Astrologian guide...?

Hey there,

is there a good, comprehensive and competent guide for Astrologian? I haven't found one, maybe somebody here knows a good source of information, especially when you want to raid as an AST.

Thanks!

I honestly wouldn't worry about finding a class-specific guide in regards to raiding.
A generic guide on fight mechanics, in addition to a few hours of getting that muscle memory down is all you need.

Also use LA early. :)

LA?

The things I want to know are the best card use and when / how to use Nocturnal properly. That's it. :)

Luminiferous Aether, your MP regen cooldown. Using Nocturnal turns you into a more proactive healer, making it better for you to preshield before damage while also increasing your healing done. Cards are purely situational, but Balance is easily the most reliable card, and spreading it for Royal Road buffs is always beneficial.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Seraphyel

The things I want to know are the best card use and when / how to use Nocturnal properly. That's it. :)

---

I'll give you a more compact version of the cartomancy guide I wrote on my FC's forum:
Know the theoretical value of each card you can play in any combination (for example: 10% balance on a melee is not a 10% dps increase)
Define ABC encounter (Attrition, Burst and Coffee break encounters). The value of each card fluctuates according to the type of encounter.
Keep an eye on your party's resources, not just your own - No one likes an Astrologian slapping an Ewer on themself when you're at 10k MP and your co-healer is at 1k
http://i.imgur.com/DL7t2yA.png?1
Don't assume certain cards are fodder by default - A summoner/Scholar will thank you for a well timed Spear.
Don't use that silly flowchart in another topic somewhere in the healer forum

As for "how to use Nocturnal Sect". There are plenty of ways to approach this. My personal style for this is to use Aspected Benefic as a snipe-healing tool, like how you'd use Essential Dignity, Lustrate and Tetragrammaton. It's still 262 potency worth of healing and 341 potency worth of shielding, combined 603 potency. It's especially useful for those stray DPS players who like to keep their range to a maximum for no reason and stay out of AoE healing range. You'll notice this specific behaviour in The Aery and The Vault. Additionally you might want to consider off-DPSing when in Nocturnal stance as well; Aspected Benefic the key targets -> Cleric's Stance -> DPS a bit -> Cleric's off -> Essential Dignity -> Aspected Benefic -> Cleric's Stance etc.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Lyrica_Ashtine

http://i.imgur.com/DL7t2yA.png?1

---

This is way too awesome!

Here's the full version of it, in case you are interested:
https://40.media.tumblr.com/1a5f34d0...qz82o1_500.jpg

Some Japanese artist under the alias Bkub (ぶくぶ) has a couple of these.

I'm actually working on a comprehensive guide for Astrologian now. When I post it to my FC website, I will also post it here, the hard part is actually defining some of the terms used in the guide in a way that isn't overwhelming, so I'm actually working on a definitions list for a few of the phrases I use.

Thank you very much!

I am just unsure which sect I should use, I haven't done any Heavensward dungeons yet, maybe I just try to use both and see what works best.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Seraphyel

Thank you very much!

I am just unsure which sect I should use, I haven't done any Heavensward dungeons yet, maybe I just try to use both and see what works best.

---

It doesn't matter which one you use in dungeons, though noct is easier because aspected benefic in noct is brokenly good.

The only real point of the stances though is so you can shield in 8 mans when you're with a white mage, or you can regen when you're with a scholar in 8 mans.

Is this what you were after, op?
I can add more detail if you want, but this is all you get for 20min lunch break.

You'll pick most of this up as you play with Astrologian at level 50-60.
Not all of the information here is 100% complete and there are COUNTLESS scenarios in which each card can be used differently.

General Tips:

• Try to use cards as often as possible.
• Holding onto a card isn't awful, if you have to wait <30seconds to get a decent effect, that's fine.
• Try to Spread a card before you Royal Road a card.
• Consider the range of the aoe effect on Expanded cards. It's fairly small.

Balance - 10% More Damage

Who to use it on?

• Black Mage - Use it whenever.
• Summoner - Try to apply this at the very beginning of their rotation just before they apply DoTs. Towards the end of the buff the SMN can reapply the DoTs and gain exceptionally high numbers.
• Dragoon - Use it whenever.
• Machinist - Use it on their opener or when Wildfire is back up again only. They do probably the single strongest opener in the game, 10% more on that is glorious.

Everyone benefits from The Balance since it changes nothing to their rotations nor their resource management. Use this at the beginning of phases avoiding jumps or invulnerable enemies.

Arrow - 10% Haste (Auto attacks & GCD)

Who to use it on?

• Monk - Probably benefits the most from it. Monk's are all about punching fast and kicking even faster.
• Ninja - See Monk.
• Dragoon - See Monk.

Who to NOT use it on?

• Black Mage - Breaks their rotation and mana regen ticks.
• Summoner - Drains them of MP rapidly.
• Bard - Doesn't benefit from Auto Attacks.
• Machinist - See Bard.

Nearly everyone benefits from The Arrow, though certain classes less so.
BRD & MCH don't mind having it, but they don't get the full use from it like someone who can auto attack at the same time.
Summoners run dry on MP in raids, don't hurt them.
Scrub BLMs can mess their rotations up.

Spear - 20% Cooldown Reduction on ogcd abilities

Who to use it on?

• Bard - They get a lot of their DPS from ogcd cooldowns. (Hawks Eye, B4B, Raging Strikes) Use this at the start of their pulls for maximum effect, though it doesn't matter as long as they can press a couple buttons during this cards' effect.
• Machinist - See Bard.
• Healers - Use it on yourself before Luminous Aether.
• Tanks - Use it on tanks before a tank buster you know they're preparing cooldowns for.
• Everyone Else - Nobody cares, it's just eh.

The Spear is best used at the start of pulls or as Royal Road bait during raids. It can often be wasted since you can't see when your teams' cooldowns are ready.

Bole - 10% Incoming Damage Reduction.

Who to use it on?

• Tanks! - Just use it whenever, it's lovely.

The Bole is often used as Royal Road bait since healers tend to be quite confident in their abilities to protect the party. If you Royal Road The Bole, it means the effectiveness of Time Dilation & Celestial Oppression on the next card are doubled also.

Ewer - Refreshes MP.

Who to use it on?

• White Mage & Astrologian - More MP? Oh God yes.
• Summoner - More MP? More dps.
• Scholar - See summoner.

Who NOT to use it on?

• Black Mage - Messes up their rotations.
• Dark Knight - Doesn't work in certain conditions.

It's a funny card... Only MNK, NIN & DRG truly can't use this card.
DRK, BRD, MCH and other tanks can use it, it's just not as useful as it is on a SMN or healer.
Be careful because certain skills stop Ewer from benefiting the party member.

Spire - TP Regen.

Who to use it on?

• Monk - Give them an Arrow it drains their TP, give them a Spire to compensate.
• Tanks - PLD and DRK like this more, but WAR is just as grateful. They don't have as good a regen as DPS do sadly.
• Machinists - They eat TP like a fat kid in a sweetshop.

Bards, Dragoons and Ninjas all enjoy this card, but it isn't super duper important for them. Watch the TP bars and decide from there. Remember a lot of people have self regenerating powers.



Noct vs Diurnal

Diurnal is stronger.
Aspected Helios + Aspecte Benefic + Collective Unconcious + Card + Time Dilation + Celestial Oppression.

I'm on mobile, so I'll keep it short about the list of ulriccraft

10% balance isn't 10% in practice, especially on melees.
Expanded effect has 15y range from target
A well timed Spear on summoners (and scholars) help in both dps and resources

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Lyrica_Ashtine

I'm on mobile, so I'll keep it short about the list of ulriccraft
A well timed Spear on summoners (and scholars) help in both dps and resources

---

You know, I don't know why I hadn't considered this before. Good point.
(Our SMN/SCH constantly cry for Mage's Ballard in A2S, this could help)

UlricCraft, thank you very much, excellent post!

A few points on Spear:
If you drop it on a Summoner when they've got Aetherflow coming up in the next 20 seconds, it's super goddamned amazing. Same goes for Scholar, although their Aetherflow isn't quite as important.
The safest bet for using Spear mid-combat is actually Ninja. Spear lasts 20 seconds, the cooldown on Ninjitsu is 20 seconds. Chances are they'll benefit from it. If extended, they can actually benefit from it more than once. Machinist and Bard are like this to as well - Quick Reload will -always- come up during the duration of Spear, and both ranged physical classes have a lot of off-GCD usage.

What twilight zone have we entered where SMNs have MP issues? Keep the Ewer for yourself, tyvm.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Lyrica_Ashtine

10% balance isn't 10% in practice, especially on melees.

---

Ya or summoners, because summoner get the buff but their pet run without buff.

Quote:

---

Bards, Dragoons and Ninjas all enjoy this card, but it isn't super duper important for them.

---

Just one thing, Ninjas runs out of TP faster than any of the melee dps, so I'd probably set them as a high priority for Spire cards.

I know this is silly but, to that comprehensive list of cards, can you include names "ice" and "airblow" to the respective cards. I never remember their actual names which makes reading these instructions and actually being able to put them into practise a bit challenging. Guess I tend to think visually. The other four I have been able to figure out (tbough they might benefit from graphic name as well) but the two blue ones are a problem.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Sida

I know this is silly but, to that comprehensive list of cards, can you include names "ice" and "airblow" to the respective cards.

---

Huh What??????

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Sida

I never remember their actual names [...]

---

take a look here

In 4 mans I just try to Royal Road an Ewer / Spire and place an Arrow / Balance for the whole group. That's mostly what I try to do.

The list about the best card-class combinations is great, thank you.

Another question: how is Spear actually working? It reduces the Cooldown, but how and when? Never figured that out.

Is it...

1. Skill is on CD (CD is 40 seconds) and I use Spear: the CD of the next use of the ability is reduced to 32 seconds.

2. Skill is on CD (CD is 40 seconds) and I use Spear: the CD of the already used skill is reduced from 40 to 32 since, let's say 25 seconds of CD are left and after I use Spear it drops from 25 to 17 seconds.

It's case 1

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Sida

I know this is silly but, to that comprehensive list of cards, can you include names "ice" and "airblow" to the respective cards. I never remember their actual names

---

The Bole: Broccoli = healthy tank = tougher!
The Balance: Sunshine = Damage
The Arrow: idk, the other blue card.
The Spear: Snowflake
The Ewer: Mana Pot?
The Spire: Lightning bolts = gotta go fast? (TP)

I know what you mean, bro. It's a hard life.

The thing is, I can even check them. Names are arrow and spear. Both are thin pointy things. Neither the snowflake nor the airblow icon resembles either. And they are both blue *shakes head*. It's hard to explain. I can check them right now, and when I roll back to the card description list I already have forgot which is which as I can't really associate them. That's why it would be beneficial for my sort of problem to have besides the card explanations either the name "snowflake" or "airblow" so when I read the instructions I can associate them to the icon. So when I see the icon ingame popping up I can think "snowflake, this was ..." instead of rolling to the hotbar to get the popup tool tip to find the name and then try to wonder which of the two practically identical card names had which usage explanation. And yes, I know this sounds very silly to people who don't chiefly navigate with icons and colors.

Don't use the icons, use the combat text when you use one of them.

At first I've been quite confused by them but after reaching something between 35-40 and using them in dungeons you should totally know what the cards are providing.

I don't know leveling with SCH / WHM to 60 but as an Astrologian it's a PAIN. I am 53 now and it's horrible, the damage is so incredibly low that I need at least 20 seconds per mob, mostly more. What the hell is wrong with (AST) leveling?

Levelled SCH/AST to 60, SCH has more oh shit tools, but to be honest queue the dungeons keep tanks alive, and DOT when you can.

I tried to level via dungeons but the EP is a bit disappointing. Mostly I try to do fates or quests solo as AST and it's just painful. Dungeons as a healer are easy going right now, maybe it will get tougher. But soloing... is horrible.