How to Play a Battlefield 2142 Medic and Make Your Squad Love You for It

You're about to rush west from the church when your entire squad gets cut down by a whirrr of gunfire. The ground shakes and a battlewalker runs right past you as you hide behind the wall. There are screams in your ear of "Revive me! Someone revive me!" but there's no medics around and the big machine gun you're carrying just feels like a lot of dead weight.

Squads Need Medics.

The way that BF2142 plays out, assault/medics are possibly the strongest class and probably the most important. They can do almost everything: assault, suppressive fire, snipe, heal, revive, kill infantry, jeeps and with the help of ground defenses they can kill tanks and air vehicles. Played well, they are the supreme force on the battlefield.

With a squad, they become even more powerful. There are many times when a lone squad behind enemy lines can win the game for their team with ease. However, the enemy is aware of this and they will often watch for these intrusions and actively hunt them. A single good player who knows how to ambush can take out an entire squad. The best chance to protect against the total defeat of a squad is to have one or more medics in the squad. If they're careful, they can rush in, revive the fallen team members and hide in cover before they are also gunned down. Recovering from what could have been a very bad setback.

This is only one way in which a medic can be useful. In this guide I hope to teach you how to be a great medic and an asset to any squad or team.

You're A Soldier First!

In BF2142 a medic is more often called "Assault." They are considered soldiers first and medics second. This doesn't mean you have to play them that way. As I said, a medic or assault can be a fantastic asset during firefights not just because he can heal but also because he has a great array of weaponry.

There are three rifle choices for a medic, they are the: Scar 11 or Krylov FA-37 (depending on your team), Baur H-AR and the Voss L-AR.

When engaging with these rifles there are generally three distances, possibly four, although you wouldn't want to be in that fourth situation. Short range is when you're pretty much face to face with the enemy. Medium range is when you're too close to use your scope but not close enough to use full auto. Long range is when you always want to use your scope and single fire. Extreme long range is the situation you don't want to be in. Often a sniper can be so far away that they can shoot at you but you have no way of returning fire effectively. Avoid this situation.

At short range with any of these rifles, holding the trigger and aiming at their stomach will work. If you can aim at their head, you're going to have an even better chance as long as you don't miss.

At medium range, you should decide whether or not to use the scope. The line between medium range and long range is pretty blurry and only a feel for the game will tell you what is the right thing to do. Generally do not use the scope if you suspect there may be someone coming from your side or behind you or if you might have to do some running.

At long range, you should almost always use the scope and single fire. Some people will use bursts at long range, but I always feel like I'm wasting bullets that way. When you're the only person defending a console on a titan, the last thing you want to do is run out of ammo just as three enemies start rushing you. In other situations it's personal preference.

The Scar 11 and the Krylov FA-37 are the rifles you'll begin with. They both have 30-shot clips, good accuracy and decent damage. However, once you've unlocked one of the other two rifles, you'll probably never use either one again.

The Voss L-AR (Light Assault Rifle) has a 40-shot clip but is weaker both close up and over long distances. While it's got just as much accuracy as the other rifles over long distance, the damage is so low that you'll often sit there going through two clips just to bring one person down. On the other hand, the extra ammo in the clip means that should you be lucky or skilled enough to bring down a first attacker quickly in a short range situation, you'll have plenty of ammo in case he has backup.

The Baur H-AR (Heavy Assault Rifle) is my personal favorite. If you have just a reaction time 1 second quicker than your enemy at close range, you will often win out. Sometimes they can shoot you all day and when you finally notice them, a couple hits will be all it takes to make them shut up. Over long range, this rifle is a wonder and a delight. If a sniper is not quick in his response, you can often kill him with two or three quick shots to the head. In the console hallways on the titan, I've often sniped three or four enemies with a single clip. It's weakest feature is that it only has a 20-shot clip but it's power is such that this can often be enough for three enemies in a row.

The Add-Ons

There are two Add-On weapons which you can use once unlocked, no matter which rifle you choose. The 20-Gauge Herzog Shotgun and the PK-74 AR rocket launcher. Until the Northern Strike expansion, they both have only three shots per clip and four clips total.

The shotgun is fine at close range, but I find that the lack of ammo usually leads to me dying on empty. People rarely expect it though after first seeing a friend ripped apart by your Baur, then you pop back around with your handgun only to run, hide for half a second and pop out a third time with your shotgun. You can take on three or more enemies by yourself in this fashion.

I personally use the rocket launcher. It is, in my opinion, the most useful and possibly the most deadly, infantry weapon system in the game. (note: Northern Strike will possibly change this) There are at least three uses for the rocket launcher. First though, a bit of explanation on how to use it.

The rocket launcher is unique in that you can determine the distance at which it explodes. To set the distance, bring up the scope and use your mouse wheel. The minimum distance is 20 meters. I'm unsure if there is a maximum distance or not, I've yet to find one. There's a much quicker way of setting the distance. Aim at a wall, or something the enemy is using for cover, bring up your scope while keeping your aim and the rockets will be automatically set to detonate a meter or two past the obstacle.

This is tricky! You must remember that the rocket will detonate past your target. If, for instance, there is an enemy standing in front of a wall, you want to aim at the wall, bring up your scope and roll your mouse wheel down one click in order to have your rocket explode right on the enemy.

One thing to remember on long range use of the rockets, they have an arch even though it's shallow so make sure when you're shooting far away you aim higher than your target.

The three uses are: killing snipers, killing infantry and killing jeeps or ground turrets.

I separate snipers from normal infantry here because snipers are almost always going to be far away from you. You must remember that your rockets arch and also that if you fire quickly, your rockets will not all be on target. Moving will help you when shooting at a sniper. Move, fire a rocket, move, fire a rocket. It generally takes three rockets to kill an enemy.

When fighting infantry, they may try to take cover. That's the ideal time to bring out your rockets, take aim at the wall protecting them, bring up your scope and fire. 1, 2, 3. If you don't get your kill, they either ran away or they're hurt pretty bad. Also, you can take aim directly at an infantryman and bring up your scope, roll back one click with your mouse wheel and fire. The rockets should hit very close to his body and often you can kill an enemy even when he isn't taking cover. When infantry are grouped together, if you can get the right distance set up, you can mow all of them down.

You're Also A Medic!

As a medic, you will have two wonderful tools at your disposal. One is the medical hub, the other is the defibrillator.

The medical hub allows you to heal yourself and other soldiers. This can be invaluable on the battlefield. There are two ways to use it but they can also be used together.

First, you can hold the medical hub. When you hold it, you and anyone around you will be healed at a decent speed until they are full health for a limited time. There is an energy meter at which point the hub starts to heal much more slowly. Second, you can toss the hub to the ground and stand near it, this will heal you or others in the same way as holding it. However, if you toss down one medical hub and nobody is around to use up your energy, you can quickly pull out a second medical hub. In this situation you will heal twice as fast as with one or the other alone but you will use up the energy much more quickly. This energy refills slowly over time.

The other tool you have is the AED-6 or Automated External Defibrillator. With this, you can bring "dead" soldiers back to life. When you "die" it says you are either critically wounded or dead. Oddly enough, it seems more often that when you are critically wounded you can not be revived and that when you're dead, you can be. It matters little to the medic except to know that there are times when you won't be able to revive people.

When someone dies, run to them, aim at their backpack (this is very important) and use the defibrillator on them. If you don't "miss" and if the game allows it, they'll be revived.

There's more problems with reviving people. As I said, aiming at the backpack is critical because often the "corpse" slides away from you and it will not respond when you try to defib them. On stairs it is almost impossible. Sometimes when you revive people, they will end up with a different kit than they had when they started. This isn't your problem though.

Bringing It All Together: How To Be All You Can Be

There are a few more basic tips I'd like to give you on how to be a benefit to your squad.

The most important tip for someone just beginning or even for someone who's been playing a while is to stick to your squad leader. If he's not doing a good job, find a better squad and then stick to your squad leader. The squad leader is the focal point of the entire squad. He receives orders from the commander who often knows more about the battle than the soldiers do. If he's not using the beacon, you can spawn right on him which is very important and being a medic it's your job to keep him alive.

Stay out of the line of fire. This doesn't mean you shouldn't fight, quite the contrary. As I said at the beginning you're a soldier first. Get in there, fight it out, but make sure you're not standing between your teammates and the enemy. That's usually a bad place to be.

Watch the rear and the flanks. I feel that one of the best skills a player can have is situational awareness. There have been countless times when I've come up behind an entire squad all by myself, tossed down my medical hub and took out three or more of them before they even realized I was there. You don't have to always be looking at the back or sides, this is actually bad because it will get you killed in other ways but keep an eye on the radar and use your ears, listen for any sounds that might be coming from behind you.

When a firefight starts or your squad begins trading fire with a sniper or just in any generally dangerous situation where you might take up a defensive position, throw your medical hub down. While sometimes you might leave the immediate area and have to wait for it to recharge to bring out another hub, often that hub will keep you alive through two or three enemies. The same goes with your teammates. Also, multiple hubs stack. If you and a squad mate both toss your hubs down, you're going to heal twice as fast.

Tossing your medical hub down brings me to my last basic tip, keep your gun out. There are far too many times when you'll be trying to heal yourself, not wanting to toss your hub down because you anticipate needing it farther in. You'll stand there healing and around a corner will come an enemy. By the time you drop the hub and pull out your gun, you're dead. Any time there's a chance of this happening, just toss the hub down.

When with your squad, toss the hub, keep your gun out because while you have a medic hub and a defibrillator you can save lives with your gun just as easily.

Advanced Techniques

So far I've given you the basic knowledge which can take a new player from being a hindrance to any squad to knowing what to do in a handful of situations. Now I'll tell you some of the things I've done and ideas I've kept in mind in order to gain points, help my squad and help my team win.

One of the important things to learn is when and when not to revive your fallen teammates. You've got to know what's going on when someone dies. If there's a grenade on the ground, you usually do not want to revive. If you think there might be several enemies coming around a corner or if they're already firing at you, you don't want to revive anyone. If there's an orbital strike, often that is not a good time to revive someone.

Okay, all common sense so here's the "advanced" part. Sometimes you need to revive despite whatever is coming your way. Suppose you're near cover, it was the squad leader who got killed, you're deep in enemy territory and the game is tied in conquest mode. You're probably going to want to take the chance of reviving the squad leader even if there is a nearby grenade or an enemy squad heading your way especially if your squad leader didn't drop a beacon.

During orbital strikes if you wait until the last few seconds of the strike and then revive someone, they'll more than likely survive the strike.

If an enemy has come around the corner, killed a squad mate and is standing over their corpse coming for you, do not try to revive them. Aim at the enemy and kill first, revive second. Soldier first! This can lead to taking too long to revive but don't worry about it.

When playing a medic, the biggest disadvantage is that you can't generally kill vehicles by yourself without the use of ground defense cannons. There is one vehicle you can kill if you have rockets: the jeep. Simply aim like always and fire three rockets at it. You might want to scope and dial back the distance a click but often you simply don't have the time. The jeep will usually blow up after three rockets. Sometimes you have to send a few more though. If you can aim at the drivers, you're even better off as they will die.

With the ground defense cannons you can kill any armor that comes your way as long as they don't see you first. Sneak, sneak, sneak. Get into the turret, aim for their rear armor. If you're trying to take out a walker, aim for it's "waist." These guns can also be used to kill infantry. They're slow to reload so you don't want to try to do it at short range but at long distances you are as deadly as a sniper, more so because you can hit them anywhere. Use the zoomed in view, then aim a bit above and to the left. (I assume this might be a bug, this miscalculation of the targeting, so if you find you're missing a lot, try dead center in case they've fixed it)

Sometimes you need to leave the squad leader. When a flag is being taken and your squad is busy, you're uniquely suited to defending that flag in an infantry heavy map because of your powerful gun, your ability to take on almost any threat and your medical hub. Find some cover, toss your hub down, toss some grenades and shoot anything that survives.

An assault player and a support player make the best two person team in the game. While they don't have the ability to take on vehicles, they have unlimited ammo and unlimited health. Played well, they can continually mow down infantry, kill snipers and with the help of ground turrets, protect any flag or silo and do it well. The best place to use this team brings me to my next tip.

One of the easiest ways to gain a massive amount of points in a round is to play a titan map and defend the 1-console or 2-console. If you're an assault class and you have a support class with you, your titan will be virtually unassailable by infantry. Not only that, you'll gain a lot of points doing it if the enemy tries to rush you.

When you defend a console like this, stand near the console. In the small area by the console, near the hallway wall, drop your medical hub so that incoming grenades or other explosives can not hit it. Now stand, yes, stand behind the half-wall so that you can see the entrance to the hall. The support player can kneel or prone. Make sure he's ready to always drop an ammo hub near you.

Now get your rocket launcher out. Do you see where this is going? Any time someone enters the end of the hallway or when you simply suspect someone is coming in aim at the wall, bring up your scope, cycle back the distance with your mouse wheel by one click and fire your three rockets, giving enough time so that your aim isn't messed up by the shots. Reload immediately.

When you do this you'll want to keep your rifle on full auto fire. The reason why is if you miss or if there are a lot of enemies coming into the hallway you're going to want to be able to kill them if they get close. It is not easy to kill up close with single shot selected.

If you're doing this without a support teammate then keep your rockets in reserve and use your scope and single fire snipe when the enemy comes in. It generally takes two or three shots and you can often kill two-three before having to reload. If they hide behind the side wall shields, pull out your rockets, aim at their cover, bring up your scope, aim above the cover and fire (don't roll the distance back). If two guys take up on either side at the far end of the hall, aiming in the middle will often kill both of them.

One thing I'd like to share with you. Grenades, when friendly fire is off, can be a wonderful thing. Suppose there are several enemies coming and you need to revive someone. Toss a grenade or two and scare them off while you revive your teammate.

Grenades bounce, as in most games, remember this! They do have some very weird reactions when they bounce though. If someone is behind an object and higher up, bounce it off a nearby wall or if there is something directly above him, you can even bounce them off of that.

Don't be afraid to practice with this. Grenades are so powerful that you can't afford to not be an expert with them.

I hope you've enjoyed this guide. I hope that if you're a new player you now understand how powerful the assault/medic class can be. If you've been playing a while, I hope you've learned something new.