New to healing in FFXIV, looking for WHM help

[Insomniaq]

I am quite new to healing in ffxiv, as i played DRG as my first job to get used to the gameplay of this, and then started leveling WHM as my 2nd. Have been playing for just over a week as WHM, have reached lvl 62 now and I'm loving it! The few mmo's i have played before this I was normally a healer.

That being said, now that i have started getting into lvl 50+ dungeons & trials, I have noticed the sharp increase in learning curve (something that didn't really hit me as my DRG because, ya know, as long as my hp was fine didn't pay much attention to debuffs etc) I am still not too confident in my abilities to try a raid so I will hold off on that for now.

I have had a decent success rate with most dungeons and trials, but others i have really struggled. Either the tank downed too quick, or the party just dropped as a whole before i could react. Can someone give me advice on keeping full parties up (cause sometimes the other healer just stands there or only does minor healing?) I really don't want to be one of those healers that people dread playing with as im really hoping to make this my main job.

Thanks in advance ^_^

[miraidensetsu]

Before anything, welcome to healing! \o/

To keep the parties up, the most important is not to let the tank drops. He don't need to be always topped, but make sure that he always have regen on after the pull. DPS'es normally only need some regen from time to time unless they miss a mechanic. In this case, a Regen/Medica II normally would be enough to top them again.

And don't save swiftcast just for ressing. Swiftcast holy is great for buying some time to heal the tank when he overpulled. Swiftcast Cure II is great when you need a quick heal and Tetra is on cooldown.

And don't be shy to use Assize. The only wrong way to use it is when it isn't on cooldown. Try to stay near the tank to do an AoE attack that's stronger than Holy but also heals everyone near AND recovers 10% of your MP. It's... Magic!

And take Cure 1 off your bar. You don't need it (unless you're healing leveling roulette, where it can give you some dungeon under level 30).

[Insomniaq]

Before anything, welcome to healing! \o/

To keep the parties up, the most important is not to let the tank drops. He don't need to be always topped, but make sure that he always have regen on after the pull. DPS'es normally only need some regen from time to time unless they miss a mechanic. In this case, a Regen/Medica II normally would be enough to top them again.

And don't save swiftcast just for ressing. Swiftcast holy is great for buying some time to heal the tank when he overpulled. Swiftcast Cure II is great when you need a quick heal and Tetra is on cooldown.

And don't be shy to use Assize. The only wrong way to use it is when it isn't on cooldown. Try to stay near the tank to do an AoE attack that's stronger than Holy but also heals everyone near AND recovers 10% of your MP. It's... Magic!

And take Cure 1 off your bar. You don't need it (unless you're healing leveling roulette, where it can give you some dungeon under level 30).

thank you ^_^ im looking forward to becoming a good healer

that being said, I LOVE ASSIZE! its an amazing skill.
But what about surecast? im not really sure where to use it? also, i use benediction as emergency for tank, which im sure its the right thing to do, but what about tetra? still a lil unsure when is the best time to use it.

Also, with regards to using a res macro, i find sometimes it doesnt trigger properly? my message is broadcast but i get an error? is there something i should change?
i cant remember the text i put in offhand but i can check when i get home (i know i shouldnt be using res if i keep party up but sometimes cant be avoided)

[Quinna]

I would kindly have to disagree about taking anything that can restore HP out of your tool kit at any level. I find myself using cure in a ton of situations in normal content and have saved an ass or two using it when the other heal is down and i'm out of MP during raid content when it's all i can spare to keep the tank up, hoping for the Cure II proc.

Also: Additional Effect: 15% chance next Cure II will cost no MP.
Also: Lilies

At 70, my normal cure is about 13k and crits are 20k Plus.

Your advice is great! Everyone takes some time to work in what works best for them Happy healing!

[Mansion]

Also, with regards to using a res macro, i find sometimes it doesnt trigger properly? my message is broadcast but i get an error? is there something i should change?
i cant remember the text i put in offhand but i can check when i get home (i know i shouldnt be using res if i keep party up but sometimes cant be avoided)

Welcome to healing

Macros become clunky as soon as you start queuing several abilities. I'd advise to manually use Swiftcast, then use a Macro that would look like :

/ac "Raise" <t>
/p Raising <t>

When your macro has both the Swiftcast and the Raise action, it's not efficient.


Regarding Tetragrammaton, use it where you would use a cure or cure II, basically. Healing abilities (Benediction, Assize, Tetragrammaton and later Plenary Indulgence) are instant and free. It's up to you to know where you are comfortable enough to use them, generally I use Benediction when the tank is below 25% and taking high damage, Tetragrammaton when the tank is between 30/60% hp, taking moderate damage.
The benefit of these being instant mean you can use them to save mana and time if you use them in your free GCD time (after Aero II or Regen). They are very situational so try to use them frequently, and you'll get used to your comfort zone.
You can use assize as soon as it is up, it's such a good ability and it comes back quite fast.

I'll agree with Quinna, Cure is still a decent GCD heal in endgame. I use it over Cure II for mana reasons, in general to top up a tank or a DPS before a damage that I know would be dangerous or lethal to them, where Cure II would be overheal. Highly situational anyway

[Driskus]

But what about surecast? im not really sure where to use it?

The main thing to use Surecast for is knockback prevention, but it can be used if you really need to get a spell off and are at risk of interruption from being attacked. If you see a boss casting a knockback ability and you don't want to get interrupted or knocked back, try and pop it a couple seconds before the knockback happens. Its great if you happen to find yourself in a bad position for one. It won't stop all of them, but it works on most knockback abilities you'll come across.

Also, don't be afraid to use Holy, especially on bigger pulls. Its extremely good mitigation until the stun resistance kicks in after about 3 casts. Swiftcasting it can buy you some time if the tank is dropping fast and mobs aren't already immune, and pairing it with Thin Air, you can get 4-5 casts in without using any MP at all, while doing an absolute ton of DPS. The more DPS you can fit in between heals without running your MP too low or letting people die, the better. There's less risk you'll end up in the "Spam Cure II endlessly" trap if at least some of the mobs are dead before the tank is out of cooldowns. Be sure to watch your enmity though.

Once you get the shield ability, Divine Benison, try to use it whenever you can. I like to toss it on the tank before they start a pull, and before tankbusters especially. It tends to take a couple seconds for it to actually take effect, so try and get it in about 2-3 seconds early if you know a big hit is coming. Its also nice if you or someone is stuck or forced into an AoE and won't be able to get out in time. It can prevent at least some of the damage. If you aren't already, use Eye for an Eye on the tank for the biggest pulls as well. Its RNG, but anything is better than nothing when the tank pulls too much.

Of course Rescue is also there, but it takes some getting used to the delay, and there are some players who will get mad even if its not being used to troll. I only use it if its blatantly obvious someone doesn't have a clue what they're doing, like running away with the stack marker, not dodging anything, not running from a proximity or charge AoE, etc.

[Dmhlucky]

A large portion of healing is also knowing the fights. Lets take the Ascian Trial for instance. As a healer, you should know when it casts Double/Triple that some cure bombs are coming up.
If you see a DPS, Not move away from an Incoming AoE, pop a regen, and prep a cure.
Its not always about reacting After the health is gone.

Manage your lilies and cool downs. Typically don't pop your 3 lily abilities back to back without getting at least one lily unless you absolutely have to.

Medica 2 is a great way to restore a large amount of health and/or keep all members topped off.

There are some instances where health drops like a rock, Boss 1 in Hullbreaker hard for Example, where the Scorp will DOT then Screw tail, typically KOing the person unless you are quick about Dot removal. Again, knowing the fight. If you are new to a dungeon/fight, it never hurts to say so. Often people will give advice, or say what to watch out for.

Unlike most jobs, there aren't rotations per say. Yes, build lilies then use those abilities, Refresh when MP low. Stick to cure 1 and regen and try to ride Free cure 2s. Medica 2 and throw in Aero 3, Stones and Holy when appropriate.

Just get to know the fights, you'll learn when its safe to Nuke, thin air is your friend here when you get it for Holy Spam, and you'll learn when you need to be on Esuna trigger finger.

Prioritize Debuff removal on the tank depending on the situation. Incoming damage move, Cure, normal attacks, Esuna. Yourself comes 2nd, depending on the Debuff.
Paralyze, Self > Healers > Tank > DPS
Poison, unless lethel, typically self first then lowest Hp targets next.
Def down debuffs tanks first then self > DPS
Atk down debuffs DPS > Self > Tanks
Slows/Heavy/Bind are all situational depending on whats going on, but target the character most likely to be harmed due to it.

MP management is crucial, you run out of MP, the party is likely to die. Here is where your abilities come in. Terra is a free cure, Benediction, free full cure, should give you a few "ticks" of mo restored. As much as they don't restore a Lot of MP, keep some ether/hi-ether/x-ether etc on you are all times. It may only be 1k MP, but that's a few cures worth that you didn't have before. And sometimes prolonging the fight a few seconds is all that's needed. If you have a Rdm/Blm/Brd/Mch, do't be afraid to let them know when you are getting low on MP, Most good ones will keep an eye out, but don't expect it.

Also, Food, Eat some kind of mage food. In no circumstance will it ever Hurt you. It will typically boost your HP (via vit) and give other decent stats. You can get decent food from the Grand companies/vendors, make your own, or hit the AH as a last resort.

If you have specific questions, or scenarios you'd like to bring up, feel free.

[Orbus]

Always prioritize your off gcd healing abilities over anything that has a cast time.
As a whm you have a ton of healing abilities that neither have a cast time or use mp.

Regen is your most mp efficient as well as your strongest single target gcd healing spell.

If you feel the need to pop a buff on yourself to help your healing, don't be afraid to use multiple at once.
An overhealed party is better than a dead one.
Presence of mind and thin air will let you swiftly spam medica/cureIII for free.

If you're gonna stack hots, power stack those suckers.
If you know repeated party wide damage is incoming hit your largess, drop an asylum and pre-cast medica II so it goes off after the first hit (or swift cast it), this will make something like repeated rhyme wreath spam much easier to deal with.

And if you're feeling particularly confident just use presence of mind to increase your own damage.

And lastly.... you can't heal through stupid.
If someone's going to stand in something that kills them, there isn't much you can do.
Yes you have rescue, but if someone needed to be rescued in the first place then it's probably going to happen again and again and your attention would be better focused on the people who aren't trying to commit suicide.

[miraidensetsu]

snip

About Cure I, the problem is that it isn't GCD efficient. Okay, it is cheaper, but do you really have MP problems at level 70? You have Assize recovering 10% of your MP every 45 seconds, you have Lucid Dreaming that you should leave it on cooldown anyways because of aggro management and increases your MP recovery and you have Thin Air, that lets you cast any spell for free during 12 seconds. You only have to think about MP in those moments when you spam Holy or if your party is dying left and right and you have to raise them. Also, Cure II gives lilies.

Moreover, you'll want to heal more using oGCDs like Tetragramaton, that have the same potency as Cure II, but is free and isn't proc-dependent. Assize now have a 400 potency healing, a little less than cure 1, but is AoE AND recover part of your MP AND does damage (400 potency AoE, stronger than your stones or Holy). Benediction have a longer cooldown, but it's the perfect panic button, because it recovers 100% of your target's HP. Literally the same as Full Cure on other Final Fantasy games, but with another name. It's also free. And after you used all free options, your party is most likely topped off or you'll want to use an AoE heal beforehand. And if you used an AoE heal, you'll want to use Plenary Indulgence, since the GCD AoE heals gives confession stacks, that enables PI to be used. And it is oGCD and it's free.

If you prefer to heal using Cure I, by all means, continue doing that. But for me it isn't efficient. If I use a Cure II (that healed ~18K+ if not crit and ~24k+ if crit with i360 equips and no investment in det materia) a single GCD would be enough to put a non-tank class into a comfortable situation if it doesn't top his HP. But if I the situation lets me (eg. no fatal damage coming for him), a regen is a even better option, since it costs a little higher than Cure 1 and have a 1,050 total potency. For you, that means 7 ticks of ~4.3k hp healed, generating ~30K HP in 21 seconds, consuming only 840MP, while 2 casts of Cure I generates 26K HP and costs an extra GCD (that could be used to heal anyone else or even throw more stones/pearls) and 1,200MP. If he's not tanking and is about 30%~40% HP, he will most likely be topped after Regen drops.

That's why I said to take Cure I off the bar. But thanks for pointing that.

[Ghishlain]

Since there's already a lot of pointers regarding kit utilization, I'll push my post to emphasize fight knowledge. A lot of trial fights in FFXIV are extremely scripted in nature. This means you'll know when all the tank busters (heavy single target damage) and raid busters (large AoE damage) will hit the table - which in turn means you'll know how to react / pro-act appropriately. Even though many dub WHM as the "reactive healer" you still want to time your heals to occur just as tank busters and raid busters hit the table to minimize risk. Which leads onto my next point - not everyone needs to be topped at 100% all the time.

There aren't many back to back raid busters in the game, so it's important to realize when you can let Medica II do your healing or when you need to out put more healing for the raid to keep up with the following busters.

Likewise, understanding the fight timelines ALSO allows you to realize when someone needs healing prior to a mechanic if they mess something up earlier in the fight. IE, someone takes avoidable damage so you top them up with Bene before the next raid buster hits in 3-5 seconds.

Understanding trial fights come with time and experience so don't be afraid of being more cautious when you first commence with healing. It's better to be safe than sorry. Once you understand a fight more and more, that gives you the opportunities to heal less and DPS more

In terms of dungeons, if you're in a level 50, 60, or 70 dungeon, be prepared for tanks to mass pull a ton of things and thus, also require a lot of healing. I think the hardest part is determining when a tank will start and when they'll stop as you want to try to avoid healing them when they're doing their pull or else you'll take hate and just make the pull harder to do. Usually, a good sign I see is when tanks just stop and start to use their AoE threat tool. The stopping is important as there are tanks that are good enough to use their AoE threat tools without stopping and just keep on running to the next pack. Dungeon knowledge will also help you in determining the extent of how far a tank can pull and just how much damage they'll be taking once they reach that point If they decide to pull everything.

At the end of the day, healing is about experience and awareness, so don't be afraid to be cautious initially until you can accumulate that experience then start to cultivate your awareness so you can see the other player's making mistakes before they realize what they're doing so you know how to fix it.

Good luck and happy healing