How Is Scholar? An Impartial View.

So SCH in terms of looks is by far my favourite job, same in terms of lore and stuff.

And I think I really want to level it up.

I'd like to hear an impartial view on the job, I know that's impossible to a certain degree, but from someone who doesn't hate the job for no real reason, or loves it so completely that they think it can do everything.

Do you think it's worth leveling SCH?

Do you think there'll be a point in levelling it in the future?

I love my sch it in my opinion is very underrated. How you can sit there as a healer. then suddenly you cant sit there and nuke with the flick of an addendium. however, imo abyssea broke SCH slightly.

Cure v and cure 6 mean people prefer the WHM for OMG heals
silly amounts of refresh means blm can now keep up with sch on the conserve MP stakes.

however.. SCH can self skillchain, they can change the course of a fight (if its not over within a minute of course).

IF SE gives SCH that little bit extra, SCH will be more than worth it again.

No its not as potent as WHM, no its not as powerful as BLM.

im glad ive got it in my arsenal, was just the other week i was main healer for a dynamis, when the blm's died to failed sleeps and the like. I managed to switch to dark arts keep sleepga up and for added bonus break-ga and bind-ga. saved the alliance a few times. Can another job do that so easily outside of abyssea? (inb4 abyssea is everything)

but hey thats my view. Im gutted sch isnt used more

SCH is really a utility mage. As stated, you can do some interesting things with it (Bindga, Breakga, Graviga), but in normal circumstances it fills 1 of 2 roles: healer or nuker. Any good SCH worth their salt can do both without much need for other support.

Hands down the best sub for healers!


Certainly my favorite job :)
Any more questions feel free to PM me, Flion.

Thanks guys, and I might take you up on that Faelar seeing as on a whole I'm new to it. I'm pretty sure most SCH AF is awesome until you have AF3 right?

i still use af and relic to go with af3

for example the af head and relic body for sublimation bonus.

SCH gear takes up a lot of my invent D:

That's good, leveling it level 35 was one of the most fun things I did, and now that I've got WHM up it just feels boring compared to 35 SCH lol.

Being a Lv.90 SCH myself, I find the job interesting and fun if you are willing to put the work into it. Trust me when I say this; if you are not willing to put the effort into the job, I mean put really good macros together, have all the appropriate gears sets you can get your hands on. (i.e. Healing, Enfeebling, Nuking, and etc) You might as well not bother leveling the job. I believe SCH is Auxillary Support that is helpful on the most major of battles anywhere Non-Abyssea that just so happens to be lacking WHM's, BLM's, or RDM's. SCH is also very useful on small low man runs too anywhere in the game that happens to be lacking any of the other mages. SCH can even be Gravy on a already very good existing good meal (Alliance set up). At this point I would just be in the DD party and keep them beefed up with Firestorm (AOE STR+7 for everyone in the party if fully meritted), Accession + Enthunder or which ever enspell is best at that moment, and Accession + Perpetuance + Adloquium to give the DD's Regain (1 TP /tic for 120TP total) under this use of those stratagem, and etc, etc.

One last other example, if you doing a simple low-man run that generally requires the resources of a WHM, BLM, RDM, a few DDs, and THF for TH (or a Proc'er - if in Abyssea) and all you got is a THF, SAM, DRG, RDM, and SCH friend. A well skilled SCH should be able to effectively handle the Healing and Nuking needs of the party with proper and wise use of the Adenda's and Stratagemns, and being in the appropriate arts respectively.

I warn you in advance, Do not level SCH unless U are ready to trully put the work into it. Otherwise you will be considered another sloppy Fail SCH running around.

While some may try to say SCH in and of itself is already a Fail or the job is dead. I beg to differ, at this point in the game SCH is very situational, and I will certainly of course suggest if U can get a WHM, BLM, and RDM then Great! If U can't dont forget SCH is always a useful alternative if U cant wait to fight those NM's til later on.

Anyways I hope my ten cents on Scholar was reasonably useful to you. Peace!

As Rinkydink said sch is a powerful type of mage... Can do roughly 70% of what a white mage and a black mage can do (seeing as its all put into one job... thats very powerful). The one real downside of sch imo is speed... with sch you always have to be a step ahead in thinking (more than you have to when your a blm or whm) or you'll fall behind alot.

You realy are a tactician... you have to know what your game plan is before hand.. and be able to read what you have to do while in battle before it happens. in short you have to "react" to changes in battle right on the spot (perferably right before they happen) or you won't be able to play the job effectivly.

Its a very fun job to play but its not an easy one to master. Once you do master it you can bring a great deal of things to the table (more so then whm and blm in terms of options).

In short... sch is worth leveling but it takes a little work to be effective at playing it.

As a /SCH (yes, SCH49 onry!), I figured I'd toss in my opinion here.

I've seen some pretty decent SCH's running around, when they're played well they really can be a great addition to your PT/Ally. Equally, when they're played badly, they could be using a valuable slot for someone more useful, better equipped (in gear or knowledge), etc.

I'm going to agree with Rob, Faeler and Rinky on this. As long as you're willing to put the time into learning and gearing respectably (I don't mean having the best gear, just using the gear you have right - not MP rings for nukes, not INT for cures and no, not a Dark Staff to cast Gravity in), you'll find SCH a barrel of fun.

I never was all that fond of it when I was EXP'ing it, though a mix between fail PT's and lack of Stoneskin didn't do much but annoy me with it (hate Sublimation when I need to rest /fume). If I was given a 90SCH, I'm sure I'd thoroughly enjoy it (mainly because I'm a huge fan of SCHs versatility).

As Rinky said, a SCH won't be as potent as a BLM or a WHM (and when they are, they won't be as "efficient" at it), but they can do both jobs pretty well.

As Rinkydink said it sucks knowing SCH isn't used as much now due to Abyssea. Which is why I said earlier at this point, SCH is very situational.

I will say this, Once we are all Lv.99 and SCH finally got access to Cure V and all Tier V Nuke Spells, and a whole bunch other of assorted SCH exclusive spells that is likly to be underway, things are gonna become very interesting for SCH. That much I can assure you. =)

my input as a non-sch:

sch is still good outside of abyssea. i don't think it's a bad job by any means. i won't give it credit for being very useful in any low man situation in abyssea. sure, use it if that's all you have available, but a blm will always have a large advantage on grellow procs (important)--assuming both characters buy all their spells >_> -- and depending on the players, may have an advantage on damage (not really important).

i agree with the people who say sch is useful. however, i also think people are giving sch too much credit. sch gets access to sleepga, breakga, bindga etc-- but so do rdm/sch and blm/sch.

Ok thanks for this. Knowing how to gear and macros etc won't be an issue, I read up on a job extensively before playing it properly, and I understand the basics of the game even if I don't have the means to have the best gear out there.

Also in terms of subs, I'm assuming WHM and BLM are the 2 subs normally used over the rest.

I can't see how RDM would have much utility, but I may be wrong.

/rdm can be good if you have a few fast hitting melees to give them en spells... not all that useful with 2 handers due to the lower hit rate. Other then that I think the only thing /rdm gives is phalanx since they have SS blink and such now naturally.

Edit:Weird it posted itself halfway through for some reason.

I really don't see much of a need for Scholar. That slot can be filled with something that can do the job 10x better. A blm can hit more grellow spells and deal more dmg and provide decent healing if they sub /whm. A whm is obviously a better healer.

Atm WHM is the most common sub, because of haste.
RDM is a very nice sub, phalanx and gravity are awesome!

I have Sch to 90 but it's hardly my main job. That being said I enjoy playing it and can see it's usefulness in a lot of scenarios.

If you want to get a viewpoint on sch by someone that did a lot of testing back a few years ago visit this link:

Kanican - Scholar Guide

It's a few years dated since he doesn't play anymore but it gives you a good idea of how potentially strong the job is.

Kaeko<3 He was the resaon I leveled blm! lol

Blm isn't used much tbh... you don't get alot out of it. whm is the most common IF you don't have another job that can haste.

when you do have another haste job /rdm is your best option. As kvazz said you gain Phalanx and gravity... both able to become an area of effect. You also get some fast cast (something that sch realy need) and a good balance on mind and int. (you can also give area of effect en-spells (which with your weather spells can become very effective with extra damage) but tbh your only doing that when you've run out of things to do.) Also convert is a very good way of mp gain for sch.

basicly once sch hit 99 /rdm will be the only sub job sch use due to the fact that they will gain haste at that point as well.

only reason to /blm is warp/d2 lol and thats normally a good reason to do it :D atleast when you dont need a more usefull subjob for whatever you do. Most stuff in abyssea it doesnt matter that much which subjob you have, with /blm you can give atleast d2 to your party/ls mates.

\blm is allways a good sub for relatively useless jobs in abyssea! :p

I can't speak for LV90, but back at 75, SCH was able to reliably beat BLM in terms of pure damage (discounting AMIIs) and efficiency. It was also a top healer class, I'd put it just ahead of RDM as a healer. Only downside really was lack of Haste.

Personally I love sch, if you or anyone else looking for a great spellcast, if you're into that sort of thing, just send me a pm, it optimizes gear based on strategems being used and a lot more.i'd elaborate but i'm typing this on my phone and I accidentally hit back earlier and it erased a better description I had, and autocorrect is going to drive me insane. But really no sch should play without a decent spellcast or macro setup.

This is so true, scholar is probably the job that depends the most on spellcast.

If I ever give in to my urges and level SCH, I'll ask you nicely for your xml XD

Yeah, it's like...you use a good spellcast, or you have like 8 different macros for 1 spell because you use different gear for each stratagem

I use windower macros currently, but you'd suggest looking into spellcast?

Macros for scholar are beyond the basics I'd say they are probably the most extensive macros I've made. At least for a lvl90 Scholar your macros have to be set up with /macro set # commands to go from curing to nuking in the blink of an eye. There are some good guides out there on how to do this and a lot of it can be adjusted for the individual, but the essence of is to be a healer/nuker/enfeebler at any time given the tides of battle.

I would argue that /RDM is the default sub for SCH. The only thing /WHM offers is haste and you seldom get an invite if the party doesn't already have one. The red mage sub however is somewhat essential if you want to be able to skill chain. Trying to make use of Immanence without fast cast and macro swaps is near impossible. You'll also have to be good with your skill chain chart and be able to figure out what skill chains with what, because you'll be hard pressed to find it online. Done properly Immanence can do ludicrous amounts of damage as the skill chains, although lvl1 and lvl2, usually end up doing about as much as your Nukes.

Strongly, specially for SCH.

If you use windower macros it'll end up being several notepads long.

SCH is my fav job.

Impartial view fail.

eww time to work out how spellcast works then I guess.

I was thinking of making one for BRD, but it wasn't that necessary seeing as I could do everything I wanted with windower macros.

I'm fine with switching macro sets from 1-9 I'm used to doing that with BRD anyway.

But it would be nice to be able to maximise the use of my stratagems.