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Syringe.

I did try the crossbow and it’s simply not worth it. Even with the reload speed buff.

As long as you won’t be able to kill a 125hp scout with an arrow + ubersaw hit, I won’t use it.

Heal saves is a good argument but it needs an arrow speed buff to be really effective. For the moment it’s just “spam around here and you may do something good that copes up the 3-4% uber charge you just lost by not healing”

Quoted from byte

I know alot of medics who choose to not use the crossbow mainly because their hit rate is poop and it does MORE damage than good.

…..

Cheers

Byte

http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/108/b/f/thanks_alot_by_kiki_akuma-d3eafmb.png

Quoted from byte

If you can aim with the crusaders crossbow, then it is much better than using the syringe.

however if you can’t aim with the crossbow and you continue to use it, it’s actually detrimental than just using stock syringe gun and not being able to aim with that.

Because not only are u not doing any damage, but if you genuinely can’t aim with it, you can’t heal with it, so what use does it actually have? You might as well use the stock syringe gun least that way you can’t miss hitting a scout in your face and kill him insta-quick :)

I know alot of medics who choose to not use the crossbow mainly because their hit rate is poop and it does MORE damage than good.

So in summary:

If you can aim with the crusaders crossbow then it is > default stock syringe gun
If you can’t aim with the crusaders crossbow then it is < default stock syringe gun

As a marker for those thinking of using the bow, you'd want to hit say 6-7/10 arrow rate , (that counts as damage/heals)

Being able to arrow + slice = win ;) damage of 102-111hp :D

Cheers

Byte

Byte makes a good point, but using arrows to heal teammates can be made more easy if your teammate is actually aware of it (adapted positioning). As for hitting enemies with it and you are serious about wanting to use the bow..you should practise your aim:D

Quoted from Flaoua

Heal saves is a good argument but it needs an arrow speed buff to be really effective. For the moment it’s just “spam around here and you may do something good that copes up the 3-4% uber charge you just lost by not healing”

Actually a weapon switch speed buff (like with the Degreaser) would help more, because it’s more rewarding to take the risk of trying to hit a heal-arrow, and quickly switch back to your medigun. I would love to see the the bow reload time increased by 25%, reduced weapon switch time by 65%, and HP regen brought back to Blutsauger levels. This would level out the Crossbow yet give it a bigger distinctiveness in playstyle compared to the Syringe Gun, and keep them both as viable.

What would be even more awesome, is to slow down the reload speed of the Crossbow to the old speed, but make the crossbow reloadable when unequipped at 200% of normal (equipped) reload time. This, in combination with the weapon quickswitch would emphasize the healing aspect of the crossbow and could make very dynamic healing plays possible. Having a weapon that reloads unequipped kinda breaks with how the rest of TF2 works though, I guess.

The flaregun already has passive reload.

I think you should use Syringe Gun.When you are alone as medic and running you can shoot and run at the same time.For example your enemy’s medic is down.And you get chasing by 1 solly and 1 scout .They got no medic so they must have low health.If you can shoot this two you are hero in your team eyes :) But when you have crossbow it’s hard to use,you can be more excited when you are playing against 2 enemy because you are all alone and you got low hp maybe.Crossbow just has one arrow but… Syringe gun has got so much needles and you got more chance.

DM wise syringe gun for sure..
The only thing what you can argue about is how utilizable health arrows are. I personally haven’t seen a medic who utilizes health arrows good enough to compensate the lack of of dm with crossbow. Though I haven’t watched medics almost at all but even at i46 you could see good medics going into gambling and failing hard. Remember one episode where Shade missed quite a lot arrows on snake last..
In my opinion, playing with crossbow is like trying to make plays, which is dangerous.. So it’s what Vanilla said, if you like gambling, go with crossbow.

But a smarter answer of course would be – try both and see which one you enjoy and feel more comfortable with.