Pointers For A Dusty Level 45 WHM

Just reactivated my Taru WHM she is level 45 now. It has been over a year I think. I have to remake all of my macros they were not saved. Any pointers for a dusty WHM that just came back to the game?

Well a lot has changed since then. The one piece of advice I would give you is, don't give up. The Vana'diel you are about to enter is very different in terms of exp, so you might run up against some difficulty finding exp for a while. But it's out there. If you can try to avoid "key whoring", whilst it may appear appealing due to the fast quantities of exp and the speed at which they are gained. Doing it will leave you seriously gimped.
On that note however, in my opinion all of the new updates over the last year have rejuvenated the game for me, so don't be wary of them, have fun with them!

Regens are very cost effective and will save you MP down the line over spamming cures without regens, especially once you get regen II/III.

Also level SCH sub as soon as you can if you haven't already, it really is amazing with light arts and stratagems to save MP even in the earlier levels before sublimation.

Thanks Echo. Good advice. I will try to stay away form the key thing. I am still lacking the last 2 expantions so that will help I think for a while.


Good info here thanks. Hey I was wondering about this cura spell...I have it but I don't think I ever used it. Do people use this much in an EXP situation or no?

Cura can be useful at some later levels. It's not good for waking slept people because it requires you running in range, risking sleep on yourself. When you get esuna, you may find you use cura more often. With Esuna, it helps to be in range and in misery mode on some mobs, making Cura more potent, possibly. Occasionally I melee in Abyssea for triggers, also making it more useful to me. In most parties though, you'll be staying in solace mode for the cure stoneskin. If it's a safe mob to run in range on, go ahead and use it for an AoE cure 1.

In a regular PT? Cure2/Cure3 + Regen2 will be a lifesaver. Cure4 at that level is quite a bit of MP (though as a Taru you might not have many issues there), personally I'd only save it for those "OHSHI- REDHP!" moments. It also gives a lot of enmity, so using it too often can pull hate off your tank quite easily.

Tank depending, I won't ever let my tanks out of White HP (NIN, THF are White, PLD and DNC are yellow, most DD's are around 75% regardless of colour. Though in a standard PT NIN and PLD are the only ones you're likely to need worry about).

Don't be shy about using Benediction either, I've seen so many WHM's that wouldn't use Benediction and have caused a wipe from trying to Curaga someone when everyone's been dropped to red midfight (they've been trying to Curaga the tank and hit the surrounding DD's and the tank's been killed for example).

/ma "Paralyna" <stpc> or <stpt> will be your best friend (for any important -na's, Para/Silena/Stona, etc. I even have Cursna on there so I can get rid of Curse faster and toss up a quick Cure).

When you're confident about your tanks, use Flash liberally (I used it whenever I had a NIN that I noticed was putting Ichi up and whenever a PLD was in Yellow HP and Curing).


As far as SJ's go, /SCH is the way to go. /SMN may look nice at 50+ because of the Auto-Refresh, but /SCH will give you a whole lot more:

-50% MP cost on 1 spell every 4min (sure it's not much, but it's free MP!). -10% MP cost, -10% Casting Time and -10% Recast Time on every white magic spell you cast (while under the effect of Light Arts). /SCH really shines on it's ability to prolong resources (outside Abyssea, this is a real advantage over other SJ's).

Weapon-wise, you'll definitely want to pick up that Cure Potency+ staff (think it's +6%?) then pick up Light/Dark/Earth/Ice Staves at 51.

An Idle set can really help a lot (51+ is when you really want to start looking at bits for it, but by 75 you really should have one made up).

A WHM's basic Idle set would be:
Earth Staff (-20% PDT)
Noble's Tunic/V Cloak (Refresh)
Jelly Ring (-5% PDT, +5% MDT)
Cheviot Cape (-5% PDT, -10% at night)
Medicine Earring (if you can get it, -20% DT in Red HP)

In there you'll want to toss some Movement Speed+, Refresh+, PDT- (Physical Damage Taken)/DT- (Damage Taken), Regen+

As the name implies, you'll typically use this when you're not doing anything/"performing an action". So you'll either be: Stood around or Kiting. (The latter shouldn't happen very much later on).


A loooong time ago I started writing up a WHM guide (because all the ones I found on Wiki sucked bad), it's a bit outdated, but most of the info should still be relevant in terms of low-levelling WHM tips. (I apparently updated it on April 2010? Oh well, don't remember that XD)

Not sure if you mean pointers to take you to 90 and beyond, but this is pretty general advice:

First, set the right chat filters. You should see when someone takes damage and when they get enfeebled. You should also see what actions monsters and other people are casting on your party. I'd also recommend changing colors to a scheme that stands out to you (for example, enfeebles are bright green so I don't miss them by any chance).

Also learn to memorize monster's TP abilities so you can preemptively -na/erase and not depend on people having to ask for it. When you get to endgame, study new fights ahead of time a bit so you're ready for what's coming. And it's a personal preference, but I tend to type out all -na/erases so I don't have to deal with people blinking or targeting people (I've never gotten used to stpt/stal personally), and since you usually have a second before spell/TP move hits people. Can be a lifesaver to get used to typing really fast too, I find scrolling through macro sets takes too long sometimes, especially on WHM and if I'm on the other side.

Haste everyone! Please! Nothing is more lame than a WHM that doesn't haste. And as obvious as that may seem to you, you'd be surprised how many mages I meet who find it hard to even keep one person hasted. Especially since leveling is so easy with Abyssea nowadays, a lot of people think they can just slack off.

For PLD tanks, albeit few and far between nowadays when you hit endgame, give them a buffer to let them heal themselves for hate.

This is something I do for all jobs, and maybe it sounds silly to others, but I make all my macro sets for everything I'll need until level 75 (well 90 now >.>). Obviously, the gear and some stuff will change along the way (like for melee I'll have a general WS macro that I'll update as I level up and get better WS), but if you have to move/delete/completely redo macros later to accommodate the spells and abilities you learn along the way, you won't be able to react as naturally as sticking with the macros you've had the whole time. I remember when SCH came out and I had to redo half of my macro sets. To this day, I am still not used to them (well to be fair, I rarely ever use WHM nowadays, but I still remember each macro I had back in 2005 because I "grew up" with them so-to-speak). Most of being a good WHM (at least to me) is having a fast reaction.

And that's all I have for now~ I think WHM is one of the few job that depends on skill much more than equipment, and that's while I'll always love it. But equipment can make the difference between a skilled WHM and an epic one, and my WHM is so long retired, I can't really give you any advice on that stuff >.>

Now that Job/RDM can now Convert. My advice is to level RDM. I don't use SCH sub, due to everyone requesting me subbing RDM just for Convert. I don't know why they don't prefer AoE Regen ect....but, RDM has been my main sub for WHM. ; ;

Flip and Hitetsu pretty much hit it right on the nail in terms of WHMing it up entirely.

In terms of subjob selection, /SCH is the way to go for leveling. However, it is a good idea to have /RDM and /BLM leveled too for those situations where they might shine in end game situations (heavily intensive fights that'll destroy your MP for /RDM come to mind, lowmaning situations where you'll need stun for /BLM)

As stated earlier, Regen is your friend, it's a great way to heal for it's MP cost, and is especially useful for those who pull hate temporarily.


^this, as stated earlier in Flip's post, fast reactions and know what TP moves and spells do what and react accordingly, and you'll do fine.

With that note, gear choices aren't too important early one, but get substantially more important when you start hitting that 75+ tier, but from there, it's a whole new ball games.

Gears to note for the early stages:
noble's tunic
light staff
dark staff

Anything else that'll provide hMP, and if you have the space, get other elements to help stick those Slows and Paras for the situations where you don't have a RDM to enfeeble.

Also, for leveling, ginger cookies are your friend. It's not a matter of how much MP you have, it's a matter of how effectively you use it, and quickly you can recover it.

I'd personally go with Apollo's Staff rather than a Light Staff. And Wizard Cookies, if you really need them. (But you shouldn't need cookies when you get WHM to 80+.) Magic Affinity+2 with Apollo's Staff is worth it.

And as far as Elemental Staves. If you have the gil: It is not required for a WHM to have them but it is nice, get HQ Staves if you don't have them already. For enfeebling. RDMs are masters at it, not WHMs. I use HQ Staves for WHM if I don't have a RDM for Enfeebling.

are you listening to non WHMs about what sub to use for WHM? Trust me /SCH is the best sub for a healing class /RDM is a great sub for a nuking role

I agree..nothing touches /sch for whm and rdm now. (not in every situation but most /sch is much better.)

Outside of Abyssea just precharge your sublimation, and inside of Aby with Atma's/temps MP should never really be an issue.

<3 Whm, and I love that its one of the most needed jobs again!!

Pretty huge block of text here, spoilered it and added a very small summary of each point >_> I tend to ramble and go off-track a bit, so you may get bits of random things in random spots!


HQ Stave(s)
WHM & Enfeebling:
Foods & Meds:
About people requesting /RDM for Convert: