Mm, the mixing of skills is pretty downplayed since Heavensward... for the most part anymore your job is your job. Each one only has a small number of "cross-class" skills they can even use, and there's general agreement as to which ones are more useful/needed than others.
If you're thinking of a healer, you really have two options (a third exists, but you'll have to have completed the entire main game's story to unlock it, which is.... hours and hours and hours of gameplay, so it's not an option worth even worrying over as a newbie).
The Conjurer class is a healer from level 1, and ultimately becomes called White Mage after level 30 when you get your job crystal. In order to be an effective White Mage, you'll also need 26 levels in Thaumaturge in order to get the Swiftcast cross-class skill (it's a buff which makes your next cast-time spell instant-cast, which is a nearly mandatory lifesaver if your tank dies in a dungeon, because revive spells have a long casting time). You'd also need at least 15 levels in Arcanist because that's a requirement to get the White Mage job crystal at all. You unlock a pretty useful cross-class skill at Arcanist 34, too, if you put the extra time into getting Arcanist to there. Those are the only two other classes you'd need to level alongside Conjurer, if you're looking to be efficient about your time.
The Arcanist class is a DPS class, but it gets a healing spell and a revive spell. There's a reason for that which we'll get into later, but, you can play an Arcanist as a healer even as of low levels, provided that you're only doing dungeons with a fully pre-made party (because in a pre-made party, the specific roles aren't mandatory, so you could function as a healer even though you'd normally slot into the DPS role in a party). Anyway, ultimately, Arcanist gets two job crystals, and is the only class which does that. Since your level is based on your class and not your job crystal, that means an Arcanist technically gets to level two different roles simultaneously. One of these is the Summoner (a DPS job) and the other is the Scholar (a healer job).
For the Scholar, you'd also want 26 levels in Thaumaturge (for the same reason as you would for a White Mage), and, a minimum of 15 Conjurer levels as a base requirement to get the Scholar job crystal. However, going all the way to 34 White Mage lets you cross-class the Stoneskin spell. Scholars can already use their own spells to create HP shields, so Stoneskin isn't quite a must-have for a Scholar (since it's also an HP shield). However, Stoneskin does stack with the Scholar's own HP shield effects, so it certainly doesn't hurt to have it.
The playstyle of the two is fairly different.Â
As a White Mage you'll have a more active focus on using your healing spells in a group, though if nobody needs a heal you'd still be wise to throw out some damage spells now and then. If you're attentive about reapplying Stoneskin in between fights and using Regen to help heal-over-time you can often have quite a bit of opportunity to contribute to the group's damage. You can bring someone back from the brink a lot more easily than a Scholar can, too - your heals are big and they're beefy.
As a Scholar, some of your healing is done automatically by your pet (you get a pet fairy that heals and can do some other useful support spells - it can be set to do this automatically and you'll do okay with it being automatic, though the top-notch players will suggest controlling it manually to have the greatest potency of when and where the spells get used, since AI is kinda meh). Since your main heals have an HP shield effect, too, you'll tend to spend less time actually healing and more time spreading your wide array of DOTs around to enemies to contribute to the party's damage output. But, the trade-off is that Scholars also have to take greater care in ensuring that they maintain high HP in their party, because they have less ability than a White Mage to suddenly compensate for severely low HP.
Both classes are fun to play. I prefer Scholar, personally, because I feel like I have more to do when I play a Scholar (White Mage, at least to me, feels a bit spammy and I find myself bored).
If you're thinking of a healer, you really have two options (a third exists, but you'll have to have completed the entire main game's story to unlock it, which is.... hours and hours and hours of gameplay, so it's not an option worth even worrying over as a newbie).
The Conjurer class is a healer from level 1, and ultimately becomes called White Mage after level 30 when you get your job crystal. In order to be an effective White Mage, you'll also need 26 levels in Thaumaturge in order to get the Swiftcast cross-class skill (it's a buff which makes your next cast-time spell instant-cast, which is a nearly mandatory lifesaver if your tank dies in a dungeon, because revive spells have a long casting time). You'd also need at least 15 levels in Arcanist because that's a requirement to get the White Mage job crystal at all. You unlock a pretty useful cross-class skill at Arcanist 34, too, if you put the extra time into getting Arcanist to there. Those are the only two other classes you'd need to level alongside Conjurer, if you're looking to be efficient about your time.
The Arcanist class is a DPS class, but it gets a healing spell and a revive spell. There's a reason for that which we'll get into later, but, you can play an Arcanist as a healer even as of low levels, provided that you're only doing dungeons with a fully pre-made party (because in a pre-made party, the specific roles aren't mandatory, so you could function as a healer even though you'd normally slot into the DPS role in a party). Anyway, ultimately, Arcanist gets two job crystals, and is the only class which does that. Since your level is based on your class and not your job crystal, that means an Arcanist technically gets to level two different roles simultaneously. One of these is the Summoner (a DPS job) and the other is the Scholar (a healer job).
For the Scholar, you'd also want 26 levels in Thaumaturge (for the same reason as you would for a White Mage), and, a minimum of 15 Conjurer levels as a base requirement to get the Scholar job crystal. However, going all the way to 34 White Mage lets you cross-class the Stoneskin spell. Scholars can already use their own spells to create HP shields, so Stoneskin isn't quite a must-have for a Scholar (since it's also an HP shield). However, Stoneskin does stack with the Scholar's own HP shield effects, so it certainly doesn't hurt to have it.
The playstyle of the two is fairly different.Â
As a White Mage you'll have a more active focus on using your healing spells in a group, though if nobody needs a heal you'd still be wise to throw out some damage spells now and then. If you're attentive about reapplying Stoneskin in between fights and using Regen to help heal-over-time you can often have quite a bit of opportunity to contribute to the group's damage. You can bring someone back from the brink a lot more easily than a Scholar can, too - your heals are big and they're beefy.
As a Scholar, some of your healing is done automatically by your pet (you get a pet fairy that heals and can do some other useful support spells - it can be set to do this automatically and you'll do okay with it being automatic, though the top-notch players will suggest controlling it manually to have the greatest potency of when and where the spells get used, since AI is kinda meh). Since your main heals have an HP shield effect, too, you'll tend to spend less time actually healing and more time spreading your wide array of DOTs around to enemies to contribute to the party's damage output. But, the trade-off is that Scholars also have to take greater care in ensuring that they maintain high HP in their party, because they have less ability than a White Mage to suddenly compensate for severely low HP.
Both classes are fun to play. I prefer Scholar, personally, because I feel like I have more to do when I play a Scholar (White Mage, at least to me, feels a bit spammy and I find myself bored).
Lydia Lightfoot ~ The Reliquarian's Guild «Relic» ~ Lavender Beds, Ward 12, #41
This player has a sense of humor. If the content of the post suggests otherwise, please err on the side of amusement and friendship, because that's almost certainly the intent. We're all on the same team: Team Roleplayer! Have a smile, have a chuckle, and have a slice of pie. Isn't pie great?
This player has a sense of humor. If the content of the post suggests otherwise, please err on the side of amusement and friendship, because that's almost certainly the intent. We're all on the same team: Team Roleplayer! Have a smile, have a chuckle, and have a slice of pie. Isn't pie great?
