I don't even really need these guides, but they are just so well made and entertaining for the sheer fact you do truly know what you are talking about. Fantastic work Brian, looking forward to the next.
Work To Game Have you done a Scholar guide? I keep trying to find a good guide but none seem to have the same in-depth detail you put into your videos.
I recently got the Astrologian class (2 days ago) and was super thrilled about it, and God knows your guide has helped me a lot to understand the basics now, as it does seems overwhelming with the card system. Thank you so much for videos like this!. You rock.
Recently Got back into FFXIV, after a long break. This is exactly the Video i needed. I mainly play DPS, but wanted to take healing as an option, and i just ALWAYS Out of Mana. lol I really like the way you laid out your video into segments, and explained the abilities in separate categories. Made things easier to follow and understand. Great Video
Dude just started playing this game again and was gonna do tons of beginner stuff to get back on track, but this vid caught me back up to my level 52 astro. Muchos gracias.
Another great video, this and the comments have been super helpful on this baby Astro and overall new healer :) I have been following for a while, and don't comment often but I feel like I should let you guys know that your work is appreciated, it probably takes lots of time to put it together.
Wow! What great timing! I just started AST over the weekend, been messing around with it not 100% sure what I was doing. This will help a lot! Thank you!. I did make sure to let the parties I was in know I was new to AST and healing in General. Seemed to help, even on a bad wipe (was my fault I got overwhelmed) Everyone was really nice about it and we finished Brayflox’s Longstop with out any further issues. Now i'm off to check the Healer Macros! keep up the good work!
Thanks Ani, and good job letting people know you're new to the job... Makes the whole thing go a lot smoother. Wipes happen to everyone, but it helps people understand that you're not an expert AST. :) Hope the other video helps.
Was so so happy I found this video it helped answer A LOT of questions about this class I found HIGHLY Intimidating. Looking forward to learning it more as I level it to max and get at least functional to good with this job. Even tho I am 95% sure I will "main" white mage or Scholar. Keep in mind this is from a 90% PVE player who likes to level do stories dungeons and raid from normal to hard mode. Again the card thing the very thing that once intimidated me, I can totally see why people would love it and enjoy the mini game of reducing the RNG and getting the perfect Buff card off when needed. k...... now que the infamous Kenny Rodgers Gambler :). Thanks again work to game for the time passion and in depth intelligence.
The best and most comprehensive guide I've found insists that in almost ALL cases, even with a WHM in the party, health over time is superior to shielding. The reasoning being that the constant restoration of health fits more in line with AST's healing capabilities and fits best with the manner in which tanks take damage in this game. Shields would gain more benefit if damage was more reliable and predictable, ex. a steady stream of damage from the boss. Unpredictable damage is better dealt with using health over time restoration.
FYI: if you're looking for Astro guides in 2019, this one is pretty much entirely wrong now, especially the mechanics of using cards, what they do, and how to handle draws of cards you can't use at the moment. The job was gutted, simplified, and nerfed to death for Shadowbringers expansion. RIP.
I wish all guides were like this, most of them just show you spread sheets and read them to you and say "thanks for watching" while this one walks you through meaning of stats first and builds slowly from there with examples.
Great guide, just one thing. DRKs can't be affected by MP refresh skills. Do not waste your Ewer on them, same for BLM as they can almost instant regen all their MP with a single Blizzard III cast. Main targets for Ewer would be SMN, RDM, BRD, or other Healers.
Late to the party, but it's Darkside and Astral Fire that prevent Refresh-type abilities (not just AST's, it also blocks the Ranged DPS Refresh too) specifically. It CAN be kinda nice if you're planning stuff with your DRK and they take off Darkside for a bit, but a BLM would never need either and it's kinda niche on the DRK too since they can recover their own. Any other card is usually fair game for the other classes but a few small things to keep in mind: People bag on Spire but it's a good way to recover from AoE spamming, at least for the physical jobs - toss it at 'em if you have nothing else or wanna reset your cooldowns faster. (You have the un-draw abilities for that, but why waste a card?) Sometimes Arrow can mess up people's muscle memory, and will throw off their timing - a MCH in my FC specifically asked me not to give them to him because of that... But in PUBs there's no real way to gauge. Try using your regular Draw first before you use Sleeve Draw. You get an extra card that way, because Sleeve refreshes your cooldown. (it doesn't refresh Redraw, so if you draw something you don't want at first, you might as well turn it into an Arcana and hope for a Lord.)
Putting points in casting speed rather than casting stat tends to reduce overhealing and ensures you cast your heals on time. This is true even without regard to the actual numbers; however how *efficiently* it does this depends on how whether points in casting speed increase healing per second as much as casting does (I don't know). It also reduces efficiency of power consumption.
My biggest problem with healing in this game is honestly the tanks. It seems every tank wants to rush through and honestly it makes healing much more stressful then it should be. Then if you ask them to slow down a bit, either they will tell you to shut up and heal them, call you a bad healer, or do both then quit the group.
+Terra Kross sorry you’ve had that type of experience. I think that stems from players feeling that the roulettes are their personal speed runs. Don’t let it get you down or take it too much to heart. Hopefully you’ll find yourself a good tank who you can play with on the regular so you won’t have to get matched with someone who has a hard time listening.
I try to look at it as a chance to grow as a healer, since it is my preferred role what with it feeling the most 'free' to play compared to the DPS and tank roles. In that I feel less forced to a rotation and more involved in actually playing my class. Which in turn is why I love the Astrologian. But I think so many people are intimidated to even try healing because of this mentality that tanks need to, what I call, 'pull down the house' every run. On the other hand, I just picked up tanking, and it seems that a lot of people expect tanks to do this too. So I have to ask now...where did this mentality come from and can and should we curb it? I doubt it's a very inviting mentality for newer players to the game.
I had a little problem like that the black mage was spamming thurder over and over and my husband ask her why!(he had playing healer) And the tank keep pull to large of pulls and at the end of the dungeon he said learn how to heal before tell someone how to run there class
I treat it as a test to prove that I'm an exceptional healer. A tank's true job is not just to take all the aggro fast and efficiently, but also to ALWAYS be mindful of your healer's positioning and mana reserves. If a poor tank is going to insist on pulling a group of 30 mobs regardless of my mana left over from the last fight then I'm gonna keep him alive as best I can, and if he does die then it's his fault no matter what anyone says. I'm not bothered. And then after the last boss tell him to stop being a brat as I leave the dungeon before his little derpy fingers can take out his rage on the keyboard.
I just stared healing and it make me nervous as a pds main .. I tried WM and SCH ... but the AST was kinda fun to play and thanks for this helpful video
What a great and fun to play this job is. Astrologian is really amazing and a great addition to the game. I dream with the day Yoshida will allow all classes fill different roles. An Astrologian in DPS mode would be brutal.
Great video man. Always a pleasure. Also remember that the mp card can't be used on DRK. They are the only person that can manage their own mp. Besides that, great video. Are y'all gonna make a leveling guide by chance? I keep wondering if potd is really the best option for leveling an another job.
Chris is working on a leveling ALT jobs guide which will hopefully be a big help. :) When you say "can't be used on DRK, do you mean "shouldn't?" they can manage their own MP, but this is a help. BLM can manage their own MP, but sometimes an extra few tics of MP can equal more Fire 4... but that's more risky.
I actually mean that DRK cannot get aide from other characters when it comes to them regenerating their MP. It is a weird trait they have that I think is in the darkside skill. That maybe have been changed in 4.0 but to the best of my ability as a lvl 70 DRK I have never been able to have my MP regenerated by another character.
+Britton Johnson Seriously? Wow, I've been playing DRK for a while. Didn't ever catch onto that. Thanks for setting me straight. I'll put in a correction in the vid :)
Britton Johnson Now I feel bad for giving my commendations to dps instead of the Astros I assumed were not using their cards correct when I had Edgelord to the max. That said it is always good to see guides and comments on this great channel, as this knowledge will make me less derp when I go back to Astro.
One thing missed in the calculations is that the 2 sects add to healing potency and it procs off the Regen and increases the base heal that goes into the shield calculation so aspected Helios in Diurnal should be around 1880/704=2.5PPMP
Glad I could help. I had plans to do more follow up with the job but wasn’t able to make the time. Hopefully I’ll be able to do that soon :) all in all, earthy star is a great ability and I don’t talk about it here :(
8:08 what's the best way to know which DPS is struggling? I downloaded ACT and keep it running in dungeons, but it's information overload, I'd like something small and concise..
I just picked up Astro today, it's a lot to take in and this guide helped. One thing I was wondering was whether or not you ever used the undraw abilities, like undraw or the abilities that cancels royal road or spread? I didn't know if there was a reason for them and wanted to adjust my hot bars accordingly
Personally, I don't use them, and haven't run into an area where that would be the case or worth it to me, that being said, I'm sure there might be a few times where that could be of value, but in my time with the job, I never found myself wishing I put those commands on my hotbar. So, let me know if you end up using them. :)
First off, your male AST looks great! Fits the theme & looks masculine enough. *Impressed* One thing I’d like to know as an AST is, who to buff with the card at hand. I’m quite new to the game, hence I hadn’t got in to Tanks or DPS. Playing AST down the line, I realise that you sort of need to know all the classes in general to know which cards they want. Example, I heard that Arrow will screw up BLM’s rotation. I haven’t ask. But that’s just an example of my dilemma as an AST. It is probably a lot of work going through all the classes & all the cards. But I’m just putting this question out.
Whoever told you that Arrow messes up their rotation lied lol Arrow speeds up their rotation and helps them fits more fire IVs into their rotation and most of them love it so much
Completely agree with PQ on this one! However, IF the BLM in your party is already Spell Speed capped, The Arrow COULD cause them to mis-time the GCD until they realize what's going on amd adjust. If they know it's coming, then most will thank you eternally for it! They merely have to wait an extra .08 of a second before queuing their next cast.
One thing I'm curious about is the cards and what classes would benefit from them the most. I understand that the Damage Reduction card should be placed upon the tank (usually in typical 4-man dungeons) and Damage Increase cards used on your dps... but does it matter which ones? Which dps prefers which card? You say "get to know your cards" well that's great and all, but a bit more into detail as to which classes benefit more from any specific cards would have been nice to know.
Sure thing and great question! :) I'll even use damage reduction on a DPS who's taking too much damage ;) but outside of that, I usually rotate my cards to the different DPS unless one is clearly doing more damage than the other. so like a SAM vs BRD... I'd give it to the SAM each time. If everyone is performing well, then it's dealers choice. There might be times where you'll prioritize one over the other for mechanics reasons, but that's not anything I could detail here. Currently I find use in each card I have, outside of spire for TP, so usually, I burn or re-draw spire. (TP restore) Arrow is great for speed, so any fast job get's really fast (like Monk, or SAM) Spear is great for that crit hits, so I give that to my casters But that's just me, hopefully, this somewhat answers your question, if not, let me know. :)
Thank you so much for this! I've been away from the game for 2 years now and this really put me back on track! But i do have a questions. So I'm 69 now and did 2 lvl 60+ dungeons this past week and the tanks were pulling multiple clusters of mobs but I was having a hard time keeping them healed bc they were taking massive amounts of damage. I had to basically spam Benefic II so I would end up running out of mana. Any suggestions on how to handle those type of situations?
Be sure to focus Benifc 1 because it can proc benefic 2 which helps out. Also, use your earthly star ability to help out down some healing and damage output. You might also want to switch up your stance to being your healing over time, or to your shielding heal (whatever your not using to see if that helps out)
Isn't all the the pot per mp stuff backwards? You get 0.83 potency per mana point on benefic I, and 0.60 potency per mana point on benfic II, well benefic II buffed is 1.2 potency per mana point. Just thought I'd point it out cause it seems confusing when you are saying potency per mana point but actually talking about its cost in mana per potency point.
Minor but I think you had switched around potency and mp cost when you were explaining benefic I/II. 1080 mp/650 pot, technically should be 1.6 MP per POT. You had it written the other way around. You explained it correctly though so I was just slightly confused there for a second.
I am really bad at Astro. I forever need a cheat sheet with me to remind me what each card does, also I only seem to draw TP card, and the jobs I travel with seem to be always in need of mp. My Astro is only at lvl 41 and I just can't seem to have fun using it, and I greatly enjoyed White Mage and Scholar.
+ProfessM I didn't like Astro at all until level 50 btw... you get redraw at level 45 so I'd say, keep playing at least to level 50/52 and then see how you feel. It might change. But if it doesn't, no worries :)
+Luiz Henrique Dantas Grimm D'Farias I agree, I figured I'd cover it more in a second video along with a few other skills :) but I talk about it in my controller guide :)
+vandamwtc the good news is you have a tough choice. :) you should check out my final thoughts on AST video and my final thoughts on WTM video to see if that helps at all :)
I must watch this every day. As a SCH main, I wish to learn the AST so I can work towards all healers lvl 70 but damn AST just looked confusing when I unlocked ages ago and then never touched again
Omg yay something I know enough about to comment on! I know this is a 101 guide but I think there are 3 things that weren't mentioned which I overlooked when I started AST which will make a huge difference for new players. The first is Collective Unconscious. This is great for the shield alone but the HoT from it is also very potent not to mention the only HoT you can access in Noct stance. Super helpful ability. The second is Celestial Opposition. The stun can be helpful but it shines more in being (basically) an AoE Time Dialation. In 8 man this is amazing, who doesn't want to extend their AoE Balance? This ability and Time Dialation also extend HoTs you cast and self buffs like Lightspeed, Largresse and Lucid Dreaming. The third thing I think that deserves a mention is Earthly Star. I love you guys but in the Temple of the Fist gameplay at the end of this video you kinda ignore it other than placement it seems and there were a couple times that you could have popped this for a nice tank or AoE heal, specifically after the Zu used the party wide attack. Any time after that first 10 seconds this is a huge free AoE heal and as you point out AoE heals are already the least MP efficent so anything to lower the amount of Helios/Aspected Helios you have to cast is great. All in all I appreciate the video and I'm super happy your channel is growing! Up to 9k subs, I remember when it was like 1k. Congrats! I look forward to more healer content from you guys! :D
Thanks Drew, all fantastic points and I agree with each one. I felt that they belong in a more in depth deep dive, if you look this is already one of my longer videos. Maybe, I'm miss understanding your last point, but I did use Earthly star towards the end of the Zu, and many times on that run. I love that ability. I wanted to highlight these abilities, but I almost broke this video up into two parts in and of itself. However, you're spot on with your notes... Thanks for sharing, and anyone else who's watching and reading, should take note of these points. :D
Work To Game I was actually just browsing for more healer content on your channel and yes you definitely don't need those tips but maybe some baby AST out there can see my comment and not ignore CO/CU until they're almost 70 like I did. Lol. The earthly star comment was mostly just focused on around 23:17 (I don't know how to do the cool timestamp thingie, sorry) where the group takes damage from the Zu. Instead of popping your Star there you heal up the tank separately then use a Helios a bit after then pop your star. It's mostly just me being nit picky about MP management. In SB I come from a WHM background where MP is basically never an issue so I have to be super careful on AST or I run dry because I get too agressive with my DPS or AoE heals. Either way thank you for responding so well to my bit of cretique, I felt kinda silly posting it since I'm sure you could out-AST me any day. Thanks for another enjoyable video!
+Drew Wogen I too find MP to be an issue, namely as I bounce from Healing and DPS... good note on the star, I was waiting for it to go giant, and get that buff I believe, or just was being lazy :) thanks for your comment! :)
Drew Wogen thank you for this! I was about to ask how to use 2 out of the 3 skills you mentioned. I instinctively started using CO as an extender as opposed to stun since it seemed like waste compared to the cooldown. I'm a baby Astro so I truly appreciate this!
I'm returning to the game and looking to use a gamepad. Can someone explain to me how he manages his setup? Like how does he have the extra 4 abilities on both sides, and are the slots above the ++ skills he can activate? Also how does he manage to scroll through his party to heal and how do you get an enemy target list to popup like that?
I just watched your other video about your AST setup, that was a lot of awesome info! Now my only question is how you do the cycling through the party to heal or having the enemy target menu, etc.
Hello! I'm a big fan so far and I just wanted to ask this question. Currently, me and my friend are very new to the game. (From the time of this comment we've been playing for only 2 days.)my friend is huge on playing tanks and me, on healers and I was curious about how i can actually learn who i should be buffing. We've done a dungeon or two, and so far we get by, but I dont like to stand out if I dont know what I'm doing. Is there possibly a way or something I can watch to help me understand the roles i should be giving certain buffs, specifically with this class, as I'll be picking it up as soon as possible. Any help you can give would be amazing. (I have the full version, we both do, if that matters. DLC and all.)
Welcome to FFXIV Mr. Shadowheart, and yeah, that's something we can do for you. I'd say jump into our discord (link in the channel header) and sync up with us there (easier than in youtube comments). And join in when live, or talk with those in our #FFXIV channel as they'll have all kinds of tips and tricks for you :)
@@Work2Game alright cool! I'll definately need to link up and ask about things. I can be a little slow learning about the game, stats, and how they work, so I try to ask for them all in turn. I'll definately go ahead and enter your discord as soon as I can (roughly 2 hours till I'm home)
Thanks for the guide. New to the game and my greatest question is on royal road. When is a good time to use it? Instead of just using the card, since the 30s downtime is huge to do during pulls.
I use the up and down buttons on the d-pad and turn off party members from the left and right filter so you'll never target them on left or right. If you're sol healing, you can just set your target mode to party members. :)
I've just gotten back into the game after 4 years and playing AST with my friend who's a tank. We're finding me playing diurnal stance seems to be better but obviously I'm meant to play noct. Any advice on teaming with a white Mage ?
You’d be correct as one stance gives you a boost. But the numbers can still make since beyond just the stance you choose as a baseline. I might need to update this video anyway :)
@@Work2Game I played Astro all thru HW and loved it. But after the Scholar changes in SB its so unstoppable. This video kinda made me wanna give Ast another try tho :P
Just so you know Crit will also affect your heals, but direct hit won't. If you feel like doing more damage, go with Direct Hit, but healing does benefit from Crit. If you find yourself low on MP, you can always spec more PIE, but for the most part you can't go wrong with Crit. :)
I heavily disagree on running shields when it's not specifically needed. It's far less MP-efficient, and as AST, your overall healing power is lower in Nocturnal. *General content or when you don't know the content:* Regens = _straight-up better._ *When you know the content has big tankbusters or big raid-wide damage events:* Bring _at least_ one SCH or Nocturnal AST.
With shields, you don't have to heal AS much, so it kinda pays out in that regard. It depends on the dungeon or raid, of course, but in certain cases, I almost never have to heal the party just by applying a shield and reapplying when it drops. Regens also draw lots of aggro, especially if they linger and your tank (or an overextending DPS) pulls another group - guess who the mobs are going for now? But yes, when healing is much more important (like the AoE heavy Hashmal), Regens are far more valuable.
See, regens can be used in the same way. Except a full regen generally amounts to more than a full shield, and contrary to a shield it doesn't get used up by incoming damage. It's more like a mini-healer sits around, casting a tiny Cure every few seconds. In other words: It's basically this relationship where shields have the _potential_ to be *_WAY(!)_* more important (depending on the content), but regens are much more universal. (And if the tank knows an inkling of how to tank, regens won't make the healer pull. Also Lucid Dreaming.)
There is so much wrong with your statements. Shields are more mana efficient than regen. They are also better for unknown content. They are better for pugs. Shields don't lose value when a player is at full Health. If a player has full health and regen, any extra ticks from that are lost, effectively losing out on healing. If the shield is partially absorbed from some damage, you still have the remainder of the shield left that can be used. Lets assume regen ticks for 1k for each of the 6 ticks. That 1k tick only heals if the player is missing health. If that same player is only missing 500 health, you just lost 50% of that tick. Regen gets more efficient the less health a player has, bringing them up to their max HP, never more. Shields give players damage mitigation. This translates into effective health. A tank with 10k HP that has regen can only take a single 10k hit before they die, no matter how much that regen would have healed for. The same tank with even a 1 HP damage shield will still be alive after a 10k hit and only gets more efficient with stronger shields. A 2k shield gives the player that much more health, making a single hit have to be 12k+ in order to be fatal. The difference between the two is Reactive vs Proactive. Reactive is fine if you know the fights and can predict the damage so that there isn't as much wasted healing. If you don't know the content, the tank didn't get a defensive up for that tankbuster, tank isn't picking up adds, etc, why would you not want to prevent as much dmg as possible? Absorbing damage, negating it, gives a lot more room for error. Give me more health to survive the mechanics imo! So, NO, regen is not the end-all-be-all between the two. There is a LOT of information from a lot of games, not just FFXIV, that point to this.
WAIT!!! the cards had ACTUAL specific effects before?!? Why did they change it? That’s half the reason I wanted to play ffxiv, now that I finally got my sub the whole class changed? That’s so lame...
WHM is my only 70 so far (started at SB release), but I have been having a lot of fun leveling AST. It makes me sore that the game doesn't have an official support class role and party slot. AST and BRD would fit great into those slots if they dialed back on the heals/dps and focused more or their abilities. My you, that's coming from a guy that spent 12 years playing BRD and RDM on FFXI.
While editing, this video was running really long, so I planned to add in a how to astro 102 guide to go over the other abilities, but I haven't gotten around to that yet. :S
I switch between the sects in between pulls. If I have the time, I apply an Aspected Helios with Nocturnal Sect, but at the very least, I squeeze in an Aspected Benefic on the tank, before switching to Diurnal Sect right before the fight. I hate that they removed Stone Skin, though, because that was the main thing I used lightspeed for, in between pulls, while running. I also hate that they removed two of my DoTs! Applying them in between the heals and doing the stance dance was the other thing I used to love. Now it's just Earthly star and Gravity spamming all day.
Anders Engman I actually wanted to ask about this. I'm still a baby AST, but love the concept of the job, so going all the way with it. Can you stance dance the sects during combat? I don't know that it would be very MP efficient, but to recover from a major party hit, or even to prep for one, could you launch an Aspected Helios from each sect to both shield and HoT the entire party?
You won't be able to switch stance while in combat :( I understand why they do that, but it would be nice... it's felt more during a boss, because if you're in the wrong stance, you have to do the whole fight.
Star is a great heal as well, I'm not sure about the pre-cast, because the heal doesn't happen until you pop it, but it will auto pop, so if there isn't a pull, you might end up pulling... I'll have to test. :)
As far as the Star cast, only meant if you're in a fight and know big dmg is coming, precast the Star to hit that big heal right as the party takes the dmg. Suck you can't stance dance as AST though, lol. Granted, shielded regen would likely be a bit OP.
Even watching this I still can’t seem to understand it properly when I’m using this class I’m literally just mashing buttons and hoping for the best but however when I’m a white mage I understand it so clearly I know what I’m doing but I got that thing where I like playing as an astroligian but I can’t use them lol
This is just me being me but astrology is ah straw low gee so wouldn’t it be ah straw low gin? Just something to add to the confusing name but your guides are great and have helped with just about any question I had especially the hot bars videos me being a console player.
I started as a summoner, the more video I watch on Astrologian which I wanted to be because pretty as heck, the more I feel it's kinda too hard compared to summoner and not sure I would be able to keep up, which spooks me a lot, but I really like the AST
How's your MP management? Do you find you need more MP more often? If so, I'd say pick up some PIE... Mind should also be good, as it effects your healing... and personally, I love CRIT :) Your gear has "caps" with melds so be sure not to meld a stat that is already maxed. The UI will show you if that's the case. :)
Work To Game my MP management is Good, so I'll go with Crit and Mind! SS seems irrelavent with AST because of lightspeed and the other spells that instant cast. Thank you Bryan (:
SS is also only good up to a Max point too, where you're getting the best benefit... I tend not to worry about. I hear it can be good for BLM to help get another cast off, but then you're still working towards a max value, and bang for the buck tends to switch IMO towards Crit, or Direct Hit. Since Direct hit doesn't apply towards healing, crit takes the cake. :)
Just wondering but did you factor into account the Diurnal Sect +10% and Nocturnal Sect +15% passive bonus to heal potency when you worked out the points of mana per healing potency. Because im wondering how a 200 potency aspected benefic becoming 230 with a 250% sheild or a 200 potency aspected benefic becoming 220 with a 140 potency regen over 18s becoming 154 potency regen over 18s would look to you when you look at the mana per healing potency. This also means that not only do benefic and benefic II both have higher potency than Cure and Cure II when using a sect, all the heals in the Astrologians arsenal are slightly more mana efficient than they seem. does this close the gap with the Astrologians high mana cost in your opinion?
No mention of several vital AST abilities like Earthly Star, or Celestial Opposition. No mention of what sects boost healing an how much. May wanna re-examine this one.
Just learning AST and my main thought is that Spire really needs a rework. Especially because isn't there a tp rework coming up in Shadowbringers? It's pretty dumb for a card to exist just for Royal road to be fed. Royal road is more fun when you feel like you have to sacrifice a card that is good or use it.
Oh man. I realized that this was pre patch 5.11 after reading descriptions of the cards. Man it used to be so fun huh. Now all the cards are basically copies of each other :(
Yeah, and it looks like this is what I'm leveling up next. I didn't like it at the media tour, so I don't know how I will feel about it here in a week.
At lvl 45 I am having a really hard time keeping my team alive. I immediately saw a change from whm 45. Whm 45 has regen that is a lot cheaper and I can spam it on all teammates without mp problems. Also when a tank pulls a big mob I just run in the middle and spam holy until the tanks hp gets low and then I heal. By then the mobs hp is around 1/4. Fights are a lot quicker and dungeons are a lot easier. I hope astrologian gets better... right now I am working hard as hell and dungeons feel a lot more stressful. Can anyone relate?
Direct hit doesn't affect heals, why would you run a stat that only increases damage when you can run crit or det that increases both healing and damage? As an AST main I can't say direct hit is EVER good unless you are solely going for dps parses on farm content
I'm not saying you should stack direct hit, I'm telling you what direct hit does. :) Hope that helps. I personally run Crit builds, but Direct Hit is great for a healer who wants to output DPS. :)
Thanks Maxx, I wouldn't call it useless in that case then, not the most optimal. :) Personally I love crit builds, always have, probably always will. :)
With the way direct hit scales, you'd see better results with determination and crit for both healing and DPSing. Direct Hit, unless you're a summoner, black Mage, or something like an actual DPS, is less optimal. You can get away with it on Tanks, but Healer melds are less impactful right now than they were at the end of HW because we don't have access to better gear. It's why you don't see many, if any, healers with DH Melds.
![FFXIV How to White Mage [101 Healing Guide]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/nXSN8ezDC6M/mqdefault.jpg)
![FFXIV How to White Mage [101 Healing Guide]](/img/tr.png)
I don't even really need these guides, but they are just so well made and entertaining for the sheer fact you do truly know what you are talking about. Fantastic work Brian, looking forward to the next.
Oh wow, thanks Mire, really appreciate that. :)
If there is anything you'd like to see me make, let me know. :D
Work To Game Have you done a Scholar guide? I keep trying to find a good guide but none seem to have the same in-depth detail you put into your videos.
Lot of AST guides from this channel, which is awesome cause I'm an AST main lol
Hopefully you get something good from them. :) Thanks for being here Ajay! :)
I recently got the Astrologian class (2 days ago) and was super thrilled about it, and God knows your guide has helped me a lot to understand the basics now, as it does seems overwhelming with the card system. Thank you so much for videos like this!. You rock.
Thanks so much! :) just take your time and you’ll get the hang of it before too long :)
I just unlock this class today
Recently Got back into FFXIV, after a long break. This is exactly the Video i needed. I mainly play DPS, but wanted to take healing as an option, and i just ALWAYS Out of Mana. lol
I really like the way you laid out your video into segments, and explained the abilities in separate categories. Made things easier to follow and understand. Great Video
While you're learning your cards, you can hover over Draw to read the effect of the card you just acquired.
An excellent tip! :)
Dude just started playing this game again and was gonna do tons of beginner stuff to get back on track, but this vid caught me back up to my level 52 astro. Muchos gracias.
That’s awesome :) plus welcome back to the game! :)
Another great video, this and the comments have been super helpful on this baby Astro and overall new healer :)
I have been following for a while, and don't comment often but I feel like I should let you guys know that your work is appreciated, it probably takes lots of time to put it together.
Thanks LazyTallGuy! Glad these have been a help, and the work is fun, but these videos do take a good amount of time. I won't say how much... ;)
Thank you for this! After watching, starting AST was much easier, and I got three commendations on my first dungeon with it! You're a saint!
+Niminae thanks dude, really glad to hear this helped you out and got you started :) you earned those coms!!! :)
Very quality video, well produced, well explained and very helpful to me as a new Ast.
+Not Suitable For Weak thanks, and I’m glad you enjoyed :)
Wow! What great timing! I just started AST over the weekend, been messing around with it not 100% sure what I was doing. This will help a lot! Thank you!.
I did make sure to let the parties I was in know I was new to AST and healing in General.
Seemed to help, even on a bad wipe (was my fault I got overwhelmed) Everyone was really nice about it and we finished Brayflox’s Longstop with out any further issues.
Now i'm off to check the Healer Macros! keep up the good work!
Thanks Ani, and good job letting people know you're new to the job... Makes the whole thing go a lot smoother. Wipes happen to everyone, but it helps people understand that you're not an expert AST. :) Hope the other video helps.
Thanks for this, I just started leveling AST and finding an up-to-date guide is super helpful!
Thanks Austin, and I hope you enjoy AST... I didn't find I liked it until level 50 :)
Was so so happy I found this video it helped answer A LOT of questions about this class I found HIGHLY Intimidating. Looking forward to learning it more as I level it to max and get at least functional to good with this job. Even tho I am 95% sure I will "main" white mage or Scholar. Keep in mind this is from a 90% PVE player who likes to level do stories dungeons and raid from normal to hard mode. Again the card thing the very thing that once intimidated me, I can totally see why people would love it and enjoy the mini game of reducing the RNG and getting the perfect Buff card off when needed. k...... now que the infamous Kenny Rodgers Gambler :). Thanks again work to game for the time passion and in depth intelligence.
The best and most comprehensive guide I've found insists that in almost ALL cases, even with a WHM in the party, health over time is superior to shielding. The reasoning being that the constant restoration of health fits more in line with AST's healing capabilities and fits best with the manner in which tanks take damage in this game. Shields would gain more benefit if damage was more reliable and predictable, ex. a steady stream of damage from the boss. Unpredictable damage is better dealt with using health over time restoration.
Awesome guide , helped me alot. Saying thank you at the end had me all sentimental
Nice guide
Thank you so much for your guide! I’m just getting back into the game and you’ve helped tremendously.
FYI: if you're looking for Astro guides in 2019, this one is pretty much entirely wrong now, especially the mechanics of using cards, what they do, and how to handle draws of cards you can't use at the moment. The job was gutted, simplified, and nerfed to death for Shadowbringers expansion. RIP.
Yep, RIP Astro, we'll have updated guides rolled out as we level them up :)
But it's funny that most healers i meet are Astro lol
So the best choice for healer is white mage as of right now?
Is it really pronounced Astro-Logey? And not astrology?
I wish all guides were like this, most of them just show you spread sheets and read them to you and say "thanks for watching" while this one walks you through meaning of stats first and builds slowly from there with examples.
Great guide, just one thing. DRKs can't be affected by MP refresh skills. Do not waste your Ewer on them, same for BLM as they can almost instant regen all their MP with a single Blizzard III cast. Main targets for Ewer would be SMN, RDM, BRD, or other Healers.
+Azureberry Jam thanks for the feedback, I'll put an updated video up and correct myself there. :)
Paladin can use that too, I love spamming HS.....
Glad that it works on PLD, because I've been putting it on them too... Whew!
Late to the party, but it's Darkside and Astral Fire that prevent Refresh-type abilities (not just AST's, it also blocks the Ranged DPS Refresh too) specifically.
It CAN be kinda nice if you're planning stuff with your DRK and they take off Darkside for a bit, but a BLM would never need either and it's kinda niche on the DRK too since they can recover their own.
Any other card is usually fair game for the other classes but a few small things to keep in mind:
People bag on Spire but it's a good way to recover from AoE spamming, at least for the physical jobs - toss it at 'em if you have nothing else or wanna reset your cooldowns faster. (You have the un-draw abilities for that, but why waste a card?)
Sometimes Arrow can mess up people's muscle memory, and will throw off their timing - a MCH in my FC specifically asked me not to give them to him because of that... But in PUBs there's no real way to gauge.
Try using your regular Draw first before you use Sleeve Draw. You get an extra card that way, because Sleeve refreshes your cooldown. (it doesn't refresh Redraw, so if you draw something you don't want at first, you might as well turn it into an Arcana and hope for a Lord.)
Putting points in casting speed rather than casting stat tends to reduce overhealing and ensures you cast your heals on time. This is true even without regard to the actual numbers; however how *efficiently* it does this depends on how whether points in casting speed increase healing per second as much as casting does (I don't know). It also reduces efficiency of power consumption.
+Chris Jones thanks for the tips :)
My biggest problem with healing in this game is honestly the tanks. It seems every tank wants to rush through and honestly it makes healing much more stressful then it should be. Then if you ask them to slow down a bit, either they will tell you to shut up and heal them, call you a bad healer, or do both then quit the group.
+Terra Kross sorry you’ve had that type of experience. I think that stems from players feeling that the roulettes are their personal speed runs. Don’t let it get you down or take it too much to heart. Hopefully you’ll find yourself a good tank who you can play with on the regular so you won’t have to get matched with someone who has a hard time listening.
I try to look at it as a chance to grow as a healer, since it is my preferred role what with it feeling the most 'free' to play compared to the DPS and tank roles. In that I feel less forced to a rotation and more involved in actually playing my class. Which in turn is why I love the Astrologian. But I think so many people are intimidated to even try healing because of this mentality that tanks need to, what I call, 'pull down the house' every run.
On the other hand, I just picked up tanking, and it seems that a lot of people expect tanks to do this too. So I have to ask now...where did this mentality come from and can and should we curb it? I doubt it's a very inviting mentality for newer players to the game.
I had a little problem like that the black mage was spamming thurder over and over and my husband ask her why!(he had playing healer) And the tank keep pull to large of pulls and at the end of the dungeon he said learn how to heal before tell someone how to run there class
I treat it as a test to prove that I'm an exceptional healer. A tank's true job is not just to take all the aggro fast and efficiently, but also to ALWAYS be mindful of your healer's positioning and mana reserves. If a poor tank is going to insist on pulling a group of 30 mobs regardless of my mana left over from the last fight then I'm gonna keep him alive as best I can, and if he does die then it's his fault no matter what anyone says. I'm not bothered.
And then after the last boss tell him to stop being a brat as I leave the dungeon before his little derpy fingers can take out his rage on the keyboard.
As a healer main, I love it when tanks rush through and make stuff as chaotic as possible. Makes healing so much more fun! Haha.
Thanks for all the information! This class drew me in (pun totally intended) and I can’t wait to dive in. (:
Amazing guide! Needs more likes. Thank you so much!
Thanks so much Moonagesyndrome! :)
I just stared healing and it make me nervous as a pds main .. I tried WM and SCH ... but the AST was kinda fun to play and thanks for this helpful video
PSA!!! please dont give drk ewers it doesnt work
+FluffyTheKami thanks, someone also said that, I never caught onto that at all... :S
thx for the great work you put in every video. Greetings from México
+jointjohnson thanks so much, and howdy from Texas... we're neighbors! :)
Good video. I'm trying to pick up Astrologian so this helps greatly.
Awesome, I hope you enjoy :)
What a great and fun to play this job is. Astrologian is really amazing and a great addition to the game. I dream with the day Yoshida will allow all classes fill different roles. An Astrologian in DPS mode would be brutal.
Great video man. Always a pleasure. Also remember that the mp card can't be used on DRK. They are the only person that can manage their own mp. Besides that, great video.
Are y'all gonna make a leveling guide by chance? I keep wondering if potd is really the best option for leveling an another job.
Chris is working on a leveling ALT jobs guide which will hopefully be a big help. :)
When you say "can't be used on DRK, do you mean "shouldn't?" they can manage their own MP, but this is a help. BLM can manage their own MP, but sometimes an extra few tics of MP can equal more Fire 4... but that's more risky.
I actually mean that DRK cannot get aide from other characters when it comes to them regenerating their MP. It is a weird trait they have that I think is in the darkside skill. That maybe have been changed in 4.0 but to the best of my ability as a lvl 70 DRK I have never been able to have my MP regenerated by another character.
+Britton Johnson Seriously? Wow, I've been playing DRK for a while. Didn't ever catch onto that. Thanks for setting me straight. I'll put in a correction in the vid :)
Work To Game no problem man! Keep making great videos!
Britton Johnson Now I feel bad for giving my commendations to dps instead of the Astros I assumed were not using their cards correct when I had Edgelord to the max.
That said it is always good to see guides and comments on this great channel, as this knowledge will make me less derp when I go back to Astro.
One thing missed in the calculations is that the 2 sects add to healing potency and it procs off the Regen and increases the base heal that goes into the shield calculation so aspected Helios in Diurnal should be around 1880/704=2.5PPMP
great guide :D helped me alot to understand astrologian :D
Glad I could help. I had plans to do more follow up with the job but wasn’t able to make the time. Hopefully I’ll be able to do that soon :) all in all, earthy star is a great ability and I don’t talk about it here :(
8:08 what's the best way to know which DPS is struggling? I downloaded ACT and keep it running in dungeons, but it's information overload, I'd like something small and concise..
I just picked up Astro today, it's a lot to take in and this guide helped. One thing I was wondering was whether or not you ever used the undraw abilities, like undraw or the abilities that cancels royal road or spread? I didn't know if there was a reason for them and wanted to adjust my hot bars accordingly
Personally, I don't use them, and haven't run into an area where that would be the case or worth it to me, that being said, I'm sure there might be a few times where that could be of value, but in my time with the job, I never found myself wishing I put those commands on my hotbar.
So, let me know if you end up using them. :)
Fantastic guide, thanks man!
First off, your male AST looks great! Fits the theme & looks masculine enough. *Impressed*
One thing I’d like to know as an AST is, who to buff with the card at hand. I’m quite new to the game, hence I hadn’t got in to Tanks or DPS. Playing AST down the line, I realise that you sort of need to know all the classes in general to know which cards they want.
Example, I heard that Arrow will screw up BLM’s rotation. I haven’t ask. But that’s just an example of my dilemma as an AST. It is probably a lot of work going through all the classes & all the cards. But I’m just putting this question out.
Whoever told you that Arrow messes up their rotation lied lol Arrow speeds up their rotation and helps them fits more fire IVs into their rotation and most of them love it so much
Completely agree with PQ on this one! However, IF the BLM in your party is already Spell Speed capped, The Arrow COULD cause them to mis-time the GCD until they realize what's going on amd adjust. If they know it's coming, then most will thank you eternally for it! They merely have to wait an extra .08 of a second before queuing their next cast.
Wait what's changed ? The spire card is useless now ? Seems like tp is removed and why they didn't change that card effect or they changed ?
Great guide! Thank you :)
One thing I'm curious about is the cards and what classes would benefit from them the most.
I understand that the Damage Reduction card should be placed upon the tank (usually in typical 4-man dungeons) and Damage Increase cards used on your dps... but does it matter which ones? Which dps prefers which card? You say "get to know your cards" well that's great and all, but a bit more into detail as to which classes benefit more from any specific cards would have been nice to know.
Sure thing and great question! :)
I'll even use damage reduction on a DPS who's taking too much damage ;) but outside of that, I usually rotate my cards to the different DPS unless one is clearly doing more damage than the other. so like a SAM vs BRD... I'd give it to the SAM each time. If everyone is performing well, then it's dealers choice. There might be times where you'll prioritize one over the other for mechanics reasons, but that's not anything I could detail here.
Currently I find use in each card I have, outside of spire for TP, so usually, I burn or re-draw spire. (TP restore)
Arrow is great for speed, so any fast job get's really fast (like Monk, or SAM)
Spear is great for that crit hits, so I give that to my casters
But that's just me, hopefully, this somewhat answers your question, if not, let me know. :)
5:06 This ability doesn't work on Dark Knights, comes up with "has no effect!" and doesn't apply the buff.
Yes, I miss spoke and you are correct :)
Thank you so much for this! I've been away from the game for 2 years now and this really put me back on track! But i do have a questions. So I'm 69 now and did 2 lvl 60+ dungeons this past week and the tanks were pulling multiple clusters of mobs but I was having a hard time keeping them healed bc they were taking massive amounts of damage. I had to basically spam Benefic II so I would end up running out of mana. Any suggestions on how to handle those type of situations?
Be sure to focus Benifc 1 because it can proc benefic 2 which helps out. Also, use your earthly star ability to help out down some healing and damage output.
You might also want to switch up your stance to being your healing over time, or to your shielding heal (whatever your not using to see if that helps out)
Also, welcome back :)
Isn't all the the pot per mp stuff backwards? You get 0.83 potency per mana point on benefic I, and 0.60 potency per mana point on benfic II, well benefic II buffed is 1.2 potency per mana point. Just thought I'd point it out cause it seems confusing when you are saying potency per mana point but actually talking about its cost in mana per potency point.
You might be right, as long as you do the calc the same way it should balance itself out. :)
Thank you professor Brian
Thanks Christopher :)
Or, you're welcome :)
Minor but I think you had switched around potency and mp cost when you were explaining benefic I/II. 1080 mp/650 pot, technically should be 1.6 MP per POT. You had it written the other way around. You explained it correctly though so I was just slightly confused there for a second.
I am really bad at Astro. I forever need a cheat sheet with me to remind me what each card does, also I only seem to draw TP card, and the jobs I travel with seem to be always in need of mp. My Astro is only at lvl 41 and I just can't seem to have fun using it, and I greatly enjoyed White Mage and Scholar.
+ProfessM I didn't like Astro at all until level 50 btw... you get redraw at level 45 so I'd say, keep playing at least to level 50/52 and then see how you feel. It might change. But if it doesn't, no worries :)
I've tried 60 thanks to potd and still not for me.
That's a great way to test without having to spend hours upon hours with the job. :)
A nice guide, does anyone know which minion that was in the beginning?
That's LuLu she's from FFX and was a reward for attending the fan fests, or ordering the show online.
Sooo does arrow stack with huiton so a ninja could build ninki super fast? I bet they would love that
I think you should also mention Earthly Star. It's a pretty important ability.
+Luiz Henrique Dantas Grimm D'Farias I agree, I figured I'd cover it more in a second video along with a few other skills :) but I talk about it in my controller guide :)
Love your videos. Jus got back into the game.. i have a 34 WHM and 46 AST, i can't decide which to take into SB =(
+vandamwtc the good news is you have a tough choice. :) you should check out my final thoughts on AST video and my final thoughts on WTM video to see if that helps at all :)
I must watch this every day.
As a SCH main, I wish to learn the AST so I can work towards all healers lvl 70 but damn AST just looked confusing when I unlocked ages ago and then never touched again
Omg yay something I know enough about to comment on! I know this is a 101 guide but I think there are 3 things that weren't mentioned which I overlooked when I started AST which will make a huge difference for new players.
The first is Collective Unconscious. This is great for the shield alone but the HoT from it is also very potent not to mention the only HoT you can access in Noct stance. Super helpful ability.
The second is Celestial Opposition. The stun can be helpful but it shines more in being (basically) an AoE Time Dialation. In 8 man this is amazing, who doesn't want to extend their AoE Balance? This ability and Time Dialation also extend HoTs you cast and self buffs like Lightspeed, Largresse and Lucid Dreaming.
The third thing I think that deserves a mention is Earthly Star. I love you guys but in the Temple of the Fist gameplay at the end of this video you kinda ignore it other than placement it seems and there were a couple times that you could have popped this for a nice tank or AoE heal, specifically after the Zu used the party wide attack. Any time after that first 10 seconds this is a huge free AoE heal and as you point out AoE heals are already the least MP efficent so anything to lower the amount of Helios/Aspected Helios you have to cast is great.
All in all I appreciate the video and I'm super happy your channel is growing! Up to 9k subs, I remember when it was like 1k. Congrats! I look forward to more healer content from you guys! :D
Thanks Drew, all fantastic points and I agree with each one. I felt that they belong in a more in depth deep dive, if you look this is already one of my longer videos.
Maybe, I'm miss understanding your last point, but I did use Earthly star towards the end of the Zu, and many times on that run. I love that ability. I wanted to highlight these abilities, but I almost broke this video up into two parts in and of itself.
However, you're spot on with your notes... Thanks for sharing, and anyone else who's watching and reading, should take note of these points. :D
Work To Game I was actually just browsing for more healer content on your channel and yes you definitely don't need those tips but maybe some baby AST out there can see my comment and not ignore CO/CU until they're almost 70 like I did. Lol.
The earthly star comment was mostly just focused on around 23:17 (I don't know how to do the cool timestamp thingie, sorry) where the group takes damage from the Zu. Instead of popping your Star there you heal up the tank separately then use a Helios a bit after then pop your star.
It's mostly just me being nit picky about MP management. In SB I come from a WHM background where MP is basically never an issue so I have to be super careful on AST or I run dry because I get too agressive with my DPS or AoE heals.
Either way thank you for responding so well to my bit of cretique, I felt kinda silly posting it since I'm sure you could out-AST me any day. Thanks for another enjoyable video!
Omg what it did the cool timestamp thingie for me! Amaze o.o I reeeealy look forward to your next AST video.
+Drew Wogen I too find MP to be an issue, namely as I bounce from Healing and DPS... good note on the star, I was waiting for it to go giant, and get that buff I believe, or just was being lazy :) thanks for your comment! :)
Drew Wogen thank you for this! I was about to ask how to use 2 out of the 3 skills you mentioned. I instinctively started using CO as an extender as opposed to stun since it seemed like waste compared to the cooldown. I'm a baby Astro so I truly appreciate this!
I'm returning to the game and looking to use a gamepad. Can someone explain to me how he manages his setup? Like how does he have the extra 4 abilities on both sides, and are the slots above the ++ skills he can activate? Also how does he manage to scroll through his party to heal and how do you get an enemy target list to popup like that?
I just watched your other video about your AST setup, that was a lot of awesome info! Now my only question is how you do the cycling through the party to heal or having the enemy target menu, etc.
I just unlock heavenward connect today and trying to learn the new class
Congrats @Doris on making this far, I hope you enjoy the job :)
Thanks for the video first time I watched one from you, I'm going to subscribe i just was just wonder do you use helios and aspected helios?
Hello! I'm a big fan so far and I just wanted to ask this question. Currently, me and my friend are very new to the game. (From the time of this comment we've been playing for only 2 days.)my friend is huge on playing tanks and me, on healers and I was curious about how i can actually learn who i should be buffing. We've done a dungeon or two, and so far we get by, but I dont like to stand out if I dont know what I'm doing. Is there possibly a way or something I can watch to help me understand the roles i should be giving certain buffs, specifically with this class, as I'll be picking it up as soon as possible. Any help you can give would be amazing. (I have the full version, we both do, if that matters. DLC and all.)
Welcome to FFXIV Mr. Shadowheart, and yeah, that's something we can do for you. I'd say jump into our discord (link in the channel header) and sync up with us there (easier than in youtube comments). And join in when live, or talk with those in our #FFXIV channel as they'll have all kinds of tips and tricks for you :)
@@Work2Game alright cool! I'll definately need to link up and ask about things. I can be a little slow learning about the game, stats, and how they work, so I try to ask for them all in turn. I'll definately go ahead and enter your discord as soon as I can (roughly 2 hours till I'm home)
Fast or slow we're open to all kinds of learners. What makes the best player is having the desire to learn. :)
Thanks for the guide. New to the game and my greatest question is on royal road. When is a good time to use it? Instead of just using the card, since the 30s downtime is huge to do during pulls.
wonder what the u-shape thing in nocturnal sect's icon is supposed to be
+superhbman id guess a moon, since the job deals with the stars and space a lot. :)
I'm new to using the controller and I find myself scrambling to toggle between party members, what is the easiest way to do that?
I use the up and down buttons on the d-pad and turn off party members from the left and right filter so you'll never target them on left or right. If you're sol healing, you can just set your target mode to party members. :)
@@Work2Game Thank you so much, this helps a lot!
Good video. Keep it up, man.
I've just gotten back into the game after 4 years and playing AST with my friend who's a tank. We're finding me playing diurnal stance seems to be better but obviously I'm meant to play noct. Any advice on teaming with a white Mage ?
Wouldn't all the mp/pot calculations be off since your healing potency is changed by the stances?
You’d be correct as one stance gives you a boost. But the numbers can still make since beyond just the stance you choose as a baseline. I might need to update this video anyway :)
@@Work2Game I played Astro all thru HW and loved it. But after the Scholar changes in SB its so unstoppable. This video kinda made me wanna give Ast another try tho :P
I’ve been healing on Astro but have been thinking of going back to SCH. :)
This video made me love AST now I’m LVLing it to 70 but what where is the scholar vid did I miss it cause I don’t see it
Hey hey! Any advice on materia? I mean u explained the stats but im not too sure on what to use
What kind of build are you looking for? :)
Good question im actually unsure. If possible something that doesnt rely too much on crit, cuz i pref to know how much im prob gonna heal. :)
Just so you know Crit will also affect your heals, but direct hit won't. If you feel like doing more damage, go with Direct Hit, but healing does benefit from Crit. If you find yourself low on MP, you can always spec more PIE, but for the most part you can't go wrong with Crit. :)
Oh well thats actually good to know, thanks for the advice! :D
I heavily disagree on running shields when it's not specifically needed.
It's far less MP-efficient, and as AST, your overall healing power is lower in Nocturnal.
*General content or when you don't know the content:* Regens = _straight-up better._
*When you know the content has big tankbusters or big raid-wide damage events:* Bring _at least_ one SCH or Nocturnal AST.
Fair point all around. :) I find that I run shields far more often then regen :)
With shields, you don't have to heal AS much, so it kinda pays out in that regard. It depends on the dungeon or raid, of course, but in certain cases, I almost never have to heal the party just by applying a shield and reapplying when it drops.
Regens also draw lots of aggro, especially if they linger and your tank (or an overextending DPS) pulls another group - guess who the mobs are going for now?
But yes, when healing is much more important (like the AoE heavy Hashmal), Regens are far more valuable.
See, regens can be used in the same way. Except a full regen generally amounts to more than a full shield, and contrary to a shield it doesn't get used up by incoming damage. It's more like a mini-healer sits around, casting a tiny Cure every few seconds.
In other words: It's basically this relationship where shields have the _potential_ to be *_WAY(!)_* more important (depending on the content), but regens are much more universal. (And if the tank knows an inkling of how to tank, regens won't make the healer pull. Also Lucid Dreaming.)
There is so much wrong with your statements. Shields are more mana efficient than regen. They are also better for unknown content. They are better for pugs.
Shields don't lose value when a player is at full Health. If a player has full health and regen, any extra ticks from that are lost, effectively losing out on healing. If the shield is partially absorbed from some damage, you still have the remainder of the shield left that can be used. Lets assume regen ticks for 1k for each of the 6 ticks. That 1k tick only heals if the player is missing health. If that same player is only missing 500 health, you just lost 50% of that tick. Regen gets more efficient the less health a player has, bringing them up to their max HP, never more.
Shields give players damage mitigation. This translates into effective health. A tank with 10k HP that has regen can only take a single 10k hit before they die, no matter how much that regen would have healed for. The same tank with even a 1 HP damage shield will still be alive after a 10k hit and only gets more efficient with stronger shields. A 2k shield gives the player that much more health, making a single hit have to be 12k+ in order to be fatal.
The difference between the two is Reactive vs Proactive. Reactive is fine if you know the fights and can predict the damage so that there isn't as much wasted healing. If you don't know the content, the tank didn't get a defensive up for that tankbuster, tank isn't picking up adds, etc, why would you not want to prevent as much dmg as possible? Absorbing damage, negating it, gives a lot more room for error. Give me more health to survive the mechanics imo!
So, NO, regen is not the end-all-be-all between the two. There is a LOT of information from a lot of games, not just FFXIV, that point to this.
WAIT!!! the cards had ACTUAL specific effects before?!? Why did they change it? That’s half the reason I wanted to play ffxiv, now that I finally got my sub the whole class changed?
That’s so lame...
I totally agree while I do like some of the changes to Astro it feels too cut down from the previous version 🤷♀️
I'm starting to play an AST, I still have problems with healing, my question is in which AST level it is recommended to start using macros?
What gear set are you using? I'd love to find that (for Glamor if nothing else)
I'll have to go double check, it might be on my profile on the lodestone... One sec.
Been busy with work, so I'll try to get online tonight. :)
WHM is my only 70 so far (started at SB release), but I have been having a lot of fun leveling AST. It makes me sore that the game doesn't have an official support class role and party slot. AST and BRD would fit great into those slots if they dialed back on the heals/dps and focused more or their abilities. My you, that's coming from a guy that spent 12 years playing BRD and RDM on FFXI.
Was looking on how you use Earthly Star. but you never mentioned it :(
While editing, this video was running really long, so I planned to add in a how to astro 102 guide to go over the other abilities, but I haven't gotten around to that yet. :S
Good to know, looking forward to it!
My main is dragoon and I just recently started play with the astrologian I really like the class
how do you choose or assign cards to a party member
I switch between the sects in between pulls. If I have the time, I apply an Aspected Helios with Nocturnal Sect, but at the very least, I squeeze in an Aspected Benefic on the tank, before switching to Diurnal Sect right before the fight. I hate that they removed Stone Skin, though, because that was the main thing I used lightspeed for, in between pulls, while running. I also hate that they removed two of my DoTs! Applying them in between the heals and doing the stance dance was the other thing I used to love. Now it's just Earthly star and Gravity spamming all day.
Anders Engman I actually wanted to ask about this. I'm still a baby AST, but love the concept of the job, so going all the way with it. Can you stance dance the sects during combat? I don't know that it would be very MP efficient, but to recover from a major party hit, or even to prep for one, could you launch an Aspected Helios from each sect to both shield and HoT the entire party?
A well timed Star, paired with this combo could be a near full recovery if timed properly across the board, could it not?
You won't be able to switch stance while in combat :( I understand why they do that, but it would be nice... it's felt more during a boss, because if you're in the wrong stance, you have to do the whole fight.
Star is a great heal as well, I'm not sure about the pre-cast, because the heal doesn't happen until you pop it, but it will auto pop, so if there isn't a pull, you might end up pulling... I'll have to test. :)
As far as the Star cast, only meant if you're in a fight and know big dmg is coming, precast the Star to hit that big heal right as the party takes the dmg. Suck you can't stance dance as AST though, lol. Granted, shielded regen would likely be a bit OP.
Can you make a guide for managing healer mp?
Thanks for the request, I'll see what I can do. :)
Even watching this I still can’t seem to understand it properly when I’m using this class I’m literally just mashing buttons and hoping for the best but however when I’m a white mage I understand it so clearly I know what I’m doing but I got that thing where I like playing as an astroligian but I can’t use them lol
How to get those gear? Will they be given by doing quest?
This is just me being me but astrology is ah straw low gee so wouldn’t it be ah straw low gin? Just something to add to the confusing name but your guides are great and have helped with just about any question I had especially the hot bars videos me being a console player.
Does this still apply to the Astrologian? Also when do you unlock the Astrologian?
great vid man, keep it up
Thanks so much!!! :) Thanks for watching! :)
I started as a summoner, the more video I watch on Astrologian which I wanted to be because pretty as heck, the more I feel it's kinda too hard compared to summoner and not sure I would be able to keep up, which spooks me a lot, but I really like the AST
Hey, what Melds should I use with my lvl 70 gear for AST?
How's your MP management? Do you find you need more MP more often? If so, I'd say pick up some PIE... Mind should also be good, as it effects your healing... and personally, I love CRIT :) Your gear has "caps" with melds so be sure not to meld a stat that is already maxed. The UI will show you if that's the case. :)
Work To Game my MP management is Good, so I'll go with Crit and Mind! SS seems irrelavent with AST because of lightspeed and the other spells that instant cast. Thank you Bryan (:
SS is also only good up to a Max point too, where you're getting the best benefit... I tend not to worry about. I hear it can be good for BLM to help get another cast off, but then you're still working towards a max value, and bang for the buck tends to switch IMO towards Crit, or Direct Hit. Since Direct hit doesn't apply towards healing, crit takes the cake. :)
Is this version still relevant? Or does it need an overhaul?
It’s already been overhauled and the new one is online :)
Just wondering but did you factor into account the Diurnal Sect +10% and Nocturnal Sect +15% passive bonus to heal potency when you worked out the points of mana per healing potency. Because im wondering how a 200 potency aspected benefic becoming 230 with a 250% sheild or a 200 potency aspected benefic becoming 220 with a 140 potency regen over 18s becoming 154 potency regen over 18s would look to you when you look at the mana per healing potency.
This also means that not only do benefic and benefic II both have higher potency than Cure and Cure II when using a sect, all the heals in the Astrologians arsenal are slightly more mana efficient than they seem. does this close the gap with the Astrologians high mana cost in your opinion?
No, I didn't factor stances into the equation, but you're right, you do get a boost from those stances. :)
Any vdo of how to asign skill for controller (the effective way)
No mention of several vital AST abilities like Earthly Star, or Celestial Opposition. No mention of what sects boost healing an how much. May wanna re-examine this one.
Guides are a lot better! Thank you
Thanks Kirk :)
Just learning AST and my main thought is that Spire really needs a rework. Especially because isn't there a tp rework coming up in Shadowbringers? It's pretty dumb for a card to exist just for Royal road to be fed. Royal road is more fun when you feel like you have to sacrifice a card that is good or use it.
You should check the pronunciation for Ewer and Malefic ^_^
+Zehaha2 if you have an audio file I️ can listen to, please point me in that direction :)
I am watching this 3 years after, just because I am not confused by AST enough as is
Oh man. I realized that this was pre patch 5.11 after reading descriptions of the cards. Man it used to be so fun huh. Now all the cards are basically copies of each other :(
Yeah, and it looks like this is what I'm leveling up next. I didn't like it at the media tour, so I don't know how I will feel about it here in a week.
Any chance of doing Monk ?
Yes... I plan to do them all. I'm finishing up MCH right now, then will move on to SAM, then I'll do another vote for who I should level up next. :)
At lvl 45 I am having a really hard time keeping my team alive. I immediately saw a change from whm 45. Whm 45 has regen that is a lot cheaper and I can spam it on all teammates without mp problems. Also when a tank pulls a big mob I just run in the middle and spam holy until the tanks hp gets low and then I heal. By then the mobs hp is around 1/4. Fights are a lot quicker and dungeons are a lot easier. I hope astrologian gets better... right now I am working hard as hell and dungeons feel a lot more stressful. Can anyone relate?
Direct hit doesn't affect heals, why would you run a stat that only increases damage when you can run crit or det that increases both healing and damage? As an AST main I can't say direct hit is EVER good unless you are solely going for dps parses on farm content
I'm not saying you should stack direct hit, I'm telling you what direct hit does. :) Hope that helps. I personally run Crit builds, but Direct Hit is great for a healer who wants to output DPS. :)
Hey, new Astrologian here. Uhhh, did they totally nerf the cards? Because these are not the descriptions of the cards I have
I'm a new summoner myself and apparently with the 5.0 patch a lot of things have changed across all classes.
I don't Ewer DRKs because stance dancing will render the buff useless.
It's much better for Bards and Casters.
Thanks, I put a correction in the description and in the cards, but I'll do an updated video and make that correction. :)
Love your videos, sub’d
Welcome!! And thank you. It’s always nice to hear this.
You forgot 2 most important skills for Astro, Celestial opposition and Earthly star
Didn't forget, but felt that I would cover them in a deeper dive video. :) This one was running really long.
You should've mentioned Direct Hit doesn't affect Healing and thus is useless for healers.
+Prosthetic Queen question... it still impacts their damage output right?
Yes it does impact their damage, but not healing. However, crit and determination effect both your healing and damage.
Thanks Maxx, I wouldn't call it useless in that case then, not the most optimal. :)
Personally I love crit builds, always have, probably always will. :)
Work To Game ive heard having 1 or 2 direct hit melds is somewhat optimal to make direct hits possible
With the way direct hit scales, you'd see better results with determination and crit for both healing and DPSing. Direct Hit, unless you're a summoner, black Mage, or something like an actual DPS, is less optimal. You can get away with it on Tanks, but Healer melds are less impactful right now than they were at the end of HW because we don't have access to better gear. It's why you don't see many, if any, healers with DH Melds.
This is very awesome! ^_^
Ewer is horrible for a Dark Knight because it doesn't stack with their own MP refresh. It's often wasted.
Don't use Ewer on a dark night! They are usually attuned to the dark side and that ability erases the refresh effect!