As White As Snow - A WHM Guide

[HyperiusUltima]

As White As Snow

Welcome to my guide on White Mages, their skills, and how to use them effectively! If you're new to healing, I would recommend you check the section below so you have a grasp of the position you're in if you're coming from a DPS or Tank position. Other than that, enjoy the read and give constructive criticism!

Versions

-v1.0: Guide Created.
-v1.1: Guide Completed(for the most part).
-v1.11: Touched up on a few parts regarding Cleric Stance.

So, what does it mean to be a Healer...?
If you're coming from a DPS or a Tank position, you're in the right place. What it means to be a Healer is keeping your party alive and healthy while clearing the dungeon. Most swaps to other roles are foreign from the main role you decided to start out as(be it a DPS or a Tank Class), and require a bit of adjustment. Switching to the Healer Role is a bit different as you're less active than you usually are in the Tank or DPS role(unless you're DPSing in Cleric Stance).

The difference is healers should be more focused on healing than DPSing until you're more comfortable with the role itself.

Conjurer Abilities and Skills

This section will give you the rundown on usage of CNJ's healing and damage capabilities. Later on, you'll gain certain traits that enhance certain skills and capabilities.

Stone: Deals earth damage with a potency of 140. Inflicts Heavy +40% for 20s.
-The Conjurer Class's damage skill. It is useful in PvP for its Heavy.

Cure: Restores a target's HP. Potency: 400
-A White Mage's main healing spell. Use it to heal yourself in the field or your allies in a dungeon.

Aero: Deals wind damage with a potency of 50. Deals wind damage over time with a potency of 25 for 18s.
-The first DoT(Damage over Time) skill. It is instant, allowing you to move freely after casting. Use it with Stone for more damage.

Cleric Stance: Swaps your INT and MND Stats while increasing spell damage by 10% and reducing healing by 20%. Ends upon reuse.
-This is your class's main DPS ability, as it swaps your INT and MND stats(your main stat being MND) to allow you to do more damage. More will be explained about using this skill later on.

Protect: Increases Physical and Magic Defense for 30m.
-A vital skill that everyone should use on party members and yourself. Don't forget it!

Medica: Restores HP to yourself and party members within range.
-Your main AoE(Area of Effect) heal. Use it when multiple party members are damaged. This skill will also cause a lot of enmity gain, so be aware.

Raise: Revives a fallen ally that is at 0 HP. Inflicts Weakness on revived target.
-Your resurrection skill. Later on you'll gain a trait that allows use of it in battle.

Fluid Aura: Deals water damage with a potency of 150. Inflicts a 15y knockback and Bind for 6s.
-Conjurer's Knockback skill. Use it to knock your enemies away from yourself or to put them in a different position as it keeps them in place. Upon attack Bind will fall off. Some enemies are also immune to Knockback and Bind.

Esuna: Removes one detrimental status effect. 20% next Esuna costs no MP.
-Conjurer's cleansing skill. Use it when allies or yourself are afflicted with status effects like poison. Some status effects cannot be removed with Esuna or other cleansing skills/abilities.

Stone II: Deals earth damage with a potency of 170.
-A stronger Stone, without the Heavy effect.

Repose: Inflicts Sleep for 30s on target.
-One of the most unused skills on Conjurer after a certain point. Some battles have it come to use, but other than that it's not that great.

Cure II: Restores HP to a single target. Potency: 650
-A stronger Cure with a higher MP cost. Be aware of how much MP you have before using it due to its higher cost.

After obtaining Cure II, you can do your Class Quest and Job Quest to become a White Mage.

White Mage Abilities and Skills

Now that you've become a White Mage, things are about to get more interesting with the class other than waving a magic stick around.

Presence of Mind: Increases Attack Speed by 20% for 15s.
-The White Mage's first ability. This can be used to increase the rate at which you attack with Stone II, heal, etc. Figuring out its uses can be tough, but I'll talk more about it later on.

Stoneskin: Creates a barrier that prevents damage equal to 10% of the target's max HP for 30m.
-A very useful mitigation skill. It is used much more later on for mitigating certain attacks in raids.

Regen: Grants a HoT(Healing over Time) effect with a potency of 150 to the target for 21s.
-One of our main healing abilities. It becomes very useful for keeping the tank alive, but note that when the tank pulls that you may gain enmity immediately upon it ticking.
-If you don't know, Game Ticks happen every 3s after you grant the party member the effect.

Shroud of Saints: Reduces enmity by half. Grants an MP Refresh with a potency of 60 for 15s.
-White Mage's only way of regaining MP outside of global MP ticks(pre-Heavensward). It halves your current enmity, meaning if you're orange on the enmity bar, you will go to green after you use it. You can use it either for its MP refresh, or for its enmity reduction. Choices, choices.

Divine Seal: Increases healing magic potency by 30% for 15s.
-Another big ability that is in White Mage's toolkit. Use it for large heals, and for healing through heavy incoming damage.

Cure III: Restore HP of all party members within range. Potency: 550
-100 potency less than Cure II, this skill sees active use in raids. It heals everyone nearby for a good amount of HP, and is stronger than Medica. It does cost a lot of MP, however.

Holy: Deals AoE damage to all enemies nearby with a potency of 200, giving diminishing returns with each enemy hit after the first enemy to a minimum of 100 potency. Inflicts stun.
-White Mage's AoE Attack skill. Pre-Heavensward, this ability was powerful for 200 potency and a free stun. After the expansion, it got nerfed just like Flare did so that AoE wouldn't be as powerful. Useful in encounters where there are many enemies, but keep an eye on your MP as it has a rather high cost.

Aero II: Deals wind damage with a potency of 50. Inflicts wind damage over time with a potency of 50 for 12s.
-A stronger Aero DoT, but with a lower timer. Use it with Stone II and Aero.

Medica II: Restores HP of all party members within range. Adds a Regen with a potency of 50 for 30s. Potency: 200
-A very, very powerful healing skill. This skill allows you to heal the party AND apply a HoT that stacks with Regen. The healing is greater than Medica, but it has a high MP cost. Use it wisely.

Stoneskin II: Creates a barrier around all party members within range that prevents damage equal to 10% of max HP for 30m. Cannot be used in combat or any target engaged in combat.
-Basically an AoE Stoneskin to save time. Nothing special here.

Benediction: Restore a party member back to full HP.
-Best healing ability in the game. It instantly brings an ally right back to 100% HP. Useful when tanks use abilities such as Holmgang and Living Dead. Downside: It's on a 5 minute recast timer and it has a slight delay on it, so use it wisely.

This would be all the skills and abilities before Heavensward. But before we get into the meat of it all, we should look at traits and cross skills.

Conjurer Traits

Note: I will only be showing notable traits that affect specific skills and abilities.

Enhanced Medica: 20% chance that Medica will cost half MP.
-Useful, but doesn't proc often.

Enhanced Raise: Capable of using Raise during Battle.
-Makes Raise not-so-useless anymore. Very useful.

Freecure: 15% chance that next Cure II will cost 0 MP. Lasts 15s.
-Another very useful trait. This can save on MP and healing, but make sure to use it before it disappears!

Quick Stoneskin: Shortens Stoneskin base time to 2.5s.
-No more long Stoneskin cast times. Now it's a lot easier to use in battle.

Overcure: 15% chance that next Cure III MP cost will be halved. Lasts 15s.
-Not as useful, but it helps when the party is grouped so you don't have to use as much MP.

Heavensward White Mage Skills/Abilities

After you complete the second quest at 50 for the White Mage job, every 2 levels you will gain a new ability/skill.

Asylum: Envelops a designated area in a veil of succor, healing any party members who enter. Potency: 100. Duration: 24s.
-One of WHM's best abilities. It's like SCH's Sacred Soil in the fact it creates an area, but it actually is just one big regen puddle people can stand in. It's on a 90s recast as well.

Stone III: Deal Earth Damage with a potency of 210.
-Another Stone. Use it in place of Stone II.

Assize: Deals unaspected damage to all nearby enemies with a potency of 300. Restores HP of party members within range and self at a potency of 300. Restores 10% of your own MP.
-One of WHM's best abilities. This is the AoE that we needed to be in line with SCH on being able to do damage while healing. You can use it as an AoE attack in Cleric Stance, or a free Medica. Either way it does both damage and healing, so pick your side. The 10% MP restoration on the other hand is a nice boost.

Aero III: Deals wind damage with a potency of 50 to target and all enemies nearby it. Applies a DoT that deals 40 potency per tick over 24s.
-We have an AoE cast that IS NOT HOLY. You can throw away Aero for it in your damage rotation if you like. It works wonders when you're helping deal damage to a group of mobs, though.

Tetragrammaton: Restores target's HP. Potency: 700
-One of WHM's best abilities. This ability is one you should use often due to the fact that it's up every minute after you use it. The other thing is it's slightly better potency than Cure II, and it's a free oGCD heal, so go nuts.

Cross-Class Skills/Abilities to Consider

Now that we've gotten all the skills/abilities that a WHM should have up to 60, let's delve into the cross-class skills they have when they become a WHM.

The two classes they pull from are Thaumaturge and Arcanist, so make sure you level those up so that you have the appropriate abilities for your WHM.

Surecast: Prevents spell-interruption for the next spell cast.
-Very useful for those moments where you definitely need to get a heal off.

Blizzard II: Deals ice damage with a potency of 50 to all nearby enemies and binds them for 8s.
-Since you're not a Black Mage, you don't gain Umbral Ice. This spell is probably better for AoE magic until you manage to obtain Holy.

Swiftcast: Makes the next spell instant-cast.
-The fact that this ability is on a 60s cooldown makes it worth it. You'll be able to use it in combination with any spell you want in a WHM's repertoire of magic, so make good use of it.

Ruin: Deal unaspected damage with a potency of 100.
-Not really worth considering you already have a more powerful spell called Stone.

Physick: Heals target for a cure potency of 400.
-Cure Clone. Leave it alone.

Virus: Reduces STR and DEX by 15% for 10s.
-It's worth taking this as one of your skills due to the fact it's a damage reduction ability. If you don't have a SMN or a SCH around, take it with you for that extra mitigation(unless the attack is magical).

Eye for an Eye: Erects a magicked barrier around a single party member or pet for 30s. 20% chance that when barrier is struck, the striker will deal 10% less damage for 20s.
-A WHM's main way of mitigation outside of Stoneskin. You're going to want it for large groups of mobs where the tank is being hit nearly every second to reduce the incoming damage. You can also use it in anticipation of damage from a boss.

With all that out of the way, we can get to the meat of the situation.

Beginner's Section - How to train your Conjurer

Since you just became a Conjurer, you're on the way to being a White Mage. Since your job is to keep the party healthy, focus on keeping yourself and others alive first and foremost. The main target, however, is almost always the tank since they'll be taking the brunt of the incoming damage. As long as the tank is healthy and the DPS are healthy, you'll be doing a good job. Once you get to 30, you need to get an Arcanist to 15 before you can become a White Mage. I'd suggest trying to get your Arcanist to 33 as well, as that's when you'll be able to cross-skill Eye for an Eye, which is very useful in dungeons.

Status Ailments and You

Every dungeon has its status ailments, but some actually don't come off when you use Esuna. If it can't be cleansed with Esuna, it can't be cleansed with Leeches/Exalted Detriment either. Stuff like Poison, Sleep, Fracture, and the like can be dispelled with Esuna, but only one at a time. A majority of the time, you want to keep your party from having too many status ailments(unless they get hit by Bad Breath; then you're gonna have a bad time) while you're keeping their HP up. If you're Silenced, you can't cleanse yourself or party members of detrimental statuses, so keep that in mind.

Overhealing and Gauging Damage

There's a term that pretty much every healer should know, and it's Overhealing. Overhealing is when you heal a target for so much that you have a net positive of what you healed them for. An example would be if you healed your tank for 2000 HP when he was already at 10000/10000 HP. That would lead to a net positive, meaning you would've wasted MP on a heal they didn't need. You want to make sure you don't have a net positive when possible, but keep them healthy. As for Damage, you have to be aware of what's going out. If there's a heavy group AoE that can't be avoided, prepare to use Medica. Being able to anticipate how much damage is going out is a core skill for being a healer, as you'd know how much you'd be able to heal for and whether you'd be able to recover from the attack. Once you get used to gauging how much damage is going out depending on your tank and party, you'll be able to heal just fine.

Cleric Stance

This ability is basically a healer's button to go into damage stance. It basically allows them to deal more damage than they would normally as it switches their MND and INT stats, allowing them to do damage with Stone, Stone II, and Aero more effectively. However, they sacrifice their healing for it. I'd advise that you know what you're healing through first before going into Cleric Stance, as you don't want your tank dying on you. If you want to take it off, just activate Cleric Stance again after the cooldown and you'll be back in healing stance.

MP Management

This is something that's important, as you only have so much MP you can use to heal before you run out of heals. If you run out of heals, you're dead in the water and can't keep the party alive. Make sure you watch how much you're spamming Cure, Medica, and Cure II so that you can get the best out of your heals.

Battle Raise

Once you obtain Battle Raise at a certain level, you can use Swiftcast to Raise someone immediately if they ran out of HP. It helps get them up faster than a hard-cast of Raise, which takes multiple seconds to complete.


Pure White - Becoming a White Mage

Since you've become a White Mage, there's a few more things to get into, such as how Shroud of Saints works and using your cross-class skills that you've gained from Thaumaturge and Arcanist.

Advanced MP Management and Presence of Mind

Once you obtain Shroud of Saints, you'll be able to refresh your own MP through that ability. It helps in the long run in the fact that you now can restore your own MP and won't run out, but there are limits to how much you can regain while healing your party. The other thing to consider is that Shroud of Saints HALVES your Enmity/Hate, meaning if you're in the orange or close to being targeted by an enemy, you can use Shroud of Saints and it'll bump you back down the enmity ladder. You can use it both as an enmity decreaser and to restore your MP, but how you use it is up to you. The other ability that helps you manage your MP is Assize, which is gained in Heavensward. I always consider it a free Medica, but the fact that it restores 10% of your own MP makes it a useful tool along with Shroud of Saints for restoring your MP. Both abilities do have considerable cooldowns, with Shroud of Saints on 180s and Assize on 90s, so make the most of them. As for Presence of Mind, it's a tad confusing how to use this ability at first due to the fact it only increases your action speed by a percentage. This can be used in a variety of ways, whether it be casting faster heals or dealing out more Stone II casts offensively. Those are just a couple of uses I've thought of, but experiment a little and figure out what works out for you.

Divine Seal

This is one of our useful utilities, as it increases our outgoing heals by 30%. Most of the time, you won't really need it, but when the tank and the party need the HP to survive, consider popping it. It's also on a 60s cooldown, so use it when you need a large heal in a short amount of time. This ability, however, does not affect Tetragrammaton, Assize, or Asylum due to them being abilities and not spells. You can use it with Regen to keep the tank up after the pull; just be aware that if he goes into a pull with it, you'll automatically gain enmity unless the tank immediately uses Flash/Overpower/Unleash.

The Most Powerful Heal in the Game: Benediction

After completing your final Lv 50 Quest before Heavensward, you obtain Benediction(or Bene for short), an ability that restores an ally's HP to 100%. This ability is the strongest heal in the game by far due to it being nigh-instant(despite the delay). However, you have to make a decision every time you use it: who are you going to use it on? You only get one Benediction every 5 minutes, which basically can mean one every boss fight, so you need to think about the situation and apply Benediction at the right time so that either your tank doesn't die or a DPS doesn't die. However, also make sure to gauge the outgoing damage since Benediction CAN MISS if you proc it too late and they're already dead.

Heavensward: Cleric Stance Dancing and You

Before Heavensward, most healers weren't expected to Cleric Stance except the SCH due to the fact that they had a 25% Lustrate back then(which I do regret got taken away for balance), but what can you do? Ever since it got changed to a potency, White Mages have had more instances where they could Cleric Stance other than dungeons. However, if you remember from the beginner's section, Cleric Stance reduces your healing output; and at Level 50+, it lowers it drastically due to the switch of MND and INT stats. To help deal with that, I'm going to teach you how to Stance Dance. Stance Dancing is referred to as switching in-between the Damage Stance(Cleric Stance) and healing during battle. There are few important things to note since you need to have a bit of knowledge before you can do it.

First of all, you need to remember that you're healing throughout the dungeon as well as contributing to damage, so don't get stuck in the DPS mindset and tunnel vision when the tank needs healing. Another thing to note is that you need to pay attention to how much your Tank can take in damage before reaching a certain threshold where they're near death. For myself, it's at 50% HP or so, but you can set it for yourself. The rate of damage going out also effects when you can go into Cleric Stance, as if it's too high and the tank is doing his best to mitigate it, you're going to be forced to heal. Finding the right window to help contribute to damage is key, and abilities like Asylum and Regen help with that as it gives the tank a bit of sustain(even more so if they're a WAR) while you help make the run faster.

As for your damage rotation, most of the time I do Aero III-> Aero II -> Stone III Spam until I have to bring up Aero III again. When it comes to DoTs, you want to try and keep them up as much as possible while letting them tick as many times as you can. Try to find a comfortable time to reset the DoT so it can continue ticking on the enemy. You can increase the rate at which you cast by using Presence of Mind.

Burst Healing

Burst Healing is when you top up an ally or party fast with two heals. This mainly includes use of Assize/Tetragrammaton due to those being oGCD. Here are a couple examples:

Cure/Cure II + Tetragrammaton - High Burst Healing on a single target.

Assize + Medica/Medica II - High AoE Healing or HoT

These are only a couple of burst healing combinations that came to mind, but always make sure to use your abilities according to the situation.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading, and make sure to provide feedback on the guide and how helpful it was below. This is just my first guide on the forums, and I'm actually sorry for having people wait on it. I didn't really think people wanted their guide all in one go, but I'm just the type that takes things slow. Anyway, have a good day and I hope this guide helped you learn a bit about how to play as a White Mage.