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Note: I was going to post this in the BLM section but it's more a discussion of Scholar's practicality.
I've just started working on my Scholar so I can get it to subjob level for my White Mage. From what I've seen it's a much more practical subjob than Summoner, even if it doesn't provide the extra MP boost and auto-refresh.
Since I also play Black Mage a LOT lately, I wanted to look into how useful SCH-sub would be in this case, compared to either WHM or RDM. At the moment my SCH is only level 10, so I'm going to outline the pros and cons based on the printed info for each job first.
Job Traits:
SCH as a subjob gives you access to one of the most useful job traits a mage could want - Resist Silence. It comes at sub-level 10, and it's only a tier 1 resistance. At sub-level 30 you get Max MP Boost which is also extremely useful for a mage to have.
These replace the WHM traits of Magic Def. Bonus 1/2 and Auto-Regen, and the RDM traits of Fast Cast 1/2 and Resist Petrify 1/2. The loss of MDB might cause a problem when fighting mobs solo, or anytime a mob uses magic attacks in a party or endgame situation.
Job Abilities:
SCH gives you access to Light Arts & Dark Arts at sub-level 10. As a BLM main, Light Arts is a moot point so let's focus on Dark Arts. With this ability active your BLM gains a bonus to Elemental, Enfeebling, and Dark Magic, all MP costs for your BLM spells are reduced by 10%, and all casting times for BLM spells are reduced by about 7%.
**Note: I don't have a comparison table of the skillcaps for Elemental/Enfeebling/Dark magic yet, nor do I have a comparison of baseline INT between the various subjobs. I'm going off what I've heard from others at the moment. If you have this information, both with and without Dark Arts active, let me know and I'll include it in this write-up.
Wow.. now this is ALL big time stuff. You cast your spells faster (which makes up for the loss of Fast Cast from RDM sub), they're more powerful, and they cost less to cast. What more could a bad-ass derka-derka BLM like yourself ask for?!
Well how about the Grimoire abilities that come with Dark Arts? At Sub-10 you get Parsimony, which allows you to cast a single spell at half MP cost. Freeze 2 for the cost of Thunder 3.. sounds good! At sub-25 you get Alacrity, which allows you to cast a single spell at 40% casting time. While I don't think this is as useful as Parsimony, it has a good use in situations where you're looking to get a quick spell off - such as a zerg situation (beat the Manafont timer!) or to finish off a mob before the chain runs out.
Spell Set:
As with any subjob, your spells will vary depending on what you use. Scholar unfortunately doesn't offer as much utility in this area compared to WHM or RDM, plus when you have Dark Arts active your White Magic spells cost more and cast slower. You do get Cure 1-3, Regen 1-2, Raise, Deo/Snk/Inv. You do NOT get Blink and Stoneskin, which are MAJOR utility losses for a BLM. This is possibly the one point that would make me shy away from using SCH as a sub, because when you're nuking hard you tend to go down hard. You also don't get Reraise, but then again in most endgame cases you'll have a RR item and/or a WHM around to give you R3.
OK that's all I have for the moment. Let's open this one up for discussion.
I've just started working on my Scholar so I can get it to subjob level for my White Mage. From what I've seen it's a much more practical subjob than Summoner, even if it doesn't provide the extra MP boost and auto-refresh.
Since I also play Black Mage a LOT lately, I wanted to look into how useful SCH-sub would be in this case, compared to either WHM or RDM. At the moment my SCH is only level 10, so I'm going to outline the pros and cons based on the printed info for each job first.
Job Traits:
SCH as a subjob gives you access to one of the most useful job traits a mage could want - Resist Silence. It comes at sub-level 10, and it's only a tier 1 resistance. At sub-level 30 you get Max MP Boost which is also extremely useful for a mage to have.
These replace the WHM traits of Magic Def. Bonus 1/2 and Auto-Regen, and the RDM traits of Fast Cast 1/2 and Resist Petrify 1/2. The loss of MDB might cause a problem when fighting mobs solo, or anytime a mob uses magic attacks in a party or endgame situation.
Job Abilities:
SCH gives you access to Light Arts & Dark Arts at sub-level 10. As a BLM main, Light Arts is a moot point so let's focus on Dark Arts. With this ability active your BLM gains a bonus to Elemental, Enfeebling, and Dark Magic, all MP costs for your BLM spells are reduced by 10%, and all casting times for BLM spells are reduced by about 7%.
**Note: I don't have a comparison table of the skillcaps for Elemental/Enfeebling/Dark magic yet, nor do I have a comparison of baseline INT between the various subjobs. I'm going off what I've heard from others at the moment. If you have this information, both with and without Dark Arts active, let me know and I'll include it in this write-up.
Wow.. now this is ALL big time stuff. You cast your spells faster (which makes up for the loss of Fast Cast from RDM sub), they're more powerful, and they cost less to cast. What more could a bad-ass derka-derka BLM like yourself ask for?!
Well how about the Grimoire abilities that come with Dark Arts? At Sub-10 you get Parsimony, which allows you to cast a single spell at half MP cost. Freeze 2 for the cost of Thunder 3.. sounds good! At sub-25 you get Alacrity, which allows you to cast a single spell at 40% casting time. While I don't think this is as useful as Parsimony, it has a good use in situations where you're looking to get a quick spell off - such as a zerg situation (beat the Manafont timer!) or to finish off a mob before the chain runs out.
Spell Set:
As with any subjob, your spells will vary depending on what you use. Scholar unfortunately doesn't offer as much utility in this area compared to WHM or RDM, plus when you have Dark Arts active your White Magic spells cost more and cast slower. You do get Cure 1-3, Regen 1-2, Raise, Deo/Snk/Inv. You do NOT get Blink and Stoneskin, which are MAJOR utility losses for a BLM. This is possibly the one point that would make me shy away from using SCH as a sub, because when you're nuking hard you tend to go down hard. You also don't get Reraise, but then again in most endgame cases you'll have a RR item and/or a WHM around to give you R3.
OK that's all I have for the moment. Let's open this one up for discussion.
,
I'm hoping for 1MP/3sec, matching Auto Refresh.
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