This guide is not about how to slot your powers or how to pick a secondary power or the description of each power or how to solo in the game. This guide is purely an opinion on how to play as an empathy defender.
What is an empathy defender?
All they have to do is heal right? Yes, they are awesome healers. But they do other things, and a good empath will do those other things. An empathy defender is an archetype that is often overlooked on a team.. the often unnoticed little contributions that many teams take for granted. Did you have a great tank in your Statesman’s Task Force? Well, who was the one that kept Ghost Widow from spinning him in the air? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think empaths are the greatest Archetype, but they shouldn‘t be thought of as only “healers“. This is probably the main difference between a good empath and a bad one.
What is NOT an empathy defender?
An empathy defender is not a controller who has empathy as a secondary power nor is it the opposite of a pain domination corruptor.
Why make an empathy defender?
When I first started playing City of Heroes, I made a scrapper and a blaster. But with my inexperience in CoH (and mmorpg‘s in general), they both died a lot. So I tried an empathy defender as my third character who turned out to be my first character to reach level 50. An empathy defender doesn’t attract a lot of attention from enemy mobs, and getting on lowbie teams is quite easy. So, I was able to hone my CoH skills better since I wasn’t dying as much. If you are new to the game, you may want to first play as a defender of some type since I think it’s easier to get on teams (at lower levels), thus giving you more experience on gameplay, and they can be fairly survivable if you focus on the team rather than the enemy mobs.
Why make this guide?
There are too many empathy defenders out there who are just plain horrible, and they are giving all empaths a bad name. Too often in the City of Heroes game you will see a request for a “healer”. Now, in my opinion, that could mean any archetype that have the ability to heal other players, i.e. radiation emission, dark miasma, thermals, etc. But, I’m guessing that most people who request a healer, are talking about an empath… a good empath. As a result, it seems that many players decided to create an empathy defender. Unfortunately, with all of the power leveling, many people don’t know how to play as an empath, and thus, creating a lot of grief for teams who were expecting an experienced empathy defender.
This guide will focus solely on team play. [Therefore, all of the secondary powers for the empathy defender in this guide are obsolete.*] If you decide to create an empathy defender as a solo character, then you will want to create it your own way. But these are basic rules that all empathy defenders should follow when they are on a team.
*That is, I will not disucuss which secondary powers are the best for the empathy defender. There are arguments to be made for controls, debuffs, or damage using secondary powers of the defender. But, this guide will only discuss the PRIMARY POWERSET for the EMPATHY DEFENDER. Obviously, if you are on a team with all empathy defenders, then during a mob fight, everyone would only be healing/buffing each other and no one would be doing any damage. It would be like a group of 8 pacifists charging into a group of gangbangers. Of course having offensive powers are important in the game, but THIS ARTICLE is only about the primary empathy powerset.
TEAM PLAY
Although, the empathy defender does more than just heal, it is nevertheless the best “healer” in the game. It’s just that the heals are what players notice the most. Since most of the empath’s powers are team targeted, an empath works best with a team. With that in mind, if you plan on creating an empath, you need to remember your archetype is designed for a team. The secondary power is your choice for solo play, but for a team you are first and foremost an empath. On a side note, it is completely legitimate to solo with an empath, but logically, an empath was not meant to be a solo archetype. With the additions made from Issue 17: Dark Mirror, defenders can solo more easily. But again, an empath’s primary purpose is to ASSIST THE TEAM.
Rule #1: Prevention with Clear Mind
An empathy defender, like all defenders, should be doing what they were named for… defending. Empathy in CoH is like medicine in the real world. The best medicine is preventive medicine. Example: You have a radiation emission player on your team and they are debuffing the crap out of a bad guy. What happens when they get mezzed? All of their toggles drop and the bad guy is no longer debuffed. Clear Mind is probably the number one empathy power that gets under-utilized with inexperienced players. Empaths need to distribute clear mind to all other defenders and controllers on the team so those players can do their thing without worrying about being held or stunned. Clear Mind has a low endurance cost, high recharge rate, it lasts for 90 seconds, and it’s stackable. It also increases perception. A good empathy defender will make sure all defenders, controllers, and blasters on the team have Clear Mind at all times. Tankers and Scrappers normally have their own mez protection, so you won’t need to worry about them unless they are a lowbie, or fighting someone like Ghost Widow.
Rule #2: Buff with Fortitude and Adrenaline Boost
Fortitude is probably the third most important power of an empath after the heals and Clear Mind. It gives one player a boost to damage, tohit, and defense. Fortiude should only be used on scrappers and blasters. At lower levels, you may want to consider using it on a tank as well. Unenhanced, the recharge rate is 60 seconds and it lasts for 120 seconds, so any two players can have permanent Fortitude on them. With enhancements, four or more players can have Fortitude on them at all times. And just like clear mind, it should be constantly distributed, but mainly on your blasters and scrappers. At lower levels, if your tank seems to need it, then make sure the tank always has Fortitude. If your team doesn’t have any scrappers or blasters, then just distribute Fortitude to whoever is the designated meat shield.
Adrenaline Boost is like a gift from the empathy gods. This power gives a single player a huge boost to their regeneration, endurance recovery, recharge rate, and also provides resistance to slow effects. The downside is that it takes 5 minutes for the power to recharge. So whoever you decide to give this power to had better be worth it. Usually, this power is given to someone who seems to be hurting with their endurance recovery. But, it can also be given to the tank or designated meat shield of the team. Adrenaline Boost is really a power reserved for specific situations. Stone Armor tanks with Granite will benefit from this power because of the recharge rate boost. But, it’s most needed for dramatic battles against Arch-Villains like Lord Recluse or the Hamidon.
Rule #3: Be efficient with heals
Don’t bother using Healing Aura unless teammates are losing health. It’s very annoying to see an empathy defender spam Healing Aura. Certain situations may require you to spam Healing Aura , like on the Mother Ship Raids in the Rikti War Zone. Otherwise, be efficient with your heals. Stay close to the “squishies” (defenders, controllers, blasters) on your team. They should be at range, as should you, and if any of you get hit, then use Healing Aura. It has a radius of 25 feet and heals for about 10% to 15% (about 134 hit points unenhanced at level 50).
Heal Other and Absorb Pain are mainly for your melee teammates (tanks and scrappers). You can use it on anyone, but the tank or meat shield on your team is the primary target. Use Heal Other when you see someone’s health at about 75%. It has about twice as much healing power as Healing Aura. If the tank doesn’t get hit hard, then more than likely, he will recover health on his own. If you have a tank and a scrapper on your team and they both get damaged, then heal the tank first with Heal Other. The recharge rate is pretty fast so you can heal the scrapper fairly quickly after you heal the tank.
Absorb Pain should only be used for those “Oh S**t!” moments. When you see someone’s health bar flashing red, then use Absorb Pain quickly. This power heals 2.5 times more than Heal Other, but the recharge rate is slow, you lose a small portion of your own health, and no one can heal you, not even yourself, for 20 seconds. So only use Absorb Pain when you see someone in dire need.
Rule #4: Be efficient with Auras
Recovery and Regeneration Auras (RAs) need to be treated like gold. The main reason is because without any enhancements their recharge rate is over 8 minutes! The best time to use these powers are right before a big battle (against an Arch-Villain, Elite Boss, Giant Monster, etc.). Make sure you let the team know when you are going to cast this power. Give them about 3 to 4 seconds to get near you. They shouldn’t be too far from the team anyway, but sometimes they don’t see your message right away. The most important thing is to announce to the team that you are about to cast Recovery Aura and/or Regeneration Aura. I prefer to use this power right before a battle, or during a battle. The absolute worst time to use these powers is after a mob of enemies has already been defeated.
Rule #5: Dealing with morons on your team
Okay, maybe these players aren’t morons, but you are bound to team with people who aren’t team players or are very inexperienced. The best thing to do is just ignore them. Example: Your team is moving along smoothly and one player decides to run ahead alone and solo a mob of enemies. That’s fine if they are capable of it. But if they are not, then don’t bother trying to run after them. If they are running low on health or you weren’t able to give them Clear Mind or Fortitude, then don’t worry about it. You should not leave your teammates to have to track down one player who decided to go solo. Let them do their own thing. If they prefer to go off and do the solo thing, then focus on the team. If they end up dying, then let them rot for a while. You can use Resurrect on them later during your own time. Another example: You have a tank and a squishy on your team. The squishy decides to run in and melee an enemy before the tank grabs aggro. If both the tank and squishy need heals, then focus on the tank first.
Eventually, these people will learn how to play their characters with a team. Remember, you are a team-oriented empathy defender. You should not have to worry about babysitting players who don't want to work as a team. Most likely, they won't need your empathy powers anyway, so don't worry about them.
Rule #6: Inspirations
An empathy defender needs to have a good supply of “break free” inspirations. You have little to no protection against mez attacks. If you don’t have a lot of them with you, then use them once you get mezzed. If you have a lot of them with you, then you may want to consider using them before a battle starts, especially against mez heavy enemies such as the Carnival of Shadows. Break Frees not only protect you from mez attacks, but also from knockback. You teammates should not have to worry about carrying their own Break Frees since you have the power of Clear Mind.
Summary
1. Use your empathy powers for prevention first and treatment second.
2. Use Clear Mind primarily on defenders, controllers, and blasters.
3. Use Fortitude primarily on scrappers and blasters.
4. Focus your Heal Other power on the tank/meat shield and melee players.
5. Use Absorb Pain and Adrenalin Boost wisely.
6. Use your heals efficiently.
7. Make an announcement to the team before using Recovery/Regeneration Aura.
8. Don’t waste your powers on teammates who want to solo.
To be a good empathy defender, you need to realize that they do more than just heal. You are kind of like the health insurance for the team. Health insurance providers don’t want bad stuff to happen because it's expensive. So you provide Clear Mind and Fortitude and RAs to prevent the bad stuff. But if things do go horribly wrong, you are there to provide Healing Aura and Absorb Pain and Resurrect to help ease the minds of your teammates.
