5 Tips For Playing The White Mage Class in FFXIV

White Mage, the arcane art of assistance, was conceived in bygone eras to bring comfort to the world of Final Fatasy XIV. Unfortunately, man began to twist his powers for self gain, and through his malice caused the sixth Umbral catastrophe. Although art was later banned, it is now in the midst of a revival by the Padjal, who was chosen from the Elementals.

For those who are just entering the class or healing for the first time, it is understandable to have many questions. It's very different from fueling and requires a multitasking mind to balance between healing other players and giving damage to enemies. Focus more on damage than on healing, and your party may die. Focus more on healing than on damage and the fights will be much slower.

Each player has their own tricks, but the online discussion about how to best use a White Mage has resulted in some pretty good tips for everyone who joins the class.

1.Don't be afraid to spam holy in mobs

Holy is a monstrous magic. It not only deals damage to all nearby enemies, but also stuns them for four seconds. That's damage for enemies and less damage for your party members.

This spell is best used on mobs. At this point, make sure you are standing in the crowd after the tank has all the aggro under control. Once they are after the tank and the tank has stopped moving, stand in the crowd and spam Holy.

2.Heal yourself first

Healers are the most important class for a party. Without them, everyone will die. For this reason a healer should be the first priority of a healer. If a white mage heals the tank and not himself, they die and the tank cannot be healed anymore.

Most of the time white mages should not take any damage, because the tank attacks the enemies. In the world of Final Fantasy XIV, enemies have AOE attacks that healers can hardly avoid. So heal first, because that's actually the best strategy for the entire group.

3.Checking more if players need Esuna

White mages can actually be quite split, which should be prioritized with respect to Esuna. For example, Doom should be cast with Esuna immediately if possible. Heavy has less priority.

Regarding advice, Esuna has such a fast cast time that it is best to simply cast it on the debuff you see at the party. Players will probably praise this extra effort. Too many healers forget the little things or simply don't care about Esuna.

4.Healing Strategy

The White Mage job ad consists of two elements. First, you will receive a lily every 30 seconds that you are in combat. You can hold up to three at a time. Lilies can be cast for two spells: a single target heal called Afflatus Solace and an AoE heal called Afflatus Rapture.

If you use three lilies, you gain access to the Blood Lily. It can be used to cast Afflatus Elend - an extremely powerful damage spell that can hit multiple targets. Other than that, you can only use it once every 90 seconds, and it technically requires three GCDs to be used first (you must spend the lilies on healing spells).

Overall, the White Mage's job display is easy to use. There are no procs, no real combos. You only get a lily every 30 seconds when you are in combat. If you then use three lilies, you get access to Afflatus Misery. You should use it pretty much immediately when you get it (you can't stack blood lilies, so don't risk wasting this valuable resource). The only drawback is that all three Afflatus actions are GCD spells, which makes them less convenient to use.

5.Be careful with regen

If you play as a white mage, be careful when using regen. It's easy to heal when it passes the maximum health of a teammate. It's only good if you know you're doing well in terms of hostility and you don't want to waste time healing a damage that you know won't take any more damage in the next 10 to 20 seconds.

And ignore the people who tell you never to attack as a healer. White Mage has pretty close to the best AoE DPS in the game and solid single-target DPS. If you balance your heals/regenerations and insta casts, you can draw good DPS while keeping the entire party up to date. To do this, you need to bring a Black Mage to 26 to get Swiftcast as a cross ability. You should also get Scholars up to 34 for Eye for an Eye (chance to reduce damage each time the party member is hit for 30 seconds, very useful on big # mob moves).

Get used to switching between clerics and non-clerics as a White Mage. This will greatly increase your dps / healing effectiveness and allow you to contribute much more to your party (or fill the gap for newer party members).

All in all, White Mage is a great healer who also has access to high damage. Its profession-specific mechanics are quite simple and straightforward, making it the easiest healer of FFXIV. Of course there are also some drawbacks. Most of the White Mage's spells have a casting time of 2.5 seconds and the job has no movement abilities. This makes moving and weaving quite difficult. If you are looking for a relaxed DPS job, you can try Black Mage or Red Mage, and you can also check Best Final Fantasy XIV Classes for Beginners. 

If you are looking for a strong healing character in FFXIV that won't overwhelm you with a complicated design, White Mage is a good choice. It has the great ability to sacrifice some damage for more healing power. This ability can allow you to save your party if something goes wrong.