AST Job Questions

Q1: What is the most effective way to use earthly star on AST? Not to sure even after I read the skill description multiple times. Just want to use this skill effectively.

Q2: How do you deal with people outranging your group heals? In a lot of boss fights with huge arenas or trash fight with huge areas I always have a problem with BLM/SMN not wanting to group up for group heal after party/raid-wide damage goes out. I have been using rescue skill to pull them in to save the poor souls but I have been chewed out for using that skill. In the 63lvl dungeon a lot of BLM especially get mad when I use it to save them from then volcano blasts that follows them because they are still standing in Ley Lines trying to get a spell off. How do I combat these types? Please help, it is becoming tiresome to deal with this.

Note: I am not trying to bash people or put anyone down, simply looking for advice on how to deal with these kinds of dps. I am also looking for advice on how to use Earthly Star skill on AST more effectively. Thank you for any awesome advice you can give.

I hate to be this person but those BLM are gonna do what they're gonna do. I don't condone it but the easiest way to deal with stubborn DPS like that is to heal through it. If it's something you won't be able to heal through bring it up in chat.

Its true what they say; 'healers adjust'.

I'm not 100% on your earthly star question. The idea is to place it in the area it will heal the most people and hit the most enemies. You want to wait for it to mature into Greater Dominance though, it greatly increases the healing and damage potency. If that wasn't what you were looking for sorry I may not have fully understood the question.

Also it's range is larger than the line of starlight would lead you to believe. It's something you get the hang of judging after doing it a few times.

I place earthly star pretty much at pull/on cooldown I use that time to DPS and when tank gets low I make it pop.
You can use it for quick heal group after a big AoE but you might miss the DMG part of the skill.

For position, place yourself between the tank (the anchor of your group) and the BLM (because he won't move much) and you should have everyone in the radius. Anything out of range should get back in range, just tell them

Awesome and thanks for the advice on everything. I was also wondering about the radius of the earthly star. I thought it was only the radius of the light circle that it displays with the skill. Learning that the radius is actually bigger, helps quite a bit. Also, waiting until it matures is a helpful tip. I would always make it pop early thinking it would just fall off and I would miss the opportunity to use the skill. Thanks again, I appreciate the helpful tips.

My personnal take on the matter is don't single target heal them.
If they stay low hp long enough and/or die because they are out of AoE healing range, they naturally adjust afterwards!

Already some good feedback. I would just emphasize that, while you ideally want to gain the most from Earthly Star by allowing it to reach Giant Dominance, you shouldn't be afraid to leverage it as a free, quick and dirty group heal in the event that your party members fail mechanics unexpectedly.

I'll occasionally ask ranged DPS who are orbiting the fight from max distance to close the gap a bit for heals and buffs. If at all possible I will adjust my position to include everyone, but sometimes they're the ones who need to be moving. Besides, with all of the room-wide AoEs and wide-ass conal attacks, I'm finding that max distance from the boss is an increasingly unsafe position to take.

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Originally Posted by Marianno

I would always make it pop early thinking it would just fall off and I would miss the opportunity to use the skill.

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Earthly Star will pop on its own if you wait the timer out too. I like that. Thanks for the info about the aoe heals affecting outside the light circle. I'll need to get a better feel of how much outside the area.

Q1: What is the most effective way to use earthly star on AST? Not to sure even after I read the skill description multiple times. Just want to use this skill effectively.

I throw it out during big pulls, right in the middle of the pile. Helps me to manage my DPS and healing actions (specifically for tank and melee DPS). Plus I have a burst heal if I need it before it auto pops. For bosses same strategy applies.

Q2: How do you deal with people outranging your group heals? In a lot of boss fights with huge arenas or trash fight with huge areas I always have a problem with BLM/SMN not wanting to group up for group heal after party/raid-wide damage goes out. I have been using rescue skill to pull them in to save the poor souls but I have been chewed out for using that skill. In the 63lvl dungeon a lot of BLM especially get mad when I use it to save them from then volcano blasts that follows them because they are still standing in Ley Lines trying to get a spell off. How do I combat these types? Please help, it is becoming tiresome to deal with this.

I've learned to not even bother trying to explain this to the party anymore lol. I just throw out my Aspected Helios and then throw on Aspectic Benefic to whomever I miss if I feel the need (usually just on bosses to be safe). You could use Rescue, but I can easily see that causing more headache than necessary.

You can get creative with Earthly once you know fights a little, take the boss in the Tides dungeon that submerges for example. I pop it down just after it's gone under then it usually bursts and heals all the damage from the "pop the bubbles" phase just as the boss resurfaces.

Makes you look pro af ;)

Earthly star is all about timing, the moment where the skill pop right after the boss use aoe is the best feeling ever (with the minimum of 3 person inside the circle that is)

No need to force it up until 2nd part of the skill, think of it if you manage to pop it at 2nd part = great, 1st part = good.

also question, do we get the skill heal and damage if i let the timer run out? I notice when the 2nd 10s skill is up it get automatically explode, do we get the heal at that time?

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Originally Posted by gumas

also question, do we get the skill heal and damage if i let the timer run out? I notice when the 2nd 10s skill is up it get automatically explode, do we get the heal at that time?

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Yep, letting it expire is a way of it activating. Tho big note, Celestial Opposition DOES increase its duration, make sure not to use it during the first half, or you wait 20s for it to beef up, during the second half meh w/e more time to opt when to use.

Earthly Star use shines when you've seen the fight enough times that you can time it to coincide with aoe damage. Just have to get dps used to seeing it and knowing to stay in its range lol.

If people aren't in range for AoE heals, it usually just becomes a single-target top-up. Usually not a big deal.
I would avoid using Rescue on black mages if you can. It can mess up their casts/rotation pretty badly, and they do occasionally eat an AoE with their defensive skill up so they don't have to move. They also tend to position themselves for as little movement as possible once they know the fight, and moving them out of those spots means more running time to get back.

Not really hoping but i do hope SE can slightly "upgrade" the circle notification from the skill. At least give a more obvious sign "this is a healing circle, get inside!"

Iam not saying player who like going far back like BLM MCH or BRD to come close to where i put the circle but, i keep seeing some people staying outside the circle despite they are like an inch (like 1-2 cm) from the circle and their hp is pretty low and still not going inside the circle, why? All you need is tap "w" and thats it you're inside but nope.

This frustate me sometimes, i mean if ES pop your hp is good as new but because you didnt go in (despite only barely outside the circle) i need to cast another extra heal just for you while my priority is on tank.

Here are some times where I use Earthly Star:

1. Placed as a pre-cast heal before a positional attack. For example, placing it where the party will end up after being pushed across the battlefield.
2. Acting as an AoE heal that you can cast at the target's location instead of your own. This is useful if you have to leave the party stack to avoid a mechanic, but also need to AoE heal while you're away.
3. Use instead of Lightspeed Helios when you have to AoE heal but can't cast due to repeated interruptions from a boss mechanic.
4. Use instead of Helios to recover from major boss AoE attacks, saving MP.
5. Use quickly in conjunction with Helios to recover full party HP from sub-10%, even if you haven't had time to let it grow to Giant Dominance.