Scholar DPS Rotation for Healers — Endwalker 6.5

Scholar has a fairly simple damage kit, with two single-target damage spells ( Broil IV and Ruin II), one area-of-effect (AoE) damage spell ( Art of War II), one damage-over-time (DoT) spell ( Biolysis), and one oGCD damage ability ( Energy Drain). The basic rotation aims to maintain Biolysis on the boss while maximizing usages of Broil IV followed by Energy Drain without sacrificing necessary healing.

Scholar has several basic openers to choose between based on the healing needs at the beginning of the fight. The most important part of the opener is aligning Chain Stratagem with the party's other raid buffs and burst. Remember that Aetherflow stacks and Dissipation can both be held as necessary for healing in the fight. It is recommended that you hold these at the start of progression and then work them into the opener once you and your cohealer are comfortable with healing at the start of the fight and/or better geared.

Aetherflow and Dissipation can swap places in the opener based on the fight and your expected kill time. Aetherflow first is considered the "standard" opener because it is the most flexible for dropping Energy Drains and Dissipation and thus will generally be the opener you use when starting progression on a fight. However, if you are able to use Dissipation in the opener, Dissipation first holds several advantages and will usually be the preferred opener outside of specific phase or kill times. These advantages include better mana from using Aetherflow later in the opener, the fairie returning to the field sooner, and setting up your Aetherflow alignment for future burst windows in advance.

The numbered lines in each of these openers are Potions and GCDs, and the lines between them are oGCDs.

This is the basic opener. It is easy to execute and does not require the usage of Swiftcast. You can drop Energy Drains and Dissipation from this opener as necessary for healing. There are five Energy Drains in Chain Stratagem and six Energy Drains in Potion. Note that Aetherflow and Dissipation can be flipped based on healing requirements in a specific encounter.

This is a more advanced opener that requires very precise timing of the first Energy Drain after Chain Stratagem, the usage of Swiftcast, and around 2.43 GCD depending on your ping. This Energy Drain needs to be held until you see the Chain Stratagem debuff appear on the boss, or it will not gain the boosted crit rate. Do not use this opener if you are not able to use all six Aetherflow stacks for damage, or can not use Swiftcast. There are six Energy Drains in Chain Stratagem and Potion.

1. Maintain Biolysis as long as it will be on the boss for at least 15s.
2. Use Chain Stratagem on cooldown after the opener, unless your group is holding buffs due to a specific mechanic or kill time.
3. Use Broil IV whenever you have time to cast it and do not need to GCD heal (This should be >90% of the time).
4. Use Ruin II when you do not have time to cast Broil IV due to movement and either can not use it or are holding Swiftcast for safety. Try to avoid this in future runs by prepositioning.
5. Use Energy Drain when the Aetherflow stacks are not necessary for healing. Try to use these within two-minute raid buffs whenever possible.

1. Art of War II is a gain at two targets over Broil IV.
2. At two to three targets, maintain Biolysis on all targets unless they will die soon.
3. At four targets, only use Biolysis when you can not hit four+ targets due to movement. Otherwise, use Art of War II.
   • At the start of dungeon pulls, use Biolysis while following the tank.
4. You can still use Energy Drain in multitarget scenarios, but try to use them on the higher health targets to avoid wasting the damage.

A large majority of the damage you do is simply based on GCD uptime, maximizing the amount of time you spend using Broil IV on the boss. Extended movement is the enemy of uptime, but you have several tools to deal with these.

1. Slidecasting
   • "Slidecasting" involves moving before a cast has completed without interrupting the cast. The slidecast window in FFXIV is quite large compared to other MMOs. The exact timing depends on your ping, but it generally starts about 0.5s before the cast bar is finished. Between the slidecast window and the ~1s between Broil IV casts, you can be quite mobile all the time and easily preposition for most mechanics.
2. Biolysis
   • Biolysis is instant cast, so you can use your natural DoT refreshes to freely move during mechanics or to preposition yourself. Do not force extra DoT refreshes to move though.
3. Swiftcast
   • Swiftcast makes your next spell instant cast and can be used on Broil IV to give a GCD of free movement. This is not advisable in progression and can be dangerous when playing in other unoptimized situations when you may need Swiftcast for use with Resurrection.
4. Ruin II
   • Ruin II is instant cast and allows infinite free movement at a cost of ~25% of a Broil IV. This is your last resort, but it is still an invaluable tool for maintaining uptime during very high movement mechanics or when you have not yet optimized a fight. It is always better to use this than to do nothing.