Scholar Help

Hello, for awhile now, when I healed it was with WHM but I got my SCH to 60 because it seemed like the job had more versatility then WHM. Now I understand that SCH is a preventative healer, but I'm having a hard time utilizing SCH's tools properly. Like when I should cast Adlo on the tank, when I should use stacks of aetherflow, or when I shoul recover mana. I also get confused on when I can DPS safely, and when I can leave healing up to Eos. Some advice on strategy and stuff would be really helpful. Thanks.

Well, for a quicker and more compact response: everything you do as a scholar will be obvious when you know exactly how each encounter goes

Actually SCH has the best tools to act as a very reactive healer, namely Indomitability and Lustrate.
Anyway, SCH has a lot of tools that aren't really needed for easy content, you'll see the true power of skills like deployment/emergency tactics, sacred soil, rouse, fairy skills and so on if you try savage content. For expert roulette you can basically apply galvanize on the tank, dots, bane, shadow flare on mobs and then cast physick when needed. Adloquium is generally used if your tank is low on health because you were watching tv instead of healing (adlo->physick spam or alternate the two) or before a tank buster or hard hits in general. Eye for an eye can be used whenever available, preferably in large pulls.
If you're setting your fairy on autopilot, please use selene.

A lot of that stuff you pretty much just have to experiment with and, as Lyrica said, learn the encounters. When a big hit is coming (on the tank or on the raid), you have a variety of tools that can greatly reduce the incoming damage. These tools depend on whether you want raid-wide reduction or single target, physical or magical or both. Some have things like RNG dependence.

Perhaps look up a few SCH PoV videos for encounters you want to do and check what they're doing. If you have any specific questions on why they use a certain ability at a certain time in that encounter, then come back here and ask about it.

And thoroughly read your tooltips so you know what everything does.

Bosses and encounters are very heavily scripted. Just keep an eye out on the tank's health and the boss' attacks. You will learn the moves sooner or later and it becomes muscle memory.

If you're tackling new content, SCH can actually use adlo to estimate how much damage the tank takes in x seconds. Using that, you can estimate the amount of healing you need to putting out (because the adlo shield is roughly the same amount of hp you heal with physick). When the rotation repeats itself, you have a good idea how many adlos and physicks and embraces you need to throw out. Maybe it's enough for your fairy to heal it, so you can dps. Maybe there's a huge damage spike, so you cast adlo again after because you know it'll finish right after the tankbuster hits.

For emergency save your lustrates as that is easily a full tank heal. If you notice aetherflow is going to be available soon, spend them on energy drain if you need the mp. Otherwise, save them. Those really are the basics to playing a SCH.

Alternatively, there are a lot of good boss guides that explain mechanics and tell you how specific boss rotations work. Use those to find out when is the best time to cast Adlo and then just practice the fight until you find a cue that works.

Adlo shield isn't the same as physick it's the same as the adlo heal, a succor before battle acts the same way as ss2 which can help give ya a head start so can dps alot more then ig ya have aether stacks to burn click of CS -> ET succor -> indom -> lust on tank -> swifcast succor, everyone will be full hp, shielded n your free to put CS back on for more dpsing

People had given some good info and tips already so I'm just gonna say a few things I like to say to new Scholars:

Don't think on Lustrate being a emergency heal, it can work godly as one of the best emergency heals of the game but SCH actually depends on constant Lustrate to keep healing without using too much mana. I recommend you learning about your fairies, read their skills and use fairy on obey so you can get used about using their cd skills. Don't get stuck on only one fairy, use both so you can feel how powerfull they both are. Once you get used to them you'll start of casting manual Embraces without even noticing. And last but not least, when aetherflow comes out of cd just burn your stacks whatever you like but thats a good opportunity to Energy Drain and get a bit more mana back.

Good studies fellow Nymian Acolyte.

With regards to dpsing as SCH I tend to adlo the tank before each pull as it gives me time to throw my dots up and bane (if multiple enemies) and put down my shadow flare, then if needed I go back to healing. I'll always pop the tank an adlo if I'm about to go into cleric again and I have my fairys macrod to heal target of target to give me more dps up time. The more you play the class, the more comfortable you will be stance dancing, it's all situational.

If you're running a bit low on MP then use energy drains on enemies, especially if your aetherflow is off cooldown and ready to use. It will save you from wasting stacks and you should really not run into much MP problems if getting into the habit of doing this. You also don't have to be in cleric stance for this either as it will recover the same amount of MP regardless.

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Originally Posted by Veve

You also don't have to be in cleric stance for this either as it will recover the same amount of MP regardless.

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I believe it's still better to ED when in CS. While mp recovery is constant I believe the hp recovery scales with the amount of damage dealt by ED (suppose to be around 50% damage dealt as hp recovered). Of course if your health is fine it wouldn't matter but it's still better to develop a habit of using ED in CS whenever possible.

My pre-pull prep on trash goes: SS on tank, Adlo on tank, eye for an eye, rouse, virus the hardest hitter after tank pulls, CS, swiftcast -> shadowflare, dots, bane and broil spam, refresh dots, rebane and just maintain. If I know everyone is going to be taking damage I drop deployment tactics pre-pull as well. Scholar cooldowns have relatively short recast times so you can normally cycle available cds as they come back up. As someone previously noted, lustrate should be used pretty often but don't be afraid to stack lustrates before huge pulls.

I think people have covered levelling/dungeons etc, but for end game raiding you'll really need to up your DPS game. As much as some healers don't like the idea of being forced to DPS, if you want to do Alex Savage as a SCH, you WILL be DPSing. It's actually quite bizarre cause with my raid group, our optimum strategy for A1S is literally me DPSing the entire fight and only topping up tanks during the tank buster move. I feel like a DPS with a fairy xD but tbh I love being able to DPS with Scholar so it suits me perfectly.

While a WHM might be learning how to manage MP and control raid healing, as a SCH I always find myself looking for those moments where I can cleric stance and contribute to DPS. It seems like the optimum strategy for healers always becomes WHMs leaning towards solo healing with SCHs doing as much DPS as they possibly can.

I'm considering picking up Scholar on Kacho here. However, before I commit to it, I'd like to know how the job feels.

You see, I suffer from severe fibromyalgia and cannot play a class/job which is too fast or too busy. The sensory overload would cause my brain to tune out, I'd freeze, and characters would die. *embarrassed*

So, can you share your subjective feelings about playing a scholar in a typical dungeon run?

P.S. I'm having great fun playing a White Mage. It's at the level of complexity and speed I can handle.

SCH leans more towards proactive healing. However since fights are scripted its just a matter of knowing when big hits are coming (single target or raid) and having the appropriate shield up ahead of time. Other than that, its just like WHM: heal if tank is taking constant damage, Lustrates if they take a sudden spike in damage you werent prepared for, and so on.

Any downtime in the fight, and you can throw on a few dots and go back to healing after.

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Originally Posted by FeliAiko

SCH leans more towards proactive healing. However since fights are scripted its just a matter of knowing when big hits are coming (single target or raid) and having the appropriate shield up ahead of time. Other than that, its just like WHM: heal if tank is taking constant damage, Lustrates if they take a sudden spike in damage you werent prepared for, and so on.

Any downtime in the fight, and you can throw on a few dots and go back to healing after.

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That doesn't sound too bad. How much micromanaging do I have to do with the fairies?

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Originally Posted by Kacho_Nacho

That doesn't sound too bad. How much micromanaging do I have to do with the fairies?

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Not a whole lot honestly. Keep it on Obey, use Place to keep it in a safe area where it won't take unnecessary damage, if you find yourself having to move/dodge a lot (like you, fairies can't heal while moving so keeping them still in those cases helps). Just make sure to use Heel before moving onto next pack or area. Treat pet skills as though they're your own, so keybind and use them as appropriate.

Whenever I see healers that randomly use virus as part of their rotation I always wonder... do they know know what it does or what it is for? In raids, it is very important to use virus at the right time. If someone is casting it arbitrarily, the target will get a one minute immunity to it when it wears off-- and then it can't be used again. In casual content it's probably not a big deal to misuse it-- but keep in mind that virus isn't a dot, it's a status effect-- spread the word! Congratulations on levelling your SCH and welcome to the fold! It's a super fun job to play, and considered to be a little OP in the right hands!

ps- I wasn't implying that you don't know how to use virus-- just wanted to add a tip to the thread. SCH supervirus is a very powerful tool! Good luck and have fun!

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Originally Posted by Kacho_Nacho

So, can you share your subjective feelings about playing a scholar in a typical dungeon run?.

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If you're only planning on doing dungeon runs as a SCH, then you should be absolutely fine. While levelling up, dungeons let healers get away with so much that you can practically allow your fairy to do the majority of the healing, while you contribute to DPS or stand idle. ;p
I would only say don't pick SCH if you do plan on doing any tougher content. Generally as a SCH you will be DPSing in Cleric Stance, and will need to switch rapidly to top up if any mistakes happen or if there are large damage spikes. As such, it would be required for you to change stances very quickly and heal rapidly too. You also have a lot more MP control, meaning there really never is a reason for a SCH to not be casting something.