Possible to play both SMN and SCH well on one toon?

[Greyfield]

Hi all,

Relatively new player here. I've been leveling an Archanist and would love to be versatile enough to fulfill both DPS and healing roles as needed (i.e. play both a Summoner and Scholar). I have heard, however, that bonus stats should be allocated differently for the two roles (INT for SMN and MND for SCH), which I worry would make playing both effectively end-game difficult.

Have people explored or found a way to do this well? E.g., does one stat matter less overall, is splitting INT and MND 50/50 viable, is it possible to gear a SCH with only INT and then use cleric stance?

Many thanks in advance!

[Elladie]

When I first started playing Arcanist, I went full INT; my main is BLM so that meant I'd have gear (with soldiery) that worked for both my jobs. I discovered I much preferred SCH to SMN, but I didn't change my stats as I could manage okay with my gimped MND in light party dungeons, even Brayflox speedruns. However we've had a change of roles in my static, and I'm maining SCH for SCOB, so I used the Grand Company item to re-spec into MND. I believe they've dropped the price of this to 250 seals now, so that's a viable option if you want to swap between SMN and SCH regularly.

Putting your stats into half INT and half MND just makes you a second rate DPS annnnd a second rate healer (but that's only my opinion). And you can't use Cleric Stance to heal even if you've gone full INT as it lowers your healing potency by 20% when it's up. If you really want to play both to their full potential - ie Coil potential - then use the GC item to re-spec each time

[NorthernLadMSP]

Before, it was kind of a pain to make that choice, especially as the re-spec item (Keeper of the Hymn) used to be 10,000 seals. I just discovered over the weekend that in one of the last patches they reduced the Keeper of the Hymn item down to only 250 seals.

So, now you really can re-spec as often as you like.

[Greyfield]

So MND it is! And potentially lots of respecs. Thanks all.

[Thistledown]

General consensus is the loss of INT hurts SMN much more than the miss of MND hurts SCH.

While I am a diehard SCH main and specced into MND, I recommend going Int so your ACN days benefit from it too.

[Tohf]

Just do a Fate or two and respec with the seals as needed.

[Asheilin]

I've done a lot of talks on here and a blog, plus research with the help of a few theorycrafters on youtube since then. THE TRUTH is 15/15 is completely viable for top end gaming and is a minor potency increase for the other 15 into the current jobs main stat. going Int til 15 gets you through the ACN run, going MND the last helps SCH.

[Garlyle]

15 points is not actually that huge when you're talking about ~500+ in those stats at current gear caps.

It is a slight handicap, but would only matter if you are absolutely concerned with minmaxing. You can absolutely handle everything in the game, barring possibly the Final Coil of Bahamut, with a 15/15 split.

[Kossuranta]

Most cases even the 30 points doesn't really matter too much, but if you are training for something like Coil then I would go full MND as SCH and respec when needed.

[Atomnium]

Hi, as a main smn since 2.0 and an end game raider, I can tell you to completely ignore most of the above answers if you want to play one of the two jobs in a serious way like scob* and fcob*, there is no compromise nor versatile solution yet, you will need the full 30 points in int>smn or mnd>sch but not both.

When a new sort of end-game raid is released, the dps check or healer check can be so tight, that 30 points re way too important to joke about :/
The only way a points allocations/splits compromise could be ok is for dungeons and open world contents.

It's a know and sad issue that will most likely be solved at 3.0, but before that, if you plan to play either smn or sch, you will have to make a decision about which one do you prefer before making a step into an end-game static.

*second and final coil of bahamut.