A Battle of Healers: Medic VS Gorge

Quite often in a class-based game, Healers and Engineers are lumped in together and you’ll have the same person doing a couple of similar jobs. In that aspect, our Medic a bit of an odd one, as we have a whole other class, the Engineer, to do that. There’s a bit of an overlap between the two of them, as in they both heal, but Medics almost exclusively heal. This does make it tricky when it comes to these battles. Anyway, today’s enemy is a monster, literally, who acts as a defensive healing utility thingy who can heal both ‘buildings’ and allies. We’re talking about the Gorge from Natural Selection 2.

And yes, I have actually played Natural Selection 2. I really enjoyed playing as the Gorge but found my computer just couldn’t keep up.

Healing
Medic’s Medi Gun was designed to heal. The Gorge itself evolved to heal. The Gorge’s heal spray is quite low in range but can heal both allies, itself and damaged structures, as well as help unfinished ones grow faster. But the Gorge’s heal isn’t continuous like the Medi Gun, and after a long time of use, requires ‘recharging’. Neither does the Gorge’s healing abilities apply overheal like the Medi Gun does. Weirdly, when it comes to fire and stuff, both have their downsides, as the Medi Gun just outheals fire while Heal Spray has a 50% chance of putting it out. When it comes to faster healing, the Medi Gun wins, but since Medics can’t heal buildings, this one becomes a tie.

Utility
Both classes provide a lot of utility to a team. The Gorge and the Medic can keep team mates alive and in combat, as well as topping up their health before they dive back in. The Gorge though seems to be more of a stay-at-home healer, closer to an Engineer, tending to the alien structures and helping out from a distance, rather than following their team mates straight into battle. But because of the Healer/Engineer design of the Gorge, he has far more obvious utility compared to the Medic’s Ubercharges. In fact, he’s probably a much better Engineer than the Engineer as not only can he build ‘teleporters’ and ‘sentries’, but he also has minions to do his bidding and he can build walls to block the movements of the enemy. He’s incredibly squishy though so he can’t keep people alive at the front lines as effectively as Medic can. Again, I think this one’s a tie.

Combat
Both the Medic and the Gorge aren’t that good at combat, relying on their allies to do the damage, but Medic’s reliance is directly related to his team mates while a Gorge’s allies might find his presence more of a hindrance than helpful, as the Skulk, Lerk and Fade are all sneaking classes. They both have weak, long-range weaponry and both are projectiles. Unlike Medics, Gorges have a mobile escape in the form of a belly slide, but this slide is akin to the Targe ‘n’ Charge, it’s hard to turn without practice. Also, the belly slide is nothing compared to climbing walls, flight and teleportation that other Kharaa have. While Gorges have the defensive upper hand, Medics have the offensive upper hand, changing the flow of the game and forcing their team forward with their Ubercharges.

Overall, it looks like a tie. Both healers fill very different niches, despite their signature ability to heal. I’m sure though that any Medic would love one as a pet and/or experiment.