In Dawntrail, all 4 of the healers have received some new tools for both damage and healing purposes. Astrologian notably also got a huge rework to the card system completely changing the feel of the job for many.

Keep in mind that all of these numbers and skills could change before launch!

The following is not only a summary of the new changes to healers but some additional analysis featuring the thoughts of Effie Howard, a top healer player who was willing to provide their insight on what to expect from the Media Tour information!

New Healing Tools

We’ll start with the new healing and mitigation tools that Healers are getting in Dawntrail.

White Mage

• Temperance has been given a follow up skill called Divine Caress which can be used up to 30 seconds after pressing Temperance

  • Divine Caress grants a 400p shield for 10 seconds to all players in a 15 yalm radius (Note that Temperance is 50 yalms). Once the shield breaks or expires, a 200p Regen is applied for 15 seconds.

Scholar

• Seraphism is a new skill that gives you a 20 second buff accompanied by a transformation similar to Enshroud

  • Your healing GCD spells are replaced by new spells with 20% higher potency

  • During Seraphism , Succor and Adloquium become instant cast spells

  • Emergency Tactics recast time is reduced to 1 second

  • Lastly, a 100p regen is applied to the party (700p total) in a 50 yalm radius

• Recitation gets its cooldown reduced to 60 seconds from 90

Astrologian

• The card system has been entirely reworked to remove the RNG

• Astral Draw grants you

  • The Arrow (10% healing received to target)

  • The Spire (400p shield for 30s to target).

• Umbral Draw grants you

  • The Bole (10% mit for 15s on target) and

  • The Ewer (200p regen for 15s on target, total of 1000p).

• Upon using Neutral Sect , the button turns into Sun Sign which gives 10% mitigation for 15s in a 30 yalm radius.

• A third charge of Essential Dignity

Sage

• Philosophia (20s) applies Eudaimonia to all nearby party members.

  • This is effectively spreading Kardia to everyone.

  • It also increases healing magic potency by 20%. You can get around 8 gcds at 2.45, each healing for 150 for a total of 1200.

  • Unlike Kardia , Eukrasian Prognosis and Eukrasian Diagnosis also work. It does not need to be Dosis III .

• Physis II healing received buff goes from 10s to 15s.

Healing Summary

Both Seraphism and Philosophia are on a 180s cd, while Sun Sign and Divine Caress are follow ups to 120s cooldowns and can be pressed up to 30s after Temperance or Neutral Sect .

Every healer got an upgrade to their AOEs:

• Succor is now Concitation

• Medica 2 is Medica III

• Aspected Helios turns into Helios Conjunction

• Eukrasian Prognosis is now Eukrasian Prognosis II

Thoughts from Effie: Both shield healers’ new skill are very similar to one another, with the difference that SCH gained a bit of free movement with the instant casts. It would probably be better to not see them as purely recovery tools for prog and make use of them as much as you can.

The new AST button seems to be a bit of overkill because Neutral Sect is already the strongest button in the game, but they had to give it something. At the same time, Divine Caress looks extremely underpowered.

The design of healers seem to be trying to make 3min focused more on healing and 2min on shields and mitigation, so makes sense to make WHM and AST do mit/shield. Hopefully Caress gets separated from Temperance so you can space those two out a bit better, but we will see on the live build.

New Damage Tools

White Mage

• Once you press Presence of Mind (still 15s), you gain 3 stacks of Sacred Sight. This allows you to use Glare IV (570p, 40% fall off) 3 times in the next 30s. It is an instant cast.

  • While you have Sacred Sight stacks, the PoM button will turn into Glare IV until it's all used or the timer ends.

• Glare III is now 330p, from 310p. (+20p)

• Dia is now 70p (700p), from 65p (650p). (+5p)

• Afflatus Misery is now 1320p, from 1240p. (+80p)

Scholar

• Once you press Chain Stratagem (now 20s), you gain access to a follow up ogcd aoe dot (dungeon SCH is saved) called Baneful Impact . It lasts for 15s and has a 140p, for a total of 700p.

• Energy Drain is still in the game.

• Broil IV is now 310p, from 295p. (+15p)

• Biolysis is now 75p (750p), from 70p (700p). (+5p)

• Ruin II stays at the same value, meaning that unless changed, you are gonna be punished more for it.

Astrologian

• Divination (now 20s) has a follow up button in Oracle (600p, no fall off).

• Fall Malefic is now 270p, from 250p. (+20p)

• Combust III is now 70p (700p) from 55p (550p) (+15p)

• Lord of Crowns is now 400p, from 250p. (+150p)

• You should be able to guarantee a melee and a ranged card for every 2 min. 1 min cards are DEAD.

Sage

• Psyche : a new 1 min damage button (600p, 50% fall off).

• Eukrasian Dyskrasia : a new AOE DOT (40p, total 400p).

  • As it currently stands, and this is probably an oversight, it is worth to keep both Eukrasian Dyskrasia and Eukrasian Dosis III up on the same target, since they do stack.

• Dosis III is now 360p, from 330p. (+30p)

• Eukrasian Dosis III is still 75p, unchanged. (+0p)

• There are currently a few oversights potency wise with Toxicon II , Pneuma and the sorts. Please wait for the final build before you freak out about Toxikon being 30p less than Dosis III .

Damage Summary

Thoughts from Effie: All AOE damage seems to be staying the same, no apparent changes to Holy, Art of War, Dyskrasia or Gravity. Oracle, Baneful Impact and the 3 stacks of Glare IV can be used up to 30s after pressing Divination, Chain or PoM. Their follow-ups replace the old button on your hotbar, meaning that when you press Chain, for the next 30s, your button for Chain will now be Baneful Impact and so on.

It seems that every healer gained a new skill for around 600 to 700p to be used once every 2 minutes. Sage is the different one, getting 2 uses of Psyche on the 2min rotation, since it's damage is more consistent, less bursty and it also does not have any buffs. Everything else seems to be following this new job design of one button replacing the other, so even if you did get new shiny buttons, your hotbar will most likely look exactly the same.

It is very likely that WHM/AST* will be at the bottom of the damage chart for healers, with SCH being extremely overpowered. With the 20s chain and every other job gaining +1k potency finishers, rDPS contributions will increase more and more. According to some (I did not do the math), AST seems to be extremely under powered since they lost 2 cards in the process, but we will have to wait for the final potencies.