Considered BiS for WHM?

[Wesley]

I personally prefer Crit > Det > SS. Crit may not effect stoneskin, but it does effect regen, which is extremely useful. In my opinion, crit builds are the most noticeable ones. Mainly because both spell speed and det's returns are near worthless in my opinion. Having an extra 13% or more crit is a very big deal when you are spamming cure1, or regen/medica2 is ticking on possibly multiple people at once.

No encounter really requires insane constant HPS for a long enough period where DET can really shine. However, tons of encounters have big spikes of damage where crits come in handy.
Spell speeds bonus's are so small, and they will most likely get completely nullified when server/computer lag is taken into account. Also, a huge part of WHM healing is precasting cures, which when done, will cause spell speed to be 100% useless.

How is your equipment setup? This post alone have convinced me to regear my white mage. Thank you in advance.

[Kako0404]

Conclusions:

The difference in healing is negligible, as a WHM there is no issue with the healing output of our spells. As encounters in end game content seems to trend towards spike damage, getting a tank out of the danger zone is more important than getting an extra 25 HPs restored per cure. The big help here is remembering to use presence of mind as that's when you'll see the biggest difference between the two specs (.118 seconds). Both determination and spell speed take a huge amount to see any change at all, so it really is personally preference as far as which is better. having spell speed (primal accessories)

^ This, which is why I prefer speed over output all the way. Tanks rarely get smacked in combination blows so as long as you can cast fast enough to save the tank from dying you will have time to top them off.

[Judge_Xero]

^ This, which is why I prefer speed over output all the way. Tanks rarely get smacked in combination blows so as long as you can cast fast enough to save the tank from dying you will have time to top them off.

That is what I was thinking. It's also strange that WHM gear allows you to stack a ton of SS (230) vs 80-90 DET. I didnt compare doing a combination of crit and Det vs SS but it doesnt look like as much as SCH has available to gear for.

[Greven]

Interesting thread as I was thinking about my BiS too.
I like my playstyle to be a bit "personal" and I find out something I'd like to add to the conversation: Crafted Accessiories, HQ obviously

Even if the Item Level is 70 you can get a nice base value for most important desirable stat for DoM, few points lower than the counterpart but, keeping in mind the item stat caps, you can get a lot more points adding Materia.

Example:

Astral Choker HQ ILv 70 Vs Ultima Choker ILv 80

Defence 1-1 = 1-1
MND +9 < +11
SpS +9 < +14
Det 0 < +7
INT +9 > 0
Acc +12 > 0
I used Ultima Choker because it looked like the best necklace for my MND>SpS/Det>VIT/PIE build and then.. it's cool!

At a first sight it seems the Ultima is more efficient for a WHM but, keeping in mind the caps of crafted items you can find here, you can add up to five Materia and what is loosing 2 points of Mind, 1 of Determination (+6 Det from Materia) if you can get like +8 VIT, +6 PIE and two other juicy ones?

I didn't test myself all the numbers wrote in the link so I can't say they are 100% right and I'm not saying it's the best solution ever--and it's not cheap at all!- but I think it can be a nice add to a well Considered BiS. Tell what you think

[Fiosha_Maureiba]

I'm a fan of higher Piety pieces for MP regeneration through one Shroud of Saints to the next. Helps minimize any callouts for Mage's Ballad after incidents of death, topping off and stoneskinning while playing HP catchup with everyone to survive the next unavoidable AoE.

I just wish the Omnirod didn't look so dastardly.

[Nailkita]

I'm trying to sort out my best in slot, I've picked up a lot of spell speed through cleric items since I had the myth to spend while waiting for my FC to be coil ready so I'm trying to work around that to pick other pieces. But here's a great site for all classes that lets you compare stats, it includes options for crafted gear and materia as well. http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/LHSA

[Viviza]

I think WHM BiS is more a matter of opinion because of how our healing works. There are certain times that crit is useless, certain times that ss is useless, and while det is always useful it's very weak per point.

Once you get to an ilvl 90 item the differences are small and situational. Though I've noticed that the allagan accessories have lower PIE for some reason, so that may be something to consider.

[Lorglath]

I think WHM BiS is more a matter of opinion because of how our healing works. There are certain times that crit is useless, certain times that ss is useless, and while det is always useful it's very weak per point.

So much this.... I think what bugs me the most whenever this topic comes up is that people are so quick to jump on the DET is best when asked by new players. That's why when I started to hit end game i was planning on that until I looked at it closer. I really like ss but I'm not going to tell someone who asks me that it's best without telling them that any of the secondary are just as viable.

[Velox]

From a strictly objective viewpoint based on how SE designed the jobs, I have a feeling Spell Speed will be buffed in the near future. If we look at all the secondary stats, they can all benefit both healing jobs in one way or the other. In the end I think stats should enhance the job's specific role.

For example, Crit is the best choice for SCH because of how it affects their mitigation capability. Scholars are proactive healers. Thus, Crit helps them be better proactive healers. It seems SE got this right.
Now on the other hand, WHM are reactive healers. They don't prevent big damage, but they sure can fix it when it does happen. What better stat to complement quick reaction healing than Spell Speed? It seems to be the most logical choice to fit the job's role. The problem is that a SCH makes better use of Crit than WHM makes use of SS (or anything else for that matter).

THIS is why I foresee a buff to SS in the future. It's the only way balance the equation and give each job a secondary stat the befits their roles.
Both jobs get equal use out of Det
Both jobs get equal use out of Pie
SCH gets a decent benefit from stacking Crit
So to be fair, WHM should get a decent benefit from stacking Spell Speed.

[Nettle]

The problem with spell speed is that for it to equal the amount of healing you gain from det, you have to be streaming casts 100% of the time like a Black Mage. Healers don't do that because it's incredibly wasteful.

This is a common fallacy in the argument against spell speed. It isn't about HPS or healing throughput. It's about getting off that single vital heal after you tank has taken huge spike damage from an ability, quick enough to keep the next auto attack or ability from killing them.... 3+ stack ADS, double dreadnaught phase, death sentence in turn 5, etc.

A full Det build is about 70 more det than a SS build. It's approx 5 det to 1 mind, and 1 mind is approximately 1.5-2hp per cure 1. So a det build is roughly 35hp more per Cure 1. It's not significant because with or without that 35hp you are almost always casting the exact same number of cures to top your tank off. Aside from that, any overhealing negates benefits from it. If this doesn't make sense, I'd be more than happy to expand on it with some maths.

Crit is not great because it is not consistently reliable and we get no bonus like a Scholar does with adlo. Healing is generally getting heals out quickly after hard bursts, and you shouldn't rely on RNG to be able to do that. Crit also leads to unexpected overhealing.