Healer Guide/Class Comparison

[Alindra]

I do not have Turn 5 experience, but I have both a SCH and WHM who are relatively close in gear - SCH is my main, so it's gear is better and the gear they share is more tailored to SCH BiS, but...

I enjoy healing as both. I've done most end game content (except turn 5, so I guess that invalidates my opinion for some people) as both, and what it basically comes down to is I have a different healing role depending on which class I'm playing.

IMO, if people think that the WHM is gimped compared to the SCH, it's because they are trying to play the SCH's role with their WHM. And vice versa.

[kukurumei]

Why are people talking about Turn5. Turn5 is one fight out of many and realistically, it's not even that healer intensive. You can get pass infirmity without lustre. The hard part is having dps that can make board while you're blowing through it. (Like an OT putting stoneskin on the MT)

sch shouldn't act like whms and whm's shouldn't act like sch. That's a given

[Left_Hand]

I have a healer related question, was not sure on which thread to post and as i cant create new threads yet, i decided to do it here... if wrong place, sorry.

I want to play as a white mage, currently leveling a conjurer which stands at level 20 (started playing the game this weekend), from what i read i should go for conjurer level 30 and arcanist level 15 to unlock the white mage job. But should i level conjurer first to 50 before going for arcanist? or is there no advantage going for max conjurer and/or arcanist as well? Before going for white mage.

Thanks.

[Sirantha]

<snip>

I would recommend getting ACN to 15 before trying to take CNJ to 50. That will allow you to use a lot of the awesome abilities that WHM brings, which is really valuable for dungeons. You'll probably want to level up ACN at some point anyway for some cross-class skills such as Virus and Eye for an Eye, but generally I'd recommend taking CNJ to 30, then ACN to 15 (or the other way round, if you want to do ACN first) then unlocking WHM once those two are done. There's no real advantage, in my opinion, to getting to 50 on either class before unlocking the advanced job.

[Lafiele]

WHM is just harder to play than SCH because of MP management and constant preemptive healing. A WHM has to know a fight inside out so he knows exactly when to time his heals and exactly how to manaeg his MP even if his teammates are taking damage where they shouldn't. A SCH is easier to play because they have instant heal lustrates and near infinite mp when placed in the right hands. A WHM mp will drain fast if people are getting hit where they shouldn't or dying.

In terms of potential, both classes are equal. In terms of difficulty, WHM is harder than SCH.

[Edenlys]

In terms of difficulty, WHM is harder than SCH.

As a Scholar, you have to control scholar skill from your own Gcd, faery skill from his own Gcd and Aetherflow + Aetherskill without Gcd.

I play both, Whm is a basic healing class like we know for a while, gameplay is very simple, Mp management is as it should be...

Scholar healing potency is better than Whm in single target situation and more difficult to play.

Your affirmation is truth if scholar is played in 4man dungeon without cleric stance and faery in sic mode...

[Lafiele]

As a Scholar, you have to control scholar skill from your own Gcd, faery skill from his own Gcd and Aetherflow + Aetherskill without Gcd.

I play both, Whm is a basic healing class like we know for a while, gameplay is very simple, Mp management is as it should be...

Scholar healing potency is better than Whm in single target situation and more difficult to play.

Your affirmation is truth if scholar is played in 4man dungeon without cleric stance and faery in sic mode...

Faery management is basic for sch lol especially one who is well macroed. Managing mp well in end game is so much harder than a few more skills to use. The main difference which makes me have to pay little attention as a sch over playing my whm is the instant heals and short cd aetherflow. Managing aetherflows isnt even worth bringing up because it's no different to managing skills on any other class. Btw, smn pet management is so much tougher in comparison to sch.

[Raestloz]

As a Scholar, you have to control scholar skill from your own Gcd, faery skill from his own Gcd and Aetherflow + Aetherskill without Gcd.

I play both, Whm is a basic healing class like we know for a while, gameplay is very simple, Mp management is as it should be...

Scholar healing potency is better than Whm in single target situation and more difficult to play.

Your affirmation is truth if scholar is played in 4man dungeon without cleric stance and faery in sic mode...

I do not see how SCH is more difficult to play. In fact, most times SCH is much, MUCH, easier. Especially when you take into account the massive QoL improvements from the last patch.

Healbot auto-heals
Healbot doesn't cost MP
Healbot doesn't generate enmity
Healbot heals almost as much as physick. Combined with Physick, you're looking at Enhanced Cure II at the cost of Cure

It is true that managing Fairy can be a bit... "challenging" but then again:
You generally only have to move your Fairy around in Garuda (all) or Ifrit (ex)
4 Man dungeons, with the exception of Pharos Sirius, doesn't demand great heals
Any dungeon other than HM versions doesn't require you to have your fairy on Obey
In lower level dungeons most of the time you don't need to take action other than boss fights. Sic will do just fine, especially with Eos
Your main attacks are DoTs with long duration, giving you ample time to do something else in the meantime. The shortest one is Instant cast

You have instant 25% MP recovery every minute
You have potentially 3 instant heals every minute, at 25% max HP each

The benefits of SCH is indeed greater than WHM, and while WHM is indeed "much simpler", the QoL of SCH is vastly superior. You split your enmity in half, you split your MP consumption in half, you have control over your own MP, and you don't have to hold out your instant heal for THAT RIGHT MOMENT because you can have it back the next minute.

In contrast, each minute WHM only has Divine Seal. Shroud is at 2 minutes, Benediction is 5 minutes, so is Presence of Mind. Shroud will always heal ~1300 MP, while you have 50% max MP healed every 2 minutes

SCH indeed has a bit more buttons to play with. They are also much easier to deal with

And yes, I have both classes

[Tranquil]

Okay, let's analyze this post:

Healbot auto-heals
Healbot doesn't cost MP
Healbot doesn't generate enmity
Healbot heals almost as much as physick. Combined with Physick, you're looking at Enhanced Cure II at the cost of Cure

The 'healbot' does generate enmity, but not for the player itself. Granted this never really becomes an issue in normal circumstances, but I have seen some scholars pop up their fairy skill at the worst possible moments (mostly on add-spawns with blank aggro sheets) which has gotten their fairy KO'd. It escapes me why would you bring up the other point, as scholars are supposed to excel at single-target healing. It's not like the WHM can't do some nasty single-target healing with some decent sustainability, ie. a divine sealed regen (which can be applied directly after the DS cast and refreshed at 1s of DS left for 34s~ of DS-potency regen per minute), on top of just curing with DS or otherwise and getting those procs in. Sure, the SCH has cheaper and better single-target heals over time, but then what?

It is true that managing Fairy can be a bit... "challenging" but then again:
You generally only have to move your Fairy around in Garuda (all) or Ifrit (ex)

Needing to do something and it being advisable to do something are different things. If you want to snipe the fairy buffs and skills in terms of eyeing the 15y range optimally for as many people as possible (or 30 for Selene, which is a non-issue), you should place it. If you want to minmax Embrace up-times in dodge-heavy content so that you can manually embrace while you yourself move - you should have the fairy placed and re-placed on demand. If you want your Eos buffs to reach the tank in the Twister-phase of T5, you will want to place her to a spot where she doesn't get plummeted but her own skills reach the tank (and the melee who can get occasionally get plummeted when applying hits from a certain angle on Twin at certain times), also possibly re-placing her on demand or have her next to you and then temporarily placed for the skills themselves, followed by another Heel command. I could go on, but the point should be apparent by now.

4 Man dungeons, with the exception of Pharos Sirius, doesn't demand great heals

Yes, but how is this relevant to the scholar being 'easier'?

Any dungeon other than HM versions doesn't require you to have your fairy on Obey

It would make sense that the easier content is easier to do, yes. That aside, being able to have the fairy on Sic doesn't mean you should ever have it on Sic. Unless, of course, you want to lose your on-demand "enhanced cure II" which you mentioned, seeing as the fairy's AI is slow on the uptake and most of the time you would want to spam her to do embrace ahead of the tank dropping sub-80%, like you would cure on WHM just before a hit is about to land and thus keep up with the damage easier. Any decent scholar will not autopilot easier content either, because manual embracing will always maximize their DPS-times.

In lower level dungeons most of the time you don't need to take action other than boss fights. Sic will do just fine, especially with Eos

How easy something is sub-50 is meaningless. The game starts at 50. Agreed, though, it's pretty funny to see those scholars afk when I level my alts.

Your main attacks are DoTs with long duration, giving you ample time to do something else in the meantime. The shortest one is Instant cast

This is true but doesn't really help with your argument of the scholar being easier to play. As opposed to just sitting there waiting for damage to happen on a WHM, you could play actively and fast-pacedly on the scholar. But yeah, it's not like you can't also throw in some aeros or stones on the WHM if going OOM is not an imminent threat.

You have instant 25% MP recovery every minute

Aetherflow is 20%.

You have potentially 3 instant heals every minute, at 25% max HP each

Yes, Lustrate is godly. I do agree it didn't need a buffage from 20% to 25% in 2.1. And I would also agree that Lustrate is superior to Benediction (dat animation delay), but it doesn't mean the latter can't be used well, either. Lustrate is a ridiculously good skill, but it is just there to solidify the SCH as the superior single-target healer which is what it is supposed to be anyway.

The rest of the post I can't bother to quote separately but you are basically bringing up every good side of the SCH vs. what you feel to be the drawbacks of the WHM, as well as using the fact it takes very little effort to be a scrub-level scholar as a premise to your argument of the scholar being easier to play. Well, it sure as hell doesn't take a lot to be a lazy, mediocre scholar. But this is not what we aim to be when we minmax and micro at max efficiency levels, minding everything what goes on in the battle field. When you take into account what it takes at the mentioned levels of play, the situation will change.

And yes, I have both classes, having done all content on both. For what it is worth, I think both classes require effort to master, whereas it is easier to slip unnoticed as a bad/mediocre SCH compared to an aggro-pulling or OOMing WHM. On the other hand, at max levels of play, I feel like the SCH is a tad more challenging.

[Euphe]

I love both WHM and SCH equally. They are both great jobs and are equally as strong as each other IF played correctly. End of story.