisting 75% damage instead of 10% plus immunity to crits of that damage type. Try to switch to a weapon of a different damage type if possible. Otherwise, avoid targeting the Medic and his buddy. For further information about countering an enemy's Vaccinator and their Vaccinator ÜberCharge, see Defense against Vaccinator.

Melee weapons

Weapon	Anti-Medic strategy
Bonesaw + reskins	The Medic has above-average movement speed, a slight advantage in melee combat. Use a gun to keep a ranged advantage. He will usually take out his Bonesaw as a last resort in close quarters.
Ubersaw + reskins	The Ubersaw grants the Medic 25% to his ÜberCharge meter per melee hit. Stay outside melee range when attacking a lone Medic. If the Medic lands multiple hits with the Ubersaw, he can use the invincibility-granting Übercharge to retreat safely. He will already be in attacking range if attempting this, so use knockback to pin him down. As a last resort, you can kill yourself to deny the Medic extra ÜberCharge. The Ubersaw has a 25% slower firing speed, making it worse at close-range combat. The Ubersaw has access to the Uberslice taunt kill. Don't blindly rush around corners when chasing any enemy.
Vita-Saw	The Vita-Saw's melee attack harvests Organs that let the Medic retain up to 60% of his ÜberCharge upon death. Stay outside melee range when attacking a lone Medic. If the Medic landed a few melee hits before dying, tell your team to expect an enemy ÜberCharge sooner than usual. A Medic using the Vita-Saw has 10 less maximum health, making him slightly more vulnerable to chip damage. Depending on respawn and travel times, your team's Medic can get still ahead on his ÜberCharge, even if the enemy Medic harvests an Organ before dying. Similar to the Ubersaw, it is sometimes worth it to kill yourself and deny the Medic of any potential organs.
Amputator	The Amputator grants extra health regeneration and access to an area-of-effect heal through its taunt. A Medic who takes out the Amputator alone is likely fleeing - keep up the pressure. If you know the enemy Medic is using the Amputator's taunt, he is stuck in place for 4 seconds, long enough for many classes to close the gap and kill him. The Amputator has a 20% damage penalty, meaning it takes 3 hits to kill a light class and makes him much worse at defending himself overall.
Solemn Vow	The Solemn Vow allows a Medic to see his enemies' health, even when it is not his active weapon. The Medic typically uses this information to direct his teammates to finish off a damaged target. The Medic must get a direct line of sight with you to view your health. If he exits cover too often, target him. Knowing what the enemy Medic knows can help you anticipate his team's movements. For example, if the enemy sees you are heavily damaged, they are more likely to pursue you or fight back. The Solemn Vow allows a Medic to see not only health, but an enemy Medic's ÜberCharge as well. Keep this in mind if you are a Medic, and try to avoid being seen by him to conceal how much Über you have. The Solemn Vow has a 10% slower firing speed, making it marginally worse in close-range combat.

See also

• Team strategy