In Final Fantasy XIV, players have access to a total of four jobs that fall into the healer role and they can be split into two categories: raw healing or shielding. Scholar falls into the second one, having a distinct style of supporting other players.
The Scholar was designed to offer the capacity of healing other players without the necessity of directly casting a skill. This is possible thanks to this job’s most loyal companion, Eos. The faerie is what gives this job its identity. So, Scholar is the right job for those looking for a way of supporting their team without sacrificing their damage output.
How to unlock the Scholar job in FFXIV
To start the journey of being a Scholar, players need to meet one prerequisite. First, players need to level the Arcanist class up to level 30. After this, players must go to Limsa Lominsa Lower Decks to talk to Murie, an NPC that can be found at X: 4.5 Y: 11.2. Murie gives the quest ‘Forgotten but Not Gone’. By completing it, players earn the Soul of the Scholar Soul Crystal.
An introduction to Scholar
Scholar is one of the first two healing jobs that were implemented in FFXIV, and it has distinguished itself for being a pet user and a shielder.
Acting as Scholar’s companion, the fairy Eos is an extension of this job. Understanding how the fairy’s skills work and how to take the most out of it is crucial to play Scholar correctly. The pet’s main ability is Embrace, which recovers the target's HP every three seconds. Because Eos’ healing isn’t cast by the player, it means that the Scholar is free to use their damage skills, such as Broil IV when at level 90.
Although Eos’ healing is of great help, having a pet demands a good understanding of where to position the fairy. Eos casts their ability from where they are, which means that if a player is out of the fairy’s range, they won’t get affected by Eos’ skills. As an example, depending on where Eos is positioned when players use Whispering Dawn, a skill that gradually restores the HP of all nearby party members, it might not be as effective as it could have been.
Using the fairy’s healing is not the only way the Scholar can support their group. Alongside healing actions or skills that command Eos to do the same, Scholar can create barriers to protect players from incoming attacks. By preventing damage instead of simply recovering the HP lost, Scholar is designed to be less responsive to the enemy’s abilities than other healing jobs.
In addition to preventing damage, Scholars are also able to deal damage via casting spells. Because certain skills such as Broil IV or Adloquium require players to stay still for the period of casting, Scholar requires planning and a keen eye to understand when the best moment to shield the party is and the best positioning during a fight.
Level 90 Scholar skill rotation and opener
Scholar doesn’t have a complex skill rotation nor a healing one. While the former is basically a matter of knowing when to use the three damage skills this job has, the latter works based on a system of priority. To learn how to best use Scholar's abilities for any situation, take a look at the Scholar Rotation Guide.
On the other hand, there is a standard opener at level 90 that players can use for most situations. The concept behind it is simple, so players can easily adapt it for specific fights.
As general advice, Scholars should consider using the Adloquium plus Deployment Tactics combo before pulling the boss. Doing so ensures the whole party is protected against any initial raidwide attack.
- Pot (- 3 seconds)
- Broil IV (-1.5 seconds)
- Biolysis
- Atherflow
- Broil IV
- Broil IV
- Chain Stratagem
- Broil IV
- Energy Drain
- Broil IV
- Energy Drain
- Broil IV
- Energy Drain
- Broil IV
- Dissipation
- Broil IV
- Energy Drain
- Broil IV
- Energy Drain
- Broil IV
- Energy Drain
Once the opener is over, players should focus on using their damage skills. For single target scenarios, Scholar has Broil IV, which causes damage with a potency of 295. When facing groups of enemies, players can cast Art of War II, an AoE spell that hits all nearby enemies. Scholar also has Biolysis that leaves a DoT on the enemy that lasts for 30 seconds. Refreshing Biolysis should be one of players’ main concerns during fights.
Scholar healing priorities
In FFXIV, healers tend to have a good number of singular abilities that allow them to heal other players. Scholar is no different, and has a priority for which skills to cast first.
To determine which skill to use first, players should consider the amount of damage they might be losing when casting them. This might sound contradictory since the healer's role is to heal. However, in most endgame content, clearing an encounter depends on the capacity of both healers to do as much damage as possible.
Based on this principle, the priority order should go as follows:
- Free healing: The skills that fall into this category are top priority because they don’t require MP and the player doesn’t need to stop casting Broil IV to use them. The skills players should consider or use first are:
- Embrace
- Whispering Dawn
- Fey Illumination
- Fey Blessing
- Aetherpact
- Summon Seraph
- Consolation
- Seraphic Veil
- Aetherflow healing: Scholar has a whole set of skills that, instead of spending MP, requires an Aetherflow stack. Because all of them are instant cast, can weave them in with Broil IV. Among the Aetherflow Skills, players should prioritize Sacred Soil in general, and use Excogitation, Indomitability, and Lustrate for scenarios where Sacred Soil’s regen is not enough to cap their teammate’s HP.
- GCD healing: These are the skills players should only consider using when there are no free healing or Aetherflow healing skills available, or in scenarios of prepull or downtime. Casting these during a fight means not only spending a lot of MP, but also a loss of DPS. In this group, there are Physick, Adloquium, and Succor.
By following this system of priority, players ensure they won’t spend resources unnecessarily and can contribute effectively to the overall damage.
What to do with Scholar's Aetherflow and Faerie Gauges
When playing Scholar, players need to deal with two major mechanics that are related to the two gauges this job has.
The Aetherflow gauge displays the player’s number of Aetherflow stacks which are limited to a total of three. To fill the Aetherflow gauge, players must use either Aetherflow or Dissipation, both skills grant three stacks and can only be used during an encounter. These stacks are consumed when Aetherflow skills are used, such as Energy Drain and Sacred Soil.
Managing the Aetherflow stacks is fundamental to taking the most out of this job and the gauge helps players to keep track of them. Besides that, players should avoid holding stacks if the Aetherflow skill is out of cooldown. Spending the remaining stacks on Energy Drain or Lustrate is a good option if players can already use Aetherflow to replenish the stacks.
While Aetherflow requires a lot of attention, the Faerie gauge is easier to understand and deal with. It has two functions. The first one is to display the number of Fae Aether points that players have accumulated. These points are only earned by spending Aetherflow. These Fae Aether points are consumed by the Aetherpact skill. This skill links the scholar’s fairy to another player who receives direct healing. Because of this interaction between the Faerie gauge and the Aetherflow skills, filling it up is a natural process during a fight.
The Faerie gauge also functions to inform players about another skill, Summon Seraph. When used, Eos changes places with Seraph who only stays on field for 22 seconds. Once the skill is used, a timer will appear in the wings of the Faerie gauge showing how much time is left for Seraph to leave the field.
Scholar food, pots, and gear - current for Patch 6.5
In order to efficiently improve Scholar’s performance in a group, players must use the right food, pot and best-in-slot gear. Currently, the BiS set focused on damage is one of the best. To put this set together, players must complete and farm the Savage Anabaseios: The Eleventh Circle raid. When it comes to consumables, the pot players should run is the Grade 8 Tincture of Mind and the food is Caviar Canapes.
