Kritzkrieg Mastery

Hello everybody, thank you so much for reading this guide! After covering the basics of stock medi gun, our next customer is going to be The Kritzkrieg. In this guide, I'm going to cover basic fundamentals of when to use this medi gun, when and why I think It can be easily shut down.

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ɢᴜɪᴅᴇ ᴄᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ

• Stats
  
• Übercharge
  
• Overheal + Tips
  
• Crit Heals
  
• Usage - Offense + Defense
  
• Tips

//bind "mwheeldown" "say_team >>> Let's get started <<<"

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Before we head into breaking down Kritzkrieg's stats, here are some useless lines that I put into every guide I make.

• I am not a professional medic player by any means. I have accumulated about 500 hours on medic class, counting my total playtime before I reseted my stats in 2015. 500 hours is not that much in my opinion.
  
• Although I always try to make my guides as in-depth as possible, there will always be some things that I might miss. In case you find something I could potentialy add to this guide, please don't yell on me in the comments and calmly let me know about this..well.. in the comments. Thank you.
  
• This guide is my opinion. Every medic player can have their own opinion about when to you Kritzkrieg and why. I will try to describe why I think my usage of this medi gun is right, but it will never be the right usage for everyone.

With that out of the way, let's start breaking down Kritzkrieg's stats

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ᴜʙᴇʀᴄʜᴀʀɢᴇ ɢʀᴀɴᴛs 𝟷𝟶𝟶% ᴄʀɪᴛɪᴄᴀʟ ᴄʜᴀɴᴄᴇ

Unlike the stock medi gun, Kritzkrieg's Übercharge does not provide you and your patient with invulnerability, which means every medic using the Kritzkrieg needs to play carefully. When used on a right player, Kritzkrieg can be really effective and especially with skilled player, Kritzkrieg can help your team wipe out multiple enemies in one push.

+𝟸𝟻% ᴜʙᴇʀᴄʜᴀʀɢᴇ ʀᴀᴛᴇ

The only other stat that Kritzkrieg comes with is increased Über rate. This means the medic using this weapon is able to have a full charge after 32 seconds instead of stock medi gun's 40 seconds.
Noticed that? If we do some really quick math...

Ax+Bx+C=y Whoops, bad equation..
x+y=RxR+2y That is also not it..
40 seconds - 32 seconds = 8 seconds Got it.

If we deduct both medi guns' minimal Über rates, we get to the number 8. Not only this number is a lucky one in chinese culture (Don't know why I know that, but that's O.K.), It also is the duration of both medi guns' Übercharge. This means the medic with the Kritzkrieg is able to charge and use the entire Übercharge on one or more patients even before the enemy team's medic using stock medi gun can charge his Über.

This is a huge advantage, especially in competitive mode: If both medics die at the same time, one of the medics can switch to Kritzkrieg to try to nullify the enemy team's Über by attempting to kill their medic with the kritz.

BONUS - Kritzkrieg's Taunt: Unlike the stock medi gun, you can use the taunt of the Kritzkrieg to heal yourself. Although It is cool to heal yourself by just standing and pressing "G" key over and over, It's not really that worth to use it. Taunt's duration is 4 seconds and the taunt itself heals about 2,5 HP per second, which is not much. Not to mention that a taunting medic is a really easy target for almost any enemy nearby. Medic's health regeneration and the ability to regenerate health faster when healing injured teammate are better ways to get your health back to optimal.

Except for the stat breakdown above, Kritzkrieg is pretty much identical to the stock medi gun in heal rates, Über duration etc..

• Heals 24 HP/s when in combat; Heals maximum of 72 HP/s when out of combat (Crit Heals)
  
  
• Healing already healthy target will buff target's HP up to 150% of his base health
  
  
• Healing teammates builds Übercharge; Übercharge is built 3,125%/s when healing injured teammates & 1,5%/s when healing overhealed (buffed) teammates
  
  
• Übercharge grants critical hits for medic and his patient, lasting 8 seconds.
  
  NOTE: While Übercharged, medic and his patient are vulnerable to any type of damage.
  
  
• Medi Gun's beam has 360° range

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• Übercharge lasts for 8 seconds if only one target is invulned; If medic uses Über on another player (flashes somebody), half of a second is lost per each flash.
  
  NOTE: Übercharge duration will be shortened for every player flashed after the original heal target's healing is cancelled.
  
  
• During setup time, medic's Übercharge meter is filled at three times the medi gun's maximum rate, regardless of the target's health = Healing injured players in setup time does not grant additional speed-up, meaning your teammates can't help you build the Über:

• Scout using Boston Basher
  
• Soldier/Demo by rocket/sticky jumping
  
• Heavy using Fists of Steel
  
• Pyro using Scorch Shot or Detonator

• ÜberCharge build rate is halved at patient's 142,5% HP.
  
  
• Fill rate is further halved if the target is affected by additional healing beam (Second Medic or a dispenser). The Übercharge will not build as fast as If the target was healed by one source.
  
  
• Unlike with the stock medi gun, players under the Übercharge of the Kritzkrieg can:
  ► Push a payload cart / block enemy captures
  ► Cap a point / block enemy captures
  ► Take an inteligence - Medic with Kritzkrieg can activate the Übercharge while carrying the intel; Using Über on a teammate with the intel works normally.

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Here are some tips for an ideal Übercharge with the Kritzkrieg:

• Before popping, make sure your heal target has enough ammo and preferably, his weapons are reloaded. A demo with 8 stickybombs in a clip can do more damage than a demo with an empty clip.
  
• Before popping, make sure the area you're entering does not have sentries. Crits have no effect on buildings, so your only chance of winning with kritz against a sentry is trying to kill the engineer, which can be done easily only with splash damage classes, than hiding and trying to destroy the sentry from cover, which wastes alot of time.
  
• In my opinion, Kritzkrieg's big damage boost can be used as an efficient way to surprise enemies. An ideal example of this can be flanking. If you've been running stock medi gun for the whole round, the enemy won't probably expect you to run kritz anymore, unless they see you. If possible, try to hide that you're using the Kritzkrieg and use it to wipe a group of unaware enemies.
  
• Always remember that during Kritzkrieg's Übercharge, you and your patient are not immune to any damage type. Don't over-extend too far behind the front line, because you will be head-deep in the enemy territory.

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The overheal of Kritzkrieg is basically the same deal as with the stock medi gun. Healing a teammate that already is at his maximum health will give him +50% bonus on their health bar, which is called "overheal" or "buff". Full overheal will fade away in 15 seconds, no matter what class the patient's playing as If the target hasn't taken any damage. This means a heavy with 450 HP will return to his base HP of 300 HP in the same time as a scout from 185 HP to 125 HP for example.

• Kritzkrieg's buff lasts as long as the buff of stock medi gun, which lasts longer than the buff of the Quick-Fix. This means that players don't have to get to you as often to get re-buffed. Use this to your advantage and prioritize people who are not sticking close to you such as spies or snipers over players that are closer to you, since you'll be able to buff them more frequently, meanwhile spy will probably already be behind enemy lines and sniper will be covering you from a far.
  
  
• Always try to keep as many teammates buffed as possible. Buff multiple heal targets, frequently change your patients and buff each of them to atleast half of the maximum overheal.
  
  
• Never forget to heal or buff everyone, including friendly engineers, snipers and spies. Every class can use the buff to their advantage.

Here is once again the overheal table for all classes.

Class Icon	Class	Max. HP	Max. HP + Overheal
	Scout	125	185
	Soldier	200	300
	Pyro	175	260
	Demoman	175	260
	Heavy	300	450
	Engineer	125	185
	Medic	150	225
	Sniper	125	185
	Spy	125	185

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Crit Heals, once again, are a mechanic that allows any medi gun to heal triple of It's base HP/s. For Kritzkrieg, this means It can heal maximum of 72 HP/s instead of 24 HP/s. This mechanic plays a big role in competitive, where medic can overheal agile classes faster and keep teammates that stay closer to him alive. Crit Heals can also help out in rollouts, when the medic heals his pocket soldier and demo, who can than get to front lines quicker, than switching to roamer soldier who has previously damaged himself and can run as fast as scout if using the escape plan.

• When healing a patient that is continuously taking damage, Kritzkrieg will heal at 24 HP/s.
  
  
• If the patient has been out of combat for 10 seconds, Kritzkrieg's heal rate will double, healing at 48 HP/s.
  
  
• After additional 5 seconds (after 15 seconds out of combat), Kritzkrieg's heal rate will be boosted by additional 24 HP/s, healing at It's max rate of 72 HP/s.
  
  
  If you're in combat, healing someone who's currently taking damage and another teammate retreats to your position to get healed, ignore retreating player for a short period of time. As long as that teammate is out of danger, you can prioritize a teammate fighting on the front lines, but don't forget to heal the other teammate aswell before he starts thinking "Meh, screw this medic" and decides to go for a healthpack instead.

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• Playing Kritzkrieg on offense can be benefitial if the Übercharge is used on right player, but is really risky indeed. Always keep in mind the big downside of the Kritzkrieg that the Übercharge does not protect you from damage.
  
• Also keep in mind that crits have no effect on buildings. The defensive team will have atleast one sentry built almost every time you will play in the attacking team (BLU), so make sure the enemy team doesn't have any sentry guns before switching to Kritzkrieg.

• Using Kritz on defense is often better than running it on offense, but is also risky (imo) and I will get to that later. Not only that the attacking team (BLU) don't often get to build too many sentry guns, but also, attackers can be much more predictable in my opinion, since there will always be someone going for the objective (Capture Point, Inteligence or Payload Cart). On defense, It's often much easier to coordinate a kritz push to encourage the attacking team to fall back.
  
• Alright, now let my explain why I think It can be risky to use it on defense: There are many items in-game that either decrease the effect or counter this weapon, such as stock medi gun, vaccinator or battalion's backup. Kritzkrieg can be easily countered by using either backup backpack for the soldier or The Vaccinator for medic, which both negate critical hits by certain percentage (BB completely). Stock Medi Gun can also easily counter Kritzkrieg if the enemy medic is skilled enough to survive 8 seconds after medic equipped with kritz has finished building his Über. If the medic pops stock, critical hits from Kritzkrieg are completely useless against Übered players.
  
  
  
  
  
  In this sub-category, I will be talking about each of TF2 class' viability as a potential companion for Kritzkrieg medic and It's Übercharge.
  
  
  
  
  This is a tierlist of an ideal Kritzkrieg medic's companion/buddy, both general holding position on any map and Kritzkrieg's Übercharge. Keep in mind that this list is purely based on my opinion and you don't have to agree with it by 100%.
  
  

  "𝐒" 𝐓𝐢𝐞𝐫 - 𝐒𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐫,𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐨,𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐲

  
  Soldier and Demo are hands down the best pockets a medic with the Kritzkrieg can have. Both of them have great amount of HP (In case of soldier has 200 HP, Overhealed 300 HP; In case of demo has 175 HP, Overhealed 260 HP, using stock weapons or weapon that do not increase maximum health), have big DPS (Damage Per Second) and are effective on both close and mid-range. The reason why I have decided to place a heavy to an "S" tier? The reason is fairly simple. Heavy has biggest health pool of all TF2's classes. When fully overhealed (buffed), his HP even crosses 400, going up to 450 of heavy's maximum HP. This makes him basically a tank (or as we like to call him in my country "velký hovado") that can withstand massive amounts of damage if the medic is skilled and can consistently hit crossbow shots. He also has the almighty sandvich, that he can throw at the ground in order for his teammates to heal. When picked from the ground, sandvich will heal you by the same amount as medium healthpack ( +50% HP). Heavy can also be a very good companion for Kritzkrieg Übercharge. Although he can only target one target efficiently, he can kill multiple teammates in seconds simply by firing into a crowd of players.
  
  

  "𝐀" 𝐓𝐢𝐞𝐫 - 𝐒𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐭, 𝐏𝐲𝐫𝐨

  
  The "A" Tier is a tier for classes that I consider to be fairly good companions, but not the best at all conditions. Scout is one of my personal favourites, speaking of medic companions for aggressive playstyle and taking down enemies. Scout is an awesome picker assassin who can quickly deal with enemies, but his big disadvantage is the ability to target only one player at the time. He is even able to quickly deal with a heavy, simply by meatshotting him a couple of times from a point-blank range with critical hits guaranteed by Kritzkrieg. Pyro can be a really effective thread dealer, but he's capable of guaranteed kills only on close range. With this in mind, pyro can be really strong class with kritz' critical hits on close range.
  
  

  "𝐁" 𝐓𝐢𝐞𝐫 - 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫

  
  The only reason why I decided engineer will be in his separate tier is because he isn't as bad as classes I will be mentioning in the last tier ("C" tier). The engineer is a pretty weak as a companion to a medic, especially when medic doesn't use stock medi gun and can't pop Über to save himself/pocket's life. However, engineer with The Widowmaker is a complete beast capable of killing multiple enemies if he can land his shots. In my opinion, Widowmaker engineer can be compared to scout in the way of dealing with enemies. He can't be as fast as scout, however.
  
  

  "𝐂" 𝐓𝐢𝐞𝐫 - 𝐌𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜,𝐒𝐧𝐢𝐩𝐞𝐫,𝐒𝐩𝐲

  
  And we've finally arrived to the last, unfortunately the worst tier, the "C" tier. I don't want to offend any possible sniper/spy main who is reading this guide, so please be respectful. Medic is a pretty bad companion to defend the other medic if he doesn't use Stock medi gun + Übersaw. Even than, medic is not an ideal companion for other medic. Battle medic is pretty much useless with Kritzkrieg's Über. I can't stop you, but please, save your time instead. Sniper is a really weak class as a medic protector, simply because his primary weapon is designed for long-range combat and his only secondaries that he can use to put out damage at medium/close range are SMGs, which aren't particularly strong, sorry. Spy is also pretty weak class in my opinion, sorry. If not using Conniver's Kunai, spy's maximum HP can only reach 185 with full medi gun overheal and his weapons don't dispose high fire rate or damage. Spy's revolvers can't really deal big damage if the spy isn't currently invuln Übercharged by the Kritzkrieg or a spy isn't using The Diamondback. The only way I saw a spy keeping medic alive was my friend who went on a 3-player-chainstab when I popped Über on him as a last call and he trickstabbed 3 players on Gorge's last point.
  
  I would like to excuse for all of your broken keyboards/mouses/monitors that you broke in anger after you have read my opinion about your favourite class/main, but I don't hold any responsibility for them, sorry.
  
  
  
  
  For those of you who want to briefly scroll through my guide, here's my opinion (a conclusion) about when to use Kritzkrieg to make it the most effective:
  
  
  • At the beginning of the round, mainly on defense - Pretty obvious one. At the beginning of the round, you can try to switch to Kritzkrieg to get some easy points as a fresh start to the round, but mainly, try to drop an unaware medic before he gets a chance to pop the Über.
    
  • If both medics die at the same time - Already explained before in the guide. If both teams' medics die, you can also try switching to Kritzkrieg to increase the chance of enemy medic dropping his Über, giving you an Über advantage. (Über adv.)
    
  • Defense, no sentry guns - When playing in a RED team, feel free to take kritz whenever you want to. However, if the enemy has a sentry gun that is a thread for your team, consider switching to stock medi gun to take it down.
    
    
    

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After discussing the Übercharge tips, overheal, crit heals and other stuff needed to suceed as a Kritzkrieg medic, I would like to give you a few tips on general, all-around Kritzkrieg usage.

• Aware of my surroundings - This was many times said before in this guide, but I gotta repeat that. Unlike the stock medi gun, Kritzkrieg does not make you invulnerable while Übercharged. Always be aware of your surroundings and make sure there isn't any enemy waiting for your Über to fade away to get you on your heels when you're escaping.
  
• I don't like being silent - This might be a pretty hard for an introvert like me, but If you can, try to communicate, atleast by in-game voice menus. Bonus points for using binds or microphone! :) Communication is a key for medic in general, and especially when playing with Kritzkrieg.
  Be sure to let your teammates know when your Über is fully charged, when you pop and when you're in danger. Also, don't forget my advise from Medi Gun Guide (<- - - Link here!) and never trust your teammates to protect you completely, especially in casual.
  
• I Ain't wastin' mah ammo! - This tip goes more to the patient himself than to the medic. Especially when playing as a hitscan class, such as Scout or Engineer, try to make as many shots count as possible. Kritzkrieg's Über does not make you invincible, so make sure you kill or retreat in time.
  
• Couples Retreat! - Speaking of retreating in-time, don't forget it. If the Über didn't go your way, get the hell out. In most circumstances, your life is more important than a life of your patient. Sorry.
  
• What makes me a bad demoman??? - If Übering a demo, try to let him know to focus on groups of enemies, often groupped around a dispenser.

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Aaand we've arrived to the end of this guide. But wait! Please, don't close it yet!

I would like to thank everybody who has read this guide and possibly got to read the closing words aswell.. Since my last TF2 guide related to Stock Medi Gun received pretty good ratings, I have decided to start working on another one immediately! I will be making a separate guide for each of medic's medi guns, and maybe a Crusader's Crossbow guide aswell, If you are interested! :)

My guides take time, effort and motivation to make, so if you liked reading this guide, or even my other guides, feel free to rate them, add them to your favourites, share them or post a comment below! I read every single one of them and they really cheer me up! :)
Once again thanks to everybody, have a good rest of your day.

𝐖𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐝𝐝 𝐦𝐞? Post a comment with a fair reason and feel free to do so!

• 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞! 𝐎𝐫 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞!
  
  

[erm]

instructions unclear, i boiled eggs

[fini]

While 500 hours won't put you on Froyo, I think it's plenty as far as ethos goes for this guide.

[Whisker :>]

kritzkrieg best medigun

[Gena Cider]

the crutch krieg

[m]

Yes, this is pretty badly described. Medics don't build Über as fast as If only one source was healing the target. If more medics heal the same target, the target is healed twice as fast. Thank you for the comment, I improved the text abit.

[Scribbles]

"Fill rate is further halved if the target is affected by additional healing beam (Second Medic or a dispenser). The target will not be healed faster by two beams." But ppl do get healed faster by more medics?

[m]

Thank you! :)

[Randomplayer]

nice

[i disagree]

Another nice quide from best medic! Good job

[m]

Thank you! :)