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ForewordThe guide was done for level cap 75 times, and is not updated to level 80 yet. --Gisselle 12:33, July 27, 2010 (UTC) I am just starting this, so have lots of work still to do. This guide is meant to cover every aspect of the WHM career, including endgame events and activities. I have my own experiences to draw from, but I am grateful for any input I get. One favor I ask of you though - please fill your ideas in the discussion section. The section on Subjobs is complete by now, I have not done a lot in terms of gear yet. --Gisselle 16:52, 2 September 2006 (EDT) Geez I need to get going on the gear, did not do a lot for quite a time. Added rings today. --Gisselle 11:54, 17 December 2006 (EST) So far so good, it is pretty complete by now, there might be new gear unmentioned so far. If so and you notice it, please let me know in the talk section, except for the missing gear sections, which I know I need to do still and expand the by lvl guide.--Gisselle 01:10, 28 August 2008 (UTC) |
General
Two things for the start. First - if you think White Mage is an easy job, and boring and that you do not have to do a lot - well, you are wrong. Either be prepared to stay alert on all times, or chose something easier. Second - you are a healer - not a melee, not a tank, not a damage dealing caster. You heal. You heal status ailments, wounds, bring back people from K.O. and you enhance defense and speed. So if your party kills slow, there is nothing you can do about it. Your role is support, keep everyone alive and at full fighting capabilities. If this description does not fit your preferences, stay away from the job.
I make this point so clearly, because i have seen a lot. Melee white mages, nuking white mages, and so on and so on. Result is always death in the party. resulting in slow exp or a mission failed. Your job is to heal, take pride in it and do your best.
The choice of Race
The constant discussion which race is best, and which you should take for (place random job here). Truth is, you will most likely play more than one job on a single character, Especially since it is not easy to get access to certain areas and you do not want to quest that over and over. Additionally every job has at least one required subjob, and the requirement for that are different too. So my clear statement is - play what you like most, the looks, the movements, the home city, whatever. Do not make a race choice on the base of some stats. You might even take white mage to 75 just to start leveling monk. You never know what will happen, so choose not on stats, but on preference.
And no, i will not even mention the stats of the races here, because any race can be good at any job - at some point it is a question of gear, sure. But you have the options.
Which Subjob to choose
For now, to put it simple, your choices are Summoner, Black Mage or Scholar. Everything else you can sub for fun or go solo with it, but it is neither for events or HNM camps, nor is it good for exp. Stay away from "fast cast whm" with sub RDM, or from "melee whm" with PLD or WAR sub. It might be funny for a while, but not for things where these choices lessen the capability of your group or alliance for success. You can see a more detailed view on the subjob issue below.
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How to play
Generally, you role is to support the party and to keep everyone alive and able. Stick to that, only experiment if you know you can manage for sure, because if you can not it results in death and downtime for your party when things go wrong.
Enfeebling Magic
Your enfeebling magic skill is not capped? You are doing something wrong. If you are constantly in party with a RDM, and he is doing all of it, ask him to let you take care of Dia if nothing else. If the RDM is not cooperative, do it anyway and seek another RDM. You need that enfeebling magic. There will be a point where your trusted RDM is not there, and then you need to take care of Dia, Slow and Paralyze, depending on situation even Silence. Even if you have a NIN tank he probably will not do them all. Cap this skill, use your enfeebles, it will save you a lot of mp at some point.
White Mage and melee
This one is easy: If you are in a serious fight, may that be exp or an NM, do not do it. If you are camping something weak, farm, or just having fun, do what you like, even melee. Now to the why. I have never seen a WHM beeing able to melee, pay attention to all his duties and rest his mp. I would not know how that should be possible. If you melee, you might have your fun, but you are hurting the party. Period. Use time in which you can melee for resting mp, more useful. Special situations might arise during certain missions / assaults, but these will be very special situations.
Benediction
Your quite powerful 2-hour ability is Benediction. It has an area of effect comparable to curga, and is centered on yourself. It restores all members of your party in the area to full hitpoints. The hate it draws varies with the hitpoints healed. You will find guides that tell you to run after using Benediction. Do us all a favor and do not run, unless the zoneline is really close. You will die on the way most times, making it difficult to reraise or to get you. If you stand your ground, the other party members might be able to either kill the mob, or get the hate off you. If not, you die, and better have reraise up, or a homepoint close. Thats your job, just do it. A tank can not be afraid to provoke, you can not be afraid to use Benediction.
Role by Level
1-11
I actually recomend playing solo or as duo with a warrior up to level 11. If you already have a subjob, sub warrior for solo, and black mage for duo. For food, eat some meat to increase your damage output with a club. The reason for level 11 is easy: At level 11 you get cure II, and that makes you much more able to main heal in a party. Yes, solo exp are hard, and duo exp will be slower than solo for the WAR, but both you and the WAR will have almost capped skills, which will pay off in the next levels.
11 - 19
Soloing to 11 also shortens your stay in the Valkurum Dunes, where parties 10-20 usually go. Set your homepoint in Selbina or at the Outpost, deaths are frequent here. If you can afford it, bring some mp-regen drinks. You will be main healer in the party, but you will not be able to manage without help from another mage. Use your enfeebles, especially paralyze, it saves you a lot of mp. Careful with the Cure II from your arsenal, because you can draw hate easily with it. Draw hate with it before someone dies. Curaga will be very important to heal the party after a bomb toss. Use it after the fight only except for emergencies, which should be rare. Curaga will draw you the enemity of the mob for sure. Curaga is mp efficient if more than 2 members of the party, meaning 3+, are cured by it for the amount like a cure II would heal.
19-25
Time you will probably spend on Qufim Island. Enemies are Crabs and Pugs, just like in the dunes. Level 21 is you first "big" level. You get Cure III and you get Regen. Cure III a spell you will use up to level 75. At the time you are getting it, be careful with it. It will draw hate very easily, so again only an emergency spell at the start. Regen though you can not use enough. It has a long casting time, so you need to start planing your healing and expecting the probable combat course. It takes time to get the hitpoints back up, but it is highly mp efficient. At 25 you have Raise. Spend a day in the dunes raising people. Ok, now you should be sick of getting tells for a raise. Help if you can, but do not feel like you have to get everyone asking you up, especially when you are in a party yourself. Your party wants to exp, and if you go on a raise mission for 30 minutes or so, they will be mad at you, and rightly so.
25-31
The jungles. Enemies are mostly Mandragora, sometimes a Goblin, sometimes at the outpost Sahagin. Mandragora, short Mandies, have a nasty AoE sleep ability. Stay at maximum possible distance to the fighters, so that you do not get hit by it. A well placed Curaga will wake them all, or use cure I for each melee seperately, depending on situation. Keep Barfira up at all times when fighting a Goblin, an early bomb toss can easily wipe the party. Watch your targeting with enfeebles, if you by mistake hit a lizard in the second jungle your party will wipe.
You are what you wear - gear
Generally there are some basic types of gear builds. One is the so called +MND build, another the -enmity build and the last the MP build. Usually the MND and enmity build overlap a lot, so there can be no real distinguishing between them. The mp build is a completely different gear build. I will list some or most of the mp build gear, but i can not grant completeness here, since i do not use it myself. To make this clear once more, i regard the mp build as useless. MP management and efficiency is what gives you the option to be an active (and not resting) white mage for a long time, a large mp pool, even one of 2000 mp, will just run out at some point, be that in an endgame fight or just in exp. And if you are out of mp, it will take you a long time to fill that pool once again. I rather have a not so large pool, be efficient with my mp, and just keep standing even longer than the WHM with the large pool.
Weapon
This weapon section focuses on the caster/main healer WHM. I do not consider the melee WHM to be a relevant option, so i leave out the weapons for melee. You'll need no new weapons after lvl 51 elemental staffs, thats no mistake that it stops there.
- 01 Ash Club yes well... not good
- 01 Maple Wand better for the +1 mnd boost
- 04 Bronze Hammer you are still clubbing stuff to death, more damage is better than mnd...
- 09 Willow Wand +2 mnd/int your party weapon while casting, the +1 version has +3 stats, get the HQ
- 10 Pilgrim's Wand rare/ex, +2mp while resting. Macro this for resting untill you have level 51 for Dark Staff (+10); or use a High Mana Wand at 32 with +4; dropped from Nunyenunc in West Sarutabaruta
- 13 Hermit's Wand good choice, +2 mnd/int and 25% spell interruption rate reduced.
- 18 Yew Wand the next in our int mind wands, +3 on the NQ, +4 on the HQ.
- 32 Chestnut Wand another of our int mind wands, +4 on the NQ, +5 on the HQ Solid Wand
- 32 High Mana Wand besides having the same bonus to attributes like the Chestnut Wand, you have 50 charges of an enchantment giving you +4mp regenerated while resting. The enchantment wears off if you unequip the wand, or if you teleport.
- 41 Blessed Hammer 10 MP 2 MND - one of the worst weapons we can chose
- Note on lvl 51 you finally get your elemental staffs. Some are luxury, some are needed. Ice, wind, earth, i recomend them, but they are not needed. Light staff, 10% more on your cures, i could not understand why you would not do 200 teleports for that if needed to get the gil. But the dark staff - do not even dare to leave home without it. +10 mp regenerated while healing is one of the strongest boosts you'll ever get, and your parties will go much smoother with it than without. Downtime is reduced for the party greatly.
- 51 Dark Staff Macro this for resting, Sleep, Blind, Bind (BLM sub job spells)
- 51 Light Staff Macro this for Divine Magic and Cures
- 51 Ice Staff Macro this for Paralyze
- 51 Wind Staff Macro this for Silence
- 51 Earth Staff Macro this for Slow and if you get hate(Physical Damage taken -20%)
- 51 Water Staff Macro this for Stoneskin since its formula is MND based
Everything past 51 can be considered fun and optional gear in my opinion. If you like it there are combinations worth thinking about, but generally you are set with the elemental staffs.
- 71 Templar Mace
Shield
In my opinion shields are not very important. Reaching level 51 you will be using elemental staffs, leaving no room for a shield. When you go solo this is different of course, then you'll want a shield. On the other hand, up to level 51 you have that slot open, you might as well fill it with something useful.
- 01 Lauan Shield just a defense shield
- 08 Maple Shield defensive upgrade
- 20 Mahogany Shield defensive upgrade
- 30 Tortoise Shield r/e NM drop, +1 MND and +1 INT
- 36 Oak Shield defensive upgrade
- 40 Royal Squire's Shield defensive upgrade and +3 evasion
- 50 Holy Shield +10hp +10 mp +1 MND
- 58 Astral Shield +30mp -30hp some resistances, not recomended in any situation.
- 60 Patriarch Protector's Shield same as Astral Shield without the resistances, so this is even worse
- 69 Numinous Shield +10mp, +2 MND, all resistances +10, nice
- 74 Genbu's Shield -10% physical damage taken is nice for soloing. Since it is a sky god drop you probably have to wait untill every RDM and BLU has one untill you might have a shot at this item, since it is a pure fun item for you. (on the other hand thats true for the RDM too, so whatever ;-) )
Ammunition
Not much going on here. The choice is basically between the lvl 35 and the lvl 70 piece, both are a good option, so its up to you which you use in the end.
- 01 Fortune Egg better than nothing, +1%mp, +1vit
- 35 Holy Ampulla +5mp +1mnd, first good piece
- 70 Hedgehog Bomb +30mp, -1 enmity, good one
Head
- 01 Copper Hairpin +mp hairpin, there is an HQ version
- 06 Traveler's Hat +1mnd
- 10 Brass Hairpin +mp hairpin, there is an HQ version
- 20 Silver Hairpin +mp hairpin, there is an HQ version
- 20 Trump Crown +14hp and mp, rare, expensive and not really worth it for whm
- 32 Kosshin +20hp and mp, NM drop, expensive and seldomly seen, not really worth it
- 40 Electrum Hairpin +mp hairpin
- 41 Rain Hat +20mp, +2mnd, rare/ex drop from an NM, but a pretty good piece, tough to camp though, only spawns in rainy weather.
- 50 Crow Beret -7 enmity might be a choice depending on your tank
- 50 Gold Hairpin +mp hairpin, there is an HQ version
- 53 Magi Hat 19mp and hp, +1 mnd, not bad, but almost never around since the components are too expensive to craft it most the time.
- 54 Healer's Cap Your AF head piece, the best choice at these levels, and its free.
- 72 Cleric's Cap Your Relic-AF from Dynamis. Sadly it has +4vit instead of mnd, so not really good
- 72 Errant Hat +3mnd and -5 enmity. The other stuff is not really important. But these 2 make it a good choice. There is an HQ of it, Mahatma Hat
- 72 Yigit Turban +4mnd, -5 enmity, +1hmp, making this piece one of my personal favorites. Assault gear.
- 73 Zenith Crown +4mnd and 50 hp to mp - sounds great on the first glance, on the second this piece misses the - enmity, which makes it inferior to a Yigit Turban. And you need an Aquarian Abjuration: Head for it, dropping from Byakko or Genbu
- 74 Healer's Cap +1 Upgrade of your normal AF with items from Limbus. +7 mnd, 28mp, -1 enmity and +1hmp make it quite a good choice, in my opinion the Yigit Turban is still better.
- 75 Cleric's Cap +1 Relic-AF upgrade... +Vit.... no, thanks.
- 75 Marduk's Tiara +4%mp, +3mnd, +7 divine magic skill, -3 enmity - nice but difficult to get, very difficult...
- 75 Nashira Turban+5MagicAcc, -5 enmity, 2%haste, -10% spell interruption rate - again nice, but very difficult to get, and missing mind.
- 75 Shadow Hat 35mp, MAcc +5, -3 enmity, - nice but missing mind... difficult to get...
Neck
Neck pieces are not a lot which are really good.
- 07 Justice Badge Your first +MND gear, and a good one, you will stick with it quite some time
- 26 Holy Phial +9mp, +3 mnd, a good upgrade
- 48 Promise Badge +10hp. +5 mnd, good mnd upgrade but missing the mp, optional at that level
- 50 Beak Necklace +1 +2hmp, resting gear, good up to endgame
- 58 Ajari Necklace +6mnd, hard to beat, good up to endgame
- 70 Morgana's Choker +5mnd and 40hp to mp, comes from Einheriar, r/e
Earrings
- 10 Energy Earring +3mp for NQ, +4mp for HQ, best choice theses levels
- 30 Magician's Earring only activated when you sub summoner, just an mp earring
- 35 Healing Earring +3 healing magic skill
- 38 Geist Earring +1 mind and +5mp, making these earrings one of the best choices for whm up to lvl 75
- 50 Insomnia Earring +15hp and mp, resist sleep... so actually only a couple mp
- 50 Antivenom Earring to macro it for resting its nice, you never can have enough +mp recovered while healing
- 72 Magnetic Earring Apocalypse Nigh reward, good combination of stats, very good and very hard to get.
- 75 Loquacious Earring +30 mp and enhances fast cast, ancient beastcoin purchase, questionable if the fast cast is worth it
Body
- 01 Robe because you do not want to go naked and it has some defense
- 08 Tunic you can not equip headgear with it, but it has some more def.... or stick with the Robe
- 11 Doublet decent defense gear for this level
- 15 Anu's Doublet comes from Salvage, is R/E and actually for crafting an endgame armor. Still probably the best choice for level 15, so if you have one in your mog you might as well use it...
- 19 Priest's Robe +1 MND, nice piece of gear, NM drop but not R/E
- 20 Baron's Saio is the HQ of Trader's Saio, but only the HQ has the +1 MND and +1 INT
- 25 Ea's Doublet again one of these Salvage pieces as the lvl 15 one. +1 MND and +1 CHR
- 29 Seer's Tunic +1 mp while resting (short hMP) and +8 mp. HQ gives only one mp and one def more. Best piece for resting for a long time.
- 35 Bishop's Robe upgrade of the lvl 19 Priest's Robe by a lvl 90 clothcraft synthesis, good piece of gear +2 MND / +3 MND on the HQ
- 35 Enlil's Gambison the last of the Salvage armors, +1 MN, +1 CHR, -1 Enmity, again R/E
- 40 Holy Breastplate looks cool, cool defense
- 50 Crow Jupon +8 evasion and -8 enmity, the minus enmity is awesome keep this set in mind when you have hate issues
- 58 Healer's Briault your artifact armor body. with -4 enmity, 15mp and enfeebling magic skill +10 a very nice piece of gear, have fun using it. Also you can always macro it for enfeebles.
- 59 Vermillion Cloak adds refresh effect - the first piece to do this, and that effect is truely nice. Very expensive though, and you will sell it at 68 again without a second thought for a Nobel's Tunic. The nobles cost a little bit more than the Vermillion Cloak, and the Vermillion lacks -enmity and mnd, it just gives mp. I personally would advise you to stick to your AF and safe for a nobles.
- 68 Noble's Tunic is the best body piece for a WHM. +10% cure potency and adds a refresh effect
- 70 Blessed Briault very good piece of gear, gives a bonus to your Bar- spells. +7% mp, -5 enmity and +5 MND gives you quite an edge, but still the Nobles is better.
- 72 Errant Houppelande is good for resting only, +5 hMP
- 72 Yigit Gomlek also has +5 hMP, and if the full Yigit set is worn for resting you even have an added refresh effect. Comes from assault.
- 73 Dalmatica adds refresh effect, +5 magic defense, -50hp +50mp. Comes from Aspidochelone or Nidhogg, imho just a prestige object, stick to your lvl 68 nobles
- 74 Cleric's Briault AF2 from dynamis, +24mp, -2 enmity, refresh effect, enhances potency of your regen spells, so macro it for these for sure if you have it
Hands
Rings
- 01 Ascetic's Ring +1 MND, you can use your city ring too
- 10 Saintly Ring +2 MND, there is a +1 variant with +3 MND
- 10 Astral Ring ... expensive, +25mp -25hp. If you wear 2 of them you will die fast, and in your first parties you probably will draw hate more often than not. Unless you really know how to manage your hate, i do not recomend them, even if you are rich. Your fast deaths will cost the party if you are not very careful. They might be an option later, but i personally think that they are SMN stuff and overrated.
- 14 Tranquility Ring +2 MND ring with water resistance, due to all the fish and crabs you fight a better choice than the Saintly Ring. But not really important.
- 30 Tamas Ring "THE" mage ring from finishing the Chains of Promathia storyline. Awesome if you have one, but then you also already have a lvl75 job and probably do not need this guide ;-)
- 36 Solace Ring +3MND
- 40 Electrum Ring -20hp +20mp - a weaker form of the astral ring, much cheaper, an option if you feel like you need some more mp
- 40 Ether Ring -30hp +30mp - a stronger form of the astral ring, you can wear only one of them, expensive, an option if you feel like you need some more mp
- 40 Mana Ring +15mp.... electrum or ether or astral, all better options.
- 49 Kshama Ring No. 9+3MND, +5mp, very sweet, very rare/ex from Monarch Linn ENM Bugard in the Clouds
- 50 Hale Ring +3int, +3mnd rare so only can one be worn. A very expensive item, but very good for rdm, blm, or whm.
- 50 Medicine Ring +10% cure potency when your own hp are yellow. Imho an endgame item when you can use Devotion and Martyr to drop some hp.
- 51 Serket Ring -50hp, +50mp, rare so only one can be worn. A very expensive item, giving you a lot of additional mp. Serket is strongly camped for this ring. Well... in my opinion one of the most overrated and overpriced items in the game. Learn to manage your mp, not to manage your gil, you will have more fun that way.
- 54 Serenity Ring +4 MND
- 59 Peace Ring converts hp to mp 10, -1 enmity - the enmity makes this one interesting, rare once more.
- 61 Vivian Ring same as serket ring and +1 mnd and +1 int on it. rare/ex, so you need to camp Voluptuous Vivian for it, a level 85 NM in Boyahda Tree. A real challenge, if you can get your hands on it this one is actually a good option and the only mana ring besides the electrum that i actually recomend ;-)
- 69 Serene Ring +2 to INT, MND, and CHR, 15hp to mp, and -2 enmity. Not even rare. A very good piece of gear, imho one of the best there is. Expensive though. My endgame recomendation is the Serene Ring nevertheless.
- 74 Aqua Ring -2 DEX, +2 STR and +5 MND as a final MND ring. HQ is the Neptune's Ring with all stats one higher (-3, +3, +6), but this ring does not exist in the game to my knowledge.
Back
- 10 Mist Silk Cape +1mnd, first piece worth it besides some defense only stuff
- 32 White Cape +2 mnd, +3 mnd for the HQ
- 43 Red Cape +2 mnd and int, 3 for the HQ
- 50 Esoteric Mantle -1 enmity, +7 mp
- 60 Intensifying Cape for Mana junkies, but actually not recomendable even for a Galka
- 60 Invigorating Cape +1hmp is the relevant stat here, resting gear, comes from Assault
- 60 Miraculous Cape +3mnd, 15mp, -1 enmity, very nice piece
- 60 Sapient Cape +2mnd, -2 enmity, ok choice
- 70 Aslan Cape +20mp, +5mnd, comes from Einheriar, Therion Ichor purchase
- 71 Rainbow Cape +9mp, +3 mnd, there is an HQ
- 73 Errant Cape and its HQ Mahatma Cape -6 enmity is good, but otherwise the cape only gives mp.... not worth the very high price tag this thing has.
- 73 Altruistic Cape 25mp and +3 to divine, healing and enfeebling magic, comes from sea gods
Belt
- 01 Blood Stone just +5hp, but better than nothing
- 08 Heko Obi +1 only the +1 version has what you want, the +8% spell interruption rate down
- 08 Talisman Obi rarely available, +12 mp and -2 enmity are great, but its an enchantment and will be depleated sooner or later
- 14 Friar's Rope +5mp, +1mnd, good choice
- 20 Mohbwa Sash +1 for resting, +2hmp, the HQ is definitely the one you want
- 40 Druid's Rope +1 mnd and -10% spell interruption rate down make this piece a worthy upgrade
- 40 Qiqirn Sash +1 +3hmp the best you'll probably ever get for resting.
- 41 Reverend Sash +1hmp and +2 mnd - decent alternative if you do not want to switch gear around
- 52 Twinthread Obi +1 +3mnd and -8% spell interrupt
- 60 Penitent's Rope HP -20 +5int +5mnd -3 enmity - get it, one of the best, also for endgame
- 70 Cleric's Belt dynamis valkurm / Qufim drop, not important
- 71 Hierarch Belt has +2 hmp but lost its importance due to Qiqirn Sash +1
Legs
- 70 Blessed Trousers Probably the best leg-gear you will get, they are great, stick to them. +25mp, +6MND, +3% Haste, -5 Enmity
- 73 Zenith Slacks abjuration gear... i have one of these, they are on my mannequin in the mog house for ages now. You do not need more mp, you need ways to manage your mp, and you need some hp so you do not have to panic any time an AoE lands. Stick to your blessed.
- 73 Cleric's Pantaloons to cast any "Bar" spell type, and may be for healing too, i would have to test that, but i do not have these.