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Champions Online has barely been out a month, but that doesn’t mean Cryptic is resting on its laurels.  Due out at the end of October, the Blood Moon free content update is going to bring with it a whole bunch of Halloween themed content, but more importantly for the alt-a-holics the Blood Moon update is bringing an all new power set: Celestial.  It’ll be a first for Champions… an entire power set geared towards support and healing.  But in a game that insists on player freedom and solo viability, how will the Cryptic staff balance the set so that it can be viable for both group and solo play?  Let’s take a look at some of the powers we know about already.

RADIANCE: The energy builder of the set, Radiance is the first skill players will use that serves a dual purpose.  If you target an enemy, it does damage like any normal energy builder.  But if you target an ally, it heals them.  The only thing you have to pay attention to is whether or not your ally needs healing, because Radiance will only build energy when targeting an ally that needs to be healed.

REBUKE: As the first tier attack in the set, this behaves similarly to Radiance.  If you target an enemy, it does damage.  If you target an ally, it heals them.  This sort of dual-purpose is applied to many of the set’s skills.  What is interesting is that you don’t have to delve very far into the Celestial set to reach the first healing abilities.  This means that even players who are just looking to add a little support role to their existing powers can pick something like Rebuke to add to their repertoire. 

ILLUMINATION: Illumination is not just a good song by Gogol Bordello (look them up!) but also a major HoT in the Celestial set.  Like the previous three powers, it serves a dual-purpose.  You can target an enemy with this “buff/debuff” of sorts and when any ally attacks that target, said ally will receive the “Mend” buff, healing them over time.  On the other side of the fence, if you target an ally the Illumination buff lasts for 30 minutes and whenever that ally is attacked they’ll receive Mend and be healed over time.  The real trick comes with the Advantage “Brilliance”, which turns Illumination into a toggle AoE HoT that affects targets within 25 feet around you. 

CONVICTION & INIQUITY: I grouped these two together, because as was recently illustrated in a developer diary, many powers in Champions Online are designed to share benefits in a way that may not be easily discerned.  The synergy between Conviction and Iniquity is one of the many ways players will be able to use powers in a very effective combination.  Conviction is a self-buff that temporarily increases your maximum health.  When used in combination with Iniquity, which transfers your health to the targeted ally, you negate the damage from the health transfer due to the raised total health provided by Conviction.  It’s a pretty spiffy way to keep your friends alive and ticking.

Throw in some more requisite healer-archetype powers like a resurrection skill (the recently announced Redemption), and you have the makings of a very efficient support role in a game that is pretty much classless.  But one thing’s for sure after several weeks of live play: the power set is needed.  Right now players are improvising quite a bit to build characters that fit the support role.  But with the Celestial set, there’s no need.  As much as Champions deviates from the average holy-trinity setup of most MMOGs, it’s become noticeable that players like to fill that support role.  And the Celestial power set will give them just that option.  Heck, my werewolf-esque hero might just delve into the set a little himself.