10 tips to become the perfect medic
Saturday, September 12, 2009 | Written by Durandal
I’m not a doctor…
but I play one in Urban Terror!
One of the most unique things in Urban Terror is the medkit. Since this item takes up a slot in your inventory that could be used for armor or add-ons for your weapons… why do many people choose to take it? The ability to quickly heal your teammates to nearly their full health in a couple of seconds can make the difference between winning and losing the game. This article will give you some guidelines for how to be a good field medic and be the MVP of your entire team.
A few basics about the medkit. The medkit is an item that is always active when you have it equipped. It allows you to bandage faster on others as well as yourself, about twice the normal speed. With the medkit you can restore a teammate’s health to 90% of maximum rather than the 50% that you can without. Because of the faster healing, you are also more likely to survive massive damage by bandaging more quickly to stop blood loss. Also, if you have a medkit and someone else doesn’t, they can still medic you to 90% just as if they had one, albeit slower.
But there’s more to being a great medic than just slapping on a medkit. Being a good medic as well as being a good patient takes skill. So here is a list of things to think about when playing doctor.
- Be aware of your surroundings. This is probably more important for the medic than any other player. You not only have to watch where you are, the enemies are, but keep an eye on where your teammates are and what their health is. Whenever you hover your crosshairs on a teammate you will see their name and a bar showing their health. A good medic shouldn’t have to get a call for help to know when a teammate is wounded. If you are in a safe location and they have low health, a medic call symbol over their head, or you see them limping and bleeding… heal them by going over and holding the bandage key.
- Medding makes a lot of noise. Be aware of this. A good opponent with headphones on will be able to pinpoint the sound of a medic working a mile away. This can be an easy double kill for someone and they will usually hunt you down. If you are in a bad situation, do a series of smaller meddings. Run up, tap bandage, and back off to take a look around putting; some distance between you and your teammate. This will keep enemies from easily hitting you with spray and pray fire or catching you in the blast radius of a grenade. You can do this a few times and still heal them fully.
Med and run. A good medic can med someone without stopping. If just got out of a firefight, there is a good chance you and your teammates are limping. The bandaging will stop limping even if you don’t fully recover. Run up and tap bandage for someone and they will be able to run for cover at full speed so the opponents don’t have time to regroup and find you as easily… especially if they’re following that big trail of blood you’re leaving behind. If it’s just you and one other person, you can actually run behind them while holding the medic key and heal them without having to ever stop moving. If there are several people that are hit, make sure they can all run by bandaging as many as need to stop bleeding then everyone head for cover and regroup.- Don’t bandage in their lap. You can actually bandage from quite a ways away from your patient. Don’t hug them while you do it because both of you might need to move quickly and if you’re blocking them in some corner… there is a good chance you will both be toast if spotted.
- Get to the choppah!! Get to cover. A quick med to stop bleeding and limping might be necessary… but if you plan on fully healing, get behind a wall or a box or a tree or anything solid. You don’t want to be rewarded for your efforts getting picked off by a sniper.
- Duck and cover. I’ve heard this position called many undignified things. The best way to med is facing your teammate with you crouched down in front and them standing up. The reason this is so important is that from this position you can see behind them and they can see behind you. Not only that, but if someone does come out quickly; they can shoot without blasting you in the head. They have a full 360 degree firing arc over your head and you are protected by their body. Not always possible… but usually it is and it is the ideal position for protecting each other.
- Take turns and play nice. Unless you’re somewhere relatively safe, like back in spawn… take turns bandaging. If you are hurt and so are they. Heal them while they guard and vice versa. The problem is that while you medic, you put your gun away and it takes about a second for you to complete that action and pull the gun back out. That’s about a second too long if someone whips around a corner with barrels blazing. If one person has their weapon ready and is guarding, the chance of returning fire and surviving is much higher. If nothing else… you are more likely to only lose one person instead of two. In a team game, this can mean winning or losing.
Listen for the call. If you hear the “I need a medic”… take a look at your minimap. The position of the radio call will flash on the map. If you are close to them, try to reach them. It’s not always feasible if you are half the map apart, and that’s the luck of the draw. Look for the caduceus (what the heck is that? oh… that’s the name of that snakey doctor symbol thingy) over their head in game… they’re the one that called for help. Some people are afraid of the doctor. If someone is running away from you over and over… let them go. They might not want help or maybe they see an enemy you don’t. I have a custom radio call I made for “medic on the way” that says “I’m trying to get to you, fall back and cover Me”. If you’re using ventrilo / teamspeak / mumble / whatever, calling out “Hey, I’m behind you _____” works pretty well too so a teammate knows you’re there to med them and fall back.- Strike and fade. The medic is a ninja. I don’t wear kevlar because I need to move fast. I can swoop in, medic, and swoop out without slowing down or taking fire. I’ll even tap the bandage button as I am power sliding past someone on My way to drop a grenade off somewhere. It’s about a bullet in the arm worth of healing. One more hit they can survive and I haven’t even slowed down.
- Loose lips sink ships. Don’t give away sniper positions. This goes back to being aware, but while a sniper might be hurt and deep behind enemy lines… the last thing they want is for you to give away their position with loud bandaging or waving a laser around. Take into account what is going on and make a judgment call. Low health is better than no health.
That’s it for now… part 2 will talk about what to do if you are the one that is wounded and being mediced.
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Very good article
Nice tips and useful knowledge. That’s what I expected to find on Daily ‘Nade, and I haven’t been decieved !
Nice article
Damnit Jim, that was a great article!
Excellent article.
I just recently started to be a more active medic in the game. Finding cover and keeping your distance (as not to block) are probably the best, and most obvious, tips for anyone trying to medic. One thing that I find very helpful is the “on the go” medic. It can be very helpful to offensive players to run by them after a fire fight and give them a quick medic. You can pretty much do it without stopping for more than a second or two, but it will allow them to make sure they can reload and prepare for another target instead of having to stop bleeding.
Durandal,
Very informative article. Because you are an outstanding medic, I have been able to afford not to be a medic. I used to be a medic, and every once in awhile you’ll see me wear the pack. By having you around, I’ve been able to pile up the kills! Thanks man!
sweettt nice work guys keep going
BXTRA
Nice article, confirmed a lot of what I’d already guessed at, and explainedthat which I hadn’t even thought of. Anyway, thanks!
Awesome article, I have been playing for a long time and I learned a lot. Well written Durandal good to see one of our own published here.
Nice article, but I think a kevlar is quite a good thing to have for a medic, because he should try to survive as long as possible.
Nice article!
ive been a medic since i started to play back in the 2.0 days. Back then u had to drop the medkit to a player if i wanted to get meded to 80% and not just 40%.
To med your friend and to get medded yourself took longer time. As u had to drop the kit. So u realy had to cover the other one and not just sit and look at him .. (hate that.. ppl are just looking at ya and not covering your back)
Vintage!
Very well done Dur, I am impressed with the depth and thought that you have been putting into the med-ing ‘prefession’.
One thing that I have also noticed that I don’t think you mention is that two people medding someone heals them twice as fast.
Sometimes I will med someone from full cover while then are in a firefight, if they aren’t moving too much it works pretty well, and you can see their health go up and down as they get hit and healed.
Im pretty sure its 90% health with medkit, and 45-50% health without medkit, and not 40/90%. But other than that, a ver nice guide =).
I thought the same but I found that the health bar in Urban Terror is not very accurate on how it is designed. While specting some foes i said to my temates “narrow 50 percent of life”. My teamate got killed whitout even touching his opponent and in the text at the top said “35% of life”.
This is what the urban terror manual says:
“The medkit can be used to increase you ability to heal damaged players. Using the medkit, you can heal players back to 80 percent of their full health, compared to only 40 percent if you don’t have the medkit. If you have the medkit item, it will be used automatically when you are attempting to heal other players. “
That manual is wrong, the correct values are 50% and 90% I believe.
I’ve always just worked off the fact that medkit = almost full… no medkit = half full. I grabbed the numbers from frozen sands… but yeah, they don’t update things as often as they should.
I just confirmed that the actual numbers are 90% and 50%. Sorry about the confusion, I have made the correction in the article body to reflect the more accurate numbers.
Pro doctors have \ut_itemdrop medkit since 4.1
Good article loved it! I find smoking the heck out of the enemy then medding is kind of helpful too
Where’s part 2?
There’s nothing like the relief of fiidnng what you’re looking for.
I call myself a Battlemedic(thats my actual urt name) and that explains my role perfectly. No kevlar vests thanks, Im a ninja! Good tips
[...] If you are playing with marginally capable players, you may want to consider grouping up with some of them. A group of skilled players in a pub will have a tremendous impact. It doesn’t have to be an official pact, you can just follow someone around and help them out. Two guns are better than one. Having a teammate or two around you is very helpful when dealing with multiple defenders. Often times you wll find several enemy players just sitting on their flag, and it’s hard to kill 3 people shooting at you no matter how bad they are. Finding the competent players on your team is not hard; in any given pub, at least half of the players will never bother to move toward the flag. They just hang around the middle of the map and only occasionally reach the enemy flag. The arrows which are consistently advancing on the enemy flag are the ones you want to be with. If you don’t think you can hang with them in the killing department, take a medpack and keep them full of life. Just don’t be an overzealous medic. [...]