Assize

I'm sort of baffled by this, considering it's an all-in-one move.

What's the best use for this? For damage or the "free" Medica? Or is it dependent on situation?

I've used it both in and out of Cleric but I feel like I'm missing something every time I use it.

Totally dependent on the situation. I use it for both depending on the fight and if my party needs heals or not. Remember, it also gives an immediate 10% free MP restore, so sometimes you can use it just for that if you need MP (and get the heal or DPS as an extra).

It's very dependent on the situation. In an ideal world, you'd only ever use it in Cleric stance because a 300 potency attack (even on a single target) is very strong. But if you need a Medica and your MP is low/more damage is coming, then use Assize for the heal, there's no shame in using it for the heal.

[EDIT] Be sure to use it whenever it's off cooldown, though.

Indeed, that's sadly its design (until Squeenix makes its damage component scale with Mind too, haw haw). Choose between high damage or high healing depending on what's more useful for the situation, and live with no regrets. :p

It should always be used for dmg in fights that you don't expect to be running low on mp i.e. all dungeons and some raids.

I want to point out that there are many add phases of dungeon bosses where this skill is really nice. For example, it will one shot adds during the bird boss in neverreap. You can kill fractal adds on the last boss with 1 holy + Assize.

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Originally Posted by winsock

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To add on to what winsock said, you can also 1 shot the feathers of first boss Nevereap. What I typically do on large trash packs of adds: DS Regen + Asylum on tank -> Aero 3 if the adds will live for more than 20s -> Spam Holy Until around 50% MP -> Use Assize for the damage and MP. If you won't need to heal heavily I would dump more MP into Holy before Assize, but be prepared to use Shroud. You can really dish out tons of AoE DPS even with the way Holy works now. It's probably my favorite whitemage skill in the whole expansion. :)

One-shotting the feathers in Neverreap is my favorite use since ~NO ONE~ kills these danmed things and I hate debuffs.

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Originally Posted by Raminax

Indeed, that's sadly its design (until Squeenix makes its damage component scale with Mind too, haw haw). Choose between high damage or high healing depending on what's more useful for the situation, and live with no regrets. :p

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Sadly? It gives WHMs a very powerful tool with flexibility. Look at Lightspeed and it's auto -25% damage. I'm thrilled I can choose.

Assiez is so great that no matter when or what stance you are when you hit the button, only good things will happen.

Ideally, you'd use it for the Damage/MP gain benefits specially on multi-mob scenarios (The damage Assize deals doesn't diminish unlike Holy so its a solid 300 potency on all it hits). However, as most people have said, using it as a quick heal is also a good idea.

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Originally Posted by basketofseals

Sadly? It gives WHMs a very powerful tool with flexibility. Look at Lightspeed and it's auto -25% damage. I'm thrilled I can choose.

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Oh, don't get me wrong, I still very much love Assize. I'm just commiserating with the OP on how I initially felt about it. I'm over the whole mild disappointment bit. :p

I certainly wouldn't trade Assize away for drawing 7 Spires in a row!

I usually use it mainly for Mp Regen, that is, I don't cast it unless I have room enough for the mana it gives. Apart from that, as soon as I do have room for that mana if it's up, if situation calls for group heal I cast it for that, otherwise in CS for damage. I think it would be rather overpowered if it could be good and beneficial for both damage and healing at the same time and the potencies would have to be dropped. I rather like it now that I can use it as fairly good tool for either.

Assize is an amazing MP management tool. On top of the 10% MP regain, it either acts as a Medica, or a beefed-up Holy, saving you at least either 1297 or 1768 MP depending on your needs, not to mention a slight topping of the other side of HP/damage. It's one of the best tools introduced to a healer in 3.0.

trash pulls - CS on, give them hell
easy bosses - see above
easy bosses that spawn adds - wait for the adds, then see above
hard bosses with much aoe dmg and bosses with hard mp management: use it for healing and/or mp-management
i totally love this skill <3

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Originally Posted by Fevelle

One-shotting the feathers in Neverreap is my favorite use since ~NO ONE~ kills these danmed things and I hate debuffs.

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i really love seeing the random dps run around aimlessly until they realize i oneshot the feathers already XD

Assize is arguably one of the most powerful AoE attack spells in the game due to both it's Potency and Range so it's generally best to use it as an offensive skill with MP restoration than a healing skill with MP restoration. However, the best WHMs will know when to use it as a healing abilities. Just a matter of practice and understanding the fights you'll be participating in. You'll most likely use it more as a healing skill in Savage tier Alex than anywhere else.

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Originally Posted by Fevelle

One-shotting the feathers in Neverreap is my favorite use since ~NO ONE~ kills these danmed things and I hate debuffs.

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It's a good add killer and it means the DPS don't need to be changing their focus from nuking the boss. It's good in Fractal on last boss also since if you position right you can do 50-100% damage on all targets saving a ton of time on the weak robot adds. It's a multi use skill but mostly best for me weaving it into attacks so I do damage and get an MP boost. Most often save it for add phases but have used it as a group heal on occasion for a quick top up.

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Originally Posted by MXMoondoggie

It's a good add killer and it means the DPS don't need to be changing their focus from nuking the boss. It's good in Fractal on last boss also since if you position right you can do 50-100% damage on all targets saving a ton of time on the weak robot adds. It's a multi use skill but mostly best for me weaving it into attacks so I do damage and get an MP boost. Most often save it for add phases but have used it as a group heal on occasion for a quick top up.

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Assize from WHM + Dragonfire Dive on middle add is a pretty quick way to deal with those adds and requires minimal focus switch.

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Originally Posted by spelley

Assize from WHM + Dragonfire Dive on middle add is a pretty quick way to deal with those adds and requires minimal focus switch.

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Swiftcast > Holy> Assize during the cooldown will usually wipe them if you ever wanna show off

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Originally Posted by Ninster

I'm sort of baffled by this, considering it's an all-in-one move.

What's the best use for this? For damage or the "free" Medica? Or is it dependent on situation?

I've used it both in and out of Cleric but I feel like I'm missing something every time I use it.

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Definately situational. Clericed = high AoE damage, non-clericed = high group heal.
It holds the same Yin-Yang thing that WHM's seem to have - high burst offense (dps) OR high burst defense (heals).

-For ex, in Trials and bosses I tend to save Assize for group healing unless I'm wholey confident in myself and the team that I won't need it. I'll use it as a free, emergency, completely instant medica. Also when I've mis-timed a moment needing to pre-cast Medica/II or Cure III and pop it right as the damage is taken on the party to make up for it.

-If there's lots of monsters/mobs, no one needs heals or it's a total DPS race (Bismark), I'll throw it with Cleric for the sake of damage (or Bismark instance, use it on the chiton between PoMed Stone IIIs, and use a divine sealed + SCed Medica II just before jumping on his back as a method of healing for the wind DoT). As someone mentioned, I also use for the feathers in Neverreap, as well as the flame balls of the last boss in Vault. Doesn't outright kill them, but does take a good chunk out of a lot of them.

-In cases of MP need, I'll use it in the instance that Shrouds is down and I'm nearly OOM or 45% and below. People may not need healing and it's too dangerous to switch to Cleric for damage with that CD timer... but if I randomly pop un-clericed Assize without healing need, it was probably for a tidbit of MP for whatever reason I see.

The best part of Assize isn't the 300 AoE dmg potency or the instant medica.

It's the 10% MP regen which based off of your PIE, making that stat even better to have more of now. Before 3.0 many would say you would stack as comfortably as you could. Now the more PIE you get, the more you'll be restoring. In a 13 minute fight in savage with about 13k MP you'll get it off about 8 times, which can be over 10k MP restored. Nevermind I didn't even mention Shroud, or natural 2% PIE regen as well. Big boy MP regen to say the least, helping burst DPS and healing progression. It should be used strategically, almost always on-cooldown to get the most from it.