Healer (video games)

Healers are often represented as a fantasy spell-caster (such as a cleric, druid or shaman), a realistic combat specialist (such as a medic or paladin), a science-fiction technician (such as a repairman or engineer), or the like.

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.

[5] Final Fantasy VII featured the magic-based character Aerith Gainsborough, who was able to restore chunks of health to the player's party.

Healers were a markedly important facet of gameplay in the 2004 massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft.

[9][11] Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (or MMORPGs) have been noted by PC 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 of The 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.

[9][11] A healer is generally tasked with restoring health, removing poison-like effects, and reviving fallen party members.

The term gained widespread popularity through the 2016 first-person hero shooter Overwatch, in which the character Mercy is a dedicated healer commonly used by female players who largely wish to avoid direct combat.

[13] Aside from "healsluts", healer-class players may also conversely identify as "healdoms", in which they assume the dominant role in the dynamic as they can "control whether their partner lives or dies.

Cosplay of the Medic from Team Fortress 2 , an example of a healer-class character