White Mage: A Guide

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Originally Posted by Estellios

That seems to be the case with most gear in this game really, and I like that a lot.

One thing you might want to add in your guide is that Repose is only based on Magic Accuracy (Enfeebling skill doesn't do anything at all for it) and Sleep doesn't override itself. If a WHM is in a situation where BLMs are trying to sleep enemies and one or two stay awake (the teleport before Miser's Mistress comes to mind), it's safe to throw out Sleeps when needed as you don't have to worry about lowering its duration. I think it might be the only status effect that acts this way.

edit: Hell, while you're at it might as well add that Enfeebling skill boosts the success rate/potency of the added effects of Aero/ra and Stone/ra lol

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I'll throw those bits of info in when I edit it later, thanks for the reminder. Sometimes I forget to add things :x

Any plans of updating this with 1.22?

lol seriously? Posted yesterday:

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Originally Posted by Sol_Aureus

I'll be updating the guide within a couple days, for now I'm focused on doing content with my LS.

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Updated for 1.22.

• Added to Optimal Gear sections for Head and Waist. Expanded explanations to encompass the changes.
• Added side notes to Repose, Stone/Stonera, Aero/Aerora, and Holy about Magic Accuracy and Enfeebling Magic Potency.
• Changed the Mega Potion of the Mind's effect duration from 40 to 60 seconds.
• Revised Playing the Role » Use Regen Effectively. It is now Playing the Role » Use Regen and Stoneskin Effectively. The explanation has also been expanded to encompass this change.
• Expanded and/or changed the wording in the following sections for clarity and accuracy:
  • Spell Mechanics » Specific Mechanics » Regen
  • Gear for a new WHM » Why this gear and Materia?

As a separate post, here're my thoughts on the new Materia options for WHM:

• Sound of Certainty [Enhancing Magic +] [Head]
  
  Fantastic Materia. Only goes up to +10 for top tier IV, but still a really nice option for head pieces. You almost have to double slot it to get viable use though, because of the weak returns the materia gives. Still, once double slotted it's arguably best in slot for head.
  
  
• Sound of Serenity [Healing Magic Potency + / MP +] [Feet]
  
  AF Boots win. Though more and more people have been proposing that gear swaps are viable, and I've seen a few people pull it off successfully often, I still maintain the position that until it becomes 100% reliable it's not going to be worth it. If there is a way to make gear swaps 100% reliable, this becomes a more viable choice for WHMs to main in, switching to the boots whenever Regen is cast. Though it's still not THAT viable even with that, because of how often you cast Regen.
  
  
• Stellar Might [Magic Crit Potency + / MP +] [Waist]
  
  Magic Crit Potency is viable on WHM because our dLVL is always 0 (curing other players who are the same level as us). Unfortunately for this materia though, it's not nearly potent enough to justify using it over something like Enmity-.
  
  
• Sound of Suffering [Enfeebling Magic +] [Hands]
  
  Lolenfeebling. But seriously, no way I'd ever use this over Darklight Gloves.

With my current set and a 195/tick regen, I could hit cap (203/tick) by using a Militia Belt (+4 potency and +3 VIT) and a hat with at least a capped Sound of Certainty III (+6 potency). I could then double the hat with a Healer's Hand IV to bring it closer to Healer's Circlet. I would sacrifice 10 healing potency by doing so; this effectively means I'm trading some -enmity from the belt (wholly unnecessary in most cases) and 12.5 HP off Cure and 25 HP off Cura for +8 HP/tick on my regen. +8 HP/tick = +120 HP per regen. Given regen's absurd healing power, this is an absolutely amazing tradeoff.

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Originally Posted by carraway

With my current set and a 195/tick regen, I could hit cap (203/tick) by using a Militia Belt (+4 potency and +3 VIT) and a hat with at least a capped Sound of Certainty III (+6 potency). I could then double the hat with a Healer's Hand IV to bring it closer to Healer's Circlet. I would sacrifice 10 healing potency by doing so; this effectively means I'm trading some -enmity from the belt (wholly unnecessary in most cases) and 12.5 HP off Cure and 25 HP off Cura for +8 HP/tick on my regen. +8 HP/tick = +120 HP per regen. Given regen's absurd healing power, this is an absolutely amazing tradeoff.

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Also a perfectly viable option. Like I said, a lot of the "optimal" WHM gear comes down to personal preference and what other gear you have.

I'll just try and provide as much information as I can so people can make their own judgments :D

Wonderful thread, Sol.

Thanks for this! It has really helped me with whm a lot! :)

While I was confirming my projections for turnover levels for protect (I double slotted enhancing into a crown so I can get higher values now to check :D) I noticed that some of my chart's protect turnover levels were off. Apparently I forgot to add in the fluctuation for Protect's 5-5 step. This made a few turnover levels off by 1. I also apparently didn't add shell's 6 step, which later in the chart made it off by like 3 or 4 levels.

Anyway, I've corrected the mistake and the chart shown now is correct, so those of you who have saved that image should replace it with the new one.

(Just to be clear, the formulas were all correct, so that hasn't changed. I just transposed them slightly wrong onto my chart which made some levels off a bit. The basic idea is still there though, 438 as the effective cap hasn't changed.)

Wish there were guides like this for all jobs.

Well when Summoner comes out I'll be making a guide for that too and probably shifting my focus to that as opposed to White Mage. I've always been a main SMN, WHM is just to hold me over until SMN is released.

Wow, awesome guide..

We were talking about Imperial Operative Dalmatica tonight and I did some super-fuzzy napkin math. From what I could figure out, compared to Healer's Robe, the dalmatica is a wash on Cura potency, a loss on Cure potency, and a gain of 1 mp/tick. Any further thoughts?

Good question, was wondering about that as well. Personally I still hope the AF robe is better, just because I love it so much. ^^"

Doing some VERY rough math, it seems like it's at least comparable, but nothing OMGWTFAMAZING. I'll look into it a bit more, but honestly I don't think there will be a substantial difference between the two. The refresh is negligible (like all gear with refresh in this game) so it's not too big of an incentive.

Hello,

Thanks for the guide.
I just turned white mage yesterday

Question time:
1/should I reset my misplaced points now (level 30) or wait later and stay as a CONJ
2/guide says "gear for new WHM" but the one suggested is level 49... I upgraded to a Velveteen set in the meantime but should I stay that way till 49-50 or is there some valuable equipment to get between 30 and 50?

thanks :)

Your gear while leveling isn't extremely significant because you can't get large amounts of healing magic potency until the mid-high 40s. I would recommend not stressing out about it too much, just try to follow the suggested valuations in the guide, and start equipping your AF as you get it.

awesome guide should try and do a PLD one next :D and maybe rest of the jobs if u get the time...

Love the guide going to help me a lot when i play WHM

Okay so stupid question because I haven't actually tried it out or played a DoW/DoM in months:

Is it possible to switch gear while incurring enmity but remaining in passive mode? I don't think it is because having a double meld EMP macro'd in for regen and HMP for cures would be kinda OP (but awesome). Just figured I'd ask.

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Originally Posted by MartaDemireux

Okay so stupid question because I haven't actually tried it out or played a DoW/DoM in months:

Is it possible to switch gear while incurring enmity but remaining in passive mode? I don't think it is because having a double meld EMP macro'd in for regen and HMP for cures would be kinda OP (but awesome). Just figured I'd ask.

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Yes, it is possible. I know a few people who use gear swaps as WHMs as well. Personally, I don't like using gear swaps because with how finicky the server is right now, it doesn't always work right. Sometimes the spell won't start casting, sometimes the gear won't switch back, sometimes the gear won't equip. Changing gear also roots you in place while the animation happens, which isn't too big of an issue, but on stuff like Ifrit if you're changing gear that often (like on every regen cast) you're probably going to get unlucky at least once and have an eruption spawn on you as you change gear. As it is right now it's just not worth it in my opinion.

Updated to V[1.22c]. Added Vanya Sash, that's it.

may want to update the range on Benediction, since it's actually very useful now with it's increased range. I've done some testing with it, but not enough to post any results with confidence. I do know this, from the right side healer perspective at Ifrit, it reaches the Tank in the common position, but not much further.

I've been running near the center of the arena after Hellfire for Benediction and I usually manage to hit the whole party (mages on both sides included), so the range is pretty impressive now.

Hello

I am looking for a great white mage mentor to exchange via private message on in-game maybe (if on Masamune).
I am level 40 White mage and did my last 6 last levels or so throught parties (2 parties) that were actually my first as healer (and main healer)... so maybe I am not the best yet and would like some advice to be better

I am level 40 now and with full party we target some spiders near halali by bunch of 6 or more
I want to have my routine right for usual exp party (not talking end-game things, I am not there yet...)

Buff stoneskin/protect on everybody before starting
Once puller come back with many mobs relaunch Stoneskin on him
then Presence of Mind > Regen to everybody
and then focus on tank cura/stoneskin

but sometime timing gets off and I lose the puller...
FYI I use a gamepad and would like to know more on how people play

1/ what is your "routine" for exp parties?
2/ do you use macros if yes, what/how? I use macros for all my healing/stoneskin/protect <st>. maybe a Presence of Mind/Raise macro would be good...? I don't know, just want to be quicker for healing via gamepad...
3/ anybody want to be my mentor? :)

see ya

First, your tank should be pulling because they get initial hate that way and they can take hits from multiple enemies. This game is not FF11 and you should be trying to get multiple enemies through links while XPing because of all the bonuses you get. Also, make sure the enemies aren't too high level for your tank or DDs.

Second, do not waste Presence of Mind on Regen, as it has a very short recast time. I think maybe you might mean Sacred Prism? If you do, Sacred Prism + Regen on the party is great. Make sure to throw a Regen on the tank before they grab enemies, at the very least.

I don't use macros since the gamepad works fine for me with the Action Bar and picking the spells there does the <st> thing anyway (unless you turned that off). I would say to keep Presence of Mind in a separate macro if you macro it at all. It's a very situational skill and you won't only be using it for Raise, even though it will be your most common use of it.

I meant Sacred Prism + Regen indeed yes

with controller I cannot do like that, I think I need to first select target then the spell, which is not great...
maybe it's just settings?

Yep, go to Config > Target Settings and turn Action Subtargets On. It will make it so whenever you pick a spell on your action bar it will bring up the subtarget selection after.

Just to know, are you using Type A/B/C on your controller?

Type A. You can switch between target modes with Auto-run+ Accept, Auto run + Cancel, Auto Run + Mini-menu, and Auto-run + Main menu. You can usually stay in Enemy targeting mode since you can target party members with up/down, but I mostly do that because I like to have a good view of boss HP and status effects.

hit 50, thanks for the help :)

quick question, for a WHM (and maybe BLM later) what craft is the best to start (to repair myself my most expensive equipment or create some)?

Thanks ^^

Grats on 50 =)

Mages use a lot of cloth gear so Weaver is probably going to allow you to craft or repair the most gear. However, don't force it if you end up not liking crafting. Repairs are easy to get from NPCs everywhere or you can put up repairs and stand somewhere with lots of foot traffic and shout that you need repairs.

This is an outstanding guide. Thanks for all the information on Enhancing Magic and its exact values per level of potency.

Thanks! I actually came here to ask about white mages and found this. My conjuror has a lot put into intelligence because when I first started playing I wasn't any many parties and I didn't have linkshells hence had to pummel creeps on my own, for my white Mage I want to go primarily mind and heal, I do have a question, right now my conjuror is like +20 mind +16 int and that seems to be more than enough for healing folks in their 30s, but at 50 is the amount of damage taken so much greater proportionally that a heavier mind / heal build would be better? Right now my hh int high mind is really working.

An INT and MND split is perfectly fine, more and more recent content allows for or is much more efficient with a WHM throwing out nukes at some point. You can make up any deficiencies with gear fairly easily, it matters much more than your points will.

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Originally Posted by Estellios

An INT and MND split is perfectly fine, more and more recent content allows for or is much more efficient with a WHM throwing out nukes at some point. You can make up any deficiencies with gear fairly easily, it matters much more than your points will.

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Thanks! That's kinda what I guess. The info here though did convince me to out more into vit in the future. Anyway, have made it to white Mage.

Something I thought I would mention if it hasn't already, Trapper's Quiche is quite possibly the best food to use for White Mage actually. It bolsters your HP more than Apkallu Omelets and also has a beneficial effect of adding in +10 Vitality. Small boost, but it can aid in increasing your Enhancing Magic Potency. Downfall is it can be slightly hard to make being a 51-60 recipe for Culinarians and requires Eft tails. Still, if you're looking to get the most potential out of available food this is the best to use.

I'm also a big fan of Trapper's Quiche. I'm a WHM that focuses more on ENH abilities than HMpot. I prefer this method because it's easier on the MP pool and takes a lot of the pressure off. I'll generously toss Regens around and reserve Cura/Cure for Tank and Curaga/Benediction for the moments of sudden disaster. Regen is also useful in the case that (Heaven forbid) the WHM dies. o.o

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Originally Posted by Mihana

Something I thought I would mention if it hasn't already, Trapper's Quiche is quite possibly the best food to use for White Mage actually. It bolsters your HP more than Apkallu Omelets and also has a beneficial effect of adding in +10 Vitality. Small boost, but it can aid in increasing your Enhancing Magic Potency. Downfall is it can be slightly hard to make being a 51-60 recipe for Culinarians and requires Eft tails. Still, if you're looking to get the most potential out of available food this is the best to use.

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While the Trapper's Quiche is still great for the VIT, it will not under most circumstances give you more HP than lower level HP food due to the lower % of boost it gives. You need 4600 hp to cap out hp boost on Trapper's Quiche when most WHMs will barely get over 2600-2800 unless geared for HP.

If you can get over 3000 HP on WHM without food though, it's definitely the best food for focusing on healing.

droooool....me luvs Trappers Quiche! too bad hardly anyone makes it on Hyperion :"(