Love Playing as Healer? Discover Your Calling in Final Fantasy XIV

If you are into gaming, then you must have come across this particular meme that goes, “Have you heard of the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV? With an expanded free trial, you can play through the entirety of A Realm Reborn and the award-winning Heavensward expansion up to level 60 for free with no restrictions on playtime.”

This was a meme that successfully promoted the Final Fantasy XIV free trial back on 4th March 2021. And my favorite class to play in the game is the healing class!

Now, there are four major healing classes, namely:

• White mage
• Scholer
• Astrologian
• Sage

For any game, a healer in your party is crucial. They keep you alive so you can reach the end of the dungeon without a scratch on your armor. And all healers in FFXIV do more than just keep your HP in check. 

They reduce your damage, give you an attack bonus, shield you from harm, and nullify the enemies’ attacks and actions, all with a flick of their wrist (and weapons, of course.)

Now the question is, which healing class goes best for you? Today I will break down the four healers of Final Fantasy XIV, their job guides, best spells, and the best gears for each. 

Well, let us begin!

It goes without saying, but I will keep this article spoiler-friendly so that you enjoy every bit of lore and breathtaking stories that Final Fantasy XIV has to offer. 

White Mage

Let us start with the most beginner-friendly healing job available in FFXIV, white mage! It is a straightforward healer who aches both damage output and healing potential. 

White mages can heal their allies to full HP in no time and keep the party’s tank alive without dropping a single swear. They are straightforward in their playstyle and are the perfect blend of offense and defense. 

While playing this class, you do not need to worry about smashing the heal buttons as much, as your DPS skills are equally important. So when your party is fighting with 100% to 60% health, use your mana for the attack skills to further damage the monsters. 

As a white mage, your Benediction spell is your trump card. It is an instant-cast spell that can restore 100% of the target’s HP. With this, you can keep your party’s tank alive and prevent any party wipe from ruining your dungeon runs. 

There are various other spells like Medica and Cure to restore MP and HP for all party members at once, and also some to keep yourself alive. And as for attacks, your Stone and Aero spells will deliver large chinks of damage to monsters around you. 

Additionally, there are also spells to reduce cast time and cancel cast time for the following spells. These come in handy when you need to resurrect your party members with the Raise spell, which takes 8 seconds of cast time.

You can start as a white mage in the game, as it is available in the free trial expansion! For this, you start off as a conjurer, which helps unlock the White Mage class at level 30. The story for inlocking the white mage class is gripping and beautiful and tells you how your responsibilities are more than just keeping your allies alive. 

All healers need magic-based armor and weapons. And your weapon of choice is a magical cane, embued with powerful spells to make you the God among your party members. 

White Mage Pros:

• Beginner-friendly
• Best DPS-Healer balance
• Can solo various enemies without dying

White Mage cons:

• It does not have any raid utility
• Powerful but do not have many unique quirks.

Astrologian

In my opinion, if you are into trading cards or love to dabble in the art of tarot card reading, astrologian is the perfect healing class for you in Final Fantasy XIV. 

As an astrologian, you have a deck of tarot cards inspired by tarot and astrology. One of the best parts of playing an astrologian is the card you draw is random. You need to swap cards, redraw, and keep your allies alive and strong for what’s to come next. 

Astrologians have an intricate playstyle due to the randomness of your card draw. The class is perfect for players and is available during (SPOILER ALERT!!) the Heavensward expansion.

Other than the obvious powerful healing skills, you get AOE skills and cleansing skills, etc. So just like a white mage, when you are not healing, it is damage you are dealing!

Now the best part of playing the astrologian class is the cards. Not only are you playing the FFXIV game, but also a mini-card game inside. You have six cards in groups of three. They are:

• Damage increase for tanks and melee DPS
• Damage increase for ranged DPS and themselves

There is much more to these cards, but it is best to play the game as that information is strictly spoilers. 

But what you should know beforehand is what cards you draw is up to the game’s random number generator (RNG.) But do not be afraid of these high and exciting stakes. 

For healing, you have the Benefic and the Helios spells to restore the target’s own and party HPs. And for emergency healing, you can always use Lightspeed to reduce cast-time spells for a while. 

Of course, as a responsible healer, you can resurrect with your Ascend to keep all your party members alive for more enemy smashing!

As for your card-draw spells like Draw, Play, and Undraw, bring out random cards, play them, and shuffle them back into the deck. There are many other advanced and exciting draw spells that you will unlock as you level up your astrologian!

Your weapon is more ornate than a white mage’s, with magical planispheres and star globes that enhance the powers of your cards. As for your armor, they will have embued high magical defense as your physical defense is low.

While the randomness might sound challenging, if you believe in the heart of the cards, an astrologian is one of the most crucial healers and a buffer for a party of winners. 

Astrologian Pros:

• Ability to switch between shields and regen
• A powerhouse for a supporting character

Astrologian Cons:

• Unpredictable card mechanic

Scholar

Scholars are powerful healers with a pet faery that they summon to aid their party allies. It is one of the most resourceful healer classes in FFXIV, thanks to the array of diverse healing spells and the ability to barricade the party against lethal damage. 

Your best friends, the little faeries, make you a tank’s ultimate bestie! That is because you are one of the most unique barrier healers. Your faerie pets come with passive buffs and heal, which mitigate various damaging factors that dungeon bosses place forth. 

For example, you can summon two faeries as your scholar, Eos, and Selene. Eos helps to heal the party allies while Selene buffs up their damage output. 

But it does not end there, as when the two faeries unite, you receive various skills which activate when both faeries are present. These were nifty add-ons with the FFXIV Shadowbringers release for patch 5.0. 

Scholars are one of the OG healers in the FFXIV platform. Their magical shields not only protect but also restore HP for the player, the party, as well as any chosen target. 

For example, when you reach level 20, you gain the Whispering Dawn spell. It allows your faery to cast an AOE HP regen spell, which works wonders when used during a monster’s AOE attack. 

As for damaging, do not take your scholar lightly. Spells like Ruin and Bio offer large chunks of damage, with the latter dealing damage over time (DoT). As you advance in levels, you also get Art of War, which of course, needs you to be within melee range of the target. 

The Resurrection spells help to bring allies back to life, while more advanced spells like Adloquium help to heal and shield targets from unruly damage. This spell also has an AOE version, Succor, available at level 35. 

Finally, let us move to the weapon. Scholars carry a magic spell book, a two-handed weapon capable of mass buffing and destruction. 

Scholar Pros:

• Can lessen the damage taken
• Strong DPS output among other hybrid healers
• Can heal through spells, as well as her faeries

Scholar Cons:

• Some spells do not work with each other

Sage

Sage is the healing class I am after. It came into play with the Endwalker 6.3 expansion and is the newest healer on the block. And what makes the Sage class unique?

Lasers!

Similar to all other FFXIV healers, sages can heal and deal damage. And just like scholars, they are barrier healers, providing a shield around tanks to keep them safe before boss enemies. 

Their weapons are mechanically interactive kits, making them deadly DPS when they are not healing. A sage with perfect spell speed and critical hits is a complete menace in dungeons and FFXIV raids. 

For those readers who already play FFXIV, you might notice that I am not using certain terms to describe the weapons or so. The story progress in FFXIV will further enhance the experience of playing a sage in the advanced story quests. 

As you start your sage job quest, you will notice the intricacies of the spell names. Each spell syncs with a minimum of one spell, making powerful barriers, dealing damage, restoring HP, and buffing party members with damage reducers and enhancers. 

Sage Pros:

• DPS damage over the roof
• Only healer who can heal while moving

Sage Cons:

• DPS lowers when there are no movement options

Conclusion

So there you have it, the four healers of FFXIV. Powerful buffs, quick HP restoration, damage mitigation, and resurrection are all common healer abilities, enhanced by powerful lore, jaw-dropping stances, and a heavily immersive game. 

So if you are new to Final Fantasy XIV or thinking of trying it out, I encourage checking out the healer classes and maybe finding your calling as a crucial support in all dungeons and raids.