Healer (video games)

A healer is a type of character class in gaming whose primary task is to heal an ally in combat. A healer is a type of spell-caster. The reason for a healer to be on a team is to take care of damage already dealt by enemy. Buffs and debuffs can help reduce the amount of damage that is dealt to all allies, thereby reducing the need to heal the team. But in situations where buffs are not option, or too much damage gets through for the buffs to be effective, it is necessary to have a healer on the team.

Abilities

Various types of healing abilities can exist in the same class. A heal can include any combination of these attributes.

Straight Heal, when the caster heals for a specific number of health points. Also referred to as a "direct heal".
Area of Effect, a heal which affects a specific radius from the caster. Can be exclusive to the team, or non-exclusive including the enemy if they are within range.
Conditional Heal, a heal when the amount of health points is dependent on some precondition. Conditions can include what the health percent of the particular individual was at, if they are attacking, if they are healing, or if they are under a certain buff or debuff effect.
Heal Over Time, a spell which will occur for a given amount of time, and will heal for a specific health points per second. If the spell can be removed, then the effect of the spell is removed. This spells name is often abbreviated to HOT as 'Damage Over Time' is abbreviated to DOT.
Point Blank, a heal which must be cast at touching distance from the person being healed.

MMORPGs

In City of Heroes, the Defender is a class which its primary task is to place buffs on the team. An empathy defender has skills which usually heal and heal over time spells.
In Guild Wars, the Monk is a class which its primary task is to protect the team. A monk can heal and buff by enchantments. A Ritualist can also heal, though is less used for this job than a monk.
In World of Warcraft, the Priest is a class with most of its abilities centered on healing. The Druid, Shaman and Paladin are also "hybrid" classes with both healing, melee and spellcasting capabilities.
In Final Fantasy XI, the White Mage and the Red Mage both have the ability to heal themselves and others.
In Lord of the Rings Online, while the role of primary healer is left to Minstrels, several other classes can heal themselves or others, such as Captains and Guardians. Lore-masters can also act effectively as healers at higher levels.
In Dofus, the Eniripsa class is the main healing class. This class also buffs/debuffs other team members or enemies. Other classes with limited healing (or self-healing) capabilities are Sacriers, Enutrofs, Sadidas and Cras.
In Eve Online, many ships will fit repair systems to heal themselves, but fleets tend to use dedicated support craft that can heal other ships.
In Runescape, a player using lunar magic can use straight and AoE heals, and players with a high enough hunter level can catch butterflys that can heal damage.
In the Fire Emblem games, the Cleric (female healer on foot), Troubadour (female mounted healer) and Priest (male healer on foot) classes use staves to heal others, but can't heal themselves and can't attack until promotion (to Bishop in the case of Clerics and Priests, or Valkyrie in the case of Troubadors). The Sage (promoted male and female anime magic users) and Druid (promoted male and female dark magic users) can also use healing staves.
In Ragnarok Online, the Acolyte job has basic healing and buffing skills. These skills can be furthered by progressing to Priest and later High Priest. However, all novices have access to a "First Aid" self-healing skill.
In MapleStory, the Cleric (second Job advancement), and eventually its later forms the Priest and Bishop, serve the role of the "healer" class. Their Heal skill can hit 6 targets (including the cleric), which could either be party members or Undead enemies.

Abilities

MMORPGs

See also