KF2 Solo Field Medic on Hell on Earth: Right-Side Skills, Shotgun and Sniper

The author of this Russian-language guide argues that Field Medic has the best balance of power and survivability and can clear Hell on Earth and any boss when playing solo. It is aimed at solo play or at times when your team is hopeless and you do not want to leave the match.

Intro picture of the guide: a Medic with a syringe.

Skills

All skills go on the right side. The left level 10, 15 and 20 skills can be triggered by outside effects (a Medic grenade, a 501 grenade, a Hemoclobber heavy attack), while the right ones are permanent and stronger anyway.

Skill choice: Resilience, Combatant Doctor, Acidic Rounds, Battle Surgeon and a level-25 pick.

• Level 5, Resilience: damage resistance grows as health falls, with a maximum of 50 percent at 50 health. That halves incoming damage. Plan on living around 50 to 60 health; going lower is not recommended, and going higher gains little. With full armor (100+) at 50 health, nothing is truly scary, even five Fleshpounds.
• Level 10, Combatant Doctor: bigger magazines and extra movement speed on top of the class bonus.
• Level 15, Acidic Rounds: perk weapons poison. The damage is low and depends on weapon damage, but a weak Clot hit anywhere turns green, flails and dies in a couple of seconds. It matters more with the shotgun and shines with the sniper.
• Level 20, Battle Surgeon: plain 20 percent damage with perk weapons.
• Level 25: the right skill (Zedative) strongly slows ZEDs in Zed Time and boosts poison, a very situational pick that you hardly notice without a Commando extending slow-mo. The left (Airborne Agent) does not heal you but poisons nearby ZEDs, especially sneaking Stalkers and Crawlers.

Weapons

Waves 1 and 2: use the starting set. The Medic Pistol kills almost any ZED with one headshot, so shoot heads and kite while saving money for a shotgun.

On Hell on Earth, especially if your aim is shaky, you can start the first waves as a Berserker: you do not need ranged damage and the starting knife kills everything early on.

Optional Berserker setup for waves 1 and 2.

On wave 3 sell the pistol (or knife) and buy the Medic shotgun. Before wave 4 or the boss, buy the sniper rifle and upgrade it before the boss.

Final loadout: Combat Armor, Medic Grenade, HMTech-301 Shotgun, HRG Incision and the 9mm Pistol.

Why a shotgun: huge killing power, penetration, rate of fire and easy reloads. Why the sniper: you need a fast ultimate weapon for big ZEDs and bosses, and its alt-fire healing dart can stun or even kill. Other setups tend to leave you cornered or running around for ammo boxes.

Combat tactics

Always know the terrain behind you. Do not corner yourself in a place with a single exit. Medic grenades heal you and poison ZEDs, and poisoned ZEDs turn green and forget about you.

• Basic ZEDs die to any body hit (with poison) or a headshot.
• A Siren dies to one shotgun headshot; Husks die to a body shot at medium range; Rioters are shot in the legs; Bloats take one or two headshots.
• Fleshpounds and Scrakes: switch to the sniper, about 600 damage plus three poison ticks of 200-250. A Scrake dies to one hit anywhere plus one more (on Hell on Earth); without the upgrade, one sniper hit plus one shot of anything, even the 9mm. A Fleshpound needs two hits anywhere; Mini Fleshpounds one. The sniper also electrifies targets, so they keep walking toward you without raging. With the shotgun a Scrake needs 5-6 body hits and a Fleshpound 10-14.
• EDARs are robots, so poison does almost nothing (1 damage per tick) and they are hard to one-shot even with the sniper. Kill Sirens and Rioters in a crowd with a single shot to save shotgun ammo and avoid their buffs or the screen shake.

Bosses

Find a roomy spot with obstacles to hide behind. Use the sniper from the hip; no precise aiming needed. In increasing difficulty:

• Patriarch: keeps medium range and does not chase hard. You can kill him before his first heal because the poison kills him during his retreat. Hide from rockets.
• Dr. Hans: similar, but sometimes uses an energy shield that is almost immune to poison. Keep sniping; his vampire-grab heal is harmless.
• Abomination: simple but very tanky. Kite him backwards (the +20 percent speed helps), shoot, and pop the belly shields first.
• King Fleshpound: like the Abomination but sometimes catches you. You can survive one or two hits; his mini-Fleshpounds die easily. Beware corners, and hide from the beam or crouch.
• Matriarch: the nastiest because of her minions: EDARs are immune to poison and survive a sniper hit anywhere, and Bombers are the most dangerous, so kill them at once. Kite her backwards and shoot near the head.

Which boss is coming?

After the map starts (even in the lobby), open the console and type:

getall kfgamereplicationinfo bossindex

The number shows the boss: 0 Hans, 1 Patriarch, 2 King Fleshpound, 3 Abomination, 4 Matriarch.

Conclusion

The author says that with skill any perk can solo Hell on Earth, but Medic is so easy it is boring. The last map cleared with this setup was Desolation, solo Survival on 4 waves on Hell on Earth: waves 1 and 2 as Berserker, 3 and 4 as Medic, with Hans Volter as boss. Thanks to the contributors who added tips.

Achievement icon from the author's last cleared map.

See also the solo Medic HoE guide.