I just cant grasp Sage

[ijuakos_xqwzts]

Given it a try, im not a healer main, nor do I even have much experience.
This job just feels like total garbage.

WHM I was ok at, Pop Medica 2, DPS, maybe a targeted heal or two, win.

Sage has so much target switching its total chaos and both the barrier's and heals feel like they do barely anything, so far have only been trying to heal the NPC and she always drops dead pretty much the moment i target the enemy to start DPSing.

it feels chaotic, it feels unintuitive, it feels like theres just too much going on for this to be fun. Oh right thats healing in general.

Just what Am i supposed to do to get this job/job role to bloody work?

And my god, all the damn target switching, having to know where my cursor is at all times with everything going on so i can click elsewhere/the NPC meanwhile AOE's everywhere and having to also heal yourself.

I mean damn SE, Were humans, we have limits ands this just feels like there is too much going on at once and no time to react!

I seriously dont get it at all!

I'm just now getting the hang of it. Went though the Seat of Sacrifice earlier today and not only stayed alive, but kept peeps alive (as long as they didn't run into one-shot-kill mechanics). It feels a lot more mobile and a lot more button clicking than other heal roles - I've done White Mage and Astrologian. So, I agree, it definitely could be described as "chaotic". I think it's probably closer to the "expert mode" healer. I'd suggest if you are still having problems with it, try White Mage first - get to the concept of healing - and then ease your way into Sage.

[ijuakos_xqwzts]

If you're really struggling, I recommend to go practice in a lower level dungeon first so it's not as if you get a full list of skills you have to figure out. This helps you consolidate a small section of the sage's toolkit at a time. After familiarizing with what you have learned so far, then you can go read tooltips for other skills, and then practice those skills in a higher level dungeon. That helped me get a good grasp of the Sage's toolkit.

EX: If you pop Kradia on the tank in Satasha and then spam Dosis, you can sustain them very well at Satasha (Lv 15).
Then you go to level 30 dungeons to practice how Eukrasia works and Phlegma for positioning.
Then you go to level 45 to 50 dungeons to practice with your Sage Gauge, Icarus, and Soteria. At this point, you should be working on getting a feel on when to heal, and how much you can use your passive healing from Kardia to sustain them.
Then to level 60 for new abilities - practicing how Zoe will augment your heals, when to best use Pepsis over your other healing tools, and how effective the upgraded Physis II works in tandem to your healing abilities.
Then to level 70 for newer abilities - figuring out when to use Taurochole and Haima, preshielding for Toxikon stacks.
And then you're set to where you need to be. You can continue the same pattern of learning at level 80 and level 90.

Zoe + Eukrasian Diagnosis seems pretty effective (or I've been coincidentally getting really good rolls from RNGesus every time I cast it)
One I've also been playing with is Eukrasian Prognosis -> Pepsis -> Eukrasian Prognosis. Done quick enough, it seems pretty good at getting a group burst heal.

[Sililos]

Hmm some really good info here.

Thanks everyone and thanks for keeping a cool head with your posts when i clearly could not.
Dont feel quite ready to jump into healing or playing the class just yet, but when i do, theres a wealth of knowledge here so ty all again.

[ToodlesElNoodles]

This is kinda how I think of it and it may help: think of the combos you can do with your abilities.

You have damage reduction: Kerachole, Taurochole, Haima, Holos, and Panhaima.

You have healing boosts: Physis 2, Krasis, Soteria, and Kerachole (78).

You have healing bursts: Druochole, Taurochole, Ixochole, Holos, and Pneuma.

SGE has a lot of damage potential that needs to be used compared to other healers, so trying to get as much damage off to also proc as many Kardion heals is important.

So SGE approaches in a similar vein to a tank: reduce the flow of damage down and raise the flow of healing up. Damage will usually outpace your healing flow (Kardia), but you have ways to refill HP bars in bursts (Druochole).

When you have nothing left, then Eukrasia Diagnosis becomes your friend. If damage comes in hard enough, spamming Eukrasia Diagnosis would be your best bet. You can get a large burst by using Zoe+Eukrasia Dosis and Eukrasia Dosis immediately followed by Pepsis.

But as you spam Eukrasia Diagnosis, keep an eye out on your Addersgall for getting that Druochole in to give you a breather.

So, maybe setting up your bar for mitigations, regens/boosts, and bursts might help make the gameplay a little more intuitive.

And, I wouldn’t worry about Kardia swapping just yet. Kardia introduces triaging as you can assign your new “patient” as you excise the cancers plaguing the party. Once you’re familiar with your kit and the transition from damage/tools to E.Diag spam and back, then I’d start adding in some Kardia swapping.

Good luck young doctor!

(Also gear helps a lot. There’s also a lot of nuance with abilities due to their double nature, but I’d worry about that later.)

[Saefinn]

I've written this up because a newbie friend is also coming from only having tried WHM and is trying to get her head around SGE. Please Note: This is based on 2 days of play an no attempt of optimising, so I am sure there are ways this can be improved. This is written from the perspective of starting at 70, so it ignores everything 71-90.

What is Eukrasia?
Eukrasia will enhance an ability (with 3 to choose from). To use it, use "Eukrasia" and then one of the following abilities:
- Dosis -> This will turn it from a spell that does damage up front, it will turn it into a damage over time spell. Like Dia/Aero on White Mage. You will want to keep this on your enemy at all times. (Eukrasian Dosis)
- Diagnosis -> This will turn it from a healing spell into a shield spell. I will cover shielding vs healing separately (Eukrasian Diagnosis)
- Prognosis -> This will turn it from a healing spell into a shield spell. (Eukrasian Prognosis)

Use these as DPS abilities:
Dosis -> When you have no other DPS buttons to push and are fighting 1 enemy, spam this
Dyscrasia -> Whene you have nother DPS buttons to push and are fighting more than 1 enemy, spam this
Phlegma -> A nice AoE damage spell, you need to be close to use it and target an enemy. Use this for single target too. Use it whenever you have it.
Toxicon -> Use this whenever you have it.
Eukrasian Dosis -> Whenever you don't have Eukrasian Dosis applied to an enemy


How do I get Toxicon?
Apply a Eukrasian Diagnosis on somebody who is going to take damage. When that shield breaks you get an "Addersting" (the purple diamonds on your job gauge), you can collect up to 3 and you can spend these on Toxicon.

Base healing spells:

- Diagnosis is your base single target healing spell. Use it like you'd use Cure II on White Mage. It can be spammed.
- Prognosis is your base multiple target healing spell. Use it like you'd use Medica on White Mage. It can be spammed.
But if Diagnosis and Prognosis not healing enough?
Use "Zoe" first, it will boost your healing potency.
- Physis - this is your multiple target regen healing spell. Use it like Medica II on White Mage, BUT unlike Medica II it has a recast, so you cannot use it all of the time like you can on White Mage.

Bonus healing spells:
These all use your Addersgall (the blue thing on your job gauge, you get a total of 3 and they gradually build up). You can think of them as your "oh shit" moment spells. Though they have a wider use than that when it comes to optimising your healing, but to start with, it's best to treat them as life savers when in a tight spot. Then when you've got the hang of everything you can think of how you can use them to optimise your healing, worry about that later.

Druochole -> Single target instant heal. Or "oh shit that one person needs healing right now"
Ixochole -> Multiple targe instant heal. Or "oh shit we all need healing right now"
Kerachole -> Reduces damage taken for all your buddies. Or "oh shit we're all about to take damage".
Taurochole -> Stronger single target instant heal that reduces incoming damage. Or "oh shit, they need healing right now and will take more damage". This has a recast, so it cannot be used as frequently, hence you'd not always use it instead of Druochole.

These are also your oGCD/off global cooldown skills. Although they're referred to as "oh shit" moments above, I think they have that use whilst learning as they can be a life saver, but they become very important in your main healing toolkit rather than for "oh shit" moments (but even then, if you got an oh shit moment you didn't plan for and an oGCD, spend it).

A bonus heal that doesn't use Addersgall:
Haima -> This is a shield heal that applies a shield & healing every time the shield breaks for up to 5 times. You might use this when a tank does a big pull because they'll keep taking hits and Haima will heal & shield them for 5 of those hits.

What's a Kardia?

It's basically a healer version of DNC's Dance partner. The person you give it to gets free heals from certain things you do (like DPS).
You can increase the amount of healing this does with "Soteria".
One way I use this is I give it to the tank and use "Soteria" if they're taking continuous damage, like on a big dungeon pull.


WTF Is shield healing?

It's there to prevent incoming damage. If coming from White Mage you have very little in the way of shields for a point of reference, you only have had Divine Benison for this. But WHM is considered a "pure healer" so they react to damage as it comes in, if somebody is hurt then you heal them, WHM might use some spells pre-emptively too. But shielding is there to mitigate incoming damage. This means a shield healer will heal for less compared to a pure healer, but they rely on shields as part of their healing style to compensate. So as part of it you predict incoming damage and prepare for it by supplying a shield.

For this you have at 70:
Eukrasian Diagnosis
Eukrasian Prognosis
Haima

In addition to shield healing, you have spells that will reduce incoming damage (which helps further), which at 70 are:

Taurochole
Kerachole

But you don't just have to be pre-emptive with your shields. Because, let's say your party takes damage, you can shield them whilst you're getting their HP up. Your heals are weaker, so it may take a little more to get their health to full, however, that shield is protecting them whilst you're doing it. And SGE gets an additional benefit here, if nobody takes damage? You can detonate those shields for extra healing and this is what "Pepsis" does.

[ForteNightshade]

TY I will later once I have calmed down. 25 times seeing the NPC in the first story dungeon lose 95% HP in one blow while shielded, then lose the rest after an instant heal but before you get a chance to pop any others, gets a bit.... well Its pushed my desire to play at all too an all time low lol.

So i think some calming down is in order for now.

While this video is for Shadowbringers and Scholar, it's still very relevant information for how to approach healing. And with Sage sharing a lot of similarities to Scholar, it may help at least give you a better understanding on how to approach barrier healing. It may even be beneficial for you to play a little of Scholar as it's generally easier to grasp compared to Sage.

Beyond that, try not to beat yourself up too much. I've been leveling Reaper and even as an experienced Melee and Tank player, it still takes a bit to sort of get comfortable with how the job flows and what I'm supposed to align with my buffs.

[tangentcat]

Druochole -> Single target instant heal. Or "oh shit that one person needs healing right now"
Ixochole -> Multiple targe instant heal. Or "oh shit we all need healing right now"
Kerachole -> Reduces damage taken for all your buddies. Or "oh shit we're all about to take damage".
Taurochole -> Stronger single target instant heal that reduces incoming damage. Or "oh shit, they need healing right now and will take more damage". This has a recast, so it cannot be used as frequently, hence you'd not always use it instead of Druochole.

This is a helpful newbie guide except I would suggest a different view on these abilities. These are all oCDG, so as long as you manage your gauge right they are less "oh shit" and more your bread and butter heals. The GCD heals like diagnosis and prognosis are more the "need to heal and don't have gauge left". It's very similar to scholar.

Not surprisingly, if people are familiar with scholar I think they'll find SGE pretty easy to pickup. Really the main difference is you can swap you abilities from pure heal to shield heal with eukrasia.

[Ultaniku]

Everything feels chaotic at first including dps jobs and tanks. Being new to healing means there is a lot to adjust to. Just give yourself time. No one has been able to play Sage for more than a day yet. There is plenty of time to settle in. Try lower level dungeons where your kit is smaller and work your way up. You'll get the hang of it soon enough.

This basically encompasses anything any of the rest of us could tell you.

[HyoMinPark]

Given it a try, im not a healer main, nor do I even have much experience.
This job just feels like total garbage.

WHM I was ok at, Pop Medica 2, DPS, maybe a targeted heal or two, win.

Sage has so much target switching its total chaos and both the barrier's and heals feel like they do barely anything, so far have only been trying to heal the NPC and she always drops dead pretty much the moment i target the enemy to start DPSing.

it feels chaotic, it feels unintuitive, it feels like theres just too much going on for this to be fun. Oh right thats healing in general.

Just what Am i supposed to do to get this job/job role to bloody work?

And my god, all the damn target switching, having to know where my cursor is at all times with everything going on so i can click elsewhere/the NPC meanwhile AOE's everywhere and having to also heal yourself.

I mean damn SE, Were humans, we have limits ands this just feels like there is too much going on at once and no time to react!

I seriously dont get it at all!

I’m not sure why you’re target switching all the time… are you referring to moving Kardia around or just your oGCD heals? Or even regular heals, I guess. Need some clarification and perhaps I can provide some advice. That said, targeting NPCs has always been annoying. The game prefers to target enemies in combat, and you can’t shuffle between it and an NPC the same way you can party members since you aren’t technically in a party with an NPC. Switching to people in a party is no different than the other healers. Healing yourself doesn’t require a target. If you keep a mob targeted and then cast a heal, it will default to you.

All that said, SGE is also not meant to be a raw, burst healer like WHM. It’s a barrier healer, and it’s kit is designed more for the “slowing down” of HP loss versus “tank is at 10% burst heal him to full” gameplay that WHM has. It was marketed by Yoshida as a more “advanced” healer compared to, say, WHM; so it’s ultimately about practicing it. I would suggest not doing 70 content with it. Start at the lower levels and get used to the kit. Really learn what each button does. And then move up from there. It is definitely not a job someone with little to no experience healing is meant to grasp 100% immediately.

I’m more than willing to offer advice. I’ve played healers in this game almost since I started—AST was the third job I leveled. I’ve healed higher end content, so I know how each function. When I’m on lunch, I’ll read the rest of the thread and see if I can pick out some helpful tips for you.

[Saefinn]

This is a helpful newbie guide except I would suggest a different view on these abilities. These are all oCDG, so as long as you manage your gauge right they are less "oh shit" and more your bread and butter heals. The GCD heals like diagnosis and prognosis are more the "need to heal and don't have gauge left". It's very similar to scholar.

Not surprisingly, if people are familiar with scholar I think they'll find SGE pretty easy to pickup. Really the main difference is you can swap you abilities from pure heal to shield heal with eukrasia.

Thanks and fairdoes, I put in "Then when you've got the hang of everything you can think of how you can use them to optimise your healing, worry about that later" but I realise that's pretty vague. I think for inexperienced healers they are good as 'oh shit' buttons as they'll be less prepared than experiences healers, but probably should be in there at least for awareness/something to work toward with practice/experience.

And yeah, as a former SCH main, I was able to pick it up almost instantly. Yet it doesn't feel quite like a carbon copy because it feels different to play, yet it feels like the kind of thing SCH should have evolved into.