Summary: Learning about healing abilities and strategies before I make the final leveling push on scholar.
---
Mechanics
Before
moving on with the story, I need to pause. Went into a high 60s dungeon
on this scholar, and barely survived even minor pulls. I need to
re-evaluate my strategy.
I don’t blame myself. [Later edit: I TOTALLY blamed myself, but I shouldn’t have.]
I have over a decade of MMO experience on DPS but none as a healer, and
apparently scholar is less intuitive even than other FF healers. And
healing on scholar has been tougher than tanking was for me.
My
previous healing strategy on scholar was very reactive. Adloquium (a
heal plus shield) and Physick (a smaller heal). It barely kept me above
water on single group pulls, and many tanks like to pull multiple packs
at a time. I need to learn.
My main teacher will be a YouTuber
named Teegres FFXIV. Lots of scholar guides out there are for max
level, but Teegres puts out video guides for every 10 levels!
---
L30 Notes
Abilities
-Eos
(fairy healing pet) casts Embrace as a minor heal whenever a party
member takes damage. Only works if you’re close enough to the injured
party member, so get used to being midrange.
-Whispering Dawn: 60 second cooldown, instant. 120 potency regen on all nearby party members.
-Physick: Restores HP, potency 400.
-Adloquium: Restores HP, potency 300. PLUS TWO OTHER EFFECTS: Galvanize and Catalyze.
--Galvanize: Always applies. Shields the target with bonus of 125 times whatever you healed with the 300 potency.
--Catalyze:
Only applies when the heal lands critically. Adds a SECOND shield with
bonus of 125 times whatever you healed with the 300 potency.
This
confused me before. I thought that it meant a full-health target
couldn’t get Galvanize or Catalyze. After all, if the target is full,
then no healing was done, so 125 times 0 = 0, right?
But nope!
The shield goes off the healing that would be done if the target weren’t
at full health. You can (and should) pre-shield the tank.
-When
a target with both Catalyze and Galvanize takes damage, GALVANIZE drops
first. That means that as soon as a target with both buffs loses
Galvanize, you can re-cast Adloquium, and even if it doesn’t land
critically, it’ll reapply Galvanize as an extra buffer on top of the
previously-applied Catalyze.
General Rotation
-Before the pull, Adloquium the tank.
-Whenever
tank falls below 70% health, top off with an Adloquium. (If it’s on a
big fight, use Whispering Dawn before this part.)
-If a non-tank takes damage and you don’t expect them to take more damage, Physick.
-If
the tank’s health falls TOO low, cast Adloquium and then follow it with
a Physick to supplement the shield. Adloquium costs more than double
Physick and heals for less, so avoid it if you’re not benefitting from
the shield.
-Use Lucid Dreaming pretty much on cooldown in combat for mana regen and threat reduction.
---
L40 Notes
-Succor: Group healing. Potency 180, 1300 mana. Applies a far less effective version of Galvanize. Still 125% of the healing done, but only 125% of 180 potency instead of 300 potency. Also can’t apply Catalyze if it crits.
[Non-rhetorical question: how much stronger is my out-of-combat mana regen compared to in-combat?]
-Fey Illumination: Eos increases healing potency of the party by 10% and reduces magic damage taken by 5% for 20 seconds. Use it right before Succor or Adloquium. After all, the higher the number healed, the stronger the shield.
ROTATION UPDATES
-Use succor primarily when the party is about to take large AoE damage multiple times or just took it. Ignore it most of the time.
-Whenever tank falls below 70% health, top off with an Adloquium. (If it’s on a big fight, use Fey Illumination before this part.)
-Use Fey Illumination for “oh shit” moments, like on big pulls.
---
L50 Notes
New Abilities
-Aetherflow: Restores 10% of max MP. Grants Aetherflow 3. (Only available in combat.) 60 sec cooldown.
-Lustrate: Instantly restores HP, potency of 600. Costs 1 Aetherflow.
-Sacred
Soil: Party members in the area of effect only take 90% damage. 15
seconds, 30 second CD. Costs 1 Aetherflow. Not generally worth it for a
single target.
ROTATION UPDATES
-Big “oh shit” heals from Lustrate, but pace yourself. Only 3 Aetherflow charges every 60 seconds.
-Sacred Soil and Succor to mitigate big group damage when stacked up.
-Use Aetherflow on cooldown after spending remaining stacks.
I
tried the level 51 dungeon, the Dusk Vigil. Very comfortable! Stayed
close to the tank, used cooldowns well, and kept my Aetherflow charges
up.
---
L60 Notes
New Abilities
-Indomitability. Restores own party’s HP by 400 potency. Costs 1 Aetherflow.
-Deployment Tactics: Extends Galvanize on self or target to the party. Instant cast. 120 sec cooldown.
-Emergency Tactics: Transforms next Galvanize and Catalyze into just healing. Usually ignore this.
-Dissipation: Orders fairy away and fills your Aetherflow stack. Increases healing magic potency by 20%. 180s cooldown. Lasts 30 seconds.
ROTATION UPDATES
-Make SURE to only use Deployment Tactics to spread Adloquium’s big Galvanize, not Succor’s crappy Galvanize.
-Use Deployment Tactics to help prepare for big group damage.
-Use pet cooldowns before blowing Dissipation.
-Bosses typically AoE every 30 seconds or so. Respond regularly with Indomitability.
Putting it into practice:
I recorded two particular attempts. One in the Vault which went really well, the other in Holminster Switch about 10 levels later. Bosses are not too bad, but still struggle on the huge pulls.
Look. I have a LONG way to go before I’m even decent as a healer, and there are still twenty levels of new abilities and dungeons and rotations to get used to.
---
Next time: continuing the 60-70 scholar story.
