Choosing the right healing class for your team isn’t as simple as it sounds in an Etrian Odyssey game. There is always a simple option of course, often in the form of a direct healer of sorts, but any other option is often mixed into various support classes, some of which don’t exactly sound like their class would do so. Perhaps you’d prefer a passive healer of sorts, or a healer more inclined to contribute some debuffs, or maybe a healer that can contribute some nice AOE damage at the same time? Etrian games have always been so malleable as to allow these kind of alternatives to exist.
Etrian Odyssey Nexus has a huge class repertoire and significantly, a lot of these have healing elements within their skill set. Not only will your decision for this healer come down to your healing preference, but also your team build up – run without damage reduction classes for example, and you’ll likely need more healing than usual. There are countless examples of team balances that require differing amounts of healing, but today we’re going to write about the three main healers that we prefer, and a little bit about what kind of teams they might suit.
3. Medic
As you might imagine, the Medic class is the closest thing resembling a ‘normal’ healer, one that you might find in any other RPG game. It’s capable of throwing around the biggest single target heals in the game, and their more creative spells can keep an entire team going through almost anything your opponents might throw at you.
In the Novice section of skills, the Medic starts out focusing on single targets, but moving through into Veteran and Master will see their skills influence rows and indeed the entire party. They do have a few damage options, akin to those seen in Etrian Odyssey 4, and you’ll get the usual quality of life things relating to item drop rates and trap protection, but in the main this is a healing class, nothing more nothing less. The sheer throughput of health restoration here cannot be matched by any other class, so if you’re just looking for those massive green numbers and the security that comes with it, then look no further.
Healing Positives
- Great for teams with no other supporting healers.
- Good choice for beginners that are used to other games’ healers.
- Works well alongside four heavily offensive classes.
Healing Negatives
- Any other healing class will clash with the Medic.
- Also clashes with attacking classes that provide a lot of passive heals.
- Nexus does not strictly require a purely healing class.
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2. Arcanist
The Arcanist class does not immediately lend itself to healing, or so it may seem. After all, coming from any other RPG game and hearing the word ‘Arcanist’ doesn’t exactly scream healer to us either. It focuses on laying down ‘Circles’, which are essentially spells that cover the battlefield and have certain effects on your team and it’s opponents. These effects range from direct damage, stuns and ailments, and heals. The circles last for three turns and do not require that the Arcanist continue to cast for the duration, making the effects truly passive in nature for a few rounds each.
It’s the healing that we’re focusing on here of course, and we’re happy to report that the Arcanist can do some seriously impressive numbers in this regard, despite being limited to what are essentially two skills. The Circle Boon ability, which heals your team for a small amount at the end of every round in which a circle is active, and Dismiss Heal, which removes an active Circle to restore HP to the entire party. These are so powerful because the entire point of an Arcanist is to place these Circle abilities down to influence the battle in other ways, be it debuffing or damaging, and yet in the meantime they also supply the healing you require. What you’re getting here is an ailment causing, battlefield influencing spell caster that just so happens to be able to heal the entire party with ease.
Healing Positives
- Fantastic for teams with better defences, needing less direct heals.
- Provides great debuffs and buffs whilst healing every round.
- Blends well with offensive classes that also provide some healing.
Healing Negatives
- Will struggle to heal single targets to full, like a heavy front line tank.
- May not be able to keep a fully offensive team going without assistance.
- Very squishy class, can be susceptible to damage.
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1. Sovereign
Without doubt, the Sovereign class is one of the best in Etrian Odyssey Nexus . It ranked third in our list actually. It’s considered as such because it’s the ultimate supporting class. Not only does it provide all manner of buffs to the party, from adding elements to weapons to increasing defences, but it also provides significant amounts of healing. All of this combines to make it the ultimate supporting class in Nexus, and one that boosts almost all team builds possible.
Do how does it perform from a healing perspective? Well, they come from two main sources. Firstly, the class will heal with the Reinforce ability whenever they cast a buff on an ally. This is a small heal, as you might imagine, however once levelled up they can be significant. Secondly the whole party will be healed if the Sovereign has full HP at the end of a round. Relying on this can be risky of course, however if it is combined with Royal Dignity, in which the Sovereign will automatically heal if it takes damage when buffed, it can become quite consistent. Other sources count too of course, and this opens them to some interesting interactions between classes, like the Hero that heals when it uses abilities, or the aforementioned Arcanist that drip feeds heals each round.
All in all, the Sovereign is the best healer for us. It’s not going to contribute any real damage to your team, but alone it’s enough to keep it healthy, whilst simultaneously enhancing the rest of your teams’ strong points. It’s well rounded, adaptable and ultimately keeps your party safe throughout Nexus’ most dangerous of surroundings.
Healing Positives
- Great party healing potential.
- Powerful buffs can change the tide of battles whilst contributing heals.
- Works very well with other small sources of healing.
- Ideal for well balanced teams.
Healing Negatives
- May struggle to heal a single target that’s significantly wounded.
- Contributes very little in the way of damage.
- Will need small concessions in the early game when heals are weak.
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