Tips for SCH? :)

[Gemina]

After raid Im gonna respond to this :c

1. No one blames their fairy. xD The fairy is an extension of you. So her heals are your contribution. If they aren't enough, youll need to rouse or use some direct heals.

2. As long as people are going to be taking damage within 30 seconds, its not a waste. Its a medica that can't be used while its still active, or it loses effectiveness. As long as people won't die from not having more than 100% health, its better to do it after.

3. Command your fairy. Heal as necessary. You can "fish" for an adlo outside of a fight, but not in it. Adlo isn't something you spam, but you should be using it more often than physick (If you use physick much at all at 60.)

1. I know this. But it hasn't stopped some SCH I've encountered from blaming their fairies.

2. If you know dmg is coming within the next 30 seconds, why wouldn't you cast it? If you cast succor after the dmg happens, you are preparing for the next wave of dmg. Yes, it does heal for some HP, but it is far more MP efficient AND faster to get everyone back up between fairy's embrace and your Physick. Abilities like Lustrate and Indom are even more reason to not to use succor to bring back everyone back up after heavy dmg.

3. Adlo, like succor, is not a heal. It is galvanize, meant to shield. I agree it isn't something you spam. Fishing does not mean spam it. It means 'cast' it. In most instances I've been in, tanks pull too fast for you to cast it pre fight, so you have to use it in a fight. Gathering is actually what taught me to appreciate adlo more, and take risks. It crits more often than people give it credit for, and when it does, you have one hell of a tank buff. There is no reason not to fish for it, especially in drawn out fights. Currently my Physick heals for avg 878 non crit opposed to 616 non crit adlo. If tank is below 70%, they're getting Physick, not Adlo.

[Rawrz]

1. I know this. But it hasn't stopped some SCH I've encountered from blaming their fairies.

2. If you know dmg is coming within the next 30 seconds, why wouldn't you cast it? If you cast succor after the dmg happens, you are preparing for the next wave of dmg. Yes, it does heal for some HP, but it is far more MP efficient AND faster to get everyone back up between fairy's embrace and your Physick. Abilities like Lustrate and Indom are even more reason to not to use succor to bring back everyone back up after heavy dmg.

3. Adlo, like succor, is not a heal. It is galvanize, meant to shield. I agree it isn't something you spam. Fishing does not mean spam it. It means 'cast' it. In most instances I've been in, tanks pull too fast for you to cast it pre fight, so you have to use it in a fight. Gathering is actually what taught me to appreciate adlo more, and take risks. It crits more often than people give it credit for, and when it does, you have one hell of a tank buff. There is no reason not to fish for it, especially in drawn out fights. Currently my Physick heals for avg 878 non crit opposed to 616 non crit adlo. If tank is below 70%, they're getting Physick, not Adlo.

Shields are heals. They are just heals that cannot be stacked. Every time you cast Adlo or Succor you are healing for 600 and 300 respectively, so long as damage is incoming within 30 seconds. If you shield before the damage is incoming, you are losing 150 potency or half of the heal. Players also have natural health regain. You can shield before the attack if it makes you feel safer, but its a 50% overheal. You are costing yourself 2 GCDs, when 1 would be sufficient. An exception would be when massive raid wide damage is about to go out, and you need the extra healing, like in Sephirot during the third phase with adds. Shielding with succor during the knockback. Virus. Emergency Tactics. Precasting Succor. Succor. Indom. But even that is overheal if you have a good healing partner. (Thats 150+300+300+400 x 8 potency in 6 seconds.) In MOST content, precasting a shield, when you could be DPSing is an overheal.

Typically though on a single target, if you Adlo for that 600 potency heal (your 616 heal, 616 shield,) your fairy will be given more time to assist you, having 1.5x as much time to help heal.

Go into a pull. Tank has adlo (maybe even SS).Spamming Embrace at even 100% health. Popping rouse as bio or aero enters your rotation. Fairy can't keep up. CS off. Lustrate. Adlo. CS on. Thats 1200 potency in heals, while the fairy helps to keep up. Its even easier at 50 and below content, because the fairy nerf drops embrace from 300 at level 50 to 200 at level 60.

Adlo and succor are effecient healing spells that focus on retaining the heal if it would be overheal, but are inefficient if you try to stack them on themselves.

Obey/Sic: Don't fall into "always keep fairies on Obey". This is mostly (not always) true for Eos, but not Selene. Remember, flexibility. Selene's AI is actually pretty good, and she is really fast. Plus, due the conditions that need to be met for her to cast, none one of them really go to waste unlike Eos. Learning the AI of your fairies is key to knowing when to have them on Sic and when to have them on Obey, and the situations that will serve you best with each. For example, learn the conditions that Selene will cast Fey Wind, Fey Caress, and Silent Dusk. Don't be afraid to alternate these commands even during a single battle."

Also, I missed this one. Selene actually has a terrible AI for Fey Caress. The only time it would be effective is if you know you'll be put to sleep, so that Selene could fey caress you out of it, since you can't micromanage incapacitated. If someone even has weakness, she'll try to Fey Caress it, when they raise. You could make the case for her silence, but an interrupt macro is about as reliable.

You also want to aim Fey wind's duration for a time when you can maximize your 30 seconds of uptime. She'll use it whenever it goes off of cool down, even if the boss is invulnerable or if you're at the end of a pull.

[Gemina]

Shields are heals. They are just heals that cannot be stacked. Every time you cast Adlo or Succor you are healing for 600 and 300 respectively, so long as damage is incoming within 30 seconds. If you shield before the damage is incoming, you are losing 150 potency or half of the heal. Players also have natural health regain. You can shield before the attack if it makes you feel safer, but its a 50% overheal. You are costing yourself 2 GCDs, when 1 would be sufficient. An exception would be when massive raid wide damage is about to go out, and you need the extra healing, like in Sephirot during the third phase with adds. Shielding with succor during the knockback. Virus. Emergency Tactics. Precasting Succor. Succor. Indom. But even that is overheal if you have a good healing partner. (Thats 150+300+300+400 x 8 potency in 6 seconds.) In MOST content, precasting a shield, when you could be DPSing is an overheal.

Typically though on a single target, if you Adlo for that 600 potency heal (your 616 heal, 616 shield,) your fairy will be given more time to assist you, having 1.5x as much time to help heal.

Go into a pull. Tank has adlo (maybe even SS).Spamming Embrace at even 100% health. Popping rouse as bio or aero enters your rotation. Fairy can't keep up. CS off. Lustrate. Adlo. CS on. Thats 1200 potency in heals, while the fairy helps to keep up. Its even easier at 50 and below content, because the fairy nerf drops embrace from 300 at level 50 to 200 at level 60.

Adlo and succor are effecient healing spells that focus on retaining the heal if it would be overheal, but are inefficient if you try to stack them on themselves.

I think you and I have completely different approaches to galvanize. I don’t see Adlo and Succor as heals. I see them as shields with a restorative number that lets you know how much dmg it is going to absorb. I have always been under the impression that a SCH’s strength comes from their ability to mitigate damage. My time as WHM has shown how much more difficult it is for SCH to repair the damage after it comes. When I need to heal, I use Physick, Lustrate, and I’ll have Indom soon for a true AoE heal. I make no mention of stacking Galvanize. There is no over heal with Galvanize because I am not casting it to restore hit points.

Also, I missed this one. Selene actually has a terrible AI for Fey Caress. The only time it would be effective is if you know you'll be put to sleep, so that Selene could fey caress you out of it, since you can't micromanage incapacitated. If someone even has weakness, she'll try to Fey Caress it, when they raise. You could make the case for her silence, but an interrupt macro is about as reliable.

You also want to aim Fey wind's duration for a time when you can maximize your 30 seconds of uptime. She'll use it whenever it goes off of cool down, even if the boss is invulnerable or if you're at the end of a pull.

Allow me to be more clear about Sic/Obey. I know that keeping our fairy on obey is the most effective way to utilize her tool kit. However, the question is: Am I am more effective having her on manual control? If a debuff that needs cleansed is sapping away at the group that Selene would have picked up long before I cast leeches, or if Fey Wind has been sitting off CD for x amount of time during trash pulls or boss fights, the answer is no.

We can bring up the faulty fairy AI all day, while human error for some reason is never mentioned. I can only speak for myself when I say I am not a perfect SCH by any means, but if any of these derps I mentioned sounds familiar, I wouldn’t throw Sic out the window. If someone needs a rezz and Selene is on auto, take her off it while you’re casting it so she doesn't waste FC. Simple. There is no set rule that says you can’t toggle Sic/Obey to increase your effectiveness. Toggling them, really is part of the micro managing. I seriously doubt SE gave the Sic command so players can be lazy.

I should also mention that I use a controller. The hotbar setup does not allow me to see all CDs, and when a lot is going on all at once, especially when solo healing, it is VERY easy to miss a CD. I will tell a SCH that manual control is the most effective way to use our fairies, but I will never tell a SCH to keep their fairies on OR off obey.

A good example of when I toggled between Sic and Obey was during Garuda story mode. I came in with Selene and left her on Auto. SD is ineffective towards her, and she causes no debuffs that need to be cleansed. So I eliminated my own margin for error by leaving her on Sic to maximize Fey Wind. At around 60% before Garuda uses her signature ability, I brought in Eos and put her on obey. This made it much easier for me to regain control after everyone except the tank dropped lower than 20% HP.

Also Selene does not use Fey Wind every time it is off CD. She will cast it when the following conditions are met:

- Off CD
- Not silenced, slept, or other interruption
- Player is engaged in battle, or player is aggroed

She will not cast it outside of a fight. If she casts it towards the end of a trash pull, it’s on me for not taking her off of Sic, but considering that Fey Wind reduces cast times as well as CD’s, it not necessarily a bad thing if it is active between pulls, which are so ridiculously short you’re losing very little.

[JackFross]

I should also mention that I use a controller. The hotbar setup does not allow me to see all CDs, and when a lot is going on all at once, especially when solo healing, it is VERY easy to miss a CD. I will tell a SCH that manual control is the most effective way to use our fairies, but I will never tell a SCH to keep their fairies on OR off obey.

This goes for anyone who's playing on controller:
This is not a valid excuse for missing buffs.

See the following (my SCH setup):

Extended bars:

Tapping R1/RB cycles this and the first:


My summon macros swap hotbars and junk to set the Eos or Selene skills on my bars based on who I summon. Embrace macro is:
/micon "Embrace" pet selene
/macroerror off
/pac "Embrace" <t>
/pac "Embrace" <tt>
/pac "Embrace" <me>

(I have one for each Fairy because I'm a loser don't judge me;;; )

Also have my Whispering Dawn macro that shows up when I have Eos out:
/micon "Whispering Dawn" pet
/ac "Rouse"
/pac "Whispering Dawn"



I personally advocate Obey 100% of the time under all circumstances. Every fairy skill can be queued up while you're casting spells. You don't need to pause anything at all to activate them. Yes, training yourself to watch Fey Wind is hard, but that doesn't mean you should just give up and use Sic because it's easier/"just as good" - especially in a raid environment. When fighting bosses, Fey Wind will go off on cooldown, which is almost never the proper timing. It'll activate when adds spawn in A7S, for instance! What's the point of that?


Also - some tips I personally have for SCH. Can't be arsed to read the whole thread, so I'm gonna hope this stuff hasn't been covered.

1. Establish early on whether you're the main healer or the off-healer. If you're the former, don't be afraid to use Eos pre-54. When you get Indomitability (and, later on, Emergency Tactics), you won't need Eos anymore for raid heals. Indom is lovely, ET>Succor is quite powerful.
2. Use your kit. Don't be afraid to push buttons.
-- Deployment Tactics is amazing if you use it properly (ie: don't spread Eye for an Eye on the pull against a boss who only uses magic attacks and doesn't even use any raid damage in the first 30s...). Generally, this means NOT wasting it on the pull. Succor is good enough for early mitigation. You wanna save DT>Adlo for more serious situations.
-- Emergency Tactics is a godsend. ET>Succor can make or break a run if you heal properly while the other healer has their thumb up their ass and heals 3-5s too slow (as usually happens).
-- Indomitability is a fantastic use of stacks (if you haven't already used them all on Energy Drain) to quickly heal back from raid damage. It's only on a 30s timer, too, so it's pretty much on-demand as needed.
-- Sacred Soil in current content is approximately as potent as an Adloquium that didn't crit when used for proper situations. That's nothing to sneeze at. Don't be afraid to drop it.
-- Adloquium is a life saver - you shouldn't bench it just because Physick is cheaper. Adlo > Physick is a safer, more effective way to heal a tank at low health.
-- Dissipation is not a no-no button! It's your OH SHIT button! It drastically improves your heals AND gives you 3 free Lustrates for that awkward moment when you burned your last stack at 30s on AF's cd and you NEED a Lustrate or Indom right now.
-- THE FAIRY is a very powerful healer. In dungeons, you should only ever have to heal if your DPS are standing in bad or when the tank pulls more than a single group of mobs. Don't discount how powerful it is and be sure to study that through your own testing before you rely on her, naturally.

Uh... I'm really tired so I forget the rest.

Last point: dump Stoneskin from your cross-class. It's worthless for SCH to pack.
Cleric Stance > Aero > Protect > Swiftcast > Blizz II in that order.

[tENAxc]

Thanks for the responses, guys!

don't be afraid to use Eos pre-54

I don't understand this bit.

I recommend doing challenging solo content to practice.

What kind of solo practice do you recommend?

[Gemina]

What kind of solo practice do you recommend?

Sorry I wasn't a little more clear. Challenging solo content can be just about anything you can do solo that pushes you a bit. For instance when I got to level 42, I tried to clear my entire hunting log, and ended up in Mor Dhona long before I was even supposed to be there (I think quests there start at 47). This might not be challenging for you though, but it pushed me. As SCH, I have literally taken on around 5-6 mobs of the same level or slightly higher all at once without feeling any real danger. Tried to do that as WHM and ended up in the dirt.

I just hit 50 and haven't done much content that surrounds it as I started my crafting classes and have been focused on those while farming poetics from Beast Tribe quests. Those quests can be a little challenging especially if you leave your chocobo stabled. I did rely on taking things of higher level, but now that I am still swimming in older content, there is nothing higher than 50, and my current average iLv is 105, which blows just about everything away. So I gimp myself by wearing iLv 50 versions of my AF in FATEs and the like. I do know about soloing dungeons unsynced, and I think some B marks can be soloed at 50.

So I am discovering along with anyone else at this point their first time through the game. Hope that helps though.

[Rawrz]

Last point: dump Stoneskin from your cross-class. It's worthless for SCH to pack.
Cleric Stance > Aero > Protect > Swiftcast > Blizz II in that order.

That's the only thing I don't completely agree with. In places that weakness padding is needed, extra tank mitigation like green orbs from a6s or prepull in 4 man dungeons it's amazing. (Just to list a few uses) Comparative to blizzard II that competes with miasma II (as far as crowd control, both aren't the best in this aspect lol) and 4 or more targets are needed to outweigh broil, with a heavier mp cost. I really do commend SCH that use it effectively, even if only for novelty aoe. xD.

[FoxyAreku]

snip

Why do you have aetherflow on three different spots?

Just curious.

Also not sure I agree with completely ditching stoneskin, as I use it a lot pre-pull in dungeons. But dungeons aren't that important anyway.

[Powe]

Also not sure I agree with completely ditching stoneskin, as I use it a lot pre-pull in dungeons. But dungeons aren't that important anyway.

Honestly, I don't use stone skin as a scholar that much, adloqium is good enough for me, its to the point I switched stone skin with cure just to start making people confused.

[FoxyAreku]

Honestly, I don't use stone skin as a scholar that much, adloqium is good enough for me, its to the point I switched stone skin with cure just to start making people confused.

Yeah, it's certainly not an important skill, but it does let you dps a little longer in dungeons so that's the main reason I have it.