The New Importance of Healing

[Necrofaux]

Hi guys, just wanted to pose a question to see if others have similar thoughts playing the new edition with ressers. Do you guys think that with the cuddle to many healing abilities for ressers, that finding ways to heal models (especially masters) has become almost a necessity?

So here is why I thought of this question.

Masters: McMourning can no longer heal like he could before (5 wounds max) and he is much more fragile in melee without having the massive melee damage (instead he has massive range 8 damage). Seamus can heal from failed wp duels near him, but most people are winning horror duels when I play against them (Seamus pretty much HAS to get the Live For Pain action upgrade). Nicodem has to spend a great deal of resources to heal (discarding corpse counters which he needs for summoning) and can no longer target himself with Decay. Granted, all of these masters don't have great defense and only really have HtW mechanics which makes healing a necessity when they are focused down.

Other models: Many resser models have lower defense and have HtW or HtK, but they still take enormous amounts of damage easily which is almost impossible to avoid with low defense. This makes healing very important. The big beatsticks (now showing up with wave 2) all have either very small damage mitigation or very minor healing.

I don't mean to bitch or anything, because I still think these models are wonderful. My only question is that with these new mechanics, is healing something that ressers have to invest more in now that built in healing/survival is worse? I thought about it and I think that ways to heal models is bigger now than it was in 1.5. Nurses seem amazing now with their ability to heal all wounds on a model (granted they paralyze them, but I think there are ways to remove conditions like that).

So what do you guys think? Is healing more important now than it was in 1.5, and are you finding ways to incorporate more healing in your crews?

[DynamiteGazell]

Hey. So I'm more of a neverborn player myself and I'm not terribly knowledgable on rezzers, but I just wanted to toss in my opinion. With the new wave 2 beta it seems like healing is, like you say, a very important mechanic, especially with the new dreamer.

So i would say that healing is a big thing in malifaux overall now, but especially for those who summon.

[Valcurdra]

Nurse in an emergency since they will paralyze you too. A lost activation is better than being dead though.

Or let things die and re summon since summoning is way easier.

Seamus can teleport away and hide if need be.

Also not as costly for your master to die as it used to be.

Depends a lot on what your facing and which master your using.

[Soundwave]

Don't forget that Lure is a wp duel for the opponent, and Seamus has that a'plenty. so if you're in a moshpit, just lure some dude about and watch him swoosh back up to full health.

[zFiend]

I think that healing is a big thing in Malifaux and 2.0, since you play with a smaller crew to begin with and use your SS to gain models for certain purposes, if they are lost that purpose is lost. So I have been really trying to look in to healing, especially on Rezzers.

[Adran]

I'm not a huge player of Ressurectionists, but across the game as a whole healing has never been hugely strong or common.

The Ressurectionists have always had it easier, and still have the most healing options (that I can think of). It doesn't seem to me that their healing has been hugely reduced compared to before.

Overall, I've not noticed a huge difference in Healing between the 2 editions.

Summoning has become easier, and several summoned models come in damaged as payment for this ease.

[Omenbringer]

I'm not a huge player of Ressurectionists, but across the game as a whole healing has never been hugely strong or common.

It is much more common in M2E then it was in the earlier edition.

The Ressurectionists have always had it easier, and still have the most healing options (that I can think of). It doesn't seem to me that their healing has been hugely reduced compared to before.

Gremlin's are still probably the best at Healing (lots of options), though they tend to really need it as a lot of their schtick causes them injury.

Overall, I've not noticed a huge difference in Healing between the 2 editions.

Summoning has become easier, and several summoned models come in damaged as payment for this ease.

Often times those pre-wounded Summoned models are at a disadvantage (especially in terms of survivability) compared to their non-summoned counterparts (look at Bayou Gremlin's for example that completely lose access to Drunk and Reckless unless they are healed a wound).

[Adran]

True Gremlins typically heal the most, but I thought that was either master specific (or with the quality mash liquor upgrade) or the Slop hauler.

Its the mass healing you can get with the Slop that they thrive off of.

In Context of this thread, I'm not really seeing less healing happen for the ressurectionist faction than in the old edition. As Omenbringer said, its more common than before. Most models seem about as survivable for their relative cost as they were before, and there seem to be plenty of options to heal. The Summoning causing wounds means there are more oppitunities to heal, but the summoning has been made easier in most cases, so the reduced survivabilty of the summoned model is made up by the frequency that you can replace it.

[Omenbringer]

True Gremlins typically heal the most, but I thought that was either master specific (or with the quality mash liquor upgrade) or the Slop hauler.

Its the mass healing you can get with the Slop that they thrive off of.

It is a lot more common and available as any model in the gremlin faction (to include Zoraida) that can attach upgrades can now also perform healing duties. Additionally, there are a lot of in-built healing actions or triggers across the faction that make the Slop Hauler a bit less necessary than they were (outside of a Summon Factory).

The Summoning causing wounds means there are more oppitunities to heal, but the summoning has been made easier in most cases, so the reduced survivabilty of the summoned model is made up by the frequency that you can replace it.

Often times that is an attrition game that doesn't pay off for the summoning model's crew.

For example, working to maximize the Gremlin's summoning potential (Som'er with Family Tree and Lenny with I'll Love it and Pet It...) routinely pumps out 3+ "free" summoned models per turn (easily topping out at 5 most turns) across both their activations. It isn't usually worth it however, as the summoned models are useless for achieving objectives (no interact actions on the turn they are summoned) on top of being Slow and are easily dispatched due to their low wounds (Bayou Gremlin's and Piglets especially) on the turn they are summoned or before they get to act in the next. This is on top of the AP it cost to summon the models in the first place, the short range of most summon actions and any requirement for a material component (Corpse or Scrap counter, Scheme Markers or physical named model).

Summoning is great but with shorter game length (only 5 guarantied turns), center weighting of objectives (most of the strategies and schemes fall into this category) and increased need to dominate those objectives it is a bit of a trap (especially if that is the main path to victory).

In the case of Bayou Gremlin's specifically it is even more so as they are hampered (reduced effectiveness and survivability) in their abilities until they can receive at least 1 point of healing. Even with a dedicated Slop Hauler providing up to 4 healing flips a turn for summoned models your looking at a very stagnant group of models. In the Som'er Summon Factory your talking 6-7 (Som'er with Family Tree upgrade, 3 Bayou Gremlin's for material, Slop Hauler and Skeeter) that are sitting in the back field doing nothing but working the assembly line (Lenny with I'll Love it and Pet It... might also be there though he will probably need a target like the Pigapult to achieve his maximum Summoning Potential as well).

Back on topic though, even the Resurrectionists suffer a bit in this regard as most of their summoning has restrictions or requires an upgrade on top of corpse counter material requirements. Summoning is good but protecting and maximizing the investment requires healing.

Aside from just summoning though, access to healing has become much more important for protecting the investment in the elite crews as well (crews comprised mainly of higher cost models with upgrades). As was mentioned earlier losing those models and there upgrades can severely impact the crews potential. Models that can "self heal" via their own passive abilities or triggers are especially valuable as they can do it while contributing to the crews victory objectives.

Just a few long winded thoughts.