Why Defenders are better than Healers.
By
Airman_America,
Posted on: 2007-04-16 24:32 in Player Guides
Healing should not be used as a last resort, but as a part of a basket of mitigation tools. Healing is extremely powerful at low levels when buffs are much weaker and teams haven't built up their personal defenses.
The best teams have a combination of healing, defense, resistance, and debuffs. Singling healing out as somehow lesser is based on a silly defender prejudice built up based on people using the word healer.
The City of Heroes Community is a special one and I will always look fondly on my times arguing, discussing and playing with you all. Thanks and thanks to the developers for a special experience.
I won't completely disagree with that. It is more true at lower levels when the stronger buffs and debuffs are harder to find, which gives healing a greater subjective power at those levels. However, that doesn't last very long as you level further.
First I prefer to not be hit at all - Defense, Control, and Debuffs
Then I prefer to be hit less frequently - Control and Debuffs (ex: -recharge)
Then if I'm going to be hit, I prefer to be hit for less damage - Resistance and Debuffs
Then when all else has failed and I've been hit, and taken damage, THEN I want to be healed - Healing
Sooner or later, no matter what I do, I WILL BE HIT and TAKE DAMAGE and want - Healing.
So yes, healing is important, but it's also, to my mind, a last resort. I prefer to not be hit at all, or be hit for as little damage as possible first. If I'm hit as little as possible for as little damage as possible, then healing becomes less and less important.
I agree a good balance is the best answer.
A radiation defender is a good example of what I consider a near perfect balance. Rad has a good debuff that acts as defense, another debuff that acts as resistance, then a minor heal to patch up what gets between the two. A near perfect balance of defense/resist/healing. It also has considerable other utility, not mentioned. If only there was a buff set, instead of anchor based debuff set, with similar properties.
I'll give you an example of a place where you wouldn't heal as a last resort but a first.
In the kinetics set, ID is a very nice resistance buff. But it's a very short term buff and not the best idea to try and keep a group buffed unless that's all you want to do. However, between Transfusion and your early debuff Siphon Power, a Kinetics defender can be a very strong defender despite this set being know more for damage and end.
Here, Siphon Power isn't enough by itself. But a liberal use of *SHOCK* a heal, is in MANY ways the best way to mitigate.
Is healing always the best idea? No. Will it decrease in necessity as levels increase? Yes.
But it's not a last resort for everyone.
The City of Heroes Community is a special one and I will always look fondly on my times arguing, discussing and playing with you all. Thanks and thanks to the developers for a special experience.
well put mr gecko
sorry geko lol
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I'll give you an example of a place where you wouldn't heal as a last resort but a first.
In the kinetics set, ID is a very nice resistance buff. But it's a very short term buff and not the best idea to try and keep a group buffed unless that's all you want to do. However, between Transfusion and your early debuff Siphon Power, a Kinetics defender can be a very strong defender despite this set being know more for damage and end.
Here, Siphon Power isn't enough by itself. But a liberal use of *SHOCK* a heal, is in MANY ways the best way to mitigate.
Is healing always the best idea? No. Will it decrease in necessity as levels increase? Yes.
But it's not a last resort for everyone.
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Let me add one important point to what Evil said.
I have 2 builds with Kinetics in them. One is a Controller and the other is a Corruptor.
Last night I, as a 48 Corruptor, was teamed with a 50 Stone Brute. We had a team of 4, but, our sidekicks needed to attend to matters in real life. The 2 of us were left to face the next story in the Brute's arc... which had an AV (yes we were doing what hero's would call "invincible").
We were doing "ok". It was a long long fight and the damage was not so bad by this one to require heals for the most part. HOWEVER, and I am not sure why, except I had not played a kinetics in a while, I forgot a key aspect...
I started to hit heal as fast as it came up! I forgot... -REGEN!
When I started to do that his health went to "zippo" quickly and we won! WOW WE WON... and all thanks to that heal that is actually an attack!
Some Corruptor/Defender/Controller "heals" are far more than that. Keep that in mind always! O2 is not a joke, it's value is later and though it does not come as a power that requires a hit, it has a serious value in protecting against Sappers, Mu, and Carnies! Twilight Grasp is far more than the big heal it is, it seriously affects the targets accuracy.
That is why they can "miss" or "hit", or are so called "weak"... they are an attack with serious secondary effects that should be studied.
I am Airman America... Super Hero... and I approve this message!
First off, let me say this. I have a LOT of Defenders. I am a huge fan of Defenders. I have an Empathy/Energy/Power at lvl 50, a Kinetics/Radiation at 32, a Storm/Electric at lvl 33 and several others across a few servers.
When I play my Empath, I usually try to keep Fortitude up on as many people as I can (usually 3 without downtime). Why do I bring this up? Fortitude is one of those buffs that is from multiple sets of what Linea was saying. It raises your tohit, your damage, your defense and your resistance.
Why do I point out the obvious? Simple. When I put Fortitude on someone, I usually don't need to worry about their health unless we are either going against a LOT of enemies or are going against AVs. In those cases, I will usually put RAs out and put AB on the person who usually takes the most damage (tank who takes alpha for example). This keeps my hands free for blasting.
I think that the point that Linea was trying to make was that in the majority of the game (read past L20) the buffs/debuffs that Defenders/Corruptors/Controllers have are a lot stronger than the green numbers. They multiply your attack and defensive power and mitigate the need for having those green numbers. It is still good to have heals in reserve, but after L20 reliance on heals is a liability.
Lord knows if I'm going into the red on my Blaster, I like to get a heal, but I'd rather have a Fortitude so that I don't get into the red.
[u]Notes:[u]
The only thing I changed was the .05 to .10 for FF mitigation.
Healer - A character primarily tasked with healing others almost to the complete exclusion of any other role. Derived from the classic MMO Holy Trinity Team of (Damage Dealer/Healer/Tank).
Defender - City of Heroes Arch Type that includes Buffing, Debuffing, Damage Dealing, Controlling, Healing, and Other Utility capabilities.
Disclaimer - This is the simplified version for dummies. The real version is much more complicated and would take 30 to 300 written pages.
If you don't have anything constructive to say, don't say anything at all. I request that you refrain from the 6 of 7 pages of useless comments that this provoked in the defender forums. The other 1 page of comments were useful, Thanks.
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Simply put, defense, resistance, and controls are all multipliers, while healing is only additive.
Average Damage Taken = (Damage * ToHit_Defense * (1 - Resistance)) - Healing
ToHit (decimal) is very complicated, and I suggest you search for Arcana's Guide to Defense v1.4 - Updated for I7 , as a starter resource, If you're really interested. However you can estimate it very roughly as ToHit = (1 - (defense*2)). A single FF, Dark Miasma, or Storm defender can floor enemy tohit, while most other defender types can severely limit it.
Resistance (decimal) is easier, most damage debuffs or resistances can be added together directly. Then put into the equation. Sonics are the predominant resistance buffers, however most defenders have damage debuffs that weaken the enemy and result in the same end result.
Controls and self damage buffs are another complicated issue. Controls can often be considered as maximum defense over the short period of their duration. Self damage buffs however are very difficult to judge, but the faster something dies, the less damage it does to you. Death of your foes is the ultimate damage mitigator.
Example:
The average FF Bubbler will floor enemy tohit to 5%
The average Sonic Bubbler will raise resists to 53%
The average "Healer" will heal 200 to 400 dps (estimate)
(If) The Incoming Alpha damage from X mobs is 10000 with a sustained DPS of 1000
Now, you either need a granite tank with no aggro leaks or 3 healers to survive.
However, if you have the FF and the Bubbler ... incoming damage becomes....
10,000 * .10 * .46 = 460 alpha damage and 46 sustained dps.
There will of course be unlucky spikes in damage, and that's where your "healer" comes into play, as a last line of defense. Of course with incoming damage so low, your "healer" in this case could very easily be a blaster with aid other. While you may argue, but that's 3 defenders or 3 defenders ? Yes it is. But in the case of 3 "healers" there will be no time for offense left over and lucky hits will spike damage twice as high. While in the mixed defense/resist/heal version, all 3 defenders will have 90% of their time free to blast and add substantially to the offense of the group, as well as having lucky damage spikes only half as high as the "healer" version. The offense of the mixed group will be at least 40% greater than the "healer" group, and hence the experience/hour should be equally higher, making for an overall faster safer play experience.
Now consider if the incoming damage were that of an entire "suicide room" and 10 times higher.
You would now need 30 healers, if such a thing were even possible without you simply dieing before you can be healed.
However .... with defense and resistance buffs ...
100,000 * .10 * .46 = 4600 apha damage and 460 sustained dps.
Now a single tank of almost any flavor, or any distraction at all like a pet, to blunt the alpha, and between an FF and a Sonic Bubbler, a single "healer" can keep the entire group alive thru an attack that 30 some odd healers would not be able to otherwise survive. In this case, your "healer" could be most any combination of defender with the better healing capabilities. Dark, Kin, Rad, Emp would all do well. Tho in this extreme case the more limited single target heals and medicine pool would likely fail to bad luck and spike damage.
Healing is only additive, while defense, resistance, and controls are all multipliers.
While healing is a good and often necessary thing, it is not the end-all be-all of the defenders capabilities. Healing should NOT be relied upon exclusively, but should instead be considered a last resort after all else has failed.