Tips for SCH? :)

[Gemina]

thank you for your answers

So, i'll have to look at strat to determine when to invoke Eos for boss in dungeon ^^
also with crazy tank in Dungeon lol

(hum..and sorry for my english...)

Swiftcast is your friend! I always announce at the beginning of an instance that I will be switching fairies at _______ boss fight. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Either way, SC+summon and you're good to go. Don't worry too much about SC being on cool down. It is very unlikely you will need it the first 60 seconds into a boss fight.

[Nekotee]

A smn/sch that swiftcast summon is as bad as a whm swiftcasting stoneskin II or a swiftcast shadowflare

Any one who answer me : there is time for the 1 minute CD to come back
I will stab back with : then why aren't losing 5 sec to cast which is 10 time faster

...

Also yeah in dungeon you have more time to reset a cd but it's better to have the rightful mind about it
Because if you do that in EX primal you will soon regret it XD
(Or the new 24man that is... death at all time)

[technole]

A smn/sch that swiftcast summon is as bad as a whm swiftcasting stoneskin II or a swiftcast shadowflare

Any one who answer me : there is time for the 1 minute CD to come back
I will stab back with : then why aren't losing 5 sec to cast which is 10 time faster

I don't really agree with that logic.

Swift+Stoneskin 2 in a dungeon really doesn't matter. Before a pull in a raid? Not entirely bad, the raid reality is the main healer usually isn't tapped for the first-raise. But ideally you can use that Swift early for other purposes like the 2nd raise, Instant Medica, or DPS. Most of the time you are waiting for pull macro/buffs before pull so hard casting SS2 is the more adapt method.

Fairy switches. Or with Dissipate, you should look forward to Swiftcast+Summon.

Swiftcast+Shadowflare as SCH is more of a judgement call. Is it progression? Is this phase a bit flaky where not having a Swift means it might cause heartburn. DPS push is the greatest mitigation in the game so if it helps to get DoTs up faster, yet it's not likely a phase where a derp occurs then push for it.

I try to teach healers that they shouldn't always be so protective of Swiftcast. Sometimes players need to find out how many lapses of 60s they have that they could have used it to get ahead of mechanics. It's more on main healers. Scholars needing Swift isn't as high for healing since they have Indom availability and fairy CDs.

[Fernosaur]

beep boop

A WHM swiftcasting SSII after a boss fight in a 4-man dungeon so that everyone can keep running like headless chickens. How is that bad? I will grant you that doing it on raids or big fights isn't a wonderful idea (specially summon), but it really shouldn't be that bad. It's like WHMs holding onto Benediction in trash pulls because they might need it in a boss fight.

You won't need it in a boss fight. Same with Swiftcast. I use Swiftcast on dungeons to put stoneskin on the tank after Adlo in between pulls, and I've never had a single time in which I needed it and didn't have it because of that. This advice is mostly intended for 4-man dungeons (hence the fairy switching), so you have to put it in context too.

[DarkmoonVael]

A WHM swiftcasting SSII after a boss fight in a 4-man dungeon so that everyone can keep running like headless chickens. How is that bad? I will grant you that doing it on raids or big fights isn't a wonderful idea (specially summon), but it really shouldn't be that bad. It's like WHMs holding onto Benediction in trash pulls because they might need it in a boss fight.

You won't need it in a boss fight. Same with Swiftcast. I use Swiftcast on dungeons to put stoneskin on the tank after Adlo in between pulls, and I've never had a single time in which I needed it and didn't have it because of that. This advice is mostly intended for 4-man dungeons (hence the fairy switching), so you have to put it in context too.

Stoneskin II in dungeons for trash isnt needed as no one but the tank should be getting hit by aoes. In dungeons on WHM that swiftcast can be better used for something like Swiftcast Holy>Assize.

[Gemina]

A smn/sch that swiftcast summon is as bad as a whm swiftcasting stoneskin II or a swiftcast shadowflare

Any one who answer me : there is time for the 1 minute CD to come back
I will stab back with : then why aren't losing 5 sec to cast which is 10 time faster

...

Also yeah in dungeon you have more time to reset a cd but it's better to have the rightful mind about it
Because if you do that in EX primal you will soon regret it XD
(Or the new 24man that is... death at all time)

There is value in swiftcasting nearly any ability where the cast time is greater than the gcd, it's just learning when to do it. This includes SSII and Summon. You can't really compare a 60 sec CD with a 5 sec cast time as the repercussions for using either are night and day. Losing the ability to cast all your skills for 5 seconds mid-fight is far more detrimental than losing one ability for 60 seconds. If you need to rezz someone 60 seconds into a fight, there might be issues that negates any usefulness out of swiftcast from a rezz standpoint. Saving SC for a rezz is so situational. It's an ace you want to keep in your pocket when you know there is a high percentage chance that someone is going to drop, which you should be able to evaluate during the instance.

As for EX primals, I can't speak on any of them. But from the primal instances I have encountered, there is no reason to switch your fairy mid fight. You make your choice and run with her. If there was a situation that calls for it, you would definitely want to swiftcast it as summoning mid-fight is essentially a rezz. Switching fairies for me has been the most useful in dungeons where I will use Selene for the run and Eos for the boss. Some groups are ok with you not burning up SC prior to the fight and just using a regular summon, but most charge in as soon as protect is up.

[Nekotee]

When I go as whm in dungeon my bénédiction is always on CD because it's a wonderful DPS tool.
You can go as crazy as you want in DPS and always fully heal your tank without getting out of cleric et no matter how much mana is left

And stoneskin 2 in 4man is most of the time pointless except on boss... and it depend if the boss have a wide aoe or not

@Gemina when you use dissipation as DPS booster or mana regen you have to have you're swiftcast for the fairy because it's so long to cast her
(Well if time correctly you can always fine a down time windows to slow cast her)

Mostly i great swiftcast for emergency, this isn't need to performance basic DPS/healing dance
And i'm not burning it to please à group that want to run 5second faster

[technole]

Some aren't used to the idea but fairy switching has always been rather strategic, and with the addition of Dissipation there is even more emphasis on it. You should never stick with the "I summoned this fairy, we are sticking with it" ordeal.

In extreme/savage level fights you should never have to hard cast a fairy. It'd also be pretty silly to blame your death to a movement mechanic because you wanted to be safe and "hold" your swift but yet not get into position on-time. Swiftcast saves even your own life. You just have to look at the skill as a toolbox.

[Zadocfish]

Alright, I have finally gotten SCH, and am on my way to making it my main class (19 levels before I catch up with my PLD!). I wanna post some things I noticed, so I can learn if they're true or not:

I have 3 bars: Healing, DPS, and Cooldowns/misc. The Healing and DPS are my main rotations, the third is for stuff like Protect, Summon, Sustain, and Resurrect: stuff I won't be using often, but occasionally. Both my Healing and DPS bars have my Eos commands on the left side, so I can Embrace whenever I need to manually.

I have seen no reason to use the "Place" command/"Heel" command. It's faster to just walk where I need my pet to go in the automatic "heel" mode. There is very rarely reason for me to move and interrupt her; I can just park near my party and Eos will Embrace away. 25y isn't too short of a distance, really.

I had no idea how easy micromanaging Eos would be! She casts Embrace automatically, so I very rarely have to tell her to do that. I still have it on the bar, because sometimes you need to manually get her to prioritize the tank. Mostly, it's just the cooldowns; and yeah, they're crazy easy, especially since Whispering Dawn has a pretty short cooldown.

Basically, in average dungeons, it feels like I'm two classes. I still keep the party alive thanks to MP-less Embrace spamming, but I can devote almost the whole dungeon to being an extra DPS; in Cleric Stance, I have the same power as I did when I was ACTUALLY a DPS as an ARC. That means that the dungeon goes significantly faster, because it's like having a Healer AND a third DPS. Also, when I DO need to heal, I basically heal twice every GDC because of Eos, and I have a nifty heal/barrier spell as well. It feels way better than playing as a WHM for me; it feels like there's a massive safety net.

So, that's my first thoughts on playing SCH. Feeling pretty good, so far.

[Ragology]

Alright,

I have seen no reason to use the "Place" command/"Heel" command. It's faster to just walk where I need my pet to go in the automatic "heel" mode. There is very rarely reason for me to move and interrupt her; I can just park near my party and Eos will Embrace away. 25y isn't too short of a distance, really.

The place/heel thing is mostly for fights like Titan Extreme where frequent movement interrupts the Fairy's healing.