Stoneskin not useful?

[SuzakuCMX]

It's sort of useful. You can stack it with SCH/AST shield and mitigate 4k+ damage from a tank buster so you don't have to panic and heal back that amount. But it's super mana-intensive to use it frequently so I generally don't use it.

It's weak enough that you could never cross-class it on SCH/AST and would never notice a difference.

As the person above me said, it's probably better to make the PLD cast it since they don't really need the MP anyways.

[Mutemutt]

I'll be honest, I barely used it before the nerf. I still think it has the same amount of use it always has though: just extra padding to sponge big hits when the tank's full hp ( or mostly full) just doesn't cut it. And I suppose before speedrun pulls, though I don't run dungeons all that often anymore.

Or the best way to burn downtime in pvp.

[AnaviAnael]

Thanks for the replies!

[Gist]

Is it worth it to Protect > Stoneskin II at the start of an instance? Or can I use that space on my hotbar for other things?

[Iagainsti]

Hot tip for pvp, put SS up before protect.

[Risvertasashi]

Is it worth it to Protect > Stoneskin II at the start of an instance? Or can I use that space on my hotbar for other things?

Out of habit, I tend to swiftcast + SS2 at the start of instances. Even a weak shield is better than none, though I'm not sure I would bother if I didn't already have the habit.

However... The downside is this may encourage DPS to think they can get away with eating an AoE, when really the shield just doesn't do much anymore.

Hot tip for pvp, put SS up before protect.

For those unaware, protect does not increase pdef/mdef in pvp.

[Akyio]

its just a waste of time in dungeons, really irrelevant as dungeons are easy already as they are.
for the rest, before a pull - its nice to have a stoneskin up, but it wont save you.
and casting stoneskin during battle is just ridiculous and a waste of mana/time, especially if you are SCH or AST in nocturnal. Well, unless some huge hit is about to come and you are stoneskinning somebody with a weakness from ress, etc.
also PLD using stoneskin is pretty useful sometimes, but for healers its just.. blah.

[Bhuni]

For those unaware, protect does not increase pdef/mdef in pvp.

Healers don't apply Protect in PVP for the PDEF/MDEF.
It's used as a filler to stop folk from removing your more important buffs like Aetherflow for example by One Ilm Punch, Glory Slash and Wither.

[Iagainsti]

Healers don't apply Protect in PVP for the PDEF/MDEF.
It's used as a filler to stop folk from removing your more important buffs like Aetherflow for example by One Ilm Punch, Glory Slash and Wither.

Thank you for elaborating. I guess some still don't know about this.

[Iagainsti]

For those unaware, protect does not increase pdef/mdef in pvp.

That's not the point of applying it.