First time playing Astrologian... need some advice/tips

[Cleftobismal]

If you are already using Lightspeed for some AoE heals, and then want to go into Gravity spam for some GCDs when you don't need anymore heals during its duration you really should just click-off lightspeed, or a create a /statusoff macro. That DPS loss isn't worth it.

Depends on the situation. I may feel more comfortable to quickly cast a few gravities at reduced mana because I know I'll be healing again after the fact.

At any rate, the difference in malefic II/Gravity with and without lightspeed in a raid setting is dismal. I'm not saying to always use it just to DPS but you mise will dps with it on after healing to save you the mana so you won't screw yourself when you start rezzing/burning more mana on heals. Our apparent 6.25% dps gap is not a big deal and is not worth the waste of resource when we are still fulfilling our job in adding bonus damage while healing. While it's nice to think about how a healer can dish out optimal DPS, it is not always worth the risk.

And I'd imagined that the light speed was used for on the run healing. I wouldn't see this as a bad reason to use it to DPS on the run either after you've topped everyone up. Clicking it off to stand still and cast for the full dps is not ideal for mechanics like Optical Sight.

Again it's situational. While I agree there are some DPS cases you shouldn't use lightspeed for. I disagree that it's overall a bad idea to use for our dps period. The class is flexible, we might as well be versatile in our thinking.

[Ghishlain]

If you use Lightspeed for any DPS spell outside of Gravity spam it's actually a 25% loss since you lose 25% DPS due to the effect of Lightspeed but can only cast the same number of spells within the same time frame.

Gravity is the exception because it's normally 3 seconds to cast but only a 2.5s recast, effectively allowing you to get 5 spells within the same period of 4. Therefore the loss in DPS isn't as notable when using Lightspeed specifically for Gravity but will be quite noticeable on any other DPS spell.

If you happen to have Lightspeed up that requires you to do a movement mechanic, yeah, I'd probably just keep it up and have 75% potent DPS is better than 0% DPS but I wouldn't go out of my way to pop Lightspeed just for DPSing on the fly either if I can help it.

[Cleftobismal]

If you use Lightspeed for any DPS spell outside of Gravity spam it's actually a 25% loss since you lose 25% DPS due to the effect of Lightspeed but can only cast the same number of spells within the same time frame.

Gravity is the exception because it's normally 3 seconds to cast but only a 2.5s recast, effectively allowing you to get 5 spells within the same period of 4. Therefore the loss in DPS isn't as notable when using Lightspeed specifically for Gravity but will be quite noticeable on any other DPS spell.

If you happen to have Lightspeed up that requires you to do a movement mechanic, yeah, I'd probably just keep it up and have 75% potent DPS is better than 0% DPS but I wouldn't go out of my way to pop Lightspeed just for DPSing on the fly either if I can help it.

This ^ Exactly.


+1

[Mikaeus_The_Lunarch]

what's your guy's opinion on synastry? tbh i kinda forget about it quite a bit unless it's an emergency. i've recently moved my abilities around and got synastry to a more readily accessible spot. so now i've just been kinda using it whenever. idk if it's better than lightspeed for emergency heals, but the 20% potency increase is nice even for aoe.

[Rennies]

what's your guy's opinion on synastry? tbh i kinda forget about it quite a bit unless it's an emergency. i've recently moved my abilities around and got synastry to a more readily accessible spot. so now i've just been kinda using it whenever. idk if it's better than lightspeed for emergency heals, but the 20% potency increase is nice even for aoe.

Synastry+Aspected Regen=plenty of time for you to DPS.

[Cleftobismal]

what's your guy's opinion on synastry? tbh i kinda forget about it quite a bit unless it's an emergency. i've recently moved my abilities around and got synastry to a more readily accessible spot. so now i've just been kinda using it whenever. idk if it's better than lightspeed for emergency heals, but the 20% potency increase is nice even for aoe.

Depends. If you know you can use it a few times before a boss, it doesn't hurt. It's also nice to use if you have another target that keeps getting pelted.

I mostly use it though in one of Four situations:

Burst heal a tank from rapid Tank busting damage.

Where burst aoe heal is required. (Sophia EX Aoe spamming 4 times on party members who are affected by vulnerability stacks)

Popping it on a tank while I save a healer trying to dodge so the tank won't miss out on needed hps.

Making the regen ticks stronger on Dirunal regens and Collective unconscious when it's needed.

[Mikaeus_The_Lunarch]

some notable fights i recall using synastry almost every time are sophia ex, A11 during that mess of aoes after lapis phase, A12 basically all the time, and both nidhogg nm/ex.

[Cleftobismal]

some notable fights i recall using synastry almost every time are sophia ex, A11 during that mess of aoes after lapis phase, A12 basically all the time, and both nidhogg nm/ex.

If you are confident you can heal mechanics like nidhogg ex and a12 swithout synastry then do so. It's wise to save it during a "Oh Sh-" than using it all the time. I grind my teeth when I make that mistake and know I could of saved the party if I saved Synastry for something I really needed it for. lol


Keeping up with the HPS requirement is fine and all. But do remember we are playing with fellow humans behind the screen. It's amazing to have a healer that can keep their party members alive after their mistake has been made.

[technole]

Some of you guys forget Swiftcast exists, and guess what? It's a 60s cooldown. That is why I mention turning off lightspeed instead of wasting the recast and dps loss. Swiftcast a Gravity. Be bold. You have options that don't involve wasting resources.

Synastry isn't designed as an oh-snap cooldown, it should be used proactively as mechanics dictate. Just like Divine Seal, only better. (do you have to heal two targets somewhere, like A12S or Nidhogg Ex with the adds). Sitting on a cooldown over the period where it could have been used more than once is in a sense wasting the skill. Just like tanks that "save" defensive cooldowns and end up with too little migration forcing more work on healers. Rather then optimize their rotation if they use one of their best cooldowns early-on they will get 2 uses instead of 1. Or like a a lot of pugs, none.

[Cynfael]

I used to be guilty of sitting on CDs in casual content until I realized that the "oh shit" moments for which I had been saving them pretty much never happened. Since then I use my CDs liberally provided it makes sense to do so.

In more difficult content it's a good idea to plan and coordinate CD use, but in average content I would err on the side of not letting CDs go to waste.