Hey guys, Halcyon here. In this post we'll be covering medic class in Battlefield 1
. I've recently created a video series which covers the same information, but I decided to edit this guide into blog format for those who would rather read it than watch the a scripted video. Like the video series, this guide will be split into three posts. We'll start off by going over the basics of the class, move on to some intermediate topics, and finally conclude with expert strategies that'll help you maximize your effectiveness.Class Breakdown
Let's start off our discussion of the basics by covering two equally important topics: what you SHOULD do, and what you SHOULD NOT do. The medic's primary role is as a support class. You should not be charging headfirst into battles or attempting to take on the entire enemy team single handedly. Join a squad. You'll be most effective (and get a ton of score) by staying behind your team and providing revives and heals, covering the flanks with your rifle, and throwing utility grenades (such as gas and smoke) to cover your team's advance or retreat. And if you care about such things, you will get more kills and fewer deaths than if you just ran around playing Rambo Medic and not supporting your team at all.
Another thing you should NOT do is attempt to go for revives that are useless or will put you in danger. While it can be tempting to try to revive teammates who are surrounded by enemies, being watched by a tank, etc. there's absolutely nothing good that will come of it, and you'll most likely end up on the respawn screen. Now that's not to say you should be afraid to take risks. If you have a decent amount of support from your team, or notice that the enemy is focusing fire somewhere else, then take a chance because it could very well pay off. Another good reason for heading into danger for a revive is if there's something to be gained from it. For example, if you're communicating with a downed squad memeber who has anti-tank grenades, and a nearby enemy tank is nearly dead, it might be worth trading your life for the potential destruction of an enemy vehicle. That's a pretty good trade in my opinion.
To sum it all up, being a good medic in Battlefield 1 is all about patience, good teamwork, and calculated risk taking. There's a lot of luck involved sometimes, but if you make an effort to consciously pay attention to the risks in every situation as you play, you'll improve very quickly and learn to use that randomness to your advantage. You might not get as many kills as the guy running around playing TDM in an objective-based gamemode, but you'll have a much bigger impact on the game, a much higher score, and your teammates will love you for it.
Weapon choice
Primary
Let's talk about primary weapons first. The medic rifles are very powerful and versatile. There are five rifles to choose from, each with 3 variants, and a final rifle that is unlocked at class level 10. I'm not going to cover each one in detail as that's a topic for a much longer video, but I will talk about them generally and offer my opinion on which ones are best.
The Cei-Rigotti is the starter rifle. It has a quick rate of fire, an automatic setting, a 10 round magazine, and decent damage and accuracy. Unfortunately, the quick rate of fire isn't that useful as attempting to fire too quickly with any of the medic rifles will noticeably diminish your accuracy, making the automatic mode useless except in close-quarters where the bullet spread is less noticeable.
The two rifles which I would consider to be top tier are the Mondragon variants and the Selbstlader M1916 variants. The Mondragon has higher damage, better accuracy, and better damage drop than the Cei-Rigotti. There are some downsides as well. The Mondragon fires slower, but as mentioned this is not very important, and the Cei-Rigotti has less spread while hip firing and moving while aiming down sights, but ideally you won't be in situations where you need to hip fire, and the Mondragon has less spread while standing still while aiming down sights, which is the most common firing method. The Selbstlader has all of the advantages of the Mondragon, except it has 16 extra rounds in the magazine (26 total), slightly less recoil, and a slower fire rate which again is not very important.
There are 3 variants of each weapon. The CQC variants (Trench, Factory, Sweeper, Storm) all have iron sights. Generally speaking, these variants are better suited for CQC and hip firing. They might be preferred depending on your playstyle and the situation, such as what area of the map you're in. For most situations, the optical variant is the best as these come with a scope, and have better accuracy and less spread while aiming down sights. Finally, there are the sniper/marksman variants which have scopes as well and have even better accuracy at the cost of reload speed (for the M1916 at least). My preferred variant is Opitical as I prefer the scope over ironsights, and like to play at 2x magnification. Which one you perfer will depend on a number of factors including personal preference, so I recommend playing around with each of them, and switching it up depending on which map and gamemode you're on.
Finally, let's talk about the level 10 rifle: the Selbstlader 1906 Factory. This rifle is terrible. The main reason is the awful 5 round magazine, which would be fine except the damage is the same as the M1916, it only has slightly less recoil, and there's no scope. It might have a slight advantage in a rare 1v1 situation, but in the majority of cases it is outclassed by every other rifle in the medic's loadout.
For more deatailed information about each weapon and comparisons, I recommend visiting http://symthic.com/bf1-stats.
Sidearm
Let's take a short look at the sidearms. This choice doesn't really make that much of a difference, and in my opinion most of it comes down to personal preference. I prefer the default (M1911) for the 9 round magazine and good hip-fire accuracy. Beyond that I haven't put much thought into it as I very rarely have to pull out my sidearm thanks to the M1916's huge magazine size. If you have any reasons why you think one is definitely better than the others leave a comment and I'll mention it in a future video.
Melee
Like the sidearm, which melee weapon you choose comes down to personal preference. I like the shovel because it's hilarious, but the pickaxe or hatchet is a good choice too. These three weapons have the highest damage of the melee weapons, and the pickaxe and hatchet can damage terrain features. The other melee weapons like the knives do less damage but are faster. You can experiment a little to find out which one you like best.
Gadgets
The next loadout choice you have to make is which two gadgets you will take. This choice will define your playstyle as a medic. While there are six gadgets to choose from, I won't be covering the rifle grenades in this video as they are highly situational.
First off, the medical syringe. This is basically required if you want to be medic. If you don't want to take it, you might as well switch to another class. The syringe is able to revive downed teammates who have not "tapped out" yet. You can find eligible teammates by looking for the skull icon on the game screen or the minimap. If the icon is flashing, that means the person is holding down the "skip" key, so you may not be able to reach them in time. Generally you should avoid going for players who are skipping and it places you at risk for no reason. If you see teammates doing this a lot, it's a good idea to tell them in team chat to be a little more patient and observant. After all, they'll have to wait for the revive timer regardless of if they skip, so why not give you a chance to revive them?
The second slot should be filled by either the bandage pouch or the medical crate. The bandage pouch can be tossed to teammates and will heal them in intervals all the way to max health, regardless of if they were at 99 health or 1 health when they received it. Taking damage will interrupt the healing however. You can "store" a maximum of two pouches. You have to wait about two seconds between each throw, and it takes about 6 to 7 seconds to "recharge." I don't know the exact maximum range for these, but it seems to be between 15 and 20 meters, and it's possible that this is affected by how quickly you're moving toward the target. The medical crate allows you to heal a large number of teammates passively in a rather large radius. It'll last until it's destroyed by explosions or gunfire, and can be placed again after about 5 seconds.
Which one you choose will depend on the situation. One thing to consider is that this game is very mobile. You and your teammates will usually be moving around the map, so the bandage pouch is probably the best choice, especially for offense. When you're camping around a point or trying to hold a location, however, the medical crate can be extremely useful since it's able to heal passively and heal multiple teammates at once. Personally I run the bandage pouch 95% of the time, but I'm a very active and aggressive player. If you're a more defensive player, the medical crate might be the best choice for you.
Grenades
Finally, let's talk about grenades. Your choice of grenade will depend heavily on the situation and somewhat on personal preference. Stick grenades, impact grenades, and mini grenades are all effective against infantry. As a medic, there are better choices than these, but if you decide to go with them they're best suited for defending chokepoints (especially the ones on Argonne Forest), or killing enemies in buildings who have nowhere to run.
The gas grenades and incendiary grenades have similar uses. They're both very effective at area denial. The gas grenade has the advantage of lasting longer, obscuring vision, and having a larger area of effect. Enemies can simply put on a gas mask to negate its effects (at the cost of not being able to aim down sights). The incendiary grenade is also very useful. It cannot be negated with a mask, does damage more quickly, but it doesn't last as long and has a smaller area. Personally I prefer the gas grenades for the vision obscuring effects and use them the majority; they're essentially smoke grenades with a smaller AOE but with added damage. Very useful for offense and defense.
Finally there's the light anti-tank grenade. I haven't experimented with it much, but it doesn't seem to do a whole lot of damage, and honestly your main focus as a medic shouldn't be taking out vehicles anyway. I would not recommend choosing this one.
Conclusion
That concludes the first part of my BF1 medic guide. In the next post, we'll talk about some intermediate topics like situational awareness, effective use of smoke grenades, and the benefits of squad play. Hope you found this guide helpful! Halcyon out.
