AST/WHM Questions

I started an AST recently, and Lightspeed seems incredibly strong. I immediately thought of all the things I could do with this that I can't do on my WHM.

In general, how does AST compare to WHM right now? It's hard to find up-to-date opinions on this.

I've seen a lot of people cast Lightspeed and then spam Helios. It seems to make for some really effective AoE healing. Is AST the better AoE healer?

How effective is it to use Lightspeed with Ascend?

Lightspeed just seems game-changing. I'm more than a little jealous.

LS is incredibly useful. Honestly as an AST main, whenever I switch to WHM I end up forgetting that they don't have an insta-cast spell and it puts me into some bad situations. :P

WHM does have a comparable skill, Presence of Mind. It lasts 5 seconds longer than LS with the same CD, but it doesn't reduce your damage output, and it also decreases your spell recast time. LS reduces your basic attacks and magic attacks by 25%, so maybe that's a trade-off. WHM also has better healing numbers overall in that helps.
It feels more like a thematic thing imo. AST is pretty much a time mage, so being able to use a spell that gives you instant casts for a short while makes sense.

As for LS with Ascend, a Swiftcast combo/macro is still preferable. The only time I'll use LS specifically for Ascend is if I've just rezzed and we severely need a second. It cuts the time from 8s to 5.5s, so it's still a longer cast time than is preferable in most situations.

AST and WHM are both in kind of an odd position relative to each other.

It's pretty much as you state, Lightspeed + Helios is very significant HPS for a very reasonable cost, things have changed a little for SB though, with Earthly Star being the go too for AST aoe healing burst, whereas Lightspeed is unbeatable for providing sustained efficient aoe output in situations where you potentially need to be mobile (O3S final phase and O4S GC Omega are good examples of this). Is it better than what a WHM can do? Yes and no, Medica II still has it's unique range, and Cure III not being gated behind a cooldown or timer is still a very significant deal. In terms of efficiency.

Soso, remember that it won't make Ascend an instant cast, it will however slash the mp cost. I wouldn't use Lightspeed with Ascend back in A12S, but I would use it now in casual content if I didn't have swiftcast on hand.

Thin Air is every bit as big a game changer for WHM and I would argue that it's a more versatile ability all told.

You guys are awesome! These are really helpful responses!

I realize now that I have to use my WHM kit better. This is exciting. My playstyle has to change when doing A/S ranks, and I should save Presence of Mind for emergencies rather than use it for damage.

I understand that Thin Air + Swiftcast/Presence of Mind + Raise is probably a lot stronger than Lightspeed + Ascend.

Presence of Mind probably makes Medica II/Medica every bit as strong as Lightspeed when combined with Assize, Plenary Indulgence, and Asylum.

I also understand now that the way I use these cooldowns should change depending on the kind of content I'm running.

AST abilities are more clearly defined, so my initial impression was that they were stronger because knowing how to use them comes more naturally.

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Originally Posted by Lynesse

AST abilities are more clearly defined, so my initial impression was that they were stronger because knowing how to use them comes more naturally.

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I completely agree with that statement.
I actually started the game as a WHM main before HW came out, and honestly it felt like the spells didn't "flow" very well. I found it felt pretty slow and awkward.
As a healer main (in most games) who doesn't really like to micro-manage pets, it was probably one of the bigger reasons why I took a break for almost a year.
Switching to AST completely changed my perspective on the game and healing in general once I came back.

Here's hoping the next healer will be just as fun (:

The most efficient way to use Presence of Mind is still using it for DPS spells, in any situation.

There is just no damage as of now that requires PoM for burst healing (even Almagest from O4S, currently the hardest-hitting raid buster in the game can easily be handled without it), and using it for a Raise not only has very little impact (less than 2s cut), but you will also waste half of the duration of a 150s cooldown on a single spell.

Lightspeed has 3 main functions, which IMO follow the priorities below:
1 - Situations where you need to AOE/heal while moving. Having Helios as an instant cast spell is incredibly useful
2 - Cutting the MP cost for the spells you're using
3 - Quick burst healing

So you could say AST is a more mobile healer, but WHM's Cure III is still unbeatable when it comes to AOE healing output - in fact it's so strong that it isn't needed outside of a few specific fights.

As for using Lightspeed for Ascend, I'd recommend only doing that in an emergency, as like with PoM you will be wasting a lot of the duration on a single spell.

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Originally Posted by Zyaph

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Yup. WHM feels a little slow to me, too. But after doing side-by-side comparisons, I learned that WHM casts as fast, faster, or just slightly slower with Presence of Mind than AST does with Lightspeed. The first spell with Lightspeed is faster, but every spell after that seems slower because of the GCD.

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Originally Posted by Estelle9lives

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You're right 9 times out of 10. I started this thread because I was the only healer in an already anemic A rank group. People took a lot of damage in the confusion, and the DPS kept dying. No one blamed me, but I knew there was more I could have done to help. I thought I could have prevented some of those deaths if I had Lightspeed.

Last night, I saved PoM because I knew it was going to happen again. It did, but this time I was able to save everyone. I wouldn't use it this way in any other scenario.