WHM Role Skills?

[Nicodemus_Mercy]

I consider Cleric Stance worthless since 4.0 launched. Five percent more damage for 15 seconds every 90 seconds is just too inconsequential to waste a skill choice on, especially when your primary role is healing.

Swiftcast and Lucid Dreaming are must haves IMO. You need to be able to instant res people and you need a way to regenerate MP.

While some people like to use macros to swap skills, I consider Protect and Esuna must haves for me specifically.

I am not interested in juggling role skills via macros only to have something fudge up the macro's execution and I am lacking a skill I need at a specific time. Parties expect the healer to have Protect. In the case of a static 8 man you can always designate one healer as the Protect giver and the other can take something else, but in general I always have Protect. The same goes for Esuna. Unlike some players, I make it a point to cleanse any and every debuff that can be cleansed (when possible and when it won't get someone killed). While not every encounter requires it, I like knowing I always have Esuna when I need.

That leaves me with one role skill choice left. I basically have Largesse there. While not vital, its always useful when heavy damage is incoming and you want to pump up your throughput. Of all the role skills I chose, Largesse is the ONLY one I could consider swapping out for something else if I found it useful for a particular encounter.

Cleric Stance = a waste
Break = a waste
Rescue = very situational
Surecast = very situational
Eye for an Eye = doesn't do enough for its duration and cooldown to really matter.

So basically I find little to no reason to deviate from: Protect, Esuna, Swiftcast, Lucid Dreaming, Largesse

[Cynfael]

I still want to know why Break even exists. It’s so horribly useless that’s basically a “noobtrap” skill that tries to fool new players into thinking it has to be good for something simply because it exists.

[KokonoeAiyoko]

Thanks for the helpful responses.

Yeah I suppose getting rid of Eye for an Eye for Lucid Dreaming is a much smarter choice (I honestly misread this ability a while back and it's why I wasn't using it and kept wondering why they got rid of refresh).

That said, I can't seem to part with Cleric Stance as I do feel it's useful for typical dungeons and I don't run savage. I can't seem to find a spot for Largesse as I don't want to get rid of Esuna either as it does has its uses, especially when Paralysis occurs.

That leaves Protect and I feel that's useful as well. I kind of feel I can get by without Largesse since I don't run Savage or Extreme content these days.

[Tridus]

That leaves Protect and I feel that's useful as well. I kind of feel I can get by without Largesse since I don't run Savage or Extreme content these days.

If you don't mind not being able to cast Protect during combat, the macro solution works great for it. If you really want to cast it during combat, then you're pretty much stuck having it slotted.

[Estelle9lives]

I disagree with Largesse being low priority for WHM, as it takes effects on HoTs and Cure III which is where WHM's main source of healing comes from. It's much more useful than something like Esuna that is only useful in very few situations, 99% of them requiring your party members getting hit by things they shouldn't. My personal picks are: Protect (if my co healer isn't carrying/for dungeons), Cleric Stance, Swiftcast, Lucid Dreaming, Largesse, Surecast (swap protect for this after cast).

[NorthernLadMSP]

Lucid Dreaming is not optional. It's the most mandatory cross role skill a healer can take.

[KokonoeAiyoko]

I disagree with Largesse being low priority for WHM, as it takes effects on HoTs and Cure III which is where WHM's main source of healing comes from. It's much more useful than something like Esuna that is only useful in very few situations, 99% of them requiring your party members getting hit by things they shouldn't. My personal picks are: Protect (if my co healer isn't carrying/for dungeons), Cleric Stance, Swiftcast, Lucid Dreaming, Largesse, Surecast (swap protect for this after cast).

For non Extreme / Savage content, although Largesse is useful, I don't really need it per se. That said, if I end up running into a fight where I do require it I'll toggle off on the skills I don't require like Protect (after casting).

Lucid Dreaming is not optional. It's the most mandatory cross role skill a healer can take.

So essentially I didn't catch the "Refresh" bit a few months ago so that is why I haven't been using it because I misread. When I decided to recheck all of the Role skills the other day I saw that and said to myself "So that's where my MP restoration went to".

Funnily enough, however, I was able to get by just fine using Assize and that one ability that let's you cast freely for a short bit. This'll just assure I always have MP.

[Raminax]

Snip!

I'd imagine that regularly playing with the same co-healer and thus learning to complement each other makes those kinds of shenanigans possible, along with having extensive knowledge of the fight in question.

Looking at some of the top spots on FFLogs in the Combined Healer DPS category, you can see that the top White Mages have more than half of their healing coming from Abilities for Alte Roite and Catastrophe. It does fall off for Halicarnassus and Neo Exdeath, but most of the time they're still pretty close to half of their healing being done by Abilities still.

Obviously, as mentioned, this requires flawless play from the rest of your group, a deep trust for your co-healer, a good feel for the damage flow of the encounter and a pinch of mad skills. Very few are blessed with all four, probably.

Personally, I use Largesse all the time, but less for emergency/healing worries and more for further enabling my DPS. Not that I'm a god or anything, but I try. :x

[Tridus]

It also depends on what you're doing. Triple pull in an expert where the DPS is slow killing stuff is going to require more GCD healing, since stuff is alive longer and there is no other healer to help out. Contrast that to O2N where you can go full minutes with the only GCD heal you cast being Regen and it's more than enough when paired with Tetra, Assize, Embrace, & Indom (last two are from your co healer of course ).

Using as few GCDs to heal as you can is a good goal, since it encourages optimum use of oGCD heals instead of saving them all the time and frees you up for more other actions. But it's not a baseline, as we can't realistically all do it on every encounter. It depends on what you're doing and who you're doing it with, among other factors. That makes Largesse awesome for some people and weak for others. For me, it's firmly in the "awesome" camp even if I don't press it as often as I should. YMMV.

[KokonoeAiyoko]

Yeah, I should just do the macro thing. Like, it's essentially Divine Seal and that's something I've been using since FFXI days. I do know how useful it can be.