Kill assist

A Kill Assist

“

Click to listen

— The Medic on his kill assist

”

A kill assist is awarded to a player dealing a fair amount of damage to an enemy before another team member finishes the enemy off.

Participating in a kill assist will give the player half a point, and may sometimes produce a special class-specific audio response.

Example

Killer + Assister

Target

A BLU Pyro called Assister is using a Flamethrower on a RED Scout called Target.
Assister stops attacking. Target has suffered direct damage from the Flamethrower and is now on fire.
A BLU Demoman called Killer places Stickybombs beneath Target and then detonates them.
The Stickybombs kill Target.

Killer is awarded a kill because the Stickybombs dealt the last damage to Target.
Assister is awarded a kill assist for damaging Target prior to Killer.
Assister is not awarded a kill because his attack was not the one that killed Target.
The killfeed notification for a kill with a kill assist: Killer + Assister (Killer's Weapon) Target. A zoomed-in view of the notification is featured at the bottom of the image.

Only one player can assist in a kill. The game determines the identity of that player based on a list of priorities.

Soaking the victim in Jarate or Mad Milk.
Healing the killer at the time of the kill (this includes healing disguised enemy Spies, even if the healing beam breaks upon kill). If two Medics are healing a target, the first to have healed him gets the assist. Healing via Dispenser does not count.
Boosting the killer with the Buff Banner, Battalion's Backup or Concheror.
Wounding the victim. The player who dealt damage most recently gets the assist.
Provided that none of the above have happened, a kill assist will also be awarded to select miscellaneous items for any users in Pyroland.
If another Engineer is repairing another's Sentry Gun when it kills an enemy, then the player that was repairing the Sentry Gun will gain the assist and the Sentry Gun owner will gain the full kill.
Any enemies that's wounded by a player must be killed within 4-5 seconds to gain the assist.

Kill assists are worth half a point and will be counted as a full point every two of them.
If the person who receives a kill assist is being dominated by the victim, they will get a revenge kill. Similarly, assist kills count as one of the four kills needed to dominate a player, or as a point whilst using a Dueling Mini Game.
A Medic will only receive a kill assist if the player is being actively healed. Overheal, at any stage of decay, does not count.
A suicide due to self-action or environmental damage has no effect on kill assists.
Stunning, Airblasts, Fire, and the Fan O'War have no additional priority beyond damage.
If you are repairing an Engineer's Sentry Gun when it makes a kill, you get a kill assist.