Benediction Reluctant?

[Omniblast]

Are you reluctant to use your Benediction in battles?

I have been in situations where I do not want to end up eating dirt again. I have been reluctant in using my benediction and I don't have a macro for benediction.

I currently have 1 macro for a mini benediction, Divine Seal + Curaga 2. But with all things concerned I do not use Benediction anymore unless of course it was to save myself. (Actually the last really good time I used it was to save a Japanese party, and I ran and zoned.)

In case your wondering I have 195 Defense with Protectra 3 on, still die within 3-4 hits.

Worst case scenario of dying, 8 minutes of each other. (Dying once, Raise, finish resting, Die again)

[Lyonesse]

I've been reluctant to do it on occasion but more often than not, I'll do it when I'm in a pinch. I'm not too worried though since I'm one of the few WHMs that prizes defense a whole ton (when I'm playing my WHM anyway =P).

If you're worried about taking damage, I'd buy armor that upgrades your defense a whole ton (because I know you can get more defense than that at your level. I had 150-160 at level 30 with Protect II =P) and macro it to equip. If you need to use your Benediction and don't have time to rest, Hit the equip change macro and then hit Benediction. That might be enough defense for you to keep from dying until your PLD can hit the Invincible Macro.

[Icemage]

There's no excuse for being afraid of using Benediction at level 48. You have so many ways to avoid getting hit as a WHM at that level.

Slow
Paralyze
Blink
Stoneskin
Flash

Just make sure you slap Slow on a monster at the beginning of a fight, then if you see a need for Benediction coming, reserve your last 69 MP for:

Blink
Stoneskin
Activate Benediction
Blink

This buys you tons of time before you even take a single point of damage.

I've died from using Benediction precisely ONCE since passing level 35, and that was one of those hopeless accidental battles that you run into once in a blue moon where pretty much everyone is going to die anyway.


Icemage

[Lyonesse]

Oh yeah, Blink/Stoneskin/Flash, don't forget those too.

[Mik]

The last 3 times I've had to use benediction, the mob didn't even aggro to me. Those times it cured for over 2k total hp. I had a good tank with me all 3 times though who kept a lot of hate. Even if it did aggro, the pld could just cover me.

I would only really recommend using it near the end of a battle though where your PT is close to defeating the mob. Otherwise just escape.

[Tifa]

if you have a red mage in your party, ask them to Bind the enemy if it looks like you may have to use Benediction. i can't think of a better way to keep the enemy from getting to you.

[jaby]

Not to mention gravity will slow their movement down. Go RDM!

Heh, IMO, there should be no reason why a WHM should use benediction up to a certain level. If people in your party are dying, everyone should zone, esp the WHM. Cause the WHM should raise anyone who has fallen. Cause who will raise the WHM he used benediction, and then dies?

[Miriamel]

Originally posted by jaby
Not to mention gravity will slow their movement down. Go RDM!

Heh, IMO, there should be no reason why a WHM should use benediction up to a certain level. If people in your party are dying, everyone should zone, esp the WHM. Cause the WHM should raise anyone who has fallen. Cause who will raise the WHM he used benediction, and then dies?

Reraise.

[ClydeArrowny]

Heh...When I lv my whm I'm always willing to benediction in battle, however its only lv13 and I've only had to use it twice due to sort of strange circumstances....a good PT should not need to have it used unless something exceptional happens which could result in death. I've had the luck, however, to PT with whms on my thf who never use benediction when it could save the PT. They have reraise on and still usually die, but wont use it....which I find extremely stupid when there is a PLD in the pt....I mean benediction>invincible= free cure for all...instead no benediction comes, so the pld is forced to invincible anyway, then everyone dies b/c noone has MP left to heal....and the monster has a sliver of its HP bar left ><(Pre blm 2hr strengthen, blm would still get interrupted if hit when using 2hr, and escape could cancel out...or blm could be dead....or no blm in PT) Imo, everyone should do their job....whm's job is to keep the PT alive...even if he must die using benediction. As thf if I link when I pull and I don't think we can take it, i let myself die and lose 2k exp, because it is my job to pull something we could handle....meh, just my opinion.

[Issaac]

I always use it and i have a macro for it. When im out of mana and the group is dieing i take a quick look if reraise is active and then i use benediction. Im the white mage and its my job to hold people alife. Btw the last 2 times i used it the mob hitted me 2 times and went back on the paladin. It looks like that benediction lost a lot of his hate factor over the last levels. But if i can - i run run run to zone (when zone is near)

[Zaleshea]

With alot of skill, I may never have to use it at all. I've only used it once, well woulda been twice, but I was killed while in the process of using it. I think my TP is only at 0% when I level, or go into town. It's always at 300% when I'm fighting. Who knows, I might join a party that is somewhat under par, and I might have to resort to it.

I hope not though. >_<, I know how it feels to be hit by one of those huge goblin things, with the big mean huge axe thingy.

[Omniblast]

Thanks to all your replys, however there are things that cannot be done.

Example, more than 1 mob attacking at once. If I could cast stone skin and blink before benediction I would, but as the case may be, people's hp drop faster than I can get my spells off. The question remains, Should I wait 14 seconds to cast benediction when someone has 100 hp left?

By the time I would reach for Benediction, Would I even have enough MP to cast Stone skin + Blink. Is it unreasonable to assume that someone would cast Escape right when I would use Benediction? (Sorry just died AGAIN because BLM was casting Escape, while our RDM who was japanese told him no, so right when I expected an Escape I ended up with death)

So technically, the only thing I can do to do anything after using benediction, is to die.

[IhsanShade]

just sounds to me like your having really bad strings of luck or bad grouping setup.

I've had to use benediction 2 times in the last 15 levels, the most recent at 44 luckily to me the PLD used his 2hr after mine. I have pulled off Divine seal + curaga many many times during battle, I make sure the RDM casts Gravity and i just slowly peel off the battle making sure not to run into anything aggro (in nest) by the time the mob gets to me the melee's have racked up a ton of dmg and got aggro back. The only problem with this is your enmity level is very high (only lowers slowly over time or if you take damage) so you have to chill for a bit and let your RDM throw some heals.

I still don't know what I like better in a group setup, Blink Tanks or PLD's. On one hand you got Ninja's w/ Haste going to town with Utsusemi: Ichi getting hit maybe 2-3 times a fight or PLD's who can do a ton of useful things including heal/flash/2hr.

My perfect group =p

Nin/war (with truck loads of gil)
Drk/war
thf/nin (absolutely insane Sneak+Trick+Viper Bite = 500damage)
blm/smn
rdm/whm
whm/blm

this is post 40