Enantiodromos' Guide
to Being a Healer
in City of Heroes
CAN I ASK ON THE FORUMS ABOUT THIS?
You can, BUT...
This is an unusual introductory section for a guide, but it's worth mentioning that you should be wary of asking on the forums about this. The reasons are complex and, if you're genuinely interested in the topic rather than getting up the dander of crotchety forum regulars, you're probably better off reading this FAQ and *not* asking general questions in the forums about "Healers."
WHAT IS 'HEALER?'
Liking to use powers that heal is great, and there're a number of sets that give you the opportunity to do it as one of several very effective contributions your character can make to a team-- Dark Miasma, Kinetics, Radiation, and Empathy.
But if by 'Healer' you mean you're going to build a character that's going to heal primarily or exclusively, that's where you may run into trouble. First off, know that building a character purely for concept, so long as you know the game well enough to know how limiting such a concept is, is fine-- you may run into people that don't want to play with you because of your limitations, but that's only what you'd expect.
Second, I gather there are other MMOs in which characters dedicated to healing are a priority. That idea is not useful when understanding what you want to play in CoH, because those MMOs are not, in fact, CoH.
Now, about the term 'healer.' It could be used to describe anybody who heals at all. But that's pretty silly usage, since everybody with aid self would then be a 'healer.' It could also be used to describe a character who is dedicated primarily or exclusively to healing. But as a matter of fact, there is no build in the game that can take more than five heals, and you're going to have to put 24 powers in your build, including a sixth power by level 8. There really are no builds in City of Heroes that can rely on 5 powers over a career, and contribute to a team in a satisfactory way. There simply is no right answer to how to play or build a character in City of Heroes that focuses exclusively on Healing-- such a character is grossly ineffective, and will not be acceptable to other players in team play, unless they really just don't know much about the game. Doing so for any reason other than pure concept would be a complete waste of your time, and so would this guide if I allowed you to go away with the impression that such a character is playable.
WHAT BUILD?
If you've decided that the idea you're going to form the rest of your build around is having some healing powers, the next steps are to decide which set with heals you want to play, and which AT you want to play it with.
Every set that contains heals is a complex beast, and you should research each of the six, Kinetics, Radiaiton, Empathy, Dark Miasma, Storm Summoning, and Thermal, carefully. Here're a few initial notes:
Empathy: Empathy has more heals than any other single set, some great endurance boosts, a good regeneration buff, and some other great single target buffs. Empathy can't draw any aggro and is great for duoing and trioing. It's heals include two single-target heals, and a self-centered AoE heal (with no hit check).
Kinetics: Involves a lot of recharge and damage buffing in addition to it's heal, Transfusion, which is an enemy-targeted AoE; you'll need lots of accuracy for this one, and will be especially effective at supporting melee types-- scrappers and tanks.
Dark Miasma: Dark Miasma is a mixed bag of tricks, with some very strong controls. It also *CANNOT* be played with a controller primary, unfortunately. With strong controls, accuracy debuffs, and a pet of its own, it's an unusual and effective choice. It's heal is a self-centered AoE, but it does require a hit check on a badguy to go off.
Radiation: Radiation has a number of powerful toggle debuffs, not always easy to keep up in a reckless team. Its heal is probably not the strongest, and is an AoE around yourself. It requires no hit check on anybody though.
Storm Summoning: Storm summoning is a powerful set strong in a variety of areas-- resistacne and defense debuff, slow, knockback + pushback, and even damage. It has a heal that in fact also gives resistance to sleep and endurance drain. However, the heal is relatively weak, and Storm is probably not the set to choose if heals really excite you.
Thermal:Thermal is a broadly effective defensive set, with some respectable foe debuffs and aggressive-oriented ally buffs as well. It has a PBAoE and a ST Ranged heal.
WHAT ARCHETYPE?
You have a choice between two options, now.
Defender: Defenders get powers from the "healing" set faster, though the heals themselves are usually very early powers, so this doesn't make a lot of difference with re: healing. Defenders also have blast powers. Do you want to actively fight at range in addition to healing? You want a Defender.
Controller: Controllers' primary is full of "controls," powers that stop badguys in their tracks and hurt them a little bit, mostly for the purpose of making fights safer. What to defend teammates more? You want a Controller.
WHAT OTHER SET?
If you choose to be a controller, you have to choose one of seven primaries-- gravity, fire, mind, illusion, ice, earth, and plant. You need to research these for yourself, but a few things to note that might be relevant to building a character that does a lot of healing:
Some heals-- Empathy and Radiation, are team 'defenses' that draw no aggro; if drawing very little aggro appeals to you, there're two sets that particularly excel in minimal personal aggro; Mind (Confuse, Mass Hypnosis, Mass Confusion) and Illusion (Deceive, Superior Invisibility, Group Invisibility).
Some controller sets are more strictly defensive than others. If you chose a controller in order to defend a team, and want even more ability to do so, the most intensely defensive controller sets are Ice and Earth.
Also, it may be worth noting that there's one power in the control sets that actually lets you increase ally regen rate-- which is a lot like healing. Plant has Spirit Tree-- and if you're really dedicated to healing & similar, this is one more way to basically do it.
If you choose to be a defender, you have to choose one of six blasts: energy, electric, sonic, radiation, psi, dark, archery. Again, you should research them individually, but in general:
Energy blasts have some knockback components that can be useful defending yourself and others from meleeing mobs.
Electric blasts tend to drain enemy endurance a little.
Sonic blasts tend to reduce enemy resistance.
Radiation blasts tend to increase your chance of hitting enemies you've already hit.
Psi blasts tend to slow enemies a little bit, and have some nice controls.
Enantiodromos' Guide
to Being a Healer
in City of Heroes
CAN I ASK ON THE FORUMS ABOUT THIS?
You can, BUT...
This is an unusual introductory section for a guide, but it's worth mentioning that you should be wary of asking on the forums about this. The reasons are complex and, if you're genuinely interested in the topic rather than getting up the dander of crotchety forum regulars, you're probably better off reading this FAQ and *not* asking general questions in the forums about "Healers."
WHAT IS 'HEALER?'
Liking to use powers that heal is great, and there're a number of sets that give you the opportunity to do it as one of several very effective contributions your character can make to a team-- Dark Miasma, Kinetics, Radiation, and Empathy.
But if by 'Healer' you mean you're going to build a character that's going to heal primarily or exclusively, that's where you may run into trouble. First off, know that building a character purely for concept, so long as you know the game well enough to know how limiting such a concept is, is fine-- you may run into people that don't want to play with you because of your limitations, but that's only what you'd expect.
Second, I gather there are other MMOs in which characters dedicated to healing are a priority. That idea is not useful when understanding what you want to play in CoH, because those MMOs are not, in fact, CoH.
Now, about the term 'healer.' It could be used to describe anybody who heals at all. But that's pretty silly usage, since everybody with aid self would then be a 'healer.' It could also be used to describe a character who is dedicated primarily or exclusively to healing. But as a matter of fact, there is no build in the game that can take more than five heals, and you're going to have to put 24 powers in your build, including a sixth power by level 8. There really are no builds in City of Heroes that can rely on 5 powers over a career, and contribute to a team in a satisfactory way. There simply is no right answer to how to play or build a character in City of Heroes that focuses exclusively on Healing-- such a character is grossly ineffective, and will not be acceptable to other players in team play, unless they really just don't know much about the game. Doing so for any reason other than pure concept would be a complete waste of your time, and so would this guide if I allowed you to go away with the impression that such a character is playable.
WHAT BUILD?
If you've decided that the idea you're going to form the rest of your build around is having some healing powers, the next steps are to decide which set with heals you want to play, and which AT you want to play it with.
Every set that contains heals is a complex beast, and you should research each of the six, Kinetics, Radiaiton, Empathy, Dark Miasma, Storm Summoning, and Thermal, carefully. Here're a few initial notes:
WHAT ARCHETYPE?
You have a choice between two options, now.
WHAT OTHER SET?
If you choose to be a controller, you have to choose one of seven primaries-- gravity, fire, mind, illusion, ice, earth, and plant. You need to research these for yourself, but a few things to note that might be relevant to building a character that does a lot of healing:
Some heals-- Empathy and Radiation, are team 'defenses' that draw no aggro; if drawing very little aggro appeals to you, there're two sets that particularly excel in minimal personal aggro; Mind (Confuse, Mass Hypnosis, Mass Confusion) and Illusion (Deceive, Superior Invisibility, Group Invisibility).
Some controller sets are more strictly defensive than others. If you chose a controller in order to defend a team, and want even more ability to do so, the most intensely defensive controller sets are Ice and Earth.
Also, it may be worth noting that there's one power in the control sets that actually lets you increase ally regen rate-- which is a lot like healing. Plant has Spirit Tree-- and if you're really dedicated to healing & similar, this is one more way to basically do it.
If you choose to be a defender, you have to choose one of six blasts: energy, electric, sonic, radiation, psi, dark, archery. Again, you should research them individually, but in general:
Energy blasts have some knockback components that can be useful defending yourself and others from meleeing mobs.
Electric blasts tend to drain enemy endurance a little.
Sonic blasts tend to reduce enemy resistance.
Radiation blasts tend to increase your chance of hitting enemies you've already hit.
Psi blasts tend to slow enemies a little bit, and have some nice controls.
Dark blasts tend to reduce enemy ability to hit you and your teammates, and have some decent area controls. Probably the best set if you want to defend your team with your blasts.
Choosing a Controller V2 | Splattrollers | Plant/Rad | Fire/Storm | Mind/Emp & Mind/Rad
Weird Controller Powers | Conf & XP/Time | Controller Damage
Being a Healer | The word Necessary | Natural Concept Characters