Zombie Mod: How to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse as a Medic

This is a guide on the basics of Zombie Mod, how to play, what to do, but mostly mainly focused on playing the Medic!

Introduction

Hello there adventurers and zombie hunters alike! This will be my second guide on a how-to gameplay sorta thing, so I will expect criticism, but feel free to tell me my mistakes so I can improve on the next guide!
Also, don't confuse Zombie Mod with Zombie Fortress (which includes perks). The only Zombie Mod servers I have encountered are from Intox Gaming, and you may see their servers here:
http://stats.intoxgaming.com/

Basics

Assuming you guys already know a bit about Zombie Mod, if not, here's a link to an older guide made by Dom:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=231923391

Summary:

- Humans (BLU) VS. Zombies (RED)

- Humans try to survive the zombie onslaught until the timer runs out - even 1 guy could win

- When infected by zombies, you are forced to the red zombie team as a zombie on the spot

- You get marked by some non-instant infecting weapons, where you lose health until you die, or get healed back to full health to get un-marked (A reason why Medics are important *hint *hint)

- Zombies only allowed to use melee

- When ubered, you get Uber and Kritz for a longer time than normal, 10* seconds I believe
= All melees for humans crit
= Which makes fast hitting weapons useful, like the Eviction Notice
= Scouts hit their melee as fast as the rest of the classes

- Able to see outlines of Humans through walls by using hacks

- Game starts after a Grace period, or a set-up time of about a minute
= This is when Engies set up their nests in the best enclosed, spammable, annoying spots they can find
= Also important for Medics which I'll talk about in the next few sections

- Once the period ends, two* alpha zombies are chosen
= *Alpha zombies get to one hit infect survivors no matter the melee weapon
= Engies are invulnerable for 5* seconds, which unables them to be an alpha zombie at the start

- You may only play as engineer once per map, with 2 engies max at a time
= Which requires good teamwork to keep eachother's nests alive

- The timer depends on the amount of times humans/zombies won, with about 5* minutes at the start of a brand new game

Which Primary Should I Choose?

This might be the only time where I say that this primary is pretty useless in-game just because of the way it's used in this gamemode. I mean sure, you get 40 syringes and 4 seconds of continuous fire, and another 150 more in your capacity, but how long would it take to kill a zombie? Well it would be 10 dmg per syringe so 100 dmg per second times 4 seconds so a total of 400 dmg with continuous fire.
Considering that there would normally a few zombies coming for you and them not walking in a straight line, you would be missing say about 100 syringes (adjusting your aim to each separate zombie) if you were spraying at each of them. And since each class get a hp buff, the zombies would get an average 200 hp - with the exception of the heavy. So, you could deal 100 dmg to three zombies and leave them with half their health, but remember that zombies do regen health, 5 hp* I believe.
Instead of all of this happening in just a few seconds, the zombies would have most likely infected you anyways if you didn't retreat back to an engy nest or a safe spot.

Well let's say you are the last survivor alive (for however that happened) and now you are draining of health, even with your passive regen. And you have the whole server coming at you, making you turn corners, jump off ledges, and running around the map. You want a primary that would heal you every time you hit an enemy, don't you? Well, look no further, the Blutsauger is the weapon for you!
Same as the syringe gun for the ammo capacity and damage, but instead of regenerating 3 hp when damaged as a medic, you only regen 1 hp. Fortunately, when you spray your syringes at the enemy, you'll retrieve 3 hp per syringe shot. So, you have 190 total syringes in your possession, excluding the use of a dispenser, so 190 x 3 = 570 total hp you can gain just by 4 seconds of holding that W + M1! Don't forget that when a zombie marks you, you can get un-marked by getting back to full health, or this way, spraying that W + M1 through that tiny choke door and instantly heal yourself!

This may be the best primary weapon for medic to use in this Zombie Mode. I'm not just saying that because I use it primarily for other modes too, but that it has several factors that make it that good. First, this weapon and the huntsman are the only two that can crit independently, correct me if there are others. That means that each shot is a guaranteed crit dealing anywhere from 113 - 225 damage, (according to the wiki) enough to kill every zombie - but the heavy - in one shot. Plus, unlike the blutsauger where you can only heal yourself, the crossbow turns that around while also giving you your normal health regen of 3 hp back. You can heal others that are across the map (trust me this will happen in large open maps) and can one-shot zombies too! Talk about killing two birds with one crossbow! Haha... ha... I'll just leave.. Anyways, you may argue that only 39 arrows aren't enough to last the zombie apocalypse. In real life, you would be right, but this is Team Fortress 2 we are talking about, and we have dispensers, and they can - you've guessed it - dispense health and ammo , don't forget that. So patch yourself up with more arrows and a few medkits and you're ready to go!

And of course ladies and gentlemen, we may have bad weapons like the Sun on a Stick and the Sharpened Volcano Fragment and we may also have annoying unbalanced weapons like the Gunslinger, but , then there are the worst possible weapons that takes the stick and becomes the literal definition of "I would rather delete my unusuals then use this weapon for the rest of my life". And that would be... know what, it shouldn't have even deserve it's own introduction, it's the Overdose. If you were to have 100% Ubercharge equipped with the Overdose, you still wouldn't be able to catch up to a scout let alone running away from the zombies. Other than that, the -10% damage wouldn't really be a problem if you are spamming needles continuously at a zombie. You might say that the 10% speed boost could help you run faster, but since it required 100% Uber to max its efficiency, you could've used that Uber to get away in the first place. While we are at it, why would you even separate from your team in the first place at all?

Which Medigun Should I Use? (Secondaries)

Ah, the good ol' Medigun, plain and simple, heal for 40 seconds, use Ubercharge, destroy enemy, easy, right?
Nope, unfortunately for you, even with the extended period of time needed to obtain an Ubercharge (About 1* minute), in most cases, you will be unable to reach even 3/4 a way to Uber. Why is this? Well, think about it, if you had Uber (plus the Kritz bonus) before the zombie plague started, you could easily save anyone about to be attacked by the alpha zombie and/or other infected survivors no problem. Plus, you charge at a slower rate which makes the process oh much harder for you to get Ubercharge that easily.
Good thing is, classes that are able to hurt themselves (Soldiers with rockets, Scouts with Boston Basher) will be able to help you achieve your Uber faster than just healing and overhealing the same guys over again. On large, open maps, healing the rocket and sticky jumpers before and after they land will provide you with some extra % needed for Uber.

Now you may be thinking, "The Kritzkrieg should be better than the stock Medigun since it gives you 100% Crits". You remember when I said when Ubered, you get Uber and Kritz? Well that only works one way, which means that only the Medigun gets Uber and Kritz, but the Kritzkrieg only get Kritz. Obviously the Medigun would be better with both Uber and Kritz, but the Kritzkrieg does have one good upside, the fact that the Ubercharge rate is 25% faster, which would be helpful getting your Uber during the Grace period.


Just gonna put it out there - the Quick Fix is a good medigun, even better than the Kritzkrieg "But wait," you may be asking me, "how would the Quick-Fix be better than the Kritzkrieg if it doesn't Uber or give you Kritz?". Good question, the answer is that instead of invulnerability you are given when Ubered, you are healed 300% faster than normal. "How is this any better than Uber?" Well, it's not better than having Uber, here let me explain. Remember when I told you that when you are marked, you lose hp, and the only way to get un-marked is by getting full hp again? Well, ta-da here's your problem solver, the Quick-Fix! This is convenient for healing lots of low-hp and marked teammates, so unleash your Uber and watch everybody return to normal faster than the zombies can spam sandballs at ya!


It's pretty obvious, isn't it, do I even have to explain? Alright, here:
The Vaccinator protects against three types of damage, Bullet, Explosive, and Fire.
Zombies are only allowed to use melee, and as there is no resistance against melee weapons, it's practically useless. Which means the only upside is that it has 50% Ubercharge rate, even with that Uber rate, you neither get Uber or Kritz, so what's the point?

Which Melee Should I Use?

When it comes to melee weapons, all of them crit anyways, so stock wouldn't really be useful if you have another melee you can use that gives you an upside. For the Solemn Vow however, it's a straight upgrade from the stock because it gives you the ability to see the enemies' health while having no downsides. However, in Zombie Mod, it's not necessary to know the zombies' health because even if you kill a straggler with low hp, he would just respawn instantly somewhere on the map. Plus, any zombie coming through choke would get obliterated instantly by your team, so the thought of killing a low hp zombie shouldn't even cross your mind if you stay with the nest and your teammates.










Now the Amputator, it has its ups and downs, but I would recommend this only if you tend to be a lone wolf and capable of taking some hits from zombies. The reason is, it gives you +3 hp regen more, for a total of 6 hp/sec I believe. This allows you to survive getting marked and regen faster than losing hp when marked. Even with the crits, it only deals 156 damage, so you will need two hits to kill a zombie most of the time. Another reason I don't use this often is because of the AoE healing effect. "How is that a bad thing?" I hear you ask, and I hope you have some experience with playing this gamemode, because you will often see medics taunting with an AoE healing effect while not using the Amputator. That's because all Medic melees AoE heal when taunting. This pretty much nulls the effect of the Amputator AoE heal since other melee weapons can do it too. As I said, this is only recommended for people who love to wonder off and getting all the attention for some easy zombie kills while surviving getting marked and safely returning back to the nest.

Ah this is a beauty, behold the Ubersaw, which had been argued with stock over which is better, but is dominant and stands triumphant in this game mode. Who loves getting Uber from an unlimited respawning of zombies? Plus, the one-hit critical kill will make the zombies coming right back to you for an easy kill! The only setback is that it gives you 15% Uber instead of the usual 25% (in this gamemode) along with the 25% slower attack speed means that you'll be vulnerable after swinging, so watch when to strike! From what I said before, you can taunt with this melee also and get AoE heal, which is useful for spam healing the whole nest. Also, another fun thing to do with the Ubersaw is that you can Medic Chain, which is basically where you and another medic Uber eachother then the Uber-ee (person who is Ubered) will get Ubersaws off the enemy to 100% and Uber the other Medic and it repeats till the smart players retreat away from the Uber and you run out of players to hit. I'll probably make a later guide on this and explain it more.

For once everybody, the Vita-saw might actually have a use in the game. You know that moment when you didn't get to deploy Uber (or get it at all) because you were infected? Well now, you can preserve a total of 20% Uber for the next round! Only downside is that you get -10% health, which would make a difference if you were trying to survive after getting marked, but if you stay near an engy nest, you wouldn't have a problem with low health. Along with the AoE taunt heal, you should be able to keep a group of people healed. And, when the nest is overrun, don't worry if you die, because if you have at least 20% Uber, you get to keep 20%, for next round, which is a good headstart for the round if you are able to get 100% Uber by the end of the grace period.

Personal Experiences and Tips

This section will be based on my experiences playing on Zombie Mod and during all those times, I have found myself standing over everybody else at the top of the leaderboard(if not near), and I often question myself how I did that, even when there are better players than me. Here are some of what you would call, Tips & Tricks that I learned when playing this game mode.

1. Random Alpha Zombies?
When the Grace period is about to end, you know that someone is going to picked as alpha zombie, but this actually follows a queue. Here's an example:
Let's say there were 5 people on the server, at first the alpha zombie picking is random (correct me if I'm wrong) so like this:

1. Bob
2. Jack
3. Frank
4. James
5. George

So since two alpha zombies are chosen, Bob and Jack would be picked and then the queue would change accordingly:

1. Frank
2. James
3. George
4. Bob
5. Jack

And plus, if you leave the server as a zombie, like George, when you join again, you would be thrown to the top of the queue (along with anyone else who left):

(George rejoins)
1. George
2. Frank
3. James
4. Bob
5. Jack

So a little tip: expect yourself to be the alpha zombie when you haven't been one in awhile.


2. Grace Period Is About To End, Am I Ready?
Well this depends on which class you are playing, but since this guide is mostly about the medic, I'll keep it to him only.

As a medic, you will want your ubersaw ready, so if the guy next to you turns, you won't be stuck facing him holding your medigun when you could've had your saw out. If you had a good high uber percentage already like >70% during the setup time, 2 Ubersaw hits would get you charged and ready to face the zombie apocalypse!

Remember, DON'T trust anyone around you, (except for the engineers) because you'll never know if that friendly little sandvich eating hoovy might turn into the worst nightmare of you life!

3. Class Variety (And the Engineer)
If you didn't know yet, there can be only 2 Engineers, because too many engineers can obviously make it impossible for the zombies to win. Usually, it's first come first serve, which means that the first two people to pick the Engineer class gets to be the Engies for the round. Once you've become an engineer, you can't pick it until the next map, so choose wisely when to be the Engineer, like if you know of a good nesting spot, or when you have toif there is still a place left after a few seconds.

In this game mode, it's not that important for people to have class composition but when you have 10 spies on a round, you know you are screwed. The most popular classes picked depends on the map, but the majority are: Soldier, Demoman, Engineer, and Heavy Now the usefullness of each class also depends on the map but here's a go-go for a class:

Scout
- Large open maps [Soda Popper, Atomizer]
- Flat surfaces [Baby's Face Blaster]

Soldier
- Small chokes or hallways [All Rocket Launchers]
- Large open maps [Rocket Jumper and Base Jumper]

Pyro
- Enclosed rooms or spaces [All Flamethrowers]

Demoman
- Chokes, pathways, and spawns [Stickybomb Launchers]
- Hallways [All Shields and Melee]

Heavy
- Hallways, door chokes, small rooms [All Miniguns]
- Open maps [GRU Gloves]

Engineer
- High ledges, small spaces [Sentries]

Medic
- Corners [Ubersaw]
- Hallways [Crusader's Crossbow]
- Open spaces [Ubered Target]

Sniper
- Large open maps [All Sniper Rifles]
- Hallways [Huntsman]

Spy
- Rooms with ammo packs [Cloak]

This section might be updated as I learn more of the zombie apocalypse

Conclusion

Well ladies and gentlemen, all good things must come to an end, and this guide has almost reached its last words. Thank you very much for reading through my second guide, don't forget to rate it and get it to the front page so we can get more people playing this game mode! Leave what you think about this guide in the comments, praise me, criticize me, correct me in my errors, anything you want to add, you can tell me below! Have fun slashing and slicing zombies and good luck to your adventures into the zombie apocalypse! Hope to see you in game - as a medic! :)

[Andrew]

being a invis spy iwth claock and dagger is cancer on zombie mod

[Alternate Smoke-Saibot]

good guide. definitely helped my knowledge on the medic more.

[Oranges]

Nice can you make for all the classes?