Healers play a vital role in MMORPGs, and Final Fantasy XIV is no exception. They keep the party alive, of course. After all, no one can DPS the floor! Though, there's more to it than just that. Each Healer has a unique way of keeping everyone healthy, from mitigation to burst heals.

The Astrologian uses cards to buff the party while the Sage heals through dealing damage. Meanwhile, the Scholar uses grimoires and faeries to help their party and the White Mage does pure, burst-y heals.

This guide will show you how to best play each Healer to maximize HP recovery and party mitigation, ranking each healer from good to best.

4. Sage

Heal while making your enemies suffer!

Sage is the most popular Healer class as its heals are often tied in with its damage output. SGE is one of the two barrier healers in the game, focusing more on damage mitigation than direct healing.

To maximize their healing, Sages use a resource called Addersgall that recharges over time and is maxed out at three stacks. Kerachole, costing 1 Addersgall charge, reduces caster and nearby party damage by 10% for 15 seconds.  

Additionally, it has a cure potency of 100 and gives all affected parties a Regen. This ability can be useful for small, party-wide damage which allows the Sage to focus more on bigger heals while doing damage.  

Though the Sage is best used for AoE heals and mitigation, it does have a few spot heals. Kardia grants the selected party member Kardion, healing the target after the Sage attacks. 

Though the class allows for great mitigation spells and a uniquely complex way of playing, the Sage’s weak point is its lack of single-party burst heals. Most of SGE’s abilities are heal-over-time abilities.

Once the Sage runs out of Addersgall charges, the barrier healing they are known for? (Largely) gone. While the Sage does have regular GCD heals, they are much weaker compared to the other Healer classes.  

Also, because the Sage’s healing is mainly AoE, if the party is out of range, then the SGE will severely struggle at their healing and mitigation duties. However, the class can use its mobile abilities such as Dash to counteract this limitation.

Sage Strengths

• Highest DPS output out of all healers
• The most mobile Healer class in the entire game
• Has many oGCD healing skills
• Instacast shields
• Great party buffs

Play this class if you like..

• Dealing damage as you heal
• A fast and defensive play style
• Cool, floating back swords

Here are the recommended openers and Best-in-Slot gear for Sages

3. Scholar

They say reading is good for the soul. For SCH's case, it's literal

Scholar is the other barrier healer. SCH has two faeries they can summon—Eos and Selene—which help them with healing. Whenever a party member takes any damage, one of the faeries can step in to heal them automatically.

The SCH collects aether to give them Aetherflow stacks (up to three) to spend on special abilities. The SCH must decide how to use these quickly or risk losing a lot of its healing potential. 

While this means the Scholar might struggle with burst heals, it succeeds in barrier and mitigation abilities; one example is Sacred Soil. Sacred Soil ensures all party members with the cast area only receive 90% of all damage for 15 seconds. 

It also grants Regen, a cure with a potency of 100, increases the Faerie Gauge by 10, and costs 1 Aetherflow Gauge.  

Adloquium is a powerful healing spell with not only a cure potency of 300, but it gives the target two powerful barriers that nullify damage that’s equal to 180% of the amount of HP restored.

Combined with Deployment Tactics extends one of the barriers—Galvanize—to the remaining party members.

Scholar Strengths

• Has remote healing thanks for faeries 
• Some of the strongest mitigation offered in-game
• Does great DPS for a Healer
• Flexible gameplay
• Has great MP efficiency

Play this class if you like..

• Automated healing, allowing you to do DPS managing to throw in some heals
• Great versatility with rotations
• Proving that the pen can, indeed, be mightier than the sword 

Here are the recommended openers and Best-in-Slot gear for Scholars

2. Astrologian

Certainly one of the more unique classes in the game

Now, we get to our first pure healer—Astrologian. This is where we start doing the big heals for both single targets and AoE. Unlike the other Healers, Astrologians have a unique game mechanic—the heart of the cards.

ASTs can draw a card every 30 seconds to cast on players, helping them maximize damage. The cards best used on each player depends on the target’s class type (ranged or melee) and each card’s sign type.

This class requires planning in advance to provide its best heals to the party, including a thorough understanding of each battle.

Earthly Star, for example, is cast on the ground. Its healing potency increases after a few seconds, so it must be activated under near-perfect conditions. By waiting for just 10 seconds, its base 540 cure potency becomes 720!

Though, it also has an ability called Exaltion which is an instacast and has a cure potency of 500. Benefic (single-target) and Helios (AoE) are early-game healing abilties that also have cure potencies of 500, making the Astrologian a formidable healer. 

Astrologian Strengths

• Great party buffs, thanks to the cards
• Effective AoE heals
• Has many oGCD heals
  Lightspeed, which reduces cast timers by 2.5 seconds (it’s almost like having two Swiftcasts!)
• Gives great heals in general for being patient

Play this class if you like..

• Strategizing
• Keeping busy with many outcomes
• The card system in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories

Here are the recommended openers and Best-in-Slot gear for Astrologians

1. White Mage

The CEO of Healers

WHM, like the AST, is a pure healer. Though, it is far, far more intuitive to use. Gone is the heart of the cards. Instead, you get Lilies. And Lilies can either provide decent DPS or great heals. During combat, these Lilies increase. 

The Lilies allow the player to access potent healing abilities such as an AoE heal called Afflatus Rapture (400 cure potency) and Afflatus Solace (800 cure potency) which is a single-target heal.

The Lily heals do not require MP, meaning they can be used in combination with MP-based heals to ensure your party is well taken care of;

Aside from the Lily heals, the MP heals are plentiful. Asylum allows anyone within the area to heal over time (100 cure potency), and Medica II restores the HP of the caster and nearby party members by 250 (and grants them all a Regen!).

There is also Assize (does 400 potency AoE damage and has an AoE cure potency of 400) and of course there’s the Gunbreaker’s  best friend—Benediction—which fully heals any target with a hefty cooldown of 180s (3 minutes!).  

Though, most of the heals a WHM has are GCD heals, resulting in a great DPS loss compared to other Healers. They also don’t do much outside of healing, which is great if that’s your main focus. Not so much if you desire a little variety every now and then. 

White Mage Strengths

• The most powerful healing abilities out of all Healers
• Easy to play for beginners
• Great MP management if Lilies are used
• Highly forgiving if any mistakes are made
• Straightforward gameplay

Play this class if you like..

• To heal without having to struggle with resource management
• Doing BIG HEALS
• Getting a ton of recommendations at the end of raids and dungeons

Here are the recommended openers and Best-in-Slot gear for White Mages

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