Results 1 to 8 of 8
  1. #1
    Player
    fraeblood's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2013
    Posts
    37
    Character
    Frae Blood
    World
    Excalibur
    Main Class
    Conjurer Lv 50

    Stoneskin Playstyle & Uses

    A question(s) to players who are doing the Coil:
    How often do you use Stoneskin? Where and when do you slip it into your rotation?
    I use it prepull and sometimes during the fight, but the slower cast compared to Cure 1 and 2 make it seem very lack luster. On a tank it can do a bit more then a Cure 2 but again the cast time seems to make it feel more risky since it is not a ton more from what I have seen.
    Perhaps some first hand use and theorycrafting on when and on who you use it during a fight would be nice. I could just be in a Company that has tanks who aren't using their CDs well, or perhaps my fellow healer and miy skills aren't up to par yet, but On say phase two of Turn1 and the last boss of Turn 2 have me spamming tanks and the extra cast time of Stoneskin nearly kills the tank.
    Thanks for any advise on this Ability that so far seems nearly useless to me.
    (0)

  2. #2
    Player
    Tanaya's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Posts
    214
    Character
    Tanaya Makers
    World
    Siren
    Main Class
    Conjurer Lv 80
    Haven't done Coil as a WHM yet, but the use of Stoneskin is fairly worthless during fights, exactly because of the cast time. The time is spent better just spamming cure.

    As a PLD in Coil, I'm going to take a heavy amount of damage regardless of how well I utilize my cooldowns. When Aggro swapping in Turn 2, I'll just cast Stoneskin on myself.
    (1)

  3. #3
    Player
    Fiosha_Maureiba's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Ul'dah -> Gridania
    Posts
    2,044
    Character
    Fiofel Zalalafell
    World
    Balmung
    Main Class
    Lancer Lv 1
    In turn 1, if my tank gets his HP topped off, Swiftcast is up, and no one else needs a Regen (a lot of ifs), I'll Swiftcast Stoneskin the tank.

    I've typically associated Stoneskin with enmity management or maintaining Cleric's Stance.

    In Coil, I haven't had enmity issues and with default healer Accuracy being so low, I tend to stay out of Cleric's Stance now. Otherwise, Stoneskin tends to be pre-cast before combat in Coil situations.
    (1)

  4. #4
    Player
    Urthdigger's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Gridania
    Posts
    2,670
    Character
    Eyriwaen Zirhmusyn
    World
    Hyperion
    Main Class
    Scholar Lv 90
    Stoneskin is largely a pre-fight spell, allowing you a bit more breathing room for the tank to get hate at the start (Or for you to focus on laying down some DoTs instead of healing). That said, there are a few uses in-fight:

    For healing, it's not going to outclass Cure II (Which has the same MP cost) unless you're fairly undergeared AND the tank is very well geared.

    It can also be considered a heal that ignores the maximum HP. After all, there's functionally no real difference between mitigating 300 HP and healing 300 HP (barring enmity). This means it can be used in situations where the tank may want more HP than their max HP, such as for King Tonberry's "Everyone's Grudge" and Titan's "Mountain Buster"

    Finally, if stoneskin is sufficient to reduce damage to 0, you can use it to avoid things such as knockback and poison.
    (1)

  5. #5
    Player o3o's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Posts
    455
    Character
    Holly White
    World
    Balmung
    Main Class
    Black Mage Lv 66
    Im maining my pld for the time being. I just stone skin myself. When you think about it, a self stone skinning tank in titan is a blessing for healers. Especially before mountain breaker.
    (0)

  6. #6
    Player rocheetbombe's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2013
    Posts
    86
    Character
    Astraea Hitaki
    World
    Malboro
    Main Class
    Conjurer Lv 50
    I honestly only use stoneskin in combat during 4-man dungeons. I swiftcast it onto the tank along with regen to give me time to DPS with cleric stance up. I typically don't try it in 8-mans, and in Coil, I save swiftcast for cure III.
    (0)

  7. #7
    Player
    Nullie's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2011
    Posts
    244
    Character
    Ishiene Phye
    World
    Sargatanas
    Main Class
    Conjurer Lv 50
    Prefight is pretty much the only time I use it during coil. Also will cast it when the tank hits hollowed ground or during turn 1 snake boss after one of the snakes die.
    (1)

  8. #8
    Player
    Gotcha's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2013
    Posts
    15
    Character
    Gotcha Covered
    World
    Malboro
    Main Class
    Arcanist Lv 50
    In turn 1 and 2, I have not found a time that makes stone-skin mid-fight worth while. Yes there are times it could be benifital, but those are they times (snake boss split) that I can not waste mp or time not healing up the tank to full health. Although stoneskil might help buffer some damage, I do not see that the mp-cost, cast time, damage reduced is worth not casting the cure (2) i would have in its place.
    (0)