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  1. #1
    Old Odin
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    Seravi Edalborez
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    Titan

    Summoner / Scholar sort-of in-depth

    Tackling both at once because it seems redundant to list pet mechanics twice. That said my "expertise" is more in SCH than SMN so this is (unintentionally) a much more SCH-focused analysis than SMN.

    Let's get the 2 most pressing questions out of the way first since they're probably the most-asked about the class in general.

    How much micro-management do I need to do for pets?
    Not a lot. Really. If you're SMN you keep Garuda on Obey and use Contagion manually, wow you're done. If you're SCH, Selene does her buffs automatically, and Eos isn't much harder.

    How should I split my points / Can I play both effectively on the same character?
    You can probably get away with a 15/15 split for all current content. It's not an insignificant drop in stats though; you'd get this much INT or MND from, say, upgrading a couple pieces of AF to Darklight stuff. 4-5 pieces for a 30/0 "split".

    My advice would be to try and just pick one between them, max it out at 30 points, and fill your missing niche if you desire with either BLM or WHM. In my case I used to hate playing WHM and love SCH so it was a no-brainer.

    Table o' contents
    1) Class/Job Overview
    2) Pet Mechanics
    2a) DPS Caster Pet (Garuda / Emerald Carbuncle)
    2b) Tank Pet (Titan / Topaz Carbuncle)
    2c) DPS Melee Pet (Ifrit)
    2d) Healer Pet (Eos / Selene)
    2e) Expected Pet Strength + Tactics
    *Second Post*
    3) Game Mechanics: The Universal Buff Tick
    4) Aetherflow (yes it's that important)
    5) Playing the Job: Summoner
    6) Playing the Job: Scholar
    7) Macros
    8) Gearing Up
    9) Miscellaneous

    1) Class/Job Overview

    Arcanist is a Damage over Time (DoT)-based DPS class, with the pet being basically a free auto-attacker to further assist your DPS. Summoner provides extra DPS-focused abilities and is a very capable DPS class that, if it has any particular weakness, lacks a bit of "on-demand" burst damage. Scholar trades the damage focus+pet for extra healing abilities, the MND to actually use them, and a fairy pet that acts as an "autoattack heal". Scholar offers a few proactive defense buffs compared to White Mage, but lacks good AoE and burst healing power.

    You want to keep your DoTs up (Bio, Bio II, Miasma, Thunder usually, Shadow Flare usually) BEFORE you start spamming Ruin. Use buffs like Raging Strikes before casting dots and the effect will persist throughout the whole duration. You generally don't want to re-apply DoTs too soon, as this is generally GCD-inefficient, and instead use Ruin to fill in the gap spent by "waiting".

    You have Physick for some degree of healing, but contrary to what merely having access to this spell would have you believe, ACN has terrible MND. Strictly for dire emergencies or emergency self-healing. SCH is where your healing will actually mean something.

    Arcanists also have access to Aetherflow; a 60s cooldown non-GCD that refills 20% of your max MP and fuels a secondary resource for several other non-GCD abilities. Due to this, Arcanists and their jobs have good MP longevity.

    Arcanists and their jobs also have the semi-unique ability to revive dead players mid-battle. Only WHMs share this ability. All 3 can use Swiftcast + Raise/Resurrection, but Arcanists have the advantage of Aetherflow so it's a bit less taxing on MP. Summoner is also the only non-healer to have this going for them (SO USE IT SUMMONERS, PLEASE).

    2) Pet Mechanics

    Here's the tl;dr version at 50:

    SMN - Use Garuda, set to Obey, manually use Contagion when needed. Done.
    SCH - If Eos: Obey, use buffs as needed. Use for heal-intensive fights, solo healing, or "off-tanking"
    If Selene: Automatic is fine, Manual can be better. Can use for DPS checks; effect is magnified by how geared your DPS are.

    Let's go over the pet hotbar:

    Spoiler: show


    "Position" commands are pretty self-explanatory. Away unsummons, Heel makes it come to you (and is the default), Place summons a cursor for you to direct the summon to "go here and stay put", Stay makes them stay where they are and I can't say I've ever needed to use it over Place.

    "Stance" commands are the highest priority behavior check in what your summon does. Guard mode is the default; when you engage an enemy or an enemy engages you, your summon will engage it. Steady will make your summon not do this, instead just idling until you order them to attack or order an ability (either of which also switches it back to Guard). Fairies don't really engage enemies but being in Steady will restrict them to using only Embrace.

    "Attack Mode" commands are the secondary check if you're in Guard stance. These will make your summon engage a targeted enemy. Sic will let your pet engage the enemy and freely use all 4 of its abilities (behavior roughly outlined below), although you will be unable to manually order any pet actions. This is also called "Free Stance" in ingame error messages.. Obey will restrict it to using just the 3s cooldown attack. The Obey or Sic setting will continue to apply for any future enemies without your input until you log out.

    "Abilities"...best to cover those below. But these are what your summons... do. Summoners gain access to a 5th ability through use of Enkindle, but once you pop Enkindle the summon will just do the attack as soon as it can so it's not really affected by behavioral settings.

    Some things common to all summons:
    -As the master improves their stats, the summons' also increase. Magic damage on weapon is the largest influence, INT raises damage, MND raises fairy healing, VIT raises HP.
    -Summons take GREATLY reduced damage from most AoE attacks. For example, "you failed" ~10k Hellfire/Earthen Fury from hardmode primals will only do 2k-3k damage on them. Imminent Catastrophe from Amdapor Keep final boss will barely tickle them. That said, DoTs do not scale as well and being ganged up on will still take pets down quickly.
    -Anytime you (re)summon, pet will reset to "Heel, Guard, Free Stance". Resummoning also technically occurs when you zone. For brevity we're just gonna call this "summon check".
    -Anytime you summon check, the summons's stats are recalculated. That said, as long as you don't have to zone you can take advantage of this and wear a different set of gear for the summoning. Though currently this only seems useful for raising Titan's VIT.
    --In addition to zoning/resummoning, a summon check is also performed whenever you/pet use Spur, Fey Covenant, Fey Light, or Fey Glow.
    -Summon check only checks your raw stats + those given by gear. Temporary buffs liks Cleric Stance and attribute potions do not have any effect on summon stat changes.
    -If a summon gets sight/sound agro on an unengaged enemy before it can establish hate, the MASTER is the one who gets "first agro".
    -Actions that involve the pet (Sustain, Rouse, Spur) are done with the macro syntax <me>, but require the pet to be within line of sight and within the distance.
    -Going beyond a certain range from the pet causes it to be unsummoned.
    -"Place" is essentially "go here, then don't move". This is problematic with knockback because the priority is "don't move", not "return to where you were ordered". Keep this in mind.


    2a) DPS Caster Pet (Garuda / Emerald Carbuncle)

    Spoiler: show


    The first-given pet, and by 50 the best for basically any engagement for Summoners. Ranged attacker, keeps its distance unless ordered to move closer or has no line of sight. Summoners gain access to Garuda-Egi after the 2nd level 45 quest; Garuda-Egi is a straight upgrade from Emerald Carbuncle and retains the same moves at higher potency.

    Abilities (the names for Garuda's versions are used):
    Wind Blade - 100 potency ranged attack. 1s cast, 3s CD.
    Shockwave - 90 potency close range attack. Knocks most non-boss enemies back a fair distance, making it annoying in parties. Solo it's basically a free knockback for the master's safety. 90s CD
    Aerial Slash - 90 potency AoE attack. Garuda should generally always be on Obey so this probably won't get used outside of special situations. 30s CD
    Contagion - Extends duration of all active DoTs done by you on the target by 15 seconds. This is the #1 reason you want Garuda on Obey. Great with to use before Bane. 60s CD
    Aerial Blast - Enkindle ability. 250 potency AoE attack. Generally just a decent bit of bonus damage every 5 minutes. 300s (5min) CD.

    Obey behavior:
    -Wind Blade

    Sic behavior:
    -If enemy = within 5y, Shockwave
    -Contagion (regardless of number of DoTs)
    -Wind Blade
    -If on cooldown, Aerial Slash after Wind Blade.


    2b) Tank Pet (Titan / Topaz Carbuncle)

    Spoiler: show


    Second pet, main use is for solo or otherwise not-difficult content. Titan/Topaz has around twice as much HP as the other summons and deals ~1/3rd less damage. Has difficulty holding hate against players going all-out and no way of re-establishing instantly like with Provoke. Summoners gain access to Titan-Egi after the level 35 job quest; Titan-Egi is a straight upgrade from Topaz Carbuncle and retains the same moves at higher potency.

    Abilities (the names for Titan's versions are used):
    Titan will auto-attack engaged enemies every 3 seconds.
    Rock Buster - 85 potency attack. "4s" CD.
    Mountain Buster - 70 potency radial AoE. Will not use under Obey. 15s CD.
    Earthen Ward - Decreases damage done to Titan by 20% for 20s. 120s (2min) CD.
    Landslide - 70 potency stun attack. 40s CD. Stunning via pets is not instant and is not recommended to replace a player stunner.
    Earthen Fury - Enkindle ability. 200 potency radial AoE. Creates a 5 yalm radius area under Titan that inflicts a ~20 potency DoT to all enemies inside for 15 seconds (5 ticks)

    Obey behavior:
    -Rock Buster

    Sic behavior:
    -Earthen Ward whenever it's up
    -Rock Buster
    -If on cooldown, Mountain Buster after Rock Buster.
    -If on cooldown, Landslide after Rock Buster.


    2c) DPS Melee Pet (Ifrit)

    Spoiler: show


    Ifrit is exclusive to Summoners and given for the level 30 job quest. At the time you get him he's probably even with or maybe slightly better than Emerald Carbuncle. Once you get into endgame he is totally outclassed by Garuda for reasons explained later (spoilers: it's Contagion). If you make petmacros to make Ifrit spam Burning Strike faster he can at least compete a little with Garuda, but it's arguable that this is enough to make him relevant.

    Abilities:
    Ifrit will auto-attack engaged enemies every 3 seconds.
    Crimson Cyclone - 105 potency stun attack. 40s CD. Stunning via pets is not instant and is not recommended to replace a player stunner.
    Burning Strike - 120 potency attack. "4s" CD.
    Radiant Shield - Selfbuff for 20s, hits enemies that hit Ifrit with a 50 potency attack. Is garbage because Ifrit shouldn't be holding hate over you or anybody in general. Obey so he won't ever use this.
    Flaming Crush - 105 potency 3yalm AoE. The range is so short you probably need to Place Ifrit closer for it to not completely whiff.
    Inferno - Enkindle ability. 200 potency short cone AoE, also inflicts a 20 potency DoT for 15 seconds (5 ticks).

    Obey behavior:
    -Burning Strike

    Sic behavior:
    -Radiant Shield if up
    -Burning Strike
    -If on cooldown, Crimson Cyclone after Burning Strike
    -If on cooldown, Flaming Crush after Burning Strike


    2d) Healer Pet (Eos / Selene)

    Spoiler: show


    (Left: Selene, Right: Eos)

    Scholar pets. Eos "replaces" Emerald Carbuncle, Selene for Topaz. They are both have a single target heal. Eos' other abilities have a minor focus on party healing, while Selene's are a very slight DPS boost. If you have 2 SCH you might want to have both fairies.

    Abilities:
    Embrace (both) - Single target heal. 3s CD. Eos and Selene are equally potent with this heal.
    Whispering Dawn (Eos) - AoE regen. Have Eos on Obey so she doesn't pop this at the slightest nosebleed. Pair with Rouse always. 60s CD
    Fey Covenant (Eos) - 20% magic defense AoE buff for 20 seconds. 120s (2min) CD.
    Fey Illumination (Eos) - 20% heal potency AoE buff for 20 seconds. 120s (2min) CD.
    Silent Dusk (Selene) - Silence. 40s CD. Selene on Sic will attempt to Silence the first move with a cast bar regardless of whether or not it can actually be silenced.
    Fey Glow / Fey Light (Selene) - 30% spell speed / skill speed buff for the party, respectively. Both have 30s duration, 60s CD, and are mutually exclusive. When automatic, Selene will use Fey Glow first then apply Fey Light when Glow goes down.

    Obey behavior (Eos):
    -If any party member falls under ~80% HP and is in range/sight, Embrace.
    --Priority to master (and self?)

    Obey behavior (Selene):
    -If any party member falls under ~80% HP and is in range/sight, Embrace.
    --Priority to master (and self?)

    Sic behavior (Eos):
    -If any party member falls under ~95% HP, Fey Covenant
    -If any party member falls under ~90% HP, Whispering Dawn
    -Fey Illumination (this is why you don't leave her in Sic; because she uses this AFTER WD)
    -If any party member falls under ~80% HP and is in range/sight, Embrace.
    --Priority to master (and self?)

    Sic behavior (Selene):
    -Fey Glow (if Fey Light is not up)
    -Fey Light (if Fey Glow is not up)
    -If any party member falls under ~80% HP and is in range/sight, Embrace.
    --Priority to master (and self?)
    -(unsure of Silent Dusk priority)


    2e) Pet Tactics

    You're probably wondering why I keep saying Burning Strike and Rock Buster are 4 seconds when the tooltip says 3s. Well, just watch the icon and you'll get it. Pet waits a full second before actually using it when it's up. This is a huge issue for Ifrit and the #1 reason he can't compete with Garuda.

    That said, as stated in the Pet Mechanics foreward Garuda is astoundingly simple to control:
    -Set on Obey
    -Use Contagion after you apply all yer DoTs (Shadow Flare won't be affected since it's technically a "buff" on you)
    -???
    -Profit

    ---

    Scholar:

    If you use Selene, there's not really anything special you have to do for her. She uses her buffs automatically in Sic. That's not to say she's mediocre; if you're burning through enemies she can help that go just a little faster. Manual Selene just requires a little more effort.

    If you use Eos, put her on Obey. This is because she will use Whispering Dawn at the slightest papercut and generate a lot of hate for herself. On top of that, she doesn't use her healpot+ buff first unless the party is "engaged" before anyone gets said boo-boo.

    More proactive healers want to have Embrace as part of one of their heals in a macro, or otherwise on their hotbar. You may also want to have a macro for her Whispering Dawn routine and pop Rouse alongside it; both WD and Rouse share a 60s cooldown so both should be paired. See the macros section for more detail.

    Important note: Fairies are kind of stupid. They are purely reactive healers (and kind of late ones at that), where you (the SCH) or a WHM should be proactive healers. A tank can easily drop from 81+% to near-dead in some situations, but fairy won't lift a finger til he crosses that arbitrary threshold (unless you order it to manually heal). This is the main reason you'd want to consider manual Embrace; you just need to be willing to put in a little more work with your fairy since she won't do her buffs automatically anymore.

    Important note 2: Fairies are kind of blind. You really want to place fairies as close to tanks/melees as possible without also being in range of any AoE that will kill it or impair its ability to heal (paralysis, DoTs). If it is too far away and on Heel, it will generally not run over and heal the victim of abuse.

    One last thing about Eos: if you're clever you can use the regen hate to your advantage and, for example, have her tank various adds or trash pulls as they come up. This can help for positioning and hate stabilization: she should be solid enough to be a first pick over most healers in terms of hate generation, but also weak enough that a real tank can rip hate back if they want it.

  2. #2
    Old Odin
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Posts
    6,197
    BG Level
    8
    FFXIV Character
    Seravi Edalborez
    FFXIV Server
    Hyperion
    FFXI Server
    Titan

    3) Game Mechanics: The Universal Buff Tick

    This applies for basically every job, but SMN/SCH are probably one of the most affected by it. I'm not all-knowing about the ins and outs of FFXIV's coding so feel free to laugh if the following sounds unintentionally vague.

    Player-inflicted status effects (buffs, debuffs, Regen, DoTs) are not generally inflicted instantaneously. For most cases it's fast enough (within half a second) to not be a bother. But when you play enough you start to notice little things that impair your performance unless you account for them.

    1: DoTs and HoTs apply one "tick" every 3 seconds. Thus divide the duration by 3 and that's the number of ticks you should have. Using this it's easy to calculate net potency since it's just (Potency * [Duration/3])

    1a: Each player can have their own DoT or HoT on a target, but only one copy of a non-DoT/HoT de/buff can be up at a time. So you can have 5 Scholars all with Miasma, Bio II, Bio, Thunder, Aero, and Miasma II on the same enemy, but only one of the Succor/Adlo "shield" per player or one instance of Disease/Blind on the enemy. DoTs and HoTs will also be ticked at the same time on a given target.

    1b: This "tick" is also the natural HP/MP/TP regen tick. In combat this is about (??)% HP / 2% MP / 60 TP.

    2: DoTs are not applied instantly. Example DoT rotation for SMN: Miasma > Bio II > Bio > Fester/Bane. IF YOU APPLY FESTER/BANE ASAP, you will generally not have the Bio "count" as being inflicted because it was "too soon" for the server to recognize.

    3: Sacred Soil is not applied instantly. You must stand in the field created by SS for about 2-3 seconds before the -10% damage taken buff is applied. This buff will then persist for about 5 seconds even after you leave the field / the field fades. If you remain in the field it will keep "refreshing" itself behind the scenes.

    3a: On a more specific rule, the same applies to the Garuda EX Spiny Plume bubble. This is why some people can be dead inside the area depending on how late they went in.

    4: The shield effect from Adloquium and Succor is not instant. It seems to occur a little bit after the HP restored, and again this is part of that "universal buff tick" thing.

    4) Aetherflow (yes it's that important)

    Spoiler: show
    Aetherflow isn't that complicated but it, like pets, are easier to talk about once in regards to both jobs rather than twice with slightly different wording.

    Gained at level 6, Aetherflow is a non-GCD action that instantly fills 20% max MP. This scales with any increases from PIE or otherwise boosted MP. This is one of the big perks of playing Scholar as a healer over White Mage: easier time with MP management (though this has drawbacks but that's for the SCH section).

    Aetherflow has a secondary aspect: using it generates a "stack" of Aetherflow for use with several other non-GCD abilities. If I call these "charges" assume I mean "stack". Traits at level 20 and 40 allow for an additional charge each, and Aetherflow always gives you max charges every time it's used. Thus part of your routine at max level will be to effectively utilize the 3 charges given per 60 seconds so you can keep using Aetherflow every minute as soon as it's up, keep the MP flowing, and keep using the good stuff.

    Any action that says "only available when under the effect of Aetherflow" consumes 1 charge.

    Energy Drain - Available to both jobs. 3s CD. Deals a 150 potency attack, heals self for half the HP damaged (negligible), and restores a static amount of MP (266 MP at 50). This is Scholar's sole direct offensive use of Aetherflow and another good source of bonus MP if you have nothing else to do with charges. Summoner can and should remember this exists sometimes even though they have more enticing options.

    Bane - Available to both jobs. Spreads all existing Bio, Bio II, and Miasma debuffs done by the user to enemies within 8 yalms of the target. The distance is not that bad, but you'll need to get a good feel for it. Summoner can get a decent bonus out of it by using Contagion before Bane.

    Some things to keep in mind about Bane:
    -Can only spread to 3 other targets maximum
    -A lower duration copy of the same DoT spread by Bane will overwrite one with higher duration (10s Bio II overwrites 29s)
    -Bane spreads the DoTs at the potency they were cast at; applying Raging Strikes, Cleric Stance etc for Bane itself does nothing.

    Fester - SMN only. 10s CD. Inflicts an attack with 100 potency for each one of Bio, Bio II, and Miasma you have on the target (so ideally 300 anytime you use it). Generally best use of Aether charges on SMN.

    Sacred Soil - SCH only. 30s CD. Creates a field with 8 yalm radius and 15s duration, any party members inside will gain a buff reducing all damage taken by 10%. The buff is not applied instantly; takes ~2 seconds to come up after the field is popped. The buff itself will persist for ~5 seconds after leaving the field or the field fading. Effective use of this is going to depend on the SCH knowing the fight and using it well in advance, since on-reaction will generally be way too slow. Soil also has a 20% chance to give you 1 free cast of Succor for the next 15 seconds.

    Lustrate - SCH only. 1s CD. Instantly fills 25% of target's max HP. This is basically SCH's only "oh shit" heal, since it's instant cast and off the GCD. That said, Physick is going to do about as much as Lustrate on a non-tank so keep that in mind if it's not an emergency. There should not be any need to really spam it because if you really need it that much you're probably going to have problems without any charges for the next minute. Bypasses all instances of debuffs that nerf healing potency on the target, like Siren's Lunatic Voice or Siren's Song, Hydra's breaths, or Twintania's Death Sentence.


    5) Playing the Job: Summoner

    tl;dr: Keep up your DoTs. If you have any major DoTs down don't spam Ruin you idiot (unless it's trash mobs that won't live long enough to matter). Remember you're the only DPS with battle-raise so dead people (especially dead HEALERS) are your problem too.

    Spoiler: show
    Below assumes you're using Garuda and know how to use her as outlined in the pet mechanics tl;dr.

    5a) Cross class stuff:
    Raging Strikes - Get this you have no excuse
    Quelling Strikes - Not quite as vital since your hate is kind of split between you and your summon.
    Swiftcast - GET THIS GET THIS GET THIS HOLY SHIT DO NOT PLAY ENDGAME CONTENT WITHOUT THIS. Importance of this cannot be overstated. Swiftrez, swiftsummon, swiftShadowflare. If you don't have this you're honestly a waste of a party slot.
    Blizzard II - Kind of pointless considering SMN gets the far better Tri-Disaster for the few instances it needs Bind. It is marginally more damaging per GCD than Ruin if there are 2+ enemies.

    The last slot doesn't really matter. Surecast is borderline useless, and Hawk's Eye shouldn't be absolutely necessary for any situation as you only need accuracy for Coil, where your gear should be mapped out in such a way that you never need to rely on this.

    5b) Spells
    Let's quickly go over the net potency of SMN's major GCDs (highest to lowest):

    Bio II: 350 (35 pot, 30s)
    Miasma: 300 (20 upfront + 35 potency, 24s)
    Shadow Flare: 250 (25 pot, 30s)
    Bio: 240 (40 potency, 18s duration)
    Ruin / Ruin II: 80
    Miasma II: 70 (20 upfront + 10 potency, 15s duration)

    Or if you want a "DoT acceleration" table:
    Code:
    Ticks  | 1  | 2   | 3   | 4   | 5   | 6   | 7   | 8   | 9   | 10
    Bio2   | 35 | 70  | 105 | 140 | 175 | 210 | 245 | 280 | 315 | 350
    Miasma | 55 | 90  | 125 | 160 | 195 | 230 | 265 | 300
    SFlare | 25 | 50  | 75  | 100 | 125 | 150 | 175 | 200 | 225 | 250
    Bio    | 40 | 80  | 120 | 160 | 200 | 240
    Do not use Ruin if anything above is down. Do not use Miasma II unless you're going to hit more than 1 target or you can Contagion it. It's less efficient per GCD compared to Ruin.

    Typically people do Bio2 > Miasma > Bio (wait a half second) > Fester/Bane and go from there.

    Some spell-specific notes:
    -Bio, Ruin II, and Miasma II are all instant-cast. You can therefore use these while moving. Handy to know if you need to dodge.
    -Shadow Flare is slower to cast than other DoTs so I typically pair it with Swiftcast when possible.
    -Try to not be obnoxious with Shadow Flare placement. It only has to touch an enemy's target ring under their feet to count as hitting them. Give melee and especially tanks the courtesy of not obscuring red AoE cones of death when possible. This can also help when you want it to only hit a specific enemy and not all of them.

    There's not really much else to say on the master's part for straight damage. Use Fester whenever it's up unless the fight can benefit from Bane or MP is low (Energy Drain). Apply Raging Strikes whenever possible and nail as many DoTs with it as you can. Pop Spur and Rouse whenever they are up, if you can pair them both with Enkindle all the better.

    5c) Misc.

    Feel free to use your support options too. Eye for an Eye is good to throw on the tank if another healers' is down. Arcanist-native Virus also has the INT down aspect applied to it, making it useful for mitigating unavoidable magic damage such as from Titan's stomps.

    Tri-Disaster has at least one situational use that I know of: binding Garuda HM's plumes during the phase 1 portion of the fight.

    Pop Sustain if pet is taking a beating, don't resort to healing it with Physick unless you have to (even then it might just be better to resummon it).


    6) Playing the Job: Scholar

    tl;dr: Don't be afraid to trust your fairy on easier fights. Make effective use of Cleric Stance to reduce amount the healing you need to do by killing stuff faster. Adlo is really effective but don't spam it - use it to supplement Physick.

    Spoiler: show
    Below assumes you're using Eos and know how to use her as outlined in the pet mechanics tl;dr and indepth.

    Scholar is a pretty major paradigm shift from Arcanist in that its heals are now actually worth a damn. That said you still have all of the old DoTs from Arcanist (plus Aero, when compared to SMN) so when you have a chance:

    Code:
    Ticks  | 1  | 2   | 3   | 4   | 5   | 6   | 7   | 8   | 9   | 10
    Bio2   | 35 | 70  | 105 | 140 | 175 | 210 | 245 | 280 | 315 | 350
    Miasma | 55 | 90  | 125 | 160 | 195 | 230 | 265 | 300
    SFlare | 25 | 50  | 75  | 100 | 125 | 150 | 175 | 200 | 225 | 250
    Bio    | 40 | 80  | 120 | 160 | 200 | 240
    Aero   | 75 | 100 | 125 | 150 | 175 | 200
    6a) Cross class stuff:
    Swiftcast - GET THIS GET THIS GET THIS HOLY SHIT DO NOT PLAY ENDGAME CONTENT WITHOUT THIS. Importance of this cannot be overstated. Swiftrez, swiftsummon, swiftShadowflare. If you don't have this you're honestly a waste of a party slot.
    Cleric Stance - This is how you DPS as a healer and believe me your damage isn't a total joke just because you're a healer.
    Protect - Not essential since you should be paired with a WHM at 50 8man content, but you're gonna want it as a solo healer in 4man content so I just keep it set.
    Stoneskin - Not as good as WHM's 18% shield, but you're probably going to have less to do than a WHM and it doesn't hurt to throw it up in advance occasionally.
    Aero - 200 net potency, making it our lowest non-Miasma II DoT. It's cheap and instant cast though.

    Cure is identical to Physick.
    Raise is worse than our Resurrection since it has no trait crossclass, pointless.
    Surecast is garbage outside of a few very specific instances where it's not even necessary.
    Blizzard II is kind of pointless but I guess if you really need an 8s bind for whatever reason, it's there. Also marginally more powerful per GCD than Ruin if you are using it on 2+ mobs.

    6b) Spells
    DoTing in Cleric Stance is not a joke. You can push some pretty decent numbers on fights that don't require constant healing. If you ever need to give an emergency heal and can't immediately get out of Cleric Stance, that's one good use of Lustrate. That said, one issue in most endgame fights (First Coil and 2.2 content) is that low accuracy limits our capacity to DPS. But Bio and Bio2 have perfect accuracy and merely maintaining them every so often is a not-insignificant amount of DPS even in the hardest of fights.

    Adloquium and Succor: the amount these heal is also applied as a "shield" for the next 30s (or until that damage is dealt). In the case of Adloquium, the amount is doubled if the heal crits. That said, a shield cannot be overwritten by a weaker strength shield. So while say the first cast of Succor will have a net potency of 300*8 (150 heal, 150 shield), the next cast if done right away will be a lot less since you're probably not giving everyone a fresh shield. That said, short of Eos' Rouse+FeyIllu+Whispering Dawn it's our only option for AoE healing.

    Personally I use Adloquium anytime I would use Stoneskin (if it had a comparable cast time to Cure and the like) or Cure II as a WHM; it is simultaneously our most potent heal (600 potency including shield, more if critical, compared to Cure II's 650) and a great topper-offer that won't often "overheal". It's not recommended to only use Adlo because it's a significantly higher MP drain than Physick.

    Do not forget to keep using Aetherflow and your charges. In very heated fights it can be difficult to keep remembering if you're new or otherwise edgy from curebombing. This will lead to low MP, which leads to hate, which leads to suffering.

    It is absolutely not necessary, but making macros for manual Embrace is helpful. Consult the macros section for more.

    6c) "Prehealing" and "Castmoving"
    If you notice, there is a very slight delay after a heal/Lustrate before the HP+ is actually registered. Additionally, if you time a heal such that it hits immediately after a big attack (Death Sentence, Mountain Buster, etc), it can "look" like a target took less damage because the heal was so precise. This is prehealing, and knowing how to do this makes your party thankful you're the healer.

    This applies for AoE too, the most prominent early example being Titan. When you know stomps is coming, do not wait for the first stomps before STARTING to cast Succor. Have it up already, then by the time he puts his foot down your "first" cast should be nearly done. This puts you a bit ahead of the damage.

    Somewhat related, there is a very brief period at the start and end of spells where you can move and still have it proceed normally. This can help you milk an extra cast before you "have to" dodge, or get you in the mode to cast right after dodging rather than wait to reposition. A brief video example can be seen here


    7) Macros

    Spoiler: show
    First, a brief mention of keybinding. The most important thing with your keybinds, no matter how you prefer it, is to do the following:
    -Have instant-cast spells and non-GCDs in places you can easily reach WHILE MOVING. The big perk to these spells is that they can be done while moving. So not doing so is kind of wasteful.
    -Have things you use a lot in places you can easily do them (duh).

    It's highly recommended to hit your facetarget keybind (default: F) when you are casting offensive spells. This keeps your facing as you cast, to an extent. I do not recommend putting it in a macro with a GCD (or if you do, not in every one) because this will marginally slow your casting queue times.

    An important note about macros with /wait timers: If you hit another macro, any previous macro is cancelled. So if you prefer the Embrace+Physick macro, the auto-Embrace variation will be pretty useless to you. Likewise, if you want to cancel a macro it's good to either have a "blank" macro handy or just be able to hit one that won't impact performance. For example I'll usually just use the Virus+Eye macro on myself as a cancel.

    As for macros, I only use a few:

    Virus+Eye button saver
    /micon "Virus"
    /ac "Virus" <t>
    /ac "Eye for an Eye" <t>

    Self explanatory, these never have a conflicting target so it's a good spam button for whatever you need at the time.

    --

    Summoner macros:

    Contagion redundancy button:
    /micon "Contagion" pet
    /pac "Contagion" <t> <wait.1>
    /pac "Contagion" <t> <wait.1>
    ...repeat for however many lines you desire
    /pac "Contagion" <t>

    Aerial Slash redundancy button:
    /micon "Aerial Slash" pet
    /pac "Aerial Slash" <t> <wait.1>
    /pac "Aerial Slash" <t> <wait.1>
    ...repeat for however many lines you desire
    /pac "Aerial Slash" <t>

    Macros such as this mostly save on spamming a pet command waiting for it to finally come out. Not totally required, and generally if you use the manual non-macro'd action it will queue up eventually.

    /micon "Spur"
    /ac "Rouse" <me>
    /ac "Spur" <me>

    Saves space if you need it.

    --

    Scholar macros:

    Embrace variation: (I have 2 other copies of this with <2> and <3> replacing <f>; see this post for a brief explanation)
    /micon "Embrace" pet
    /pac "Embrace" <f> <wait.2>
    /pac "Embrace" <f> <wait.2>
    /pac "Embrace" <f> <wait.2>
    /pac "Embrace" <f> <wait.2>
    /pac "Embrace" <f> <wait.2>
    /pac "Embrace" <f> <wait.2>
    /pac "Embrace" <f> <wait.2>
    /pac "Embrace" <f> <wait.2>
    /pac "Embrace" <f> <wait.2>
    /pac "Embrace" <f> <wait.2>
    /pac "Embrace" <f> <wait.2>
    /pac "Embrace" <f> <wait.2>
    /pac "Embrace" <f>
    /echo <se.15> Reapply Embrace! <se.15>

    *That's 13 lines of Embrace, if you're hard of counting.
    *In practice every other line will go off, the other half is there for redundancy and to account for possible delays.
    *The <2> and <3> versions I omit /micon and add another line, using the "2" and "3" custom icons. Mainly because I keep <2> handy at all times while I swap between <3> and <f> for different fights.

    --

    The common Embrace+heal macro:
    /pac "Embrace" <t>
    /ac "Physick" <t>

    I don't personally use this one, but I know some prefer this way.

    --

    Selene silence:
    /micon "Silent Dusk" pet
    /pac "Stay" <me>
    /pac "Silent Dusk" <f>
    /pac "Silent Dusk" <t>

    This will make Selene stop what she was doing and silence NOW, making it the best way to have her silence reliably. Heel can also be used but it's only effective if she was already standing next to you. Otherwise she will fly over to you before silencing, generally.

    --

    Selene+Eos combo buttons:
    /micon "Fey Covenant" pet
    /pac "Fey Covenant" <p>
    /pac "Fey Glow" <p> <wait.1>
    /pac "Fey Covenant" <p>
    /pac "Fey Glow" <p> <wait.1>
    /pac "Fey Covenant" <p>
    /pac "Fey Glow" <p> <wait.1>
    /pac "Fey Covenant" <p>
    /pac "Fey Glow" <p>

    /micon "Fey Light" pet
    /pac "Fey Light" <p>
    /pac "Fey Illumination" <p>
    /pac "Whispering Dawn" <p> <wait.1>
    /pac "Fey Light" <p>
    /pac "Fey Illumination" <p>
    /pac "Whispering Dawn" <p> <wait.1>
    /pac "Fey Light" <p>
    /pac "Fey Illumination" <p>
    /pac "Whispering Dawn" <p> <wait.1>
    /pac "Fey Light" <p>
    /pac "Fey Illumination" <p>
    /pac "Whispering Dawn" <p>

    Allows you to use less macros but cover both pets.


    8) Gearing Up

    Spoiler: show
    General stat priority:

    SMN: Weapon damage > INT (ilvl) > Accuracy to cap* > Crit/Determination >>> Spell Speed
    *~432 accuracy for Binding Coil 1-5; 450? is needed get 100% accuracy for Garuda-Egi.
    *~470 for Leviathan EX, Turn 6, and Turn 7
    *~485-490(?) for Turn 8/9

    SCH: Weapon damage > MND (ilvl) > Crit > PIE > Determination/Speed

    Weapon damage is the single biggest boost to anything you do. If you want to assign a rough ballpark value to it, 1 DMG = ~7 primary stat. Speed is generally accepted to be the least beneficial secondary stat for both jobs; faster GCD doesn't mean much when DoTs have fixed duration.

    For Scholar, Crit is an obvious choice for secondary stat focus but really MND trumps all and anything that follows doesn't matter as much.

    Summoner i90:
    For Allagan/Zenith book:
    Quote Originally Posted by SamanosukeShiva View Post
    Myth: hat -> gloves/body -> neck/ring/bracers
    Coil: legs/feet/belt
    Primals: ring/earring
    For Omnitome
    Quote Originally Posted by Lokus View Post
    Myth: Head - Body - Neck - Ring - Bracelets
    Coil: Hands - Belt - Legs - Feet - Earring
    Primal: Ring
    Scholar i90:
    Weapon i90+: Allagan (+2dmg, 39crit/19det) > Omnilex Zenith (speed37/det18) = Cognitome (speed26/PIE28)

    Weapon i80: Greater Key of Titan (PIE/det) > Omnilex (speed/det)

    Head: Myth/Allagan (PIE11/det15)
    Body: Myth (PIE26/crit24) > Allagan (PIE26/det17)
    Hands: Allagan (PIE16/crit15) > Myth (PIE16/speed15)
    Waist: Myth (PIE8/crit16) > Allagan (PIE12/speed11)
    Legs: Myth/Allagan (PIE26/crit24)
    Feet: Myth (PIE16/speed15) > Allagan (PIE11/speed21)

    Neck: Myth (PIE12/crit11) > Allagan (PIE8/det11)
    Ear: Myth (PIE8/crit16) > Allagan (PIE12/det8) > Tremor (PIE8/speed16)
    Wrist: Myth (PIE12/crit11) > Inferno (PIE8/det11) > Allagan (PIE8/speed16)
    Ring1: Myth (PIE8/crit16)
    Ring2: Allagan (PIE12/det8) ~= Vortex (det11/speed11)

    If you want to be more det-focused than crit, swap Myth body/neck/ear with Allagan, swap wrist to Inferno, and possible trade Myth ring for Vortex.


    Summoner i110:
    To be verified; see accuracy priority above

    Scholar i110:
    Soldiery: Head/Body/Belt/Legs/Feet//Ring
    High Allagan: Weapon/Ear/Wrist/Ring
    Either*: Hands/Neck
    *I personally prefer High Allagan hands and Daystar neck, for the PIE in both cases.

    Scholar accuracy DPS build:

    i90 crafted head/hands/feet/belt with Accuracy max melded, and eat Stuffed Cabbage. Remaining slots can be pretty much whatever but anything i100+ (has small amounts of accuracy) is welcome. If you feel dedicated enough, a Omnilex Novus with accuracy infused can also be a big help. 480 is needed for turns 8 and 9 at perfect accuracy, but can use less. Remember that Bio, Bio 2, and Shadow Flare cannot miss.

    9) Miscellaneous

    -When spread via Bane, slept/bound targets do not wake up.
    --As of 2.1, Shadow Flare will break sleep/bind

    -Sacred Soil and Shadow Flare cannot be used simultaneously by the same Scholar. This can be advantageous if you use Shadow Flare to pull something just a little too far and don't want the field to accidentally hit something else.

    -Since the improved summons and fairies are direct alterations to the Summon and Summon II spells rather than exclusive 30+ abilities, Summoner and Scholar can be used in dungeons lower than level 30 to great effect.

    ----

    Edit log:
    Spoiler: show

    Edit: Added section 9 because I forgot some random stuff.
    Edit2: Bane testing stuff added to Bane section about Bane.
    Edit3: Made more mentions about using Selene, small blurb about using Whispering Dawn's agro "problems" intentionally (pet strength), made mention of fairy placement on AK final boss (tips), edited out faulty healing macro
    Edit4: Edited out AK final boss tip (not that helpful), added link to mini-AK writeup for SCHs
    Edit5: BiS list added for SCH as of patch 2.1
    Edit6: Updated macros, BiS adjusted, most mentions of fairy choice adjusted to prefer Selene, changed pet mechanics section in accordance with 2.1's changes.
    Edit7: General cleanup, added subsections to "Playing the Job", cut excess verbiage.
    Edit8: Adjusted pet macros section.
    Edit9 (2/19/2014): More cleanup, spoilered some stuff for readability.
    Edit10 (2/25/2014): Macro adjustments.
    Edit11 (4/20/2014): Macro adjustments, editing gear section
    Edit12 (7/12/2014): Macro adjustments, editing gear section

  3. #3
    Physicist
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    Thank you for this!

  4. #4
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    As a SCH do I need to be in Cleric Stance to Bane or will it use the boosted damage so long as the DoTs were cast in Cleric? Not often the situation really comes up but I can't tell if I'm wasting my time swapping or not. Also not a question but fuck fairies not curing tanks that are a decent distance away. Only just picked up SCH and fairy constantly ignores tank already since he's constantly repositioning around puddles. Can't think of any other fights like this at least...

  5. #5

    Quote Originally Posted by Kiarax View Post
    fuck fairies
    Not this again...

    Joking aside, you should put Embrace on your hotbar. It completely changed SCH for me.

  6. #6
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    Yeah I have done, it's just annoying watching it sit there doing nothing then it doesn't even move when I manually cast it, tank was in range the entire time.

    Another thing I meant to ask, does Cleric Stance matter when summoning/zoning? I did a quick test and numbers were around the same but my MND/INT are super close at this level, definitely doesn't seem to suffer the cure penalty but my gf seems to think it lowers cures by some degree.

  7. #7
    Old Odin
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    I actually don't know offhand if you need Cleric up for Bane.

    Summon check ignores buffs (including Cleric Stance and say MND potions). Only checks your raw stats + gear. Edited that into the pet mechanics section.

  8. #8

    Thank you so much! I am pre lv 50 but just about to go there so it is good to get a preview of the abilities that I will have access to past lv 40.

    Lots of clarification for stuff I was wondering about but didn't trust my instincts on. Spent a good amount of time practicing with lv 1 training dummy before I read this but was kind of just trying to understand the placement commands for pets and what they were for.. so your guide gives me more substance to try it again with more insight on what to practice and what things mean/do before I try them.

    Also, really easy to understand and great structure/flow to the way you mapped out the guide.

  9. #9
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    Not sure if people know this and I'm always confused when people put fairy on steady mode but you can put them in Obey mode and all they will do is Embrace leaving you to manage their CDs.

    They will hold position after an Obey command so you actually have to hit Obey >> Heel and this will make them only use Embrace. No further commands needed.

  10. #10
    Old Odin
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    So you're saying Eos doesn't spam Whispering Dawn when you have her on Obey? Last I checked mine did.

    Edit: Just went out and checked. Obey > Heel. Eos still does WD. Though now I know she does it at 90% so that's something.

  11. #11
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    OK you have to actually target a mob and use the Obey command or the command is Ignored. Forgot that part. Since you are telling the fairy to atk, Obey command needs a target to atk.

  12. #12
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    I know. I wrote that.

    Still didn't work for me. It's the whole reason I bother with Steady and advise others to. Because she keeps using Whispering Dawn on Obey. I don't really care about the other ones (which she doesn't do on Obey).

  13. #13
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    Nearly all of your posts are helpful and thoughtful, this one in particular. Thanks for making BG a better place!

  14. #14
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    Great posts. One small thing about Bane is that it can also reset the timer on those 3 DoTs and if Contagion was applied it'll reset to their max. timer+ Contagion bonus. Although the delay between hitting Contagion and Garuda actually doing it is way too long sometimes <_<

  15. #15
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    I'm not 100% but Bane seems to have a hard cap of 3 targets (4 if you include the target mob) from eyeballing it, might be worth mentioning in OP after more confirmation.

  16. #16
    Daniel Rand
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    Thanks for this

  17. #17

    *Hawk's Eye does nothing for SMN, it increases physical attack accuracy.

    Like some other jobs SMN literally has only 5 cross class skills ever worth using.

  18. #18
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    I was more shit-talking Surecast than praising Hawk's Eye, but will make that less ambiguous after I do some silly Bane tests for that target limit thing.

    Edit: Yep, will only spread from main target to 3 others. Gonna edit that in.

    Tested a few other things as well:
    -Cleric > Bio > Cleric off > Bane, Bane'd targets still had Cleric potency.
    -Lower duration dots spread by Bane WILL overwrite those with higher duration (10s BioII overwrote 29s)

  19. #19

    A few things about the Fairy:

    Firstly, USE PLACE. ALWAYS use Place. ALWAYS ALWAYS PLACE THE FAIRY. Annoying? Good. Place her! For whatever reason, if the Fairy is set to place, she will Chain-cast Embrace on anyone <80%. Did you place her behind the pillar on the last AK boss so she doesn't get hit by the AOE (not that it really hurts her) and someone gets hurt whose LOSing her? The Fairy will move so she can cast, and then move back to where she was!

    I honestly cannot stress enough that you MUST place her. Standing near the tank won't cut it. Don't believe me? Go run AK with her Placed near the tank then run it doing anything else. She can solo heal the entire dungeon if she's Placed. Place her behind the final boss so she keeps triggering Tail Swipe and you can stay in Cleric Stance and DPS the whole fight as long as you dispel Disease. Game-altering doesn't begin to describe the difference you'll see. The only downside is that, on fights like Titan, she won't return to where you placed her on her own if she gets hit by something like Landslide. It's still absolutely worth it. Don't believe me?

    Also, Selene is awesome and Eos sucks. Having to worry about her being in Steady so she doesn't, say, cast Whispering Dawn as soon as the Turn 1 boss splits makes her a pain in the butt. The buff skills Selene gives are actually pretty noticeable, especially as you gear more (since it's 30% of your current Spell Speed. It drops my GCD from 2.38 to 2.25). And, for the most part, Eos's skills just have way to long of a CD to be very useful. Saving the potency buff for the end phase of Turn 4 or something might be useful, but what's even more useful is having stuff die quicker.

    So your fairy guide should be this: Use Selene. Keep her on Obey unless it's a fight where Silence doesn't matter and you're ok with her spamming Silent Dusk like an idiot and use her buffs in 30-second intervals as needed. She will Chain-cast Embrace and your life will be a million times easier.

  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rainsford View Post
    A few things about the Fairy:

    Firstly, USE PLACE. ALWAYS use Place. ALWAYS ALWAYS PLACE THE FAIRY. Annoying? Good. Place her! For whatever reason, if the Fairy is set to place, she will Chain-cast Embrace on anyone <80%. Did you place her behind the pillar on the last AK boss so she doesn't get hit by the AOE (not that it really hurts her) and someone gets hurt whose LOSing her? The Fairy will move so she can cast, and then move back to where she was!

    I honestly cannot stress enough that you MUST place her. Standing near the tank won't cut it. Don't believe me? Go run AK with her Placed near the tank then run it doing anything else. She can solo heal the entire dungeon if she's Placed. Place her behind the final boss so she keeps triggering Tail Swipe and you can stay in Cleric Stance and DPS the whole fight as long as you dispel Disease. Game-altering doesn't begin to describe the difference you'll see. The only downside is that, on fights like Titan, she won't return to where you placed her on her own if she gets hit by something like Landslide. It's still absolutely worth it. Don't believe me?

    Also, Selene is awesome and Eos sucks. Having to worry about her being in Steady so she doesn't, say, cast Whispering Dawn as soon as the Turn 1 boss splits makes her a pain in the butt. The buff skills Selene gives are actually pretty noticeable, especially as you gear more (since it's 30% of your current Spell Speed. It drops my GCD from 2.38 to 2.25). And, for the most part, Eos's skills just have way to long of a CD to be very useful. Saving the potency buff for the end phase of Turn 4 or something might be useful, but what's even more useful is having stuff die quicker.

    So your fairy guide should be this: Use Selene. Keep her on Obey unless it's a fight where Silence doesn't matter and you're ok with her spamming Silent Dusk like an idiot and use her buffs in 30-second intervals as needed. She will Chain-cast Embrace and your life will be a million times easier.
    Bold + 8 post Troll post!

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