Which healer do you suggest and how to lvl

[Exiled_Tonberry]

I'd like to correct something. Ast do not have stronger shields than sch. They are Just more consistent because when no crit they are higher potency. Yet Crit Adlo pops pretty often and deploy is far, far better than ast's shield.

If you want to be literal about it, yes, on paper, SCH shields are stronger than AST.

In actual gameplay though, AST shields are 170% stronger than SCH shields most of the time, and Aspected Helios is, quite literally, a Deployed Adloquium that requires no setup, no CD, 15y and can be spammed.

Not to mention AST shields strength is a lot more reliable than SCHs and can be casted faster and on the move for less MP.
Looking at the mitigation of AST and SCH through a tunnel, AST towers over SCH.

Oh and succor will never beat aspected Helios, ever, no matter what.

[randysquirrel]

the only real answer is to play whichever healer you most enjoy. Obviously ultimately they all have the same goal (keeping the team up) but have different ways of going about it.

whm is probably the most intuitive when someone completely new thinks about healer. They are reactive, so someone takes damage, then you heal them. Their raw healing power is the strongest.

Sch is more proactive. You should have a an understanding of whatever fight your in, and need to shield your targets before the heavy hits come. You have a fairy helping out, which you should control as well, which also has its own specific abilities.

ast is a mix between the two and also supports with card buffs, some offensive and some defensive. again, to be a good ast, you have to have a rough idea of the fight and know who will benefit from what cards most, and also when to hold cards for an upcoming mechanic.

That's a very basic overview of the three. Take whichever one you think you'd enjoy most

[Valmaxian]

Going Conjurer - WHM is the best idea in my opinion, as the toolkit is simple, elegant, and effective. It is not garbage at all; I find that its actually more effective (particularly the DPS) for casual content up to 60. For me, its frustrating (as an AST main) to not have a level II nuke OR AoE until levels 54/52 (respectively). The cards are fun and flashy, but the RNG can speed things up or slow things down (as drawing/assigning RR/Spread, or target(s) takes time from your already crap DPS). I have not played SCH.

[technole]

Not to mention AST shields strength is a lot more reliable than SCHs and can be casted faster and on the move for less MP.
Looking at the mitigation of AST and SCH through a tunnel, AST towers over SCH.

AH isn't stronger than Deployed Adlo even on base potency, and when you consider a Scholar is usually deploying from Warrior Defiance, DPS Mantra, and, Convo bonuses, those enhancements aside from Mantra, an AST cannot take advantage of for other party members. Nor the critical bonus, which AST has nothing on. That's okay though, that why Astro has Disable/CU to make up in this area.

More importantly a Scholar can use fairy cooldowns while in cleric stance, and that is good argument why they had no issue bumping Astro base shield skills to be slightly stronger. Astro has no way to get passive 20% magic mitigation, nor do they have access to any party-regen every 60s. Which is pretty huge considering in a WHM/AST combo there is more healing that have to be pumped out by the players themselves versus a group with a Scholar where Eos can do a lot of the heavy lifting.

[Exiled_Tonberry]

AH isn't stronger than Deployed Adlo even on base potency

I can't check atm, but I really doubt this is true. Nocturnal sect already has a passive 10% healing buff and the shields are buffed up 150% everytime.
Not saying you're wrong, but I have a hard time believing this.

More importantly a Scholar can use fairy cooldowns while in cleric stance, and that is good argument why they had no issue bumping Astro base shield skills to be slightly stronger. Astro has no way to get passive 20% magic mitigation, nor do they have access to any party-regen every 60s.

Yes, this is why I mentioned looking at their mitigation through a tunnel. SCH brings much more diversity than an AST can in Nocturnal sect which makes them so much more desirable, despite ASTs supercharged shields.

[Blonde_Huntress]

Definitely start with CNJ into WHM. CNJ offers great CC abilities (Protect, CS, Stoneskin) that will be beneficial on all of the Healer classes.

I was rather...foolish, when I first started. My first Healer was SCH, then AST, and WHM last. I regret that, even though I adjusted. WHM definitely teaches you how to "balance" healing with DPS contribution in my opinion. It's also the most forgiving to beginner Healers as well.

Listen to these wise people (and this foolish one typing)--CNJ/WHM first.

Some extra advice:
***Level THM to 26 for Swiftcast because it CAN make the difference between a full wipe and barely clearing a dungeon sometimes. Definitely a must have skill that you can CC with all of the Healer jobs.

[Fernosaur]

I can't check atm, but I really doubt this is true. Nocturnal sect already has a passive 10% healing buff and the shields are buffed up 150% everytime.
Not saying you're wrong, but I have a hard time believing this.



Yes, this is why I mentioned looking at their mitigation through a tunnel. SCH brings much more diversity than an AST can in Nocturnal sect which makes them so much more desirable, despite ASTs supercharged shields.

Deployed Adlo is stronger than Aspected Helios, since Adlo's shield potency is 300 vs Aspected's total shield potency at 247, counting the healing potency buff from Nocturnal Sect. It's just that a Synastry+AH is almost as powerful as Adlo, making the shield potency a flat 297. A regular AH shield is still a lot better than Succor, but Deployed Adlo is still the strongest party-wide shield in the game, even when it doesn't crit. AH is simply more accessible.

Adding: The shield potency of AH is 150% of the amount healed, not 170%, which is the case for Aspected Benefic

More importantly a Scholar can use fairy cooldowns while in cleric stance, and that is good argument why they had no issue bumping Astro base shield skills to be slightly stronger. Astro has no way to get passive 20% magic mitigation, nor do they have access to any party-regen every 60s.

The last part is technically false, since the regen from Collective Unconscious is as powerful as a roused Whispering Dawn, and can be extended through Celestial. This isn't by any means the most effective use to CU, but hey, some circumstances might call from it.

I agree with everything else you said though, there is absolutely no comparison in healing utility when it comes to NoctAST vs SCH. In my raid group, my co healer recently went back to WHM because they were trying to take advantage of our weeklies to get lights for their relic, so I went NoctAST instead of SCH to not miss out on Balance and Arrow and... it's crazy how much less convenient it was to heal through things without Eos. SCH and AST are truly a match made in heaven. :')

[TyrXIII]

amazing info here thanks guys im gonna roll white mage I believe

[amihavingfunyet]

I can't check atm, but I really doubt this is true. Nocturnal sect already has a passive 10% healing buff and the shields are buffed up 150% everytime.
Not saying you're wrong, but I have a hard time believing this.

Just to clarify here, Noct AH is 150 base potency * 1.1 (Noct multiplier) * 1.5 (Noct AH bonus) = 247.5 potency. Whereas Adlo has a base potency of 300.


On topic, just play whichever aesthetic/playstyle you like the most, none of them are really hard to get into and all of them have an easy time at low levels. WHM comes with the benefit of unlocking CS, Protect, Aero (and Stoneskin lol) for cross class. SCH gets you Virus and Eye for an Eye, which are pretty good for WHM, but can't be used on AST. Whatever you choose you definitely should unlock Cleric Stance and Aero from CNJ (up to Lv. 6), can also get Protect since it's only 2 more levels, but it's not really important at low levels.

[Mhaeric]

Since no one posted the numbers yet, here they are for reference:

Aspected Benefic: 250 potency heal + 467.5 potency shield, instant cast
Adolquium: 300 potency heal + 300 potency barrier, cast is slightly shorter than GCD, on crit will have 900 potency barrier, can be deployed to spread shield to nearby party members.

Aspected Helios: 150 potency heal + 247.5 potency shield, cast slightly longer than GCD
Succor: 150 potency heal + 150 potency shield, cast same as GCD

Personal opinion of the comparison: From my own experience, even though the scholar shields are less strong most of the time, the addition of the off-healing from the fairy including the regen, not needing to rely on random cards for additional damage mitigation, and the additional ways that SCH can alter their shield effects, the SCH outshines the AST when comparing shield use.

That said, this is all end-game analysis stuff. Unless you're only doing savage and the latest ex trial content there's not going to be any real meaningful difference between the healers except personal preference. And tbh, even for the end game stuff they're all capable enough to complete the content. This is just min-max stuff to eke out as much function as possible really.