Medic Class

Medic Class

The Medic class is the marmite class of Bad Company 2. Some players love it for the adaptability and combat strength it supplies. Others hate it, resenting the accuracy and power of the class's LMGs compared to assault rifles and SMGs. It is, however, very necessary to achieve team success, particularly in Rush mode. As one might expect, the Medic's chief function is to revive team mates killed in combat. To this end, they are given a Defibrillator after a few hours of play. They also come equipped with med-kits, to heal living allies. Recent gameplay balancing has altered the power and accuracy of some of the LMGs, making them less accurate when fired from the hip. They can, however, still certainly hold their own in combat when used properly.

Furthermore, the LMGs are second only to sniper rifles for their ability to punch through cover and damage whatever is on the other side. Because of their rate of fire, they can be used to spray buildings, particularly wooden ones, to suppress or kill enemy targets inside. The crosshair flashes when a hit is confirmed, and this allows you to locate enemies by spraying your LMG.

The Medic's big weakness is that they are the only class in the game with no explosive capabilities. Even the assault class has its 40mm grenades and can use C4, but the Medics have nothing. Therefore, on vehicle maps, it is important to achieve a balance between Medics and Engineers. On any infantry maps, however, a squad of Medics can be nearly invincible.

Weapons:

The Medic class's LMGs are a controversial topic. When a soldier is seen sprinting and jumping across the map firing a huge machine gun from his hip, it is clear why. However, most of the LMGs have weaknesses that can be countered by other classes, and as mentioned above, they can be defeated with ease by an enemy tank. The MG 3 is the last to be unlocked, and has a maximum rate of fire. It also has very low recoil. As a result of the rate of fire, like the engineer's Uzi and PP-2000, the damage and accuracy are poor. The damage in particular is the lowest by some margin in this class.

The M60 is much loved by Medics due to its high accuracy. Attach a Red Dot Sight or a 4x Scope and you can outgun assault rifles and suppress snipers with this weapon. Most of the LMGs can be comfortably fired in controlled bursts, or even single shots, allowing those with the appropriate sights to function well over long distances. The M60 is well balanced, with medium damage and rate of fire. The XM8 and MG38 are closest to the MG 3, but trade some of the obscene rate of fire for a little more damage and accuracy.

Like all Bad Company 2's starting weapons, the PKM LMG is well balanced and used effectively even by veterans. It outguns or equals the next two unlocks, the M249 and Type 88 LMG, and players new to the Medic class should have little trouble slotting in.

LMGs are good at all ranges, but are weakest in close quarters since the patch

Weapon Unlocks:

The LMGs are unlocked at the following xp boundaries:

PKM LMG – 0 xp
M249 SAW – 3,300 xp
Type 88 LMG – 8,600 xp
M60 LMG – 25,000 xp
XM8 LMG – 34,000 xp
MG36 – 42,000 xp
MG3 – 57,000 xp

Equipment:

The Medic class is the lightest in terms of equipment. It has only the Med Kit and the Defibrillator. The former works like the assault class's ammunition crates. When an injured player stands over it, their health increases incrementally, and as the medic who deployed the pack, you receive 10 for every increment (20 for a squadmate). This really brings home the fact that health takes a long time to recharge, and even when your screen is not bloody, you may not be back at full health. Note that you can use the med kits to heal yourself, and a popular tactic is to stand on a med kit while in combat. This won't prevent you from dying via a headshot, but if you are in cover you can duck down and recharge your health before continuing the fight.

The second piece of equipment is the Defibrillator. This can revive players from the grave, under any circumstances. That's right, even if a player has been headshotted, blown up by an Apache, and had their corpse knifed, you can still revive them before they respawn. Medics get 80 points for a squad revive, meaning it is on par with a kill and savoir bonus, while an impressive 50 are given away for a general team revive. The fact that Medics can do all this and still compete very well in combat leads to Medics often coming top of a team's scoreboard. In Rush particularly there is always a glut of corpses to be revived in certain places, and thousands of points can easily be accrued from revivals in a match, especially if you play in a squad.

Revives have a more important function, however, as they retrieve the lost ticket from the player's death. This is vital in Rush as the attacking team, and is important in Conquest too.

Equipment Unlocks:

The medic classes equipment is unlocked at the following xp boundaries:

Medic Kit – 1,400 xp
Defibrillator – 5,800 xp

Specialisations:

Medics can put Red Dot Sights and 4x Scopes on their already beastly guns. In addition, they can upgrade their Med Kits in terms of effectiveness (increasing the speed at which a player is healed) and their range. On top of this, the usual Marksman upgrade is also available, increasing accuracy while stationary.

Specialisation Unlocks:

The medic class's specialisations are unlocked at the following xp boundaries:

(Secondary) Medic Kit Improved Heal – 12,000 xp
(Primary) Red Dot Sight – 15,000 xp
(Primary) 4x Rifle Scope – 18,000 xp
(Primary) Medic Kit Improved Range – 21,000 xp
(Secondary) Marksman LMG Training – 28,000 xp

Hints and Tips:

Don't be a chronic reviver. Listen to your team mates. If someone tells you they don't want to be revived, don't do it just for the 50 or 80 points. You may ask why a player would not want to be brought back from the dead. For one thing, engineer and sniper players may have run out of ammunition. If you keep reviving them, there is nothing they can do to keep themselves alive. For another, it counts as a death (not in terms of your team, but from the individual's point of view).

Think about what a medic would do in reality. If there was a room full of hostile units, the medic should attempt to clear the room before reviving an ally. Of course, some prefer to just get the 80 points for a defib and die along with their patient. This is not helpful to your team, however. There are instances where a daring resuscitation may be called for, such as if a dead player is near an M-COM box. They may be able to get a kill to defend or protect the box in the second or two before they are killed again. Basically, just be mindful of what will actually be achieved for your team if you revive an ally. And don't ignore requests for med kits.

Be in an open squad. The only way a medic can really function effectively for their team is if they are in a full four-man squad. This allows them to spawn on their team mates and revive any downed allies or support them with their powerful LMGs.

Take advantage of the LMG magazine sizes. The LMGs have at least 100 rounds in each magazine. This means you can effectively fire for three times as long as an assault or engineer class soldier without needing to reload.

Be aware of reload times. The drawback with the LMGs is their extended reload time. Do not get caught short in the middle of combat, but most importantly, do not compulsively reload after each kill as you might do with assault or engineer classes.

Do not pray and spray. The LMGs lose lots of accuracy when the medic is using them on the move. Furthermore, when the trigger is held down, the recoil is very high. This means medics should effectively get into a good position and then use the strengths of the LMGs to pick off enemies ahead. This is not to say that the trigger should never be held down, as one of this class's strengths is its suppressing ability.