White mage merits progression?

[Shuemue]

But I think I need to merit MP first since he is a Galka. Actually, I want to merit one Devotion first so I can make people explode from MP.

Devotion from a Galka WHM would be a genuinely erotic experience.

[safer]

the only thing i dont like about +hp gear is if you macro it in, you'll need to spend that little extra time curing urself to full before firing off devotion...

i doubt it'll be a huge problem if you anticipate it before hand, but if the person who you're devotion-ing is low on mp, chances are you're low on mp as well.... spending your mp to cure yourself, so that someone else can get mp to be able to cure the tank or w/e seems like an unecessary step when you coulda jus cure'd the tank while using devotion to give the second mage 20 less mp

granted that situation isnt very common, and often i find myself devotioning either the bluemage in my assault static, or a blm nearby.. not jus tanks and other whms/rdms

i typically walk around with 1007 hp as a hume and 250~mp is a good number

[Sci]

5x Cure Cast time
5x Barspell
1x Martyr
2x Shellra V
2x Devotion

That's probably what I would if my WHM would get to 75 (third merit in Shellra V). Question about the barspell merits though. I'd imagine that each merit would give 2 MDB to the corresponding element of the barspell. Does this stack with the Blessed Briault's effect to barspells? I've heard that it's -5% magic damage taken for barspells cast with a Blessed Briault on. I'm just curious if these effects count as MDB, -magic damage taken, or something else. I believe people have proven a max of -50% magic damage taken, but I don't believe there's a cap on MDB. However, MDB does become less effective as you stack more on.

[Jeryhn]

Question about the barspell merits though. I'd imagine that each merit would give 2 MDB to the corresponding element of the barspell. Does this stack with the Blessed Briault's effect to barspells? I've heard that it's -5% magic damage taken for barspells cast with a Blessed Briault on. I'm just curious if these effects count as MDB, -magic damage taken, or something else. I believe people have proven a max of -50% magic damage taken, but I don't believe there's a cap on MDB. However, MDB does become less effective as you stack more on.

That's actually a very good question because of the whole cap thing.
From what I understand, the Blessed Briault and the Cleric's Pantaloons do stack with Barspell merits.

If I had to guess, the Merits probably don't add Magic Damage Taken -% or MDB directly, but rather an additional effect within the magic damage calculation, so that it doesn't come into conflict with any caps. Think like the anti-thesis of BLM Potency merits. I have no way to prove this, but SE is known for using similar calculations for varying sources of damage.

[Mifaco]

regen 5
cure cast 5
devotion 3
prot5 1
shell5 2

I ditched Prot5 (lol def) for martr

Why? Because its a cure spell that will not draw magic agro.

Holy shit, I can think of a range of uses for that, and none of them involve being inside sky/ro'maeve!

Martyr is useless because of its 20 minute recast. Sure, it's hate free, but so is Cure V. Even with a moderate -enmity setup, I almost never pull hate with Cure V. If I'm out of MP for Cure V, Martyr won't save the day.

I put a merit in Pro5 because
a) it's a fucking kickass animation
b) it's more DEF for free, however useless it may be
c) having Shell5 and not having Pro5 to match it is stupid. Get both or get none at all, don't look stupid by halfassing whm

As a mage, your HP, no matter what race you are, is only ever a problem when you wear Convert HP to MP gear.

This is a pretty retarded statement because your HP is an issue 100% of the time on ALL jobs. If you neglect your HP, you're out 240 EXP and 5 minutes. This past Dynamis-X, I survived a Quadrastrike with 40 HP left, thanks to my HP merits (+80). MP+80 isn't even enough for a Cure IV.

However, Bar-spells rule. In Dynamis, when the NIN mobs Mijin Gakure, my party usually remains relatively unhurt while other parties come close to wiping out. Why? Because my enhancing is capped. I can't wait to see what the Bar-spell merits do.

I've never heard of Barfira helping against Mijin

[Jeryhn]

c) having Shell5 and not having Pro5 to match it is stupid. Get both or get none at all, don't look stupid by halfassing whm

Is that something like maintaining zero String skill on BRD?

Also, when Bahamut v2 uses Horrid Roar to wipe protect and Shell, our WHMs cast Pro1/Shell4 on our Ninja tanks. Are we doing it wrongz?

This is a pretty retarded statement because your HP is an issue 100% of the time on ALL jobs. If you neglect your HP, you're out 240 EXP and 5 minutes. This past Dynamis-X, I survived a Quadrastrike with 40 HP left, thanks to my HP merits (+80). MP+80 isn't even enough for a Cure IV.

I would say Stoneskin is a pretty important spell too. 8x MP Merits isn't enough for a Cure 4 by 6 MP, but I've yet to hear about any WHM's getting one-shotted by Quadrastrikes or Condemnations when they didn't cast a 29 MP spell.

I've never heard of Barfira helping against Mijin.

I have, but personally do not know if there's any truth to it. I think it's non-elemental magic damage personally (like Meteor or Chi Blast) but still cast Barfire just in case.

[Septimus]

But I think I need to merit MP first since he is a Galka. Actually, I want to merit one Devotion first so I can make people explode from MP.

Devotion from a Galka WHM would be a genuinely erotic experience.

I broke 1k HP at level 62-63 even with -HP gear on. My Devotion is going to destroy worlds.

the only thing i dont like about +hp gear is if you macro it in, you'll need to spend that little extra time curing urself to full before firing off devotion...

i doubt it'll be a huge problem if you anticipate it before hand, but if the person who you're devotion-ing is low on mp, chances are you're low on mp as well.... spending your mp to cure yourself, so that someone else can get mp to be able to cure the tank or w/e seems like an unecessary step when you coulda jus cure'd the tank while using devotion to give the second mage 20 less mp

granted that situation isnt very common, and often i find myself devotioning either the bluemage in my assault static, or a blm nearby.. not jus tanks and other whms/rdms

i typically walk around with 1007 hp as a hume and 250~mp is a good number

It depends on the situation. If you are about to Devotion a Paladin it would be worth it for the PLD to spend the extra MP to generate extra hate. Also if the cure potency of the person who is the object of your Devotion has a cure potency of over 4 (not too hard), they are going to get a few extra MP. I don't think it is that bad of a trade off.

[Sci]

Mijin from PCs is almost certainly not Fire based. Otherwise it would never do even moderate damage to Tiamat. I'm not going to say if mob's Mijin is fire based damage or not though, it clearly a different move afterall, since they don't die and it's AoE.

[Fng]

but still cast Barfire to shut up the 15 melee people screaming BARFIRE PLEASE ITS A NINJER!.

[Jeryhn]

but still cast Barfire to shut up the 15 melee people screaming BARFIRE PLEASE ITS A NINJER!.

lol yes, this is exactly why I still cast Barfire.

In fact, in Xarcabard, I don't cast Barfire at all. I keep Baraero up instead. :D

[Mierin]

In regards to Barfire and Mijin Gakure ... I can't give you any definitive answer ... all I know is:

1) Mob use Mijin Gakure
2) The other two parties in the alliance are virtually wiped with all at like 400 or less hp, many below 200 hp.
3) My party is relatively unhurt, maybe 100 damage done total.

Now, this could also be a factor of my Enhancing Skill + Protectra + Shellra ... but I doubt it. In addition, I can see the difference between when a Summoner uses Barfira in another party and when I use it.

However, my Bar-spells work in numerous situations. Dynamis Mijin Gakure was just the first example that came to mind.

But, I've been wrong before ...

[aurik]

Shell doesn't affect Mijin damage.

[Sagacious Sundi]

The Ability symbol next to Mijin is fire-elemental, but it could just be there because it looks fiery. Not like Manafont does water damage. (Or is that an icey symbol?)

[Eldelphia]

My question, what progression of merits, besides those that take away from other jobs such as MP, HP, combat, magic, etc, what would be the best progression?

Pretty much what Obev said.

1) 5/5 Cure Cast timer.

Max this out and upset RDM's in Dynamis... no - seriously there is no downside to this merit category and stacked with Cure Clogs for high pressure situations and haste gear for low recast timers you become one of the most capable cure machines out there.

2) 5/5 Barspells

I spent a long time deciding between this and Regen and I made the right decision when going for Barspells. Higher barspells = greater chance of your party resisting some nasty elemental attack. There is also an associated small magical defense bonus associated with these merits and that does help cut down damage.

Stacked with Cleric's Pantaloons (<3 probably the most useful piece of relic for a WHM in all honesty and I am 5/5) you are looking at some figures which blow RDM's away. I can manage 118 resistance (with cleric's pants, cleric's feet and blessed briault) which considering I don't macro in any other enhancing gear and only have once enhancing merit is pretty high.

An awful lot more mobs do nasty elemental stuff than you realise and if you do endgame these are awesome.

I decided that bonuses on regen weren't enough for anything outside xp. I now have the cleric's body and use that for boosting my regens but even with capped merits regen could rarely keep up with the damage taken. Also, an enormous amount of stuff is blinked so I'd rather have something that would make more of a difference.

For the second group I have done this...

3) 3/3 Shellra V

Well you could probably see this one coming Not much in this game gives you MDB, I figure the more the better. As I've merited barspells and there is an associated MDB when using them, I thought it made sense from that point of view too.

4) 2/3 Devotion

I wanted to max this out because it is useful but I found I couldn't justify it. Really nice for everything and a two WHM party where both have devotion can be a lifesaver in tense situations

5) 1/3 Protectra V

I'm thinking about ditching this. Much as I like the shiny animation the defense isn't groundbreaking because it's fairly easy to up it for anyone. I might drop it for Martyr or it might be my one concession to vanity.


I think that's right... I might be muddling my totals up

[Delekii]

Devotion - 1
Shellra V - 3
Barspell - 5
Devotion - 3
Cure Time - 5

It does depend on your LS, your tanks, and your playstyle. Regen merits are useless to me, because I often dont use regen - PLD/NIN tanks cure themselves far too much and spend a lot of time at full HP.

For the same reason, cure time merits arent as useful to me. Id prefer the PLD cure land before mine, and I trust my tanks. I also trust myself enough to know when I am going to need to cure, so it wasnt a priority (and wont come before my other jobs).

If you use PLD tanks, Devotion is ridiculously good, even on a 20 minute timer.

Shellra V and Barspell potency are un-skippable for endgame white mages - pro V is pretty lights and totally useless.

The main choice to make are what are the top choices for you between cure cast time, regen, and barspell, take the two you like the most for your play style. There really isnt any choice on tier 2, martyr is useless and pro V is useless. If you dont use PLD tanks, Devotion isnt that great either so if you are in that situation get Pro V for the sake of it, but Shellra V is a must, and cap it out because 1 MDB is greater than the total of protect V.

[safer]

Shell doesn't affect Mijin damage.

could you elaborate?

you may be right, and im all up for learning new things in the game, but should enlighten us rather than jus put up a point blank statement like that

[Aerides]

Cure Casting x5
Regen x2 (before new merits)
MP x 4 (so far)

Shellra 5 x1
Martyr x1
Devotion x3

Devotion is just so hot. I've completely changed my gear and shun most -hp stuff. I sit at 1006hp/1108mp as mithra. Shooting out 250mp every 15 mins is sexy. You taru's need to rethink your Zenith for these new things.

A word on Martyr - While benefits include not using MP, being hate free, it' is also instant (faster than cure5 assuming you're close enough), and you can cast while silenced. - ie, faster than an echo drop. Since my tank gets 500hp back for basically free, it's worth a single merit IMO. Not the first thing to get by any means, but better than Pro5 which I don't think I'll ever get.

[Fng]

I think Regen merits are fantastic for meritpo!!! But that's not the endgame we are talking about here.

[Gregorio]

I unlocked Devotion first since I was just really excited about it since I saw the new WHM merits. Next I'll probably unlock Martyr, then max out Cure cast time, then 2 more into Devotion.

I wasn't really considering Bar spells until I read this thread, but now I kinda want to max them out too. Buuut I hate exping so I'll probably put these off for a while.

[Alleya]

regen 5
cure cast 5
devotion 3
prot5 1
shell5 2

I agree with this, except I would drop the protect 5 and go with either martyr or a third shell 5.