White Mage Healing Rotation, Ability Priority, and Cooldowns — Endwalker 6.5

Disclaimer: This guide is focused on level 90 White Mage play. Not all of the principles and advice mentioned here are applicable to every level of play. You can find a WHM leveling guide here:

White Mage has arguably the most straightforward healing kit of any healer - it fills the "regen" or "pure" healing role, and the vast majority of its healing spells and abilities are either direct heals that restore HP instantly or apply a regen. White Mage is also often considered a "GCD healer" as it lacks the large oGCD healing array of the other healers and instead relies more heavily on GCD heals, namely its signature Afflatus (Lily) heals that can refund damage through Afflatus Misery.

Free oGCD heals → Afflatus (aka Lily) GCD heals → GCD heals

White Mage follows the same basic healing priority as other healers; oGCD heals take priority over GCD heals as they cost no damage or MP, however, White Mage's lily heals take priority over other GCD healing spells whenever possible as they will refund some of the lost damage when used properly. A standard GCD healing spell costs both MP and 310p in damage (equivalent to one lost Glare III), while lily heals are free, instant, and only cost ~85p on average (derived from the potency of 4 Glare III, 1240p, minus 900p Afflatus Misery, divided by 4 GCDs). Lilies only generate one per 30s, while standard GCD heals are always available so long as you have the MP and time to cast them. The job of you and your co-healer is to minimize the costs that the two of you combined are paying to keep the party alive. Remember that other party members can contribute to this by using their own healing and mitigation - it is not just on the healers.

These are the healing actions that make up your first line of defense. You want to maximize effective usage of these in each fight. They will be separated into single-target and AoE categories, but remember that AoE heals can and often should be used for single-target healing as well.

1. Divine Benison (DB or Benison)
   • Divine Benison provides a small shield to the target. It has a short 30s cooldown and can store up to two charges.
   • This ability is typically used roughly on cooldown for tank upkeep but can also be used to save any low party member before a potentially lethal raidwide if they are low on HP.
   • You should try to keep one charge on cooldown as much as possible to maximize its effective healing, reserving the second charge for more dire situations.
2. Aquaveil
   • This ability provides a short 15% damage mitigation to the target on a medium 60s cooldown.
   • Aquaveil is most commonly used to reduce the damage a tank takes for a tankbuster but can also be used to mitigate auto-attacks or to save any low party member before a potentially lethal raidwide.
3. Tetragrammaton (Tetra)
   • This ability instantly restores a moderate amount of HP to the target on a 60s cooldown.
   • Like other single-target heals, Tetra is typically used close to off cooldown to maintain tank HP, but it can also be used to save any low party member before a potentially lethal raidwide.
4. Benediction (Bene)
   • Potentially the most defining ability of White Mage, Bene restores HP equivalent to the maximum HP of the target (equivalent to ~3700 potency on a tank at 1HP), on a long three-minute cooldown.
   • Bene is by far the most effective healing tool to deal with Dark Knight's Living Dead, as it is capable of resolving the Walking Dead debuff with a single ability. When paired with a Dark Knight, Bene is almost always held for Living Dead.
   • Bene can also be quite useful at handling Superbolide, although it is not typically necessary.
   • With other tank pairings, Bene does not need to be saved for any particular circumstance and can simply be seen as a large oGCD single-target healing tool. It should not be saved for emergencies, although can be great for handling them if necessary.

1. Asylum
   • Asylum is a ground-targeted AoE ability on a 90s cooldowns that regenerates health and provides a small 10% healing up to anyone in the effect.
   • Asylum is typically the first ability WHM uses to respond to AoE damage, although its ground placement can limit its effectiveness for healing mechanics that require substantial movement. It is often held for slow healing after mechanics where the party is unlikely to move.
2. Assize
   • Assize deals damage, heals, and restores MP on a 40s cooldown.
   • Assize use is fairly rigid - the damage and MP it provides are both extremely valuable, so it is almost always used on cooldown for damage rather than specifically for healing. Delaying Assize will also cause it to drift out of 2 min raid buffs and result in much less contribution to party damage.
   • Assize should not be used when the boss cannot be damaged unless you really have no better healing option.
   • It can occasionally be worth delaying an Assize use if it makes more sense for a healing plan and will not cost a use overall in the fight, but this is usually only worth doing with a well-established kill time in mind.
3. Plenary Indulgence (PI, Plenary, or Confession)
   • PI provides no direct healing or mitigation on use and instead applies a buff to everyone in range that adds 200 direct healing to any AoE healing GCD spells used by the White Mage for the duration of the buff, such as Afflatus Rapture or Medica II.
   • PI is most commonly used to increase the potency of Afflatus Rapture but can be used on any AoE GCD heal when it is off cooldown and the party requires GCD healing.
   • The healing provided by this ability will only trigger on the initial healing effect of the GCD heal it affects; it will not trigger every time Medica II ticks.
4. Temperance (Temp)
   • Temp is White Mage's only AoE mitigation effect and has a long two-minute cooldown.
   • Temp has two effects. The first increases the White Mage's healing magic potency by 20% (note that healing magic refers to GCD spells only), and the second provides 10% damage reduction to the entire party in a large radius around the White Mage.
   • Temp is typically used for the mitigation alone, although it is often used in cases where it happens to also catch some GCD healing for a bit more HP.
5. Liturgy of the Bell (Lilybell)
   • Lilybell is a ground-targeted reactive pulse heal with a long three-minute cooldown. On cast, it spawns a totem-like bell and gives the White Mage a five-stack buff that lasts 20s.
   • When the White Mage takes damage, one stack of the buff is consumed and the bell heals all party members within its radius for 400p.
   • After 20s, or on second button press, all remaining stacks are consumed and the bell heals for 200p per consumed stack.
   • Lilybell is ideally used for large multi-hit mechanics that will maximize its healing potential, however, in the absence of such mechanics, it can also be used as a single large heal after a raidwide.
   • Lilybell healing appears to have a short internal cooldown of ~1s, so multiple fast hits will not necessarily trigger every single time. Lilybell also appears to have a minor pet potency modifier of around 96% of player potency.

Afflatus spells fall between oGCD abilities and GCD spells in priority; although as of 6.1 they are essentially equal to oGCD heals in priority since they now have essentially the same potency as a Glare III. A set of four Glare III's is 1240p total, and three lily heals and a Afflatus Misery is also 1240p total which is a damage gain when used under raid buffs. Lily heals lack some of the healing power of other GCD Heals, but they are free, instant, and refund a portion of their lost damage.

Lilies generate every 20s in combat, including during downtime, and each lily heal costs one lily. A total of three lilies can be stored at a time. Lily heals are not always used purely for healing, and their offensive use is covered more extensively in the damage rotation guide.

1. Afflatus Solace (Solace)
   • Solace is the single-target healing lily and has the same potency of Cure II. Solace is rarely used in trials and raids, but sees substantial use in dungeons for tank healing.
2. Afflatus Rapture (Rapture)
   • Rapture is the AoE healing lily. While it is only equivalent to a Medica in healing, it is by far the most common GCD heal White Mages use in higher end content since it has all the advantages of lily spells described above and also a larger range than Medica.
   • Rapture is used to cover any AoE healing that cannot be covered by oGCDs of either healer, ideally when paired with extended movement.

GCD heals are your last line of healing defense as they come at substantial damage and MP costs and frequent use of them is often unsustainable. While GCD heals should be avoided as often as possible, they are fantastic progression tools due to always being available and offering the highest raw healing potency in your healing arsenal. While they may provide comfort through heavy healing situations, they should be worked out of most healing plans in favor of more efficient heals.

1. Cure
   • The first healing spell you get and by far the most useless in high-end content is Cure. It is a small, fast, cheap heal that has little place in the healing meta since it takes a full GCD to cast and offers less healing than Cure II, Afflatus Solace, or Regen.
   • Outside low-level synced content, Cure is really only used when you cannot cast anything else due to MP constraints, or need a faster heal than Cure II or Regen if someone is about to die.
   • The Freecure proc should be completely ignored at all levels of play.
2. Cure II
   • Cure II is a basic single-target heal, use it when someone needs healing, Regen is too slow, and you do not have any oGCDs available or lilies for Afflatus Solace.
3. Regen
   • Regen applies a strong regen to the target that totals 1500p, nearly double the potency of Cure II and Afflatus Solace.
   • Regen can be used for tank maintenance in heavy damage cases such as dungeon pulls and ultimate bosses, but still takes a distant third place to oGCD heals and Afflatus Solace when possible.

1. Medica
   • Medica is a small direct AoE heal. It is typically only used if Medica II is already ticking, you have no lilies for Afflatus Rapture, and the party is too spread for Cure III.
2. Medica II
   • Medica II is the strongest AoE heal in the White Mage arsenal. It has a small up front heal and applies a regen for 1000p total healing per target.
   • Medica II is the first non-lily GCD heal you resort to when GCD healing is needed; it is fantastic for maintaining HP during mechanics or for recovering quickly afterwards.
3. Cure III
   • Cure III provides a fairly large up-front heal but has a small radius that requires the party to stack quite closely if they need the healing. Cure III is also extremely expensive Mana-wise and should be used sparingly.
   • Cure III is typically reserved for emergency situations when the party needs immediate HP or for intense healing checks. Overuse should be avoided at all costs due to the hefty MP cost.