Need some advice (New Scholar)

[Arielyanna]

Hello. Recently I've been looking over my job listings, and have been considering working on SCH. But... I've never used it. I focused on SMN instead of SCH and for healing, use my WHM.

What I'm after is some tips/advice/etc on how to play as a SCH effectively in a party (Be it dungeon/raid/etc) so as not to wipe when I first take it out... so to speak.

[Hulan]

You'll get a fair amount of advice in response to this ranging from general to specific, but many of those things are tied to experience; for instance, knowing when to use Ad Loquium and when to use Physic and how to manage your pets. Fundamentally though, the only thing you really have to know to be a good Scholar is to have forethought. More so than any other job, you should know what any fight entails - from a single group of enemies to a mass pull to a raid boss - and have thought about how to prepare and respond to those situations. A lot of the things that Scholars bring to the table are best used before they are needed.

Virus before a big attack, such as Turn 5's Death Sentence.
Sacred Soil in preparation for raid wide damage.
Fey Glow in preparation for a burn phase.

All of these things are abilities unique to Scholar and more importantly, all have one thing in common, they require you to know what is going to happen before it happens.

As for more specific advice:

• Sacred Soil isn't nearly as useful as it looks at first blush; it is extremely useful when the damage exceeds the amount of HP you can heal with Lustrate, and to mitigate raid-wide damage, but often that Aetherflow charge would be better served as a Lustrate.
• Ad Loquium will sap your MP very quickly, but it is an extremely potent cure, try to make sure you are keeping a shield on your tank without overlapping casts (if they already have a shield, don't reapply it).
• Unless you are very comfortable controlling your pets on SMN, I wouldn't recommend micromanaging your fairies until you're comfortable with your job, they do a "good enough" job on their own, once you get comfortable with your role, then start practicing micromanagement.
• Don't be afraid of Shadowflare, that 5% slow (where it works) is 5% less damage over time hitting your tank. Even if you aren't hitting Cleric Stance to get the extra DoT, it's often worth it for the mitigation.
• Lastly, but very importantly, Eye for an Eye is an amazing ability, you should be putting this up any time there are several enemies attacking your tank and someone else hasn't already put it up. Sometimes it's even worth the chance of getting a proc on one enemy.
• The list goes on, but those are my highlights.

This advice comes with the normal caveat that this is what works well for me, but opinions will differ, you will have to take some time to experiment and find what works best for you.

[Pharazon]

heres a link to the videos i have up for scholar. not exhaustive but you might find them useful. as well as the rest of the channel just being healing focused in general.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...uVhGUN9yorax2f

[Thistledown]

-trust your fairy to keep people topped up.

-Succor is a mitigation first, healing second kind of a spell.

[Aegeis]

Personally, for me, I keep Eos and Selene on Auto; haven't ever had a need to manually control them except to place them. MP management is a big thing, but having Aetherflow and Energy Drain helps a lot. Also, a good SCH can output some good DPS as well, depending on the situations. A lot of times if I am in a raid in ST or doing one of the end game duties, I will use Selene and Cleric Stance (In your case, if int was boosted, you won't want to use Cleric Stance)

[Cynfael]

Personally, for me, I keep Eos and Selene on Auto; haven't ever had a need to manually control them except to place them. MP management is a big thing, but having Aetherflow and Energy Drain helps a lot. Also, a good SCH can output some good DPS as well, depending on the situations. A lot of times if I am in a raid in ST or doing one of the end game duties, I will use Selene and Cleric Stance (In your case, if int was boosted, you won't want to use Cleric Stance)

1. Never allow Eos to run on auto-pilot. Selene isn't nearly as bad, but should be micromanaged as well since you can't direct her Embraces manually while she's on Sic.

2. Cleric Stance is always used for damage-dealing. Whether or not you have points in INT is irrelevant.

[Saevel]

Hulan nailed it. Scholar is a proactive healer, significantly more than White Mage. Take what he's said and apply your own style, but don't approach it as if you are playing your WHM.

In a 4-man scenario, you should never want for the fix-it capabilities of a WHM. And in 8-man, getting paired with a WHM is almost easy mode.

[DarkerOrange]

Personally, for me, I keep Eos and Selene on Auto; haven't ever had a need to manually control them except to place them. MP management is a big thing, but having Aetherflow and Energy Drain helps a lot. Also, a good SCH can output some good DPS as well, depending on the situations. A lot of times if I am in a raid in ST or doing one of the end game duties, I will use Selene and Cleric Stance (In your case, if int was boosted, you won't want to use Cleric Stance)

Sorry, but most of this post is so wrong.

1. You should ALWAYS be in cleric stance when you are DPSing. Learn to cleric dance and parties will love you for it.

2. Learn to control your pet. Always keep them on Obey, Sic will just waste cooldowns. Set up a key/button for manual embracing for when you want to heal a specific target. Learn about interrupt macros, they are great for getting your pet to do what you want, when you want. As tempting as it may be, I advise that you do not macro Embrace to Adlo or Physick, it removes so much of our flexibility.

3. Lvl THM to 26 for Swiftcast, it is amazing. Create a macro for Swiftcast and Res.

4. Don't be afraid to use Swiftcast in battle on other skills, my personal favourite is Swiftcasting Shadowflare.

5. You are not a raid/party healer, so don't try to be. Succor is an amazing shield with a heal tacked on, not the other way round.

6. Once you are more comfortable with your MP levels etc, don't be afraid to use Adlo more often. It is more taxing on your MP, but it is such a good skill.

7. Aetherflow stacks should almost always be used on Lustrate once you hit lvl 50 IMO. Sacred Soil is very average and Energy Drain provides lacklustre MP. (Bane when DPSing is also a good use of stacks.)

8. More of a general healing point, and only useful if on PC, but the <mo> target command is so useful for me. It allows me to keep the tank targeted and heal other party members just by hovering my mouse over them in the party bar.

(Disclaimer: The above point is my opinion, YMMV etc etc.)

[Blessedbythesun]

To add why managing Eos is important,

Whispering Dawn should always be used with Rouse and, if possible, also Fey Illumination. Eos will squander Whispering Dawn other wise at the start of any engagement.
Speaking of Fey Illumination, only Eos, another healer, and yourself will benefit from it as it increases cure potency, so don't concern yourself trying to buff the entire party with it.
While important in both manual control and auto, if you do choose to keep Eos in auto, Make use of pet commands Place and Heel. Placing Eos in key points for buffs allows you to stay out of potential danger from enemy AoE and allows you more mobility. Place becomes very important in certain dungeons and raids. Heel Eos when you need to move after the battle or else she will desummon if you leave her too far behind.

I can't offer much advice on Selene, I've only ever used her when I solo and leave her in auto.

[Cynfael]

While important in both manual control and auto, if you do choose to keep Eos in auto...

Broken record here, but no auto-fairies...ever. No one should be choosing to auto their fairy. It's a terrible gameplay choice that only lazy and subpar SCHs make.

To put it more constructively, players who want to up their SCH game must learn how to use their summons properly. And yes, Selene is far less wasteful on auto than Eos, but she's still pretty far from optimal that way.