How Do You Play "your" SCH?

Hello, this will be my first topic on here but I have a simple question for SCH's out there. How do you play your scholar?

I leveled sch at the 85 cap when it was all about /rdm for self refresh, convert etc. SCH was my first mage therefore all I knew was /rdm. But recently I been asked to help stun (/blm) more than haste (/whm) so /blm is underway (currently to low for stun).

I've also seen people that tell me sch isn't needed based on whm > sch on healing and some prefer blm for nukes and there better for procing yellow !! in abyssea, rdm well idk rdm compared to sch. So where does sch fall in?

I tend to not think of my sch as a mage but a manipulator of magic because of the various JA's sch has to control there mp & spells. I don't mind healing/support heal on the job & I rapture, accession etc when I need to for buffs or cures/rasies however by far I prefer to nuke.

So the way I look at it is /whm will enable me to haste and it takes away the need to accession some spells and gives me teleport spells. /blm gives me stun, warp II/tractor, a few -ga spells and it takes away the need to mani.sleep.

So a lil help here plz and thx.

You've pretty much answered your own question, but you just need to think a little more big picture.

Most roles will have a preferred job for carrying them out, like WHM is generally the best healer. No one's contesting this. I hate to say it, but there has been a resurgence of discrimination against SCHs. I haven't experienced this in years since back before the cap increase. There isn't much we can't do at this point not counting ga nuking and a few buffs/enfeebs, but the general consensus is that we aren't "the best" at anything. That may be true on paper, but no one can speak for individual players. I'm almost always the one getting na spells off the fastest, does that make SCH superior to WHM? Not necessarily. Just because I have less spells to proc grellow doesn't mean I'm bad at nuking either. Quite the opposite, in fact, I have capped azure light solo for exp alliances.

SCH used to be the master of MP management but with multiple lunar abyssites, that's no longer the case. We have a few tools to make us preferred jobs for select things. Don't underestimate Alacrity Stun. Only one who can get stuns off faster is a Chainspelling RDM. And Regain is always a plus.

you're*

"your" is correct. "How do you play you are SCH?" um wut?

Lol moran.

I do agree that SCH is becoming more of a support job rather than being a healer or a nuker. We don't have the healing capabilities of a WHM and we can't cover all the grellow spells and usually when fighting NMs, magic is not a major portion of the damage anyway. Usually when I go SCH, I tend to do Tier 3/4 nukes while the BLM does the rest.

When I go SCH/BLM I'm usually the main stunner. With SCH/BLM, it makes us on the same level, or even higher, than a RDM/BLM, of course depending on availability of strategms. With alacrity, Stun is on about 20 second recast, and even less with relic shoes paired with thunderstorm. A major downfall if focusing on stunning is that you tend to be stuck in Dark Arts because if the mob is using a TP move and you're in Light Arts, you are not going to be able to stun in time if you change back.

SCH/WHM, on the otherhand, is definitely played less because you usually have a WHM with you anyway who can do everything a SCH/WHM can do and more. The times I was SCH/WHM was when I was either lowmanning a seal NM on Thunder/Light/Dark day, lowmanning an NM with status effects and had to try for grellow as well or because the WHM was lazy. With perpetuance though, it really isn't too much of a problem hasting a whole PT.

Until we get better cures and a wider range of grellow spells, in Abyssea I'll always be there just as a backup heal/grellow.

I personally don't have Scholar, but seeing as they have access to so much, they should feel the need to utilize all of what they have.

As a BLM during days where I'm doing 3 AMs, 3 Ga's, T3 and T4, while my DDs are plowing through the mob, it always helps to have another person with me to do the T3s and 4s while I do the AMs and Ga's.
Adloquium, while only 60 TP, can be handy for Blue or Red proc situations, and Helixes are still just as awesome as before for a faster kill!
In Abyssea, I find myself to be in lowman situations all the time, and while SCH is no WHM, they still have a decent potential for healing having Regen III and Cure IV with Rapture.

Lowman-wise, I love SCH
Linkshell-wise, I think there's better options for what's needed.

Yeah that's one thing I neglected to mention was SCH/WHM being great for lowman. Anything a MNK WHM duo can do a MNK SCH/WHM can do as well. Bear in mind we'll get haste from /RDM by the time cap reaches 99, so I think /WHM is mostly temporary.

Also, I still prefer to go Dark Arts most of the time. Every SCH should at least have ice and thunder obis, and when we get Bliz/Thunder V we'll be good to go.

I play my SCH to annoy BLMs when I outnuke them ('-'*)

Really though, if I'm soloing in Abyssea, I prefer SCH to RDM and BLM. Mainly because I'm impatient and RDM doesn't nuke hard enough, and BLM doesn't have the same survivability.

I play my Scholar well enough that Nobody believes me when I say I do not, nor ever have, used Windower. Making SCH work with Stock Macro limitations was... challenging.


As it stands right now, Scholar is pretty much a DD Mage only in abyssea, given our total lack of Haste and/or Cure V. Yes, I know it's perfectly possible to be a main healer without Cure V easy mode, but some idiots just don't know to Tank Alfard on the tail. Ya dig?

This haha.
As stated above however SCH isnt "needed" in Abyssea. WHM is better for curing and BLM has more spells to proc grellow. It's kinda sad really, but it's true, SCH is just extra when it comes to hardcore abyssea groups. I love SCH to death though, it's my main and i enjoy playing it when i'm not demanded on BLU. Personally i play in dark arts 99% of the time. I never heal unless it's one of those "OH ***" moments. Versatility and solo capabilities makes SCH amazing and i never get tired of it lol.

I know exactly what you mean lol, i have a hard time explaining to people how i dont use or ever have used windower. When you play a job you like for so long, recast timers and ***are second nature lol

I was just finishing up SCH when the level cap increase hit and Abyssea was introduced.

I'd levelled SCH entirely for myself - I did a lot of solos on BLM, I wanted to try some different solos on SCH, and I didn't have RDM levelled.

I really, honestly believed I'd never get asked to play SCH in group play, and I'd be BLM ONRY most of my abyssea career.

Well, it didn't work out that way. For one thing, i'm only ever asked BLM for triggers - and not because my BLM sucks or anything, but because for some reason everything goes a little more smoothly when I'm playing SCH.

I prefer SCH as a nuking and uber-DOT job. Most often in Aby I'm in the BLM party, so I'll spend my time buffing them with weather, and then putting helix on and nukes. Being able to do cross-ally cures and -na spells in a pinch is pretty handy too. It's nice tho, cuz I spend most of my time being DD, and doing all that helix damage for 79mp is kind of a buzz.

I've occaisionally done low-man melee groups as main healer, and honestly ... perpetuance-accession-regen3/adloquim/weather and I sorta sit and wait until I have to spam a cure. I'm probably terrible at it, but no one dies and we kill stuff fast enough.

The rest of the time I'm SCH/RDM or SCH/NIN on low-man seal NMs. SCH/NIN, with native stoneskin, is just amazing. Nearly all the defense of RDM/NIN with the nukes of a BLM, the only thing missing is that matk bonus trait... and phalanx ... and gravity ... but everything and their mother is immune to grav these days.

Helix just breaks everything in abyssea. Being able to run in circles in a panic while a DOT does 10k+ damage to a mob in the space of a minute is just spoiled rotten. And hey, we can fire off nukes while that's happening too.

I think for me, the flexibility and efficiency really makes it. I also enjoy the enmity adjustment. There's just been so many situations where I'm running around low-man with some NM as BLM/NIN, and feeling completely useless as I watch a buddy get smacked. Being SCH lets me do something about that, and still out-nuke my own BLM.

SCH has been always the jack of all trades version 2 .

Yes we don't make best healers , or best nukers , but we're as good as RDMs now regarding support situations , & with perpetuance/immanance those 2 new tools open up much more options depending on your sub .

Hell this update was SCH update by all means , as it makes SCH more powerful as main , better survivability , godly sublimation "though u can't rely on it anymore to offset NMs that spam sleepga ;; of any kind as it charge super fast now with all new gear" .

as SCH/WHM , u have access to haste , free of charge addendum white as u can -na without having addenda up , good enmity control , makes spamming Rapture cure IV so easy especially if u pair it with pax & good atmas like Allure or Merciless Matriarch with Aurorastorm up , insanely instant cast rate with Atma of Apocalypse / AF3+2 5/5 , lack of Cure V is no biggie unless u r fighting something really that damaging & your tank is retard.

as SCH/RDM , u have less spells to play with now as stoneskin/aquaveil is main job spells now , but the fast cast trait is just too good , & is good to have enspells , phalanx & free of charge dispel/sleep .

as SCH/BLM , u have new tool to play with Alacrity stun , access to more DoTs spells along with the insane dmg helix does right now , like 742 DMG luminuhelix not counting MV , that free of hate 4452 DMG over 1 min total , also free of charge sleepga , instant access to sleep 1/2 .

SCH is just dependant on how good the player is , you only can make the job shine really good or crappy , & yeah I play it with SE macroes , utilizing 2 dedicated books just for SCH , it's challenging , fun job to play , & really powerful if you play it right , I couldn't believe how my SCH brew'd Shin & killed it in 3 nukes , 30k Water V ftw !

SCH's sub is totally dependent on what you're doing. That said there's some chest-puffing here that's just not true.

SCH can't really cast Stun faster than RDM. RDM hits the casting time cap with traits and Warlock's Chapeau alone, and the recast cap with Haste and basic haste equipment. Alacrity doesn't bypass that cap. Thunderstorm/relic shoes may but that's honestly irrelevant because the mob will either keep trying that TP move until it goes off or it's stuck on a cooldown which is usually longer than 20 seconds. If you really want to play that game, BLU's Head Butt is like four second recast. For all intents and purposes RDM and SCH cast stun at the same (uninterruptable unless you were running when you started casting...) speed.

Just because you're better than the people you know doesn't mean SCH is better than WHM or BLM at what they're supposed to do. SCH is a good nuking job but capping azure lights means nothing. I can cap azure by Drain sniping kills on WHM/SCH or MNK/NIN with Ni nukes. Doesn't mean WHM or MNK are good nuking jobs.

RDM/SCH has always been the best at MP management because of convert. Didn't change with the addition of /RDM convert because RDM's convert is still 8:20 compared to sub's 10:00. Atmas make MP management inside Abyssea irrelevant but if the game ever moves back outside RDM will always be king of that castle.

RDM did the most nuking damage over time at 75 and I doubt that's changed at 90. They get way more nukes off than BLM or SCH before having to sit down, and cast faster/have shorter recasts. This might not be accurate inside Abyssea (gain the same from atmas, almost impossible to run myself dry unless I chainspell) but I'm pretty confident it still holds inside since you can't Alacrity every nuke.

Pretty much this.

those pictures say nothing :/

apparently you implied that all sch's outnuke blms or something?
lol's at entypoo.
i'm just being a downer like you though. :D

Really depend on whats your role in the party. If your going to be Main healing /whm for haste and Curga and things Accession is good but if your out of Charges you cab use it. If your doing crowd control then /rdm for grav and you dont really need Refresh Sublimation is the bomb Converts a plus too. If your going to be just Nuking i say /drk or /blm i like /drk my Sch is 90 but i havnt lvl blm to 50 yet with /drk i can still stun and absorb INT i weapon Bash to lol for fun.

I nuke harder than all the BLMs around me. SCHs has better nuking gear than BLMs do these days. Pretty crazy!

They mad, they mad.

To be fair, every job in Abyssea is overpowered.

wow thankyou for all the replies sounds like i need to get my /blm up then maybe /whm for lowman situations. Kinda hard with abyssea to find a low-level party. One last question tho, what strats do you use for ur helix spells. I have ice obi and currently working on thunder obi.

Don't forget /nin! now that we have native defensive spells, /nin is a much more versatile option.

I have found SCH is really nice for duo on most minor NMs. You can cure better than a RDM with the same access to grellow spells. You have the ability to switch to heavy nuking when the tank is doing well to push the mob's hp down quicker. Also, I absolutely love using perpetuance for buffs such as haste/adloquiem/phalanx/regen3. Helix spells rock as well for some serious DoT with minimum hate. Basically like everyone is saying, jack of all trades, when you dont have a WHM and a BLM for trio.

Love perpetuance, im 4/8 seals for the sch hands

If by "strat" you mean "strategem", you pretty much always want to cast Helix with Ebullience.

Elemental Obi have NO EFFECT on Helix since helix spells always gain matching weather and day bonuses, so put a good int belt on instead.

As for low-level subs; join or make an MMM party, you can rocket through to 50 in no time, and there's often a lot of people levelling low-level that are up for that. (I did sch 40-64 in a week or so in MMM). Or key-***, but you don't learn anything key-whoring.

This really shouldn't be a SCH Vs BLM Debate. They ask how your play your SCH, Can't you say that without comparing it to BLM?

Most of the time I nuke on my SCH, Since Abyssea I've been wondering about subbing /blm for nuking, I just haven't gotten to leveling it. I don't tend to have any problems keeping up with Damage. I'm finally changing my merits to the Emnity down Ability so I can nuke more without pulling hate off of the DDs. (In Dynamis I'm typically having to sub RDM because I need the extra MP, I never have time to rest there between pulling and killing status.)

Though sometimes I go there I'm asked to heal, (Which is becoming problematic for me) I'm really hoping they give us Cure V or something because I cannot make big enough cures anymore to get someone up, though since I have no MP Problems in Abyssea I typically just use Rapture with all my cures, and keep them from taking as much damage with Stoneskin Phalanx and Emnity down on everyone. It seems to work.

So u put merits into the enmity down stratgems??

Nanyo!!




I wish they'd give us Cure 5, we shouldn't have to do Rapture + Cure IV just to keep up ;___;