Scholar Advice

Hi, I main the scholar and am looking for some advice on how to play the class better. I feel I may be missing something but I want any experienced scholars to come and share their wisdom. My most concern is how to go about using "Adloquium" properly compared to physick. I usually end up burning mana fast. How to handle big pulls in dungeons? etc

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Originally Posted by Camz

Hi, I main the scholar and am looking for some advice on how to play the class better. I feel I may be missing something but I want any experienced scholars to come and share their wisdom. My most concern is how to go about using "Adloquium" properly compared to physick. I usually end up burning mana fast. How to handle big pulls in dungeons? etc

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gotta use Adloquim in such a way, so its shield does not go to waste. like imagine situation - tank is at 50% hp in a dungeon trash pull, you use adlo, which heals him up to 65%, so next skill you wanna use to get his hp even higher - is Physics. then, when you see shield drop and tank recieved once again enough damage to justify healing him - you use adlo again, back it up with physics, rince and repeat.
of course, when you are at high level Physics usually avoided as much as possible. proirity goes to Exogitation and Lustrate to heal tank, and indomitability to heal the group
also helps casting adlo pre-pull, it will leave you with enough time to place dots+Bane the pack before he will need healing again. of course, that will depend on the encounter and tank himself too, but normally it works just like that

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Originally Posted by SilentVoice

gotta use Adloquim in such a way, so its shield does not go to waste. like imagine situation - tank is at 50% hp in a dungeon trash pull, you use adlo, which heals him up to 65%, so next skill you wanna use to get his hp even higher - is Physics. then, when you see shield drop and tank recieved once again enough damage to justify healing him - you use adlo again, back it up with physics, rince and repeat.

also helps casting adlo pre-pull, it will leave you with enough time to place dots+Bane the pack before he will need healing again. of course, that will depend on the encounter and tank himself too, but normally it works just like that

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Thank you very much.

How I prepare for big pulls is by using Adlo and Excogitation to give the tank a shield and strong heal that pops once they drop below 50% to give me enough time to apply DoTs and place the fairy somewhere near the tank, then I use Rouse and have Eos use Whispering Dawn, Bane my DoTs if I haven't already before spamming the everliving crap out of Miasma II while having the tank targeted in case I need to Lustrate them.

Fey Union is also really helpful in keeping the tank alive when you know they are going to get hurt something fierce, usually worth saving for big pulls rather than boss fights.

In case you are facing a situation where the tank is taking unreasonable amounts of damage, you might want to considering using Largesse and altering between Adlo and Physic for best mana efficiency, unless the damage is so high that Adlo's shield breaks before you can cast Physic, in which case you might want to keep spamming Adlo and using Aetherflow solely for Excog/Lustrate.

Adlo is a bit on the expensive side compared to Physic, but technically it has 600 potency due to the shield, not to mention that the shield is doubled if you land a crit, i.e: If you crit with Adlo for 10k, the shield will have 20k.

Addlo isn't a spell you'll use very frequently. Especially not in remplacement of physicks.

The main two main situation where you want to use addlo is before a pull (dungeon, trial, raid, leveling, everywhere) and when a heavy single target damage is coming, mostly on a tank. You can totally use excogitation on top of it, espcially in dungeon, it'll buy a lot of time to set up your DoT apocalypse that way. You will also use it to spread it but that's kinda obvious.
But there's something not that well know about that spell is that its cast time is significantly shorter than physicks. That makes it spell you can use if you want to throw an OGCD behind, without losing any uptime at all. It's really good in stressing pulls when you anything but healing were the tank is gradually getting lower and lower. You use that get it back to full HP with something like Lustrate or Exco.
Be carefull as it also mean that you can press a GCD just after addlo and it will not cast as global cooldown is still there. You may have encoutered that situation where you pressed a skill and it didn't cast, that was certainly the reason.

In general, it's better to use to other SCH tools to get stronger healing than physicks. Mostly lustrate, exco and the fairy. They don't cost mana, so it saves some troubles.

Firstly, adlo should be casted pre-pull. If you cast it during the pull before the tank has established agro, you will pull hate. If you don't/can't get adlo off pre-pull, then wait until the tank has gained agro on the all the mobs present. A good technique to use that helps is to begin casting Adlo when the last mob is about to die. Timed right, your tank will have a fresh shield to continue pulling without either of you missing a step.

Second, adlo does heal, but it is primarily used as a shield. It's great to cast on anyone who is targeted for a big hit, including yourself to mitigate the damage. This will take practice. Apply the same concept to Succor, when raid wide damage is coming. However, if you need to spam heal, it is more optimal to use Physick.

Big pulls in dungeons are a prime example of why you want cast Adlo pre-pull (you also want to do this for bosses). Once the pull has started, you'll want to pay attention to the tank to make sure he isn't just sight-aggroing the mobs, and uses an enmity skill before you take any action. You'll also want to pay attention for adlo crits, as this powerful shield will buy you more time before you need to do any actual healing, but don't fish for them. The shield will likely expire, or break by the time the pull is done, so feel free to refresh it once all the mobs are gathered, and that will likely be the last time you cast it for that particular pull. All healing at this point is taken care of with Embrace, Whispering Dawn, your OGCDs, and if unavailable, Physick.

tl;dr? Adlo to shield. Physick to heal (after other healing sources have been exhausted).

Weighing the benefits of using Adlo, Physick, Lustrate, or Excog is difficult because they each restore HP but is it worth wasting the extra MP on Adlo for slight amounts of damage? Is Physick strong enough to sustain the tank? Is Lustrate going to be a waste of an Aetherflow Stack? Will Excog even go off before the timer expires? You have so many tools at your disposal for single target healing and the options grow as you level. I have found that experience in the level roulette is best. You really have to be able to measure the risk to your tank by instinct and respond accordingly. Largesse and Fey Illumination both increase your healing output so don't be afraid to use them either. Some tanks will force you to use every single ability in your arsenal so don't be discouraged if it seems a bit overwhelming. Scholar can handle everything but experience is really the only way to learn just how to go about handling every niche scenario.

Put the fairie's abilities, except Embrace, on the hotbar if you have her on obey. You get a special hotbar if you're using a PS4 controller like I do, but I find it disruptive from getting to the rest of the skills.

How I have my bars set up is 1- DPS with the most basic healing spells as well. Bar 2 is my entire healing kit, with the fairie's abilities on one side. I used to have bar 3 be the exact duplicate of bar 2 except with Selene's abilities. But you'll find yourself not using Selene that much, so I got rid of it.

(note this post is primarily talking about 4-man dungeons. 8-man pugs, coordinated groups and alliance raids all have their own naunces)


Your first line of healing should be Eos. She should always, always, always be on manual control. Good use of Rouse & Fey Illumination can let her pick up more slack than you'd think. Atherpact/Fey Union can be used liberally on dungeon pulls when you get it. Don't forget you can end it early. This means you don't have to save it for when the whole bar can be used. Even just using 30-40 points in the bar can leave you a lot of room in to feel comfortable in a big pull.

Your next go-to should be abilities like Lustrate & Excognition that don't consume MP or Cast Time. If those still aren't enough you can relieve some pressure with Adloquim. If that somehow is still leaving your chain-casting or losing ground on the tank the tank is probably doing pulls too big for your gear or not using their CDs properly. You'd be within your rights to request they slow down. That said, if you get that point alternating casts of Adloquim and Physick should make it that none of the shield goes to waste and your mana bar is preserved as much possible.

Basically time is your most precious resource, until you start running out of mana. Preserve the former as much as possible until folks would start dropping. Doing an aldo between pulls is always a good idea since it is basically free both in terms of mana and time (you can even burn swiftcast to get it off if you need to keep up with a sprinting tank).

Whispering Dawn is a powerful AoE heal and often all you need on the group for most bosses. Particularly if you combine it with rouse and/or Fey Illumination. Be sure to position Eos so she catches everyone. Make sure you stay aware of your party member's movements, particularly Red Mages and Bards who tend to go all over the place.



As a final note, just keep a cool head. You don't have a ton of efficient tools for keep everyone topped off all the time. The big hits on the group generally come at set predictable intervals, don't be afraid to let folks linger at around ~50% hp while Eos gets around to patching them up.

I'm in the same boat too, had a few questions. It seems I see a lot of people basically saying Adlo/Succor is 'bad' and you should avoid using it. Then some say don't use Physick, its not that great. It makes it sound like I just shouldn't heal! But I know that's not right... >_<

Should I just remove Succor from my hotbar? Just AoE shield with Deployment Tactics Adlo?
Should I stop using Emergency Tactics with Adlo since its intended to be a shield at a high-ish MP cost? Does that go for ET-Succor as well?
Is there a right situation to use Dissipation? Killing Eos sounds bad lol
Should I hold on using Chain Strategem on a boss/raid? Saw not too long ago that using it right away is apparently what idiots do. *Ahem* =/

Sorry for the questions or being annoying haha. I just don't like feeling like such a hindrance. I like how different SCH plays and enjoy the more strategic aspect to it, even if it comes with a learning curve. A big thank you to anyone who happens to respond! xD