ÜberCharge

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ÜberCharge

A BLU Medic uses his ÜberCharge on a Heavy.

ÜberCharge is an ability of the Medic class. The ÜberCharge is built up by focusing the beam of the Medic's healing gun onto another friendly player, ideally a Medic buddy.

A bar on the HUD, where the ammo icon usually appears, shows how much ÜberCharge is available. Once the bar is 100% full, the Medic has the ability to activate the ÜberCharge, granting the Medic and his target either invincibility for 10 seconds (with the Medigun) or 100% critical hits for 10 seconds (with the Kritzkrieg). With a Medigun ubercharge activated, the two players will glow their respective team colors. With a Kritzkrieg ubercharge activated, both players will appear normal but their weapons will crackle with electricity of their team color for the duration. When looking at a friendly Medic, a colored box shows up on the HUD displaying the username of the Medic, along with the percent of his ÜberCharge.

Note that while the players are immune to damage with a regular ubercharge, they are still affected from the concussive force of weapons such as the Sentry gun and Rocket launcher. This can be useful for breaking an ÜberCharge, because if the Medic is separated from his teammate, the teammate's ÜberCharge will be deactivated. Also, it is worth noting that it is possible for the Medic to ÜberCharge several teammates at once, due to the ÜberCharge remaining active briefly after a medic stops healing one teammate and starts healing another (this will drain the ÜberCharge meter much faster). Doing so will complete the Second Opinion achievement. It should also be noted that a player can receive an ubercharge from a Medic wielding a Medigun and another Medic with a Kritzkrieg at the same time, giving the player the effects of both ubercharges and allowing them to cut a devastating swathe through the enemy.

A skilled Spy can trick an enemy Medic into ÜberCharging them while they are Disguised, wasting the charge and allowing him to wreak havoc on the enemy team for its duration.

Switching weapons from the Medigun to another will continue to drain the ÜberCharge.

Charging the ÜberCharge

The ÜberCharge meter fills at different rates depending on the condition of the Medic's heal target.

• The meter fills at 2.5% / second when the Medic...
  • Heals any teammate during Setup (even one at max health and buff).
  • Heals injured players in the field.
  • Buffs players beyond the normal health maximum.
• The meter fills at 1.2% / second when the Medic heals an uninjured player who is already buffed outside of Setup time.
• The Kritzkrieg heals at +10% the rate of a medigun.

In general, buffing teammates and healing the injured builds the ÜberCharge meter twice as fast as healing one player exclusively. A way to build up charge faster without healing injured teammates is to buff teammates, let the buff wear off, and then heal them again. Also, a Medic who has done all 36 of the Medic achievements and has the Übersaw can charge their ÜberCharge at a rate of 25% per hit on an enemy.

Using the ÜberCharge

If you run out of ammo while you are ÜberCharged, you can deal out more damage by switching weapons rather than reloading

• Delay using the ÜberCharge until the last possible moment, try to wait until your Buddy or yourself have recieved damage before activating the charge. The longer you wait, the better, but don't die.

• You will continue to heal your Buddy and your health will continue to regenerate while you ÜberCharge.

• ÜberCharged players cannot capture control points or hold intelligence or flags. ÜberCharging while healing an intelligence (flag) holder only ÜberCharges the Medic.

• Knock back is your greatest opponent, so let the Medic go first and draw Sentry gun fire. Both the Heavy and the Pyro are more effective close up against Sentry guns.

• Follow the ÜberCharged pair using them as a moving shield. If you follow them onto a control point, you will start capturing it.

• ÜberCharged pairs attract a lot of fire even while charged, as people want to take them down as soon as the charge dissipates. Use this distraction to move onto control points or take out enemies as they look elsewhere.

• If, in response to your ÜberCharge, the opposition activate their own, try to ignore them. Invariably, they've activated in response to your own, so concentrate on removing sentry guns, not ÜberCharged enemies.

• You can use your Medi-Gun to ÜberCharge multiple players at one time by rapidly switching between healing-targets. However, your ÜberCharge meter will drain much more quickly if you switch healing-targets to more than one individual while ÜberCharging due to a recent update. It is unconfirmed whether the drain speed multiplier has a cap. However, testing shows that having three active ÜberCharge targets will drain the charge meter in four seconds.

Defense Against ÜberCharge

• The best defense against an ÜberCharge is another ÜberCharge. At least one defending Medic should build an ÜberCharge and save it for when attackers come in with one of theirs. An ÜberCharged pair can body-block another ÜberCharged pair (stand in their way) to waste their ÜberCharge time, then finish them off afterward.

• There are a few ways to combat an ÜberCharged pair because, although you cannot hurt them, they can still be knocked back by Sentry guns, rockets, and either of the Demoman's weapons. Just target the Medic to launch him away from his teammate, and once he has been blasted far enough away, the ÜberCharge will be interrupted on the teammate.

• Demomen are good counters to an ÜberCharge. As soon as you see or hear the pair coming, lay a string of Sticky bombs on the ground and wait until the first half of an ÜberCharged pair steps on it, then detonate, sending him flying into the air. Another strategy is to detonate just before the second half crosses it, hoping to send them flying in opposite directions. A third strategy is to try to blast them into a corner where they will be disoriented and waste their uber time regrouping. A fourth strategy is to knock them off bridges or ledges if one is along their path. Note that sticky bombs on walls and ceilings do not affect an ÜberCharged pair, they must be on the ground -- and you need at least two for a noticeable effect.

• Soldiers can bounce an ÜberCharged pair around by firing rockets into their feet. Try to push them into corners or off ledges.

• A very good device for dealing with Übercharges is the Pyro's flamethrower. The flamethrower has an alt-fire ability that produces a blast of compressed air that knocks back enemies and can deflect projectiles. This ability can be used in several ways against an Über. First, the Pyro can pop in and out of cover in front of the Übered opponent and constantly knock him back, thus slowing or even completely halting his advance, wasting many precious seconds of ubertime. This tactic should only be used against regular ûbercharges; a charge from a Kritzkrieg is extremely dangerous to face, since a single hit by a rocket or a few hits from a minigun will end the pyro's life very quickly (if you manage to knock back a crit rocket inte a soldier's face however, that's certainly a sight to see!). Another way of using the air blast is to flank the Übered pair. In this scenario, the Pyro targets the medic himself, and blasts him away from his buddy; if he goes far enough, his connection to his mate will actually be severed, ending the Überrush prematurely. This is similar to the juggling effect used by Soldiers and Demomen, but better since it is more reliable and predictable. Alternatively, if the ubered opponent is a Soldier or Demoman, the pyro can simply stand way back in front of them and deflect as many projectiles as he can to minimize the damage caused by the assault. Note that these tactics only work when using the regular flamethrower; if you have the Backburner equipped you lose the comppression blast ability. However, your flamethrower will not be completely useless in this case; Pyros can run up behind the pair and stay just behind them while keeping flames in their faces, hoping to confuse them and spoil their aim while not getting hit too badly. This can work if they are not focused on you. The 50 extra health provided by the Backburner will certainly help to keep you alive and once the ÜberCharge runs out, the constant crits in the back will quickly roast the Medic and his buddy. If the medic is using a Kritzkrieg, try to run up behind him when he's not looking, and quickly kill him, since a medic using a critcharge is not invulnerable, and end the charge completely.

• The most common target for an ÜberCharged pair is a sentry gun. The engineer has two choices: hide behind his gun and frantically whack it with his wrench hoping to repair it faster than it gets destroyed, or flee and be ready to rebuild as soon as possible. If the ÜberCharged pair includes a Heavy, and they are not too close or the ÜberCharge is almost done, the engineer can probably survive if he stays protected behind his gun and has a dispenser behind him to keep healing him and supply him with metal. If they get close, however, it is better to flee. If the ÜberCharged pair includes a Pyro and he gets close, the engineer will certainly die, and the gun a few seconds later if the Pyro has enough ÜberCharge time left. Consider fleeing if they get close. If ÜberCharged pair includes a Demoman, the engineer should stay if the Demoman is firing regular grenades. He may die but he will probably keep his gun alive long enough to survive the ÜberCharge. However if the Demoman gets four sticky bombs under the sentry, the situation is hopeless. The engineer will die along with everything around him. The engineer should flee as soon as the third sticky bomb lands.

• You can also try to slow an ÜberCharged pair down by body-blocking them (standing in their way). Chances are you will die quickly, but your sacrifice could cost them one or two seconds of precious uber time, especially if they are not focused on you. If you keep moving, and/or if you manage to block the Medic and separate him from his buddy, you may even su

Kritzkrieg strategies

• In set up time help a Demoman lay an 8 critical sticky bomb carpet near the enemy spawn. The blast radius should be enough to kill most of the opposition.

• When the gates open Kritzcrieg a soldier to lay surpressive fire into choke points.