Hello, an aspiring Combat Medic here. I've been playing for a week now, and is currently trying to get some suit upgrade since I've upgraded my nano-regen device, healing tool and got the resurrection grenades. Now, I've heard that nanoweave armour is pretty much the "no-brainer" choice, but in practice since my reaction time is kinda slow (haven't played a lot of PvP games before, much less any kind of shooters) the extra 1-2 bullets I can tank doesn't really matter since I'm dead anyway, and so I've been thinking to get Flak Armour instead to better survive in a grenade/rocket spam situation. Oh, and if it matters, I mainly stay behind the "infantry lines", avoiding unnecessary risks/walking into teammate's field of vision (and their firing lines) and take potshots at enemies I can see. So.. yeah. I'm curious on how different players "spec" into their medics. I'm open to suggestions! Thank you kindly.
I'm using max rank nanoweave exclusively and must say, that it saved my life a LOT of times. With it you can catch some extra bullets, that missed your allies and hit you. Also it gives you some extra time to react, when ambushed. Grenade spam can be avoided, if you are extremely carefull, but bullet spam - can't. So I'd say stick to nanoweave, but to get a noticeable effect, you should get a max rank of it, which is pricey.
Nanoweave will increase your resistance enough to have enough time to react to small weapons. I've good reaction time but without nanoweave, I die at the moment I get to cover (lag compensation). Nanoweave or auxiliary shield save me sometimes. It also allow you to not at a disadvantage while fighting a nanoweave user. Note that you'll always met infantry so nanoweave is always useful. Flak armor is a better choice only when you know enemy will use ton of splash damage (the problem is if it's the case, you'll die anyway because of the explosive spam. The only situation where flak armor is better than nanoweave is when you're doing a MAX crash as a medic : you'll survive that C4 and revive your squad. Note that flak armor rank 2 is useless because most splash damage weapon deal 1250dmg.
Ah, so the extra bullets I can take would help me survive when I have to make a mad dash for cover after being shot by an unseen enemy. That would be helpful. Oh, so flak armour needs to be max leveled to provide decent explosive protection in a combat situation involving lots of explosives? Yeah, I guess I'll get nanoweave when I go online. Thanks for answering my questions!
Max nanoweave gives 20% damage reduction from bullets. IIRC max flak gives 50% damage reduction from explosions. It really depends on which type of attack you are most likely to experience but I find nanoweave more useful as I am most often in or near the front line of an infantry fight in or around bases and you get some warning of things like grenades, mines and C4. It's a question of what kills you most often, bullets or explosions. If someone targets you with an auto weapon it is possible that nanoweave only delays the inevitable by a fraction of a second anyway as ttk in the game is very rapid. But if you are running about, steering an erratic course and dodging in and out of cover the extra resistance of nanoweave is helpful if your attacker cannot keep you in his sights for long enough. I also run the free, auxiliary armour on my medics (a flat, extra 50 HP). This is purely because I find that I have limited opportunities to use C4 and I have tier 4 regen implant so I don't need the medkits (which are the only alternatives in that particular slot for a medic).
Grenade Bandolier 100%. The synergy with revive grenade is insane, and having 4 chances to AOE rez instead of just 1 can be a game changer (as well as a lot of certs). I never run anything else if I'm actually trying to play as a medic.
Yeah if you're medic then IMO Grenade Bandolier is the only clear choice so you can mas rez everyone over and over and over and over.
Grenade Bandolier for squad combat medic hands down (preemptive rez nades during aggresive point pushes / countering wipes during point holds). You want your hands on your weapon during intense situations, not on your rez tool, so 4 grenades > anything else. Works wonders especially with combat surgeon + nano regen device. Nanoweave is for solo / aggressive squad medic who double peaks with heavies at the front line all the time. Go for it if you have really good aim, footwork and positioning, otherwise it won't help you much. Combine it with Assimilate implant. I still don't have my final opinion about Flack armor, it kinda works during MAX pushes in MAX+engie+medic combos and in a massive cluster****s when you are spammed by explosives from all around and above, but I think it is far less useful than bandolier and nanoweave.