Healer | Roles and character builds The Division Guide

Last update: 11 May 2016

General information

The main task of a healer class is to heal the rest of the team and try to keep them alive. Similarly to the tank build described in the previous chapter, the medic will focus on building the highest Skill Power available, which will increase the amount of health restored by his abilities, as well as reduce their cooldown times.

Enemies on the higher difficulties deal insane amount of damage, and even the most durable Agents won't be able to hold out long without the proper source of healing - and the amount of medkits you can carry is limited. The medic is the solution to this problem, healing teammates in between series of bullets fired at the enemies, keeping the allies alive and resurrecting them when something went wrong.

A very important characteristic of this build is the adaptability of it - given the huge Skill Power required for it to work, you can use it to deal immense damage with offensive abilities, and in extreme cases play as a tank of the team.

Key attributes

Things that are required for this build to work are as follows:

High Skill Power - ranging 40,000 - 45,000. It will allow you to use your abilities constantly, whereas your healings will restore the health of your allies to the maximum (and often way above that).
Skill Haste - which is basically the cooldown reduction in this game. The quicker your abilities take to reset, the more often you will be able to use them.
If possible - Firearms. You won't be focusing on dealing damage, but it's good to be able to dish out some of it between healings.
Armor. This will decrease the amount of damage you receive from enemy bullets. Remember that armor has no impact on the amount of damage received from other sources (you will need exotic resistance for that). An optimal value should be between 4,500 to 5,000 points of Armor. You shouldn't increase it further, as the amount of damage reduction quickly diminishes with when armor value exceeds 5,000 points.
Protection vs Elites. Most of high-leveled enemies are classified as "elite", which means that each 1% of this stat will reduce the damage they deal to you by 1% as well.
Bonus to a specific ability (as a minor attribute on gear): to First Aid and any other ability you are going to use (more on that can be found further in this chapter).
Health. A bare minimum ranges from 50,000 to 60,000. You shouldn't go below that, as some of the enemies will be able to take you out with a single bullet.

Naturally, you will be able to play having lower values than those recommended above, especially because reaching them will take some time, but the above ones should be your final goal - if you manage to do so, your character will be extremely effective as a healer.

Abilities and talents

Your bread and butter ability will be the First Aid. It allows you to heal enemies from a distance, decreasing the chances of getting killed yourself when trying to save someone. The best mod for this is the Defibrillator - it will allow you to save the ally that was incapacitated by the enemy.

As far as the second ability goes, you can choose:

Support Station, with the Ammo Cache mod. This ability will allow you to heal any ally in the range of it (and with your Skill Power they will be able to recover more than the enemy is dealing) and will allow them to reanimate themselves at it. The mod gives everyone in the zone a free magazine (reloading a weapon won't use ammo) and decreases the cooldown time of the abilities.
A Turret with the Dragonbreath mod. It can be taken when you don't need the Support Station, and additional damage and crowd control effect is always welcome.
Pulse, to increase the damage dealt by your team (with your Skill Power the bonus will be enormous). The best mod for that is the Tactical Scanner, giving even more bonus damage.

Selecting the second ability is optional, but in most cases you should take the Support Station - allies standing in the range of it will be practically immortal, and when they are knocked down they will be able to reanimate themselves.

When it comes to signature skills, you should take the Survivor Link. Skill Power has no impact on the effectiveness of signature skills, but it reduces the cooldown time significantly. Additionally, this ability is the best from the signature ones - 80% damage reduction will cause your teammates to be practically immortal for the duration.

Talent which should be taken with this build are as follows:

Critical Save - 40% damage reduction after using a medkit will allow you to take a lot more damage before your shield breaks.
Combat Medic - using a medkit will restore a portion of health of your nearby allies as well.
Triage - decreases the cooldown time of an ability when it was used on an ally.
Strike Back - when your health reaches the last segment, you will receive a 20% cooldown reduction.

Equipment

You should focus on using an Assault Rifle, or a Sniper Rifle. Both of them will allow you to fight on a medium / long range, on which you should be fighting all the time - it decreases the chances of getting attacked (and killed). When selecting mods for your weapons you have a total freedom, but you should take a silencer that decreases the threat (Reduced Threat), making the enemies less likely to attack you.

The rest of your gear should have stats mentioned at the top of this chapter, and as far as their talents go, you should look for the following ones:

Body Armor - without a doubt the Vigorous talent. All of your abilities will allow you to overheal, increasing the maximum health of the target for a few seconds.
Mask - Rejuvenated or Refreshed. The first one will cause the medkits to remove the status effects (which prevent you from using abilities), whereas the second one will increase your healings when in the last segment off health.
Backpack - without a doubt the Resourceful talent. Thanks to that, you will be able to heal objects that were created with abilities (such as turrets, covers, and the Ballistic Shield of the tank). Alternatively, you can select the Inventive, which will increase your Skill Power while at full health.
Gloves - Savage talent. It gives a bonus to damage against targets without cover. Stay away from the Reckless talent.
Knee Pads - pretty much any talent for that item.
Holster - similarly to the above one. It should be taken in accordance to your style of play. If you tend to move between covers all the time, you should take Nimble or Recovered. If you stay behind the same cover, take the Sturdy talent.

How to play

As it was mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, your task is to heal your team, prevent them from dying and attacking enemies when your abilities are either on cooldown, or not needed. In order to do so, you must:

Monitor the health bar of your allies all the time. If anyone of them were injured, heal them with the First Aid to prevent them from dying.
Even if the ally wasn't incapacitated, and his health is still high, you can use your healings on him (especially if you have the Vigorous talent from the Body Armor). Thanks to that, your ally will be able to change the cover if he's surrounded by enemies, or it will simply be easier for him to fire at the enemy.
If you aren't playing with your friends who are familiar with your playstyle, tell your allies that you are using a character that is built around healing and let them know which abilities you are planning to use. Thanks to that they will be able to take other skills, support you, and prevent you from dying.
Don't' split from your team, as it will end up badly - in a quick death. You should stick to your team, who will be able to divert the attention of your enemies from your character, while you focus on healing.
If there's a tank using a Ballistic Shield in the team, you should heal him regularly (provided that you have the Resourceful talent from your Backpack). The tank will focus all of the enemy attention onto himself, which means, that he must be kept alive at all costs.
Standing in the range of the Support Station with the Ammo Cache mod you will have a reduced cooldown time, which is short even without it. Abuse your abilities as often as you can, because they will quickly be available again.
If there's another medic in the team, you can alter your build, so that you can play as a support character instead. In extreme cases, you can even play as a tank, as it requires a high amount of Skill Power, which you have.
The Pulse ability, thanks to your Skill Power, will significantly increase the amount of damage your teammates do. Remember to use it whenever it's possible, especially because of the fact, that it should now have similar cooldown time and duration time.

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