The White Mage and You: An attempt at a comprehensive guide
Firstly, I'm not a hardcore raider by any stretch of the imagination. I've been casually playing healing classes for 10 years, so I can find my way around a healing class fairly well by now (I think). This guide is primarily aimed at White Mages, but some of the information may be useful to Scholars and beyond. Also, this is my first attempt at writing any sort of class guide, so bear with me. :P
The White MageThe White Mage is a healing class that stems from a 30 Conjurer and 15 Arcanist. You can obtain the class change quest from the Conjurer's guild master in Gridania. Now onto the skills... (the Global Cooldown, or GCD, will be assumed to be 2.5 seconds. Spells with a cast time over 2.5 seconds will be calculated accordingly)
(No image due to image limit of 20 -_-)
Stone I (lv1) - Deals earth damage with a potency of 140. Additional Effect: Heavy +40% Duration: 20s (Cast Time: 2.5 Recast Time: 2.5 Range: 25)
(@50 this spell costs 133MP, dealing 1.05 potency per MP, and 140 potency per GCD.)
(no image due to image limit of 20 -_-)
Cure I (lv2) - Restores target's HP. Cure Potency: 400 Additional Effect: 15% chance next Cure II will cost no MP Duration: 15s(Cast Time: 2.5 Recast Time: 2.5 Range: 30)
(@50 this spell costs 133MP, healing 3.01 potency per MP, and 400 potency per GCD.)
Aero I (lv4) - Deals wind damage with a potency of 50. Additional Effect: Wind damage over time Potency: 25 Duration: 18s(Cast Time: Instant Recast Time: 2.5 Range: 25)
(@50 this spell costs 106MP, dealing 1.87 potency per MP over 18 seconds, and 200 potency per GCD over 18 seconds. This effect stacks with Aero II.)
Cleric Stance (lv6) - Swaps current INT and MND attribute ratings, while increasing potency of attack spells by 10% and reducing potency of healing spells by 20%. Effect ends upon reuse.(Cast Time: Instant Recast Time: 5 Range: Self)
This ability is off the GCD.
(Please make sure you don't have this up when trying to heal in a group setting. Any DoT spells you apply while this is in effect will continue to deal the bonus damage even if you cancel it. Also, canceling/activating this after casting Holy but before the spell detonation, has no impact on the spell; has to be be active/inactive BEFORE the cast.)
Protect (lv8) - Increases the physical defense of all party members within range of target. Duration: 30m(Cast Time: 3.0 Recast Time: 2.5 Range: 30)
(@50 this spell costs 266MP, this spell will be enhanced to also increase Magic Defense at lv16 for CNJ/WHM.)
Medica I (lv10) - Restores own HP and the HP of all nearby party members. Cure Potency: 300(Cast Time: 2.5 Recast Time: 2.5 Range: Self Radius: 15)
(@50 this spell costs 372MP, healing 0.81 potency per MP per target, and 300 potency per GCD per target.)
Raise (lv12) - Resurrects target to a weakened state.(Cast Time: 8.0 Recast Time: 2.5 Range: 30)
(@50 this spell costs 798MP, at lv28 CNJ/WHM this spell gets enhanced to allow its cast during combat.)
Fluid Aura (lv15 QUEST) - Deals water damage with a potency of 150. Additional Effect: 15-yalm knockback and Bind Duration: 6s(Cast Time: Instant Recast Time: 30 Range: 5)
This ability is off the GCD.
(@50 this spell costs 0MP, this spell will knock back the target directly away from your character.)
Esuna (lv18) - Removes a single detrimental effect from target. Additional Effect: 20% chance next Esuna will cost no MP(Cast Time: 1.0 Recast Time: 2.5 Range: 30)
(@50 this spell costs 186MP, this ability will only remove ONE detrimental effect per cast. Also, the 20% chance for free cast doesn't have a corresponding buff, so you can't tell when/for how long you will be able to benefit from the free cast.)
Stone II (lv22) - Deals earth damage with a potency of 170.(Cast Time: 2.5 Recast Time: 2.5 Range: 25)
(@50 this spell costs 159MP, dealing 1.07 potency per MP, and 170 potency per GCD.)
Repose (lv26) - Inflicts target with Sleep. Duration: 30s Cancels auto-attack upon execution.(Cast Time: 2.5 Recast Time: 2.5 Range: 30)
(@50 this spell costs 212MP, the duration of the sleep will halve in duration for each subsequent cast on the same target. Also, the target's enmity table will freeze while sleeping, so no new enmity can be generated on that target until the sleep is broken.)
Presence of Mind (lv30 WHM QUEST) - Increases spell speed. Duration: 10s(Cast Time: Instant Recast Time: 300 Range: Self)
This ability is off the GCD.
(@50 this spell costs 0MP, increased spell speed by about 15%.)
Cure II (lv30 QUEST) - Restores target's HP. Cure Potency: 650 Additional Effect: 15% chance next Cure III will restore critical HP Duration: 15s(Cast Time: 2.0 Recast Time: 2.5 Range: 30)
(@50 this spell costs 266MP, healing 2.44 potency per MP, and 650 potency per GCD.)
Stoneskin (lv34) - Creates a barrier around target that absorbs damage totaling 10% of target's maximum HP. Duration: 30m(Cast Time: 3.0 Recast Time: 2.5 Range: 30)
(@50 this spell costs 266MP, at lv36 CNJ/WHM this ability will be enhanced to absorb damage totaling 18% of target's max HP.)
Regen (lv35 WHM QUEST) - Grants healing over time effect to target. Cure Potency: 150 Duration: 21s(Cast Time: Instant Recast Time: 2.5 Range: 30)
(@50 this spell costs 186MP, healing 5.65 potency per MP over 21 seconds, and 1050 potency per GCD over 21 seconds.)
Shroud of Saints (lv38) - Reduces enmity by half. Additional Effect: Refresh Refresh Potency: 60 Duration: 15s(Cast Time: Instant Recast Time: 120 Range: Self)
This ability is off the GCD.
(@50 this spell costs 0MP, the enmity reduction is instant for all targets you currently have enmity on. This ability is enhanced at lv48 CNJ/WHM to increase the Refresh potency to 80. Refresh restores MP.)
Divine Seal (lv40 WHM QUEST) - Increases healing magic potency by 30%. Duration: 15s(Cast Time: Instant Recast Time: 60 Range: Self)
This ability is off the GCD.
(@50 this spell costs 0MP. If a Regen/Medica II is placed on a target while this is active, it will continue to heal for the increased amount until it expires, even if this wears off beforehand. Furthermore, Regen/Medica II casted while this is active CANNOT be overridden by the same spells without this active, as they will be less powerful.)
Cure III (lv42) - Restores HP of all party members within range of target. Cure Potency: 550(Cast Time: 2.5 Recast Time: 2.5 Range: 30 Radius: 4)
(@50 this spell costs 505MP, healing 1.09 potency per MP per target, and 550 potency per GCD per target.)
Holy (lv45 WHM QUEST) - Delivers a magic attack with a potency of 240 to all nearby enemies. Additional Effect: Stun Duration: 4s(Cast Time: 3.0 Recast Time: 2.5 Range: Self Radius: 8)
(@50 this spell costs 532MP, dealing 0.45 potency per MP per target, and 192 potency per GCD per target. The stun duration will reduce by half for each consecutive application on a target.)
Aero II (lv46) - Deals wind damage with a potency of 50. Additional Effect: Wind damage over time Potency: 40 Duration: 12s(Cast Time: 2.5 Recast Time: 2.5 Range: 25)
(@50 this spell costs 133MP, dealing 1.57 potency per MP over 12 seconds, and 210 potency per GCD over 12 seconds. This effect stacks with Aero I.)
Benediction (lv50 WHM QUEST) - Restores all of a target's HP.(Cast Time: Instant Recast Time: 300 Range: 30)
This ability is off the GCD.
(@50 this spell costs 0MP.)
Medica II (lv50) - Restores own HP and the HP of all nearby party members. Cure Potency: 200 Additional Effect: Regen Cure Potency: 100 Duration: 15s(Cast Time: 3.0 Recast Time: 2.5 Range: Self Radius: 20)
(@50 this spell costs 452MP, healing 1.55 potency per MP over 15 seconds per target, and 560 potency per GCD over 12 seconds per target.)
Solo PlaySoloing as a CNJ/WHM is lackluster at best. Firstly, you'll want to be in Cleric Stance, as this will drastically improve your ability to deal damage. For optimal potency per second (PPS? lol), you'll want to start off with Aero II followed up by Aero I, (then Thunder, if you crossed into it) then proceed to spam Stone II. If your DoTs wear off and the target is still over 50% HP, its worth it to reapply them. If you don't have Aero II, then start with a Stone I/II and an Aero immediately after, then spam Stone I/II. Sometimes its worth it to cast Stoneskin on yourself prior to pulling if you think you might get an add or its a higher level monster. If you are doing a quest or something where there are multiple monsters attacking you at once, you can use Sleep to make things easier (or spam Holy to make things more interesting). Don't forget that you can use Fluid Aura off the global cooldown to give your self a little boost to PPS as well as reduce damage taken via the knockback (nifty for interrupting spell casts too). Not much else to say about this.
Fate PlayDoing fates as a CNJ/WHM is usually easy. The main exception being Fates with a single boss, as we usually don't do enough damage to get gold solo. However, on escorts/kill many monster fates, just spamming Aero I on as many targets as possible is a pretty sure fire way to get gold. If you happen to have Holy and know where the monsters will be spawning from, you can get a little more XP by just standing there and spamming Holy (watch your MP, Holy drains it quick). If you decide to group to do Fates, you pretty much do what was said before BUT you now also need to pay attention to your group. Please heal and raise your party members when doing Fates. If you are doing a Fate and there are on a handful of you, it would be a good idea to form a group so you all can share each others participation as well as making it easier for you to keep track of their HP. If you decide not to group up, it would still be nice to pay attention to the HP of whoever the boss/monsters are targeting. When you have something selected, you can see their target to the right of their HP bar (along with their target's HP). Lastly, please don't kill lambs.
Group PlayThis is it, where you should be spending most of your time whilst a CNJ/WHM. Obviously your role is the heal and try to keep everyone alive. My first bit of advice: people WILL die, and there is (usually) nothing you can do about it, so don't get discouraged by it. Sometimes it will be your fault, sometimes not, just learn from it and move on. Don't feel bad if the tank or the damage dealer insists on standing in bad and dieing. Feel free to inform them of their wrongdoing, and if they persist, focus your attention on those that are doing their job correctly so your group has a higher chance at success. Now onto the gameplay parts.
I will be talking as if you are already level 50, or have the majority of the skills unlocked.- Pre-Pull: Make sure everyone has Protect, and it would be good practice to ensure that everyone also has Stoneskin. Outside of combat you will regenerate mana very quickly, and Stoneskin has a 30min duration so you don't need to worry about the cast being wasted. Furthermore, the damage absorbed by Stoneskin does NOT generate enmity, so it will help the tank grab agro since you won't need to heal for a few more seconds. This would also be the time to coordinate with your group on whether or not you will be using Sleep on any targets. If so, its helpful to mark the targets that will be slept.
- Trash: Sometimes trash monsters can hit the tank harder than bosses. I highly recommend you keep Regen up on the tank at ALL times after the pull (if you Stoneskin'd the tank, try and wait until Stoneskin drops). Regen is the most mana efficient spell you have, and sometimes it alone will be enough to keep your tank topped off on HP. Be aware of monster AoEs and whether or not one of your group members is about to get hit by one. If you are familiar with the instance and the damage the monsters can deal, you might be able to get away with just placing a Regen on the damaged members and letting them heal up slowly. If you are unfamiliar, it would be best to get them topped off quickly with a Cure I/II (depending on damage taken) since they may take damage again in a moment. If the Cure I/II won't be enough to top them off, but it will be close, I'd recommend following up the Cure with a Regen instead of another Cure (if time permits). If you had to sleep any targets, try and be away of the duration left on the sleep, and if you need to refresh it. If people are taking very little damage and the pull is under control, throwing in some damage spells to help speed up the run. Only switch to Cleric Stance if you are confident in your ability to manage it. If you get aggro from anything, please avoid running around like a chicken with your head cut off... Simply bring it to the nearest tank so that they can quickly peel the mobs off of you. If no such tank exists, feel free to Sleep/Shroud of Saints/Fluid Aura to keep the mobs off you as long as possible. Don't forget to use Sprint, CNJ/WHM currently has no use for TP outside of Sprint.
- Bosses: (Everything from the Trash sections applies here as well.) Please, please, please communicate with your group on your strategy for the boss. What the boss will be doing, when and how the group will react. If no one in the group is sure, a quick trip to Google could make the process much easier. If in a larger group (8+), talk with the other healers on who will be doing what. Some bosses may be doing huge AoE damage, in which the you might be focusing on Medica and Regen, and maybe the other healer(s) should be focusing on the tank. Or if there are a lot of debuffs in the fight, maybe designate one healer to debuff (so you don't all waste mana trying to cure the same debuff). Enmity is usually less of a problem for healers during boss fights, however, if there are intervals in which additional monsters spawn, it might be wise to have your Shroud of Saints ready to shave of some Enmity after a few seconds so the tank can grab them faster. Also, just like trash pulls, please don't run around in circles if you get aggro, please run towards the tank that is supposed to tank them so he can grab enmity. If you and your tank are comfortable with it, you can use Fluid Aura to quickly knock an add towards the tank. Finally, during all boss fights, please be aware of the environment. I know you'll be putting most of your attention on the group window, but the group window doesn't kill people, bad stuff on the ground does (usually). Stay on your toes, and if someone else is a little less nimble, be prepared to throw a heal on them should they decide that /dancing in bad is a good idea.
Enmity and OverhealingEnmity is how the monsters in this game choose who they will attack. All healing and damage done produces enmity. As a healer, it is of paramount importance to make sure you aren't overhealing TOO much, as overhealing will generate enmity the same as HP healed (overhealing is when you heal more than the target had lost, ie. The target suffered 100 damage and is brought down to 90% hp, you heal for 500; 100 of that actually heals the target bringing them back up to 100%, the other 400 is overhealing). In this game, it isn't difficult to generate more enmity than the tank as a healer. From a quick browse of the tank forums, its believe that damage and healing all generate lets say 1 enmity. So an attack dealing 100 damage generates 100 enmity on that target. Your heals work the same way, but your enmity is split evenly among all targets you are engaged with. Lets say your group is fighting three monsters and you heal someone for 100 (no overhealing); you will generate 33.3 (repeating, of course) enmity on each of those three targets. Now lets say your group is engaged to one target and the pull just started; the tank has only been able to generate 200 enmity on the target with their opening attack and BAM, you throw out a Medica... Assuming you're in a group of 4 people, and Medica is healing each target for around 200 (most of which will probably be overhealing), you now have (200 x 4 =) 800 enmity on that one mob, instantly pulling aggro. Addition: beneficial spells that don't restore HP (such as Protect and Esuna, excluding Stoneskin) will generate an enmity of 1 if casted on an engaged player. see this post for more information. Also, healing in this game scales more quickly than damage done, so when your tanks and damage dealers are doing maybe 200 damage per a second, you are capable of healing for 400 HP per a second. Be mindful of how much you are healing, and how quickly. Overhealing is never a good thing- its also wasteful, you could have spent less mana on a smaller heal and still gotten them to 100% HP. Despite all of this, its more important to keep everyone in your group alive then it is to manage your enmity, so don't be afraid to bust out the big heals if you need to. Its all about balance, doing enough healing to keep everyone alive and doing little enough to keep the monsters off of you. SIDE NOTE: Regardless of whether or not YOU are engaged with a target, if you have Regen/Medica II casted on someone, and THAT someone is engaged with a monster, you will generate enmity on that monster. So its usually a bad idea to have Regen on a target before the pull begins.
TODOA lot...
Information on stats and how they effect your healing/MP/HP.
A guide on pre-healing and proper use of Shroud of Saints (or at least a slightly more proper use)
Boss-by-boss strategies focused on the healing aspect
Class quest how-to (for the people struggling on the solo-instances)
Any questions, comments, concerns, or critique (good or bad) is welcome. Good luck and have fun in Eorzia.
(1)
Reply With Quote
