Field medic
The field medic, commonly known as the medic, excels in healing injured players. This perk receives bonuses for the the MP7M medic gun and the MP5M medic gun, as well as bonuses for the combat armour. The medic is generally positioned in the middle or back of the team.
The medic's medical syringe, MP7M, and MP5M healing darts recharge up to three times faster, and are up to 75% more potent. At higher levels, they can heal a teammate from critical to near-full health in two applications, and the syringe will even be fully recharged before the reload animation completes. Combat armour normally absorbs roughly 77% of the damage dealt to the player, but medics higher than level zero will yield an armour effectiveness ranging from 84% to 135%. It will not only absorb more damage for the medic, but will also withstand more punishment before breaking. Furthermore, the medic receives a discount of up to 70% on armour, which entails a total cost of £90 for a new vest. Although their roles are very different, the medic perk shares a number of similarities with the berserker perk. Level 6 medics can run 25% faster than the default speed with any weapon, making it easier for them to chase and heal their teammates. The high speed also allows them to kite, and makes it easier to escape when overwhelmed. Another similarity is their resistance to damage from Bloat bile, which stacks with the armour's damage reduction and is applied before the armour does. The combined effect means damage to their armour will be little more than 5% when hit by Bloat acid, whereas other classes can lose 25% or more.
The MP7M medic gun and the MP5M medic Gun are the only weapons affected by the medic perk; a larger magazine is given at higher levels, and the weapon discount ranges from 75–87%. The MP7M has the highest rate of fire out of any weapon in the game, making trigger discipline and headshots crucial for anything larger than a Crawler. More importantly, it allows medics to heal teammates at great ranges, speed, and without the hassle of switching weapons. Since the medic only receives an ammo boost, these guns have a decided lack of power, but are still effective against smaller specimens. The heavy damage absorption, high movement speed and self-healing allows them to use hit-and-run tactics with a good variety of weapons. The lightweight katana, for example, allows the medic to have great speed, and is effective against Clots, Gorefasts, and Stalkers. The lever-action rifle is also a formidable weapon because it can pick off awkward targets like Husks, Crawlers and Sirens with reasonable efficiency.
The general role of medics is to provide support to their teammates, especially to the front line (i.e. berserkers and support specialists). By quickly healing them as soon as they take damage, they can relentlessly attack the specimens without having to pull back often to heal. The medic should try to keep all of his teammates in his field of vision and be constantly on the look out for threats closing down onto the team. This will help him to anticipate the damage his allies will sustain, and ensure he is ready to use his healing darts and medical syringe at a moment's notice.
Generally, the medic serves as a supporting player when not healing the team. As long as the medic adapts this strategy, the other weapons of the game are equally of use for different purposes. The medic must be mindful however that regardless of which weapon is chosen, the main benefit of the medic is the armour. Although it lasts longer than normal and can absorb a great amount of damage, the medic is extremely vulnerable against even the most basic of enemies once the armour has depleted. The lack of any damage bonuses makes it important to learn which weapons work against the various specimens, and a medic should strive to take as little unnecessary damage to armour as possible.
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[edit] Levelling tactics
Players cannot level the field medic alone. Having a partner who is willing to help will allow for the fastest way of levelling. The other option is to join a large server where players tend to incur large amounts of damage.
- For the fastest way of levelling with a partner, carry the MP7M and kill the majority of the specimens in the wave, but leave just enough so that the combined healing potential of your healing darts and medical syringe outweigh the rate of damage at which the remainder of the specimens can inflict upon your partner. This method allows your partner to go AFK as you level. The optimal difficulty level and specimens to keep alive depend on your medic level.
- Alternatively, if your partner wishes to level up their Berserker perk, then progress through the waves and allow them to attack the majority of the specimens as you constantly heal them.
[edit] Helping the field medic
Because the medic specialises in healing, allow him to heal all nearby players when they are injured including yourself, unless the team is so critically injured that a large amount of healing is immediately necessary for survival. Stay in a single group so that the medic can keep every team member in his field of view. When you are wounded and you hear the sound of health darts landing or being fired, stand still if it is safe to do so, so that the medic can easily heal you from afar.
The medic's damage output over time is generally lower than other perks, so he requires assistance against the Scrake or Fleshpound more frequently, especially on higher difficulty levels.
Near the end of a wave or during trader time, players can jump off a ledge to wound themselves so that the medic can earn more healing points. A Firebug who is below level 5 can aim at the floor and deliberately burn himself with the flamethrower, whose ammunition is inexpensive.
[edit] Tactics
- With no damage bonuses, it is more difficult to be an effective fighter as a medic despite the armour bonus. Equipment should be carefully chosen to mitigate the deficiency in firepower. On higher difficulty levels, it is very difficult to solo the Scrake or Fleshpound without incurring a considerable amount of damage. Attempting to solo these enemies shouldn't be performed above the Hard difficulty.
- A medic should be armed with more than the standard equipment and a medic gun, especially on the later waves. One possible combination is a katana paired with a lever-action rifle, which provides effective melee damage for small enemies and ranged damage for Husks or Sirens. Alternatively, a crossbow can be used as a stronger ranged weapon, which can stun the Scrake on lower difficulty levels but may force the medic to kill the majority of close-range specimens with the 9mm or medic guns.
- On Suicidal and Hell on Earth, a medic is inept at inflicting damage to the Scrake and Fleshpound. This is because the lever-action rifle is weak unless you have time to aim for the head, the katana requires close engagement which may allow the specimen to wound as you attack them, and the crossbow's headshot multiplier is removed from any other perk besides the Sharpshooter at the Hell on Earth difficulty. Even while being less effective at this difficulty, these options are still viable with good teammates and field medic's damage sponge abilities.
- For close-range combat and tanking purposes, a medic can use the .44 Magnum or handcannon paired with a fire axe, or the hunting shotgun along with the MP7M or MP5M.
- When attempting to use the syringe to heal someone who is fleeing from danger, do not obstruct their escape route and instead approach them from their side.
- If a nearby teammate is about to be killed by a specimen's melee attack, you can try to save them by putting yourself between them and the specimen because the medic's armour bonus generally allows you to endure more attacks.
- Be ready to fire a second healing dart at an injured teammate because the game engine does not register all darts that hit their mark. The healing message at the bottom of the screen and the metallic sound of the dart's impact can be used confirm a successful healing dart.
- On Friendly Fire servers, field medics are the backbone of the team as their morphine dart hits will register much more easily.
- The medical syringe is especially useful when the other medic guns are recharging. Two quick healing darts and a syringe use on a player can bring them from nearly dead to healthy in a matter of seconds.
- A medic may also choose to carry both the MP7M and MP5M as their healing darts use separate ammo pools.
- Dropping a medic gun and then picking it back up will fully recharge its healing darts. With a little practice, this can be employed to boost your healing output significantly. However, beware that weapons can disappear when you thrown towards a wall or inside a narrow space.
- With no damage bonuses, the medic's loadout is very flexible and can be used to level up any other perk without sacrificing much firepower.
[edit] Perk ladder
| Rank | Teammate heal points required | Syringe | Bloat bile resistance | Movement speed | Magazine size* | Combat armour | Weapon discount* | Spawn equipment | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Recharge speed | Injection potency | Damage resistance | Discount | |||||||
| — | 10% | 10% | 10% | — | 10% | — | 10% | 75% | — | |
| ★ | 200 | 25% | 25% | 25% | 20% | 10% | 20% | 77% | ||
| ★★ | 1000 | 50% | 50% | 5% | 40% | 20% | 30% | 79% | ||
| ★★★ | 4000 | 75% | 50% | 10% | 60% | 30% | 40% | 81% | ||
| ★★★★ | 12 000 | 100% | 15% | 80% | 40% | 50% | 83% | |||
| ★★★★★ | 25 000 | 150% | 75% | 20% | 100% | 50% | 60% | 85% | Combat armour | |
| ☆ | 100 000 | 200% | 75% | 25% | 75% | 70% | 87% | Combat armour, MP7M | ||
| *With the MP7M medic gun and MP5M medic gun. | ||||||||||
| Equipment by perk | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Weapon damage table |
