Healer

Healers are one of the basic roles available in DCUO. Their main task is ensuring that the rest of their group stays alive.

=Healing Role=

In order to acquire the Healing Role, you must select either Nature, Sorcery or Electricity as your power set. Once you reach level 10, you will automatically acquire the Healing Role. When in this role, your damage potential diminishes to 65% but your healing abilities are increased 100%.

All bonuses from Weapon Trees stack regardless of what weapon is geared at the time. After level 10 training in multiple Skill Trees becomes open.

=Stats= In order of importance for stats are:
 * 1) Restoration
 * 2) Critical Healing Magnitude
 * 3) Critical Heal Chance
 * 4) Power
 * 5) Critical Heal Effect
 * 6) Health

All other stats have next to no benefit for any healer.

Restoration
Provides 1% increase to base heal per 4 points. A weapon skill with 45 points provides 11.25% increase to base heal. For example, if you have a base heal of 200 points and 400 Restoration, you would see a heal of 300 (200+100%).

Critical Healing Chance
A direct increase to your healing ability, as calculated after Restoration, it increases your output by 50%. In other words, a 100 point heal becomes 150 points. Obviously, the more healing you have from Restoration, the more direct benefit you get from Critical Chance. This has no value past 100% though it is currently impossible to reach this number - 14% appears to be the maximum attainable, plus any found on equipment or ability benefits.

Power
The amount of energy you have to use abilities. Without investing here, you will only be able to cast 4-6 abilities before needing to refill.

Critical Healing Effect
Adds a bonus to critical heals. Investment here is entirely dependent on your critical heal chance. The lower your chance, the lower value for this stat. The bonus is additive to the critical bonus so that 40% Critical Healing Effect translates into a 90% bonus to your heal on a critical, since your base is 50% bonus. The current maximum appears to be 56%, minus any found on equipment or ability benefits

Health
As with all classes, this is very important. Increase your health up to 2,500 HP or more. If you die, don't worry just come back and try again, but keep an eye on your armor, if it breaks then repair it.

Critical Chance vs Critical Effect
There is a debate as to which is better and that depends on what statistics you have. The game seems to provide a basic ratio between critical chance and critical effect of 1:4, as clearly seen in the Weapon skills and theoretical maximums. When we try to compare both, we'll keep this ratio in mind.

Let's say you have a 100 point basic heal and a basic 10% chance to critically heal - for an average of 105. Getting an extra 10% critical chance means 1 in 5 spells heals for 150 - or an average of 110. Getting an extra 40% (the 1:4 ratio mentioned above) will allow 1 in 10 spells to heal for 190 - or an average of 109. The extra Critical Chance is a near linear gain on your heals. Each Critical Chance % increases your damage by 0.5%. Critical Effect is non-linear, since it depends on your basic critical chance. It works out to be your critical chance % multiplied by your effect. In the previous case, 10% of 40 is 4.

At maximums of 14% chance and 56% effect and a base of 100 points healed, your average heal comes to about 223.

=Powers=



Nature
See Also: List of Nature Powers

Nature focuses on Healing over Time (HoT) spells and Shield spells to avoid damage. At level 30, you will have enough points to go into both aspects of your Power source, though with the ability to queue only 6 skills and overlap between them, you won't find huge benefits in doing so.

Several Nature powers release Pheromones that provide Healing Over Time (HoT) while Blossom Consumes all Pheromones in an area for a Large Heal.

Plants
The passive benefit for specializing in Plants is 2% critical healing chance.
 * Blossom - Heals the lowest hit point person in the group that is within range. Consumes Pheromones.
 * Bloom - Heals yourself and the group. Releases Pheromones.
 * Cross Pollination - Acts as a reverse chain heal, where the healing effect is larger the more targets it hits. Releases Pheromones in Healer role.
 * Savage Growth - Releases Pheromones in Healer role.
 * Harvest - Releases Pheromones in Healer role.

Shapeshifting
The passive benefit for specializing in Shapeshifting is 5% critical healing effect.
 * Metabolism - Increases Healing over Time for you and the team. Releases Pheromones.
 * Regeneration - Regenerates health and power for you and your group (50% supercharge)
 * Insectoid Form - Transform into a flying insect with greater healing skill and decreased damage output.
 * Hive Mind - Dramatically increases might and healing ability for you and your group.
 * Swarm Shield - Casts a protective shield on you and your group that prevents damage equal to 125% of your Restoration.



Sorcery
See Also: List of Sorcery Powers

Sorcery focuses on direct healing and area effect healing.

The Destiny tree produces the Golden Soul effect which increases your critical heal chance by 10%. It also produces the Bad Karma effect, which causes the affected enemy to heal their attacker.

Summoning grants the Red Soul effect which only really affects one healing ability. You can only have 1 soul active at a time. Since you have enough points to go into both trees, it's important to manage which souls you are using at a given time.

Destiny
The passive benefit for specializing in Destiny is 5% critical healing effect.
 * Rejuvenate - Heals the lowest hit point person in the group that is within range. Grants Golden Soul.
 * Invocation of Renewal - Heals you and up to 7 other players. Grants Golden Soul. Heals the same amount as Rejuvenate, per target.
 * Circle of Destiny - Casts a healing effect area that heals all members within it over time.
 * Arbiter of Destiny - Gives you near infinite power but reduces movement speed and does not allow weapon usage. Provides a new Powerset that you need to configure. You can only use Destiny powers and this effect lasts 22 seconds.
 * Shared Fate - Heals allies in Healer role.

Summoning
The passive benefit for specializing in Summoning is 2% critical healing chance.
 * Soul Well - Summons a well that heals nearby players when targets die. Grants Red Soul upon target death.
 * Summon Watcher - A robot ally that will heal your group as long as it's alive. Heals for 250-300 but does not increase in power.
 * Transcendence - Regain health and power over time for you and your group. Requires 50% Supercharge to work. Heals for a lot per second and about 50 power per second. Lasts 8 seconds.
 * Sacrificial Offering - Heals other players over time, sacrificing your own health. Heals for the same as Rejuvenate, per player. Does not consume health if Red Soul is active. Restores power to summoned pets.
 * Life Element - Summon a crystal that when destroyed grants a healing aura to nearby players. Heals the same amount as Rejuvenate, per player.
 * Boon of Souls - Cast a protection shield on you and your group that prevents damage equal to 125% of your Restoration.



Electricity
See Also: List of Electricity Powers

Electricity has two emergency Healing abilities that only kick in when the Health of a group member falls below 35%.

Voltage
Specializing in Voltage grants +1% critical attack chance and +2% critical healing chance.
 * Bioelectric Surge - Restores Health to yourself and one group member.
 * Electrogenesis - Applies an Aura to yourself and one nearby ally that provides Heals over time to any allies (NPC or player) in range.
 * Ionic Drain - Provides a Large Group Heal at the end of the cast time.
 * Arc Lightning - Bolt that may jump from enemies to allies for a Heal.
 * Electroburst - Heals allies if nearby opponents are electrified.
 * Group Transducer - Group Shield that provides Heals upon enemy attacks

Amperage
Specializing in Amperage grants +5% critical attack damage and +5% critical healing magnitude.
 * Bio-Capacitor - Restores Health to yourself and one group member. Places emergency healing charges on 3 group members that will heal if Health drops below 35%.
 * Galvanize - Provides large Area of Effect (AoE) heal that provides heals over time.
 * Invigorate - Group Heal that places emergency healing charges on 7 group members that will reimburse them if Health drops below 35%.

Iconic Powers
There are two tiers of Iconic Powers available, those that unlock at level 10 and are usable abilities and those that unlock at level 22 and are passive bonuses. The active ones do not provide healing benefits. The passive ones are best acquired in the order below:
 * 1) Empathic Healing: 3% increase to Critical Healing Chance
 * 2) Wisdom of Solomon: 50 Vitalization & 100 Power
 * 3) Miracle Worker: 10% increase to Critical Healing Effect

Power Management
Most abilities actively require Power in order to use them. All alone, you will likely have enough power to use at most 6-7 skills before you empty out. If you don't have an ability to heal, you can always use a Healing Canister. They are often found around bosses for just this reason. In order to acquire more Power there are 3 options:

Drinking Soda
This is by far the most costly method but it allows you to regain a significant amount of power in short order. It is a great option in emergencies.

Group with a Controller
Controllers have innate abilities that will restore power to you or to your group. They won't give you infinite power but it should be more than enough to keep full if the group is paying attention.

Build your Combo Hit Meter
The higher your Combo Hit Meter, the faster you will regenerate Power. Dual Pistol's Full Auto, Bow's Flurry Shot and Hand Blaster's Pulse Beam are easy to use attacks that quickly build up the meter.

=Skills= Given that a healer's power regeneration is directly linked to their Combo Hit Meter, the faster the weapon, the better. In addition, since most enemies move around and deal area damage, you want to be as far away from them as possible, while still being in range of the area effect spells you cast. All weapons have a ranged mode but few have very quick attacks.

As you can see, all skills provide benefits to healers in one form or another. Since fast attacks and Restoration are valuable, Dual Pistols is the optimum weapon skill for healers.

Movement Skills provide no direct benefits to Healers as they require Supercharge, which can be best used elsewhere.

=Strategies=

Leveling a Healer
You have two main options when leveling, either solo or group play. A healer can solo play easily as a DPS with some healing skills, though you will need to respec once you approach level 30, in order to re-distribute your skills. Up until that respec, select any abilities you wish and the weapon style you enjoy the most.

Real group play doesn't start until level 9 and your first alert. Waiting until level 10 and acquiring your healer role is a better option. At this point, you will level solely in Alerts until level 30 and having a plan for your skills will save you a respec later on in levels. This will mean point hoarding until you reach the appropriate level to spend them and a lack of DPS ability. This can hinder you during the time you are waiting to enter an instance but is quite manageable. Once in the group play, make sure you are in the Healer stance (default T button to switch).

PvP play is another option that is available to level. It requires a more defensive play style and situational awareness. You never want to be alone, so you will find yourself typically following 1-2 other players around on the map. Staying close to melee range means you are a less vulnerable target.

Nature Healing
Always in Insect Form unless you need to move or deal damage. Blossom is your basic heal to top a single target. Cross Pollination is best used when the group is close together, too spread out and you lose a lot of healing power. Metabolism is a good group heal that should be used frequently, when you have over 80% power. Hive Mind should be used in conjunction with another group skill, such as Metabolism to quickly heal the group or Regeneration (requires 50% Supercharge) to quickly boost everyone's health and power.

Keep an eye out for Healing Barrels and try to get your Combo Hit Meter above 20 to increase your Power regeneration.

Sorcery Healing
The main issue here is ensuring you have Golden Soul active instead of Red Soul. That 10% bonus to critical healing chance is very good and Red Soul only affects 1 skill. Rejuvenate is the basic heal to top off members. Circle of Destiny should always be used when the group is going to be standing still for more than 10 seconds and on every boss. Be sure to be standing in range as well to get the healing effects. Invocation of Renewal takes a while to cast and is best used when the entire group is in range of you. Arbiter of Destiny allows you to spam your healing spells for a short period. The Summoned Watcher heals for good amounts but is incredibly fragile. Soul Well combined with Circle of Destiny gives out a ton of healing for little power but requires everyone to be in range. Sacrificial Offering should only be used if you have Red Soul active and therefore aren't casting Destiny spells.

Keep an eye out for Healing Barrels and try to get your Combo Hit Meter above 20 to increase your Power regeneration.

=Healing Formulas= Since Restoration is the only stat that affects base healing (Might affects damage dealing abilities), the basic damage modifier is M=(Restoration/4)/100. With 700 Restoration, you have M=1.75

Sorcery
=Things to Note= You cannot target a healing spell, the game automatically heals the appropriate person, depending on the situation. All heals require Line of Sight to take effect. Someone who is rolling, behind a pillar, a box, an enemy or otherwise un-targetable will use up your healing spell and power but not get healed. In practical terms, this works out to be about 10% of all heals.

Single Target Heals
These will typically target the person with the lowest hit points, in range. If the person is in range but not targetable, you will still cast the heal but no heal will take effect. You can usually address this by getting closer to the action or flying above it. Be warned that flying makes you a target and once grounded, you lose a few seconds of action and any combo you might have had.

Group Target Heals
These work very similar to single target heals. Rarely will you hit everyone that is in range due to line of sight, so it's best if the group is aware that they need to stick close together and not roll away when in dire need of a heal.

Area Effect Heals
If you have nothing targeted, then the spell will be cast at your feet. You can un-target someone by pressing "c". If you have someone targeted, it will put the effect at their feet. This is very effective when dealing with a boss but odds are it will not affect ranged group members. It is up to them to move into range of the effect once they see it.

PVP Flag preventing healing
If one of your teammate has his PVP flag on you will not be able to heal him while he has this flag (or until you activate yours). This prevent exploits on PVE server where a healer would be able to heal in PVP without being targetable... Many healer complains about broken healing, but often it is a PVP flag that has been activated.