Healer Class Guide

*For general class information, see Healer.*
In the original *Majesty*, Healers did very little direct fighting, but instead supported other characters with their healing spell. In *Heroes of Ardania*, Healers retain their healing ability, but because the game focuses on the individual hero, Healers, like other classes, are placed in a solo-focused gameplay setting. Early in the game, Healer generally rely on Followers as a shield in combat, much in the spirit of their role as support Healer in *Majesty*. Fortunately, later in the game, the Healer transitions to be a powerful, self-sufficient class.

## Overview

The strongest asset of the class is the Heal spell, which cures 8 HP of damage per character level on a single target. In the early game, the Heal spell will be just enough to keep your followers alive in the Valmorgen Sewers, but later on the ridiculous amount of health that can be recovered makes the Healer very tough to kill, making the Healer potentially the most durable class in the late game. Poison can disrupt the use of healing spells, but this problem can be solved entirely by obtaining the Aura of Health, which grants Immunity to Poison plus gives a +4 boost to Vitality.

Damage is a continual issue for the Healer because H2H and weapon damage are both low. The lack of damage is usually not a particularly big problem, since the Healer requires almost no healing aids and can take as long as it takes to defeat the enemy. In cases in which certain enemies must be defeated, the Healer can augment damage by the use of spells. Since healers have Intelligence as the primary stat, they are also effective spellcasters. Early on, the Wind Storm spell from the Temple of Lunord is useful. Later, when the Ring of Mighty Devastation is obtained, the Healer is able to persistently sustain heavy spell damage output and take full advantage of being an INT-based class. The Healer is, in many ways, the most capable class for using the Ring of Mighty Devastation, since they can heal away any self-inflicted damage from the ring.

After hitting 200+ HP, and getting the Dagger of Valour, the Healer's only worries are enemies who can deal 200+ damage in two rounds, enemies who paralyze/petrify, or the rare ones who can attack invisible enemies (such as the Black Phantom). The Healer does not have as high of an intelligence as Wizards and Priestesses, but can fall back on melee combat to defeat highly magic-resistant monsters. Items obtained later on help augment proficiency in dishing out damage in melee when needed.

## Getting Started

The Healer is a tricky class to start with, since they are very vulnerable at the beginning of the game. Two general approaches are useful for healers.

### Followers method

One method is to hire a Fighter follower to shield you from enemies in the Valmorgen Sewers. Fighters cost 300 gold. The additional 100 gold needed to hire a follower can be obtained by spending 20 turns on City Patrol. A Healer backed by a Fighter can survive nearly any fighter in the sewers. However, because the Healer has very low damage output, he or she will not gain much XP, since XP is distributed based on damage and all or nearly all damage will be inflicted by the Fighter (note, however, that this is not a bad thing, since the Fighter will upgrade to Veteran Fighter and Elite Fighter). The solution to this problem is to accumulate enough gold to purchase the PowerShock spell from the library. This spell is the best source of damage for the Healer outside of temple enchantments.

After obtaining PowerShock, purchase the FlameShield spell, followed by the Ring of Protection from the marketplace and a dagger weapon from the blacksmith. Enchant the dagger to +3 at the Wizards Guilds for additional damage. By level 4, your Meditation spell will decrease how often you get hit and allow you to beat everything in the Lower Sewers. At this point, followers start to become unnecessary. At level 7, with Aura of Peace, the Healer become practically invincible.

### Temple enchantment method

An alternative and arguably more straightforward method is to pray at the Temple to Lunord to obtain Wind Storm, which will allow the Healer to easily overcome all foes in the sewers. It is also possible to use Helia spells, but Wind Storm is cheaper and better than Sun Sorch. Through the use of Wind Storm, the Healer can reach a sufficiently powerful state to continue on his or her own, without ever having to use followers. As usual, obtaining PowerShock, FlameShield, a Ring of Protection, a dagger weapon are goals in the beginning game.

### Trial of Venn's Spire

Once you have 20+ Potions of Monster Detection and some poison, proceed to Venn's Spire. If you are not using a group of Elite Fighters as followers, use the Potions of Monster Detection during the entire searching process of Venn's Spire, as the Daemonwood is a significant threat. Note that some creatures in this area use poison, which will disable the healer's healing effects. Daemonwood can be defeated through the use of poison, which similarly disables their regeneration.

### After Valmorgen

After leaving Valmorgen, go to Charming Charms in the Magic Bazaar in Lormidia and to purchase the Green Charm (Armor +4). The Green Charm will be the primary necklace for the Healer. If you have the gold, buy a map of the Southern Pass from the Farseer in Lormidia, and (preferably using potions of monster detection to avoid all fights) travel the Southern Pass to Traveller's Dell, where you can buy an Ironcloth Robe. The value of the Ironcloth Robe lies in its ability to be enchanted at the Wizards Guild. Don't forget to grab Mountain Boots and a Travellers Cloak while at Traveller's Dell.

After obtaining the Ironcloth Robe and enchanting it, you can attend to the typical objectives of the midgame. The Catacombs and Goblin Territory are good locations early on for items and gold. Since Harm Undead is one of the few offensive spells of the healer, locations such as the Catacombs make good hunting grounds in the early stages. Since the Healer has low starting attributes, a key objective is to visit the facilities for attribute training to raise all main attributes to at least 12, and Magic Resist to 15.

Remember that a typical fight for a Healer goes like this: You are invisible for 10 rounds. You get hit on round 11, you heal on round 12 and become invisible again. The cycle then repeats. Harder encounters can be overcome using Wind Storm. This includes the fight at the Paladins' Keep in the Dark Forest, which rewards the valuable Aura of Health that grants Immunity to Poison.

## Items

Below are the optimal items for each category, as well as other notable items important to this class. For a full list of usable items, see items usable by Healer.

* **Weapon**
	+ Dagger of Valour (Damage: 10, Paladin Aura spell) → Dagger of Heroism (Damage: 12 Paladin Aura spell, Parry +10) – The Paladin Aura spell works for 2 of every 12 rounds only, but these rounds are when Aura of Peace are in cooldown. Therefore, the Paladin Aura enhances defense during the rounds in which the Healer is not invisible. However, if offense, instead of defense, is the objective, the Dagger of Valour/Heroism is not necessarily the best choice given that it is active in only 2 rounds.
	+ Night Dagger (+15 combat stats) or Golem Fist (*Slayer* ability) may provide better offense than the above items.
	+ Also useful: Consider using a regular Mithril Dagger with 3 x Skull DBRs as a part of defense against your own Exploding Aura and high-INT enemies.
* **Armor**
	+ Healer's Robe (*Armor: 3, MGR +5*)[Thallis item]
	+ Wizards Robe – Provides an intelligence boost for use with the Ring of Mighty Destruction
	+ Early on: Ironcloth Robe, Mithrilweave Robe
* **Cloak**
	+ Healer's Cloak (*MGR +10, Armor +1*)[Thallis item]
	+ Early on, should use Protective Cloak. All other Cloaks like the Sneaky Reinforced Cloak are either sub-optimal or not usable by healers.
* **Headgear**
	+ Circlet of Lycanthropy → True Werewolf Circlet. (*Armor: 1, H2H +15, PAR +15, DOD +15, MGR +10, Werewolf Form*)
	+ Helm of Displacement – Convenient source for Wind Storm, if the temple enchantment is not available.
	+ Dwarven Headband embedded with 3 Medusa Beard Rings – Boosts intelligence for spells. It may also be useful early on to have another headband embedded with Goblin Beard Rings, and yet another embedded with Shield Beard Rings.
	+ Early on, Bandanna of Thought Stimulation – This is the only headgear that natively raises intelligence and is only slightly worse than the headband

* **Shield**
	+ Healer Buckler (*Armor: 1, PAR +5*)[Thallis item] – This is the only shield usable by the Healer class
* **Belt**
	+ Belt of Brawling embedded with a "Might" accessory
	+ Belt of Ravaging will be even more helpful (when the DMG bonus is preferable over defense)
	+ Belt of Balance could be useful sometimes even in the late game.
	+ Mithril Belt embedded with 3 x Skull BRs (for the same purpose as the Mithril Dagger)
	+ Early on: Ancient Belt of the Godly Mind - use it to increase INT for ROMD usage (and for praying)

* **Footwear**
	+ Healer's Boots (*Armor: 2, PAR +15, DOD +15, MGR +15, INT +4*)[Thallis item]
	+ War Chargers (*Armor: 3, STR +4, H2H +10*)
* **Glove**
	+ War Gauntlets embedded with 2x Hammer Beard Rings. Having a few more pairs of such, with Ratman/Varg/Medusa/Goblin Beard Rings could help make the hero more versatile.
* **Armband**
	+ Healer Bracers (*Poisoned Weapon (3), DMG +1*)[Thallis item] embedded with 2x Hammer Beard Rings + one more with Goblin Beard Rings instead
	+ Mithril Bracers with Ratman Beard Rings
	+ Nevryl Bracers with Medusa Beard Ring
* **Necklace**
	+ Dwarven Locket
	+ Ring Amulet embedded with the Dark Band
	+ Neckband of Smashing is useful for increasing damage, especially when used with the Golem Fist
	+ Also useful: Nevryl Amulets with 3 x Goblin & 3 x Shield BRs

* **Ring**
	+ Ring of Mighty Devastation → Ring of Mightier Devastation
	+ When a melee fight suits you (vs you foes) better, switch between Ring of Protection and Dark Band.
* **Accessory**
	+ Choose among a Scabbard of Might, Carved Tooth, Black Leaf and Black Stone.