Questions/Tips for Scholar - in general 4.0 and progressing to endgame content?

Hey everyone! (Please excuse the multi-post I didn't know you could edit afterwards to bypass the limit xoxo)

So I've been maining Scholar since I first bought the game about a year and a half ago, and what initially drew me to the class was A. its utility-healer style and B. the sharing of levels with an entire other class, something unique to Scholar/Summoner and allowed leveling up to be done in a fun and diverse way.

Unfortunately, due to the nature of the long MSQ grind when starting from scratch, and taking a long break from the game before even progressing into Heavensward content, I just hit 70 now as I blow through the last few MSQs and I've never even done a single raid. Getting to endgame gear / raid content has always been a goal of mine, and now that the goal is in sight, are there any tips that can make me better at what I do as a scholar going into my first reach of endgame?

I've been reading a lot and I see that scholars are in a tough spot right now - it feels like AST does everything we do utility-wise, but better, and we get out-healed by both AST and WHM. However, progressing thus far I've always liked the way that Scholar feels as a very mobile, damage-slinging healer class and I like the ability to DPS while healing mostly with oGCDs and keeping roused whispers on cooldown.

I think that despite the apparent nerfs and struggle to perform well in comparison to WHM and AST in brute force healing, Scholar is still really fun for me to play and I enjoy the ability to change rotations and weave different oGCDs as necessary on the fly to quickly adapt playstyle, and I don't think that's something the other two healers can do nearly as well, though I don't have personal experience at high levels with either of them. (I've just begun leveling my AST, it's 35.)

So a few questions:
- Is Fey Union even viable? Given that it fails to be boosted by anything at all and I read something about embrace potency in the same timeframe being better is there a reason to even use it, or is the top-level skill that I just got going to go to waste?
- Other than Lucid Dreaming or a dedicated manabattery on your team, what else can I do as a scholar to work on MP management? Sometimes between DPSing and throwing GCD heals when necessary I just wind up struggling in the lower portion of my bar, especially when solo healing 4-mans. I'm really feeling the Aetherflow nerf with this one, as I never noticed such a struggle when I used to play casually pre-4.0.
- Going into raid content, is there really a place to just... start? Do I find a group to run coils with or do I just jump into Omega progression, and how do I even start that? Any tips for a first-time scholar who will probably wind up as an off-healer?

As far as I can tell, I have a pretty decent grasp of my class and I'm not letting myself get salty or discouraged at the seeming lack of effectiveness because I think much of it is just perceived that way, when in reality the function is still at a very very viable level. But I've never even touched a raid so maybe I'm just completely wrong and scholar just sucks now and I should go level my AST if I don't want to waste my time lol, so a little insight would be really cool for a newbie here.

Thanks so much, this is a big dumb wall, but I appreciate any responses in advance! <3

You can edit your post to bypass the character limit (it's much easier to read if it's all in one post). Sorry about not being able to reply to your topic though!

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Originally Posted by Taika

You can edit your post to bypass the character limit (it's much easier to read if it's all in one post). Sorry about not being able to reply to your topic though!

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Ahh thank you for this either way! ^^

I'm far from the best SCH but I'll do what I can to answer some of your concerns.

Fey Union isn't useless, rather it's a fairly potent single target heal. Usually, it's strong enough alone to heal that you can just focus on DPSing, or healing others while the tether focus heals whomever its on. Its a place and forget heal while up so it's far from useless.

Honestly, I haven't had much MP issues with SCH, unless I'm mass rezzing or was recently rezzed myself. I usually just pop Lucid Dreaming if Aetherflow is on CD and I'm currently below 75% MP. Weaving in Energy Drains between Miasma 2 and Bio can help also, if you don't need the Aetherflow stacks. You can't spam Adlo like you could before so try using it sparingly, such as the start of a pull and pair it with Emergency Tactics as a last resort "big" heal in case you're out of A-flow stacks for Lustrates.

As for raids, I just say just dive right into Omega

Hi, first off I would like to state that I am by no means any pro sch but I would like to offer some of my experiences to answer those question.

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Is Fey Union even viable? Given that it fails to be boosted by anything at all and I read something about embrace potency in the same timeframe being better is there a reason to even use it, or is the top-level skill that I just got going to go to waste?

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Yes, granted it's not an almighty lvl 70 skill one would expect but it is viable. The way I see it is that you can use it as a constant flow of physick spam while you yourself are free to be more mobile, this only really shines in dungeons/raids where moving and positioning to stay alive is prioritized as the fairy seems to be immune to mechanics. Also a great help when you know huge raid wide aoe dmg is going to go out and both you and co-healer are going to be spending 1-2 gcds to heal the pt up.

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Other than Lucid Dreaming or a dedicated manabattery on your team, what else can I do as a scholar to work on MP management? Sometimes between DPSing and throwing GCD heals when necessary I just wind up struggling in the lower portion of my bar, especially when solo healing 4-mans. I'm really feeling the Aetherflow nerf with this one, as I never noticed such a struggle when I used to play casually pre-4.0.

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From my own experience, my mp could drop as low as 10% in 4 man's but usually the group of mobs dies at this point and I was also using Miasma II as soon as the dot finishes so I could've save more mp if needed. I feel the only time where you're really strapped for mp even with lucid dreaming is if you overused adloquim too much. Despite what people say, physick + embrace is actually pretty damn viable in 4 mans to keep the tank alive should it come to that. Using your aetherflow aggressively on skills like lustrate, excog, energy drain even is encouraged now with quickened aetherflow. That being said it's still on you to manage these. You should be able to refresh your aetherflow stacks between each pull, if not in the middle of one.

In 8 mans I've never really felt like my mp was too little. I think as sch you have to be a little bit selfish when it comes to healing. This isn't to say that you shouldn't be doing any and letting your poor co-healer solo everything for you, but instead know how much healing is needed through each raid wide aoe. If your co-healers Medika II + Assize is enough to heal through it, then you can just sit back and continue to dps, if it isn't then throw out a succor if you don't need immediate heals, a lustrate if you do.

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Going into raid content, is there really a place to just... start? Do I find a group to run coils with or do I just jump into Omega progression, and how do I even start that? Any tips for a first-time scholar who will probably wind up as an off-healer?

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Unfortunately there aren't that many people who are doing older raids like coil or alexander anymore and even if they are, they're doing it unsynced which kind of defeats the purpose of getting raid experience. I started with omega 1-4 then slowly but surely pugged my way into omega 1-4 savage. I'm now practicing on o4s despite still being on my 1st sub payment since I started the game, an achievement definitely but I'm no way close to seasoned raiders. In the end I think it all comes down to having the right mentality and being able to find a group that would be willing to pick you up. Of course you should do everything in your own time to polish what you can before joining these statics.

Hope I was able to help you with your sch!

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Originally Posted by Jaelynn

So a few questions:
- Is Fey Union even viable? Given that it fails to be boosted by anything at all and I read something about embrace potency in the same timeframe being better is there a reason to even use it, or is the top-level skill that I just got going to go to waste?

I find it useful on Eos after I pop Whispering dawn to use Few Union on the tank during big pulls. But I always make sure I use Whispering Dawn first so that im getting the maximum effect out of the fairy while locking to down with Fey Union.

- Other than Lucid Dreaming or a dedicated manabattery on your team, what else can I do as a scholar to work on MP management? Sometimes between DPSing and throwing GCD heals when necessary I just wind up struggling in the lower portion of my bar, especially when solo healing 4-mans. I'm really feeling the Aetherflow nerf with this one, as I never noticed such a struggle when I used to play casually pre-4.0.

As you get more gear it gets a little better. I have really had to watch my mana and come up with new ways to deal with it. Largesse instead of Eye For An Eye ( I will miss your Eye for eye) is much more worth it wit the long CD Eye for Eye has now. If you havn't already incorporate Rouse into your rotation anytime its off CD. The extra fairy healing takes some of the mana stress off yourself. If your Aetherflow is off CD and you have left overs go ahead and use them on Energy Drain. With Shadow Flare and Miasma II being insta casts using these can speed up the death of mobs further easing the mana drain.

- Going into raid content, is there really a place to just... start? Do I find a group to run coils with or do I just jump into Omega progression, and how do I even start that? Any tips for a first-time scholar who will probably wind up as an off-healer?

I Havnt done any static raids myself but for Omega Deltascape is fairly simple and forgiving on normal que, Savage you will probably want to find a dedicated static or at least some people who want to work together.

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Thats all I have =)

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Originally Posted by FalalaMaru

From my own experience, my mp could drop as low as 10% in 4 man's but usually the group of mobs dies at this point and I was also using Miasma II as soon as the dot finishes so I could've save more mp if needed. I feel the only time where you're really strapped for mp even with lucid dreaming is if you overused adloquim too much. Despite what people say, physick + embrace is actually pretty damn viable in 4 mans to keep the tank alive should it come to that. Using your aetherflow aggressively on skills like lustrate, excog, energy drain even is encouraged now with quickened aetherflow. That being said it's still on you to manage these. You should be able to refresh your aetherflow stacks between each pull, if not in the middle of one.

In 8 mans I've never really felt like my mp was too little. I think as sch you have to be a little bit selfish when it comes to healing. This isn't to say that you shouldn't be doing any and letting your poor co-healer solo everything for you, but instead know how much healing is needed through each raid wide aoe. If your co-healers Medika II + Assize is enough to heal through it, then you can just sit back and continue to dps, if it isn't then throw out a succor if you don't need immediate heals, a lustrate if you do.

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Yeah I've been noticing a lot just from my aversion to Adlo if it isn't for buffing or deployment purposes that Physick + Embrace is actually totally viable. I've heard a lot of people saying that Physick is too slow on GCDs and while there were times during big pulls where I found myself struggling, if I threw Sacred Soil down and a burst heal I usually had no problem, especially if I was able to get Whispering Dawn up.

That makes a lot of sense raid-wise as far as MP goes too, I know scholar is an off-heals and I'm usually really good about A. not letting the other healer struggle and B. knowing when to just let them top everyone off if it's an easier situation, but that's just in normal 8-man content and not raids or anything.

Thanks so much for all the help! :)

@Cocotsu - It makes a lot of sense to throw Union up right after the Whispering Dawn and I hadn't thought of exclusively running it that way, I think that solves literally all my problems with the skill and I found it extremely viable + useful during my run of Ala Mhigo this morning for story purposes. And as far as throwing in Energy Drains, I actually hadn't thought of that because when I was burning stacks when cooldown was almost over I was throwing out heals when it wasn't actually super necessary, so it's a great idea to throw in EDs to keep my MP up as well. Thanks for that. :)

A few newer questions based on gameplay this morning:

- Is there an easier way to position for regens or am I always going to have to blitz in towards the tank and the AoEs in order to get Whispering Dawn off? I guess using place would be easier but I always find myself way too busy to finagle with that kind of stuff.

- Does Fey Illumination affect the regen strength of Whispering Dawn?

- Any macro tips? I'm thinking about using one for Rouse + Whispering Dawn, or also Fey Illumination if the answer to my above question is significant enough. For now I just have Physick / Adlo coupled with Embrace so that it heals the same target.

Whispering Dawn is based off where your fairy is so if you position your fairy where you want the Whispering Dawn to be used that should work if you don't want to be up close (for plenty of fights though being up front is already more beneficial than being in the back. PBAoEs aren't that common that standing up front is a death trap. Just don't stand by the tank, cleaves are on the other hand.

Yes

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ehensive-Guide

SCH right now isn't an issue in raiding. I'm on O3S with my group, I'm SCH and the other healer is an AST. I have to pay more attention to my fairy and be a little bit more diligent with my AF stacks but that's about it.

If you were a good sch before 4.0, the new changes at 4.05 shouldn't slow you down at all. 4.0 sch was a different story lol.

I have my my fairy heals on target and my physicks with a mouse over heal. Meaning I can set the fairy to heal manually on whom ever I select in the party and then mouse over heals any other people that require it. Manually placing your fairy close to the DPS/Tanks helps, she will prioritize their HP (if you're not teling her to heal) and you can be more efficient with your abilities.

Macroes don't usually work that well with the fairy due to some raid/server lag issues, better to micro manage. I have her most used abilities set right above the party window so I can manage them in raid and can quickly glance to see what the timers are at. Setting up your HUD helps more than macroes.

Good luck.

In pulls, I ride the tank's butt the whole time, to be sure faerie skills hit them. I do not use Fey Union very often now, since gear upgrades seem to have smoothed out healing issues. For all bosses (dungeons and raids), I place my faerie behind the boss so I can move freely.

I would definitely recommend getting the feel of the normal Omega raids first, since they are easily solo healed and will expose you to a variety of party-based mishaps (plus, the mechanics of the fights in general). Some groups I can DPS 100% of the time with faerie healing, other groups I feel like I'm carrying the group (constant deaths all around, needing to use healer LB3, etc). Once you're good there, find a static and be upfront about lack of experience. Talk to your cohealer and see how much they need you to help with healing. Some groups do an even split of responsibility, whereas my cohealer prefers to take most of the healing, leaving me to DPS unless things look dicey.

So I know the Scholar trait at level 68 lets you reduce the recast time for Aetherflow by 5 seconds for each time you use an ability linked to the Aether stacks but it never occured to me that you can Dismiss your Fairy with Dissipation and get 3 new stacks to further reduce your cool down by another 15 seconds. So once every two minutes you can get a full 30 second reduction on the cool down timer to blow through lustrates and energy drains and get mega heals and mp. I am so excited right now.

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Originally Posted by NobleWinter

So I know the Scholar trait at level 68 lets you reduce the recast time for Aetherflow by 5 seconds for each time you use an ability linked to the Aether stacks but it never occured to me that you can Dismiss your Fairy with Dissipation and get 3 new stacks to further reduce your cool down by another 15 seconds. So once every two minutes you can get a full 30 second reduction on the cool down timer to blow through lustrates and energy drains and get mega heals and mp. I am so excited right now.

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That thing is the ultimate wipe-prevention CD. For when you need 6000+ potency worth of heals...now.

Have cleared 04S a couple times now. SCH synergizes really well with the other two healers in Raids.

I'd recommend watching some clear videos of SCH on old or new raids to see how or why they do certain things to help understand how diverse the toolkit actually is. That will help push you confidently into raids.

I've been playing SCH for a while now, currently working on O3S with my static (co-healer is a WHM).

Fey Union feels underwhelming for sure, but in high-level content it definitely helps reduce healing stress while encouraging efficient Aetherflow usage.

With other the SB changes, I'm still working on finding the right balance of ability usage to keep things running smoothly while maintaining adequate MP. Lucid Dreaming helps a lot-- pop it when your MP is below 75%, and keep popping it on-CD thereafter.

I'd say always use Excogitation on CD, but make sure your co-healer is aware of it and doesn't constantly top-off before it gets a chance to activate.

Adlo is really strong, great for tankbusters (I had a tank remark last night that he took no damage from one of Hali's Critical Hits after a Critical Adlo). Adlo + Deployment Tactics is essential for heavy raid-damage attacks, but takes practice (gotta make sure your target is near those you want to shield).

I almost always use Selene, though I've switched to Eos while learning O3S. It seems to be commonly accepted that you can use Eos when getting used to things, but then should switch to Selene for improved DPS (from Fey Wind) once you're sure you can handle it.

NobleWinter up there makes a great point about Dissipation, especially now with the Aetherflow reductions-- Dissipation is another ability that that takes practice, but in theory you'd want to use it as often as possible.

Just my 2 cents~

The best way to think of scholar right now is that it's a DPS/healer hybrid. It won't do as much AOE healing as WHM, and can't shield as much as AST, but it can do both at the same time.

For AOE phases ET + Succor + Indom + whispering dawn is around 1000 pot worth of heals in one GCD. Once that's out you should be going back to DPS unless the other healer can't handle it.

Use your AF stacks liberally and don't be afraid to use Dissipation - it eases up a ton of pressure and lets everyone else focus on DPS, which equals easier fights. Once everything starts going on farm status SCH eventually becomes more valued for their DPS contribution of raid damage over the raw AOE output of WHM, so SCH will always have a spot in endgame.