Astrologian guide...?

[UlricCraft]

Is this what you were after, op?
I can add more detail if you want, but this is all you get for 20min lunch break.

You'll pick most of this up as you play with Astrologian at level 50-60.
Not all of the information here is 100% complete and there are COUNTLESS scenarios in which each card can be used differently.

General Tips:

• Try to use cards as often as possible.
• Holding onto a card isn't awful, if you have to wait <30seconds to get a decent effect, that's fine.
• Try to Spread a card before you Royal Road a card.
• Consider the range of the aoe effect on Expanded cards. It's fairly small.

Balance - 10% More Damage

Who to use it on?

• Black Mage - Use it whenever.
• Summoner - Try to apply this at the very beginning of their rotation just before they apply DoTs. Towards the end of the buff the SMN can reapply the DoTs and gain exceptionally high numbers.
• Dragoon - Use it whenever.
• Machinist - Use it on their opener or when Wildfire is back up again only. They do probably the single strongest opener in the game, 10% more on that is glorious.

Everyone benefits from The Balance since it changes nothing to their rotations nor their resource management. Use this at the beginning of phases avoiding jumps or invulnerable enemies.

Arrow - 10% Haste (Auto attacks & GCD)

Who to use it on?

• Monk - Probably benefits the most from it. Monk's are all about punching fast and kicking even faster.
• Ninja - See Monk.
• Dragoon - See Monk.

Who to NOT use it on?

• Black Mage - Breaks their rotation and mana regen ticks.
• Summoner - Drains them of MP rapidly.
• Bard - Doesn't benefit from Auto Attacks.
• Machinist - See Bard.

Nearly everyone benefits from The Arrow, though certain classes less so.
BRD & MCH don't mind having it, but they don't get the full use from it like someone who can auto attack at the same time.
Summoners run dry on MP in raids, don't hurt them.
Scrub BLMs can mess their rotations up.

Spear - 20% Cooldown Reduction on ogcd abilities

Who to use it on?

• Bard - They get a lot of their DPS from ogcd cooldowns. (Hawks Eye, B4B, Raging Strikes) Use this at the start of their pulls for maximum effect, though it doesn't matter as long as they can press a couple buttons during this cards' effect.
• Machinist - See Bard.
• Healers - Use it on yourself before Luminous Aether.
• Tanks - Use it on tanks before a tank buster you know they're preparing cooldowns for.
• Everyone Else - Nobody cares, it's just eh.

The Spear is best used at the start of pulls or as Royal Road bait during raids. It can often be wasted since you can't see when your teams' cooldowns are ready.

Bole - 10% Incoming Damage Reduction.

Who to use it on?

• Tanks! - Just use it whenever, it's lovely.

The Bole is often used as Royal Road bait since healers tend to be quite confident in their abilities to protect the party. If you Royal Road The Bole, it means the effectiveness of Time Dilation & Celestial Oppression on the next card are doubled also.

Ewer - Refreshes MP.

Who to use it on?

• White Mage & Astrologian - More MP? Oh God yes.
• Summoner - More MP? More dps.
• Scholar - See summoner.

Who NOT to use it on?

• Black Mage - Messes up their rotations.
• Dark Knight - Doesn't work in certain conditions.

It's a funny card... Only MNK, NIN & DRG truly can't use this card.
DRK, BRD, MCH and other tanks can use it, it's just not as useful as it is on a SMN or healer.
Be careful because certain skills stop Ewer from benefiting the party member.

Spire - TP Regen.

Who to use it on?

• Monk - Give them an Arrow it drains their TP, give them a Spire to compensate.
• Tanks - PLD and DRK like this more, but WAR is just as grateful. They don't have as good a regen as DPS do sadly.
• Machinists - They eat TP like a fat kid in a sweetshop.

Bards, Dragoons and Ninjas all enjoy this card, but it isn't super duper important for them. Watch the TP bars and decide from there. Remember a lot of people have self regenerating powers.



Noct vs Diurnal

Diurnal is stronger.
Aspected Helios + Aspecte Benefic + Collective Unconcious + Card + Time Dilation + Celestial Oppression.

[Lyrica_Ashtine]

I'm on mobile, so I'll keep it short about the list of ulriccraft

10% balance isn't 10% in practice, especially on melees.
Expanded effect has 15y range from target
A well timed Spear on summoners (and scholars) help in both dps and resources

[UlricCraft]

I'm on mobile, so I'll keep it short about the list of ulriccraft
A well timed Spear on summoners (and scholars) help in both dps and resources

You know, I don't know why I hadn't considered this before. Good point.
(Our SMN/SCH constantly cry for Mage's Ballard in A2S, this could help)

[Seraphyel]

UlricCraft, thank you very much, excellent post!

[Kietsu]

A few points on Spear:
If you drop it on a Summoner when they've got Aetherflow coming up in the next 20 seconds, it's super goddamned amazing. Same goes for Scholar, although their Aetherflow isn't quite as important.
The safest bet for using Spear mid-combat is actually Ninja. Spear lasts 20 seconds, the cooldown on Ninjitsu is 20 seconds. Chances are they'll benefit from it. If extended, they can actually benefit from it more than once. Machinist and Bard are like this to as well - Quick Reload will -always- come up during the duration of Spear, and both ranged physical classes have a lot of off-GCD usage.

[pushin_tin]

What twilight zone have we entered where SMNs have MP issues? Keep the Ewer for yourself, tyvm.

[Sunako]

10% balance isn't 10% in practice, especially on melees.

Ya or summoners, because summoner get the buff but their pet run without buff.

[Houston009]

Bards, Dragoons and Ninjas all enjoy this card, but it isn't super duper important for them.

Just one thing, Ninjas runs out of TP faster than any of the melee dps, so I'd probably set them as a high priority for Spire cards.

[Sida]

I know this is silly but, to that comprehensive list of cards, can you include names "ice" and "airblow" to the respective cards. I never remember their actual names which makes reading these instructions and actually being able to put them into practise a bit challenging. Guess I tend to think visually. The other four I have been able to figure out (tbough they might benefit from graphic name as well) but the two blue ones are a problem.

[Zaj_Quilos]

I know this is silly but, to that comprehensive list of cards, can you include names "ice" and "airblow" to the respective cards.

Huh What??????