Hello.
First off, it is great to see this type of discussion on forums. Â Its awesome to see all the different viewpoints!
I've been playing a SCH since day 1. Â It is an incredibly fun and powerful class. Â That being said, it requires a very different playstyle than your typical healer. Â What Liadan said is absolutely correct. Â Scholar's are proactive/mitigation healers. Â Without much left to do PvE wise, I've been running a lot of tests, both of gear and of myself to try and stretch the limits of this class. Â So far, I have successfully healed WP, AK, CM, and HM Ifrit completely naked, and HM Garuda half naked. Â I'd like to share some of my findings on topics people are discussing in this thread.
Stats-Mind is king. Â Obviously. Â Second is crit. Then determination, then spell speed. Â I'll expand more on these choices later when skill choice is explained.
Heal skills, and when to use them-
Adloquium: Â I am putting this first since it seems like the most commonly misunderstood spell. Â Adloquium is FAR more powerful than most people give it credit for. Â It has the potential to raise the effective health of someone beyond their max. Â Adloquium is your primary heal. Â This is why crit is important on a Scholar. Â You may look at Adloquium's raw healing numbers, it it will pale in comparison to Physick, but the shield it provides is invaluable. Â An adloquium shield should be on the tank at all times. Â Never spam it over and over, but always weave it with physick.
Physick: Â You're secondary heal. The only time physick should be cast is when the tank already has an adloquium shield. Â Getting into a good rotation of Adloquium -> Physick -> Physick -> Adloquium (depending on the strength of your shields) will improve your mana efficiency over long fights. Â Pet embrace should be spammed pretty much the entire time. Â For most trash, nothing more than adloquium -> embrace -> embrace -> adloquium -> repeat is needed.
Succor: Weak ass aoe. Â Healing is dismal. Â But the shield should be on your party at all times. Â Casting one every 20 seconds, or when you get the free proc from sacred soil, should not hurt your mana efficiency.
 Mana management:  SCH has amazing mana management with aether flow.  But a common misconception is the use of energy drain over lustrate or sacred soil.  The only time I ever use energy drain is when every is at full health, everyone has succor shields, no aoe damage is comming soon, I have extra aether flow stacks, and aether flow is off cool down.  In most fights, lustrate is a better choice than energy drain for long term mana efficiency.  You normally have to spend way more mana than energy drain gives you to heal 20% of a tanks health.  In almost all instances, you will see a better long term mana return with lustrate than energy drain.
Mitigation rotation-
This is something I feel is a staple of the scholar class that is widely underused. Â Getting into a good rotation of sacred soil, virus, eye for an eye, blind, rouse (no mitigation, but requires you to heal a lot less), Â and adloquium shields is a bigger benefit to this class than gear choice, healing power, you name it.
I Don't want to write too much, as I'm sure a lot of people Don't want to read a wall of text. There are a lot of misconceptions out there about the scholar class, and what exactly its role is in healing.  You aren't a tank healer.  Nobody is a tank healer really.  You are a damage mitigator of the tank and of your party.  A scholar who isn't keeping shields up, keeping a good mitigation rotation, and not using their pets abilities to their advantage, can still be a very good healer, but  they aren't playing this class to the fullest.
First off, it is great to see this type of discussion on forums. Â Its awesome to see all the different viewpoints!
I've been playing a SCH since day 1. Â It is an incredibly fun and powerful class. Â That being said, it requires a very different playstyle than your typical healer. Â What Liadan said is absolutely correct. Â Scholar's are proactive/mitigation healers. Â Without much left to do PvE wise, I've been running a lot of tests, both of gear and of myself to try and stretch the limits of this class. Â So far, I have successfully healed WP, AK, CM, and HM Ifrit completely naked, and HM Garuda half naked. Â I'd like to share some of my findings on topics people are discussing in this thread.
Stats-Mind is king. Â Obviously. Â Second is crit. Then determination, then spell speed. Â I'll expand more on these choices later when skill choice is explained.
Heal skills, and when to use them-
Adloquium: Â I am putting this first since it seems like the most commonly misunderstood spell. Â Adloquium is FAR more powerful than most people give it credit for. Â It has the potential to raise the effective health of someone beyond their max. Â Adloquium is your primary heal. Â This is why crit is important on a Scholar. Â You may look at Adloquium's raw healing numbers, it it will pale in comparison to Physick, but the shield it provides is invaluable. Â An adloquium shield should be on the tank at all times. Â Never spam it over and over, but always weave it with physick.
Physick: Â You're secondary heal. The only time physick should be cast is when the tank already has an adloquium shield. Â Getting into a good rotation of Adloquium -> Physick -> Physick -> Adloquium (depending on the strength of your shields) will improve your mana efficiency over long fights. Â Pet embrace should be spammed pretty much the entire time. Â For most trash, nothing more than adloquium -> embrace -> embrace -> adloquium -> repeat is needed.
Succor: Weak ass aoe. Â Healing is dismal. Â But the shield should be on your party at all times. Â Casting one every 20 seconds, or when you get the free proc from sacred soil, should not hurt your mana efficiency.
 Mana management:  SCH has amazing mana management with aether flow.  But a common misconception is the use of energy drain over lustrate or sacred soil.  The only time I ever use energy drain is when every is at full health, everyone has succor shields, no aoe damage is comming soon, I have extra aether flow stacks, and aether flow is off cool down.  In most fights, lustrate is a better choice than energy drain for long term mana efficiency.  You normally have to spend way more mana than energy drain gives you to heal 20% of a tanks health.  In almost all instances, you will see a better long term mana return with lustrate than energy drain.
Mitigation rotation-
This is something I feel is a staple of the scholar class that is widely underused. Â Getting into a good rotation of sacred soil, virus, eye for an eye, blind, rouse (no mitigation, but requires you to heal a lot less), Â and adloquium shields is a bigger benefit to this class than gear choice, healing power, you name it.
I Don't want to write too much, as I'm sure a lot of people Don't want to read a wall of text. There are a lot of misconceptions out there about the scholar class, and what exactly its role is in healing.  You aren't a tank healer.  Nobody is a tank healer really.  You are a damage mitigator of the tank and of your party.  A scholar who isn't keeping shields up, keeping a good mitigation rotation, and not using their pets abilities to their advantage, can still be a very good healer, but  they aren't playing this class to the fullest.
