I don't think I'm cut out to be a healer. x_x

[Lyndina]

Dont give up. Its just a thing which needs experience. Youre a healer, is your group alive? Yes? Good you did your job. With more experience you can guess incoming damage and have a sense how low you can let drop a tank,to make some dps. But,as i said, your job is mainly to heal, only second to make some damage. If at all.

[Firemblem]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DxS7eT_ky4

just gonna drop this off here

THIS is pure gold and should be pinned as a life guide! XD

[NocturniaUzuki]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DxS7eT_ky4

just gonna drop this off here

My god this is funny.

[NewSinz]

On SCH I'm able to DPS but my tank is not a new tank he is advanced and knows how to weave cool downs to give me the opportunity. Pug's are rough when you don't know the tank. They feel the same way about their healers. Communication is Key.

[Maxilor]

But overall, AST is not the best class to DPS with on healer. Its actual DPS potential is low, even if you have time to be DPSing.

Haven't leveled Astro very high but I can already tell that Astrologian is unique in that most of their DPS comes from bettering your teammate's DPS through cards. If I have time I'll DOT a few mobs, but otherwise I find it better to just focus on Healing/Card Management.

Am I right in my thinking?

[OcieKo]

Haven't leveled Astro very high but I can already tell that Astrologian is unique in that most of their DPS comes from bettering your teammate's DPS through cards. If I have time I'll DOT a few mobs, but otherwise I find it better to just focus on Healing/Card Management.

Am I right in my thinking?

Yep even on a dummy feeding itself cards, AST is bottom of the barrel DPS. After Star Bomb and trying to spread Combusts, honestly your average pull might only give you time for 2-3 gravities in lvling content before mobs start dying. Bosses we can buy ourselves quite a bit of time tho.

Basically at the moment I wait for the tank to pull everything they want to pull, but if they start taking a lot of damage fast, I throw Regen AB on them, otherwise I wait until they stop pulling to put Regen on them. I'll start with Benefic 1 to keep them over 80%, but if he takes more damage than I can heal, I'll use Benefic 2 instead. If they take an especially large chunk of damage I'll use Essential Dignity. I throw in Earthly Star to supplement healing as well as do damage and I use any Lady of the Crowns I get as a back up Essential Dignity to use when ED is on cooldown.

For AOE I'll use Helios unless the team is taking consistent damage or they took a big hit and are safe for a while before another hit comes, for those times I use the regen Helio. I use Nocturnal Sect for older dungeons as it seems more effective and usually the shield lasts for a whole pull or a good bit of time on a boss fight.

Get in the habit of watching your average heal numbers and your Benefic 2 crit numbers (for procs). Then you can change to bigger gaps of health, i.e. I Bene 2 crit between 24-30k atm, so if its procced ill let a tank slide down to 20-25k missing before I cast, and hold off the bene 1 for a bit to allow it. When you know its going to crit because of the proc, Bene 2s MP and GCD efficiency skyrockets, also if your using lightspeed a lot, it cuts CD time for that off.

Also learn where your Earthly Star's non-crit is at and try to maintain the tanks health right where ES will cap em out, or they will be down that far when it naturally explodes. If your willing to wait it out its effectively a free Bene 2 with a perk of topping off derpy DPS.

Big habit I'm having trouble with myself is using lightspeed more often, but its quite nice for spam AOE heal phases with its 25% cost reduction and super short half sec Helios, AHelios casts. Not just a spam Bene2 button. Also nice as a booster to Lucid Dreaming/Celestial Opposition Combo, less mp used, more mp regened. Downside tho, might as well not DPS while its up, given that it makes it even worse.

[Underlord]

I've been playing Ast a long time. Few things I do that help, and might help you. In Nocturnal. When running newer dngs, once the tanks pull mobs, I hit them with Aspected benefic (AB) which gives them a shield and cast is quick. I hit as many mobs as possible with combust. Whenever I see AB wear off, I cast again, heal usually once to full. Then malefic mobs. While I keep AB up on tank and heal as needed. Once mine dwindle down some, AB will last longer. Which allows me to cast gravity, or other dps spells. If your casting and AB wears off and tanks start taking good dmg, cast AB as soon as your cast is over. Which gives you enough time to cast heals to bring tank to full mp. As time goes on, ive ran dngs pretty much casting AB exclusively without really having much which in turns allows me to dps more. But in all its whatever your comfortable with.

[Taika]

Haven't leveled Astro very high but I can already tell that Astrologian is unique in that most of their DPS comes from bettering your teammate's DPS through cards. If I have time I'll DOT a few mobs, but otherwise I find it better to just focus on Healing/Card Management.


Am I right in my thinking?

Haven't played SCH and my WHM isn't 70 yet so can't compare numbers, but in expert dungeons my low item level AST has been able to do over 1k average DPS throughout the dungeons in addition to using cards to boost party DPS, so it's definitely worth it.

Get in the habit of watching your average heal numbers and your Benefic 2 crit numbers (for procs). Then you can change to bigger gaps of health, i.e. I Bene 2 crit between 24-30k atm, so if its procced ill let a tank slide down to 20-25k missing before I cast, and hold off the bene 1 for a bit to allow it. When you know its going to crit because of the proc, Bene 2s MP and GCD efficiency skyrockets, also if your using lightspeed a lot, it cuts CD time for that off.

Also learn where your Earthly Star's non-crit is at and try to maintain the tanks health right where ES will cap em out, or they will be down that far when it naturally explodes. If your willing to wait it out its effectively a free Bene 2 with a perk of topping off derpy DPS.

Good advice here!

[OcieKo]

Along the same lines as my previous advice. Take time to focus on acquiring a feel for when a pull will END, seems pointless at first, but hear me out. For regen jobs you want to be able to guess the end about 15-25sec before, and shield jobs about 3-5s before. This helps you prevent having your regens mess up pulls or allows you to hit your tank with a fresh shield before they inevitable dash offto the next pull.

Also you seriously dont need regen up til the last second, honestly if you can finish the current encounter with 2 basic heals, just do it that way, more for content with a pull after tho, kindof moot if its a trial/8 man boss. Goes hand in hand with learning to sorta calculate when fights will end.

On a side note, acquiring said abilities eventually leads to an understanding of group DPS for said content and can eventually help you plan you CD usage for an entire encounter since eventually you just get the hang of how long a fight will last in the first 10% or so.

[Saraphin]

A healer is supposed to DPS when they feel comfortable to do so.

Yes, we have offensive abilities, but the new Dungeons are like watching Tanks and DPS get run over by Ghost Train/Doomtrain. you sit there, watch it, sigh and heal, hoping they take a moment to realize mechanics. There is no actual requirement in Dungeons for a healer to DPS. it's nice to have the added DPS, but it's not needed.

The whole Healer DPS issue is one that you will ease into as you get comfortable with the dungeons. Not something you should be required to do even when the tanks are pulling Big and (possibly) not using Cooldowns. when SB first started, most of my DPS came from Assize and the occasional Holy Bomb because i didn't know the dungeons, i didn't know the tank and everything hurt like getting hit by a truck.

you will find your comfort, that's what you need to strive for at the moment not "OMG! i'm a bad Healer because i don't DPS".

Healers "heal", hence the name. DPS is optional, nice but OPTIONAL.