SCH dps in A1 Savage and how to improve.

[DarkmoonVael]

Hey guys, so its that wonderful time again with any progression raid team when everyone buckles up and improves their dps. But this time its with SCH, the joys.

So my raid group is downing A1S consistently now, but the enrage check is tight, like really tight. So we have been told that we all need to increase our dps, and here is me on SCH been given the figure of 300-350+ (iirc) to get and maintain in A1S Opressor. So i need help from you guys .

General strat to give an idea of what we do, phase 1 i dps and solo deal with prays as SCH. Not difficult to do, obviously dealing with pray makes DPS drop. On split, we split into 2 groups, i have to heal one group with WAR as tank, WHM heals other, and we do tend to split fairly far apart. WAR is in deliverance a lot of the time, switching to defiance as prays go out. I deal with a pray, keep WAR alive (usually drops like a rock here) but also often find having to use all my lustrates in this phase due to haiving to lustrate other pray terget sometimes, and occasionally the PLD. Also going into prays most of the party is at 50% hp after the aoes have gone out from bosses, so on occasion indom has to be used by me to stabilise my group, that or some form of aoe healing from me (usually rely on whispering dawn ticks on first and third). So far in this strat i have found that i can often throw up my dots before the jumps and there are few other times that present themselves for me to be able to throw out dots whilst WAR is in deliverance.

And then its just rinse and repeat.

So my questions are how are other SCH managing to DPS amongst the mess that is the Opressor fight?

Can things be changed in the strat to facilitate more SCH dps?

It would also be interesting to know if SCH dps in your guys groups is that high as well?

Also raid composition is WAR/PLD/WHM/SCH/MNK/BRD/SMN/BLM.

Thanks in advance for the responses .

[FoxyAreku]

Most scholars (myself included) purely dps on the first phase. Preys and general healing can and should be handled by the white mage. You don't heal at all in the first phase except for with your faerie.

After the split you can multidot if you find the time but you probably won't have the time.

I'm kinda surprised you're doing preys in the first phase, like, why? It takes a bit of practice but your white mage should be able to cover that pretty well.

[DarkerOrange]

Try to get your WHM to handle the preys in P1, it will increase your dps quite a bit. I usually hit the split at about 650-700 DPS. After that I throw some DoTs on my oppressor, heal until just after the tank buster, then the WHM solo heals while I DPS until the jumps. Once the Oppressors land, I DoT up and rinse and repeat.
My dps is usually 350-400 in A1S, and we usually beat enrage by 10 or so seconds.

Though, if I'm honest, if you are that tight to enrage, I would suggest that your DPS and tanks are having more of an issue than you.

[DreamWeaver]

From WHM PoV:

Phase 1 SCH DPS all the way except 2 GCDs (1 adlo per prey victim), the Adlo on the prey victim is not really required but it acts as a safety net in case I miscalculated a GCD.

Phase 2:
SCH can DPS all the way until Resin Bomb cast, but I recommend Indom/Succor once to assist in topping people up from the Gunnery Cannon damage that happened right after the casting of 3 Ton Missile.
Keep in mind there's a Royal Fount (the laser mini tank buster) directly after the Resin Bomb cast bar, so depending on the condition on your designated tank, you may have to exit Cleric 1~2 GCDs earlier.

Heal until Hyper Compression tank buster.

Resume DPS until after the Gunnery Cannon, and heal your designated tank up for the incoming Royal Fount.

[DarkmoonVael]

I'm kinda surprised you're doing preys in the first phase, like, why? It takes a bit of practice but your white mage should be able to cover that pretty well.

Yeah i know, we tried me on pure dps in first phase but went back to me soloing preys. Cant quite remember why, but thats the decision that was made.

Also with multi dotting i find before the jumps is the only time i can do this O.o.

Well at least i dont seem to be doing anything wrong on the healing side of things .

From WHM PoV:

Phase 1 SCH DPS all the way except 2 GCDs (1 adlo per prey victim), the Adlo on the prey victim is not really required but it acts as a safety net in case I miscalculated a GCD.

Phase 2:
SCH can DPS all the way until Resin Bomb cast, but I recommend Indom/Succor once to assist in topping people up from the Gunnery Cannon damage that happened right after the casting of 3 Ton Missile.
Keep in mind there's a Royal Fount (the laser mini tank buster) directly after the Resin Bomb cast bar, so depending on the condition on your designated tank, you may have to exit Cleric 1~2 GCDs earlier.

Heal until Hyper Compression tank buster.

Resume DPS until after the Gunnery Cannon, and heal your designated tank up for the incoming Royal Fount.

Yeah forgot about the dots i throw out whilst waiting for resin bombs to go off .

And will try going into dps after gunenry cannon as well thanks .

Also i assume that the WHM covers most of the aoe healing in phase 2 then?

Try to get your WHM to handle the preys in P1, it will increase your dps quite a bit. I usually hit the split at about 650-700 DPS. After that I throw some DoTs on my oppressor, heal until just after the tank buster, then the WHM solo heals while I DPS until the jumps. Once the Oppressors land, I DoT up and rinse and repeat.
My dps is usually 350-400 in A1S, and we usually beat enrage by 10 or so seconds.

Though, if I'm honest, if you are that tight to enrage, I would suggest that your DPS and tanks are having more of an issue than you.

Cool thanks. Seems there are a few windows i can take advantage of to dps more .

[DreamWeaver]

There's 3 Gunnery Cannons in Phase 2, I can solo heal the 2nd (Medica + Assize) and 3rd (no incoming damage until jump damage) comfortably.

The 1st one however, as a WHM I'll really appreciate it if the SCH can throw out an Indom/Succor to assist, as the DPS are getting hit on by the 4 adds, and the ticks from my Divine Sealed Medica II may not be enough for them to survive the 2nd Gunnery Cannon. Of course if the SCH is insistent on DPSing, it's a non issue on my part as well, I'll just throw down an additional Medica after my Medica II, but this will depend on the WHM's MP conservation skill.

[DarkmoonVael]

There's 3 Gunnery Cannons in Phase 2, I can solo heal the 2nd (Medica + Assize) and 3rd (no incoming damage until jump damage) comfortably.

The 1st one however, as a WHM I'll really appreciate it if the SCH can throw out an Indom/Succor to assist, as the DPS are getting hit on by the 4 adds, and the ticks from my Divine Sealed Medica II may not be enough for them to survive the 2nd Gunnery Cannon. Of course if the SCH is insistent on DPSing, it's a non issue on my part as well, I'll just throw down an additional Medica after my Medica II, but this will depend on the WHM's MP conservation skill.

Thanks noted and will try .

[Selli]

P1 is very easy for the WHM to solo heal. I throw Medica II on everyone, Regen and Asylum the MT, Regen on the Prey target, Tetra the Prey target after AoE. Maximum DPS for both healers in this phase that way. Our static SCH also has his fairy spamming Embrace on the MT which usually means I usually only have to slip out of Cleric to refresh Regen.

When 0.5 comes out, DoT both of the bosses and then get ready for the AoEs and double prey. You might be able to sneak in some Ruin II's while dodging Resins, but I don't know how ideal that is.

There is a bit of "down time" after the double Preys before the jump. There's only really tank cleaves and one last AoE. You could probably throw some DoTs on the bosses before they jump, as long as you and the WHM aren't MP starved. Once they land, you can get all 3 of your DoTs out on each, but you have to be really quick with this because the missiles are fast (I usually have to PoM these DoTs myself sometimes, depending on where they land).

Rinse and repeat.

In P1 our SCH can burst nearly 1k DPS each (I know for sure I'm sub 750 because I do have to heal and I don't use MND Pots because I chug X-Ethers like college kids do beer, but using a MND Pot in P1 can give you some really insane burst). As the fight goes on, this drops considerably. By the time the fight is over he's at about 300-400 DPS over the whole fight while I'm at 200-100.

My static has the same set up, btw. Not many double caster groups. Though, do make sure the BRD and SMN are double DoTing both bosses!

[KarstenS]

I do completely solo heal P1 as WHM while the SCH do DMG. During P1 he is around 750 DPS. (our setup yesterday was PLD/WAR/WHM/SCH/SMN/BLM/BLM/BRD). Our best Split came with 57% life that day.

The more DMG you get out in P1, the less you have to do after that

[DarkerOrange]

The way I look at it is: Damage done in P1, (i.e. before the split), is worth twice as much as all subsequent damage, so P1 is the most important phase for healer and OT dps.