Ahealer is a type ofcharacter class in videogaming. When a game includes ahealth game mechanic and multiple classes, often one of the classes will be designed around the restoration of allies' health, known as healing, in order to delay or prevent their defeat. Such a class can be referred to as a healer. In addition to healing, healer classes are sometimes associated withbuffs to assist allies in other ways, andnukes to contribute to the offense when healing is unnecessary.[1]
When both healer andtank classes exist, a common grouping strategy is for the healer to focus healing on an allied tank, while the tank prevents other allies, including the healer, from losing health.
Healers are often represented as a fantasy spell-caster (such as acleric,druid orshaman), a realistic combat specialist (such as amedic orpaladin), a science-fiction technician (such as a repairman or engineer), or the like. Often,female gamers are associated with or stereotyped as always playing healer-class characters, with such characters being noted as often female as well.[2][3]
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NetHack, a single-playerroguelike video game, first released in 1987 includes a description of healers in its accompanying guidebook. It states:
Healers are wise in medicine and apothecary. They know the herbs and simples that can restore vitality, ease pain, anesthetize, and neutralize poisons; and with their instruments, they can divine a being's state of health or sickness. Their medical practice earns them quite reasonable amounts of money, with which they enter the dungeon.[4]
Other early examples of video games with healers in them includeChrono Trigger (1995) andFinal Fantasy VII (1997). The former includes the characterMarle, who is portrayed as a water mage and performs healing functions.[5]Final Fantasy VII featured the magic-based characterAerith Gainsborough, who was able to restore chunks of health to the player's party. She would go on to become one of the more iconic healing characters in gaming.[6]Unreal Tournament (1999) included healing in multiplayer gameplay. Healers were a markedly important facet of gameplay in the 2004massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG)World of Warcraft.[7]America's Army: Rise of a Soldier (2005) rewarded players for healing teammates.[8]
Healers are often incorporated within the broader Support-class subset of characters in a game's playable roster. As such, healers and support characters are commonly associated with each other.[9][10]Valve'sTeam Fortress 2 (2007), afirst-person shooter (FPS) incorporated healers into gameplay. The game featured threesupport characters in general, with one being dedicated to solely healing.Team Fortress 2 featured competitive multiplayer, in which healer characters have been noted as vital in gameplay.[9][11] In such competitive multiplayer, healer-class players have been noted as an underappreciated.[9][11] Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (or MMORPGs) have been noted byPC Gamer to have a "usual problem of there being too few healers or tanks because most people want to be able to level and solo efficiently."[12] Some players have been documented to prefer selecting healer-class characters in competitive multiplayer modes, who have cited a desire to help teammates and a relative accessibility as reasons why.[11] Edwin Evans-Thirlwell ofThe Face wrote that "healer roles [in shooter games] stand out because they don't depend on hand-eye coordination, making them attractive both to players who find 'twitch-shooting' a turn-off and people with disabilities that affect their accuracy and reflexes."[11] In the 2010s, a community sprung up around the concept of "healslutting", which sees some players submit to others while role-playing a healer character.[3]
Multiplayer games featuring healing are not limited by genre, as the class is present in a variety of genres includingrole-playing games (RPG),first-person shooters (FPS), andmultiplayer online battle arenas (MOBA).[9][11]
A healer is generally tasked with restoring health, removing poison-like effects, and reviving fallen party members. Different games may include different mechanics, such as the ability to deal damage or to enhance theattributes of their allies. Healers require a degree ofsituational awareness, as well as resource management in regards to their kit.[11] In shooters, healing abilities, such as throwable health packs typically aim themselves. However, there are examples of healer characters that do require shooting finesse, such asAna ofOverwatch, who is equipped with ahypodermic rifle.[11]
In parties that include both a tank and a healer, it is customary for the latter to heal any damage taken by the former.[7] In small groups, they may also be tasked to heal the group as well, but inlarge scale group-play there are typically specific healers assigned to party-wide damage (typically taken indirectly, via lesser minions, spells or environment/habitat of the boss).[citation needed]
Healers fall into two major categories when it comes to targeting options: Single-Target and Multi-Target.
Single-Target healers often have much more potent spells than their Multi-Targeting counterparts, such as those that fully restore a target's Health or resurrect an ally that had previously lost all their Health.
Multi-Target healers tend to lack potency, but heal multiple allies (often the entireParty) with abilities. InTactical RPGs or open-world games, their spells may utilize anArea of Effect (AoE) mechanic. Healers that fall into this sub-type often do not possess resurrection spells.
Healers often do not utilise only one targeting system. Targeting options tend to depend on the skill rather than the character.
Healers have a small number of roles that they can be delegated towards. Often, a healer will fill one or more of these roles. Alternatively, a healer may fill one of these roles in addition to some other job, such as damage dealing (Battle Cleric, Druid), inflicting negative statuses on enemies (Witch/Warlock), or even drawing in damage (Paladin).
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