Any tips on how to play scholar?

[M0rty]

I've recently got the scholar job and I wonder if there's any tips I can use on how to play the job more effectively.

[Tridus]

This thread had a lot of tips that might be helpful: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...SCH-%28Lv60%29

Is there something specific that you're having trouble with?

[M0rty]

This thread had a lot of tips that might be helpful: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...SCH-%28Lv60%29

Is there something specific that you're having trouble with?

Mostly being afraid to screw up and wipe my party. It's my first time playing as a healer in any MMO.

[Sebazy]

Don't sweat it too much at lower levels, the dungeons are pretty gentle at least up until Dusk Vigil at 51. Focus primarily on getting comfortable with your hotkeys and being able to fire off abilities without having to scan over your hotbars or keyboard for it.

Beyond that, try to get a feel for both you and your fairies healing throughput per cast. At the lower levels the fairy is a very strong co healer so don't be afraid to lean on them if you find yourself in a situation where you're needing to handle mechanics, cleanse stuff, throw a raise or even just want to dabble with DPSing.

On the subject of DPS, try to get a feel for getting value out of Bane. Miasma > Bio II > wait a second and then Bane. Doing this at the start across 3 or more mobs will contribute a very significant amount of damage across the run as a whole. If you want to pitch in, this is a great way to start.

[Valmaxian]

I just picked up SCH about a week ago myself, so I understand your concerns! For me, it helps if I remind myself to not forget that my fairy does a lot more than just cast Embrace. I use Rouse + Fey Illumination + Whispering Dawn ALL THE TIME - saves me tons of mana on expensive shields, and lets me DPS more. You'll definitely want to control your fairy manually. Also, if I'm working with a group I'm unfamiliar with, I'm a bit more conservative with my Aetherflow stacks until I'm confident that people are avoiding AoEs, and the tank is solid with their cooldowns. Otherwise, you might need that Aetherflow for Lustrates/Indomitability. Lastly, anticipating big incoming damage allows us to preemptively shield with either Adlo or Succor - a much better use for those abilities than acting reactively. That's how I think about SCH as opposed to WHM - Proactive vs. Reactive healing. I'm still a scrub SCH, so I'm sure others will chime in with some additional tips!

[Risvertasashi]

Mostly being afraid to screw up and wipe my party. It's my first time playing as a healer in any MMO.

From your forum profile stats... though I know it doesn't update quickly, it seems you're pretty new. So the basics then.

- Physick is your basic single target heal. A min/max technique is to let the fairy heal all it can and DPS instead of using this. But don't be afraid to use it as needed. Once you're level 50+, Lustrate is an off-global, instant heal that will save you time and MP.
- Adlo before big damage on the tank, also use it prepull if you want. If the tank is taking really heavy damage, alternate between this and physick. (You don't spam cast aldo because delay effects/snapshotting might result in a wasted shield. And if it crits... you don't want that wasted either.)
- Succor, ideally, *before* party-wide damage happens. This does, however, require you to know the fight somewhat. Focus target the boss so you can see when he might be casting something that hits the raid. Sacred Soil can not only be used to further reduce damage, but also as a cue for your party to stack up for those party heals.
- When you get Emergency Tactics, you can use that to turn Succor into a pure heal. But Indomitability is oGCD (off global), so ideally you probably want to use that. Until you get these abilities (and even after), Whispering Dawn is an excellent party heal. Whispering Dawn should always be paired with Rouse (they have the same cooldown timer).
- DPSing as a SCH is mostly about keeping your DoTs up (Bio/Bio2 and Miasma), and then filling with nukes (Ruin/Broil/Broil2, Ruin2 if you need to move). Bane and Shadowflare for AoE. Miasma 2 can be worth it on even 1 target if you're really trying to minmax DPS. But don't tunnel vision and forget to heal.
- Get in the habit now of using Aetherflow as soon as it's ready. When it's nearly ready, you might as well use Energy Drain to help keep your MP up if you still have unused stacks.

Welcome to the healing family. Good luck, have fun-- and don't let the inevitable bad experiences ruin the good ones.

[M0rty]

snip

Just bought the game...
But only the base game because I wanted to know if it was worth the sub

[Risvertasashi]

Just bought the game...
But only the base game because I wanted to know if it was worth the sub

Welcome to the game. If my previous post is using too much terminology or something, or if you have any more questions in general, feel free to ask.

[M0rty]

Ok so what does off global mean?

[Risvertasashi]

Ok so what does off global mean?

This game works on the basis of global cooldowns (aka GCD). This is a shared, 2.5 second cooldown between nearly all skills and spells. When you push physick, for example, you'll see the clock animation appear on most of your spells, not just physick. It might be more noticeable if you use swiftcast + physick -- even though Swiftcast made the spell instant, you're still locked out of casting most things until this global cooldown expires.

Off global, or oGCD skills/spells, aren't on this cooldown. This means you can use them even when you see that clock animation going. One of scholar's strengths is that it has a lot of off globals. They're also almost always instant, so you can use them while moving.

When you get Ruin 2, you might notice it's not stronger than Ruin and it costs more MP. But it's instant, so while you're waiting for that GCD to come off cooldown, you can use Energy Drain, Lustrate, Indomitability, or other such skills. (This technique is called oGCD weaving).

A practical example: Resurrect is a very long casting spell, so using Res with Swiftcast is a natural pairing. If someone in your party dies... let's say you swiftcast resurrect them. You can't cast normal spells for about 2.5 seconds because of the global cooldown... but you could still use Lustrate if you wanted to heal the tank before then.