Switching from SCH over to WHM for SCoB... Need some tips

[DarkLordCthulhu]

I could possibly be switching healers jobs soon. I need some tips so that the transition goes as smooth as possible. I have SCoB turns down as SCH but havent done anything above Ramuh Ex or T5 on my WHM. Specific tips on healing t6-9 as WHM would be helpful?

For example I know for t6 spit i precast succor and pair with sacred soil/fey covenant/virus for mitigation. How would a WHM approach this situation? simply precasting Med II to hit right after spit???? or would a cure 3 be better???.... specific examples like this would be helpful.

Thanks

[zandervont]

I like to use Divine Seal + Medica2 on spits, except when adds are popping, then I stick with Medica. Otherwise its nothing special, keeping regen on tank etc and watching threat, using Shroud whenever its useful (max mp -1k, then pretty much on cooldown).
T7 I tend to keep on the raidhealing, mostly using Cure 1 for the firespitted people while fairy does the rest.
T8 Div Seal + Medica2 on tower explosions, Cure1/Cure2 on Dreadnaughts if you are running solotank. Guess you know about Skinning the allaganfielded one.
T9 is a bit harder to give tips, but lets try..
1st phase, try to keep on Cure1, to save some mp. Skinning comes naturally over time, once you know the timings for Beak. just remember that Skin is such a looooooong cast.
I tend to Medica2 on the first meteor streams and pop Shroud afterwards, and then using it pretty much on cooldown. then Div seal + Medica2 + Medica on second streams. For both streams I want the middle clear of others. We get to golemphase in 4 meteor drops, so I pop Cure3 on the last Thermionic Beam just in case the Regen would be tickin when golems pop.
ph2 it matters how you do it. I'm takin the Red golem and knocking it back to the wall with Fluid Aura, then just keeping it on me until Green is down. I use this phase mostly for regaining mp. Once 3rd golem is down, Div seal + medica2 before meteors start dropping, then I take the new Red one and repeat. Skin everyone at around when one golem is down for Flare.
3rd phase you can time Medica just so that it goes off before Heavensfall dmg kicks in. Again we go with one tank so the add here leaves the tank quite vulnerable.
ph4 its quite important to have Skin up on pokes. You'll be fine with starting to cast it when Favor is going off, or when Thermionic Beam -> Cure3 -> Skin right after. Medica2 -> Medica (-> Medica) for dive + streams...
Guess having Medica2 ticking during the offtimes is good capping people from the Fires/ Ices.

I guess thats a bit of em.

[Cherub]

While I can't give any specific advise, remember that medica II (and whispering dawn from the SCH) give group regen. I see a lot of WHM's using medica II followed by a medica when there is actually enough time to let the medica II regen completely heal the whole group. Keep in mind that Whispering dawn is also a heavy group regen (assuming it's combined with rouse). Also medica II isn't always the only choice, medica I sometimes is more than enough. As WHM you'll have to learn to when NOT to heal. Preserving MP is harder than on SCH. Minimize overhealing, know when you can let your group regen tick and when not. Especially in SCoB there are alot of situations where you can let the regen just tick.
(Also remember that you now have to buff the whole party with protect and Stoneskin :P Congratulations for this tedious part of the job)

[PetiteMalFleur]

T6- for spit I use medica then single target heal whoever isn't topped off. Medica 2 works as well if you let your HoTs tick, but it uses more mana. If you're scholar is using Eos effectively you may not need to aoe heal at all and just let the fairy HoTs tick.I find people too spread for cure 3 and the damage not intense enough to justify it.

Keep regen up on the MT at all times. Keep regen on the person with honey glaze and you won't have to heal them again. Save shroud for after slug spawn or hold aoe heals until after the MT picks up the slugs.

T7- I have my assigned dps and keep regen on him at all times. No need to cure him otherwise except when 4 adds are up and he can get arrows before regen tops him off. We have a priority system for tank heals but share the responsibility.

T8- Our scholar uses Eos here. I let Eos handle all aoe healing except around phase change when whispering dawn tends to be down. I keep regen on the person handling the homing missile and brainjack. There tends to be a homing right after west tower goes off so I stoneskin the person handling tether prior. I also stoneskin the melee taking care of landmines as the east tower is pushed.

Not going to go over T9 strat as the above poster covered it pretty well, but you should have the basics down by this time.

For pre raid buffs use divine seal. =)

[YuriRamona]

While I can't give any specific advise, remember that medica II (and whispering dawn from the SCH) give group regen. I see a lot of WHM's using medica II followed by a medica when there is actually enough time to let the medica II regen completely heal the whole group. Keep in mind that Whispering dawn is also a heavy group regen (assuming it's combined with rouse). Also medica II isn't always the only choice, medica I sometimes is more than enough. As WHM you'll have to learn to when NOT to heal. Preserving MP is harder than on SCH. Minimize overhealing, know when you can let your group regen tick and when not. Especially in SCoB there are alot of situations where you can let the regen just tick.

This is the most important advice - running out of MP is not a concern for SCH, even if you're burning through it with DPS spells. WHM, on the other hand, don't have the benefit of the same MP pool.

It should also be noted, as others have said, that timing cures is very important. In second coil, WHM can't really afford to wait until damage lands to begin to cast a heal (whereas SCH has the Lustrate EZ-mode reaction heal button).

Waiting until Spit lands before casting aoe heal? Tank gets Bloody Caress and dies before your following Cure II lands.

Other similar instances where the WHM is primarily responsible for landing heals immediately following damage:

• Swarm explosion
• Superslug hits
• Rotten stench damage
• After Deathdancer, Prosector cleaves.
• Dreadnought roto-swipes and auto-attacks
• Mines
• Allagan field explosion
• Defensive reaction explosion
• Avatar conal
• 1st of 2 Meteor streams
• Raven dive, Dalamut dive
• Ravensbeak
• Raven's Ascent

Notice a pattern? The WHM is responsible for bringing the party up to survivable HP after almost every instance of large damage. When milliseconds count, your big heal is only 2 seconds away. You can't afford to be reactive.

Other general observations:
SCH Cleric stance - Many parties also delegate their WHM to the filler-healing of Cure I spam while the SCH is in Cleric Stance. This adds a further level of complication, since Cure I spam is often insufficient in keeping the tank and party topped off. There are very few instances where a SCH isn't typically in Cleric Stance (during super add phases, which usually last less than 30 seconds, and during Bahamut's Claw).

Regen global cooldown - Your most useful ability, Regen, is also a death sentence if you use it at the wrong time or just get plain unlucky. SCH can sit pretty getting locked out by Bio and Aero, because they can always fall back on Lustrate as their instant heal. WHM doesn't have that luxury. The less Regens you cast, the more likely you'll run out of MP. The more Regens you cast, the more open you are to bad moments and bad luck.

Stoneskin - The instances where you have to cast this are almost always instances where you want the target to also be topped off. SCH have the luxury of a built-in heal to their proactive shielding (Adlo's 300 potency heal), Embrace (which is usually macroed together with Adlo for a total of 600 heal with every Adlo shield), and Lustrates for good measure (if you're really that lazy of a SCH). In contrast, the only heal that will tick during a Stoneskin cast for WHM is Regen, which has its limitations as noted above. So, this a 3-second cast during which all you can do is pray, or, probably, be cursing yourself because you couldn't keep the target topped off before starting Stoneskin. If you're ever in the situation where you trade off topping off the target and not casting Stoneskin, you're gonna have a bad time (Ravensbeak says hello).