KF2 Hell on Earth Field Medic: Perks, Loadouts, Boss Wave

This is a community primer from a player with nearly a thousand hours on the Field Medic, written for the May 2016 builds of Killing Floor 2. It covers how to pick skills, which weapons to carry, how to handle the big ZEDs and how to prepare for the boss wave on Hell on Earth. The author stresses that not everything will suit every player, so treat it as a set of options. For the Medic perk basics see Medic perk; for another HoE approach see KF2 Field Medic Guide: Skills, Loadouts and Healing Tips.

General advice and tactics

Your primary job is to keep teammates healed. Your secondary job is to help with ZEDs that cause trouble: Gorefasts that are too close, Crawlers, Bloats, Stalkers, Husks and Sirens. Other trash is something your team should handle on its own. Call out Husks and Sirens immediately.

• A level 25 Medic can fire about 7 healing darts from the Medic Assault Rifle with 0.5 seconds between darts, and more with 1 second intervals. This is faster than swapping weapons and uses the rifle's strong healing (60 HP per dart, or 45 HP with Armament).
• To repair armor, pump darts quickly. To heal HP, give the heal time to work: healing is 10 HP per second.
• If trash is on you while a teammate needs healing, drop a Medic Grenade at your feet and keep healing. It also helps hold choke points.
• Quick-heal yourself (syringe, alt-fire) before, during and after waves. Keeping armor up saves dosh.
• Fire damage and fire damage over time is halved every time a player is healed.

Perk selection

Level choice	Author's pick	Reasoning
Healing Surge vs Enforcer	Healing Surge	Enforcer is only worth it in pre-Scrake waves or with several competent Medics.
Combatant vs Armament	Armament	See the section below; Combatant is better early on or when you will not use the Medic Rifle.
Regenerate vs Lacerate	Regenerate	Lacerate rarely matters: trash dies before it works, and on Fleshpounds its damage rounds down to zero because of their 50% resistance.
Acidic Compound vs Vaccinate	Vaccinate	Acidic Compound costs armor restoration and Bloat bile resistance for little gain. Vaccinate also allows armor healing at full HP.
Airborne Agent vs Zed Sedative	Zed Sedative	Harder to proc, but a huge payoff on big ZEDs and the only stun that works on bosses. Beginners should choose Airborne Agent.

Zed Sedative has many obstacles: working around dart auto-lock, having a clear path, the ZED not being in an uninterruptible state, knockdown and stumble taking priority, and the dart needing to be charged or the ZED standing in a Medic Grenade cloud.

Combatant vs Armament

The debate is whether Armament's 25% healing penalty is worth its extra 1% armor per dart. Healing arrives at 10 HP per second regardless, so the penalty mostly shortens the effect of a single dart (6 seconds and 60 HP versus 4.5 seconds and 45 HP for the level 25 rifle). In practice you fire two or three darts and let regeneration finish, so those extra armor points add up over a wave. Combatant is appropriate for early waves, for the free armor at the start or after dying, and when you will not carry the rifle. The author believes the meta currently favors Armament.

Weapon loadouts

Preferred loadout: HMTech-101 Pistol, Pulverizer, HMTech-401 Assault Rifle.

Preferred loadout: Pistol, Pulverizer, Assault Rifle.

It gives meaningful help against Fleshpounds, an easy answer to Sirens, 90% damage resistance on a good parry and 50% when blocking, and a way out when a mob traps you. Use the Pistol at the start of a wave to save rifle ammo, switch to the rifle for the intense phase when Scrakes and Fleshpounds spawn, and return to the Pistol during breathers.

Alternative loadout: HMTech-101 Pistol, HMTech-201 SMG, HMTech-401 Assault Rifle. It is cheaper and heals plenty, but is only advised with trusted friends who deal with Fleshpounds and Sirens on sight.

Alternative loadout: Pistol, SMG, Assault Rifle.

This build leaves about 4 kg free, which can be filled with a .500 Magnum (suggested by a reader) for kiting and for Scrakes and Fleshpounds. Two headshots kill a Siren.

Extra weapon option for the remaining weight.

Sirens and Husks

• The Assault Rifle can flinch-lock a Siren so she cannot move or scream. Keep her locked from range until someone decapitates her, or walk up and go full auto on the head.
• Two rifle shots to her metal chest-plate cancel a scream in progress.
• The Pulverizer alt-fire one-shots a Siren.
• The same flinch-lock works on Husks. Any Medic weapon aimed at a Husk's legs cancels its attack, protecting teammates. Rifle and shotgun shots to the chest flinch-lock; the pistol and SMG do not.

Scrakes

Every Medic weapon stumbles a Scrake when shot in the leg (3 second cooldown), and a bash to the chest does the same (8 second cooldown).

In a team, think about Zed Sedative timing (be ready to tag the Scrake and avoid reloading), decide where to throw a Medic Grenade (a choke point, or where your Zerker will fight the Scrake), and use stumbles between heals so the Scrake gets roughly one swing at a time.

Solo, you evade and kite. Wait for a long unobstructed path, then turn and hit the head, throw a grenade ahead and stumble the Scrake into the smoke, or throw grenades in front of a door and stumble it when it opens the door.

Fleshpounds

Leg shots stumble a Fleshpound (9 second cooldown), and a chest bash does it too (10 second cooldown).

Team approach: when a Fleshpound appears, switch to the Pulverizer and throw a Medic Grenade between you and it. Draw its aggro, hit it with at least two alt-fires, parry (moving backwards, sprinting and jumping helps with knockback), then retreat and let the Zerker take over while you heal. Beware of Sirens eating your grenades. If you are the last survivor, a Pulverizer, RPG or AA12 is what ends the fight; without one, parry with the knife.

Boss wave

You are the player most likely to be last alive, so the loadout matters. The author suggests an AA12 as an extra weapon: with a good kiting path a full magazine can deal up to 1750 damage.

• Good trader: Pistol, HMTech-301 Shotgun, HMTech-401 Rifle plus AA12; or Pistol, SMG, Rifle plus AA12 if money is tight.

Best boss loadout when the trader is close to the fight.

Cheaper alternative.

• Bad trader: have a Zerker carry the Medic Rifle, use a dead Support's AA12, drop your rifle at the fight spot before shopping and pick it up afterwards, or sacrifice healing with Pistol, SMG and AA12 to guarantee victory if you end up alone.

Pistol, SMG and AA12 for a bad trader.

Boss tactics:

• Refresh extra weapons regularly or they despawn.
• Throw a Medic Grenade where the Zerker and the boss will fight and tell the Zerker.
• Take quality shots at the boss while healing, and avoid reloading when healing is needed.
• Reload while Hans is healing, since he keeps draining until the victim is at 25% HP.
• If you are swarmed, throw a Medic Grenade at your feet.

Medic weapon healing table

Weapon	Damage	Heal per dart	Dart cost	Level 25 heal	With Armament
HMTech-101 Pistol	20	20	50	30	23
HMTech-201 SMG	15	30	50	45	34
HMTech-301 Shotgun	20x6	30	40	45	34
HMTech-401 Assault Rifle	40	40	30	60	45
Healing Grenade	50	5/sec	-	8	6