Which healer should I play in the end game dungeons? As a new player, this is a question you are sure to have. There are many options available, and it can be hard to know where to start. In addition, your preferences change over time as you level up your characters, gear out your allies, and acquire more experience.
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Which Healer Should I Play In Endwalker?
The real choice comes down to which playstyle you prefer. I would pick either the White Mage or the Scholar. If you are looking for pure healing, pick the White Mage. The White Mage healing kit is straightforward and you have relatively high damage output.
If you are looking for a mix of damage, shielding, and healing, try the Scholar. Playing the Scholar prepares you better for playing other healers in the future.
But don’t let our recommendation deter you if you want to play the other healers. All healers are useful.
Let’s look at each healer and see where they fit into the current healing meta.
Astrologian
Astrologian has a lot of toolkit on hand for you to use. You get plenty of upfront heals, some delayed but big heals, and some that heal over time. Each of these gets spread out between AOE healing, single-target healing, and party-wide healing (which is always good). So you’ll often find yourself in situations where you need to be healing one person up but at the same time keeping an eye on your party-wide buffs (and using them where needed).
The Astrologian is a support role that uses card decks as weapons in actual combat. It’s not an easy task, since the deck mechanics must be familiar to the player before starting using cards properly in battle.
To figure out which cards you need and how best to use them, you have to have a great knowledge of the game. This goes beyond simply knowing how to play your role well and understanding your specific job better than everyone else. You need to understand every ability there is and its purpose in battle and what it specializes in.
Scholar
Getting into Scholar is a bit harder than getting into other healer jobs because the main draw is their raid utility and party support.
As a scholar, you are the designated healer of your group. You are not expected to heal every person in your group, but you must be able to keep yourself and your tank alive through the fight. That is why I have chosen to play scholar despite my personal preference for magicka DPS.
Sage
The most difficult thing about sage is probably keeping track of all the different things it has going on with cooldowns and debuffs that need to be cleansed and things like that. Also, dealing with mechanics that require flash-heals or full-party shields can be hard since you can’t change your fairy‘s position until it dies, though there are some exceptions for this.
In my opinion, Sage’s kit needs a rework as it’s currently one of the weakest healers in the game, and it’s also hard to play.
It might not seem like such a big deal if you’ve done this before. However, it can be very intimidating if you haven’t played a healer before. Not only do Sages have many abilities at their disposal from the start, but they also have access to some of the most advanced tools for healing as well as a unique way of restoring MP, which is useful in some situations.
White Mage
The white mage is the easiest healer to play in FFXIV.
The White Mage has been the primary healer for most of the expansion, even with the recent addition of the Astrologian. With Endwalker and its numerous changes to healing in general, this is a question that many players are asking themselves.
These are my opinions from playing all healers extensively on my main in Endwalker and Stormblood. Much of this information will also depend on your group makeup and other roles.
Utility and Support
The exaltation buff is extremely useful for tanks that don’t have much extra healing available; it allows them to survive large hits that might otherwise kill them outright. Barriers are also extremely powerful when placed on DPS players to reduce.
Healing In Endwalker
The big change is with regards to the way healing potency is calculated. The key difference is how much damage you are taking, not how much healing you are casting.
In addition to this, if you fail to meet the required healing uptime then your healing potency will be reduced by 100%. This means that if you miss casts or take too much damage you quickly find yourself struggling for healing power. The good news is that unlike other jobs, Astrologian does not need to maintain offensive and defensive haste buffs at all times but instead can switch between them at will. If things go wrong you can quickly switch into full defense.
Playstyle
Trying out jobs is also recommended because they each have their own strengths and weaknesses. White mage has higher healing output and can cure status ailments; however, it doesn’t do as much damage as Scholar does (but neither does it take much damage). Scholar does more damage but its healing isn’t at the same level as a white mage. It’s best to play them both and see which feels better for you.
The question is which one is the strongest healer? Really though it depends on you. Each healer has a unique playstyle and preference. The jobs above are the most prominent ones in endgame content, but they aren’t necessarily the strongest ones because that job title is more of a teamwide designation.
Spread out, learn as many healing jobs as you can, understand what they can bring to the table, and then pick which one fits you best overall, but we recommend the White Mage or the Scholar.
There’s no reason to pigeonhole yourself into one class with no backup plan when you’re so close to endgame; it’s an important lesson for MMOs, especially FFXIV where there’s so much freedom in choosing your role and building a character.