POLL: Best healer for 4 mans?

[Ambivalence]

Hello,

I just wanted to get a general consensus for what healer you prefer in 4 mans only.(Speed clearing) more specifically. I am of the mind that WHM<AST<SCH - what are your thoughts and why?

[zuzu-bq]

You can make a stawpoll for it if you want. But for level 50 and further, its WHM for sure.

[Pence]

I'm going SCH. Never really need to leave cleric stance.

[GunsBlazing]

SCH is the best in my opinion, unless you are able to pull massive groups of monsters (at least 8+) all the way through a particular instance. Even in dungeons where you get clusters that large, every pull is not of that size, so SCH tends to still beat WHM. WHM does a lot more damage on huge pulls than SCH can, but it can't compete against SCH on normal-sized pulls at all in terms of DPS. Since most dungeons go back and forth between pull sizes, I'd say SCH overall is the best. Astrologian is the worst in general for damage. I'm assuming that you are taking DPS into account, because if you are one of those healers that doesn't ever touch cleric stance, then there's really no difference at all. It's easy/lazy/slow clear mode no matter which you choose, at that point. WHM has three potent regen effects to mitigate the amount of incoming damage that will require an actual hard heal, SCH has an aoe regen and shields to slow the amount of incoming damage to do the exact same thing, and astro has either or. If all you're doing is healing, then they don't play much different from one another so saying one is better than the other is not really a meaningful assessment. On the healing side, they all fulfill the exact same functions, merely with different methodologies of achieving them. On the offensive end of the spectrum, they're all pretty different. Most of AST's attacks are just copied and pasted versions of white mage's spells, but they lack the other aspects that make WHM much stronger for AOE (Mainly assize and Aero III). SCH is just typically stronger than both of them in the damage front. As mentioned before, WHM wins once pull sizes get really large, but that is a rarity, and won't have much factor in overall dungeon completion time anyways, since they do lower boss DPS and lower DPS on all the smaller pulls the game forces you to engage due to barriers and such to prevent speed running.

To summarize; If you're DPSing, Scholar is typically the best. If you're doing nothing but healing, then it honestly doesn't matter at all. There's no reason to choose one over the other on four man content at this point, just go with whichever is your favorite in terms of aesthetics.

[TheWaywardWind]

This is wholly based on how competent your party is. All three healers are great but I personally prefer speed running through shit so it depends.

SCH is weak with AoE but is great with single target.
WHM is undoubtedly the strongest when it comes to AoE damage.
AST comes close to WHM but also has its cards to buff people who are AoEing.

Honestly, either WHM or AST gets my vote. Scholar is nice but it doesn't pack the punch that spamming Holy + Aero III + Assize or Gravity + Enhanced Balance on BLM/AoE DPS does.

[Pence]

I think you're underestimating SCHs AOE capabilities in speed runs, Alexander.

Bio 40 + Miasma 35 + Bio 2 35 + Miasma 2 10 + SF 25 + Blizz 2 50 = 195 potency first 3 mobs
Bane 55 + SF 25 + Blizz 2 50 = 130 for 4th+ mob.
Coupled with a 3% attack speed buff for the whole party half the time, and fairy healing.

If you have 6 mobs that's 975 potency and the 3% buff half the time. A WHM using Holy will be pulling 200 + 180 + 160 + 140 + 120 + 100 (Total 900) and Aero 3 40 (Total 240) is pulling 1140 without a fairy healing or the buffs.

WHM will come out on top still, but SCH definitely packs a punch. (Due to set up time, Assize and such)

[TheWaywardWind]

Yet it is for the reasons that Scholar falls behind. And your math is wrong.

This is assuming you have six mobs, and you neglect the fact that Bane's potency is reduced by half when you have four mobs or more. It is not the same for every single mob.

[Pence]

True. Sorry, in PVP while I type. But SCH still packs a decent punch.

[Nekotee]

Easiest answer : all three

They all have pro and con but as long as you master the timing to switch stance because your cripple tank cannot take more than 30 hit without being low life
It should be fine and fast

The tank must not be a LAZY one that forget his défensive CD XD

...
But honestly
I think whm and SCH are on par
Ast is pretty weaker in DPS but can really boost dps

...

And i'm sorry but SCH is the master in aoe
While the whm is best in single target
Especially in term of mana (the whm burn too much in aoe)

[AlexanderThorolund]

Scholar, it's just another DPS in 4 man dungeons.