Fairly hefty discrepancy between WHM and SCH

Cutter's Cry (38) 2nd boss Giant Tunnel Worm.

Worm puts a Sludge Dot on a random party member that lasts for forever and a day. With a WHM/CNJ it's a simple matter of Esuna and you're on your way. However, SCH doesn't get Leeches until level 40. This seems like a large unfair discrepancy.

As my main WHM, healing through that boss is easy. Ran today as a PLD with a SCH healer and he had a bear of a time keeping everyone up due to being unable to dispell the debuff. I know this is probably the ONLY situation where this comes up...but what gives? Poor SCH...

Scholar can simply cast adlo on the debuffed party member. The shield will absorb dot damage so that they can be topped off, which should keep them healthy enough for the duration of the debuff. Now brayflox on the other hand...

Well Cutter's Cry is for 38-40, so if a Scholar feels like they can't handle healing through the debuffs, they should wait until 40 to do it. It can be healed through without leeches, though, I did it at 38 on my Scholar. As long as your group doesn't get hit by all the avoidable stuff on the last boss, it's not that hard.

I have to agree with Kelmana. I have healed through both Cutter's Cry and Brayflox at level as both a WHM and a Scholar. I actually found it much easier to heal through as a Scholar.

I do, however, think it's dumb that Scholars don't get their dispel until level 40.

I'm not placing the blame fully on SCH design, btw. I felt fairly sure that he could've healed through it, he just wasn't very good period :) But being able to Leech would've made it easier, at least.

The flip side of the coin is that Whm doesn't get self mp refresh till much later, so it all kind of evens out.

Is it just me or I feel that SCH's powerfulness increases as their gears go up. I think a full 90 scholar does wonders compared to full 90 WHM, except for the lack of Holy. Like for example.. I do think that twintania's 2nd phase would be half as hard with 2 scholars than 1 scholar and 1 whm. (dunno entire fight, only got up to snakes) but things like WP speedruns are going to be WHM aced. So it's like Scholar= devoted entirely for heals and WHM= half dps half heals..

I totally agree that not having a way to cure debuff until so late REALLY sucks. But in the situation you described, it is actually avoidable. Just make sure you Adlo the person who is about to be hit, and he won't receive the debuff. It may require either knowledge of the fight and practice, or just a lot of preemptive bubbling.

I don't have my SCH up yet, but running that fight as a WHM I rarely, if ever used Esuna. I always kept Stoneskin on everyone (but tank) and never had to deal with it. I've assumed that the SCH's effect would work fine there, and based on what's been said in the thread I was right.

But yeah, healing through it is also possible...Brayflox and all the poison, anyone?

Never had issues with a SCH healing Brayflox or Cutter's Cry as long as they were paying attention to what they should be doing. What I have seen however is in AK and WP, the SCH's don't like to even use leeches often.

On a sidenote, the only issue I see is the Fairies dropping on the 1st and Last Boss in AV. I wouldn't mind seeing fairies receive AOE Resistance or Immunity. But even in AV, a SCH can heal it no problem if they pay attention. Course paying attention and positioning for many DF healers is a problem. But a problem they simply need to fix themselves.