How to gear my WHM?

[Zarchery]

I've been playing WHM for a long time. It was my second job to 75 (first was MNK) and one of only two jobs I was committed enough to get to the level cap in the pre-Abyssea days. I'm not terribly good with gear though. Originally, I built to maximize MP. Then I went for Cure Potency. Now I have a setup that boosts Cure Potency, Cure Casting Time down, and Fast Cast. Here's what I have now:
















I also macro in Yigit Gomlek and Dark Staff when resting for an extra 15 MP recovered per tick.

So I get:

+52% Cure Potency (It caps at +50% right? So the other 2% is lost?)
-47% Cure Casting Time (-27% from gear and -20% from merits)
+358 MP
3% Quickened Spellcasting
5 pieces that "Enchance Fast Cast"
Haste +6%
Refresh 1MP per tick.

What do you think? Is there anything better I could be doing? I haven't looked much into the Adoulin era gear. Any of that worth the effort? Also, what does "Enhances Fast Cast" mean?

[Draylo]

Try to work on an idle set that has refresh + gear. There are a few items that can be in this set such as:

Wivre Hairpin (augment w/refresh)
Heka Body/hat combo
Skirmish II Body or AF3+2 body
Nares legs
Serpentes hands/feet
owleyes (paired with genbu shield)

MP gear is going to be useless once you use up the MP it grants so you can use that for an initial cast for a buff or something but you'll want other gear. Some things you could swap would be the rings for MND+/Healing skill (Sirona's ring and Ephedra ring are good.) Cure Potency does cap at 50%, so any more is lost. Cure cast gear can be equipped at the start of a spell and swapped before the spell ends. Most cure spells tend to cast really quick so I usually use it just for Curaga unless you are using spellcast. I use a similar setup though so its not far off.

[Zarchery]

I don't understand what you mean by idle gear. You mean like stuff to wear when I'm not actually curing? If nothing is going on I usually take a knee and rest, which implies I should just get more hMP gear for that.

[Draylo]

Yes when you aren't curing. You can be running to another spot (Delve, Dynamis, etc.) and that refresh will add up where Hmp gear does nothing. If you also aren't casting you might be waiting for your party to take dmg, where you can sit in that idle set and regain MP instead of not doing anything and you can't rest since you will be slower to cure instead of waiting for dmg.

[Karah]

On ffxiah, there is a guide for most jobs, (though some have fallen out of date).

The white mage guide is quite thorough On Healing Hands - A Comprehensive WHM Guide

http://www.ffxiah.com/forum/topic/36...ive-whm-guide/

Not to say that you MUST follow it exactly etc, but it has a large selection of the gear you should aim to obtain.

Most importantly is that idle refresh set, everything else is mostly hardcore things, like saving 1-2 seconds on casts, you can function well enough with just the idle set, capped cure set and maybe a haste set for putting up hastes/erases asap.

HMP has all but lost all use (not completely, but mostly) if whatever you're doing has enough time for you to rest, you're probably failing it, or wasting your time in being part of it. (that's not to say there isn't some down times). and old content etc.

Also there is a conversion rate of refreshtics:HMP I think it was 3.3hmp = 1tic fresh (someone will correct it, I don't mage much anymore) so if a piece has 2 refresh, it's better than wearing something that has <7 HMP on it.

[FaeQueenCory]

Personally, I prefer Tamaxchi and a properly augmented Genbu's shield over Arka IV. (can get +MP, +MND, +curepot, and -curecast)


Overall, I go for max -recast and +cure% (it's SO easy nowadays to cap -cast time and cure potency... and MND needs something redic like +60 or so to equal the same boon you get from a measly +2% cure potency)

As for idling, yeah. What you wear when you aren't casting your cures/-nas.
Here's an ideal idle body and hat because it gives you +3mp/tic.


Not to mention that the body helps cap cure potency, gives a good MND buff, AND reduces cast time by a significant amount.
IMO, it's simply the best WHM body... and if you don't have one...
This can be a good enough substitute:

You can get more cure potency on it so it can match (and I think it can even exceed) Heka's value.
And you can also get -cast time on it as well.
BUT the augments are random and you won't get both.
So this is really more of "I don't have Heka's, but this will work in the mean time".
Plus it's 2mp/tic refresh is always nice.

Personally, I don't ever not use my serpentes set:


While you can get more MND and even higher cure potency off of other hands and feet combos...
I don't think the loss of the constant 1mp/tic is worth it.
Not to mention the constant +1hp/tic means you get to heal yourself at a lower priority than without it.

As for the hats, macro this in for when you are casting your cures:

And this for when you are casting a -na (at least until you make a Yagrush):


With my current set up I have max cure potency. (22+3+10+5+8+4=52% ... I don't have Heka's... so I make do with Gendewitha with a +4% aug and my Genbu currently has a +3% aug.)
And a max refresh of 4mp. (I recommend you switch to a +MP latent:refresh Moonshade Earring... Though if you have Heka's I'd prefer a occ quick magic to the refresh... though you might prefer extra refresh... it's up to you... but you really don't need the Roundel Earring.)

And you should drop your Serket Ring for a Sirona's (as well as one of the cursna rings for when you cast curse).
And if you are not Galka or Elvaan... you can probably get rid of the Bifrost too for this:

Heck... even if you ARE Galka or Elvaan... if you have enough refresh (and a good BRD) then you can probably drop the Bifrost/Sangoma for Prolix as well.

[Redryno]

Owleyes, Tamaxchi, Genbu's Shield (cure potency and casting time down augmented) and augmented Gendewitha gear will be a good start.

Cure potency is easy to cap these days (club, shield, gloves can get you 40%) so look at what you can swap with Fastcast, Cure casting time down and Haste.

That being said I agree with the previous posts.