CD use and my A.D.D.

So I love healing, and I intend to continue to main it into SB. But I want to be a better healer.... So i'm looking for advice on how to stop neglecting my Cooldowns and abilities... I know they help, but I just... forget to use them, or don't know the best time to use them; So I ask all of you, for your advice;

So on WHM, I think i've used Presence of Mind like twice.... I have no idea what applications this skill actually has, nor when it's actually appropriate to use it. And cure3, Should that even be on my bar?

On AST; Time dilation, Celestial opposition, and Disable. I get the purpose behind these skills, but again don't understand the best time to use them.

And for SCH; my one true love.... But for the love of god when the hell do I use ANY of their abilities post 50? Like... legit. besides the AoE heal, I have no idea what to use these for....

PoM is strictly for holy spam. Don't belive anyone else who says different.

Only use celestial opposition on spread balance cards and time dialation on super cool dps. Use disable so you can dps more.

The only true skill after 50 a sch has is dissapation. Send that pesky eos away for more stacks of dps!!! That'll learn them tanks to not use CD's!!

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Originally Posted by BorisDaBlade

PoM is strictly for holy spam. Don't belive anyone else who says different.

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Also for Stone III spam on single target (boss fights). Or, in extremely rare situations, for casting a Raise in a disaterous situation (when your Swiftcast is down and there's no one else to raise). Cure III can be used in situations where your group is stacked for massive AoE damage (if it isn't overheal even then). Maybe in Nidhogg ex stacking? Haven't done that one as WHM so not sure if that's required.

Scholar 50+ abilities are actually pretty good and commonly used. Indominability is pretty self-evident, Emergency Tactics can be used for either big AoE heal or on a tank (for a DRK who's living dead, for example). Deployment tactics can be used in the beginning of boss fights (Eye + Adlo on tank and spread them) or to shield party members from big incoming damage. Dissipation is good to use if you're switching fairies or at the end of a boss fight for extra damage from Energy Drains.

It depends a lot on the content you're doing. Many of the abilities don't shine that bright outside of Savage / Extreme content.

PoM -> For DPS.
Cure 3 -> When you need a stronger version of Medica and there isn't enough time for Med 2 to tick before everyone goes splat. This is usually only useful for EX primals and raids for scripted back-to-back hard hitting AOEs.
Disable -> Works like Virus, used to mitigate either bursts of AOE damage or tank busters. Basically whenever you feel like it would cut off the most damage, that's when you use it.
Indomitability -> Healing-wise this is one of the biggest things you get as SCH @ 50+. Make sure to use this.
Broil -> Replacement for Ruin/Ruin II.
Deployment Tactics -> Stronger version of Succor, especially when you apply it to a WAR in Defiance - even better still if he has Convalescence up.
Emergency Tactics -> Basic AOE healing, will probably never need to use this but it's good in a pinch.
Dissipation -> Afaik, this is simply never worth using.

All that said, I don't play healers and only have anecdotal knowledge from healers I play with so take all that with a grain of salt. Hopefully at least some of it is correct, though.

Others have covered most of it, but I will add that Cure III has a super short range. Like, basically melee range. So, the party NEEDS to be stacked up for it to hit everyone. It also is centered on your target rather than yourself, so be careful of that. Though, it does mean you CAN use it to put out a large heal on both the tank and any melee DPS... if the mob isn't too big.

Also wait a bit to see the battle system changes, i strongly suspect part of the change is going to be to consolidate CD skills to make em overall less "spammy" and focus the attention into the gcd active gameplay....speculation from my part of course but, seems like a move that would go into their plans to "raise" the baseline.

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Originally Posted by SpookyGhost

Indomitability -> Healing-wise this is one of the biggest things you get as SCH @ 50+. Make sure to use this.
Broil -> Replacement for Ruin/Ruin II.
Deployment Tactics -> Stronger version of Succor, especially when you apply it to a WAR in Defiance - even better still if he has Convalescence up.
Emergency Tactics -> Basic AOE healing, will probably never need to use this but it's good in a pinch.
Dissipation -> Afaik, this is simply never worth using.

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Emergency tactics is one of my favorite skills. 30 second cool down and turn Shields into hp. Using it with adlo frequently instead of lustrate allows you to free up a ton on aether flow charges. If your lucky and it crits you can essentially toss around 20k hp on a tank in one spell

It's also makes a great aoe heal with succor and again can free up an aether flow charges using it instead of indomnibility. You can free up a lot of charges using et.

Deployment tactics is a great aoe shield. Sometimes it best to use it on your fairy because the fairy ignore a lot of damage which means if you adlo + e4e you'll still deploy a full shield. Something I did quite frequently solo healing Sophia timing the deployment to negate cintimani.

Dissipation I have never used and never ever needed to. Partly because if you use et frequently you'll find you have a lot more aether flow charges available when you really need them

For WHM:

Think of Presence of Mind like Haste. In combination with sprint turns you into a cracked out WHM. Note that sprint doesn't give any additional effect to PoM, but what it does do is allows you to move out of AoEs quickly should you get targeted while PoM is up. PoM nearly gets wasted if you cannot chain cast without moving. Sprint will help mitigate this loss. It is mainly used to increase DPS output, but don't be shy to use it to increase HoT if damage is heavy.

Cure 3 is basically a cure bomb. If you've ever casted Fire 2 with THM/BLM correctly then you know how to use this spell as well. This is because it is the same concept, except it heals instead of kills. If multiple players are hurt and stacked, then you cure bomb them. Especially if you have the overcure proc. If you also need to be healed, then put yourself in melee range (close to the tank) and cure bomb yourself. Don't believe you need this just for raids or EX primals. You should be using this spell anytime a big AoE heal is needed, and it will be invaluable to you in ANY situation where players are taking a lot of damage, which frequently happens in PUGs as well.

For SCH:

Lustrate is your emergency heal. It's usually a good idea to keep at least one aetherflow stack in case Lustrate is needed.

Indomitability you have stated you are comfortable using. However, I just want to point out to use it selectively. It's invaluable if using Selene, but if using Eos, Rouse+Whispering dawn will take care of the job more often than not.

Deployment Tactics will hardly be used on trash mobs when the tank has their full attention. Against bosses it is Godly for add phases. Basically use this when you know players other than the main tank will be taking damage.

Broil replaces Ruin 1. It does not replace Ruin 2.

Emergency Tactics is your big heal. It basically doubles the potency of either Adlo or Succor. I like the suggestion another poster stated by using it to spare a Lustrate, but you'll need to use it before Lustrate is needed. The 30 second cooldown allows you to use it liberally.

Dissipation as the tooltip states, sends your fairy away and gives you 3 stacks of aetherflow and 20% increased healing for 30 seconds. If you manage your stacks properly, you really won't need this, and your fairy pretty much eliminates the need for a 20% increase in your own healing power. What I have to say about this one is use your SCH 30-60 knowledge to determine on your own when this is best used.

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Originally Posted by s6smarti

So on WHM, I think i've used Presence of Mind like twice.... I have no idea what applications this skill actually has, nor when it's actually appropriate to use it. And cure3, Should that even be on my bar?

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Presence of Mind is the same as AST Lightspeed in my view. It ostensibly your Haste ability for when things hit the fan and you need to crank out the healing. Lightspeed is much better at doing that, but it's still worth using PoM in a situation when you need to act fast. That said, the only time I really find myself using it is for Holy spam. This is where PoM is better than Lightspeed, since it doesn't come with the damage down effect that Lightspeed has.

Cure 3 is by far the most potent AoE heal in the game (not counting SCH crit shenanigans. See below.) It does even more healing than Medica II and it does it up front. Medica I doesn't even come close. Its short range, however, means it's only really effective during stacking moves or if you have a lot of melee in the group or the party stays stacked close together. Cure 3 will be your best friend during moves like Nidhogg's Ahk Morn which is a stacked pulsing high damage attack.

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Originally Posted by s6smarti

On AST; Time dilation, Celestial opposition, and Disable. I get the purpose behind these skills, but again don't understand the best time to use them.

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Time dilation and Celestial Opposition are card effect extenders. Since Balance is the best card, it's just best to use it on that if you can. Don't save it though if you're fishing for a Balance and can't get it. As such, I use Time Dilation on cooldown, with exceptions like I know a pause in the fight is coming up, etc. I do save Celestial Opposition for when I've got an AoE card, 2 buffs on 2 players via an extended card, or if I want to extend the duration of my own card. These happen often enough that it's worth saving for them. And to be honest, this usually happens right at the start of a fight because you'll usually be sitting on a good pre-prepared card combo. And then the fight will be over 90% of the time before it's off cooldown again.

Disable is for Tank Busters, plain and simple. Learn what they're called and set the boss to your focus target so you can easily see it even if targeting a player for healing. When you see the tank buster than hit them with Disable. (Scholar's Virus has the same purpose, and both WHM and SCH have access to it. Thus, all healers have access to this type of mitigation and using these two abilities appropriately will make a very noticeable impact on tank damage taken in a fight, even if the tank is using their defensive cooldowns perfectly.)

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Originally Posted by s6smarti

And for SCH; my one true love.... But for the love of god when the hell do I use ANY of their abilities post 50? Like... legit. besides the AoE heal, I have no idea what to use these for....

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Emergency Tactics is great for when you need to fill a HP bar fast, particularly if you already have them shielded and are out of stacks or need them for something else. It basically turns your Adlo into a Cure 2. Given that we don't have heals stronger than 300 potency outside of aetherflow stacks, this can be helpful if you're low on stacks. Especially if it crits, since that results in a 1350 potency heal which is bigger than even 2 Lustrates. An example of how I most frequently use it when a party member is in danger is to cast a normal Adlo on them to stabilize their hp bar from moving around then hit them with an emergency tactics adlo to give the big burst of healing. Lustrate is more efficient for this, but if I know they're not going to die immediately and I don't have anything else pressing to be doing, then I'll emergency tactics it instead of spending a stack on a Lustrate. I don't usually bother using it with Succor, since Succor's healing is so small to begin with. In this case, it's just turning Succor into an AoE Physic. Not bad, per se, but it's kind of meh.

Deployment Tactics is basically Succor on steroids. I.e. a 300 potency AoE shield instead of 150 potency. Its real strength, however, lies in crits. If you crit the Adlo and deploy it with Eye for an Eye then... wow. You've just given your whole party a 1350 potency damage shield, plus all but guaranteed every mob is causing 10% less damage for the next 30 seconds. How to best use it: Hit your target player with Eye for an Eye first, then Adlo, and then Deployment Tactics. Doing it in that order makes it more likely you'll spread a full strength Adlo, since any time spent between casting Adlo and Deployment Tactics can result in some of the shield being lost before it gets spread due to incoming damage. It's great for moves that require stacking, since everyone will be bunched up. It's great for boss ultimates for the same reason.

Dissipation is... lackluster. It's only real use (not counting the now fixed pet swap exploit) is a clutch tool to grant you extra Aetherflow stacks if you really need some RIGHT NOW. E.g. you're out of stacks and your tank is about to die... Dissipation, Lustrate, Lustrate, live another day. That said, I've used it a grand total of once, not counting for kicks, so it's a highly situational ability. It results in an overall healing potency loss, since the loss of the fairy outweighs the increase to personal healing, so using it outside of clutch situations when you don't need the extra aetherflow is pointless.

Broil and Indomitibility should be pretty obvious, and I think you indicated that you understand these, so I won't talk about them.

Oh boy, more people who never use Dissipate. I'm not sure of some people's experiences or if they don't play Scholar in extreme/savage end-game. It does have a use, but if you only do dungeons/casual content you probably will never find a situation where you need those stacks unless stuff really hits the fan. I'm a stanch defender of this skill because there are good uses, albeit niche but they can save a raid too.

When Sephirot Extreme was prime-time content, there was a lot of damage to heal at i210+ levels. The add phase was pretty lethal if DPS wasn't so controlled but this was a great place to use up stacks and Dissipate, your MP wasn't very high if you DPS quite a bit by then. But you'd replenish in no-time and you'd get better shields for the add damage which helps the other healer not have to heal so much. By the time the phase was over you have downtime to re-summon manually.

Fairy Swaps. There are instances where one fairy may not be the most optimal use for the entire fight. Knowing this advantage separates a really good Scholar from the rest. With this in-mind you can take advantage of Dissipate to get stacks, more potent heals, or more DPS before swapping to the other fairy. Or instead of just burning Swiftcast/Summon. Places like A6 Savage where Selene was best to have out for the first two robots to push DPS, and have a Silence if-needed. Then before Brawlers add phase you can Dissipate to get better shield and get Eos out for the rest of the fight.

Or more current Savage, A11S having Selene out to start until Limit Cut to push DPS since AoE damage is limited, and you have Selene's Fey Caress so don't have to wipe the raid just because of deaths. If no death, just Dissipate during the phase and re-summon. Or A12S during the two adds is another prime spot, you can even pop Whispering Dawn to get regens out and Dissipate after she casts and you still have regens up with 3 more stacks. Can just re-summon during the ultimate downtime and/or do the Selene Fey Wind/Eos swap like a real pull.

These are just a few examples. Knowing that you can pop fairy cooldowns and then Dissipate is something to keep in-mind with the Scholar toolkit. Eos doesn't have to be out for cooldowns like Whispering Dawn to continue to get it's full effects. She just has to be able to cast before she is eaten.

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Originally Posted by technole

Oh boy, more people who never use Dissipate. I'm not sure of some people's experiences or if they don't play Scholar in extreme/savage end-game. It does have a use, but if you only do dungeons/casual content you probably will never find a situation where you need those stacks unless stuff really hits the fan.

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It is in my case. I've only done difficult content up to ARR EX primals synced where Dissipate is not available. But that isn't the reason why I don't bring it up. The reason I don't is because while only a percentage of players participate in EX/savage content, everyone runs casual content. But I do admit, I would likely be more inclined to bring it up if I participated.

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Originally Posted by technole

Fairy Swaps. There are instances where one fairy may not be the most optimal use for the entire fight...

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While true, the potential of fairy swaps is lost due to the fact that they share cooldowns, and it is one of my gripes about the job. I am also not sure if you are referring to using Dissipate as a means to fairy swap. I tend to think of fairy swaps as immediate, and after a 30sec cooldown, it is simply a summon or re-summon.

The long cast time of fairy swaps is also troublesome. Burning up swiftcast, or losing gcds due to the cast time is hardly ideal. The most ideal situation I've found is during phase changes. One fight that comes to mind is The Aery version of Niddy. I use Eos in the beginning, and summon Selene when he leaves the arena signifying the add phase in order to get Fey Wind on everyone, which ends the phase quickly. When Estinien raises the shield, I re-summon Eos. The reason why I bring up this instance despite still not having Dissipate is to show that the most ideal situation I can think of doesn't require the skill, and it requires that I immediately summon another fairy, which Dissipate takes away.

Dissipate in this same situation would have me sacrifice Fey Wind in favor of increased stacks and healing potency, but since pushing this phase as quickly as possible is the best way to mitigate the damage Estinien takes, Dissipate would be the less ideal choice. I'm guessing the same rings true if similar mechanics exist in endgame, but correct me if I am wrong. Fairy swapping isn't required to push the phase I mentioned, but it sure in hell makes it a lot easier. Perhaps in endgame, these DPS windows are smaller and far more helpful to do.

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Originally Posted by Gemina

I am also not sure if you are referring to using Dissipate as a means to fairy swap. I tend to think of fairy swaps as immediate, and after a 30sec cooldown, it is simply a summon or re-summon.

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She probably refers to that, and fairy swap is often done 1. after the fairy cooldowns have just being used and 2. at a time when there's nothing going on for a while. For example, I swap my fairy with Dissipation before boss uses ultimate in A12S and before Lapis Lazuli phase in A11S. There's literally nothing going on in the fight while I slowcast my new fairy summon. :)

Yeah the Fairy Swap Fey Wind opener is best in just about every Savage floor and Extremes. The extra SkS/SpS is very good for Dragoon, Bard, and caster openers. Also helps healer DPS too since you are putting DoTs up, basically sharing the raid your utility as a Scholar. Just like DRG battle litany in a sense. All the while trading in Fey Illlumination on cooldown. It's minor, but's a DPS increase. I tell people are you doing your part to help skip Soar, or A11S Lapis? Ha.

I still get bit triggered when I see a pug Scholar blow Fey Illlum just to try to get a better Adlo pre-pull, wasting the cooldown when Fey Wind offers more benefit. Most cases like A12S you want the Astro pre-pulling with Noct shields before they swap to Dirunal since it's better than Succor, covers the first prey hits better.

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Originally Posted by Taika

She probably refers to that, and fairy swap is often done 1. after the fairy cooldowns have just being used and 2. at a time when there's nothing going on for a while. For example, I swap my fairy with Dissipation before boss uses ultimate in A12S and before Lapis Lazuli phase in A11S. There's literally nothing going on in the fight while I slowcast my new fairy summon. :)

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Yep, exactly.

I always say if you are considering Fairy Swap, always look to see if Dissipate can work to your advantage over a Swiftcast hot-swap. Like the A12S downtime, you'll likely get yourself close to full MP before the last add dies, also a thicker Succor for ultimate, and the opportunity to get another Fey Wind opener. Textbook use of the skill.