Scholar DPS Rotation for Healers — Endwalker 6.5
On this page, you will learn how to optimise your DPS opener and rotation in both single-target and multi-target situations. We also cover the use of your cooldowns, to ensure you can achieve the best use of them every time as a Scholar in Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker (Patch 6.5).
Dealing Damage
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.
Openers
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.
No Swift Opener
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.
Swift Opener
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.
Single-Target Rotation Priorities
- Maintain
Biolysis as long as it will be on the boss for at least 15s.
- Use
Chain Stratagem on cooldown after the opener, unless your group is holding buffs due to a specific mechanic or kill time.
- Use
Broil IV whenever you have time to cast it and do not need to GCD heal (This should be >90% of the time).
- 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.
- Use
Energy Drain when the Aetherflow stacks are not necessary for healing. Try to use these within two-minute raid buffs whenever possible.
Multi-Target Damage
Art of War II is a gain at two targets over
Broil IV.
- At two to three targets, maintain
Biolysis on all targets unless they will die soon.
- 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.
- At the start of dungeon pulls, use
- You can still use
Energy Drain in multitarget scenarios, but try to use them on the higher health targets to avoid wasting the damage.
Maintaining Uptime
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.
- 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.
- "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
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.
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.
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.
Changelog
- 24 Oct. 2023: Updated for Patch 6.5
- 30 May 2023: Updated for Patch 6.4
- 17 Jan. 2023: Updated for Patch 6.3
- 20 Apr. 2022: Updated for Patch 6.1
- 23 Feb. 2022: Guide added.
Guides from Other Classes
Zyrk is a self-described "career Healer" and long-time healer mentor (and admin) on The Balance Discord. He likes spreadsheets, words, and the Oxford comma more than he likes most people. His healing career, beginning in Patch 2.1 (December 2013), has been defined by his passion for learning and improvement — a passion he endeavors to share with others through the creation, and presentation of informative resources and his work on The Balance Discord as a whole.
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