History Main / ShoottheMedicFirst

* IDF snipers target medics at the Gaza border protest of 2018. One victim, Razan al-Najjar, IDF claimed it was an accident, then claimed she was a terrorist. Furthermore, the IDF policy of 'Shoot To Wound' compliments the killing of medics by making medical staff more in demand.

* As shown in the page quote, Creator/BillCosby has a stand-up routine based on his time in the navy and his decision to become a corpsman as he thought he meant he wouldn't get shot at. His instructors quickly disabused him of this notion.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'':
** Subverted in "optimized" games. The healing spells available to divine casters could easily cause this trope, but these spells don't tend to be used in combat because the caster has [[LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards better things]] [[StatusBuff to be]] [[MagicKnight doing]]. That, more than any healing ability, is why you take out an optimized divine caster first.
** Specifically, even the best healers can't heal as fast as mediocre damage-dealers can deal damage. The first healing spell that's worth casting in combat is probably ''cure light wounds'', available at level 1 when the linear warriors have the damage advantage. The second is probably ''cure minor wounds'', the absolute weakest healing spell which is mainly used to stop wounded characters from bleeding to death with the minimum possible opportunity cost. The third is probably ''heal'', first available at level 11 and the best spell in the game for keeping pace with a single-target damage dealer (it can also make an excellent weapon for [[ReviveKillsZombie beating on undead]]). Ultimately, characters can generally prevent more damage by eliminating opponents than they could heal with spells. This is to say nothing of the fact that good clerics can spontaneously cast healing spells anyway -- meaning that if an enemy unexpectedly criticals and they need to cast a healing spell, they can lose a prepared spell they won't need for the encounter.
** A rule that has been consistent throughout all editions of ''D&D'' however is "ShootTheMageFirst." Sure, the healer is the one keeping their party up, but the nuker and battlefield control specialist is the one that poses the single biggest threat to your team's survival, through nasty spells that can wipe out your whole party to spells that can keep your party from acting at all and all sorts of other nastiness.
** In ''4th Edition'', healers can heal a character in a round as a '''minor action''', leaving them a full suite of "better things" to do in combat as well.
** ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' attempted to rectify this problem by making clerics and their buffs less potent as a means to kill the enemy while giving clerics the power to heal '''multiple''' party members in a single round several times a day — without using their spell slots. Assuming a 5th-level game, using your most powerful healing spell to heal one person for 18-19 (on average) may seem like a waste not only of your action, but of your very limited slots in the VancianMagic system of ''D&D 3.5''. In ''Pathfinder'', healing everyone for 10-11 with a power that doesn't eat up your spells (42 total in a 4 member party) is a lot more efficient. The larger the adventuring party, the more powerful and attractive this becomes. In a six member party, a 7th-level cleric could heal over 100 HP on average with a single channel. This becomes more useful if the GM is following "cinematic" logic, with enemies engaging more than one character at a time, or if they realize that CriticalExistenceFailure means smashing one guy down at a time makes more sense. Of course, cagey players can easily force monsters to not gang up on a single party member through maneuver and smart tactics. And cagey monsters can prevent the party from doing the same.

** On the other hand, the resident roving medics of [=DocWagon=] counter the ShootTheMedicFirst strategy by sending their medics out with heavily-armed bodyguards. [=DocWagon=] High Threat Response teams like to arrive in VTOL gunships.
*** More to the point, [=DocWagon=] doesn't provide magical healing: If they land a ship for you, that means you're out of the fight anyway. They also have a monopoly on health care response to Shadowrunners and other [=SINless=], and attacking them forfeits your contract for good with no renewal option (outside of some ''hefty'' bribing). Even if they didn't come in heavily armed, most Shadowrunners know better than to shoot their own service provider.

* IDF snipers target medics at the Gaza border protest of 2018. One victim, Razan al-Najjar, IDF claimed it was an accident, than claimed she was a terrorist. Furthermore, the IDF policy of 'Shoot To Wound' compliments the killing of medics by making medical staff more in demand.

* Most healing in Magic: The Gathering is either attached to creatures as an incidental ability or coming from players in the form of spells. What this means is experienced players will typically zero in on any dedicated healing creatures, as they are most likely in the deck for a specific reason that will lead to problems later (or at least lead to WhyWon'tYouDie if the healing can keep up with damage output)

[[folder:Video Games]]
* The ''Meadow Bugle'' airframe, more commonly known as the M Gear, is not only the healer/mechanic class in ''VideoGame/AceOnline'', it's also the airframe with the highest defense, presumably to keep the brigade's healers from getting [[MoreDakka swiss-cheesed]] by the A Gears on sight. M Gears that form the head of any spearheading formation of B Gears are always aimed at first, to break up the flight formation.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Achron}}'', the CESO Blackbird can repair units at speeds so fast it can greatly affect the outcome of a battle. The "Smart Idle" upgrade makes healing units (such as the Blackbird or the SOP) use their healing ability automatically if there are any injured friendly units nearby. This leads to them attracting a lot of focused fire.
** Not only that, but if you just send your army to attack without targeting a specific unit, they ''will'' ShootTheMedicFirst.
* In ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpires'' if an enemy squad has a priest/monk, it pays to get rid of him as early as possible. Monks not only heal their own side, but also convert enemy units.
* In ''VideoGame/AgeOfWonders'', cleric-type units, which boast the Healing ability, can only do so once per game turn (and thus once per battle, or not at all if they already used healing before battle), but tend to be targeted anyhow because they boast a reasonably powerful ranged magical attack. More advanced units with Healing also tend to be targeted quickly because they usually possess other, dangerous, abilities, and finally, Leaders are * always* targeted first, when practical-more pointedly than potentially having healing spells they can cast multiple times per battle, they tend to be the most dangerous units on the field.
* ''VideoGame/AnarchyOnline''
** The game makes this very difficult to pull this off. The Doctor profession is fairly easy to kill in the beginning of the game, but towards the end requires a coordinated effort from a strong force to take down, all this while throwing out gigantic 'Battle Group Heals' that give ginormous amounts of life to every ally in the immediate vicinity, and this isn't counting the ultimate 'nyah-nyah' heal...on top of all this, Doctors are unlike 'clothies' in other games in that they tend towards HUGE amounts of hit points and nano points.
** The Adventurer, the nominal backup healer, has various tiers of healing capacity, and the ability to both evade many normal hits as well as soak up damage on top of all that.
** The Meta-Physicist, the closest healer after that, typifies the 'priest' stereotype and also was MadeOfPlasticine for most of the game's history until recently, when they became [[NighInvulnerability Nigh Invulnerable]].
* This is a very effective strategy in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'', as the Medic mooks can revive three downed enemies. Further, they can apply an electric charge to enemy soldiers so that Batman will take damage if he makes contact with [[TheSpiny the now-sparking foe]]. In practice, this means that you should use Silent Takedowns to pick off the medics before wading into the brawl, but a later upgrade to the Disruptor gadget makes this trope slightly more literal: you can remotely sabotage the medics' equipment so that they electrocute ''themselves'' when trying to buff or revive enemy mooks.
* ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield}}'':
** In the original game, medics were not quite that powerful (slowly heal one soldier while standing next to him), but since ''Battlefield 2'', they can instantly resurrect dead teammates to full health, which DOES make them an important target. Also medics in ''[=BF2=]'' are [[CombatMedic extremely capable fighters]] on their own already. Good luck taking out an entire squad of them.
** Well, the Battlefield 1942 medics are quite an nuisance compared to assault class. The submachinegun has low recoil, making it easy to pick off enemy soldiers, and being able to heal themselves make it a difficult ordeal to kill them as if you die, they will come back in full health.
** In Bad Company 2, the M60 machine gun was horribly overpowered for quite a while, leading to most games being half medics, and half snipers.
** Notably in ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield 3}}'', the Assault class has to choose between AOE healing or an extra assault weapon (either a grenade launcher or a shotgun) for the first class ability, but once the [[MagicalDefibrillator defibrillator (revive device)]] is unlocked it's always the second gadget, which can make them priority targets in certain circumstances.
*** Of course, in practice, Battlefield is so fast paced and it's hard enough to take down any enemy, that actively targeting a medic is more a case of luck and aiming in the right place. Actually trying to only target medics will just get you shot by the rest of his squad.
** The Engineer class is the 'medic' for Vehicles. Often people will buddy up as a tank driver/gunner combination and work in tandem to keep their vehicle operation. Some vehicles have enough capacity to hold three people. Trying to take out a tank with 2 engineers repairing is impossible for a single infantry player unless he can kill the engineers first, or can sneak up and plant C4 or mines on the vehicle.
* Zigzagged a bit in ''VideoGame/BattleForWesnoth''. It's not that the healers are so good at ''healing'' that makes them targets (while they're convenient, they can't build up a unit's health back up any faster than a stay in a village could, although unlike villages they're mobile and can treat multiple adjacent units at once) -- it's that on top of that they're {{Combat Medic}}s with annoying special ''attacks'' (be they accurate-in-any-terrain magical ones or the Elvish Shaman line's Entangle) while at the same time being reasonably squishy.
* The medical stations in ''VideoGame/{{Bioshock|1}}'' and ''VideoGame/Bioshock2'' can be used by the Splicers to heal themselves. You can destroy them, or hack them so that they would poison those wounded Splicers instead.
* In the General Knoxx DLC for ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'', the Crimson Lance have many types of soldiers and one of them is is a CombatMedic. While these guys only use standard rifles to attack you with, they set up turrets that heal the other soldiers, which can get annoying real fast unless you quickly destroy the turret or kill the medic. These guys also show up when you fight Knoxx and can restore his health completely if you aren't paying attention.
** ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'' features the Hyperion surveyor, a flying autonomous AttackDrone that doubles as an impromptu medic to Hyperion units. It can repair damaged Loaders (including the tough and dangerous [[EliteMook Badass Loaders and WAR Loaders]]) or grant shields to unshielded units. Worse, Constructors like to digistruct the little buggers. They tend to be priority targets due to both their darty, flighty movement patterns and the fact that they don't take a lot of damage to bring down (at first).
* In ''VideoGame/BrutalLegend'', the enemy AI has an amazing ability to seek out and attack Thunderhog units (AKA [[Music/{{Motorhead}} Lemmy]]) no matter who else is on the field when playing as Ironheade.
* The first ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' features this memorable line
-->Medic: Oh God, they're shooting medics too! They're not playing by [[KilledMidSentence the-]]
* ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'':
** The Floral Horrors. Growing in Site 16 in 2300 AD, they make fighting companion enemies... an [[IncrediblyLamePun experience]].
** A boss that you fight on your way to escape the castle in 1000 AD, the Dragon Tank, has a ''head'' that occasionally heals its parts, each of which has a separate entry in the Bestiary.
** The Mother Brain boss in 2300 AD is accompanied by not one but ''three'' medics. If you take out all of them though, she TurnsRed.
** The fight against Lavos Core is [[AvertedTrope something of an exception]]: it looks like a FlunkyBoss consisting of a humanoid-looking part in the center and a "[[FanNickname Lavos Bit]]" on the left and on the right. The Lavos Bit on the right can revive the other two, so normally you'd want to kill it first. However, unless at least one of the other two parts are dead, it will take almost no damage from attacks, so, in this case, you have to kill the medic last. (And when you do kill it, you win the fight immediately, guaranteeing you will indeed kill it last.)
* ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'' has several of these, but the Tsoo Sorcerors are by far the worst. If enemy medics are annoying, how much worse are ''teleporting'' enemy medics??? Sky Raider Engineers and Rikti Communication Officers, although not medics, are other examples of - ''ahem'' - "non-combatants" who have to be taken out first.
* ''VideoGame/CityOfVillains'':
** The final battle of the Lord Recluse Strike Force, acknowledged as one of the hardest battles in the game. 8 PC villains vs 8 ([[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard grossly overpowered]]) NPC heroes. For the villains to have any chance of winning it is '''vitally important''' to knock out the heroine Numina first, as she can heal and even revive downed heroes.
** The Imperious Task Force has the final battle against [[RecurringBoss Romulus]], this time powered up by a SufficientlyAdvancedAlien and assisted by three identical black energy creature thingies, one of which heals him. [[ThatOneBoss You wanna kill this one first.]]
** And, of course, there are the Roman SURGEONS who don't even have any offensive ability, yet are always targeted by players first with overwhelming force and much hatred. Good thing these events take place hundreds if not [[PortalToThePast thousands of years before the Geneva Convention.]]
** As for players, there's actually much less emphasis on healing because [[StatusBuff buffs]] and debuffs are so much more powerful. So taking out the Defender first is usually a good idea, [[ArtificialStupidity not that the enemies can take advantage of that]]. Although the rules are different in PVP, barely anyone does that anyway.
** Can go hilariously wrong in PVP, especially when players from other games who are used to "healers" who really only heal suddenly run up against a Defender who has been soloing and has chosen an offensive power set.
* Healers in ''VideoGame/ClashOfClans'' fly over the battlefield healing any injured ground troops and having one can easily turn the tide in the user's favor. They can't heal themselves and their flight means only anti-air defenses can harm them, so it's best to have anti-air defenses spread throughout your fort in case an invading player has one.
* In earlier ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer'' games, generally the side with the weaker (early-game) infantry had a Medic unit to compensate. The expansion to ''Red Alert'' also introduced a Mechanic, who was a PaletteSwap of the Medic who repaired vehicles in a flash. However, since infantry often die before they can be healed, and the Mechanic can't follow tanks into combat, this trope is averted.
** In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRenegade'' in the multi-player, enemy engineers and medics can be a serious pain in the ass. Especially if you're Nod. Given enough of them(even the free engineers), a tank can be repaired more than you can damage it. On siege maps, it's a very common tactic to have 3-4 technicians/hotwires(350 credit super-engineers) per vehicle on the side that's laying siege. The only ways to break that siege is with more engineers/techies/hotwires backing up your vehicles, plus at least one sniper to pick off the enemy. A single GDI mammoth tank with two hotwires is nigh-invulnerable.
* In ''VideoGame/CompanyOfHeroes'', players can build medic stations that spawn unarmed medics that go out into the battlefield to retrieve wounded soldiers. When enough soldiers are gathered, they are formed into a free infantry squad for the player. Needless to say, allowing your opponent to do this is a bad thing, so it becomes a gameplay imperative to shoot the medics. The AI won't automatically target enemy medics though, so the player has to manually give the command.
* ''VideoGame/CosmicBreak'' has this fiendish {{Moe}} RobotGirl, Melfi, that shoots healing arrows and can still use healing bits. They charge faster than others support units too, making them the ultimate healing support units. Everyone just loves to kill her.... Until her {{Chibi}} version came out. Now everyone's conflicted.
* This used to be doubly true when fighting Midgard in ''VideoGame/DarkAgeOfCamelot'', because their healers doubled as mezzers, which in the early days of Camelot were ridiculously overpowered: no resists, no break out of mez panic button, no progressively decreasing mez duration, no nothing. A real "We win" button. Ganking the healer was so prevalent that Midgard tanks often carried round shields into battle instead of the much better kite shields, because it made them look like healers and hopefully they'd eat the first wave of backstabs/nukes/mezzes/arrows.
* ''VideoGame/DCUniverseOnline'' has a few of these in the High Level Duo Missions, thankfully they all glow bright neon green so they are easy to pick out and shoot at, the worse of the lot are the OMAC Nanosmyths where if one of these is in the room NOTHING IS KILLABLE till you take the Nanosmyth down and even then the heal effects remain for at least 3-5 seconds after you kill them, if you want to survive the mission you must drop them fast.
* A particular boss in ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'' can be resurrected indefinitely until the player realizes that some {{mook}} is in charge of keeping the boss alive. This mook is not (technically) ''even in the boss room''.
** A similar thing happens in ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsI'', where it's possible to take a shortcut in the Depths that skips a large majority of the area and pretty much lets you go straight to the boss. This is not advised, since this means you wouldn't have killed the Channeler found early in the area, who can now buff the boss's attack power.
** Also in ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsI'', the skeletons in the Catacombs will just keep PullingThemselvesTogether every time you kill them unless you hunt down and kill the necromancer in charge first, or use a [[HolyBurnsEvil divine weapon]].
** ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'' has [[DualBoss Princes Lothric and Lorian]]. In the second phase, Lothric will continuously resurrect his brother on death. The fight only ends when you kill [[SquishyWizard Lothric]], which is made difficult because Lothric is in a very hard position for most weapons to reach.
** ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'' also has hollow priests, who appear in conjunction with [[DemonicSpider Lothric knights]] and cast constant damage and healing buffs.
* The Bishop Chessmen in ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry 3'' can actually heal their fellow chessmen, so better flail on them first and fast (they can also spit out lightning and create a localized explosion).
* ''VideoGame/DiabloII'' has the ever-annoying Shamans for the various enemy types, who have the Archvile-like ability to revive their minions over and over, even from far away, making killing them a top priority. Even worse are the unique shamans, which can revive ''other'' shamans, making killing them a top priority even among other shamans.
* Healers (and monster units that have healing abilities, such as the [[HornyDevils Succubus]]) are almost always the first target of choice in ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' games. The second? Anything that has a stat buffing ability... Which is ''also'' something that Healers specialize in.
* When playing ''Videogame/{{Doom}} II'', whenever Arch-Viles appear, they should be given top priority, both because of their [[PlayingWithFire very nasty line-of-sight flame attack]] and their habit of resurrecting dead monsters.
** Likewise, Archviles are usually the top-priority targets in ''Videogame/DoomTheRoguelike''.
* ''Franchise/DragonAge'':
** This doesn't come up a lot in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', since most enemies eschew healing in favor of ZergRush tactics. In the ''Warden's Keep'' DLC, however, there is a fight against a boss-level Rage Abomination which is accompanied by a quartet of zombie mages who constantly cast healing spells on it. The fight is basically impossible to win until they've all been taken out (which is easier said than done, since they themselves will resurrect several times before going down permanently).
** In the ''Legacy'' DLC for ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', if the player takes a particular path, Hawke and party will encounter a Revenant backed up by three Arcane Horrors, each of which casts a spell over the Revenant that, taken together, make it literally [[NighInvulnerability immune to all forms of damage]]. In this case, you have no choice but to shoot the medic first.
* ''VideoGame/DreamOfMirrorOnline'' uses a job system that let every player to have his own healing skill, and dedicated healers to wear enough defences to survive the team warriors. Anyway, as they can buffer allies and resurrect (a skill that requires both specialization and a specific weapon type), it's better to deal them first. And then, there is a ''monster'' family that works this way. The Septic Snake (a combat monster) can call for help, attracting the Herb Snake, a monster that automatically heals nearby snakes. The Herb Snake, if attacked, calls for help, attracting Septic Snakes...
* Averted with Atomic Power Robots in ''VideoGame/{{Earthbound}}'', who are able to restore health to other enemies by "replenishing a fuel supply". They explode when killed which inflicts serious damage to your party, forcing you to put up with their healing until you've wiped out their allies in order to reduce the damage from the explosion.
* In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'', always kill the Necromancers first, otherwise any other mook will have barely hit the ground before they raise it again. Things get even ''more'' complicated when you have to fight multiple Necromancers at once, since they can raise their former comrades to rain more destruction spells upon unsuspecting players.
** For this reason, you don't just kill Necromancers first, you make sure that the fallen foe is either disintegrated or zombified by you before anything else has the chance to raise it.
* ''VideoGame/EpicBattleFantasy'' usually has this as a sound tactic, except in one particular boss battle in 3. How could you possibly discourage someone from killing the guy who's healing a huge wooly mammoth that's stomping down your adventurers? Easy: make a [[BossInMooksClothing monolith]] replace him on death.
* The so-called ''Logistics Ships'' in ''VideoGame/EveOnline'' are critical to any fleet of significant size. The ShootTheMedicFirst approach is so effective that, in some cases, due to capacitor chains between the ships, taking down a single logistics ship (either by blowing it up or jamming its sensors) is enough to completely break down the repairs.
* Averted with the last boss fight of ''Videogame/FateGrandOrder''[='=]s fourth chapter. There's two enemies: the main damage dealer and a support enemy who provides buffs and healing. Frankly, the buffs and healing don't do much, not even her [[LimitBreak Noble Phantasm]] which heals herself and her ally. But if the main boss's charge gauge fills up, it inflicts a crapton of damage to your entire party.
* ''VideoGame/FatPrincess'' has this. Generally, if someone on the other team has a Priest behind him, you're likely to go down quick if you don't kill him.
* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV''
*** The game features a boss called the Magus Sisters, comprised of Cindy, Mindy, and Sandy. Cindy can revive the other two bosses(!), so if the player [[PuzzleBoss doesn't catch on]] [[GuideDangIt fast enough]], death is inevitable.
*** The trope repeats later in the same game when fighting the Giant's CPU, which is accompanied by an "Attacker" and a "Defender". [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin You can guess what those do.]] Subverted in the DS remake though, where due to the relative strengths it's actually far easier to take out the Attacker first and save the Defender for last, ''despite TheSmartGuy flat-out telling you to shoot the Medic first'' (because they left his dialogue unchanged).
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' has [[Film/TheThreeStooges The Dream Stooges]] in Cyan's Dream. Protip: Kill Curlax first. If you don't, prepare to be pasted by some amazingly powerful attack magic.
** It's Shoot the Escort First in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'', because when you battle Seymour the first time, he has two guards who cast shell on him and protect on themselves. They will intercept any physical attack directed at Seymour, and they will recast their spells if you use Dispel. They will also heal Seymour if his HP gets low, but that's not likely while they're still around anyway, because they also use high potions on themselves whenever they're hit. There are only two ways to kill them: either [[VideoGameStealing steal a high potion]] from each of them to disable their Auto-Potion ability, or use a technique that one-shots them (generally an [[LimitBreak Overdrive]]). Or just keep attacking them till they run out of potions, as they will use a potion even if they've only lost a single hit point.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'': The "Materia Beast" comes to mind, it can heal itself very fast toward the end of the battle and is colossal pain in the ass to the unprepared player. it's good to poison it so it's healing won't be as effective, other monsters and bosses will heal themselves too.
** [[spoiler: Not just the enemy healers are targeted, as InnocentFlowerGirl Aerith who helpfully heals the main hero gang back to full health with her limit breaker special, is tragically ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice by BigBad Sephiroth. (Then again, he killed her for reasons that had ''nothing'' to do with her being the healer). If players haven't levelled up the other characters with healing skills, or don't have Restore materias at good levels, they're probably gonna have a hard time for the rest of the game]].
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'' has Beastmen imps that are healers in Campaign. The healing isn't normally a problem, however. It's the ''powerful area buffs'' that drive players nuts, especially Phalanx.
*** Players who heal other players who are on a monster's hate list will gain hate from that monster, proportional to how much health was recovered. If a healer is having to curebomb people to keep them alive, particularly if there isn't a dedicated tank present specifically to keep hate off of the healer, monsters will decide that eating the squishy one keeping everyone alive is the best course of action.
** The cat-type enemies in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2''. Best case scenario, they're annoyances. Worst case scenario, you are faced with a healer who spams area-of-effect healing magic while surrounded by very powerful fighters and has wayyyyy too much HP for you to take down quickly.
** This has been noted to happen in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', but for the ''enemies''. If they aren't being attacked or distracted enough, enemies will zero in on players who are healers due to healing magic generating a lot aggro. In certain battles, there will be enemy healers present and you'll want to take them down first. In PVP, healers are always the first ones to be targeted by other players.
** Any game in the ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' series. White Mages or any units who can heal, revive, and buff are always your main targets. Sometimes they not only just heal, but may have abilities from other jobs to fight with. For instance, one storyline battle has a White Mage who sometimes is also given [[GameBreaker Calculator skills.]] If you don't kill it as soon as humanly possible, you will regret it '''dearly.'''
** The enemy AI in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'' will always try to go after units with jobs that are considered "high-priority", like White and Red Mages, not caring about what stats or other abilities said units have on them. There was an instance where a Viera White Mage was attacked by a Gladiator (ignoring a weakened Sage nearby), only to miss thanks to the Viera having the Reflex R-Ability. She then promptly dispatched the Gladiator with Last Breath.
* ''Franchise/FireEmblem'':
** Enemy priests not only have the ability to heal the foes from nearly dead back up to perfectly fine, some of them can put the units to sleep. It's best not to ask any random player how many characters he or she has lost because of an enemy healer with a Berserk staff...
** In addition, the enemy AI will always select a unit that can't fight back first, in addition to preferring the unit with the lowest defense. Not only can unpromoted healers not fight, but they're generally the physically weakest units. This means that the enemy will literally attack the medics first in almost all situations.
** In some games, enemy units that are wounded will purposely retreat to be healed by their priest. This is particularly [[NintendoHard frustrating]] in ''Thracia 776''. ''Seisen no Keifu'', because of its unique gameplay, has some armies that surrounding a SquishyWizard wielding a reserve staff, which heals ALL units within ten spaces of it. Great. In ''Path of Radiance'', this also means taking advantage of the heal bushes, but that is more annoying than an actual threat.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/FlightOfTheIntruder'', loosely based on the film of the same name, where the player flew an A-6 Intruder tactical bomber in UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar. The player was penalized 1000 points for hitting the hospital, in a game where achieving the mission objective scored a few hundred.
* The bubble mages in ''VideoGame/{{Flinthook}}'' literally render everyone invulnerable until they are taken care of.
* In ''Videogame/FromTheDepths'', many ships and aircraft carry "Repair Tentacles", devices which can repair allied ships at astonishing speed but cannot repair the craft they are mounted on. Killing an enemy boat being repaired by tentacles requires one to utilize either ''massive'' overkill, or to simply shoot the support craft repairing it. The Twin Guards faction field attack helicopters that carry around their own little repair drone, making them annoyingly difficult to kill.
* ''[[Website/GaiaOnline zOMG!]]'':
** Although the game does not have player classes, it does have a few rings that grant healing abilities (and one of the ring sets is titled Medic). The simple act of using a healing ability once on another player is often enough to draw aggro from the enemies that were previously menacing the patient (or to make new recruits in a boss battle initially target the healer).
** Also, some enemy types can now heal their cohorts, such as Tiny Witch Doctors. Unfortunately, there's no visualization for this besides seeing the HP bar jump back up, so you may need to [[AllThereInTheManual read the updates or the wikis]] to figure out who the medics are.
** Still, the only enemies capable of healing seem to prioritize on healing themselves, which would help a new player find out about their existence. It kinda doesn't, since only three enemies heal others, and one is too fragile to be noticed, and the other two come coupled in swarms of other enemies where people would rather use targetless [=AoE=] attacks.
* ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'': Kantus monks (svelte, high-ranking foes with penchants for funny hats and belts) have the ability to completely heal any Locust grunts within the range of their powerful screams, regardless of how much damage the poor schmucks may have incurred. To make matters worse, Kantus have a nasty habit of cartwheeling around, hurling ink grenades and their screams can immobilise any player characters within range. However, Kantus are not immune to getting a chainsaw through the chest cavity.
* ''VideoGame/GlobalAgenda'', being (actual gameplay-wise) a clone of ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', is starting to invoke this trope less than half a month after release. It goes double if the enemy medic has decided that [[CombatMedic shooting/stabbing you]] is a better use of his time than healing his teammates...
* ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'':
** In the games, the Star Magician would be a very easy fight... if he couldn't summon Refresh Balls to spam healing Psynergy (Earnest Ply in Lost Age, Pure Ply in Dark Dawn, and both heal 1000) whenever necessary or possible. While there are other high-threat balls, guess what dies first if you plan on winning.
** And done in-verse in ''The Lost Age'', when Karst and Agatio plan to trap Mia because she's both [[WhiteMage the party's healer]] and a [[KillItWithWater Water Adept]] ([[ElementalRockPaperScissors they're both Fire Adepts]]).
** Aiming for the medics is also a good plan when dealing with Mars Clan girls, but [[SubvertedTrope for different reasons]]. Menardi and Karst are both [[CombatMedic serious threats]] [[TheRedMage in their own right]], and have access to the OneHitKill attack [[SinisterScythe Death Scythe]].
* In ''VideoGame/GuildWars'', you pretty much have to kill monks and ritualists if you want to kill anybody else. Especially in the smaller (4-man/6-man)arenas. Fort Aspenwood is the worst example, since if there's more than one or two healers the Luxon team '''can't win''' without either being ''very'' good or ''very'' lucky. Even the ''monsters'' get into the act, especially in Hard Mode.
** Averted in ''VideoGame/GuildWars2'', which lacks dedicated healers.
* In ''Videogame/HalfLife2'', the rebel medics are obviously committing war crimes, as they use SMG's and rocket launchers. Of course, the baddies do far worse on a daily basis, so...
** Well, they would be war crimes if the Combine hadn't replaced all forms of government. It's not a crime if the organization that made the law no longer exists.
* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'':
** Engineers don't technically heal units (discounting ''VideoGame/HaloWars'') but give enemies [[DemonicSpiders quadruple shields.]]
** Promethean Watchers [[AirborneMook hover over the battlefield]] restoring the depleted health of Knights, and in ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}'' are even able to bring them BackFromTheDead for a short period after "death". Add their ability to CatchAndReturn thrown grenades [[CombatMedic as well as shoot you themselves]], and it's a very good idea to dispatch them the moment they pop up.
* ''VideoGame/HearthstoneHeroesOfWarcraft'' has the legendary creature Kel'Thuzad. He continuously resurrects every fallen creature at the end of each turn, which is a game changing effect in a CCG. He can very swiftly turn the tides of an otherwise even match into a loss if not dealt with immediately.
* Subverted when fighting the Eutorian patrols in ''VideoGame/IllusionsOfLoyalty''. If the mages are present, they can heal everyone, and by a considerable amount of health. However, that can be dealt with by using Wilder’s Silencer on them, and re-applying it when it’s about to run out. The real priority should still be the other soldiers, as they deal a lot more damage than the mages ever could.
** During the boss battle in the Forest of Woe, all plants can technically support each other and do some healing. Your real priority should be Weeping Blue, however, as it can outright revive the other plants.
** During the battle with Archmage Adam, he ''is'' the medic, who can heal his Minotaur and even re-summon it if killed, as well as occasionally summoning Lesser Painspawn and healing it as well. However, he's also constantly being guarded by the Minotaur, so doing this is difficult. Moreover, while you can use Silencer on him, he'll cure it with the medicine in his pouch on the next turn. Still, that may be preferable to him doing anything else.
* While ''VideoGame/JaggedAlliance 2'' does first aid more or less realistically, the opposing forces aren't going to avoid shooting them, but given that their commander has already committed any number of human rights violations, this makes sense.
** Also, the medics (as ex-military or never-military) tend to be armed and dangerous themselves, with no qualms about shooting the bad guys just before patching the good guys' wounds. This moves them right out of protected status.
*** Kind of expected since any medic you use in the game are, like all your other characters, professional mercenaries who made fame killing people. Some Medics might be famous for saving more than they killed, but for that to be a statement it means they killed a lot too.
* In ''[[VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}} Kagetsu Tohya]]'' Nanaya is getting pissed off because every time Shiki is close to death, such as being a severed head looking at his body, Len resets the day and Shiki is back to normal. Eventually he decides that even if it's breaking 'the rules' Len has to go first. [[spoiler:Fortunately, Kouma Kishima shows up and pulls an EvilerThanThou off.]]
* Anyone using the CombatMedic perk in ''VideoGame/KillingFloor'' can actually attempt to invoke this in the enemy AI. Why on earth would you want to do this? Because a high-level Medic can out-run most [[NotUsingTheZedWord specimens]] while blazing away with [[MoreDakka an SMG]] and tank damage from high-level specimens because their armor (instead of simply reducing damage taken) acts as a second health bar.
* In ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'':
** Green Requiems can't attack you. They just act as a healer to other Heartless and try to stay out of your reach.
** If you let Crescendos run around, they heal everything to max health, but in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', if you use a Reaction Command at the right time, they will drop HP orbs. Not very helpful if there are more than one of these little buggers and you can't hit them all at once, i.e. Chicken Little.
* The final boss fight of ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' brings us [[ShootTheMedicFirst Kill Those Captured Jedi That Malak Uses As First Aid Kits First.]]
* Support champions in ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' are often the first casualties in a teamfight. They tend to fall into 2 categories: healers or shielders (such as Sona, Lulu and Janna) that can make it much harder to remove the damage dealers and are usually the least-tanky champions on their team (due to getting a much-lower budget than other champions and usually being lower-level); and tanky initiators (like Leona or Alistar) who are the ones who go in for their team first to start the fight and draw a lot of fire (and unlike toplane or jungle initiators, it's often a suicide mission for them since, despite being inherently tanky, they again have a lower item budget and average level).
** The preeminent example in the game is Soraka, the Starchild, the only champion in the game explicitly designated as [[TheMedic the dedicated healer]] (an archetype Riot Games consider highly unhealthy for MOBA games). Almost her ''entire'' kit is based around keeping her teammates alive, with a powerful, incredibly short-cooldown heal skill that allows her to top her teammates up to full health from practically nothing in a matter of seconds, but costs her 10% of her ''own'' maximum health per cast and [[TheCobblersChildrenHaveNoShoes cannot be cast on herself]]. One of Soraka's teammates is almost unkillable as long as Soraka stands by them, spamming Astral Infusion every few seconds, but as soon as the enemy turns their focus onto her she's likely to die instantly, especially if she's been industriously spending her own HP healing others. Soraka is often the ''lynchpin'' of her team's strategy, [[KeystoneArmy making them almost indestructible as long as she lives but prone to folding like damp cardboard as soon as the enemy gets to her]].
* If you're playing ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' in VS mode and you're the one who protects everyone or heals others (or if you are just that good of a player), you can bet your life that the infected players will all target you.
** Although this is usually less because the "medic" is a threat (since the main goal of Infected teams is to simply separate & then constrict the individual survivors until they become "downed", and not necessarily to kill them), and more because a "medic" survivor and his "patient" will both have to stand completely still while the health pack is being used. And if there's a Spitter and/or a Jockey/Charger nearby ...
* The AI in ''VideoGame/LordOfTheRingsOnline'' may do this; healing generates ''massive'' amounts of aggro, and the damage-dealing classes may have trouble getting it back (the classes with a build available specifically designed for tanking have special abilities they can use that trump even healing, but if those skills are on cooldown, your Mini is probably going to die).
* ''VideoGame/LostOdyssey'' starts off by showing us what happens when healing magic is applied ''en masse'' to an entire army. The bad guys are cutting down the good guys, but then the good guys keep getting healed back to full effectiveness right in front of them. The bad guys would have had to target the healing mage tower to have any hope of winning this war of attrition, had a giant meteor not fallen on everything.
* ''[[VideoGame/LunarTheSilverStar Lunar: Silver Star Harmony]]'': Ghaleon is actually a bit of ArtificialBrilliance; because he won't just randomly attack, he'll try to go for Jessica first since she's the main healer.
* Simultaneously both more difficult and ''unintentionally'' common in ''VideoGame/{{MAG}}'', since the only indication of being a medic is the healing device when wielded, whereas the ability to heal or revive is available as early as level 3 (the minimum to buy the Medi-Kit and/or to spec one's skill points into the revive branch), and performing revives is the fastest way to level up -- so in practice, almost ''everyone'' is a medic.
* ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'':
** Cerberus [[TheEngineer Combat Engineers]] can set up [[TheTurretMaster gun turret tripods]], repair the tripods' shields, and also repair [[MiniMecha Atlas]] walkers. They are high priority targets, especially in the moments before they remove the folded up turret off their back.
** The new wave of Reaper minions include Marauders, Reaper-fied turians who can buff their fellow husks. The in-game codex states that Alliance marines have standing orders to take them out first.
* In ''VideoGame/MasterOfTheWind'', [[spoiler: Ariel]] attacks the dungeon fairy attempting to give the heroes an option to heal and save during their fight. [[spoiler:The Fairy survived, and was given an honorable delicacy for this.]]
* While ''[[Videogame/MechWarrior MechWarrior Living Legends]]'' lacks in-field HumongousMecha repair, taking out enemy scouts is equally vital. The 'Raven' light mech carries some of the most advanced sensors know to man and can sniff out enemies from afar and relay that data to its allies. A number of Raven variants carry TargetSpotter gear such as the TAG laser or NARC missile beacon, allowing them to slap one on an enemy mech and run for cover as Arrow IV cruise missiles rain down. Eliminating Ravens and other scouts like the 'Hephaestus' HoverTank is even more vital if the enemy has a Long Tom artillery tank, which can [[OneHitKill smite enemies]] from beyond visual range but is utterly dependent on sensor data from allied scouts. On the other side, there's a number of mechs and vehicles that mount twin laser anti-missile systems that allow them to completely shut down enemy missile fire, making them priority targets for brawlers and snipers.
* Played straight in ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonorPacificAssault''. The player has to shoot the Japanese medics, only because they fire Nambu pistols at you. Your own corpsman is armed with a .45 pistol, and he tends to get shot as well. An example of truth in television (see below).
* Averting this has its reward in ''VideoGame/MegaManXCommandMission'', as leaving a Preon Medic or Preon Doc alive after all other enemies are gone nets you a 25% heal and them running away. That doesn't stop you from [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness killing them before they run]], though.
* Many enemies in ''VideoGame/MightAndMagic'' series, especially in games 6-8, will attack the cleric first.
* In the battle against the Ender Dragon in the "end" of ''Videogame/{{Minecraft}}'', it's more like Kill The Crystals That Are Healing The Dragon First...which is made harder by their annoying tendency to explode when destroyed. Oh, and did we mention that the dragon is effictively unbeatable unless every crystal is gone? And the fact that they're atop ~40-block-high obsidian towers?
* Averted in the ''VideoGame/{{MOTHER}}'' series: enemies that can fully restore other enemies' HP tend to explode when destroyed, dealing heavy damage to the party. It's usually recommended that you kill the medics ''last''.
* One of the later battles in the original ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'' had this as the ''only'' way to win - the enemies had a medic capable of performing an infinite number of resurrections, and while you may be able to resist their blows, you'll never progress to the end of the game unless you Disintegrate him, shoot him, or otherwise remove him from the equation. [[ArtificialStupidity Frustratingly]], one of your allies - Linu - can serve as a light Medic for ''the enemy'' by casting Harm on undead, [[ReviveKillsZombie which heals them]]...but it is a [[GameBreaker very easy way]] to take down [[spoiler: Aribeth]].
* In ''VideoGame/OgreBattle'', killing healers first tends to be bad for your units alignment. (This same factor is also applied to other "good" aligned units, such as Paladins.) Played straight with evil units, who get bonuses from losing alignment like that...
* Several bosses and mid-bosses in ''VideoGame/{{Opoona}}'' are flanked by healing enemies during their boss fights; in particular, the early-game Figureformer. They're especially important to take out first because all fights, including boss fights, are ''timed.'' If you don't defeat the big boss quickly, you'll automatically lose due to the ticking time limit.
* ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'': Supports that can heal is usually high on the kill-list as they have Ultimates that can give a great health/shield boon to the teams surrounding them. Nothing more frustrating than just succeeding to a semi-Team Kill, only for Mercy to pop in and '''[[MassResurrection HEROES NEVER DIE]]'''. There goes your hard work.
** There's a saying that pops up occasionally in Overwatch discussions: "you can kill Mercy first, or you can kill her 11th"[[labelnote:Explanation]]Teams have 6 players so if you kill everyone but Mercy and then she rezzes them you end up having to get 11 kills.[[/labelnote]]
** Mercy has since been reworked, changing her rez to a single-target rez with a thirty second cooldown (the longest in the game for non-ultimates). Her new ultimate, Valkyrie, resets the cooldown on her rez as well as shortening it, ''and'' gives her free-range, unlimited flight and the ability to chain healing/damage boost (although, at the time of writing (October 2017) these abilities are being fine-tuned on the PTR). All that said, it's still incredibly wise to kill Mercy first, if you can: her single-target rez means that taking out an anchor tank like Reinhardt or Orisa or a high-DPS hero like Bastion or Pharah can easily be undone; thus, killing Mercy is just as good an idea as ever.
** Mercy's Valkyrie went under several nerfs after that. It went from the earlier description to not shortening it's cooldown anymore, instead giving Mercy a "bonus" charge of rez during her ultimate's time, then adding a casting time of 1.75 second when she wasn't using her ultimate. As of April 2018, her ultimate and rez ability have no connexion whatsoever anymore : the cooldown is locked to thirty seconds, isn't reseted nor does it gain a bonus charge when under ult and the casting time is applied regardless Mercy's ulting or not.
** Aside from Mercy, it's wise to take out the support(s) first in a team fight: Lucio's ultimate provides a large, quickly draining health boost to his allies, Zenyatta's an incredible amount of healing within a fairly wide radius around him, Ana's can power up another hero's abilities, Moira's can unleash a beam attack that massively heals her allies and damages her enemies, and Brigitte's can give a massive armor boost to her allies.
* Alastor in ''VideoGame/{{Painkiller}}'' is supported by the healing statues, which should be destroyed before dealing with him.
* Support champions in ''VideoGame/{{Paladins}}'' are the backbone of a team, keeping their allies healthy in the heat of battle. Naturally, they are top priority to be taken out. They can also have their healing diminished by purchasing the Cauterize item during a match, which makes attacks reduce enemy healing for a short duration.
* One boss in ''VideoGame/ParasiteEve'' has 3 targets on its body and one of them acts as a medic, healing itself or the other targets. While this "medic" doesn't heal as fast as the others in the above examples, it can be troublesome if players hadn't leveled up Aya properly or power up her guns.
* Day 6 of the Hoxtons Housewarming Party for ''VideoGame/Payday2'' introduced the "Medic" special enemy who can heal '''any''' unit that happens to be close to him from near-death with a 2 second cooldown per "patient". Despite being a special unit, he appears the most frequently among the special units. As a result, he switches up the "enemies to kill" list a bit, with Medics being the highest priority to take out, moreso than Tasers, Cloakers and Bulldozers!
* ''VideoGame/Persona3'':
** Frequently a viable strategy, especially against the bosses who come with minions. On the flip side, if all four of your party members can heal...
** During the Strength-Chariot Full Moon Boss, this trope is subverted as both of the bosses can revive the other one if one of them is beaten. The trick is to kill both of them at the same turn, or that your killing blow will "Shoot Both Medics".
** In ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'', enemies often come in groups consisting of one or more strong enemies mixed with weaker monsters. The weak ones will buff the strong ones, and the strong ones will then deliver a world of pain on your party. Taking out the weak ones first is therefore often the smarter move.
** Depending on which version you play, this also works for the enemy. The protagonist aside, your party has access to two dedicated healers: Yukiko and Teddie, who both have access to team heals and status removal spells.
*** In the original version of the game, they also happen to be the only ones whose persona doesn't lose their weakness when it ascends, gaining a second resistance instead. This means they're the only ones who can easily get the "downed" status (during which they take additional damage and risking the dizzy status, which makes them skip their next turn), a weak spot bosses are more than happy to abuse.
*** ''[[UpdatedReRelease Persona 4: Golden]]'' averts this, as every party member's persona retains its weakness in order to compensate for the various new (and sometimes powerful) skills ''Golden'' added.
* The Medic in ''VideoGame/QuakeII'' can also resurrect non-gibbed enemies. At least he doesn't have magic fire powers...
* In ''VideoGame/RagnarokOnline'', anything but an dangerously zealous effort to take down a high-level [[TheMedic priest]] will likely not succeed. Many would go so far as to say that the priest is the ''real'' tank of the game....
** Given paladins and their strong role on defense, they somewhat fit in this category despite their armor. Not only can they literally tank, they make for decent (if far less effective than high priests) healers AND can link with allies to reduce damage taken. They are also one of the few classes that can naturally (i.e. without great gear) survive one hit kills, have strong [=AoE=], and can hilariously kill other players by simply standing there and allowing their opponents to die from the reflected damage simply because they have far more health than pretty much any other class. Paladins may not be able to out heal damage as well as a priest, but potion spamming in this game pretty much makes them invincible against anything but massive team effort.
* In ''VideoGame/RingOfRed'', eliminating a Medic squad will drop a unit's ability to heal its infantry escort.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Robopon}}'', this is a hard and fast rule of the second game for ranked battles. If a healer has the Revive+ spell, battles can turn into very long, very tedious battles of attrition. Rule of thumb: If it looks female and/or cute, kill it. No exceptions.
* In the ''VideoGame/RuneScape'' mini-game Pest Control, players try to destroy portals to another dimension that the Void creatures are coming from, and protect the Void Knight in a fortress. Said portals are healed by Spinners, and it's pretty hard to take one down without first killing the Spinners, [[WhatAnIdiot not that many people don't try to kill the portal first anyway.]] The Spinners aren't very tough, but they're often defended by Brawlers and, like everything else, can be spawned infinitely.
** Also in ''[=RuneScape=]'' is the a specific combat room in the Dungeoneering skill, where players must kill four exiled summoning creatures to pass through. Any experienced team will ignore the warrior, ranger and mage at first in order to wipe out the healer.
** In the Monastary of Ascension dungeon, the Capsarius monster can rapidly heal other Ascended to full, as well as deploying a forcefield that reduces all incoming attacks to ScratchDamage at best. She cannot use these abilities on herself.
* The first rule of engagement in ''VideoGame/{{Ryzom}}''[='=]s Player-versus-Player scene: '''Casters are a primary target.''' Merely killing the healers isn't enough as due to the game being classless, Casters that were originally focusing on DPS magic can switch to healing in a snap and revive their downed teammates, thus meaning that your problem is no less smaller than it was before. Killing the casters means that players originally working as Tanks and support gunners have to switch to healing magic, and by the time they can start healing it's more than likely that you've already killed them.
* In ''VideoGame/SDGundamCapsuleFighter'', there's a collection of Mobile Suits who are specialized in healing. Usually classified with the "Repair" tag on their name, they're the same suit as usual, but with an added Repair weapon. This goes into annoying levels in the mission "Destroy the [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamThe08thMSTeam Apsalus II]]", where there are two [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Acguy]] Repairs who will heal the Apsalus II to full health if you don't kill them. Oh, and they have Lock-On Jammer, meaning you have to MANUALLY target them after a certain HP percentage.
* ''VideoGame/SeikenDensetsu3'':
** [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] with Potos. They will only cast Heal Light on the entire enemy party when ''their own'' HP gets low. Thus, it makes sense to target the Potos last.
** But played straight with [[spoiler:the God Beast of Darkness, Zable Fahr. Once you kill the two heads, a third head comes out, heals the other two, and then they attack hard. Suddenly those other two heads don't matter anymore, you go for the new one that has the capacity to revive them...]]
* The biomechanical Larva in ''VideoGame/SeriousSamTheSecondEncounter'' is constantly healed by the several generators placed around the room.
* In the original ''VideoGame/ShiningForce'', enemy priority 1A is StraightForTheCommander as his death is an instant loss for the player, and if he is out of reach, ShootTheMageFirst. The GBA remake downgraded the Mage step, making ShootTheMedicFirst the second priority.
* If you ever find yourself playing ''VideoGame/ShirenTheWanderer'', it is quite important that you kill any Fluffy Bunnies that are in the general area.
* The enemy AI distributes their attacks pretty evenly in ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'', but most of the bosses target [[MysteriousWaif Fina]], the party's SquishyWizard, first (her stats are lower than the others', learns all magic types quickly, and three of her special moves revolve around healing and regeneration, with the last one being able to revive ''all of your other party members''). [[LightningBruiser Vyse]] is usually the other target for bosses (if you level him and buff him properly, his power can exceed [[MightyGlacier Drachma's]]).
** Making it even clearer the designers knew all about this strategy, one of the bonus bosses in ''[[VideoGameRemake Legends]]'' punishes the player who dares to try this. [[spoiler: When fighting Rupee and Barta, not only does attacking Rupee first make Barta start spamming his super move, it gives ''Rupee'' a super move where he goes berserk and throws his bodyguard into a party member. Not bad for a little guy who doesn't even want to be a pirate!]]
* ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'', the damn healer things in the Night Stages. They can heal anything and everything but itself. Normally, this isn't so bad, but in the DLC stages where there can be millions of enemies in a compact area...
* In ''VideoGame/SoreLosers'', Rebels have the Rebel Medics, who heal their allies with First Aid. Ferusian military instead uses Medical and Repair Droids to aid human soldiers and other droids, respectively. All of these are primary targets for your party, since they can cancel out a turn’s worth of damage with a single heal.
* In ''VideoGame/SpiralKnights'', there are two types of healers, Silkwings and Goblin Menders. Silkwings have to hug their heal targets and have an AOE heal on death, but separating them makes them easy to deal with. Menders, on the other hand, are absolute pains in the neck to deal with. They can heal at a range, faster you can do damage. They have AOE shield and heal abilities. And on Tier 3, they can raise their allies from the dead. Kill the menders FIRST.
** The only issue is when Silkwings are surrounded by a mob of enemies. Hitting any enemy BUT the Silkwing will cause it to change position to heal the creature you just injured. This can be a problem if you're in the higher tiers, since you have to keep moving to avoid losing health. Oh, and while you're moving, so is the mob; and the Silkwings tend to stick themselves RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE. [[SarcasmMode Have fun.]]
* ''VideoGame/StarCraft'':
** In ''Videogame/{{Starcraft}}: Brood War'', it's advantageous to take out the medics first when fighting against Terran marines. When fighting against troops in Bunkers, [=SCVs=] become quite annoying, since they can repair during the fight. Unfortunately, the AI ''does'' shoot the [=SCVs=] (though not usually medics).
** On the other hand, the Zerg AI partially averts this, as the Terran Medics prove to be surprisingly high-priority targets for special powers, such as the Queen's SpawnBroodling ability, which kills them outright. [[ChestBurster And how]].
** In ''Videogame/StarCraftII'' units have different priority settings as part of their unit data, which determines how big of a target that unit is when the enemy attacks. Though it might take a few seconds you'll find in most battles now the enemies go for the Medics first thing.
*** In Multiplayer, killing Terran Medicvacs not only denies the Marines, Hellbats, and Mauraders healing, it also denies them their transportation, making it much easier to clean them up.
* ''VideoGame/StarWarsGalaxies'' qualifies even more than most games. Pre-CU, the Combat Medic was one of the most [[GameBreaker broken]] classes in the game, as not only were they the only class (out of three healing classes) that could cast area-heals, they also were capable of laying down poisons and diseases on their enemies, which were typically virulent enough to render an enemy PC incapable of acting in combat until they found a Doctor capable of healing their wounds.
** Likewise, in ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'', the best way to deal with Griefers is to make sure you kill the healing companion they're using first, ''then'' kill the griefer. Creator/BioWare tried a workaround where you can't being companions into PvP areas.
** It also applied in reverse during dungeon raids. Take, for example, the Deathwatch Bunker which was, up until the NGE, the hardest dungeon in the game. Part of the challenge was in the fact that one of the players in your party had to be a non-combatant crafter so you could use the forge at the end of the dungeon to make a piece of Mandalorian armour as a reward. You would think this fragile little non-com would be your most valuable member who had to be protected at all costs. However, every single guide published on the matter specifically stated that your crafter was second in priority to any Doctors you brought along, as they were the only professions capable of resurrecting dead characters.
** One boss fight in ''VideoGame/JediAcademy'' has the lightsaber-wielding boss accompanied by a pair of Force users whose primary role is to heal said boss. The fight is in fact {{Unwinnable}} unless the two healers are taken out first.
* One of the enemy types you encounter in ''VideoGame/StoriesPathOfDestinies'' is an ethereal blue Raven sorcerer who casts magic to empower his allies rather than fight you directly. Kill that one quickly, or you're going to have a MUCH harder time with the rest of them.
* ''VideoGame/{{Suikoden}}'':
** For a straight example, see the Golden Hydra final boss of ''VideoGame/SuikodenI''. It has three heads. The first two heads deal damage. The third head can't attack, and instead heals and revives the other two heads. Guess which head dies first?
** Also, in ''VideoGame/SuikodenII'', the FinalBoss looks like a giant wolf with two heads. It has four attackable areas. Both heads and two legs. Throughout the whole battle, one of the legs will not do ANYTHING AT ALL, while the heads attack with physical and magic damage and the other leg deals out [[StandardStatusEffects debuffs]]. That is, until you have almost beaten the boss, and the passive leg will revive the other parts and heal them. Unless you have a godly party, the only thing you can do is reset and Kill The Medic First.
** ''VideoGame/SuikodenIII'' has the [[spoiler:Luc]]'s [[OneWingedAngel Wind Phoenix form]] with the [[ElementalPowers Elemental Orbs]] around it as the FinalBoss. The [[DishingOutDirt Earth Rincar]] summons an [[AreaOfEffect area-wide]] ForceField to negate magical damage while the [[MakingASplash Water Rincar]] heals the Wind Phoenix ''and its orbs'', so you better take out these things first before the Wind Rincar can [[TotalPartyKill rip your party apart]].
* In ''VisualNovel/{{Sunrider}}'', PACT Support [[AMechByAnyOtherName Ryders]] are a mix of this trope and ShootTheMageFirst. In addition to healing their allies and curing them of status debuffs, they can also inflict those same status debuffs on you, such as stripping away your DeflectorShields to leave you vulnerable to lasers or [[PointDefenseless shutting off your flak so you can’t shoot down incoming missiles]]. And they are aware of their SquishyWizard status, as not only will PACT Supports hang out at the back of enemy formations where they’re safely beyond the range of your kinetic weapons but they also have strong shields to prevent you from sniping them with lasers.
* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'': The ideal strategy for fighting the Axem Rangers in VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG is to take down Axem Pink first. She can heal, which pretty much sells her position as first to go down. The Strategy Guide even suggests this.
** White Magikoopas in the first two ''VideoGame/PaperMario''s. Yes, there are other kinds that raise Defense and Attack and make their allies intangible and imbue them with electricity, but go after these guys first.
** The first one also had Medi Guys, which are Shy Guys in little while flying vehicles with [[UsefulNotes/TheRedCross a red cross]] on the front. Like pretty much any enemy-healing unit in video games, they should be priority.
** Also the battle against Bowser and Kammy near the end of ''Thousand-Year Door'', where the only real sane route (provided you're not using one of the game's many GameBreaker strategies) is to throw everything you've got at Kammy and then worry about the much stronger, more durable Bowser.
** [[spoiler: Fawful]] in ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory''. The boss has a jetpack [[SwissArmyWeapon that also acts as a grapple hook, a ranged weapon, and a healing unit.]] So no matter how much damage you do to him, his jetpack will put him back to maxium health. [[spoiler: You need to swallow the jetpack and have Mario and Luigi destroy it before you can defeat him.]]
** The final battle of ''New Super Mario Bros'', against both Bowser and Bowser Jr, kind of fits in here. If you attempt to defeat Bowser first, Bowser Jr will automatically revive him. Gotta beat the little guy first or you'll get absolutely nowhere.
* If you played the PSP version of ''VideoGame/TacticsOgre'', you'll find that the more advanced AI actually includes this trope into their tricks instead of "Surround and beat the player".
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfGraces'' has this, and it makes the FlunkyBoss and WolfPackBoss fights a pain. AI will almost ''never'' have all the enemies gang up on one target, so they instead all divide and conquer... and they love to go ''right'' for Sophie and Cheria.
* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'':
** A Medic can hide behind a Heavy Weapons Guy and heal him continuously. For this reason, Medics tend to have very short lifespans when ''not'' hiding behind a Heavy. The main part of Medic strategy is using all the time you're not spending shooting other enemies to dodge and hide.
*** The description for one of the Medic hats lampshades the illegality of this trope, and helpfully advises you to inform your killer of his crime the next time you get shot.
---> It's a conversation starter!
** Medics also have the powerful siege-breaking Ubercharge ability, making them an even more important target.
** Because of the Ubercharge, Pyros are also popular "medic buddies." Soldiers and Demomen are best friends with a Medic equipped with the Kritzkrieg due to the devastating power of a [[CriticalHit crit-boosted]] explosive weapon.
** An Engineer lugging his toolbox, indicating that he's about to deploy something (typically a level three sentry), will find himself the target of every enemy in the area.
** In Mann Vs Machine, this trope is ''built-in'' to the AI of the attacking robots!
** This is true of Engineers in general, being, well, TheEngineer, capable of deploying turret guns, teleporters, and health and ammo stations. That last building in particular is seen as a priority target since it can heal enemies and refill their weapons, extending the team's stamina, and so some people will Shoot The Dispenser First. It doesn't help that the Engineer is one of the squishiest classes in the game. Engineers with Gunslingers are even higher on the "to kill" list, because if left unchecked they can poop out sentries at an insane rate. Combined with the Frontier Justice and a lone Revengineer can lock down an entire area by himself.
* Doctors in ''VideoGame/TownOfSalem'' can keep themselves alive one night and other people alive every other night. This makes them a high-priority target for the Serial Killer and the Mafia, who are both trying to clear the Townies out.
* In ''VideoGame/TzarTheBurdenOfTheCrown'', priests can both heal and buff the allied units, and the Asian priests can fight back pretty well too, making them a real priority.
* A particularly disturbing example in ''VideoGame/{{Unworthy}}'', since the "medics" are Mothers of the game's ReligionOfEvil, and who are pregnant robed women that do not attack you on their own. [[spoiler: however, it appears that they are pregnant with shadow creatures, who can be let loose on you if they stab themselves instead of fighting further.]]
* In ''VideoGame/UrbanDead'', while there isn't an explicit Medic class[[note]]There is an actual Medic class in the game, but its initial skills make it so difficult to gain XP (which is notoriously hard in the game already) most players give up on the class before they reach level 2.[[/note]] to attack, zombie groups will tend to target [=NecroTech=] buildings because these are the only buildings capable of producing [[ReviveKillsZombie revivification syringes]], which can return almost any character (particularly dead defenders) to life.
* ''VideoGame/WarcraftII'' was particularly unfair with this. The only healing unit in the game was the Human-side Paladin, which is an upgrade of the Knight and hence a frontline combat unit that's hard to pick off. Furthermore, because ComputersAreFast, it was notoriously much easier for the AI to rapidly use several Paladins' healing spells on each other in a fight.
* In ''Videogame/{{Warcraft}} 3'', a number of units are capable of casting healing spells. The ones to really watch out for however, are the heroes that possess healing abilities, most notably the Paladin, Death Knight and Shadow Hunter. Allowing any of these to use their abilities makes dealing any damage to the enemy army extremely difficult, making these guys a high priority target. The fact that the Death Knight and Paladin can't heal themselves is yet another reason to go after them first. Of course, both the Paladin and Death Knight are fairly durable Strength heroes that can end up being some of the tankiest units on their side, and both have abilities that make going after them even less fruitful, the Paladin having up to 45 seconds of invincibility and Death Knight being able to consume his troops to heal himself for 3 times said troop's hp, meaning you'd have been better off just killing the Mook.
* In ''VideoGame/WarhammerOnline'' this is pretty much the basic of any tactics.
* ''VideoGame/{{Wolfenstein 2009}}'' has Scribes, who can project impenetrable shields over nearby soldiers, as well as Elite Guards, who can resurrect dead soldiers as Despoiled creatures. Needless to say, both classes of enemy are priority targets in a firefight.
** In ''VideoGame/ReturnToCastleWolfenstein'' and its standalone expansion ''Enemy Territory'', the Medic class is by far one of the most dangerous classes. Not only can they instantly revive downed teammates, but as long as they have ammo, they can turn themselves into a literal OneManArmy.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/WorldInConflict'', as most units die rather quickly when hit by their hard counters, so repair vehicles often aren't much good until after a battle is over. Repair vehicles also are only able to do their healing at point-blank range, so that usually means they're not much good in a fight, and so you're generally better off directing your firepower at the enemy's combat units instead.
* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'':
** Prevalent enough that the term "pvp tank" refers predominantly to healers, especially Priests.
*** Part of the main advantage of Paladins is ShootTheMedicFirst doesn't work when shooting the medic means the big guy with the big sword he's healing stops, and starts healing the medic instead. As most healers have some ways to get out of trouble, this leads to a somewhat problematic situation of "Whoever you aren't shooting becomes a medic" even if said medic is inferior to an actual one. While less notable, Priests, Druids, Monks, and Shamans can also pull it off to a lesser extent.
*** Healing Paladins are also [[StoneWall ''very'' tough to kill]]
** Highlighted in the Faction Champions encounter of the "Trial of the Crusader" raid dungeon, when the players have to take on several members of the opposing faction in psuedo-PVP, Arena-style combat with some of the PVP mechanics — making the opposing faction's healers the priority target.
** Similar to the Faction Champions is the Illidari Council fight in Black Temple. While you couldn't "kill her first" (the four [=NPCs=] share a single health pool), Lady Malande was more than capable of healing her group through most attacks unless you assigned specific roles to players to knock out her healing spells before she could cast them.
** Lampshaded in-game. Lord Victor Nefarious is infamous for his quotes when his {{mooks}} are not doing a good job against the players: "Foolsss...Kill [[WhiteMagicianGirl the one in the dress]]!" and "Concentrate your attacks upon the healer!" Of course, by the time you engage him in combat, he has conveniently forgotten that little piece of advice. He has other ways to mess with the healers, though.
*** Hilariously enough, if your tank is a paladin, s/he could be the only one in a Robe rendering his advice pointless.
** Come ''Warlords of Draenor'', it's [[spoiler:Dragonmaw Warlord Zaela]] who rips off the "''one in the dress''" line early into the encounter with [[spoiler:Dragonmaw orcs and beasts before Commander Tharbek takes the field in the [=WoD=] version of Upper Blackrock Spire]].
** Subverted by the princess of Ironforge in Blackrock Depths. She would run around harassing your healer, and healing the crap out of Thaurissan. If you touched her at all — damage, crowd control, stuns, mana burn, anything — she wouldn't flag friendly after Thaurissan died and you [[{{Unwinnable}} couldn't complete the quest]] — both her father Magni (questgiver for Alliance players) and Thrall (questgiver for Horde players) didn't want any harm to come to her. [[note]]And then sometimes she wouldn't flag friendly anyway, but that's [[GameBreakingBug something different]].[[/note]] So you had to just let her run around and try to [[MoreDakka burn the boss]] faster than she could heal him.
** Monsters actually do follow this to an extent. Healing generates threat towards all monsters in the area, whereas damage only generates threat towards the monster it hits. So if there's an unoccupied group of monsters around, they will ignore the tank and damage dealers and head straight for the healer. However it also doesn't take much to get them to forget about that and start trying to kill the one wearing more metal plates than an armoury.
** This happened accidentally in the early days of the ''Burning Crusade'' expansion. Kael'thas Sunstrider, the final boss of the Tempest Keep raid, was a [[MarathonBoss 5-phase fight]]. For the first 3 phases he'd have mooks attack you, and would finally join the fight himself in the 4th phase. However, due to a coding bug, he'd accumulate healing threat during the first 3 phases, so when the raid group finally got to phase 4 he'd have accumulated so much healing threat that he'd attack the healers and only the healers. It made the fight [[UnwinnableByMistake unwinnable]], but it was an amusing bug.
** Some boss encounters have mechanics that target players based on their role. There are some cases in which healers are almost never targeted (such as the Sha of Pride's Imprison), but others in which healers, due to being considered "ranged" players, might be very likely to be targeted.
* ''Videogame/XCom''
** ''Videogame/XCOMEnemyUnknown'' has two examples.
*** Drones are weak, but have the power to repair damaged mechanical enemies (such as the Cyberdisc and [[BossInMooksClothing Sectopod]])[[note]]even more aggravating in ''[[ExpansionPack Enemy Within]]'', where their repairs don't account for the Sectopod's new [[DamageReduction Reinforced Armor]], so the 3 HP repaired counts as 6[[/note]], and are often deployed in teams with such units; also, unlike the robots they accompany, in Terror Site missions the Drones will gun straight for civilians. You can shoot them down (with a little bit of difficulty because of their innate defense and flight-derivative defensive bonus), and indeed a Colonel Sniper with "In The Zone" and a laser or plasma rifle should be able to wipe out clusters of Drones in a single turn. Alternatively, you can neutralize a Drone by {{Hack|YourEnemy}}ing it with a properly upgraded [[StaticStunGun Arc Thrower]], and it'll stay on your side for the whole mission, and even repair your [[AttackDrone S.H.I.V.s]] and [[{{Cyborg}} MEC Troopers]] once per turn.
*** EXALT Medics in the ''Enemy Within'' expansion are a subversion. They can not only heal other EXALT troops and themselves (up to 3 times) but also deploy smoke grenades to provide concealment, and Elites have "Regen Pheromones" that heal themselves and nearby allies for 1 health every turn ''and'' have Dense Smoke to double the defense bonus; on the other hand, they have [[ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy HORRENDOUS aim]], and any ScratchDamage [[ArtificialStupidity will make them waste a Medikit charge on themselves]]. Meanwhile, the Operatives have a cover-busting grenade and better aim (and the Elite has Adrenaline Surge that increases aim by 10 with every hit taken), and the Heavies have both a grenade and a rocket launcher that ''isn't'' disabled by hacking a comm relay. If anything, with EXALT, it's "[[InvertedTrope Shoot The Medic LAST]]".
* In ''VideoGame/{{XCOM 2}}'', you should target ADVENT Shieldbearers first to bring down the DeflectorShields they will grant their allies. [[HeavilyArmoredMook Shred their armor first, though]].
[[/folder]]

** The Americans and British and Germans, in regards to each other, did not deliberately target enemy medics...but Germany and Russia[[note]]Who also did not sign the Geneva Conventions[[/note]] did not honor these rules in their battles and the fighting, in general, was a lot more vicious.
* Erwin Rommel, Nazi Germany's famed "Desert Fox," once exploded at an Italian naval official who proudly told him that the navy had sneaked a load of gasoline across the Mediterranean by hiding it in a hospital ship. Rommel was pissed because he had been trying to convince his British enemies to stop bombing those hospital ships.

** ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'' features the Hyperion surveyor, a flying autonomous AttackDrone that doubles as an impromptu medic to Hyperion units. It can repair damaged loaders (including the tough and dangerous [[EliteMook Badass Loader or War Loader]]) or grant shields to unshielded units. Worse, Constructors like to digistruct the little buggers. They tend to be priority targets due to both their darty, flighty movement patterns and the fact that they don't take a lot of damage to bring down (at first).

* Drones in ''Videogame/XComEnemyUnknown'' are weak, but have the power to repair damaged mechanical enemies (such as the Cyberdisc and [[BossInMooksClothing Sectopod]]), and are often deployed in teams with such units. Shooting them down as soon as you encounter them is generally the best course of action, especially for "in the zone" snipers who often get a 100% chance to kill all of them in the same turn.
** EXALT medics in the ''Enemy Within'' expansion can not only heal other EXALT troops but also deploy smoke grenades to provide concealment. But to "shoot the heavy first" is also a concern, because hacking EXALT communications only jams regular guns and not their rocket launcher.
** In ''VideoGame/{{XCOM 2}}'' you should target ADVENT Shieldbearers first to bring down the DeflectorShields they will grant their allies. There are also a number of enemies that can [[MookMaker create zombies]], mind control your troops, and so on; killing them will end the effect, making that a top priority.

* More often than not, Princess Amelia from ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'' usually winds up as the first target when the main party faces a major foe (if not her, heavy-hitting magic user Lina is the first target). Amelia is a [[BarefistedMonk monk]] variant of a MagicKnight, but when Sylphiel, who is more this trope (and downright horrible with offensive magic), is not with them, she serves as the group's healer.
* In the ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' manga Doctor Marcoh uses a Philosopher's Stone to heal an incapacitated ally mid-battle. When Pride figures out what's happening he starts attacking Marcoh instead of his more dangerous and battle-ready opponents Alphonse and Heinkel.
* In ''[[Manga/DragonBall Dragon Ball Z]]'', during the battle against Freeza, the fighters exploit Dende's healing ability by having him covertly heal an injured fighter. So what does Frieza do when he first spots this while transforming into [[OneWingedAngel his final form]]? He promptly kills the little Namekian. It worked to his advantage too, because Gohan and Vegeta, being Saiyans, receive a power-up after recovering from serious injuries (an ability referred to as ''zenkai'' by fans). Them acting as a tag team could convert the battle into one of attrition: one gets beat up and then the other keeps Frieza busy while Dende heals the downed Saiyan to boost them, and then they switch. Repeat until it makes one or both of them stronger than Freeza.

* In ''Manga/PokemonSpecial'', one of the first things Sird does when she comes up against Yellow and Red is manipulate Yellow into using her powers vainly, knowing that she'd have a much better chance at victory if Yellow (who is capable of both SuperEmpowering and HealingHands) is unconscious.
* In ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', the Vandenreich member [[spoiler:Mask De Masculine has the Sobriquet "The Superstar", which means he [[HeroicSecondWind Hulks Out]], becoming much stronger and healing from all damage, when he's cheered and applauded. His {{Sidekick}} named "James" has to be taken out first for this very reason, although that information came too late for five shinigami opponents. Unfortunately for the heroes, this is easier said than done, as James can regenerate from almost anything, even being chopped to pieces.]]
* In ''LightNovel/{{High School DxD}}'', the enemy aims for [[TheMedic Asia]] the first chance they get, and the heroes know it and take measures to make sure she's protected.
* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', Brook's original crew, the Rumbar Pirates, perished after being fatally poisoned because their doctor was killed during the battle.
** It's fair to note RidiculouslyCuteCritter (and doctor) Chopper is usually the first crew mate to be taken out leaving the the crew without medical care. When Chopper is cut down in the Skypeia arc MasterSwordsmen Zoro lets out some TranquilFury on the guy who did it.
** In the overlong battle of Dressrosa, little dwarf princess Mansherry (more like a fairy) has SwissArmyTears which the villains plan to uses on their fallen comrades. While the heroes target Mansherry they rescue her instead hurting her somewhat inverting this trope.
* In ''LightNovel/GrimgarOfFantasyAndAsh'', the [[WhiteMage priests]] are often targeted in battle. Enemies are generally smart enough to realise that killing the healer will seriously hinder a party's chances of survival. Therefore, the physical fighters must protect the party's healer while also damaging enemies.

* In ''Film/FullMetalJacket'', one of Cowboy's men gets caught in a Viet Cong sniper ambush. The squad's medic runs in to save him, disobeying Cowboy's orders, and is also shot and wounded. The sniper kills them both when he tries to indicate her position.

* ''[[Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry Star Trek VI]]'': The assassins who beam aboard ''Kronos One'' take out the Klingon surgeon before assassinating the Klingon Chancellor Gorkon, so that Gorkon can't receive medical care if he survives the assassination. He does, but the only medical attention Gorkon can receive is from Dr. [=McCoy=], who has no experience treating Klingons and is rather drunk from the state dinner earlier. Gorkon dies, and [=McCoy=] is charged with what [[UsefulNotes/ThreeDegreesOfMurder we'd essentially consider manslaughter]].

* Happens in an episode of ''Series/SonsOfAnarchy''. Jax is visiting Alvarez at the Mayans clubhouse when someone attacks shooting at everyone in sight. Alvarez is shot and Jax scrambles to help. He asks where the club doctor is so they can go get him. Alvarez points to the guy laying dead about ten feet away.

* Partially invoked in ''Roleplay/DinoAttackRPG''. Though there were only two [[TheMedic medics]] actually KilledOffForReal over the course of the RPG (out of a total of ''fifteen'' characters with medical skills), it was made clear that the main antagonist, [[spoiler: Baron Typhonus]] had no problem targeting them. However, neither was killed specifically ''because'' they were a medic. J.D. was killed because he had started to find a possible cure to the Maelstrom, while Deitrich "Medic" Luzwheit was killed because he came close to identifying TheMole.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'':
** One of the common bits of street wisdom is "Geek the mage/shaman first." Not just because of the healing, but because [[LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards an angry mage can dish out more hurt than most firearms]]. Hurt that ignores most conventional forms of armor, if they use mana-damage rather than physical-damage spells.
** On the other hand, the resident roving medics of [=DocWagon=] counter the ShootTheMedicFirst strategy by sending their medics out with heavily-armed bodyguards. [=DocWagon=] High Threat Response teams like to arrive in VTOL gunships.
*** More to the point, [=DocWagon=] doesn't provide magical healing: If they land a ship for you, that means you're out of the fight anyway. They also have a monopoly on health care response to Shadowrunners and other [=SINless=], and attacking them forfeits your contract for good with no renewal option (outside of some ''hefty'' bribing). Even if they didn't come in heavily armed, most Shadowrunners know better than to shoot their own service provider.

* The AI in ''VideoGame/LordOfTheRingsOnline'' may do this; healing generates ''massive'' amounts of aggro, and the damage-dealing classes may have trouble getting it back (the classes with a build available specifically designed for tanking have special abilities they can use that trump even healing, but if those skills are on cooldown, your Mini is probably going to die).
* The video game ''Flight of the Intruder'' (loosely based on the film of the same name) in which the player flew an A-6 Intruder tactical bomber in UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar, penalised the player 1000 points (in a game where achieving the mission objective scored a few hundred) for hitting the hospital.
* In ''VideoGame/WarhammerOnline'' this is pretty much the basic of any tactics.
* In ''VideoGame/UrbanDead'', while there isn't an explicit Medic class[[note]]There is an actual Medic class in the game, but its initial skills make it so difficult to gain XP (which is notoriously hard in the game already) most players give up on the class before they reach level 2.[[/note]] to attack, zombie groups will tend to target [=NecroTech=] buildings because these are the only buildings capable of producing [[ReviveKillsZombie revivification syringes]], which can return almost any character (particularly dead defenders) to life.
* This is a very effective strategy in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'', as the Medic mooks can revive three downed enemies. Further, they can apply an electric charge to enemy soldiers so that Batman will take damage if he makes contact with the now-sparking foe. In practice, this means that you should use Silent Takedowns to pick off the medics before wading into the brawl, but a later upgrade to the Disruptor gadget makes this trope slightly more literal: you can remotely sabotage the medics' equipment so that they electrocute ''themselves'' when trying to buff or revive enemy mooks.
* Anyone using the CombatMedic perk in ''VideoGame/KillingFloor'' can actually attempt to invoke this in the enemy AI. Why on earth would you want to do this? Because a high-level Medic can out-run most [[NotUsingTheZedWord specimens]] while blazing away with [[MoreDakka an SMG]] and tank damage from high-level specimens because their armor (instead of simply reducing damage taken) acts as a second health bar.
* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'':
** Prevalent enough that the term "pvp tank" refers predominantly to healers, especially Priests.
*** Part of the main advantage of Paladins is ShootTheMedicFirst doesn't work when shooting the medic means the big guy with the big sword he's healing stops, and starts healing the medic instead. As most healers have some ways to get out of trouble, this leads to a somewhat problematic situation of "Whoever you aren't shooting becomes a medic" even if said medic is inferior to an actual one. While less notable, Priests, Druids, Monks, and Shamans can also pull it off to a lesser extent.
*** Healing Paladins are also [[StoneWall ''very'' tough to kill]]
** Highlighted in the Faction Champions encounter of the "Trial of the Crusader" raid dungeon, when the players have to take on several members of the opposing faction in psuedo-PVP, Arena-style combat with some of the PVP mechanics — making the opposing faction's healers the priority target.
** Similar to the Faction Champions is the Illidari Council fight in Black Temple. While you couldn't "kill her first" (the four [=NPCs=] share a single health pool), Lady Malande was more than capable of healing her group through most attacks unless you assigned specific roles to players to knock out her healing spells before she could cast them.
** Lampshaded in-game. Lord Victor Nefarious is infamous for his quotes when his {{mooks}} are not doing a good job against the players: "Foolsss...Kill [[WhiteMagicianGirl the one in the dress]]!" and "Concentrate your attacks upon the healer!" Of course, by the time you engage him in combat, he has conveniently forgotten that little piece of advice. He has other ways to mess with the healers, though.
*** Hilariously enough, if your tank is a paladin, s/he could be the only one in a Robe rendering his advice pointless.
** Come ''Warlords of Draenor'', it's [[spoiler:Dragonmaw Warlord Zaela]] who rips off the "''one in the dress''" line early into the encounter with [[spoiler:Dragonmaw orcs and beasts before Commander Tharbek takes the field in the [=WoD=] version of Upper Blackrock Spire]].
** Subverted by the princess of Ironforge in Blackrock Depths. She would run around harassing your healer, and healing the crap out of Thaurissan. If you touched her at all — damage, crowd control, stuns, mana burn, anything — she wouldn't flag friendly after Thaurissan died and you [[{{Unwinnable}} couldn't complete the quest]] — both her father Magni (questgiver for Alliance players) and Thrall (questgiver for Horde players) didn't want any harm to come to her. [[note]]And then sometimes she wouldn't flag friendly anyway, but that's [[GameBreakingBug something different]].[[/note]] So you had to just let her run around and try to [[MoreDakka burn the boss]] faster than she could heal him.
** Monsters actually do follow this to an extent. Healing generates threat towards all monsters in the area, whereas damage only generates threat towards the monster it hits. So if there's an unoccupied group of monsters around, they will ignore the tank and damage dealers and head straight for the healer. However it also doesn't take much to get them to forget about that and start trying to kill the one wearing more metal plates than an armoury.
** This happened accidentally in the early days of the ''Burning Crusade'' expansion. Kael'thas Sunstrider, the final boss of the Tempest Keep raid, was a [[MarathonBoss 5-phase fight]]. For the first 3 phases he'd have mooks attack you, and would finally join the fight himself in the 4th phase. However, due to a coding bug, he'd accumulate healing threat during the first 3 phases, so when the raid group finally got to phase 4 he'd have accumulated so much healing threat that he'd attack the healers and only the healers. It made the fight [[UnwinnableByMistake unwinnable]], but it was an amusing bug.
** Some boss encounters have mechanics that target players based on their role. There are some cases in which healers are almost never targeted (such as the Sha of Pride's Imprison), but others in which healers, due to being considered "ranged" players, might be very likely to be targeted.
* ''VideoGame/AnarchyOnline''
** The game makes this very difficult to pull this off. The Doctor profession is fairly easy to kill in the beginning of the game, but towards the end requires a coordinated effort from a strong force to take down, all this while throwing out gigantic 'Battle Group Heals' that give ginormous amounts of life to every ally in the immediate vicinity, and this isn't counting the ultimate 'nyah-nyah' heal...on top of all this, Doctors are unlike 'clothies' in other games in that they tend towards HUGE amounts of hit points and nano points.
** The Adventurer, the nominal backup healer, has various tiers of healing capacity, and the ability to both evade many normal hits as well as soak up damage on top of all that.
** The Meta-Physicist, the closest healer after that, typifies the 'priest' stereotype and also was MadeOfPlasticine for most of the game's history until recently, when they became [[NighInvulnerability Nigh Invulnerable]].

* ''[[Website/GaiaOnline zOMG!]]'':
** Although the game does not have player classes, it does have a few rings that grant healing abilities (and one of the ring sets is titled Medic). The simple act of using a healing ability once on another player is often enough to draw aggro from the enemies that were previously menacing the patient (or to make new recruits in a boss battle initially target the healer).
** Also, some enemy types can now heal their cohorts, such as Tiny Witch Doctors. Unfortunately, there's no visualization for this besides seeing the HP bar jump back up, so you may need to [[AllThereInTheManual read the updates or the wikis]] to figure out who the medics are.
** Still, the only enemies capable of healing seem to prioritize on healing themselves, which would help a new player find out about their existence. It kinda doesn't, since only three enemies heal others, and one is too fragile to be noticed, and the other two come coupled in swarms of other enemies where people would rather use targetless [=AoE=] attacks.

* ''VideoGame/StarWarsGalaxies'' qualifies even more than most games. Pre-CU, the Combat Medic was one of the most [[GameBreaker broken]] classes in the game, as not only were they the only class (out of three healing classes) that could cast area-heals, they also were capable of laying down poisons and diseases on their enemies, which were typically virulent enough to render an enemy PC incapable of acting in combat until they found a Doctor capable of healing their wounds.
** Likewise, in ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'', the best way to deal with Griefers is to make sure you kill the healing companion they're using first, ''then'' kill the griefer. Creator/BioWare tried a workaround where you can't being companions into PvP areas.
** It also applied in reverse during dungeon raids. Take, for example, the Deathwatch Bunker which was, up until the NGE, the hardest dungeon in the game. Part of the challenge was in the fact that one of the players in your party had to be a non-combatant crafter so you could use the forge at the end of the dungeon to make a piece of Mandalorian armour as a reward. You would think this fragile little non-com would be your most valuable member who had to be protected at all costs. However, every single guide published on the matter specifically stated that your crafter was second in priority to any Doctors you brought along, as they were the only professions capable of resurrecting dead characters.
* One boss fight in ''VideoGame/JediAcademy'' has the lightsaber-wielding boss accompanied by a pair of Force users whose primary role is to heal said boss. The fight is in fact unwinnable unless the two healers are taken out first.
* In ''VideoGame/GuildWars'', you pretty much have to kill monks and ritualists if you want to kill anybody else. Especially in the smaller (4-man/6-man)arenas. Fort Aspenwood is the worst example, since if there's more than one or two healers the Luxon team '''can't win''' without either being ''very'' good or ''very'' lucky. Even the ''monsters'' get into the act, especially in Hard Mode.
** Averted in ''VideoGame/GuildWars2'', which lacks dedicated healers.
* In ''VideoGame/RagnarokOnline'',
** Anything but an dangerously zealous effort to take down a high-level [[TheMedic priest]] will likely not succeed. Many would go so far as to say that the priest is the ''real'' tank of the game....
** Given paladins and their strong role on defense, they somewhat fit in this category despite their armor. Not only can they literally tank, they make for decent (if far less effective than high priests) healers AND can link with allies to reduce damage taken. They are also one of the few classes that can naturally (i.e. without great gear) survive one hit kills, have strong [=AoE=], and can hilariously kill other players by simply standing there and allowing their opponents to die from the reflected damage simply because they have far more health than pretty much any other class. Paladins may not be able to out heal damage as well as a priest, but potion spamming in this game pretty much makes them invincible against anything but massive team effort.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII": The "Materia Beast" comes to mind, it can heal itself very fast toward the end of the battle and is colossal pain in the ass to the unprepared player. it's good to poison it so it's healing won't be as effective, other monsters and bosses will heal themselves too.

* This used to be doubly true when fighting Midgard in VideoGame/DarkAgeOfCamelot, because their healers doubled as mezzers, which in the early days of Camelot were ridiculously overpowered: no resists, no break out of mez panic button, no progressively decreasing mez duration, no nothing. A real "We win" button. Ganking the healer was so prevalent that Midgard tanks often carried round shields into battle instead of the much better kite shields, because it made them look like healers and hopefully they'd eat the first wave of backstabs/nukes/mezzes/arrows.
* ''VideoGame/{{Suikoden}}'':
** For a straight example, see the Golden Hydra final boss of ''VideoGame/SuikodenI''. It has three heads. The first two heads deal damage. The third head can't attack, and instead heals and revives the other two heads. Guess which head dies first?
** Also, in ''VideoGame/SuikodenII'', the FinalBoss looks like a giant wolf with two heads. It has four attackable areas. Both heads and two legs. Throughout the whole battle, one of the legs will not do ANYTHING AT ALL, while the heads attack with physical and magic damage and the other leg deals out [[StandardStatusEffects debuffs]]. That is, until you have almost beaten the boss, and the passive leg will revive the other parts and heal them. Unless you have a godly party, the only thing you can do is reset and Kill The Medic First.
** ''VideoGame/SuikodenIII'' has the [[spoiler:Luc]]'s [[OneWingedAngel Wind Phoenix form]] with the [[ElementalPowers Elemental Orbs]] around it as the FinalBoss. The [[DishingOutDirt Earth Rincar]] summons an [[AreaOfEffect area-wide]] ForceField to negate magical damage while the [[MakingASplash Water Rincar]] heals the Wind Phoenix ''and its orbs'', so you better take out these things first before the Wind Rincar can [[TotalPartyKill rip your party apart]].
* ''[[VideoGame/LunarTheSilverStar Lunar: Silver Star Harmony]]'': Ghaleon is actually a bit of ArtificialBrilliance; because he won't just randomly attack, he'll try to go for Jessica first since she's the main healer.

* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'':
** A Medic can hide behind a Heavy Weapons Guy and heal him continuously. For this reason, Medics tend to have very short lifespans when ''not'' hiding behind a Heavy. The main part of Medic strategy is using all the time you're not spending shooting other enemies to dodge and hide.
*** The description for one of the Medic hats lampshades the illegality of this trope, and helpfully advises you to inform your killer of his crime the next time you get shot.
---> It's a conversation starter!
** Medics also have the powerful siege-breaking Ubercharge ability, making them an even more important target.
** Because of the Ubercharge, Pyros are also popular "medic buddies." Soldiers and Demomen are best friends with a Medic equipped with the Kritzkrieg due to the devastating power of a [[CriticalHit crit-boosted]] explosive weapon.
** An Engineer lugging his toolbox, indicating that he's about to deploy something (typically a level three sentry), will find himself the target of every enemy in the area.
** In Mann Vs Machine, this trope is ''built-in'' to the AI of the attacking robots!
** This is true of Engineers in general, being, well, TheEngineer, capable of deploying turret guns, teleporters, and health and ammo stations. That last building in particular is seen as a priority target since it can heal enemies and refill their weapons, extending the team's stamina, and so some people will Shoot The Dispenser First. It doesn't help that the Engineer is one of the squishiest classes in the game. Engineers with Gunslingers are even higher on the "to kill" list, because if left unchecked they can poop out sentries at an insane rate. Combined with the Frontier Justice and a lone Revengineer can lock down an entire area by himself.

* In ''Videogame/HalfLife2'', the rebel medics are obviously committing war crimes, as they use SMG's and rocket launchers. Of course, the baddies do far worse on a daily basis, so...
** Well, they would be war crimes if the Combine hadn't replaced all forms of government. It's not a crime if the organization that made the law no longer exists.
* ''Franchise/FireEmblem'':
** Enemy priests not only have the ability to heal the foes from nearly dead back up to perfectly fine, some of them can put the units to sleep. It's best not to ask any random player how many characters he or she has lost because of an enemy healer with a Berserk staff...
** In addition, the enemy AI will always select a unit that can't fight back first, in addition to preferring the unit with the lowest defense. Not only can unpromoted healers not fight, but they're generally the physically weakest units. This means that the enemy will literally attack the medics first in almost all situations.
** In some games, enemy units that are wounded will purposely retreat to be healed by their priest. This is particularly [[NintendoHard frustrating]] in ''Thracia 776''. ''Seisen no Keifu'', because of its unique gameplay, has some armies that surrounding a SquishyWizard wielding a reserve staff, which heals ALL units within ten spaces of it. Great. In ''Path of Radiance'', this also means taking advantage of the heal bushes, but that is more annoying than an actual threat.
* ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'' has several of these, but the Tsoo Sorcerors are by far the worst. If enemy medics are annoying, how much worse are ''teleporting'' enemy medics??? Sky Raider Engineers and Rikti Communication Officers, although not medics, are other examples of - ''ahem'' - "non-combatants" who have to be taken out first.
* ''VideoGame/CityOfVillains'':
** The final battle of the Lord Recluse Strike Force, acknowledged as one of the hardest battles in the game. 8 PC villains vs 8 ([[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard grossly overpowered]]) NPC heroes. For the villains to have any chance of winning it is '''vitally important''' to knock out the heroine Numina first, as she can heal and even revive downed heroes.
** The Imperious Task Force has the final battle against [[RecurringBoss Romulus]], this time powered up by a SufficientlyAdvancedAlien and assisted by three identical black energy creature thingies, one of which heals him. [[ThatOneBoss You wanna kill this one first.]]
** And, of course, there are the Roman SURGEONS who don't even have any offensive ability, yet are always targeted by players first with overwhelming force and much hatred. Good thing these events take place hundreds if not [[PortalToThePast thousands of years before the Geneva Convention.]]
** As for players, there's actually much less emphasis on healing because [[StatusBuff buffs]] and debuffs are so much more powerful. So taking out the Defender first is usually a good idea, [[ArtificialStupidity not that the enemies can take advantage of that]]. Although the rules are different in PVP, barely anyone does that anyway.
** Can go hilariously wrong in PVP, especially when players from other games who are used to "healers" who really only heal suddenly run up against a Defender who has been soloing and has chosen an offensive power set.
* When playing ''Videogame/{{Doom}} II'', whenever Arch-Viles appear, they should be given top priority, both because of their [[PlayingWithFire very nasty line-of-sight flame attack]] and their habit of resurrecting dead monsters.
* ''Videogame/DoomTheRoguelike'' copied this. Archviles are usually the top-priority targets.
* The Medic in ''VideoGame/QuakeII'' can also resurrect non-gibbed enemies. At least he doesn't have magic fire powers...
* In ''VideoGame/CompanyOfHeroes'', players can build medic stations that spawn unarmed medics that go out into the battlefield to retrieve wounded soldiers. When enough soldiers are gathered, they are formed into a free infantry squad for the player. Needless to say, allowing your opponent to do this is a bad thing, so it becomes a gameplay imperative to shoot the medics. The AI won't automatically target enemy medics though, so the player has to manually give the command.
* While ''VideoGame/JaggedAlliance 2'' does first aid more or less realistically, the opposing forces aren't going to avoid shooting them, but given that their commander has already committed any number of human rights violations, this makes sense.
** Also, the medics (as ex-military or never-military) tend to be armed and dangerous themselves, with no qualms about shooting the bad guys just before patching the good guys' wounds. This moves them right out of protected status.
*** Kind of expected since any medic you use in the game are, like all your other characters, professional mercenaries who made fame killing people. Some Medics might be famous for saving more than they killed, but for that to be a statement it means they killed a lot too.
* Averted in the ''VideoGame/{{MOTHER}}'' series: enemies that can fully restore other enemies' HP tend to explode when destroyed, dealing heavy damage to the party. It's usually recommended that you kill the medics ''last''.
* Any game in the ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' series. White Mages or any units who can heal, revive, and buff are always your main targets. Sometimes they not only just heal, but may have abilities from other jobs to fight with.
** One storyline battle has a White Mage who sometimes is also given [[GameBreaker Calculator skills.]] If you don't kill it as soon as humanly possible, you will regret it '''dearly.'''
* The enemy AI in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'' will always try to go after units with jobs that are considered "high-priority", like White and Red Mages, not caring about what stats or other abilities said units have on them. There was an instance where a Viera White Mage was attacked by a Gladiator (ignoring a weakened Sage nearby), only to miss thanks to the Viera having the Reflex R-Ability. She then promptly dispatched the Gladiator with Last Breath.
* If you played the PSP version of ''VideoGame/TacticsOgre'', you'll find that the more advanced AI actually includes this trope into their tricks instead of "Surround and beat the player".
* ''VideoGame/DiabloII'' has the ever-annoying Shamans for the various enemy types, who have the Archvile-like ability to revive their minions over and over, even from far away, making killing them a top priority. Even worse are the unique shamans, which can revive ''other'' shamans, making killing them a top priority even among other shamans.
* One boss in ''VideoGame/ParasiteEve'' has 3 targets on its body and one of them acts as a medic, healing itself or the other targets. While this "medic" doesn't heal as fast as the others in the above examples, it can be troublesome if players hadn't leveled up Aya properly or power up her guns.
* The ideal strategy for fighting the Axem Rangers in VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG is to take down Axem Pink first. She can heal, which pretty much sells her position as first to go down. The Strategy Guide even suggests this.
* The first two ''VideoGame/PaperMario''s:
** White Magikoopas. Yes, there are other kinds that raise Defense and Attack and make their allies intangible and imbue them with electricity, but go after these guys first.
** The first one also had Medi Guys, which are Shy Guys in little while flying vehicles with [[UsefulNotes/TheRedCross a red cross]] on the front. Like pretty much any enemy-healing unit in video games, they should be priority.
** Also the battle against Bowser and Kammy near the end of ''Thousand-Year Door'', where the only real sane route (provided you're not using one of the game's many GameBreaker strategies) is to throw everything you've got at Kammy and then worry about the much stronger, more durable Bowser.
* [[spoiler: Fawful]] in ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory''. The boss has a jetpack [[SwissArmyWeapon that also acts as a grapple hook, a ranged weapon, and a healing unit.]] So no matter how much damage you do to him, his jetpack will put him back to maxium health. [[spoiler: You need to swallow the jetpack and have Mario and Luigi destroy it before you can defeat him.]]
* The final battle of ''New Super Mario Bros'', against both Bowser and Bowser Jr, kind of fits in here. If you attempt to defeat Bowser first, Bowser Jr will automatically revive him. Gotta beat the little guy first or you'll get absolutely nowhere.
* ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'':
** The Floral Horrors. Growing in Site 16 in 2300 AD, they make fighting companion enemies... an [[IncrediblyLamePun experience]].
** A boss that you fight on your way to escape the castle in 1000 AD, the Dragon Tank, has a ''head'' that occasionally heals its parts, each of which has a separate entry in the Bestiary.
** The Mother Brain boss in 2300 AD is accompanied by not one but ''three'' medics. If you take out all of them though, she TurnsRed.
** The fight against Lavos Core is [[AvertedTrope something of an exception]]: it looks like a FlunkyBoss consisting of a humanoid-looking part in the center and a "[[FanNickname Lavos Bit]]" on the left and on the right. The Lavos Bit on the right can revive the other two, so normally you'd want to kill it first. However, unless at least one of the other two parts are dead, it will take almost no damage from attacks, so, in this case, you have to kill the medic last. (And when you do kill it, you win the fight immediately, guaranteeing you will indeed kill it last.)
* In ''VideoGame/OgreBattle'', killing healers first tends to be bad for your units alignment. (This same factor is also applied to other "good" aligned units, such as Paladins.) Played straight with evil units, who get bonuses from losing alignment like that...
* One of the later battles in the original ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'' had this as the ''only'' way to win - the enemies had a medic capable of performing an infinite number of resurrections, and while you may be able to resist their blows, you'll never progress to the end of the game unless you Disintegrate him, shoot him, or otherwise remove him from the equation. [[ArtificialStupidity Frustratingly]], one of your allies - Linu - can serve as a light Medic for ''the enemy'' by casting Harm on undead, [[ReviveKillsZombie which heals them]]...but it is a [[GameBreaker very easy way]] to take down [[spoiler: Aribeth]].

* In ''VideoGame/AgeOfWonders'', cleric-type units, which boast the Healing ability, can only do so once per game turn (and thus once per battle, or not at all if they already used healing before battle), but tend to be targeted anyhow because they boast a reasonably powerful ranged magical attack. More advanced units with Healing also tend to be targeted quickly because they usually possess other, dangerous, abilities, and finally, Leaders are * always* targeted first, when practical-more pointedly than potentially having healing spells they can cast multiple times per battle, they tend to be the most dangerous units on the field.
* In ''VideoGame/ReturnToCastleWolfenstein'' and its standalone expansion ''Enemy Territory'', the Medic class is by far one of the most dangerous classes. Not only can they instantly revive downed teammates, but as long as they have ammo, they can turn themselves into a literal OneManArmy.
** ''VideoGame/{{Wolfenstein 2009}}'', its sequel, has Scribes, who can project impenetrable shields over nearby soldiers, as well as Elite Guards, who can resurrect dead soldiers as Despoiled creatures. Needless to say, both classes of enemy are priority targets in a firefight.
* If you're playing ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' in VS mode and you're the one who protects everyone or heals others (or if you are just that good of a player), you can bet your life that the infected players will all target you.
** Although this is usually less because the "medic" is a threat (since the main goal of Infected teams is to simply separate & then constrict the individual survivors until they become "downed", and not necessarily to kill them), and more because a "medic" survivor and his "patient" will both have to stand completely still while the health pack is being used. And if there's a Spitter and/or a Jockey/Charger nearby ...
* In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRenegade'' in the multi-player, enemy engineers and medics can be a serious pain in the ass. Especially if you're Nod. Given enough of them(even the free engineers), a tank can be repaired more than you can damage it. On siege maps, it's a very common tactic to have 3-4 technicians/hotwires(350 credit super-engineers) per vehicle on the side that's laying siege. The only ways to break that siege is with more engineers/techies/hotwires backing up your vehicles, plus at least one sniper to pick off the enemy. A single GDI mammoth tank with two hotwires is nigh-invulnerable.
* Averting this has its reward in ''VideoGame/MegaManXCommandMission'', as leaving a Preon Medic or Preon Doc alive after all other enemies are gone nets you a 25% heal and them running away. That doesn't stop you from [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness killing them before they run]], though.
* The final boss fight of ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' brings us [[ShootTheMedicFirst Kill Those Captured Jedi That Malak Uses As First Aid Kits First.]]
* In ''VideoGame/BrutalLegend'', the enemy AI has an amazing ability to seek out and attack Thunderhog units (AKA [[Music/{{Motorhead}} Lemmy]]) no matter who else is on the field when playing as Ironheade.
* ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield}}'':
** In the original game, medics were not quite that powerful (slowly heal one soldier while standing next to him), but since ''Battlefield 2'', they can instantly resurrect dead teammates to full health, which DOES make them an important target. Also medics in ''[=BF2=]'' are [[CombatMedic extremely capable fighters]] on their own already. Good luck taking out an entire squad of them.
** Well, the Battlefield 1942 medics are quite an nuisance compared to assault class. The submachinegun has low recoil, making it easy to pick off enemy soldiers, and being able to heal themselves make it a difficult ordeal to kill them as if you die, they will come back in full health.
** In Bad Company 2, the M60 machine gun was horribly overpowered for quite a while, leading to most games being half medics, and half snipers.
** Notably in ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield 3}}'', the Assault class has to choose between AOE healing or an extra assault weapon (either a grenade launcher or a shotgun) for the first class ability, but once the [[MagicalDefibrillator defibrillator (revive device)]] is unlocked it's always the second gadget, which can make them priority targets in certain circumstances.
*** Of course, in practice, Battlefield is so fast paced and it's hard enough to take down any enemy, that actively targeting a medic is more a case of luck and aiming in the right place. Actually trying to only target medics will just get you shot by the rest of his squad.
** The Engineer class is the 'medic' for Vehicles. Often people will buddy up as a tank driver/gunner combination and work in tandem to keep their vehicle operation. Some vehicles have enough capacity to hold three people. Trying to take out a tank with 2 engineers repairing is impossible for a single infantry player unless he can kill the engineers first, or can sneak up and plant C4 or mines on the vehicle.
* A particular boss in ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'' can be resurrected indefinitely until the player realizes that some {{mook}} is in charge of keeping the boss alive. This mook is not (technically) ''even in the boss room''.
** A similar thing happens in ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsI'', where it's possible to take a shortcut in the Depths that skips a large majority of the area and pretty much lets you go straight to the boss. This is not advised, since this means you wouldn't have killed the Channeler found early in the area, who can now buff the boss's attack power.
** Also in ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsI'', the skeletons in the Catacombs will just keep PullingThemselvesTogether every time you kill them unless you hunt down and kill the necromancer in charge first, or use a [[HolyBurnsEvil divine weapon]].
** ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'' has [[DualBoss Princes Lothric and Lorian]]. In the second phase, Lothric will continuously resurrect his brother on death. The fight only ends when you kill [[SquishyWizard Lothric]], which is made difficult because Lothric is in a very hard position for most weapons to reach.
** ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'' also has hollow priests, who appear in conjunction with [[DemonicSpider Lothric knights]] and cast constant damage and healing buffs.
* In earlier ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer'' games, generally the side with the weaker (early-game) infantry had a Medic unit to compensate. The expansion to ''Red Alert'' also introduced a Mechanic, who was a PaletteSwap of the Medic who repaired vehicles in a flash. However, since infantry often die before they can be healed, and the Mechanic can't follow tanks into combat, this trope is averted.
* ''VideoGame/WarcraftII'' was particularly unfair with this. The only healing unit in the game was the Human-side Paladin, which is an upgrade of the Knight and hence a frontline combat unit that's hard to pick off. Furthermore, because ComputersAreFast, it was notoriously much easier for the AI to rapidly use several Paladins' healing spells on each other in a fight.
* ''VideoGame/GlobalAgenda'', being (actual gameplay-wise) a clone of ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', is starting to invoke this trope less than half a month after release. It goes double if the enemy medic has decided that [[CombatMedic shooting/stabbing you]] is a better use of his time than healing his teammates...
* ''VideoGame/LostOdyssey'' starts off by showing us what happens when healing magic is applied ''en masse'' to an entire army. The bad guys are cutting down the good guys, but then the good guys keep getting healed back to full effectiveness right in front of them. The bad guys would have had to target the healing mage tower to have any hope of winning this war of attrition, had a giant meteor not fallen on everything.
* In any game that features some kind of enemy-affiliated healing devices, it'a sound idea to shut down those before you go at the mofo himself. Healing statues for Alastor in ''VideoGame/{{Painkiller}}'', healing...generators for Larva in ''VideoGame/SeriousSam 2'' and medical stations in ''VideoGame/{{Bioshock|1}}'' come to mind.
* Simultaneously both more difficult and ''unintentionally'' common in ''VideoGame/{{MAG}}'', since the only indication of being a medic is the healing device when wielded, whereas the ability to heal or revive is available as early as level 3 (the minimum to buy the Medi-Kit and/or to spec one's skill points into the revive branch), and performing revives is the fastest way to level up -- so in practice, almost ''everyone'' is a medic.
* ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'': Kantus monks (svelte, high-ranking foes with penchants for funny hats and belts) have the ability to completely heal any Locust grunts within the range of their powerful screams, regardless of how much damage the poor schmucks may have incurred. To make matters worse, Kantus have a nasty habit of cartwheeling around, hurling ink grenades and their screams can immobilise any player characters within range. However, Kantus are not immune to getting a chainsaw through the chest cavity.
* In the ''VideoGame/RuneScape'' mini-game Pest Control, players try to destroy portals to another dimension that the Void creatures are coming from, and protect the Void Knight in a fortress. Said portals are healed by Spinners, and it's pretty hard to take one down without first killing the Spinners, [[WhatAnIdiot not that many people don't try to kill the portal first anyway.]] The Spinners aren't very tough, but they're often defended by Brawlers and, like everything else, can be spawned infinitely.
** Also in ''[=RuneScape=]'' is the a specific combat room in the Dungeoneering skill, where players must kill four exiled summoning creatures to pass through. Any experienced team will ignore the warrior, ranger and mage at first in order to wipe out the healer.
** In the Monastary of Ascension dungeon, the Capsarius monster can rapidly heal other Ascended to full, as well as deploying a forcefield that reduces all incoming attacks to ScratchDamage at best. She cannot use these abilities on herself.
* Healers (and monster units that have healing abilities, such as the [[HornyDevils Succubus]]) are almost always the first target of choice in ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' games. The second? Anything that has a stat buffing ability... Which is ''also'' something that Healers specialize in.
* ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'', the damn healer things in the Night Stages. They can heal anything and everything but itself. Normally, this isn't so bad, but in the DLC stages where there can be millions of enemies in a compact area...
* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'':
** Engineers don't technically heal units (discounting ''VideoGame/HaloWars'') but give enemies [[DemonicSpiders quadruple shields.]]
** Promethean Watchers [[AirborneMook hover over the battlefield]] restoring the depleted health of Knights, and in ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}'' are even able to bring them BackFromTheDead for a short period after "death". Add their ability to CatchAndReturn thrown grenades [[CombatMedic as well as shoot you themselves]], and it's a very good idea to dispatch them the moment they pop up.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Achron}}'', the CESO Blackbird can repair units at speeds so fast it can greatly affect the outcome of a battle. The "Smart Idle" upgrade makes healing units (such as the Blackbird or the SOP) use their healing ability automatically if there are any injured friendly units nearby. This leads to them attracting a lot of focused fire.
** Not only that, but if you just send your army to attack without targeting a specific unit, they ''will'' ShootTheMedicFirst.
* In ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpires'' if an enemy squad has a priest/monk, it pays to get rid of him as early as possible. Monks not only heal their own side, but also convert enemy units.
* Played straight in ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonorPacificAssault''. The player has to shoot the Japanese medics, only because they fire Nambu pistols at you. Your own corpsman is armed with a .45 pistol, and he tends to get shot as well. An example of truth in television (see below).
* In ''[[VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}} Kagetsu Tohya]]'' Nanaya is getting pissed off because every time Shiki is close to death, such as being a severed head looking at his body, Len resets the day and Shiki is back to normal. Eventually he decides that even if it's breaking 'the rules' Len has to go first. [[spoiler:Fortunately, Kouma Kishima shows up and pulls an EvilerThanThou off.]]
* ''VideoGame/FatPrincess'' has this. Generally, if someone on the other team has a Priest behind him, you're likely to go down quick if you don't kill him.
* In ''VideoGame/SpiralKnights'', there are two types of healers, Silkwings and Goblin Menders. Silkwings have to hug their heal targets and have an AOE heal on death, but separating them makes them easy to deal with. Menders, on the other hand, are absolute pains in the neck to deal with. They can heal at a range, faster you can do damage. They have AOE shield and heal abilities. And on Tier 3, they can raise their allies from the dead. Kill the menders FIRST.
** The only issue is when Silkwings are surrounded by a mob of enemies. Hitting any enemy BUT the Silkwing will cause it to change position to heal the creature you just injured. This can be a problem if you're in the higher tiers, since you have to keep moving to avoid losing health. Oh, and while you're moving, so is the mob; and the Silkwings tend to stick themselves RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE. [[SarcasmMode Have fun.]]
* The Bishop Chessmen in ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry 3'' can actually heal their fellow chessmen, so better flail on them first and fast (they can also spit out lightning and create a localized explosion).
* ''VideoGame/CosmicBreak'' has this fiendish {{Moe}} RobotGirl, Melfi, that shoots healing arrows and can still use healing bits. They charge faster than others support units too, making them the ultimate healing support units. Everyone just loves to kill her.... Until her {{Chibi}} version came out. Now everyone's conflicted.
* In the General Knoxx DLC for ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'', the Crimson Lance have many types of soldiers and one of them is is a CombatMedic. While these guys only use standard rifles to attack you with, they set up turrets that heal the other soldiers, which can get annoying real fast unless you quickly destroy the turret or kill the medic. These guys also show up when you fight Knoxx and can restore his health completely if you aren't paying attention.
* ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'' features the Hyperion surveyor, a flying autonomous AttackDrone that doubles as an impromptu medic to Hyperion units. It can repair damaged loaders (including the tough and dangerous [[EliteMook Badass Loader or War Loader]]) or grant shields to unshielded units. Worse, Constructors like to digistruct the little buggers. They tend to be priority targets due to both their darty, flighty movement patterns and the fact that they don't take a lot of damage to bring down (at first).
* The first ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' features this memorable line
-->Medic: Oh God, they're shooting medics too! They're not playing by [[KilledMidSentence the-]]
* ''VideoGame/DCUniverseOnline'' has a few of these in the High Level Duo Missions, thankfully they all glow bright neon green so they are easy to pick out and shoot at, the worse of the lot are the OMAC Nanosmyths where if one of these is in the room NOTHING IS KILLABLE till you take the Nanosmyth down and even then the heal effects remain for at least 3-5 seconds after you kill them, if you want to survive the mission you must drop them fast.
* In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'', always kill the Necromancers first, otherwise any other mook will have barely hit the ground before they raise it again. Things get even ''more'' complicated when you have to fight multiple Necromancers at once, since they can raise their former comrades to rain more destruction spells upon unsuspecting players.
** For this reason, you don't just kill Necromancers first, you make sure that the fallen foe is either disintegrated or zombified by you before anything else has the chance to raise it.
* ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'':
** Cerberus [[TheEngineer Combat Engineers]] can set up [[TheTurretMaster gun turret tripods]], repair the tripods' shields, and also repair [[MiniMecha Atlas]] walkers. They are high priority targets, especially in the moments before they remove the folded up turret off their back.
** The new wave of Reaper minions include Marauders, Reaper-fied turians who can buff their fellow husks. The in-game codex states that Alliance marines have standing orders to take them out first.
* ''Franchise/DragonAge'':
** This doesn't come up a lot in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', since most enemies eschew healing in favor of ZergRush tactics. In the ''Warden's Keep'' DLC, however, there is a fight against a boss-level Rage Abomination which is accompanied by a quartet of zombie mages who constantly cast healing spells on it. The fight is basically impossible to win until they've all been taken out (which is easier said than done, since they themselves will resurrect several times before going down permanently).
** In the ''Legacy'' DLC for ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', if the player takes a particular path, Hawke and party will encounter a Revenant backed up by three Arcane Horrors, each of which casts a spell over the Revenant that, taken together, make it literally [[NighInvulnerability immune to all forms of damage]]. In this case, you have no choice but to shoot the medic first.
* In ''VideoGame/SDGundamCapsuleFighter'', there's a collection of Mobile Suits who are specialized in healing. Usually classified with the "Repair" tag on their name, they're the same suit as usual, but with an added Repair weapon. This goes into annoying levels in the mission "Destroy the [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamThe08thMSTeam Apsalus II]]", where there are two [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Acguy]] Repairs who will heal the Apsalus II to full health if you don't kill them. Oh, and they have Lock-On Jammer, meaning you have to MANUALLY target them after a certain HP percentage.
* The so-called ''Logistics Ships'' in ''VideoGame/EveOnline'' are critical to any fleet of significant size. The ShootTheMedicFirst approach is so effective that, in some cases, due to capacitor chains between the ships, taking down a single logistics ship (either by blowing it up or jamming its sensors) is enough to completely break down the repairs.
* Many enemies in ''VideoGame/MightAndMagic'' series, especially in games 6-8, will attack the cleric first.
* ''VideoGame/EpicBattleFantasy'' usually has this as a sound tactic, except in one particular boss battle in 3. How could you possibly discourage someone from killing the guy who's healing a huge wooly mammoth that's stomping down your adventurers? Easy: make a [[BossInMooksClothing monolith]] replace him on death.
* Healers in ''VideoGame/ClashOfClans'' fly over the battlefield healing any injured ground troops and having one can easily turn the tide in the user's favor. They can't heal themselves and their flight means only anti-air defenses can harm them, so it's best to have anti-air defenses spread throughout your fort in case an invading player has one.
* Several bosses and mid-bosses in ''VideoGame/{{Opoona}}'' are flanked by healing enemies during their boss fights; in particular, the early-game Figureformer. They're especially important to take out first because all fights, including boss fights, are ''timed.'' If you don't defeat the big boss quickly, you'll automatically lose due to the ticking time limit.
* Doctors in ''VideoGame/TownOfSalem'' can keep themselves alive one night and other people alive every other night. This makes them a high-priority target for the Serial Killer and the Mafia, who are both trying to clear the Townies out.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Robopon}}'', this is a hard and fast rule of the second game for ranked battles. If a healer has the Revive+ spell, battles can turn into very long, very tedious battles of attrition. Rule of thumb: If it looks female and/or cute, kill it. No exceptions.

* ''VideoGame/Persona3'':
** Frequently a viable strategy, especially against the bosses who come with minions. On the flip side, if all four of your party members can heal...
** During the Strength-Chariot Full Moon Boss, this trope is subverted as both of the bosses can revive the other one if one of them is beaten. The trick is to kill both of them at the same turn, or that your killing blow will "Shoot Both Medics".
* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' has this going both ways:
** Enemies often come in groups consisting of one or more strong enemies mixed with weaker monsters. The weak ones will buff the strong ones, and the strong ones will then deliver a world of pain on your party. Taking out the weak ones first is therefore often the smarter move.
** Depending on which version you play, this also works for the enemy. The protagonist aside, your party has access to two dedicated healers: Yukiko and Teddie, who both have access to team heals and status removal spells.
*** In the original version of the game, they also happen to be the only ones whose persona doesn't lose their weakness when it ascends, gaining a second resistance instead. This means they're the only ones who can easily get the "downed" status (during which they take additional damage and risking the dizzy status, which makes them skip their next turn), a weak spot bosses are more than happy to abuse.
*** ''[[UpdatedReRelease Persona 4: Golden]]'' averts this, as every party member's persona retains its weakness in order to compensate for the various new (and sometimes powerful) skills ''Golden'' added.
* Zigzagged a bit in ''VideoGame/BattleForWesnoth''. It's not that the healers are so good at ''healing'' that makes them targets (while they're convenient, they can't build up a unit's health back up any faster than a stay in a village could, although unlike villages they're mobile and can treat multiple adjacent units at once) -- it's that on top of that they're {{Combat Medic}}s with annoying special ''attacks'' (be they accurate-in-any-terrain magical ones or the Elvish Shaman line's Entangle) while at the same time being reasonably squishy.
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfGraces'' has this, and it makes the FlunkyBoss and WolfPackBoss fights a pain. AI will almost ''never'' have all the enemies gang up on one target, so they instead all divide and conquer... and they love to go ''right'' for Sophie and Cheria.
* ''VideoGame/HearthstoneHeroesOfWarcraft'' has the legendary creature Kel'Thuzad. He continuously resurrects every fallen creature at the end of each turn, which is a game changing effect in a CCG. He can very swiftly turn the tides of an otherwise even match into a loss if not dealt with immediately.
* The first rule of engagement in ''VideoGame/{{Ryzom}}''[='=]s Player-versus-Player scene: '''Casters are a primary target.''' Merely killing the healers isn't enough as due to the game being classless, Casters that were originally focusing on DPS magic can switch to healing in a snap and revive their downed teammates, thus meaning that your problem is no less smaller than it was before. Killing the casters means that players originally working as Tanks and support gunners have to switch to healing magic, and by the time they can start healing it's more than likely that you've already killed them.
* In ''Videogame/FromTheDepths'', many ships and aircraft carry "Repair Tentacles", devices which can repair allied ships at astonishing speed but cannot repair the craft they are mounted on. Killing an enemy boat being repaired by tentacles requires one to utilize either ''massive'' overkill, or to simply shoot the support craft repairing it. The Twin Guards faction field attack helicopters that carry around their own little repair drone, making them annoyingly difficult to kill.
* In the battle against the Ender Dragon in the "end" of ''Videogame/{{Minecraft}}'', it's more like Kill The Crystals That Are Healing The Dragon First...which is made harder by their annoying tendency to explode when destroyed. Oh, and did we mention that the dragon is effictively unbeatable unless every crystal is gone? And the fact that they're atop ~40-block-high obsidian towers?
* While ''[[Videogame/MechWarrior MechWarrior Living Legends]]'' lacks in-field HumongousMecha repair, taking out enemy scouts is equally vital. The 'Raven' light mech carries some of the most advanced sensors know to man and can sniff out enemies from afar and relay that data to its allies. A number of Raven variants carry TargetSpotter gear such as the TAG laser or NARC missile beacon, allowing them to slap one on an enemy mech and run for cover as Arrow IV cruise missiles rain down. Eliminating Ravens and other scouts like the 'Hephaestus' HoverTank is even more vital if the enemy has a Long Tom artillery tank, which can [[OneHitKill smite enemies]] from beyond visual range but is utterly dependent on sensor data from allied scouts. On the other side, there's a number of mechs and vehicles that mount twin laser anti-missile systems that allow them to completely shut down enemy missile fire, making them priority targets for brawlers and snipers.
* Day 6 of the Hoxtons Housewarming Party for ''VideoGame/Payday2'' introduced the "Medic" special enemy who can heal '''any''' unit that happens to be close to him from near-death with a 2 second cooldown per "patient". Despite being a special unit, he appears the most frequently among the special units. As a result, he switches up the "enemies to kill" list a bit, with Medics being the highest priority to take out, moreso than Tasers, Cloakers and Bulldozers!
* In ''VisualNovel/{{Sunrider}}'', PACT Support [[AMechByAnyOtherName Ryders]] are a mix of this trope and ShootTheMageFirst. In addition to healing their allies and curing them of status debuffs, they can also inflict those same status debuffs on you, such as stripping away your DeflectorShields to leave you vulnerable to lasers or [[PointDefenseless shutting off your flak so you can’t shoot down incoming missiles]]. And they are aware of their SquishyWizard status, as not only will PACT Supports hang out at the back of enemy formations where they’re safely beyond the range of your kinetic weapons but they also have strong shields to prevent you from sniping them with lasers.
* Support champions in ''VideoGame/{{Paladins}}'' are the backbone of a team, keeping their allies healthy in the heat of battle. Naturally, they are top priority to be taken out. They can also have their healing diminished by purchasing the Cauterize item during a match, which makes attacks reduce enemy healing for a short duration.
* Support champions in ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' are often the first casualties in a teamfight. They tend to fall into 2 categories: healers or shielders (such as Sona, Lulu and Janna) that can make it much harder to remove the damage dealers and are usually the least-tanky champions on their team (due to getting a much-lower budget than other champions and usually being lower-level); and tanky initiators (like Leona or Alistar) who are the ones who go in for their team first to start the fight and draw a lot of fire (and unlike toplane or jungle initiators, it's often a suicide mission for them since, despite being inherently tanky, they again have a lower item budget and average level).
** The preeminent example in the game is Soraka, the Starchild, the only champion in the game explicitly designated as [[TheMedic the dedicated healer]] (an archetype Riot Games consider highly unhealthy for MOBA games). Almost her ''entire'' kit is based around keeping her teammates alive, with a powerful, incredibly short-cooldown heal skill that allows her to top her teammates up to full health from practically nothing in a matter of seconds, but costs her 10% of her ''own'' maximum health per cast and [[TheCobblersChildrenHaveNoShoes cannot be cast on herself]]. One of Soraka's teammates is almost unkillable as long as Soraka stands by them, spamming Astral Infusion every few seconds, but as soon as the enemy turns their focus onto her she's likely to die instantly, especially if she's been industriously spending her own HP healing others. Soraka is often the ''lynchpin'' of her team's strategy, [[KeystoneArmy making them almost indestructible as long as she lives but prone to folding like damp cardboard as soon as the enemy gets to her]].
* In the original ''VideoGame/ShiningForce'', enemy priority 1A is StraightForTheCommander as his death is an instant loss for the player, and if he is out of reach, ShootTheMageFirst. The GBA remake downgraded the Mage step, making ShootTheMedicFirst the second priority.
* Averted with Atomic Power Robots in ''VideoGame/{{Earthbound}}'', who are able to restore health to other enemies by "replenishing a fuel supply". They explode when killed which inflicts serious damage to your party, forcing you to put up with their healing until you've wiped out their allies in order to reduce the damage from the explosion.
* Averted with the last boss fight of ''Videogame/FateGrandOrder''[='=]s fourth chapter. There's two enemies: the main damage dealer and a support enemy who provides buffs and healing. Frankly, the buffs and healing don't do much, not even her [[LimitBreak Noble Phantasm]] which heals herself and her ally. But if the main boss's charge gauge fills up, it inflicts a crapton of damage to your entire party.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Drowtales}}'', the Sharen, who are being badly beaten in their war against the Sarghress, are getting more and more desperate as the war drags on and they lose more and more ground. They are beginning to use more dirty and underhanded methods in an attempt to gain as much an advantage as possible. One of their favourite ones is to open a gate to the demon realm, unleashing demons capable of killing and taking over any drow in the area. To counter these gates, the Sarghress employ sealers, whose job it is to locate these gates, close them, and then seal all the demons in the area. ''To counter'' these, the Sharen set up snipers and traps to kill the Sealers fast and first.
* [[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/09/21/ This]] ''Webcomic/PennyArcade'' strip on the ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' Medic happens to be the TropeNamer and article image.

* In this ''Webcomic/{{Concerned}}'' [[http://www.hlcomic.com/index.php?date=2006-06-23 strip]], GenreBlind Gordon Frohman believes he won't be shot at because he's a medic, due to the belief that he is protected by subsection B of the resolutions of the Geneva International Conference. Of October. 1863.
* In ''Webcomic/FlintlockesGuideToAzeroth'', Schweitzer cites this as the reason he never does anything to help the party. Well, except that one heal... which he cast on himself.

** Aside from Mercy, it's wise to take out the support(s) first in a team fight: Lucio's ultimate provides a large, quickly draining health boost to his allies, Zenyatta's an incredible amount of healing within a fairly wide radius around him, Ana's can power up another hero's abilities, and Symmetra can either ferry heroes back to the fight with her Teleporter or provide a regenerating shield with Shield Generator.

->''"I want to show you this picture here. You'll notice that the corpsmen are dropping like flies. That's because the enemy is not upholding the Geneva Convention...The first thing they try and get, actually, is the hospital corpsmen, and actually the lifespan of a hospital corpsman, from the time his foot hits the water to the time he '''almost''' gets to the beach, is -- uh -- seven seconds."''

In RealLife war, [[TheMedic medics]] are supposed to be special: UsefulNotes/TheLawsAndCustomsOfWar, specifically the Geneva Convention, dictate that medical personnel are non-combatants and shooting one is a serious [[ObligatoryWarCrimeScene war crime]]. So is impersonating one so that the enemy won't shoot you. And it's just as illegal for a medic [[CombatMedic to shoot at you]] - while they have weapons to defend themselves with, the moment they initiate combat they are classed as combatants and can be freely shot at in response.

For tactical reasons, there's no real point in shooting at medics either (well, except psychological reasons); in combat, a downed soldier usually ''remains down'' for the current battle (with medical treatment and recovery occuring slowly over the days, weeks and even months that follow), and medics are also trained to treat the enemy as well as their own comrades if at all possible, provided that they aren't presenting a threat. And they can only assist one soldier at a time anyway. In fact, you usually want to leave medics well alone since retrieving a fallen comrade usually requires the help of an additional person, so this puts at least one other potential enemy out of action, making the fight easier -- to say nothing of the fact that, even after they're rescued, wounded soldiers laid up in hospitals drain resources and money, making it useful on a strategic level, too.[[note]]Of course, TheMedic, and the feeling that the medic will be there to save you if something happens, is a big plus to morale. But morale isn't what's shooting at you right now.[[/note]]

Unlike RealLife, a video game medic will magically heal critically wounded soldiers back to full combat effectiveness ''in a matter of seconds'' -- and in many cases, reviving soldiers BackFromTheDead isn't any more difficult. This makes an enemy healer a primary target, because when left alone, they will ultimately start [[EasyLogistics reviving and healing]] your enemies [[WhyWontYouDie almost as fast as you can take them out]]; enemies accompanied by healers effectively become NighInvulnerable so long as the healer is present, so if you want to have any hope of winning, you must [[TitleDrop Shoot The Medic First]].

* Inverted in ''Film/TheBridgeOnTheRiverKwai'' -- [[spoiler: The Medic is the only named character to make it out of the film in one piece (all except one other person is killed, and the only other survivor already has a serious wound in the foot).]]

* ''Literature/TortallUniverse'' Keladry of Mindelan wants to remind you all that when in doubt, shoot the wizard.
* During one of the first battles with the [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Vord]] in the ''Literature/CodexAlera'' series, the Vord send their [[PuppeteerParasite Takers]] to infest Aleran knights and legionaires. The hosts make the Legion's healers their primary target. Justified, in that Aleran healers are [[ElementalPowers watercrafters]] who can restore soldiers with minor to moderate injuries to fighting condition in minutes. Later, when the Vord Queen herself infiltrates a Legion camp, she makes a beeline to the healer tents to raise some hell.
* Inverted in ''{{Literature/Twilight}}'' with Carlisle. The Quileute have a standing policy that he is the lowest priority target if the two groups should ever escalate to open war against each other.

** ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' attempted to rectify this problem by making clerics and their buffs less potent as a means to kill the enemy while giving clerics the power to heal '''multiple''' party members in a single round several times a day -- without using their spell slots. Assuming a 5th-level game, using your most powerful healing spell to heal one person for 18-19 (on average) may seem like a waste not only of your action, but of your very limited slots in the VancianMagic system of ''D&D 3.5''. In ''Pathfinder'', healing everyone for 10-11 with a power that doesn't eat up your spells (42 total in a 4 member party) is a lot more efficient. The larger the adventuring party, the more powerful and attractive this becomes. In a six member party, a 7th-level cleric could heal over 100 HP on average with a single channel. This becomes more useful if the GM is following "cinematic" logic, with enemies engaging more than one character at a time, or if they realize that CriticalExistenceFailure means smashing one guy down at a time makes more sense. Of course, cagey players can easily force monsters to not gang up on a single party member through maneuver and smart tactics. And cagey monsters can prevent the party from doing the same.

** Highlighted in the Faction Champions encounter of the "Trial of the Crusader" raid dungeon, when the players have to take on several members of the opposing faction in psuedo-PVP, Arena-style combat with some of the PVP mechanics -- making the opposing faction's healers the priority target.

** Subverted by the princess of Ironforge in Blackrock Depths. She would run around harassing your healer, and healing the crap out of Thaurissan. If you touched her at all -- damage, crowd control, stuns, mana burn, anything -- she wouldn't flag friendly after Thaurissan died and you [[{{Unwinnable}} couldn't complete the quest]] -- both her father Magni (questgiver for Alliance players) and Thrall (questgiver for Horde players) didn't want any harm to come to her. [[note]]And then sometimes she wouldn't flag friendly anyway, but that's [[GameBreakingBug something different]].[[/note]] So you had to just let her run around and try to [[MoreDakka burn the boss]] faster than she could heal him.

** Also, in ''VideoGame/SuikodenII'' the FinalBoss looks like a giant wolf with two heads. It has four attackable areas. Both heads and two legs. Throughout the whole battle, one of the legs will not do ANYTHING AT ALL, while the heads attack with physical and magic damage and the other leg deals out [[StandardStatusEffects debuffs]]. That is, until you have almost beaten the boss, and the passive leg will revive the other parts and heal them. Unless you have a godly party, the only thing you can do is reset and Kill The Medic First.

* Supplementary material for ''Literature/{{Worm}}'' mentions that, all parahuman threat ratings being equal, operatives are to target Thinkers first. Considering that they boast things like SuperSenses or precognition, this is justified. It is telling that, in a world with so many superpowers, two of the most feared parahumans are otherwise physically normal people who are top-tier Thinkers.

** In ''VideoGame/{{XCOM 2}}'' you should target ADVENT Shieldbearers first to bring down the DeflectorShields they will grant their allies.

* In ''[[Manga/DragonBall Dragon Ball Z]]'', during the battle against Freeza, he realizes that Dende was using his healing powers to keep the heroes in the fight. So immediately after completing his last [[OneWingedAngel transformation]] he promptly kills the little Namekian. It worked to his advantage, too, because the heroes, (specifically, the Saiyans Gohan and Vegeta) receive a power-up after recovering from serious injuries (an ability referred to as ''zenkai''.) If there were only one of them, they wouldn't be a threat. Two acting as a tag team, however, could convert it into a battle of attrition- one gets beat up and then the other keeps Frieza busy while Dende heals the downed Saiyan, and then they switch. Repeat until Zenkai boost makes one or both of them stronger than Freeza. And that's without considering that their primary objective was "survive until Goku recovers from his injuries and takes over the fight." Well, everyone except Vegeta's...

* Averting this has its reward in ''VideoGame/MegaManXCommandMission'', as leaving the enemy healer alive after all other enemies are gone nets you a 25% heal. Of course [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness after]] [[VideogameCrueltyPotential that]]...

* Palestinian terrorist groups have been [[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6079659052676503126&hl=en filmed]] using UN ambulances to transport uninjured gunmen, rifles, and rocket launchers throughout the Gaza Strip. UN spokespersons have claimed the drivers were forced to assist the terrorists, but UN ambulance drivers are required to report all such violations immediately to their superiors, and the drivers of the videotaped ambulances did not. Instead, the drivers insisted they were not coerced by terrorists in any way until after they were made aware of the existence of the videotape.

* ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}} II'', shamans and there's the unique shamans that can revive ''other'' shamans. This is why you should not only kill shamans first, but destroy their bodies immediately with a corpse vine, corpse explosion or get a frost spell kill so their body bursts into harmless ice cubes.

* The ideal strategy for fighting the Axem Rangers in VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG is to [[strike:kill]] ruin Pink's make-up first. She can heal, which pretty much sells her position as first to go down. The Strategy Guide even suggests this.

In RealLife war, [[TheMedic medics]] are supposed to be special: UsefulNotes/TheLawsAndCustomsOfWar, specifically the Geneva Convention, dictate that medical personnel are non-combatants and shooting one is a serious war crime. So is impersonating one so that the enemy won't shoot you. And it's just as illegal for a medic [[CombatMedic to shoot at you]] - while they have weapons to defend themselves with, the moment they initiate combat they are classed as combatants and can be freely shot at in response.

* ''[[Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry Star Trek VI]]'': The assassins who beam aboard ''Kronos One'' take out the Klingon surgeon before assassinating the Klingon Chancellor Gorkon, so that Gorkon can't receive medical care if he survives the assassination. He does, but the only medical attention Gorkon can receive is from Dr. [=McCoy=], who has no experience treating Klingons and is rather drunk from the state dinner earlier. Gorkon dies, and [=McCoy=] is charged with what [[ThreeDegreesOfMurder we'd essentially consider manslaughter]].

* Part of the reason you don't often see people solo-queuing as Support Champions in ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' is because of this trope. Pick someone like Soraka, Sona, or Karma? Then the smart players will focus on ''you'' just as much as they will someone who is inflicting a lot of damage. Expect for an Assassin to target them. Even some non-healing support champs can become targets, like Teemo (who has a lot of annoying debuffs and can do some serious damage with the right items).