Painkiller

Painkiller
Class	Body Perk
Attribute	Body
Tier	Rookie (4)
Levels	1

Painkiller switches health regeneration on in the middle of a fight. It is the first pick in the Body tree and the one the whole healing branch is bought through. Nothing about it is dramatic, which is why it is easy to walk past on the way to the damage perks. A build that stands in the open and trades fire wants it before anything else.

Effect

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Health comes back slowly while V is still in combat. The regeneration is gentle and it does not keep pace with sustained fire, so it is cover between pushes that turns it into real health.

It changes how a long fight is paced. Without it a wound stays a wound until the shooting stops, and every point of damage has to be bought back with a health item. With it the small chip damage that comes from being shot at across a room heals itself while V works, and the health items stay in the pocket for the moments that need them.

How to Unlock Painkiller

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Painkiller sits behind the Rookie gate of the Body tree, so the first points V puts into Body open it. Nothing has to be bought before it.

Perk Tree

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Buying Painkiller opens the perks below.

Name	Image	Tier	Effect
Adrenaline Rush		Phenom (15)	+35 max Health
Army Of One		Rookie (4)	+10% Health Regen Rate for each nearby enemy.
Comeback Kid		Rookie (4)	+1% Health Regen Rate for each percent of missing Health.
Dorph-Head		Rookie (4)	When using Blood Pump cyberware or a Health Item: +100% Mitigation Chance for 2 sec. Mitigation - grants a chance to reduce incoming damage by current Mitigation Strength (default 50%).
Speed Junkie		Rookie (4)	+60% Health Regen Rate while sprinting.

Character Builds

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The build this belongs to is the one that raises Body first and treats cover as optional. It carries a shotgun or a machine gun, wears the heaviest armour it can fit, and expects to be hit constantly, which is the condition under which combat regeneration earns its keep.

Buy it with the first points that reach the Rookie gate, before any of the damage perks. The healing branch above it is cheap, and taking the whole branch early means the build survives the stretch of the game where its armour is still thin. Blood Pump is the implant that pairs with it, since the Body tree keeps reading health items by name.

Notes

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The perks above it in the branch all turn the same slow trickle into something faster. Comeback Kid raises the rate as health drops, Speed Junkie raises it while sprinting, and Army Of One raises it for every enemy standing close. Each one is multiplying a regeneration that only exists because Painkiller is bought.

Blunt weapons and shotguns are what the Body attribute improves, and both of them are used at a range where return fire is certain.

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