Advice on Scholar

I've been primarily playing WHM as my main with a side of tanking, and recently continued raising my SCH level. As I've been playing the SCH, I've been wondering about a few things involving optimizing my heals and bubbles.

Exactly how much should I be micromanaging the fairy's abilities, and which ones should I use manually as opposed to letting the fairy cast? I noticed on some fights like Tetrataurus in Sunken Temple of Quarn, placement of the fairy is key in order to keep it alive. Does this trend continue into future dungeons as well?

You'll always want to place your faerie somewhere in any fight where bosses use AOE or you'll be forced to move but need her to continuously (as much as she'll do it anyway) heal the tank. Insofar as micromanagement is concerned, until you get to fights where players get blasted for AoE you can let Eos do as she pleases, but eventually you'll need to practice setting her to steady and activating her Healing Buff, Defensive Buff, and AoE heal manually (and then setting her back to steady again). For Selene, she will never cast the Skill Speed spell automatically, so you'll have to manually cast that when you use her.

But for most trash and most basic content, they can run on auto-pilot unless they specifically need to be moved somewhere, ala Qarn, or set somewhere like when running Garuda or Amdapor during the final boss.

Place her in the center of the room/area/party so she can reach everyone, (but always the tank) let her go nuts in steady mode and use skills when you need. ^^

Qarn is something of an exception. Outside of having to worry about AoEs, there are very few instances where the faerie becomes a liability like that. Aurum Vale will probably be the next time you have a similar situation.

Ideally you should know the fight beforehand so you know what AoEs or cone attacks the enemies have and then place Eos outside of those ranges. You should *always* be using Place when you aren't in a situation where you have to be constantly moving. This is more to make sure the tank and DPS are in range of her cures and less about the one hit kills like Qarn. She will resist a lot of damage so you'll usually have plenty of time to move her again if needed.

Micromanaging is not necessary at first, but it may benefit you to get used to it. Between your shields and her regen, you'll be able to keep the party healthy for most fights so she's usually able to do whatever she wants (just watch her placement, Whispering Dawn's range isn't as wide as it seems). When you have to worry about critical timing (which is nearly nonexistent in most of the dungeons) that's when you want more control over your faerie. Fey Illumination in particular is something you want control over because she likes to cast it whenever she pleases, sometimes even when you're not currently in a fight.

The majority of the fights you'll be placing her near the tank, but out of mob range, while the tank is establishing hate. That's pretty much the extent of your placement phase for almost all content till endgame (and sometimes there too). You *do* need to watch her enmity during pulls though. If Whispering Dawn is up during a pull, or if the tank takes too much damage during said pull, Eos will almost always pull hate and for some reason it's hard to get enmity off of her.

Hi, I'm a Summoner right now and planning to make SCH as my main soon... is macro a-must for a SCH?

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Originally Posted by Priemo

Hi, I'm a Summoner right now and planning to make SCH as my main soon... is macro a-must for a SCH?

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No, though mouseover macros are nice, macros aren't required for any class to perform effectively.

There are a few macros that will make your life that much easier, but many of them depend on style. For instance, if you like to heal with <mo> (which has to be macro-ed anyway), using <tt> will be less useful. I personally like to keep my tank on F2 (second party slot) and keep him or her selected for faster healing, then click the party widget to spot heal. That makes /ma "offensive-spell" <tt> extremely useful.

Another macro you might find useful is linking Swiftcast to your Eos/Selene and Resurrect spells. That way, if something goes horribly wrong, the fix is one instant key away. As Vyserion said though, you can easily get away with not having any macros, it just requires a different system. If you're on computer, my suggestion would be to keep your mouse in the party widget area.

Okay, I've compiled my questions about SCH.

1. In dungeons should the Scholar do DoTs? Or just focus on pre-healing the tank?
2. Does the fairy need to be manually controlled?
3. Should all the bonus stats go to MND?

Thanks! :)

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Originally Posted by Fendred

Exactly how much should I be micromanaging the fairy's abilities,

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You should be manual healing with either faery. On gamepad i have my heal set to A and my embrace set to B and when i need to heal a big hit i slide my finger over the two.. this also allows you to split heal

I tend to leave Eos do it, this is mainly due to button restriction though on a gamepad, I have so many things hotkeyed it'd be hard to control all of her abilities aswell. But a good tip if you are doing this, is to put her on steady at the start of a battle and then once the tank has hate manual cure with her to take her off steady, she has this bad habit of getting over-excited and blowing her load at pull.

Selene will NEVER cast her DoW buff. The cool down on those buffs are 60secs and they last for 30secs. So if you start casting the DoW buff at 2secs remaing of her casted DoM buff you should be able to have one set of people buffed at all times.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Priemo

Okay, I've compiled my questions about SCH.

1. In dungeons should the Scholar do DoTs? Or just focus on pre-healing the tank?
2. Does the fairy need to be manually controlled?
3. Should all the bonus stats go to MND?

Thanks! :)

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1/ depends on the fight, Virus is a must as it weakens the enemy though. Macro your dots to <tt> so you dont have to target anything, it will go on your tanks target.
2/ To a degree see my last post. It depends how good you are at keeping up with times and how many hotbar slots you have available i guess, i have never had trouble auto healing with Eos but just controlling her embrace
3/ Yes

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Priemo

Okay, I've compiled my questions about SCH.

1. In dungeons should the Scholar do DoTs? Or just focus on pre-healing the tank?
2. Does the fairy need to be manually controlled?
3. Should all the bonus stats go to MND?

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In low level or for trash your fairy is more than capable so you can assist with TPD as long as everybody is safe
Yes and no, I keep her in obey so she only use her main healing so I can use her AoE at the right time then once you use one, she will use all the rest. After that I turn her back to obey.
Yes

My personal experience is that directing the faery to cast embrace manually can be EXTREMELY POWERFUL, much moreso than keeping the faery on Steady until you need Whispering Dawn. I am only level 49, so I can't attest to what's happening in raids, but I recommend that you try hotkeying "q" to Embrace, "e" to Adlo, and maybe "Alt+E" to physick. Always tap Embrace first, because you can't control the faery while you are casting. The faery's range is deceptively small when she's left on her own, and waiting until health is at 70% can be too late to keep health topped off.

Doing this, you can stack an embrace + Adlo to get a big heal + a shield all at once, or you can direct the faery to heal one person while you heal another. If you stay on top of things, you can also conserve your MP and heal a lot of fights using only physick and embrace.

Doing Aurum Vale, I could not heal through the first and third boss fights, which are very AE intense, until I started manually directing my faery through the fight. Once I did that, everything went very smooth.

Is Swiftcast and Stoneskin a-must for SCH? :)

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Originally Posted by Priemo

Is Swiftcast and Stoneskin a-must for SCH? :)

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Both is not a must. Though if you ask me, swiftcast is nice to have.

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Originally Posted by Priemo

Is Swiftcast and Stoneskin a-must for SCH? :)

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I've cleared turn 4 and have never even equipped Stoneskin. It's great for Paladins to use, it's great for White Mage, but it's not good for Scholar. I run with Aero, Thunder, Protect, Swiftcast, and Cleric's Stance.

As a scholar up to and including Garuda:
1) I do not micro manage Eos. In certain boss fights I will position her so she can be closer to the tank, but otherwise leave her alone.
2) I use macros for quick healing. ALT-1 to ALT-8 will heal people in party position 1-8. That way I do not even need to find them or target them.
3) I rarely use stoneskin/protect (if there is a WHM in party let them do it).
4) I use ALL my enfeebles at all times. As far as I know, DOT is good and seems to be effective. Remember, RUIN is +Blind, so that means less healing.
5) I use SwiftCast mainly with Raise or to reget Eos if she accidentally dies.

Sadly, I have not used my other fairy. I find having Eos healing is just too beneficial to give up. But maybe this is different post Garuda or in future levels.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Priemo

1. In dungeons should the Scholar do DoTs? Or just focus on pre-healing the tank?
2. Does the fairy need to be manually controlled?
3. Should all the bonus stats go to MND?

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1. If you are familiar with the content and are comfortable using DoTs while healing then yes. If its new content to you it is better to play it safe and mostly heal and virus until you are comfortable.
2. I've done through Titan HM and have never manually controlled my pet. I'd say its a personal preference in play style and I find myself plenty to do without micro managing my fairy.
3. Yes

I would say swift cast is almost essential. Everything can be done without it, but it can save a party from a wipe by re-summoning pet or using raise instantly instead of a 5 second cast.
I never bothered getting stoneskin. It's only real use for scholar is to precast it on everyone before a battle and even that doesn't do much.

Im a bit amazed, how few scholars use Selene in group content.

The buffs from Selene are really powerfull and make combat faster, DPS does profit a lot from it.

I only use Eos in really dire situation where healing from Selene+me (+2. Healer in 8-man) is not enough... but even in healing intense fights like Demon Wall I do prefer Selene, because that makes the fight and chances to win easier.

That might change later, but everything up to Ifrit HM and Amador Keep I mostly use Selene.

Not to mention Castrum... most healers can fall asleep (healing-wise) here, so why use Eos when you can speed up the dps with Selene? Praetorim with more then 50% 1. timers against Ultima can get healing intense and might require EOS but only rarely from my experience... but if the group knows the fight its as easy as Castrum.


Concerning the questions:

DOT-Usage: Sure! Espacially the de-buffing effects make the fights faster/easier. Everything that weakens the enemy is great.
Manually Controlled Fairy: Depends on the situation. Placement of Fairy is minimum, manually use Embrace good... and skill buff if you use selene. For Eos: Steady and manually use whispering wind and after that back to steady.
Bonus-Stats: MIND for sure.
Swiftcast: Personally, I think it is a requirement. Instant Battle-Rez is a god-send and can get a win out of a lot of screwed up boss fights.
Stoneskin: If you dont run with a WHM you should have it (I still have to get it myself, but its high on my to-do-list.)

Thanks for answers! Really appreciate it!
I am now a level 50 SCH unlocking Ampador's Keep.
What's the gear to go for the endgame? :)