Medic Class

Lore & Background

The Medic is depicted in TF2 as a maniacal scientist with a morbid interest in human anatomy, considering healing a mere side effect of his experiments on his fellow mercenaries. Despite this, he shows a softer side towards his pet doves. Voice acted by Robin Atkin Downes, the Medic speaks in an exaggerated German accent. The TF2 character description for the Medic states that he was 'raised in Stuttgart, Germany', while the second update announcement for the 'Two Cities Update' names the fictional 'vaguely European' city of Rottenburg as his hometown. Despite being called a doctor by his teammates, he is implied to lack a medical license, and according to his character description 'any sort of verifiable formal training in medicine'.

Reader's Guide

The Medic is categorized in the game as one of the support classes, alongside the Spy and Sniper. The Medic carries a Syringe Gun as a primary weapon, a Medi Gun as a secondary weapon, and a bone saw as a melee weapon. As a healer, he is the only class which can reliably heal other teammates. His primary tool in this task is the Medi Gun, which tethers a flexible beam of light to a teammate to heal them. The Medi Gun heals targets lower health points faster than those with more, and can also 'overheal' targets up to 150% of the default maximum health. The default Medi Gun has an associated 'ÜberCharge' meter filled by healing. Once full, it can be activated to grant a few seconds of invincibility to the Medic and their healing target. The Medic can otherwise equip alternatives to the default Medi Gun which do not have ÜberCharge. Such Medi Guns include the Kritzkrieg, which replaces the period of invincibility with a period of guaranteed critical hits. Another is the Quick-Fix, which heals 40% than other Medi Guns while downgrading overheal, and replaces the ÜberCharge with a period of increased healing power. The Medic's Syringe Gun deals little damage as a weapon and as such makes the class largely ineffective on its own. The default Syringe Gun can be swapped out for the Blutsauger syringe gun, which heals the player upon shooting an enemy. Another replacement for the syringe gun is the Crusader's Crossbow, a crossbow which fires bolts either healing teammates or damaging enemies. In Medieval Mode, equipping the crossbow can allow a more alternative play style entirely, known as 'Battle Medic'. The Medic's melee weapon is an ordinary bone saw. This can be swapped out for an Übersaw, a more sluggish weapon which adds 25% to the ÜberCharge meter upon hitting an enemy. The Medic is the only class in the game who can regenerate health independently of his chosen weapons. Teammates can call for a Medic to assist them by pressing the key on PC, which plays a voice line yelling out his name. The class pairs well with high damage classes such as the Demoman, Soldier, and especially the Heavy.

Did You Know?

• The 'Combat Medic' class was first introduced in the 1996 Quake mod Team Fortress, released in 1999 by Valve Corporation as the stand-alone game Team Fortress Classic (TFC).
• The bioweapon was scrapped during development because designer Robin Walker said it sent the wrong signal that teammates 'might hurt you' due to the disease.
• The first major content update for TF2 was released in April 2008 as the 'Gold Rush Update', but became known as the 'Medic Update' among fans due to the addition of three new weapons for the Medic.
• The Medic's part of the 'Über Update' in June 2011 added a further three weapons to the class and culminated in the release of 'Meet the Medic', a short animated film.
• Using the D&D alignment chart, Kieron Gillen of Rock Paper Shotgun classified the Medic as lawful good.