Sch for fun and solo

Hello scholars,

How r we all? Long story short, I've just came back to the game after 7 years. I play mainly jpn time living in Australia and find myself playing mainly solo. That said, there is so much content I can play through and really look forward to checking it out.

I'm having a tough time deciding on which class to take to 99. I have blm at 65, dnc at 58, thf at 44 and blu at 35. I am finding myself more attracted to casters being, lots to do and focus on. That said, how is sch throughout the game and endgame? The play style looks very unique and I'm keen to know how fun do you find it?

Hands down I'm not fussed if any job is not desirable for very end game, I'm all about enjoying the journey and having fun. I do enjoy big numbers but, I don't mind support too much either.

Any help would be amazing and greatly appreciated!

Sch is in great demand in endgame at the moment, probably number 3 after Geo and Blm. I'm not sure if it will stay that way but right now they are in a wonderful place, great soloists, great in endgame, definitely a good choice.

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Originally Posted by Selindrile

Sch is in great demand in endgame at the moment, probably number 3 after Geo and Blm. I'm not sure if it will stay that way but right now they are in a wonderful place, great soloists, great in endgame, definitely a good choice.

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Hey thanks for the reply Selindrile! I greatly appreciate it. How do you find it in terms of fun? I got my blm to 65 and just stopped. I can't seem to pick it up and I don't know why. I did the same with blu! I'm worried I may do this with sch too. Granted, while levelling I popped tabula rasa and let rip with the 2 level 5 spells. Now that was fun!

Anymore input would be amazing guys!

Shanks, Bilbo.

I find it fun, but, you may or may not, I don't like BLM either, though I love BLU even more than SCH (in terms of how much fun I have playing them).

Jobs that have a lot of utility and options when things go wrong are the ones I like, I like having stun on a short recast, Blu and Sch are both good at that, and have a lot of defensive tools along with offense, these are things I value, but everyone's different, hope you find the job that suits you best, but I think Sch is a good one.

Thanks for replying again Selindrile, muchly appreciated. Yeah I'm so unsure of what happened with my BLM. I loved leveling and playing it and enjoyed the numbers but, I hit 65 and bamn, not interested. Perhaps I need to up my spells. I liked BLU before I left the game years ago but, this time around I unlocked it, got a heap of BLU spells yet, felt so weak when leveling. Nothing compared to my BLM. Granted, I only got to 35 >.> Are all BLU offensive spells physical? Perhaps that was my problem. The beetles in Garlaige just too forever to kill.

I agree 100% with jobs having utility and nice cc and both offensive and defensive spells more appealing. I'm having a blast on SCH so far. The JA's look really interesting and well thought out. I really hope I can take it all the way!

In fact at the moment (talking higher end content) there's only ONE physical spell worth casting for damage, and even then only with CA or if you're Amnesia'd or something, everything else is either a buff, cure, or magical damage.

Blu has a lot of high and low points when levelling, when you first get Bludgeon you wreck everything, but then you fall off for a while until you get your next good spell, uhm, maybe mandible bite.

But at the high end, you really have two main options:

AoE magical spells, dual wielding clubs, using subduction/tenebral crush/spectral floe/entomb to AoE mobs down.
Dual Swords, Physical setup, mostly spamming chant du cygne/buffing.

Though there are hybrid setups for when you go back and forth between AoE and killing bosses, usually you're in one of those two.

I think you might enjoy scholar if you are enjoying mage jobs right now. If you like hybrid jobs, then Scholar and Blue Mage both have lots of options. Both have useful aspects for end-game participation, both are excellent soloers, and both are good at adapting to different party demands. For example, scholars can fill in as very good healers or nukers. The main expectation for Scholars in parties lately is definitely Immanence and helix spells, but they can also fill in as main healers if a good whm can't be found. They also have some excellent potency and duration buffs for their Regen V, and can make it AoE with Accession. They also have some unique support abilities as well.

I agree with Selindrile on Blue Mage too. BLU's design was an "Empty Vessel" rather than "Jack of all Trades", which is a really interesting job design, but it's also the reason why it's so powerful. When they set spells, it's not just for the spells, but also for the bonus stats and job traits (EX: Embalming Earth gives STR+6 and an entire Attack Bonus tier by itself). So you can mold a Blue Mage into just about anything you want. The most popular role right now is Physical DD, soloing, and AoE farming, but they can nuke and tank very well. They can also make White Wind and Magic Fruit quite potent and fill in as capable healers. Their healing options don't compare to whm or sch, but they could supplement that with a decent debuff arsenal though.

I am glad that SCH is more viable in endgame these days. I remember when I'd try and join an Abyssea party and I'd be asked if I had WHM or BLM instead, but SCH was my main and swore by it.

However, it's the main job I've been running around with for doing solo stuff and taking with me for stuff with trusts and helping a friend (new player) through various bits and pieces. I also have COR, MNK, SMN and BLU all to 99, but I seem to go to my SCH first. I really enjoy it as a job, because I find it to be pretty versatile as a hybrid and pretty decent at managing its own MP. As a healer, I love Regen V, it feels like it is what Scholar needed back when I was properly playing the game last, I remember the SCH Cure V/Cure VI arguments, I took the side that SCH just needed something else to make it better as a healer but not step on WHM toes and I think Regen V is it, it's a pretty potent HoT, then turn it into an AoE Regen V (and AoE Cure IV) with Accession is a really nice touch. As for the nukes, doing 3.5k to 4k per Thunder V outside of Abyssea doesn't get old, but I suspect once I get more gear and upgrades, it'll be even greater. Add that SCH has Helix spells as some pretty decent DoT's, then Modus Veritas to improve that further.

If you are still levelling it too, I think it is good for your trusts too with your healing spells, I have found now that I am levelling my RDM that the healer trusts can run out of MP quickly at lower levels, or at least, I've been using Upururu (AC), it is nice to have the extra heals available and the MP regen isn't too bad once you get Sublimation, plus Joachim or Qultada are good Trusts to keep your MP up too. Apururu I think wastes his MP a bit.


Blue Mage is a decent choice too, I am still learning the spells on mine, and I do like that analogy, "Empty Vessel" and not "Jack of All Trades".

Wow thanks for all the replies guys! Really enjoying sch still. It's versatile and I really like the job abilities. I've decided to give blu another shot too. I did some levelling and my major problem is mp. It runs out fast and spells are costly, even with the FoV refresh up 100% of the time. I tried for mandibular bite 3 hours yesterday but, no luck.

A little off topic and here I go again but, how is nin? I find the elemental wheel aspect quite appealing and use it while playing blm and sch. For solo content and playing missions/quests how much fun is it? Is casting ninjitsu a reliable source of damage? I have heard it's low so am unsure. Trying so many different jibs and trying to find my niche is a lot of work haha.

Thanks again all!

BLU can be like that early on, it's why I also meleed with it, not just relied on spells.

NIN is good fun too, I think it's biggest damage would be from melee, with the best dual wield and add any haste gear (and spells when you can), and at 99, haste gear can be nuts. :) But, nuking stuff on NIN can still be fun, I'll admit that I enjoy it, I don't know how good MAB is on NIN and how much MAB gear there is for NIN. But you get some buffing and debuffing spells. You'll probably also find your inventory filling up a little with tools if you're looking to make more use of your Ninjutsu, but it is nice to have. I remember when I last played, I mainly saw people NIN and really only use Utsusemi and whatever they needed for Abyssea procs.

But I am one of those people who doesn't always think "how can I maximise my damage output", I also think "what I enjoy out of this", for stuff where it matters, maybe thinking about maximising is a good idea.

Also, as I was mentioning haste, I think I managed to push my COR to quite an insane level, using the Double Attack and Haste rolls, had a trust with haste, subbed DNC for Haste Samba and threw on a load of haste gear, it's like having Hundred fists. I guess I am saying this with a sense of awe as a fellow returning player, I'm sure for others there's normality to it. With the amount of haste some 99 gear has.

Thanks Saefinn, I appreciate the response! So with BLU, at higher levels I can expect to get a better mp usage and be able to.cast more spells? Atm I can only afford to chuck 1 spell in every now and then and i really want to do more!

Also with nin, does the haste affect spell casting? I played around with it yesterday and wow, the ichi spells took forever to cast! It kind if really put me off. I really enjoy casting as opposed to 'white swings' I guess it just bores me in the levelling process and i give up. Perhaps I should keep going on my sch

Thanks again

Haste doesn't make you cast faster, but the Ni level elemental spells at 40 cast significantly faster, as well as being more damaging.

For cast time reduction regardless of the job, you'll want to make a Fast Cast pre-cast set.

As far as melee goes, Ninja is a very good job. It has high damage output, and have means of self-capping delay reduction like BLU or DNC. It's also kind of reemerging as a preferred tank for several encounters thanks to Utsusemi: San and gear improvements.

It is possible to nuke with Ninja but to be honest, that's not going to be your primary method of damage dealing. Some ninja's have been able to MB Apex monsters for 99999 damage with Futae and proper buffs. But Ninja's don't get quite as much MAB and MACC gear as perhaps SCH or BLM, so there is a ceiling to content in which Elemental Ninjutsu is really practical outside of lowering resistances. So the high damage elemental ninjutsu is more of a fun gimmick kind of like PUP nukes. They can do lots of damage on some things, but no one is going to substitute a Ninja or Puppetmaster in place of a BLM on anything serious.

As far as nuking with BLU, there are a few things to keep in mind. Blue magic is very different in many ways to elemental magic. Most of your spells are either melee-ranged, cone, or radial AoE up to 12 yalms. The selection of useful ranged magic-based spells isn't very big, so Blue mage isn't typically played as a traditional ranged nuker. Your physical spells can miss just like any physical attack, and your magic spells can only be bursted once every 1.65 minutes with Burst Affinity.

Nuking sets for Blue Mage are most commonly used when AoE farming, soloing certain Escha NMs, and in Vagary. In almost every other situation, Blue mages are used as melee DD. The real strength of magical blue spells are powerful AoE attacks paired with useful status effects. Entomb for example is a high-damage radial AoE spell that also petrifies enemies in range. So you can imagine how useful that is when dealing with adds in Escha Ru-Aun or low-manning Vagary or Incursion.

While you're leveling BLU, Scholar, or any mage job, my advice is to not worry about MP and just melee lol.. The trusts will do the grand share of the work anyway, especially if you have a combination that skillchain together (Samurais or Morimar+Darcullin) and an obsessive magic burster (Shantotto II). Focus on completing Rhapsodies of Vana'diel before anything else since you get lots of EXP and Skillup bonuses. So you'll reach 99 faster, and you'll skill up easier once you reach 99. Use the time while leveling to skill up Staff, because you're probably never going to do it once you hit 99 unless you want Myrkr lol.

I love Shantotto II, she feels quite OP as a trust just because of those well time skills chain finishers + magic bursts. As a SCH main, I get jealous sometimes. It is worth going for it.

As for spell reduction on a NIN, I never really mained a NIN and in fairness have used it more as a subjob, though I do have it at level 95, I know there is a necklace that reduces Utsusemi spellcast time by 10% I think, I do have it, but am not logged on so cannot check. And as said, you don't really blossom with Utsusemi until you get Ni, which is nice, because you can chain them back-to-back. I guess Fast Cast would be logical.


With BLU MP, I think it's more just the case with any mage, we tend to not be so MP friendly to begin with ("MP Whilst Healing" gear is great), BLU eventually gets its own Refresh also Auto-Refresh (spell combos to get the trait) and can inherit Sublimation from SCH and Refresh from RDM. Technically they could get Auto-Refresh from SMN as a sub, but I don't think people really do that? Plus at 99 there some decent Refresh gear, the Eminence i117 mage set will give you +3 Refresh, and you can pretty much jump straight into it when you hit 99.

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Originally Posted by Bilbo

So with BLU, at higher levels I can expect to get a better mp usage and be able to.cast more spells? Atm I can only afford to chuck 1 spell in every now and then and i really want to do more!

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Blu doesn't become MP efficient until later on when it has access to more refresh, and it does become very efficient in the end. Magic Hammer (The Blu equivalent of Aspir) can completely refill your MP pool regardless of size on the right target, it's pretty insane but you have to be fighting non-undead mobs with MP. For now focus on casting cheap spells that are efficient, buffing, and meleeing.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bilbo

Also with nin, does the haste affect spell casting? I played around with it yesterday and wow, the ichi spells took forever to cast!

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"Casting time -X%" and Fast Cast are the only things labelled on gear that affect how long it takes the spell to actually cast, Haste does however affect how long the spell's recast is, (how long till you can cast it again).