This is the most common spot a team will find itself in. Ubers are even, numbers are even, and the stalemate begins. Holding as a medic at the edge of the platform will allow you to be able to heal your flank faster and better than the other medic, you will be closer to your flank and they should know to come to you for buffs. Be careful where you stand on the platform, because if you are too far left you will be an easy snipe for anyone on their side of the wall. Make sure you have your combo checking the choke for sollies, spies, and scouts who will try to utilize the dropdown to get behind you. With your combo holding choke, and your flank in garage, the only thing that can kill you here is a spy. If a stalemate begins, things you can do from this position are rotating your sniper to your combo so he can peek choke, and you can buff your solly to 300 and send him in for a bomb on their medic. If things go badly for your team, and you cannot move into a passive hold, your best chance for survival is retreating off the platform and into garage, depending on the numbers and who is chasing you, you can either run into lobby to last, or you can head to second and begin your passive or aggressive hold.

The only time you want to be in this position is if your aggresive hold is failing, you are bleeding players, and it is only a matter of time before the enemy comes in. Position yourself behind the middle 'nipple' and next to the left staircase, in a way that no sniper has an easy line of sight on you from garage or choke. If the enemy has uber, your team must to pop them, if they do not, plan to get out, because a demoman and a solly are about to jump you. Depending on how fast they are to cap mid, and how aggressive their combo is, you must retreat into choke and set yourself up for a passive or aggressive hold. Holding mid passively is just an easy way of saying "I don't want to be here, but lets see if we can cause some damage before we leave."

This is the other side of the stalemate, even numbers, even ubers. This position and Mid Agro are counterparts, so expect to spend a lot of time on both sides of this wall. With your combo at choke, and your flank in garage, the only thing you need to worry about is a spy and occasional jumper. If a stalemate begins, test the other team by sending a scout or soldier into dropdown when no one is looking. Consider rotating your sniper to combo just like you would on mid. Getting buffs to your flank is difficult as the distance between choke and garage is large, the only person who can easily get a buff is your scout. When considering your retreat, base your decision off of what is going on. If you lose a heavy or a demo, get to lobby and then head to battlements or last. If you lose your flank in garage, the enemy will have control of lobby, so the only retreat is onto the point going up to the battlements.

This is the only place you should be if you want to make last go easy for you. Hold here when you are down on uber or 1 or 2 players. Just like on a Mid Aggressive hold, position yourself on the platform so that you can easily heal your flank in garage and lobby. The sole purpose of your heavy and demo on this hold is to deny the enemy as much ground as they can before they have to pop uber. Eventually the enemy will come in (likely via garage), and you will need to pay very close attention to who is alive. If you loose your flank, expect a scout and spy to walk up into lobby up to batts from behind you. If they push from your choke, expect a demoman to immediately jump you. This hold is also a great spot for a solly to jump you from garage if he gets in far enough. Know how long you can hold here based on what is going around you, if you get jumped, utilize the corners and walls to stay alive. This is also a very easy place for a spy to kill you. Remember that the point of this hold is to slow down the enemy, pop their uber, and grant you an easier time holding last. Stay alive here, keep building your uber, and when it is time to run, run away through river into last, do not go into lobby.

If your team is holding last, stay put. Pushing out from last is the hardest part of a 5cp map. The position for a medic to hold here is based around keeping you alive from your biggest threat on this point, the sniper. The sniper has 4 different locations he can kill you from, but if you position yourself correctly he has none. Stand with your back to the wall behind the pillars and do not move. The only useful way to heal on this point is if you position yourself behind both pillars, which will prevent a sniper from river and nest shooting you. The nest position (#3) on this map is insane, a sniper does not even have to walk up the small set of stairs to kill you, he can actually see above the stair line and you cannot see him, so you need to keep that left pillar blocking his view on you. If you try to chase heals you will die, if you try to spycheck you will die, just stay put and wait for them to push. Sniper spots on last:



You are pretty much playing a waiting game at this point. You are waiting for things to kill you. If you have superior position on the sniper, the only things to watch out for are a jumping solly and a spy. In both these scenarios you are entirely dependent on your team to kill the jumper, and to kill the spy after you start screaming SPY SPY SPY. Retreat is not an option here, if you try to retreat, you will get shot in the face. Hold still and wait for them to push, do the uber fight, and then see where your team is when the dust settles.

This is the most important hold of the game, loose this hold and you loose the round. You use a passive hold when you are down numbers, down uber, and they are moments away from pushing last. The best thing you can do for your team here is to stay alive, keep healing, and keeping your teammates aware of what you plan to do. Some teams will uber into last and start focusing damage classes, others will jump their demo right in your face. If you are too far forward you will die quickly, if you are too far back you are useless to the team. When their uber comes in, stay in the fight as long as you can, but ultimately, you need to be rotating through spawn to come out the other side alive. Rotating through spawn can be done on every 5cp last point, and you only do it when the enemy is right in your face about to kill you. Personal prefence takes president at this point, if you are at 80% uber and outnumbered, you might want to go for an ubersaw. If you die on second and know they are moving immediately to last, you might want to come up quickfix. I like to keep my heavy on the rim of the point and make him a target so that no one notices the pyro, when the uber comes in the heavy runs to the back of the point and the pyro starts his M2. I keep my demoman with me when I rotate through spawn. I try to buff as many people as I can before the push comes in. There is no 1 way to hold passively on last, utilize the star players on your team, and don't get caught out of position to an ubered scout right in your face. If you see a sniper dot, you have no choice but to hide next to the spawn door. The most likely thing to kill you here is an enemy ubercharge. Wait for them to pop, stay in as long as you can, rotate through spawn, continue the fight.

If you die while not attacking or retreating, but by just holding, then you are not paying enough attention and you are probably in the wrong position. Positioning in 5cp is the game breaker for medics, if you know where to stand, and why you are standing there, you won't die easily. The most important thing about understanding positioning on this map is to take advantage of the enemy medic who is out of position. If you are holding aggressive on mid, and they are holding aggressive on 2, but you have a huge uber advantage, move forward. Spies Scouts Soldiers and Snipers should all be aware of good medic positioning, because that is how you make easy picks, by letting your opponent mess up. On 5cp, the medic with the better positioning will win, because he won't be dead.

Thank You.
Wonko the Sane