KF2 Medic In-Depth Guide: Dart Healing vs AoE Loadouts

A detailed Field Medic guide for Killing Floor 2 from the same author as the Commando and Support guides, assuming 6 players on Hell on Earth. For more basics see Field Medic, the other Medic loadout guide and Medic weapons explained.

Part 1: the role

1. Team-oriented healer and buffer. Medic weapons exist mainly to heal teammates, not kill ZEDs.
2. Cover your teammates by killing trash ZEDs occasionally, mainly when those ZEDs would disturb a big ZED takedown.
3. Tank hits from big ZEDs if essential. The Medic has the most armor (175) and the fastest syringe recharge. If a Scrake, Fleshpound or Quarter Pound is about to finish a teammate in one hit, take it, but remember a dead Medic helps no one.

Part 2: skill choice

The guide's skill choices.

All left side (LLLLL):

• Level 5, Symbiotic Health over Resilience: you heal yourself while healing teammates, and the speed, damage and resistance buffs you give also apply to you. Resilience is little tankiness for losing HP.
• Level 10, Adrenaline Shot: buffed teammates move faster, dodge ZED attacks and reach the trader sooner.
• Level 15, Focus Injection: more damage, sometimes enough for a one-shot threshold. A T4 RPG headshot on a Scrake normally needs a follow-up, but a few darts of buff make it a one-shot.
• Level 20, Coagulant Booster: damage resistance for teammates.
• Level 25, Airborne Agent over Zedative: releases a healing gas on Zed-Time, like a free medic grenade under your feet. Zedative used to be god-tier for killing big ZEDs but was nerfed. The gas can poison low-tier ZEDs to death.

The right side only makes sense in solo play.

Part 3-1: dart healing loadouts

All medic weapons can heal and buff, but the focus is on the HMTech 101, 301, 401, Hemogoblin and HRG Incision. A Medic is either a ranged dart healer, an AoE healer (grenades and gas) or a mix.

Ranged healing is preferred when teammates hold a fixed position far from you, such as Containment Station, the Evacuation Point and the Outpost.

Loadout one: Hemogoblin plus HRG Incision.

The Hemogoblin.

Advantages:

• Economical: 1100 + 1500 = 2600 dosh, not counting ammo.
• The Hemogoblin is hitscan, with no travelling projectile despite how it looks.
• It induces bleeding on ZEDs: they move 30% slower, attack 25% slower, do 30% less damage to players and take 50% more incapacitation power per hit. This helps greatly when several raging big ZEDs rush the team, and the five bosses are vulnerable too.
• The HRG Incision supports or even solos big ZED takedowns, and works wonders against armored Rioters and long-range Husks and E.D.A.R.s.
• The Incision can heal through teammates when several are lined up.

Disadvantage: weak trash handling, since both guns have limited ammo and magazines, so teammates must clear trash and medium ZEDs around you.

Loadout two (traditional): HMTech-401 plus Hemoglobin or HMTech-301 plus HMTech-101. Cost about 1500 + 1100 (the 101 is the starting pistol) = 2600. Much better trash clearing than loadout one, but solo big ZEDs are harder, especially Quarter Pounds and Fleshpounds, since time to kill is far worse than with the Incision and there is no EMP effect.

Part 3-2: AoE healing loadouts

Focus on the HRG Healthrower and the HMTech-501 Grenade Rifle. A full AoE loadout is best if teammates camp close to you or the map is a hold-out map: Farmhouse, the double stairs/centrium on Catacombs, or the bridge/little hill on Black Forest.

Advantages:

• The Healthrower is probably the best teammate buffer: one tap of the mouse gives all the buffs maxed instantly.
• 501 grenades are about twice as potent as the ones you throw with G.
• Teammates standing on your grenades receive all the medic buffs for at least 8-10 seconds.

Disadvantages:

• No dart healing from the Grenade Rifle, so buy an extra dart weapon if teammates can spare you dosh, which matters from wave 8 when heavy big ZEDs spawn.
• The Healthrower's dart system is weaker than the 401, Hemogoblin and Incision: 12 seconds to recharge from 0 to 100, at 40 ammo per dart.
• Expensive: the 501 costs 2000 dosh, plus 162 dosh for 6 grenades.
• Your team must camp in a fixed location for it to work fully.

Hemoclobber: can parry big ZED attacks (though that is a Berserker job) and its right click creates a healing gas cloud with a 5 m radius that heals teammates and poisons nearby ZEDs. Problems: you lose healing and buffing while walking into melee range, the ammo pool is limited, and poison panic makes headshots harder for Gunslingers and Sharpshooters. It suits a Berserker or Survivalist better than a Medic.

Part 3-3: which to choose

It depends on the map, how close you are to teammates, how often you kite, how well teammates handle trash, and how well they handle Scrakes, Quarter Pounds and Fleshpounds. If teammates are competent on a map like Containment Station, full ranged dart healing is the way to go.

Part 4: advanced notes

1. Pre-buff teammates before they take damage, even at full health. It can mean life or death in an emergency.
2. Do not block teammates' view, especially when big ZED hunters start takedowns. Find a position where you see everyone without blocking sight lines, or check HP on the Tab scoreboard.
3. Tank big ZEDs if necessary, watching your own HP.
4. Buff teammates after a wave so they reach the trader faster and have more time to decide what to buy.
5. Use the syringe: it heals a decent amount (30 HP at level 25), particularly on wave 1 when the HMTech-101 pistol recharges slowly.
6. Deploy the grenade a few meters behind your teammates if their lane is likely to be pushed by several big ZEDs, so they walk through it and receive all the buffs.
7. Lock-on takes 0.2 seconds, with a lock-on sound. Fire only after the sound ends, otherwise darts and grenades will not track teammates.
8. On the boss wave the priority is unchanged: keep healing and buffing until the boss dies. The Hemogoblin is a good boss-wave choice because it debuffs the boss and reduces damage to your team.
9. The two medic grenades differ: the 501's grenade has about twice the healing potency of the one you throw with G.

The author's final guide on KF2 perks; they also wrote guides on the Commando, Sharpshooter, Gunslinger, Support and SWAT, and recommend other guides for the area-damage perks.