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The benefit of the ability is straightforward: But who do you cast it on, and when?
I put it on everyone before each pull. Recently I've learned it's exactly te same benefit if I'm DPSing in cleric stance... do you cast it during combat? On more than the tank? I knew it was good, but I was surprised to see some people use swiftcast on stoneskin!
Like you said, precasting.
Sometimes useful to cast midfight if you know a big hit is coming. It's also handy if you're in cleric stance because the potency is unnafected.
- Cast on everyone before a pull.
- In WP, cast before Tonberry King uses Everybody's Grudge.
- In HM Garuda, cast on tanks right before adds spawn to lessen initial healing needed.
- In HM Titan, cast on tank before MB if you or the tank are undergeared or you are solo healing.
- Also in HM Titan, cast on tank during heart phase if you need to help DPS.
- Again in HM Titan, keep casting on anyone who has been raised so they can survive tumults with the HP penalty, until the penalty drops.
- In coil turn 1, cast on OT right before split to lessen the need to heal during positioning and initial threat generation
- Turn 5 death sentence
I generally use it for two things. One is before a fight, the other is before a Death Sentence.
If we had our old ability that let us turn a single-target spell into an AoE, it'd be a different story. But then we'd make SCH feel bad.
I normally just cast it before a pull.
There are some situations where Ill cast it in combat; Ifrit HM, for example, I'll keep it on myself and stand within the burst range...SS absorbs the damage, I don't get pushed back, can medica if needed without moving. Also, when a boss has a targeted attack that has a DoT (the Worm in Cutter's is the first one I can think of) I will SS everyone but the tank so I don't have to Esuna and heal every time it goes off.
I've been using stoneskin more and more to mitigate damage/heals at the start of fights and help reduce threat. So for titan for example, you can basically just keep regen and stone on the tank to minimize damage in phase 1/2. Threat remains low, and heals are not required.
The tricky of using more Stoneskin is MP management. As long as you pop Shroud early (around 2k MP or so) you're golden.
Stoneskin is not very MP efficient when used in the middle of battle, with the exception of a WAR or a PLD with high iLevel gear. As the others have suggested, it's mainly useful mid-battle if you anticipate big hits coming (such as when Garuda's sisters spawn or Everyone's Grudge). Attempting to keep it up on too many people at once throughout a fight will likely kill your MP, especially a fight like Titan where there is too much unavoidable damage flying around.
I would recommend using shroud as soon as you have lost around 1k MP (maybe that is 2k MP for you) as that is how much you will get back from it at 50 , and the sooner you use it the sooner it will be back up again to extend your MP further.Quote:
The tricky of using more Stoneskin is MP management. As long as you pop Shroud early (around 2k MP or so) you're golden.
What Nettle said about Cad split is a perfect time to cast. With a SCH popping a quick Alqo before the split as well you definitely give the OT a better chance in gaining threat.
Not too sure if this worked but in T2 I had a WHM cast Stoneskin regularly to reduce stacks if it was timed well enough.
Well that's what he said anyway. I was too busy silencing and switching with the OT to notice.
In 4 man parties, I like to keep stoneskin on everyone except the tank, so when someone else takes a hit gives me a healing buffer for a moment. For the tank, I stoneskin right before the last mob in a group is dead, so he has it on him as he pulls the next one. So there is a buffer before I need to start healing and possibly steal aggro. I don't bother recasting it on the tank during a fight though. Except the tonberry king. I keep stonskin on the tank before the big hits. In 8 man parties, I pre-cast before bosses or pulls, but then pretty much ignore it.
Why not cast it whenever you don't need to heal and your mana isn't low? It has the added benefit of not drawing much threat.
As they say, an ounce of prevention...