Noobie SCH has some questions please

Hey all got a 37 SCH and I almost have a complete set of battle mage gear.

My question to you vets am I supposed to use Adlo before a fight on tank and if so how often do I keep adlo on tank?

When do i cast Adlo and when do i cast physick? Also how often do I use embrace via my fairy?

I am a little confused because at this level I dont have crit gear so therefore my adlo doesnt block a lot of damage and the mana cost is high to keep casting it like a WHM cast cure lol. Please any help would be great.

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Originally Posted by Artaniss

Hey all got a 37 SCH and I almost have a complete set of battle mage gear.

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Welcome to the SCH club :)

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Originally Posted by Artaniss

My question to you vets am I supposed to use Adlo before a fight on tank and if so how often do I keep adlo on tank?

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You should try to Adlo before a pull, though in some cases you might not be able to due to tank impatience or just slow reactions. Just don't try to put Adlo on as s/he is pulling as you'll pull hate at that moment.

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Originally Posted by Artaniss

When do i cast Adlo and when do i cast physick?

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I feel you should cast Adlo any time where you feel your HP is a dangerously low HP (like 50% and under) and if you feel your tank can't take another barrage of hits from the trash. Adlo is almost equivalent to Cure II in terms of "effective HP" recovery (it's total 600 potency when not-crit when you include the shield aspect vs 650 on Cure II). Generally speaking, when you cast Adlo, you want to cast Physick next then go back to Adlo until your tank is at a good HP value. This is because the mob(s) might not be able to break the Adlo shield just yet so you're not making use of the whole shield.

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Originally Posted by Artaniss

Also how often do I use embrace via my fairy?

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Pretty much, 100% of the time after the tank has received and secured hate (usually after one Flash / Overpower). There are a variety of macros you can use to facilitate this and this post / guide is probably a good place to start.

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Originally Posted by Artaniss

I am a little confused because at this level I dont have crit gear so therefore my adlo doesnt block a lot of damage and the mana cost is high to keep casting it like a WHM cast cure lol. Please any help would be great.

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Good general advise to have is to have a style you're comfortable with. Over time, you'll eventually learn to gauge how squishy a tank is, how hard a boss / trash pack hits for, when you need to heal and how, and how to control your fairy. This all requires experience and time to grow your skill set.

Do not get discouraged and do your best to keep your head up. You're going to trip sooner or later, just make sure to get up and keep going afterwards. Good luck~

Well I always Adlo before the tank pulls, and Stoneskin too if you have it (you should definitely get it if you don't). If it crits, you have a ton of mitigation before you actually have to heal.

First off, you should always be manually using Embrace. I'm using a controller, so I put Embrace on X and Physick on Square, so I just spam X (embrace), and when I need to actually heal I press Square and X at the same time. On the keyboard you can macro Embrace and Physick together if you have to, or just put Embrace on your hotbar, or put it somewhere easy and constantly click it. If you do this, often you won't even need to heal.

Adlo is sort of tricky to know exactly when to use it. You can't spam is, or you'll run out of MP. If you KNOW a bit hit is coming soon, Adlo right before. If the tank is taking super heavy damage where you're spamming Physick and Embrace and he's still dropping like a rock, use Adlo every few casts. If you're planning on DPSing, Swiftcast Stoneskin then cast Adlo to give as much protection as possible.

In general Scholars do MUCH better if you know exactly how the fight works. If you know there's unavoidable AoE damage coming, succor before. If there's BIG single target damage incoming, whether it is on the tank or a random target, either Adlo everybody just in case, or be quick and know you'll have to use it.

Another useful trick - if you want to DPS and you know the damage isn't super heavy, macro ALL of your DPS abilities. I consider this to be NON OPTIONAL for good scholars. The macro I THINK would be like this:

/micon "bio" Use whatever ability name obviously, this us just an example
/ac "bio" <t>
/ac "bio' <tt>
/pac "embrace" <t>
/pac "embrace" <f>

This make is so you can target who ever you want - tank or enemy - and be able to damage the enemy, and cure the tank. If you're targeting the tank, you'll DPS his target while using Embrace every time you use a DPS ability. If you're targeting a specific enemy - maybe helping kill an add really quickly that the tank isn't targeting - then you FOCUS target the tank and switch your target to the enemy. Eos will then cast Embrace on your focus target, the tank. Do this for EVERY ability - Ruin, Bio, Miasma, Etc.

Just a quick note, you should not macro Embrace to your skills, you should learn to control Embrace separately.

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Originally Posted by peaches

/micon "bio" Use whatever ability name obviously, this us just an example
/ac "bio" <t>
/ac "bio' <tt>
/pac "embrace" <t>
/pac "embrace" <f>

This make is so you can target who ever you want - tank or enemy - and be able to damage the enemy, and cure the tank. If you're targeting the tank, you'll DPS his target while using Embrace every time you use a DPS ability. If you're targeting a specific enemy - maybe helping kill an add really quickly that the tank isn't targeting - then you FOCUS target the tank and switch your target to the enemy. Eos will then cast Embrace on your focus target, the tank. Do this for EVERY ability - Ruin, Bio, Miasma, Etc.

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This macro will not work the way you described. If you have an enemy or no target selected, any healing ability targeted on <t> will trigger a self-heal for the caster (Eos in this case). What is happening in battle is if the tank is below 80% when embrace comes available, she is auto-casting on the tank. When the tank is above 80%, Eos is actually healing herself when you use that macro. You don't have to take my word for it: go out and test it.

I use creative targeting macros for my attacks but never for heals. My approach is to have the tank be my target and use focus target to stack all my DoTs and bane on a single enemy. Example:

/micon Bio
/ac Bio <t>
/ac Bio <f>
/ac Bio <tt>

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Originally Posted by DarkerOrange

Just a quick note, you should not macro Embrace to your skills, you should learn to control Embrace separately.

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For attack skills, I agree 100%. For Physick and Adlo, I was originally of the same opinion until I learned more about how faeries operate. I have Embrace macro'd into those two spells, but not for the reasons everyone else does.

My reason is the bugged 20y radius for auto-healing. If any allies within 20y are below 80%hp, you have zero control over Embrace due to auto-healing and everyone's arguments for and against such macros are all moot points. If everyone is above 80%, I won't cast Physick or Adlo: I will just manually command Embrace if someone needs healing. Outside of 20y, however, Eos will sit on her hands and watch your allies die if you don't command her. The natural response to that situation as a player is to manually cast Embrace along with my own spells at long ranges. Putting Embrace together with Physick simply does what I would be doing anyways and gives me one less thing to think about in battle.

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Originally Posted by giantslayer

This macro will not work the way you described.

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Are you positive? I could swear I had it working fine on PS4, but I switched to PC and don't have my macros set up yet, so I just wrote what I figured would work. Would it work if you switched the <f> to the be before <t>? Does Eos not follow <f> macros?

That is the only time I would macro any heal to any other ability, because it would be an easy way to make sure the tank gets constant heals while DPSing. Even if the Focus Target one doesn't work, it would work absolutely fine if you keep the tank targeted, and use <tt> for your attacks, but keeping <t> on the second like for when you're soloing or something.

Literally my only other heal macro is Rouse+Whispering Dawn.

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Originally Posted by peaches

Are you positive? I could swear I had it working fine on PS4, but I switched to PC and don't have my macros set up yet, so I just wrote what I figured would work. Would it work if you switched the <f> to the be before <t>? Does Eos not follow <f> macros?

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I am positive. Every time you think it is working, it is actually just Eos auto-casting. The issue is not that Eos does follow <f> macros. The issue is the <t> line will execute a self-heal so it will not have a chance to execute the <f>. I have not tested to see if <f> will trigger a self heal with no focus target, so I am not sure whether it will work the other way. It is easy enough for you to test. Just make a macro with /pac Embrace <f> as the only line and see if it makes Eos heal herself or if nothing happens. If I had to guess, I think it would probably self-heal.

The other issue with having the tank as your focus target is that you can't focus target to watch the boss's cast bar. Doing easy content or trash, you could spend most of your time DPSing, but in a tough fight, your main target will fluctuate as you heal people so you won't be able to consistently keep tabs on the boss without focus target. Most of the time it doesn't matter, but in some fights (like T5+6), it is necessary to see what the boss is casting.

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Originally Posted by giantslayer

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Okay, from the sounds of it the issue is Eos thinking <t> is her target, not mine - which of course, her target is nobody, so it targets herself.

So is there no way at all to macro Embrace with a DPS skill so that she heals your target, while you DPS the tank's target using <tt>? If not, the only solution is to use a numbered target, like <2>. This would only work in specifically either 4 or 8 man, as the positions on the party menu change. OR, the solution would be to focus target the tank, and manually target the enemies. You'd leave <f> as Eos' target, get rid of the <t>, and sadly you would have to swap your focus target back to the boss once you're done DPSing, which could get pretty annoying.

Either way, I feel like I need to get some version of this working. It is just too useful to have Eos spamming Embrace on the tank - even is he's full health - while you're dpsing, just in case.

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Originally Posted by peaches

Okay, from the sounds of it the issue is Eos thinking <t> is her target, not mine - which of course, her target is nobody, so it targets herself.

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Not quite. The macro's <t>, <tt> or whatever syntax is being used is the one that would apply to the player. I just tried this myself to be 100% sure: Have the fairy /sic on something, it has a target. The macro with embrace <t> would still heal whoever I would target - As long it's a legal target for healing. So giantslayer is right.

Additionally:
if you would macro 3 macro's in a row as <t>, <tt> and <ft>. Whichever is becomes a legal command will be executed first and all the others ignored. Meaning: If you have a monster targetted, the fairy would just cast Embrace on herself. Much like how you would heal yourself if you would try and heal an illegal target (ie: enemy). The only exception that the next line would be executed would be if the first one would contain an error. An error such as not having anyone targeted.

edit: Also, fairies -do- have a target. Have it /sic on a target and check your fairy:
http://i.imgur.com/9Z8mR04.jpg?1

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Originally Posted by Lyrica_Ashtine

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So then.. It would work having embrace being on <t> in the same macro as something like Bio being on, with the DPS ability using <tt>, while you target the tank? I'm not playing at the moment so I can't really test it.

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Originally Posted by peaches

So then.. It would work having embrace being on <t> in the same macro as something like Bio being on, with the DPS ability using <tt>, while you target the tank? I'm not playing at the moment so I can't really test it.

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if you are targeting the tank, then yes, it should work. Whether it's comfortable to use is another issue. Mainly when you want to cast bio on a target that your embrace target is not targeting

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Originally Posted by Lyrica_Ashtine

if you are targeting the tank, then yes, it should work. Whether it's comfortable to use is another issue. Mainly when you want to cast bio on a target that your embrace target is not targeting

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True, but it still lets you help in some form while still having the tank selected. You can set up Bane on a <t> and <tt> as well so you can Bane the tank's target, hitting anything nearby. Often as Scholar when you have to burn things quickly, they die before you can cast your dots anyways so this would be more so for helping with boss and add damage.

I spent a good amount of time one day trying to make combinations of target macros work, and they inevitably end up with the fairy healing herself instead of the intended target under the secondary condition.

I ended up binding Embrace <mo> to my spacebar, and I avoid the whole mess simply by spamming it at will on whomever (usually the tank) as I DPS or heal a separate target.

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Originally Posted by peaches

True, but it still lets you help in some form while still having the tank selected. You can set up Bane on a <t> and <tt> as well so you can Bane the tank's target, hitting anything nearby. Often as Scholar when you have to burn things quickly, they die before you can cast your dots anyways so this would be more so for helping with boss and add damage.

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I'm a PC user, so I can't really imagine how a Scholar can play with all the constant target switching. There -was- a topic about this before. But of course as a desktop player I didn't bother reading it xD But for you console players, it may be interesting:
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ighlight=macro

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Originally Posted by peaches

So then.. It would work having embrace being on <t> in the same macro as something like Bio being on, with the DPS ability using <tt>, while you target the tank? I'm not playing at the moment so I can't really test it.

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Yes, it would work, but it is a sub-optimal setup. Let me paint three scenarios for you:
A. Tank is rotating targets to spread aggro. <tt> switches with him, and you are unable to successfully execute all 3 DoTs and Bane on the same guy.
B. You decide to manually target an enemy because the tank isn't targeting the right guy. The Embrace portion of your macro triggers a self-heal.
C. Tank is targeting the right person. You fire your macro off and it works. In 2.5 seconds, your global cooldown is ready and you fire your second DoT. However, Eos has a 3 second cooldown so she is not ready when you are. She sits there doing nothing until either your third skill or the tank goes below 80% and she heals on her own.

I keep Embrace separate from my attacks.

I gave you the short version of my setup earlier. In my faerie guide, I discuss Embrace macros in one section towards the middle and targeting macros in another at the end. I have given very extensive thought to trying to make the best possible setup and feel I have more or less succeeded. Please have a look in my guide if you want a lengthy explanation.

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Originally Posted by Cynfael

I spent a good amount of time one day trying to make combinations of target macros work, and they inevitably end up with the fairy healing herself instead of the intended target under the secondary condition.

I ended up binding Embrace <mo> to my spacebar, and I avoid the whole mess simply by spamming it at will on whomever (usually the tank) as I DPS or heal a separate target.

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I tried <mo> macros when the game first came out but found it to be a bit wonky, and sometimes it would heal me instead of the person I had targeted, or my MO target. Maybe it's been improved, or maybe I just didn't have it set up correctly, I'm not sure.

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Originally Posted by Lyrica_Ashtine

I'm a PC user, so I can't really imagine how a Scholar can play with all the constant target switching. There -was- a topic about this before. But of course as a desktop player I didn't bother reading it xD But for you console players, it may be interesting:
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ighlight=macro

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Thanks for this, will definitely check it out! I actually do play on PC though, I just use my PS4 controller. I started on PC, then switched to PS4 because my PC's GPU was a little weak for the game, and it played better on my PS4. Now that I've upgraded, I'm back on the PC, but I fell in love with healing on the gamepad. I can't easily press any buttons besides 1-5 and Shift+1-5, so I click a lot of my abilities, taking my eyes away from the fight.

With the Gamepad I have easy, instant access to about 48 ability slots, all of which have been memorized. That said, it definitely isn't optimal for certain classes I've found, and some things are a pain to do, like healing Alliance members in 24m content.

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Originally Posted by peaches

I tried <mo> macros when the game first came out but found it to be a bit wonky, and sometimes it would heal me instead of the person I had targeted, or my MO target. Maybe it's been improved, or maybe I just didn't have it set up correctly, I'm not sure.

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I didn't like <mo> the first time I tried it, either, but once I resigned myself to using it for Embrace I was able to make it work well. I found that various attempts at <t> macros were too clunky, restrictive, or outright broken to be very useful, and the speed of mouse-over makes for very efficient split healing.

I also use <mo> on BLM for Aetherial Manipulation since it takes less time to mouse over someone in the party list than it does to click-confirm them prior to using the skill. If I were using AM to escape an AoE or to hug allies for a "gather" mechanic, I'd usually make it there faster and more reliably by clicking sprint and taking off running if I didn't have a snappy way to AM on command.

I was reviewing text commands on the Lodestone and the closest thing I could think of to get Embrace spam on a single target for a long duration is:

/marking circle <<<< This marks whomever you're targetting with Circle
/pac Embrace <circle> <wait.X>

Repeat for X amount of lines for Embrace spamage. Of course this leads to screen clutter due to the marking showing up and other players can mess with it too. Not the most ideal solution.

I wish <lastst> would keep track of said target for the duration of the macro. That would resolve quite a few issues with an Embrace spam macro, in my opinion.

[EDIT] Though, thinking about the marking a bit more, you'd need to either have the marking removed at the end of the macro or a separate macro just to heal the marked since remarking the target would cause the mark to be removed /think

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Originally Posted by Ghishlain

I was reviewing text commands on the Lodestone and the closest thing I could think of to get Embrace spam on a single target for a long duration is:

/marking circle <<<< This marks whomever you're targetting with Circle
/pac Embrace <circle> <wait.X>

Repeat for X amount of lines for Embrace spamage. Of course this leads to screen clutter due to the marking showing up and other players can mess with it too. Not the most ideal solution.

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Don't forget that using another macro will stop your spam macro. There are a few people on the forum who have their own variations of a long spam macro and it works for them, but I prefer other methods.

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Originally Posted by giantslayer

Don't forget that using another macro will stop your spam macro. There are a few people on the forum who have their own variations of a long spam macro and it works for them, but I prefer other methods.

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Indeed, I'm personally a fan of the long spam macros though I know many are not. Different strokes for different folks~ And as such, different considerations for the style one may want to use.

Adlo should always come first when tank healing. You can use physick on DPS since they don't get hit very often but on the tank always adlo first and only physick if they need further healing and the shield is still on them.

Also I feel it will be useful to get in the habit of stance dancing. Scholars are generally expected to DPS in high end stuff when they can afford to. Best to learn early!

Also helpful-if you're using Eos, do not for the love of god have her on automatic. She blows her load faster than a $5 hooker in a frat house. Learn what her spells do and use them yourself.

Adlo spam on the tank is fine in ex primals and dungeons, but it is a bad habit for final coil, as you will run yourself OOM rather quickly. Physick is my bread and butter for coil, with Adlo going out for tank busters and high damage phases/adds.

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Originally Posted by DarkerOrange

Adlo spam on the tank is fine in ex primals and dungeons, but it is a bad habit for final coil, as you will run yourself OOM rather quickly. Physick is my bread and butter for coil, with Adlo going out for tank busters and high damage phases/adds.

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Never had mana problems outside of T13 (and every move is a tank buster on that fight anyway xD).
Adlo on the tank is always effective. I only physick dps who get low, really.

I'm so glad people are becoming so vocal about how poorly scholar macros work. If you are healing intensive content that gcd Eos lost healing herself instead of low hp dps is felt. The other issue is, just like with any class, macros on your attack spells prevent you from queuing each spell. This causes a slight lag or delay between each spell and is an overall dps loss.

Edit: One thing I never see mentioned, for controller there is a target assist. Makes it really easy to throw out lustrates when dpsing.

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Originally Posted by DarkerOrange

Adlo spam on the tank is fine in ex primals and dungeons, but it is a bad habit for final coil, as you will run yourself OOM rather quickly. Physick is my bread and butter for coil, with Adlo going out for tank busters and high damage phases/adds.

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Originally Posted by FoxyAreku

Never had mana problems outside of T13 (and every move is a tank buster on that fight anyway xD).
Adlo on the tank is always effective. I only physick dps who get low, really.

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Crap, or your definitions of "spam Adlo" differ.
If you spam it, no amount of PIE+manasong will safe you from going oom, but for the benefit of doubt I guess that's not wat Foxy really means.

For the 37 SCH OP, do NOT spam Adlo, you will run oom.
If you are 50 and do some dungeons, also, don't only spam adlo, you will run oom.

spam =/= use it occasionally while your WHM does the raw healing in raids.

Plus if you really spam adlo, you may not be taking full advantage of the shield effect when you override it with your next adlo in case the hit that came didn't use the shield up fully.

My definition of 'spam' for dungeon content is to exclusively use Adlo to heal the tank, casting it again as soon as the shield drops. This works great for the kind of trash you get in dungeons, but in FCoB it is not worth doing, as a boss' auto attack will eat your shield, so I save Adlo for when it really matters.

Giving a 37 SCH the advice to only use adlo in dungeons is bad advice.

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Originally Posted by PetiteMalFleur

I'm so glad people are becoming so vocal about how poorly scholar macros work. If you are healing intensive content that gcd Eos lost healing herself instead of low hp dps is felt. The other issue is, just like with any class, macros on your attack spells prevent you from queuing each spell. This causes a slight lag or delay between each spell and is an overall dps loss.

Edit: One thing I never see mentioned, for controller there is a target assist. Makes it really easy to throw out lustrates when dpsing.

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100% this - if you say dps is great, why remove your spell queueing abilities? Healing at 80% rarely feels risky to me. I usually tell eos to stay close by the tank and she does well at keeping them up (in dungeons). Also, I made it so when I press the right analog stick, I target my target's target - works great for lustrates and healing other tanks in alliances.