Summoner, Arcanist level 30

[Gamer3427]

Eos already has Whispering Dawn, which is a HoT, and SCHs don't need more mitigation. They already have Succor, Adlo, Sacred Soil, E4E, Virus, and Fey Covenant. You may be able to include Silent Dawn as well, since silencing a spell = no damage. And for sh*ts and giggles, they can Deployment Tactics an Adlo that crit.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with adding in a few more raw damage mitigation to SCH, particularly with Succor and Aldo barriers being unable to stack with themselves, other SCHs, or Nocturnal AST. Virus is also a short duration effect that can be completely killed for your personal use for 60s by anyone else who might have access to it against the enemy, while E4E only has a chance to activate. Add to that that Sacred Soil can't be active while Shadow Flare is up, Fey Covenant only affecting magical damage, (with the vast majority of enemies doing physical), and that aside from a few specific enemies, practically everything you would want to use Silent Dawn on is immune to silence. My suggestion is more for a fairy that specializes in adding damage mitigation in full, that can be activated at any time without interfering with other forms of damage mitigation. SCH is theoretically the "barrier healer", but our actual "barrier" capabilities are diminished if there are any other SCHs or Nocturnal ASTs around, and to an extent if there are any SMNs, WHM, or even BLM around due to how Virus works. Deployment Tactics is also fairly ineffective except before the start of a fight unless you have melee DPS standing close to the tank around a small boss, simply because the range of it isn't enough to reach other party members most of the time....

Don't get me wrong, I love healing as a SCH, but I do notice that it becomes less effective as a healer in 8-24 player content compared to WHM or AST who maintain the same level of effectiveness regardless of the party....

[VanilleFang]

snip

I'm not going to really get into the whole SCH vs Other Healers thing since there's already a discussion thread in the Healer forum about it, and this is the DPS forum after all, but...

Noct AST is incredible weak right now. It's almost a none issue since Di AST is far superior, and a SCH is more reliable and safer than a Noct AST.

Virus is still a great mitigation tool, and then rotated and prioritized properly is incredibly powerful. WHM and BLM should never be using Virus over a SCH unless there is a reason.

As far as I'm aware most tankbusters in current end game content are magical. Not physical. Isn't that part of the reason DRK are the best MT right now? This makes SCH/SMN Virus far stronger than WHM/BLM and increases the usefulness of Fey Covenant.

Sacred Soil may be useful for stacking situations. Shadow Flare isn't always going to be up.

Deployment Tactics is good in stacking situations.

I was mostly talking about trash with Silent Dawn. It's not that useful, but it can still be categorized as mitigation depending on how you view it.

I can see what you are going for, but in the games current state I don't think more mitigation would be healthy. SCHs are already pretty much guaranteed a spot in end game content and giving them a further edge over Noct AST wouldn't be wise.

[Gamer3427]

Words.

I can get and agree with your points, but I'm not just talking about end game, (which for the most part is only considered to be the Savage content by players here on the forum). I'm more talking about in general with non-preformed parties. In true end game stuff, a SCH is most likely going to have Selene up anyhow for the party wide attack speed buff, since end game content requires such ridiculous DPS checks, and that helps DPS, while you'll be able to work with a competent co-healer to make up for not having Eos in damage heavy situations. In general content though with other random players, (particularly Void Ark), SCHs do have to deal with BLM/WHM Virus constantly and Nocturnal ASTs who won't switch to Diurnal when there's a SCH in the party. Honestly, these runs are where the healing is most intensive because you have players who are a bit dumb and stand in AoEs constantly or get stacks of vulnerability from easily avoidable attacks. This type of situation, as well as particularly large pulls in dungeons, are where we could use a bit more mitigation.....

Anyhow, this is all just in theory and will never be implemented since they've clearly decided Summon III is a SMN exclusive skill, and I don't see them adding a Summon IV anytime in the near future that a SCH can use......