When should you do this?
When you’re playing Aeon’s End, you’re constantly second-guessing yourself:
- “Should I buy a gem first?”
- “Should I start building charges?”
- “Should I heal a player now?”
- “If I get Empowering Orb, should I use it to heal Gravehold, or upgrade a breach?”
There are so many moments where you’re not sure what the best move is.
And honestly—doesn’t it happen a lot that you end up going all-in on offense (buying spells, upgrading for damage), and you keep pushing defense “until later”… and then later never comes?
To beat the Nemesis, the mindset is basically: better safe than sorry. This is especially true for your healer/defender—their choices can decide whether the whole team survives.
So in this post, I’ll talk about what the healer/defender should do when they’re stuck and unsure.
Turns 1–2: buy gems first
Let’s remind ourselves why we buy gems in the first place. Aether lets you:
- buy spells, relics, or more gems
- charge your ability
- trash a power card
- upgrade a breach
That’s why I recommend buying gems on turns 1–2.
Your starting hand usually only makes 3–4 Aether. Even if you draw all Crystals, that’s just 5 Aether—not enough for expensive spells or premium gems. And trashing a power card typically costs 6+ Aether, so you can’t even do that early.
Charging is often better after you’ve improved your economy. Even if you’re aiming for something like Phoenix Flame and its “spend charges to double damage” play, it’s usually fine to build charges later—as long as you’re charged up by the time you’re ready to cast.
As for upgrading breaches: for a healer/defender, it’s usually not a top priority early on. If you have an awkward hand (like extra Sparks, only 3 Aether from three Crystals, and there’s no good 3-cost gem to buy), then upgrading Breach II to prep a Spark can be a decent fallback.
Build charges after you’ve bought some gems
I recommend building up your economy with a few gems first, and then starting to charge. In particular, if you have two copies of Breachstone Diamond, you can charge up to three times in a single turn.
For the healer/defender role, protecting the team with your charged ability is a big part of your job—so be disciplined about saving up charges. Another option is to pick up Empowering Orb so you’re ready to heal Gravehold when things start to go south.
Either way, it’s not too late for the healer/defender to start buying spells or upgrading breaches after that.
Update (Apr 5, 2026): It’s also a real advantage if the healer/defender has at least one high-cost spell. After you’ve secured your gem economy, try to pick up one expensive spell.
Once you’re charged up, grabbing a spell or upgrading a breach can open up a nice split strategy: the attacker focuses on hitting the Nemesis, while the healer/defender helps by clearing minions.
Try to keep everyone at 5+ life
If you’re not sure whether to heal someone… heal them.
For example, with Brahma, you generally want to use the charged ability when a player is at 6 life or lower.
Sometimes Nemesis effects hit like: “Deal X damage to the player with the lowest life,” and if that happens back-to-back, someone can take 4 damage in a single round. If you keep players at 5+ life, they can often survive two hits without becoming exhausted.
One more tip: when you take damage, don’t always “spread it evenly.” It’s usually better to decide who can safely take hits—later in the game, a character at 10 life can absorb a 4-damage hit without collapsing, for example.
What should you do with Empowering Orb?
Heal Gravehold, or upgrade breaches? This one’s really common to overthink.
If Gravehold has already taken damage, I recommend healing it sooner rather than later. Against Nemeses like Rageborne, Gravehold gets hit a lot. (In one of my games, Gravehold took around 15 damage in just a few turns.)
If Gravehold is still at full health, then sure—use the Orb for upgrades.
One more timing note
After you’ve bought your gems, consider grabbing Empowering Orb to cover Gravehold healing later—or start building charges on characters like Adelheim or Phaedraxa.
Remember: when you buy a card, you usually can’t actually use it until two turns later. So you want to prepare before things get desperate.
Summary
That wraps up my “what should I do when I’m not sure?” guide for the healer/defender role.
Because healing usually isn’t something you can do instantly, it’s really important to prepare early.
As a general priority order for healer/defender turns, I recommend:
Buy gems > Empowering Orb > Charge > Spell cards ≥ Breach upgrades
Update (Apr 6, 2026): For the early game specifically, this priority tends to work even better:
Buy gems > Buy 1 high-cost spell > Buy Empowering Orb ≥ Buy more gems > Charge ≥ Breach upgrades = Additional spells
It’s a big advantage to have at least one high-cost spell on your healer/defender, just in case the attacker alone can’t generate enough damage.
You’re basically preparing for the moment that always shows up sooner or later:
“We need healing.” / “We need defense—now.”
See you next time!
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