A Scholar's Education (Guide)

I noticed none of your nuking sets use Empy Feet+1. I know it used to be that the 15% damage boost outweighed the stats from merlinic, etc. Any thoughts?

nice to see an updated SCH guide though.

Haven’t touched my SCH in the longest time - what do people generally use SCH for these days (outside of vagary)? I never see my favorite casting class around anymore :(

I tend to use SCH for Mb burning content instead of smn or melee. Just because it's more fun and something different. I also use it to solo stuff because that is also pretty fun.

SCH is still useful, you just gotta go anti-meta and create manaburn strats instead.

Low manning mid boss when i want to unlock some relic pieces for mules job im not geared. Normally i do PUP+SCH to clear it without any issue (sacing till the mid). SCH + tank trust can work but i think its not 100% a trust gonna survive the mid even with everyone backing it up. Ark EV btw.

I prefer to have one over a WHM in tank PT for some content such as dyna D. Longer, stronger aquaveil and 15m+ emboldened phalanx plus regen 5 are really nice. You lose some perks WHM has such as stronger barspells and status removal of course but I also carry meds as a tank so w/e.

Scholar is pretty good for Dyna-D healing, especially if you're using magical WS other than Leaden Salute or Sanguine Blade, for double weather. We've shoehorned it into other content instead of a white mage as heals a fair amount, like certain Ambu months.

Been trying but can't seem to find the answer to this.

Does the Arbatel Gown decrease enmity for all spells in Light Arts of Dark Arts on the activation (and can then remove) of the corresponding addendum, or do you need to keep it on during these arts to get the benefit?

Still wondering about the previous post, but am also in two minds over using the Grimore:Spellcasting gear like Relic Head and AF Feet +3s.

I've probably done this before but have since forgotten how the Fast Cast works on this job. I choose not to use Enlightenment, so it's not like I'm using dark spells in Light Arts, although I might Cure in Dark Arts sometimes.

However, it seems that I'm rarely using Focalization (5/5), which leaves me in a conundrum. Do I keep what I have, in case I desperately do need the extra magic accuracy, or do I start playing this job in a new way?

In terms of fast cast, it seems Grimoire:Spellcasting does not affect spells during accession/manifestation/alacrity/celerity... but the spells you combine with these abilities rarely have long casts. Not using Fast Cast in the head and feet slots for these spells aren't hurting too much, although I guess I could make two sets.

There's also a case to be made for over stacking on Fast Cast and Grim:Spellcasting, so if you are using a spell with the 20% FC penalty it won't hurt as much. How are others dealing with Fast Cast on Scholar? Cheers.

Edit: Trying to work things out. Assuming I am /RDM, which is almost always the case, there is 15% Fast Cast trait + 10% from Arts. Taking away from 80% means we only need 55% to cap; 75% if using the opposite element spell (eg. Cure in Dark Arts).

Reading this: https://www.ffxiah.com/forum/topic/36163/fast-cast-vs-grimorie/

It implies that using Grimoire over fast cast is better for recasts so is preferred. However, you'd want an actual fast cast set if you were stun chaining, because you'd be using Alacrity and Grim does not work on that.

Only works for your currently active addendum.

Does that mean you can activate Dark Arts with this piece on, take it off, and then use whatever gear you want and still get that -enmity on all dark arts spells?

Have to have it equipped in your midcast. Only difference is, it breaks the -enmity cap.

Damn. So it's kinda useless then, unless you're looking for some kind of extreme -enmity setup. What about the Fast Cast vs. Grimoire stuff?

1) Grimoire casting time reductions go beyond the fast cast cap.

2) IIRC, the Arts casting time reductions are multiplicative, not additive in terms of fast cast.

Edit: Thanks, the arts bonus exceeds the cap and shouldn't be added towards FC Cap. Which means with /RDM I need 65% FC to reach the cap.

The first point, so that means you can reach the regular cap then go beyond it with Grimoire. I see many sets that do not bother with this fact.

Nah, the native -10% Light Arts/Dark Arts reductions don't break the cap. They are just multiplied in a separate term than normal fast cast.
Still subject to -80% casting time cap.

The only pieces that exceed the cap are are the Relic head and AF feet (grimoire spellcasting time reduction).

Thinking about the best possible Stun chaining set, and I found an interesting one here:

ItemSet 332149

Looks like they are not using a fast cast cape because they already have 82% from elsewhere. Making use of Pedagogy +3 feet to exceed the cap further. Any ways to improve, or is this the best you can hope for?


Oh that's confusing. So what is the cap with Light or Dark Arts on with /rdm. Did I get it right with 65?

Reduction is opposite from how you'd calculate something like damage, in that things being multiplicative is actually a negative, like dual wield and haste.

0.2 = (1-FastCast)*(1-Scholar). So as an example if you short yourself to 70% Fast Cast you'd need 33% in the Scholar term to make up the 10% total difference. At 65% FC you need 43% in the Scholar term. That being said I personally haven't read anything about it being multiplicative. I'm assuming your 65% includes the 15% you're gaining from /RDM, otherwise you're capped from FC alone.

Thanks that makes sense, does that include the /rdm FC trait as well? (Nevermind you edited) I'm trying to min-max my FC sets, because if I'm overcooking it on FC I'm wasting the chance to use other stats like Haste or something defensive. Would be cool to have some values for different situations.

You don't actually need much fast cast with alacrity as long as getting hasted because using alacrity amongst other things raises the recast reduction cap from 80% to 90% and alacrity with AF+3 boots already gets that term up to a 68% reduction. Meanwhile gear + magic haste gets you 68.75% haste

(1-alacrity)(1-haste)(1-fastcast/2)> .1

If you plug in .68 for alacrity and .6875 for haste you don't actually need any fast cast to reach the cap. So depending on buffs you can use a staff that provides far more magic accuracy. Also a few new items like metamorph's ring and Aurist's Cape provide some small mag acc improvements for stun.

Now as to the question of how much fast cast you need to cap casting time with light/dark arts bonus and no bonus gear assuming that base 10% doesn't go past the cap which would match my experience. Its a 10% separate multiplier so (1-fastcast)*(1-.1)= .2 turns out 78 fast cast will get you just past the cap so you can drop 2 fast cast from the normal 80 cap when using light/dark arts and spells that benefit. If subbing rdm as most do then you would need 63 from gear instead of 65.

Epic! This is the kind of information I was looking for because I failed Maths in college, lol. When you're doing a stun chain you're likely to have a bard, rdm and/or geo to help you reach the magic cap, so I could make a set for this situation.

That's why I saw another set focusing purely on Magic Accuracy. It all depends on the buffs, but it would be worth me having both. There aren't many situations where a stun chain is viable, but ya never know.

I love the fact that I now know I can lose 2 FC during Light Arts/Dark Arts. How often is it that we ever cast without those? Never. Thanks so much for this, I don't like wasted potential lol.

Bringing this back up, with the new club Bunzi's Rod, its going to be BiS instead of Daybreak if your casting anything besides light helix. with the 10MBB it allows you to free up your body or legs with a more potent slot than Merlinic

I'm excited!

Thanks Toralin. I was going to pump in several million stones in to the body and legs, but I might as well wait til I get this, then I can decide which one I want to keep. Would you say the legs would be the better choice to keep? As you could use Amalric +1 in the body slot?

The new armor has tons of mdmg, 10k helix will be cake body looks amazing with 10mbb

Im thinkin somethin like this for Helix now


ItemSet 378092

i know you all like blowing stuff up, but could anyone aid me in light arts sets? cures, regens, etc? whm is my normal goto, but sch has some amazing benefits i would like to start capitalizing on

It is right back on page 80 for cure sets!

Quick question for helix bursts, I am seeing Amalric +1 99% of the time...would Chironic gloves with DM augments of MACC20 MATTK20 MADMG30 win? Or is the MB Lvl 2. percentage too important to lose?

Thank you ^^

Would you say Mpaca's Staff is the best for general nuking or just for Helix? I've got Daybreak/Maxentius with Ammurapi in the back pocket here. I'm not very well versed in SCH, but Helix is stack as much 'Magic Damage' as possible, yes?

Trying to break into the SCH scene for some of these Odyssey NM's that require SC + MB.