Shadow of the Tomb Raider – How to Heal

In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Lara Croft will come up against various enemies on her trek to stop the Mayan apocalypse. From cruel Trinity soldiers to nefarious tribespeople and even vicious animals, there’s no shortage of dangers lurking in the Peruvian jungle. 

Although Lara will regain health over time after being hurt, it’s still important to manually heal to keep yourself alive in a fight. Even when going for a stealthier approach, players will need to be prepared heal themselves during combat when an enemy encounter turns violent. We’ll explain how to heal in Shadow of the Tomb Raider so you can patch yourself up and survive for another day.

How to Heal 

Before you can heal in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, first you’ll need to have the proper resources to heal with, namely some bandages or medicinal herbs. Never pass up on the chance to collect healing plants while scavenging for materials, unless you’ve reached your inventory limit. Use your Survival Instinct to spot healing plants (the ones with the medical plus sign over them) and collect what you can so that you always have enough on hand when you need to heal. 

The healing mechanic itself is quite straightforward. When playing with a controller, press and hold the left shoulder button (L1 on PS4, LB on Xbox One), then hold the heal button (X on PS4, A on Xbox One). It’s a bit easier to heal when playing with a mouse and keyboard on PC, as the heal hotkey is mapped to F1 by default.

It’s important to note that healing causes you to stand still and become vulnerable for a moment while Lara patches herself up. Put some distance between Lara and the enemy so that you can give yourself a longer window of time to heal mid-combat. 

Knowing how to heal is crucial for surviving dangerous enemy encounters in Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Keep Lara in tip-top shape and you’ll be hot on the trail of Trinity in no time. Check out our Shadow of the Tomb Raider Guide for more combat tips and tutorials.