Healers and GCD Clippling and Weaving Question

Hi guys!

I've spent the last two expansions only playing AST as my healer. I also play RDM and several physical jobs from time to time. I guess I was spoiled because so far the jobs I play with cast timers have been designed to allow weaving pretty easily. RDM is basically built to double weave and AST has Malefic to help with card weaving which also helps with weaving in general.

So I used to play Scholar back in ARR when I didn't really play optimally, and now I'm trying to get it to 80 and the thing I've noticed is that they've been given Ruin 2 as a movement tool, but it also allows you to weave/doubleweave spells. However, it's a weaker spell, so I'm trying to figure out:

How much potency is lost if you cast Broil then clip your next Broil with an oGCD vs using Ruin 2 to use 1 oGCD and 2 oGCDs? Lots of guides say to use Energy Drain as one of the oGCDs to avoid a damage loss, but what if I'm out of stacks or need to weave 2 other oGCDs for some reason? Is it ever right to clip, or is the potency lost from clipping always more than the difference between Broil and Ruin potency?

Obvioiusly, I also see the option to weave when I DoT, but refreshing the DoT and needing to use an oGCD won't always line up.

Also, I was thinking of going with WHM next which I know next to nothing about optimization. Looking at the skill list, it looks like you may in fact be required to clip your GCD on WHM since you have few instant cast spells unless I'm missing something obvious.

If you're weaving 2 oGCDs, weave it with ruin II, also ruin II for movement. If you only need 1 oGCD, if you have good ping, it's better to clip your broil for it. If your ping isn't the best, it's still worth weaving for a single oGCD.

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Originally Posted by thehornfreak84

Also, I was thinking of going with WHM next which I know next to nothing about optimization. Looking at the skill list, it looks like you may in fact be required to clip your GCD on WHM since you have few instant cast spells unless I'm missing something obvious.

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On WHM you use your afflatus spells for weaving and movement when you can't just refresh the dot - while they don't do damage themselves, they charge up your Blood Lily, so eventually you can use Afflatus Misery to get back some of the lost potency from not casting Glares.

Like others have said. Ruin II potency is in a weird spot. If you have good ping it's better to clip, if you have mediocre ping it's better to use ruin II. If you double weave it's better to use ruin II. Also overall you should be pushing as much as possible to weave inside bio casts.

As for WHM, the afflatus skills are equivalent to a 250 iirc potency attack as long as you get the misery off afterwards. So you can use those like you would ruin II, even if no healing is required.

Thanks for the replies. My ping is usually ok... but it can have some issues at peak times. I’ll have to mess around with it and see if I notice a significant difference. It kinda sucks that my ping is a determining factor in how to play a job to its fullest, but I guess MCHs have been dealing with that for a long time so I can’t complaint too much.

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Originally Posted by thehornfreak84

Thanks for the replies. My ping is usually ok... but it can have some issues at peak times. I’ll have to mess around with it and see if I notice a significant difference. It kinda sucks that my ping is a determining factor in how to play a job to its fullest, but I guess MCHs have been dealing with that for a long time so I can’t complaint too much.

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Ruin II potency is just probably an oversight from the team in charge of balancing classes which made it a ping issue. They never readjusted the potency based off of the miasma II/ Broil delta.
We've brought it up quite a few times but SE don't seem to check up on our feedback often (at all?) so it probably went right over their heads. Considering there are more urgent issues with SCH currently (bugs), we aren't in a hurry for that particular change.

Even for single weaves you're better off sticking to Ruin II rather than clipping after a Broil. The potency loss is similar, but clipping offsets your rotation. Endgame gearsets function best in the 2.41 to 2.43 second GCD range, which naturally aligns Biolysis and Aetherflow refreshes as closely as possible assuming no GCDs are delayed by clipping. More importantly, it also keeps your GCD properly aligned so that Chain Stratagem syncs as closely as possible with other party cooldowns and other players' rotations (rather than risking small slips, which can compound over time).

There's no downside to just pressing Ruin II, unless you're operating in a specific timeframe where a clip won't cost you a GCD.

If there is nothing to weave, then don't clip your GCD with Ruin 2, and simply just cast your next Broil. Your ping really shouldn't dictate your CoA here, unless it's absolutely atrocious. It's kind of one of those things where you can actually feel your DPS drop when you do it. If the situation calls for a support ogcd such as a fairy skill, you can sub that in and you can consider the pot from Ruin 2 as free damage for using a support ability.

There are some cases where GCD clipping is ok. One example I can think of is when a boss is about to transition, or any time you want/need an additional 200pot tacked on very quickly, because you can't actually clip a GCD if there is no target to use one on. Also understand that while it is good practice to avoid clipping GCDs in any content, try not to beat yourself up over it too much, especially as the healer role. Playing this role optimally entails evaluating the situation for every action you use. There is a checklist that a healer will go through before finally arriving at 'smash DPS button', and it all takes place in the 2.5s GCD window. That is why they don't have a true rotation. I'm not downplaying min/maxing, but just be mindful if the situation calls for more DPS uptime, or more healer awareness.