The Aegis Hikari Guide to a Better Scholar Gamepad/Only Edition

[AegisIvory]

Hey everyone,

I'm seeing a lot of questions out there regarding fairy control, and effective healing techniques using a gamepad. I’ve been using the gamepad since beta, and no one has really put anything together so I'm going to share what works for me and how to set it up. The idea of this set up is to maximize the control and output of the pet while putting in as little effort as possible. I won't be telling you HOW to heal so much as give you tools to make things easier. So you can focus on the important things like Landslides... This might not work for you but I hope that it will at least give you some fresh ideas to build off of. If you have anything to improve or add to I'd love to hear it, but without further ado lets get started!

I'm going to write this guide in 3 sections. I'll start off with the macros that I use and why, followed by my hotbar set-up, and finally settings to manage the cross hotbar inside, and outside of battle.

1) Macros:

Stance: Updated: May 5th 2014

With the update, selecting "Obey" will allow Eos to follow your commands. She'll continue to follow you, and cast Embrace as per usual. The big difference is that it makes it so she'll only use her cooldowns when you tell her to. Placing her, or recasting her won't change her stance anymore. Make sure you do this each time you log in! (About time!!)

Pet Actions

Single Target Healing:

/micon "Physick"
/ac "Physick" <t>
/pac "Embrace" <t>

/micon "Adloquium"
/ac "Adloquium" <t>
/pac "Embrace" <t>

/micon "Lustrate"
/ac "Lustrate" <t>
/pac "Embrace" <t>

(*Removed Aetherflow as it may not be beneficial for new players*)

/micon "Leeches"
/ac "Leeches" <t>
/pac "Embrace" <t>

These will let you micro manage Eos's healing without having to do anything different. Basically for every heal you throw, she'll back you up! Leeches is optional but I'm trying it out because I figure if I'm healing a DoT it'd be cool for Eos to top off at the same time.

Double Target Healing: Added: May 5th 2014

This is something I've been playing around with and it has been working really well. A little more advanced for those who are looking to micro manage a little more. Make sure you're using these with the targeting macros below!

/micon "Physick"
/ac "Physick" <t>
/pac "Embrace" <f>
/pac "Embrace" <t>

/micon "Adloquium"
/ac "Adloquium" <t>
/pac "Embrace" <f>
/pac "Embrace" <t>

/micon "Lustrate"
/ac "Lustrate" <t>
/pac "Embrace" <f>
/pac "Embrace" <t>

This way Eos will prioritize healing your focus target. Allowing you to heal the party while still pre-curing the MT. In addition if you want to get fancy you can use the "Set Focus Target" Macro to change focus targets on the fly and have Eos heal them. However if you have to focus target the boss (Looking at you Twintania) she'll still continue to heal your target.

Targeting:

Set Focus Target:

/focustarget


Target Focus Target:

/target <f>

Super simple, super effective.

AoE Healing:

/micon "Rouse"
/ac "Rouse" <me>
/pac "Fey Illumination" *
/pac "Whispering Dawn"
/ac "Succor" <me>**

By repeatedly pressing this button you and Eos will look majestically synchronized. Eos will buff up (+40% Rouse + 20% Illumination) before unleashing a massive AoE HoT, while you cast a buffed Succor on the party. Perfect for Tumults or whatever else multiple DPS decide to walk into.

Added: May 5th 2014
*: This macro still works great if you separate Fey Illumination into it's own button. Gives you greater flexibility while keeping Whispering Dawn up more often.

**: Having Succor on the end is completely optional. Use with your discretion. I eventually opted to remove it.

OR

So this something really cool I learned recently. By using /pac "Stay" Eos will stop whatever she's doing and use your commands immediately. Be careful because you could accidentally cancel your Whispering Dawn cast. I'm working it into the buffs without Whispering Dawn because I don't want it to be cancelled. Make sure you don't forget to tell her to /pac "Heel" afterwards if you need her to follow you.

/micon "Rouse"
/ac "Rouse' <me>
/pac "Stay"
/pac "Fey Illumination"
/wait 1
/pac "Heel"

(For this one keep Whispering Dawn on a seperate hotkey and press it right after this, should cast right away.)



Off Cooldown Awesomeness:

Swiftcast Resurrection:

/micon "Swiftcast"
/ac "Swiftcast" <me>
/ac "Resurrection" <t>

Pressing this button repeatedly will allow you to use Swiftcast and Ress before the body can even hit the floor! Impress your party and your parents! Bonus points! If you don't target a dead person it acts as a regular Swiftcast macro!

Virus and Fey Covenant... At the same time!!!

/micon "Virus"
/ac "Virus" <t>
/ac "Virus" <tt>
/pac "Stay"
/pac "Fey Covenant"
/wait 1
/pac "Heel"

This way whether you want to target a specific monster for the debuffs, or if you want to debuff the monster interacting with your tank. This macro has you covered. Usually use Virus before big AoEs, some of them are magical damage ie Tumults. Plus it's easy to forget to use otherwise.


Energy Drain for MP Management and Profit!

/micon "Energy Drain"
/ac "Energy Drain" <t>
/ac "Energy Drain" <tt>

Pretty self explanatory all the fun of energy drain without the hassle of targeting. If you're targeting an enemy it'll hit them, if you're targeting the tank it'll hit what they're hitting. Just make sure it isn't a Spiny Plume!!! You can do this for most offensive spells!

Worth mentioning: With these macros you will get the "Invalid command" ping really often. I've turned off my system sounds to remedy this. Hopefully it's something they'll change in the future.



2) Hotbars:

All right so this is my hotbar setup. It works for me but feel free to change / improve it any way you like. The key here is the Focus Target / Target Focus Target Macros, always mark your tanks and you’ll be ready to respond at a moment’s notice.

Author's Note: The 2 on the left are both D-Pad, the 2 on the right are buttons

R2:
Triangle: Lustrate + Embrace
Square: Swiftcast + Resurrection
X: Physick + Embrace
Circle: Adloquium + Embrace

Up:Target Focus Target
Left: Fey Covenant
Down: Sprint
Right: Leeches + Embrace

L2:
Triangle: AoE Healing Macro
Square: Virus
X: Aetherflow
Circle: Energy Drain Macro

Up: Succor
Left: Sacred Soil
Down: Eye for an Eye
Right: Stoneskin

Hotbar 2:

This is used for offensive spell casting. Keeping our healing and focus target macros in the same spot so we're always ready to throw heals.

Author's Note: The 2 on the left are both D-Pad, the 2 on the right are buttons

R2:
Triangle: Lustrate + Embrace
Square: Miasma II
X: Physick + Embrace
Circle: Adloquium + Embrace

Up:Target Focus Target
Left: Shadow Flare
Down: Sustain
Right: Blizzard II

L2:
Triangle: Cleric Stance
Square: Ruin II
X: Aetherflow
Circle: Energy Drain Macro

Up: Miasma
Left: Bio II
Down: Bane
Right: Bio

Hotbar 6:

This is accessed by pressing L2 -> R2 together.

Triangle: Sprint
Square: Mega Potions of Mind
X: Protect
Circle:

Up: Limit Break
Left:
Down: Set Focus Target
Right:

This is accessed by pressing R2 -> L2 together.

Triangle: Swiftcast
Square: Selene
X: Pet Stance Macro
Circle: Eos

Up: Place Pet
Left:
Down: Set Focus Target
Right: Heel


3) Settings

The settings I'm going to detail here will allow you to make use of Hotbars 1 + 2 + 6 (L + R at the same time) while in battle / weapon drawn. 7 + 8 will be shared between all classes for menu type things.

Now to bring it all together this is all the setting you need to properly navigate the hotbars.

This will make it so your hotbar 1-6 will be class specific, 7-8 will be shared among all classes.




This will make it so that when your weapon is sheathed you will use your menu shortcuts 7-8. When your weapon is drawn you will only use 1-2. Note: This is also useful if you plan to PvP, put PvP skills on bars 4+5. Deselect hotbars 1+2 and select 4+5 in this menu. Viola ready to enter the fray!




This will enable the 6th hotbar by pressing L2 -> R2 or R2 -> L2




This will make it so you won't auto put away your weapon changing your stance. Effectively you'll enter and leave battle mode by pressing R3.

Tip and FAQs

As people leave tips and other goodies I'll post them here.

If you don't mind, I'd like to add something: Order your party list by healing priority. In other words: Have tanks on top, other healer either on bottom or near tanks. This makes it quicker to change targets, and also allow you to always know the position of your tank. My prefered pt list setup is something like

Me
OT
MT -> main target.
Healer
Ranged DPS
Melee
Melee
Ranged DPS 2
Fairy

As this allows me to switch to some of the highter priorty targets easily:

MT? Heal, is the main target.
OT? Up, heal
Me? circle (cancel targetting), heal
Other healer? down, heal

and so on.

Reduce the number of targets you have to cycle up so the higher priority ones are 1-2 button presses always.

I totally agree with this! Everyone will have their own order, mine is something like...

Me
Healer
MT -> focus target.
OT
DPS
DPS
DPS
DPS
Fairy

I'll post a quick guide on how to set this up and what it looks like when I get a chance. Thanks AdvanceWind!


And there you have it, go out have fun and experiment! Ah man look at me... Getting all emotional... They grow up so fast. Feel free to leave questions or comments!

Thanks for reading!

[Mimilu]

I love that you put macros in your guide, most Scholar Guides I've looked up don't, especially for controllers (I play on PC with a 360 controller). ;w;
I have a question though, would it be a good idea to put my DoTs into a single macro? Right now I'm playing with a macro that's:
/ac "Bio II" <t>
/wait 3
/ac "Miasma" <t>
/wait 3
/ac "Bio"<t>
Is this a good idea or should I do each individually, so if I have to dodge something, I'm not replacing a DoT that's already running its course?

[AegisIvory]

I like the way you think! I don't think that will work out though. Sometimes you only have to put Miasma on for heavy + healing debuff. In addition you're losing time between your casts with the extra .5, and it'll be interrupted if you press any other buttons. =(

[jumpypuppet]

i appreciate you taking the time to write this. i just want to quickly caution against macroing embrace to your own heals. i see this suggested often and while it has its uses i think it's better and safer to simply embrace manually. i say this because if your embrace is tied to your adlo, or your physick, that commits your fairy to healing your target. sometimes you'll want to continue healing the tank, for instance, but also want to heal a party member who has just taken damage; if you handle things manually, you can continue healing your original target and have the fairy heal a separate target. essentially by macroing the two together you're limiting the diversity of actions you can perform in a given moment. not to mention that it's simply good practice to get used to controlling your fairy in tandem with your character.

just wanted to put that out there. not knocking the guide. thanks again

[AdvancedWind]

If you don't mind, I'd like to add something: Order your party list by healing priority. In other words: Have tanks on top, other healer either on bottom or near tanks. This makes it quicker to change targets, and also allow you to always know the position of your tank. My prefered pt list setup is something like

Me
OT
MT -> main target.
Healer
Ranged DPS
Melee
Melee
Ranged DPS 2
Fairy

As this allows me to switch to some of the highter priorty targets easily:

MT? Heal, is the main target.
OT? Up, heal
Me? circle (cancel targetting), heal
Other healer? down, heal

and so on.

Reduce the number of targets you have to cycle up so the higher priority ones are 1-2 button presses always.

[Spider-Dan]

I have also been healing with SCH on controller since release; I normally play on keyboard, and using gamepad for healing avoids confusing my muscle memory for things like cross-classed Physick.

I do have some suggestions to add:

1) Your pet stance macro can be shortened to the following:
/tenemy
/pac "Obey" <t>
/pac "Steady" <p>
/wait 1
/pac "Steady <p>

If no enemy is near, the fairy will go into Steady. If an enemy is available, Obey will be executed (first Steady will be ignored), and the second Steady overrides the psuedo-Stay activated by going into Obey. No Heel is necessary.

The other thing I would like to point out is that while using controller subtargeting, most of your backup Embrace macros will not work "properly." To wit:

I have MT targeted. OT takes a big hit and I want to Physick+Embrace. I dpad down to subtarget MT and I execute the Physick+Embrace macro. This will execute a Physick on the OT and an Embrace on the MT.

The reason why is that after the first (successful) <t> line in your macro, your subtargeting is ended and your target returns to the MT, therefore the next line is resolved on your current target. If you want Embrace to resolve to the same target you cast on (instead of always on your MT/primary target), you have to hard target (confirm) for every cast. I found this to be tedious and unworkable, so I only put Embrace with Physick and use that to subtarget cure during Adlo casting.

I did also try <lt> (last target), but <lt> does not interact properly with subtargeting and it will cast on your last hard target. Suffice it to say that this was not only useless, but actually detrimental. (If <lt> were to be fixed to properly account for subtargeting, it should fully solve the Embrace macro problem, so if you want to start a letter writing campaign, that's a good target.) Mouse users can use <mo> (mouseover) in Embrace macros for finer control, but this thread is about gamepad, so...

[Bixby]

The reason why is that after the first (successful) <t> line in your macro, your subtargeting is ended and your target returns to the MT, therefore the next line is resolved on your current target.

How about something like this:

/micon "Physick"
/target <t>
/ac "Physick" <t>
/pac "Embrace" <t>
/tlt

The first line should cause you to hard-target your current subtarget, followed by casting both spells on the newly acquired hard target, followed by switching hard target back to whatever you previously had targeted. But I can't test myself, don't have SCH yet.

[Spider-Dan]

I believe if you tried to use that macro on your primary target (e.g. MT), it would automatically switch you to whatever your previous target before was. I don't think executing /target <t> on your current target also makes it your last target.

As another side note, if you issue an Embrace command on a target that's out of range, the fairy will move in range to cast Embrace and then return to Heel/Place status. This is particularly useful in CT: you can use something like a Physick+Embrace macro to cure people who are out of range.

[Kouru]

Hey man,

Thanks for the awesome idea. I'm going to try this and see how well it works for me.

[fencedin]

The other thing I would like to point out is that while using controller subtargeting, most of your backup Embrace macros will not work "properly." To wit:

I have MT targeted. OT takes a big hit and I want to Physick+Embrace. I dpad down to subtarget MT and I execute the Physick+Embrace macro. This will execute a Physick on the OT and an Embrace on the MT.

/macroicon "Physick"
/pac "Embrace" <t>
/ac "Physick" <t>

This will always cast both on who ever you have sub targeted.