While Final Fantasy XIV offers a few different healers to choose from, including the more shield-oriented Sage or Scholar and the pure-healing White Mage, Astrologian stands out with its intricate rotation and shines as one of the MMORPG's most unique classes to date.
Whether you love playing AST for the sheer RNG chaos or remain captivated by its sparkly spells and stunning Limit Break animation, knowing how the starry healing class works mechanically is necessary for higher-end content. The Astrologian rotation, openers, and abilities are also important to grasp for normal dungeons and trials to ensure a smooth, wipe-free experience.
As solid as a general FFXIV healing guide can be, AST is an especially difficult support job to master. You'll need to deal your fair share of damage all while also protecting the tanks, DPS players, and your fellow co-healer. Striking the balance between good damage and necessary healing is difficult at best, especially when playing as the healer with the (arguably) most complicated kit. To try and help you achieve this middle ground as an AST player, we've put together a handy guide here that delves into everything from your cards to your oGCD (off-global cooldown) abilities.
If you’re looking for another more detailed guide covering the fortune-telling class, you can also browse through our full Astrologian job guide.
The basics of the Astrologian job
If you've ever heard that saying about how stars need to align for things to work out, then you know exactly how playing as an Astrologian feels. Much of your kit and its respective output depends on party composition and ever-dreaded RNG with cards. The card drawing mechanic AST features is truly the core of the class, acting as a hefty six percent damage buff to either melee or ranged players. Gauging who to give which card is what truly makes the card ability complicated though, as does whatever card you end up drawing.
You can either pull a melee buffing card (look out for a turquoise border), like The Arrow, The Balance, and The Spear, or a ranged buffing card (check for a purple border), like The Bole, The Ewer, and The Spire. While this system is much simpler now than it was during Heavensward (if you know, you know), it's still a lot to keep track of all while focusing on healing and weaving. Each card comes with one unique Seal out of three total as well, and you'll want to get at least two different ones upon drawing three cards to make full use of Astrodyne's self-buff. The Minor Arcana card is also important to draw whenever available, and just as dependent on RNG. You may get the Lord of Crowns and deal extra AoE (area of effect) damage with a free attack, or you may get the Lady of Crowns which provides a free AoE oGCD heal instead.
Both are useful in different situations, but whichever you get is entirely due to chance as you can't choose what you draw. As an AST player, you'll also have to worry about fitting in your damage-over-time ability, Combust, casting your damage spell, Malefic, placing your oGCD healing skill, Earthly Star, and popping Lightspeed whenever you're able to all the while keeping an eye on your card abilities. Astrologian is certainly not your run-of-the-mill pure healer, and your packed hotbar proves as much. With the right rotation and opener, it's one of the most powerful and supportive healers around, though.
Astrologian rotation
The most important feature an Astrologian has to use is, you guessed it, the card system. While you're drawing and playing cards, you'll also have to stay on top of Fall Malefic casts to avoid losing damage, though. Keep that Fall Malefic uptime as high as you possibly can, with your Combust up and dealing damage as close to 100% of the time as you can get it.
As you cast Fall Malefic, make sure that you're using your cards correctly. Melee cards equal more damage most of the time and are generally preferable over ranged cards. However, this isn't always the case. If you notice certain players are dealing more damage as they understand the fight's mechanics and are dying less, you know who to give your cards to. Always strive to get two or three unique Seals from cards, and ensure you aren't letting your Draw ability rest with two full charges for too long. It may be ideal to have three different Seals for your Astrodyne buff, but two is often more optimal over redrawing a card to try and get the extra damage. It's most important that you get Haste as well as the mana regeneration which comes with one Seal.
Try and get into the habit of following the three, one, three rotation with your cards. This is where you draw three cards for your opener, draw one card at each odd-number minute (for example, one and then three and then five), and then draw three cards when even-number minutes strike (like two, four, and six). If you follow this by-the-minute rule, not only will the stars align, but your party's buffs will, too. As for Minor Arcana, activate it each minute and keep Lord of Crowns once you get it until it's time for your two-minute burst window.
Astrologian burst window
During your two-minute burst window, you'll want to first pop Lightspeed and then play your drawn card. Be sure to keep track of your weaving to not miss out on any Fall Malefic casts in between your oGCD abilities. Follow your card up with Divination, draw and play another card, and then make use of Astrodyne. After that, draw and play once again before activating your Minor Arcana with Crown Play.
Your four-minute burst window won't differ too greatly. Pop Lightspeed, play your card, use Divination, and then press Astrodyne. Next, draw and play two more cards before praying to the RNG overlord and activating your Minor Arcana. Always make sure you're using Divination on cooldown, too, and delay card draws as necessary.
When your six-minute burst window rolls around, be ready to immediately pop Lightspeed and top up with a fresh Tincture of Mind. Then, use Astrodyne, play your card, hit Divination, draw and play two more cards, activate your Minor Arcana, and finally pop a second Astrodyne ideally a second or so before the first one expires.
Astrologian opener
Your opener as an AST is vital to establishing and maintaining good damage. Always request a 30-second countdown if possible to give yourself enough time for two card draws. While your opener may not always look the same as the one below, it's ideal enough for most scenarios. Your personal damage output here will depend on things like party composition, too. If you feel the need to, adjust things as necessary.
If your trust in the cards pays off and you draw as you'd like to, you should be able to follow the opener shown below. This general opener's rules may rarely vary, but overall it's a reliable start to most fights. For example, your Earthly Star placement should slightly deviate from this guideline if you're taking Pandæmonium Savage on. In that scenario, you'd place Earthly Star four seconds before your party pulls rather than the usual placement at ten to five seconds pre-pull.
- Draw card 30 seconds pre-pull
- Place Earthly Star five to ten (four in Pandæmonium Savage) seconds pre-pull
- Use Tincture of Mind three seconds pre-pull
- Cast Fall Malefic 1.5 seconds pre-pull
- Pop Lightspeed at pull
- Combust III
- Play card
- Draw card
- Fall Malefic
- Play card
- Draw card
- Fall Malefic
- Divination
- Play card
- Fall Malefic
- Minor Arcana
- Astrodyne
- Fall Malefic
- Play Lord of Crowns (if possible)
- Fall Malefic
If you want to pre-shield your party against any initial waves of damage, you can also opt to activate Neutral Sect 10 to 15 seconds or so before your group pulls, pop Horoscope, and then cast Aspected Helios for its AoE barriers.
Astrologian healing skills priority
As an Astrologian, you of course have to heal, but there are thankfully ways to keep everyone topped up as much as they need to be without risking your personal damage uptime. Thanks to AST's wide range of oGCD skills and its seemingly limitless mana pool, you can easily heal tanks and other party members instantaneously for large amounts. You may not have White Mage's Benediction, but you do have your own effortless quick heals. From your Earthly Star to Essential Dignity, here's a rundown of the oGCD skills that should take top priority if your party is ever in need of healing or even some extra mitigation.
Don't forget that you are primarily a pure healer despite the few barrier-providing abilities AST features. Ideally, your co-healer will be a shield healer and they will take the majority of the burden when it comes to mitigating or shielding the party from damage.
oGCD skills
As with most healing strategies, you'll want to stay away from any GCD healing abilities to avoid DPS loss. Instead, it's best to make use of your oGCD heals like Essential Dignity, which can instantly help get one of your tanks back up to tip-top health. Macrocosmos is another example albeit a party-wide one, and it doesn't just insta-heal, it also deals damage.
Earthly Star is another two-in-one oGCD with a massive radius to boot. It deals damage and offers hefty heals, with an increase in potency to both after ten seconds. Keep Horoscope in mind, too. This zodiac-inspired ability offers a heal that you can buff with Helios or Aspected Helios. If you're looking to keep the heals coming over time, Celestial Opposition provides a chunky raid-wide heal as well as a 15-second-long regen effect over time.
If you're more of a shield-aligned AST yourself and miss making use of mitigation, then you'll want to use Collective Unconscious. This ability is especially useful to pop right before a raid boss deals heavy party-wide damage as it'll mitigate 10% of it. Exaltation acts similarly and restores some health but only applies to a single target. Effects that you can apply to just one party member like this one and the barrier that Celestial Intersection provides are fine to place on tanks.
For more party-wide mitigation, activate your Neutral Sect and cast Aspected Helios. It's nice to have up as phases shift mid-fight since you may actually have time to cast Aspected Helios then and bosses tend to deal some serious damage upon returning for the next half of the fight.
Astrologian tips
No other healer has quite as many cards up its sleeve as the Astrologian does, both figuratively and literally. Learning the ropes can feel daunting, but there are a few tips and tricks that you can keep in mind to help yourself along the way. Whether you're running normal content with friends or diving into higher-end raids with a fresh static, here are some noteworthy pointers about playing as an Astrologian.
- Always be casting - Seriously, make sure to always have your Malefic spell rolling. You may need to weave things like card draws and oGCDs in between your casts, but this shouldn't matter much. Once you get the hang of constantly casting your primary damage spell, you'll see your DPS shoot up and you'll carry your weight within a party much better.
- Keep your DoT up - Combust away, my friends. You'll want to keep an eye on the boss you're fighting at all times to be certain that your DoT ability is still in place. Once you see it dwindling with just a second or two to go, pop Combust onto the enemy once again. Ideally, DoT spells should remain active 100% of the time (or, more realistically, as close to this number as possible).
- Never be afraid to slide cast - If you haven't already heard the community's term for it before, slide casting is when you move about three-quarters of the way into your Malefic cast so as to preserve the damage you're dealing with the spell. If you time things correctly, your spell will continue to cast as you reposition yourself. Practice truly makes perfect with slide casting, so keep trying to do it right until it feels like a breeze.
- Don't forget about Lightspeed - This useful ability is so much more than an integral part of your opener. It reduces your cast times by a whopping two and a half seconds, which makes your damage hit instantly. This skill is perfect for moments of heavy movement mid-fight, but should also align with your Astrodyne windows.
- Never forget about role actions like Surecast - Surecast is your friend. Use it to avoid knockback mechanics, especially if/when they get in the way of your uptime. Lightspeed isn't always available when you need it to be, and you don't want to have to wrangle with unnecessary annoying mechanics.
- Don't about your mana. As an AST player, you're lucky to not have to worry about mana regeneration. While it's always smart to have a few Super-Ether potions on hand just in case, don't waste any of your valuable materia melds on MP.
Most importantly, look to the stars and believe in the heart of the cards. AST is one of the most interesting classes MMORPGs have to offer. You'll never forget the first time you pop Astrologian's mind-bogglingly beautiful Limit Break.
