White Mage Guide: Healer, Savior - Final Fantasy XIV Guide - IGN (2024)

Like the Conjurer job that the White Mage is built upon, this class excels in powerful single-target healing skills backed up by some limited AoE and heal over time abilities. The White Mage possesses powerful abilities, but a combination of battlefield awareness and MP control is necessary to excel at higher levels. This guide will give you some of the basic tools necessary to excel in the role of a healer, and become a vital member of any party.

Conjurers in general have several benefits that Scholars do not, specifically in relation to the Protect and Stoneskin spells, both of which are affected by traits. Protect from a White Mage provides additional magic defense, while Stoneskin will block a higher percentage of the target's max HP before it fades; both of these tools are wonderful during a difficult fight, and should be utilized at all times.

White Mage/Conjurer Stats

Conjurer/White Mage characters have the following stats, by race:

Conjurers rely on Mind as their primary healing stat, Piety for MP, and Vitality for extra health; most healers put all of their attribute points into Mind, with some diverting a few points to Piety as an optional stat. While the races do not have any major differences in stats, Miqo'te Keepers of the Moon and Dunesfolk Lalafell have the highest base Conjurer stats, with a Hellsguard Roegadyn slightly behind.

At higher levels, Conjurers will want to add Determination to increase heal potency, Spell Speed for faster cast times, and Critical Hit Rate for more critical heals.

The Spells of the White Mage

This section will break down each spell that a White Mage obtains, and relegate their effectiveness based on group utility. While every spell has some use, this should help you decide how and when to use a skill. To begin, we'll focus only on the healing arsenal of this class, then move to buffs, then finally talk about DPS skills. Afterward, we will touch on the choices for cross-class skills, and decide which are best for White Mages in a party.

Cure - Utility: 5/5

the Freecure trait, which has a 15% chance to trigger on a cast of Cure. Freecure makes Cure II cost 0 MP, so players will want to focus on this weaker heal when possible.

Cure II - Utility: Before Freecure, 3/5 - After Freecure, 5/5

At double the MP cost of Cure, Cure II provides just under double the healing potency. This makes it less MP efficient to chain cast in a group, but Freecure makes it shine by providing a massive heal for free. Furthermore, at level 44 it can begin to activate Overcure, which causes the next Cure III to be a guaranteed critical heal.

Cure III - Utility: Before Overcure, 2/5 - after overcure, 3/5

Cure III may confuse players at first glance: at double the cost of Cure II, it provides less healing potency instead of more. A deeper look will reveal that Cure III is an AoE heal, however it has some drawbacks. It has a particularly short range from the target for others to be healed, and chain casting it will run your MP dry very quickly. However, on several fights, it is a powerful tool if used with Overcure, especially if the caster self-heals while standing on top of other party members. Cure III should be used sparingly, both due to the cost, and the increased threat it will generate.

Esuna - Utility: 5/5

Esuna is a fast-casting cleanse spell, used to remove negative effects from players. In many instances, it is a required ability due to the use of skills such as Disease, which reduces healing by 50%. Esuna should never be absent from your hotbar.

Medica - Utility: 3/5

The first AoE heal a Conjurer receives, it costs just less than three times what Cure costs, but will heal the whole party for nearly the same potency. At times when three or more party members need a heal, it can be worth it to use Medica instead. Beware, this ability generates a massive amount of threat, and should be used carefully.

Regen - Utility: 5/5

Learned by White Mage at level 35, Regen will be the first HoT you receive. By itself, it will rarely be enough to save the target, but it is intended to help stem the tide until a Cure spell can be used. A warning, Regen will stay on a target for some time, and can cause threat to immediately move to the healer if the tank pulls a target while affected by the spell.

Medica II - Utility: 3/5

Learned at level 50, this boost to Medica offers similar potency, and a higher MP cost, however it adds a regen effect to all players. Combined with Regen itself, Medica II can provide a lot of extra health for emergencies, at the cost of a lot of extra threat. Use sparingly, Medica II is not MP-effective to spam.

Benediction - Utility: 2/5 or 5/5, see below

Benediction is not a normal heal - for one, it is free, and it recovers 100% of the target's health. It is also instant cast, at the cost of having a 300 second cast time. Benediction is the quintessential "oh crud" ability, used to save a tank (or possibly another healer) from death at the last second. Ideally, Benediction should never actually be required, since utilizing proper healing will avoid most emergency situations, but it should still be kept ready just in case.

Raise - Utility: 5/5

Not much to say, this is your resurrection spell, and it will always be useful. It can be used in battle after level 28, and will continually be one of the most important skills you have.

protect - Utility: 5/5

Protect is a spell that should never go uncast. It lasts for 30 minutes, increases physical defense, and after level 16 increases magic defense as well thanks to the Proshell trait. Improved protect will always override a Protect from another class, so it should always be up.

Stoneskin - Utility: 4/5

Stoneskin is another powerful buff, defending the target from damage totalling 10% of their max HP. At level 36, Conjurers get the Graniteskin trait, which raises the shield to cover 18% of the target's max health. Most useful on tanks, Stoneskin should be cast on all party members before boss fights to reduce the need for healing early on in fights.

Presence of mind - Utility: 3/5

An emergency ability, Presence of Mind hastens casting time of all spells for 10 seconds. While useful when speedy healing is required, a long cooldown means that using this outside of emergencies can be risky, so it should be saved.

divine seal - utility: 4/5

This self-cast buff increases healing potency for 15 seconds, a powerful tool. With only a 60 second cooldown, it can be used multiple times during many boss fights, though serves its greatest purpose as an emergency heal buff.

shroud of saints - Utility: 5/5

One of the most important buffs a Conjurer receives, Shroud of Saints serves two purposes: detaunting enemies temporarily, and restoring MP at an increased rate. For long fights, proper utilization of Shroud is critical, as proper use can allow it to be activated multiple times during long battles. As MP use can become dodgy during some fights, Shroud is one of the most powerful tools in a healer's arsenal.

Cleric Stance - Utility: 0/5

In short, a Conjurer is not a DPS class. They have no reason to put points into Intelligence, and use this ability to switch the points to Mind for healing, since this stance reduces overall healing potency. This should never be on while in a party and healing.

Stone - Utility: 1/5

While healing is the primary role for a White Mage, Stone can have some uses due to its Heavy effect. Use should be limited to avoid using too much MP, or letting health get too low.

Aero - utility: 3/5

While hardly the strongest DoT spell, Aero does add a small amount of DPS to any fight. As an instant cast ability, there are a number of boss fights where adding a bit of damage is never a bad thing, so throwing out this spell is not necessarily wrong. Just make sure not to fall into trouble by requiring a heal, and getting stuck in a global cooldown situation.

Fluid Aura - Utility: 2/5

There are some limited times when using Fluid Aura can be good in a party, such as knocking back an enemy to cast Repose on it, thus avoiding AoE damage waking it up. In most cases, however, it is best to avoid this ability in dungeons. It can often cause more trouble than it solves.

Repose - Utility: 3/5

A sleep spell can be a useful thing to have, though many high level instances have enemies which simply cannot be affected by this ability. Repose can be useful for slowing down adds, however, and giving a tank extra time to gather them up. Keep it handy for emergencies.

Stone II - Utility: 0/5

There are rare fights where using Stone II as a healer is OK (such as the Odin battle), as damage effectively stops. Most of the time, however, your time is better spent healing. Stone II costs too much MP over time, and doesn't have the utility of a Heavy effect to lend itself to isolated situations. Skip this one in parties.

Holy - Utility: 0/5

Holy is the "ultimate" attack spell for a White Mage; while it has utility in solo combat, Holy is best left out of parties. It uses too much MP for too little damage. While the stun effect could potentially interrupt a big attack, the cast time and activation is just too slow to serve as a proper interrupting technique. Leave this one out of parties.

Aero II - Utility: 2/5

Like Aero, this is a DoT, though it has a cast time, increased cost, and decreased duration. It can still be useful to throw it on some bosses to open a fight, or during some fights (such as Demon Wall), but heals have to take priority. Top off health first, THEN worry about casting Aero II.

Healing Rotations

While healing, it is important to balance the MP cost of each heal versus the HP restoration it will grant in a particular situation. A general list of importance would be:

Freecure Cure II > Cure > Regen > Cure II > Medica II > Overcure Cure III > Cure III > Medica

In situations where the entire group is taking damage, Medica and Medica II become more important (doubly so in groups of 8 players). In fights where players are spread out, Cure III decreases in importance.

Regen should be used early in a fight, and maintained on the tank(s). However, be careful about applying regen to every member of the party, as this will generate a very high amount of threat for the tank to deal with.

Cross-Class Abilities

While there are several cross-class abilities, there are specific items that are of higher importance for Conjurers/White Mages to use.

Surecast - Thaumaturge - Utility: 3/5

This early Thaumaturge ability helps to avoid interruptions. It only works on one spell, so it must be used with some precision.

Swiftcast - Thaumaturge - Utility: 5/5

One of the most important abilities for a healer to get, Swiftcast only has a 60 second cooldown. It can be used situationally for immediate group heals, or for a quick Raise with no cast time. It can also work as a mini-Benediction, allowing for an instant, emergency Cure II as well. This is one of the best abilities to have.

Virus - arcanist - utility: 3/5

Virus has a long recast time, however it can be nice to have it as a debuff to use on some boss fights. This ability is optional, but has some uses if you have nothing else to take its place.

Eye for an eye - arcanist - Utility: 4/5

A great ability to cast on the tank, it helps control a lot of the incoming damage during the fight. Use it liberally when needed.

Thunder - Thaumaturge - utility: 1/5

This extra DoT may help a little playing solo, but the cast time is a bit long for groups with very little payoff. There is often little reason to keep this for parties.

Physick - Arcanist - Utility: 0/5

Same healing as Cure, same cost as Cure, but cannot trigger Freecure. No reason ever to use this as a White Mage.

Ruin - Arcanist - Utility: 0/5

A weak direct damage attack, there is no reason to use this in parties, and this ability should be ignored

Healing Tips

The most important parts of healing involve more than simply watching health bars. A good healer must be attentive to several parts of every fight, such as watching for AoE warnings, and watching the actions of enemies to predict when a large hit may be on the way. Many of the enemies in A Realm Reborn will use a specific animation when they prepare their biggest attacks, and a healer must learn to recognize these signs so they are not caught unaware. Healers who remain "Gridlocked" and end up staring at nothing but health bars become the most vulnerable members of the party, and may end up causing a wipe.

It is worth noting that some debuffs may not appear in the party window if the affected player has a large number of buffs on at the same time, a problem that seems to happen most often with the Disease effect. Healers must remain proactive to make sure that debuffs are being cleared in a timely manner, but remember that it may be more important to land a Cure before cleansing a poison.

Maximizing gear should be a constant priority - especially at 50, the need for higher gear can be understated, as players will have received their Artifact gear set. Before attempting fights such as Garuda or Titan Hard Mode, healers should endeavor to obtain as much gear from instances such as Amdapor Keep as possible.

As a side note, gear is rarely a substitute for skill. A well-practiced healer can easily outclass a well-geared sub-par healer, so practice your skills often!