Apothecary

Overview
Apothecaries are Space Marines with special medical training. Their special abilities allow them to heal their allies.

Skills
All of the Apothecary's skills are healing-related since the priority of this class is to keep squad members alive. These skill's cooldowns are significantly reduced by the Narthecium, an Apothecary exclusive melee weapon. The Apothecary has access to the following abilities:

In general it is advised to keep Heal for tough situations or when battle brother's arms (or legs) are broken, as it heals those injuries instantly. Some players prefer to have always one heal on cooldown and another one ready for the "oh crap!" moments, while keeping everybody on full health pretty much all the time.

It is up to the player to find out the best way to use the skills for the maximum efficiency, but experienced players usually use Mass Heal every time it is off cooldown and if at least one squad member is not on full health.

Armour
Each class has access to three Armour Passive Adornments. These adornments come in the form of a Cooldown Reducer, an Effect Reducer, and an Effect Boost. The player may choose one passive from each of these categories to equip for a mission.

Old: shard the same options for armour adornments and can pick one from each tree:

Cooldown Reducer Adornments
Wile the Effect Reducer and Effect Boost Adornments effect the all classes the same way it is important to take note of the Cooldown Reducer Adornments effects on an individual class. For more information on armour adornments see the List of Classes here.

The cooldown reducer adornments are designed to lower the recharge time of a classes skill by 10%, 15%, and 20% depending on the renown cost of the adornment. In the following table, each adornment's skill cooldown time (both base and with the Narthecium equipped) is listed in seconds with their respective cost.

Armour Customisation Recommendation
For an Apothecary the most recommended loadout is:


 * 1) Mass Heal Cooldown Reduction 20%
 * 2) Acid Effect Reduction 50%
 * 3) Armour Boost 20%

Since Mass Heal is the most used skill in Apothecary's repertoire, lowering its cooldown even further (granting player is using Narthecium as well) is vital for squad's survival. Acid damage reduction and higher armor value ensures survivability and chance for successful mission due to vital position that Apothecary occupies in the squad.

Weaponry
There are 6 weapons available for the Apothecary, four ranged and two melee:

RANGED WEAPONS


 * Storm Bolter


 * Storm Bolter Mk. II


 * Redemption


 * Hellfire

MELEE WEAPONS


 * Lightning Claw
 * Power Fist

SPECIAL


 * Narthecium

Unless you are challenging yourself or have another dedicated Apothecary in the squad, it is always recommended to take Narthecium, as it lowers cooldowns of all Apothecary's skills by approximately 60%. As for the main weapon, depending on the difficulty level and personal skill, most players opt in for Hellfire (usually if friendly fire is disabled) or Redemption (if friendly fire is enabled).

Perks
As an Apothecary you can choose from 7 available perks. As usual - it depends on the personal preference and playstyle of each player, to determine which one is the best.

Experienced players generally agree that best perks for this class are either Blessed Blood or Resilient. Here are most common reasons for each perk, and it is strongly recommended to experiment with both of them to find the one that fits you:

BLESSED BLOOD: Main advantage is that when playing with enabled friendly fire, this perk can completely negate random shots from team mates, Redemption's ricochet bullets and Heavy Flamer. Also as an Apothecary you shouldn't get hit that much and hence can survive with less hit points and slowly heal up any damage you may sustain. With this you can save your self-heal for critical situations.

RESILIENT: With this perk you can make sure you don't get killed in one hit with pretty much everything on No Mercy difficulty, thanks to extra health points. Also as an Apothecary you have self-heal skill on quite low cooldown, hence no need for HP regeneration. This perk can also raise your chances of surviving if you get caught off position, because health regeneration of the Blessed Blood is not fast enough to negate sustaining damage from attacking enemies.

Tactics
Typically an Apothecary wants to stay in the middle of the squad - ideally behind two front liners, with a back covered by the rear guard. In that case he can reach whole squad with Mass Heal and still be within reach for single target heal. All that while being protected from direct enemy attacks and able to shoot approaching threats.

If friendly fire is enabled, caution is required when using Hellfire weapon, since direct hit can deals huge amount of damage. Also beware of splash damage and blinding animation produced by explosive rounds.