FFXIV Scholar Guide
What is a Scholar?
In this FFXIV Scholar Guide we’ll go over everything you need to know to play one of the best shield healers in FFXIV. Scholar is a book wielding, defensive healer that uses shield and a pet faerie to keep the party alive.
Scholar is what we call a “Shield Healer” in that it focuses on large strong shields and defensives, rather than huge heals. To simplify, as a scholar your focus should be on preventing damage with shields and mitigating with defensive abilities. You can then focus on healing whatever damage comes through the shields with the help of your pet fairy. Read more about pure/shield healers and other healing terms in our beginner healing guide
Scholar is one of the more complex healers, due its reliance on shields and need to manage a pet. However, in the right hands scholar can prevent huge damage from even happening and can fully control 2 areas at once via positioning of its fairy. With this FFXIV Scholar Guide hopefully you can learn to master the book and be at one with your faerie companion
Scholar Gauges:
Due to being a pet class that utilises a fairy to heal. The scholar has 2 gauges, an aetherflow gauge that manages your powerful heals and damage abilities. And a faerie gauge to allow big heals from your fairy companion.
Aetherflow Gauge:
The Aetherflow gauge is used to build up 3 stacks of aether that can then be expended on spells that etiher heal or attack.
Aetherflow can be gained by using either:
Aetherflow – Gives 3 stacks and restores 20% mana (60s cooldown).
Disipation – Gives 3 stacks and increases healing by 20%. But faerie is dismissed for 30 seconds.
Aetherflow can be spent on the following abilities:
Energy Drain – Deals damage and recover health.
Lustrate – Large single target heal.
Indomitability – Large group heal.
Sacred Soil – Healing + regen circle that can be placed on the ground
faerie Gauge
The fae gauge grows by using certain spells and upto its limit and then Aetherpact can be used to target a specific player with your faerie. This will funnel healing into the specific player and is really useful to keep passive heals on a tank. The faerie can be toggled on or off when needed.
Scholar Key Spells and Abilities
Scholar has a huge toolkit of abilities, from heals, shiels, defensives, movement utility and more. So it can be a little overwhelming understanding when and how to best use your abilities. So Lets breakdown some of the ones you really need to know! And some tips on how to better understand and uses these.
This FFXIV Scholar Guide will try to cover all the essential ones you need to know and learn to really perform as an all knowing scholar. Normal spells coloured in yellow, with aethercurrent spells in blue and faerie abilities in pink
Check out the Official FFXIV Scholar Spell List for more information on each individual spell
Lustrate – Large single target heal (costs 1 aetherflow).
Energy Drain – Deals damage and gain health (costs 1 aetherflow).
Aetherpact – Faerie will target a single player and heal them for as long as there is resource in the faerie gauge.
Protraction – Increases health of 1 member by 10%, heals and increases healing received.
Excogitation – Heal when targets health falls below 50% or the effect expires. Absolutely insane spell when you know big damage is coming in.
Adloquium – Heal player and give shield.
Consolation – Order your faerie to heal all nearby party and shield for all healing received.
Fey Blessing – Order your faerie to heal all nearby party members.
Whispering Dawn – Gradually heal all nearly party memebers
Indomitability – Large group heal (costs 1 aetherflow)
Sacred Soil – Healing + regen circle that can be placed on the ground (costs 1 aetherflow).
Succor – Heal nearby party and give them all a shield.
Broil IV – Your Main single target damage
Art of War II – Your Main AoE damage.
Biolysis – Damage over time ability. Keep this up on bosses at all times.
Chain Stratagem- Target takes 10% additional critical hits for 15s – usual during burst periods to be timed alongside other party members bursts.
Expedient- Reduce damage of all party members by 10% and increases movement speed.
Fae Illumination – Increases healing of all party by 10% and reduces damage by 5%.
Succor – Heal nearby party and give them all a shield.
Adloquium – Heal single player and give shield.
Recitation – The following will now crit for 15s and cost 0 resource Adloquium, Succor, Indomitability, or Excogitation). – Great for setting up a big critical.
Emergency Tactics – Spreads shield from one party member to another.
Deployment Tactics – Turns your next shield into healing.
Dissipation – Send your faerie away, increasing magic by 20% and giving full Aetherflow. Returns in 45s.
Summon Seraph – Switch your faerie for a more powerful seraph that will auto heal party members
Raise – Resurrect one party member to life.
Swiftcast – Next spell is cast instantly. Great to pair with a raise for an instant resurrection or with a large heal.
Esuna – Remove detrimental effect (identified by a blue line, i.e poison).
Lucid Dreaming – Gradually restore MP.
Surecast – Prevents knockback and interruption.
Rescue – Pulls Party member to you. Useful for taking people out of damage areas and saving them.
Scholar Rotation
Here are the main tips for Scholar in FFXIV:
ABC (Always Be Casting): You want to be constantly dealing damage, while using certain spells on cooldown. Always try to upkeep as much damage as possible through your off GCD spells.
Faeire Management: As seen in the key skills, lots of Scholars healing output is dependant on the faerie. Therefore managing the faerie is essential. With the size of most bosses in current standards, keeping the faerie near the middle will catch most players, but can tweaked for certain mechanics. Using spells such as fae blessing and whispering dawn and then aetherpact for single targets.
Scholar Materia and Stat Priority
White Mage Stat Priority is as follows:
Magic Damage > Crit > Direct Hit > Determination > Spell Speed.
Take this into consideration when looking for new gear and Materia. Given the high mana usage of scholar its best to avoid too much spell speed as this leads to more spells and extra mana usage. Leaving us more time to focus on the damage stats.
Hope this FFXIV Scholar Guide has helped explain some of the basics and set up some of the more advanced things to start working on.
Check out our other healing guides below: