FFXIV: Understanding the changes to Healers in Dawntrail

With the beginning of a new expansion cycle in any MMORPG, many changes are to be expected in classes and their skills and Final Fantasy XIV is no exception, however, the arrival of Dawntrail was not very anticipated for part of the community, more specifically for those who play as a healer.

During the Media Tour to promote the new expansion, a video where a group of players faces the expansion's first dungeon with just 1 tank and 3 DPS caught a lot of attention and left some players apprehensive about the role of healers in the game's new content. However, part of the fear for the future of the role was fortunately overshadowed by the new features presented during the pre-launch tour itself and during the teasers, including the complete rework of one of the jobs and many quality of life additions.

To better understand the changes to healers in Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail, in this article, we will analyze the changes of each of them, not only after the expansion turn, but also in the game's current patch, 7.05, with the changes made to The Arcadion (Savage). For other details about the changes to healers and also about the other jobs check it out here

The most technical and complex of FFXIV's 4 healers continues to maintain its position in one more expansion. With the addition of the Seraphism skill, adding a third “instance” to the scholar's kit along with the player's own abilities and those of his fairy, new possibilities open up for gameplay, including greater viability for groups that want to play with the Scholar and Sage duo and not include a healer focused on raw healing and mana regeneration.

This new 3-minute cooldown ability transforms certain skills from the Scholar's kit into instant casts with high healing power and increasing the efficiency of certain shields, thus serving as a wildcard skill both for phases where high movement is necessary and also to resolve the greater healing challenges that can be found from the simplest dungeons to the most difficult raid difficulty modes.

Other important changes to the Scholar's kit were the reduction of the cooldown of Recitation to 1 minute, allowing more freedom in the use of the skill that was previously reserved only to guarantee the critical hit on the Adloquium shield and not giving so much space for its other uses shine as brightly as they could and also the addition of Baneful Impaction, an area damage button that appears after using Deployment Tactics, giving more uses for the Scholar's damage buff to work in dungeon pulls and not just in scenarios with just one enemy on the field.

The newest of the healers did not have any major changes after its launch in Endwalker, both because it was its first expansion as a veteran class, but also because it has a very complete kit with good healing, shields and mitigation options and does not require major changes, mostly receiving only improvements and additions related to quality of life or alignment with the healers' current style, as you can see by observing the duration of the healing buff in Physis II. Furthermore, with Soteria having its cooldown reduced to 60 seconds, which could also serve as an incentive for players who are not used to the class at a very advanced level to explore Kardia's mechanics further.

As already mentioned, Sage barely changed their gameplay between Endwalker and Dawntrail, the only new addition to their healing kit being what I, personally, complained was missing: Kardia in area. Philosophy, despite its potency which may seem low compared to other heals in Sage's kit, such as the Zoe + Pneuma combo, it is a comfortable and fun addition to the kit, being great for healing your allies in a situation in which the Sage has plenty of time to cast only damaging skills.

The classic healer from the Final Fantasy series, despite currently having lower damage numbers than his other 3 companions, remains a wildcard for any situation.

Like Sage, White Mage has not undergone major changes in Dawntrail, with the biggest addition to the kit being the Aetherial Shift, a forward dash, working similarly to Dancer's En Avant. The change from Medica II to Medica III made the potency of this Heal + Heal Over Time more adapted to current values, however this remains an emergency and circumstantial button in the White Mage's kit as their cures based on the Afflatus series continue being better.

In addition to the new movement skill, White Mage gains stacks of Glare IV when activating Presence of Mind, giving the class even more mobility, now during its damage burst phase every 2 minutes and receiving Divine Caress in level 100 as an almost continuation of the Temperance skill, increasing the mitigation offered by the skill's traditional “wings” and also adding a Healing effect over time with the Divine Aura effect.

Astrologian fans are many, but they know that the rework of the class at the beginning of every expansion is imminent. Although many still miss Nocturnal Sect, the Astrologian shield Healer instance, the current reincarnation of the class in Dawntrail brings several homages not only to the healer with its instances of brute healing and shields from the past but also to several extinct skills from their kit, such as in the new deck of cards that are a callback to how this mechanic worked until mid-Stormblood.

In addition to the new deck functionality that greatly simplifies the class's already complicated burst window and reduces the effects that RNG could cause on the team's buff window, the new skill Sun Sign as a powerful mitigation skill for the party doesn’t only recall Astrologian's days as a shield healer but is also an incredible addition to their pure healer kit.

Despite the uncertainty of many players, which even ended up generating a “Healers' Strike” in the first week of the expansion and after the first week of The Arcadion (Savage) raid, it is possible to confirm that healers are still strong in Final Fantasy XIV and that The role, in addition to being very necessary, ended up receiving numerous new skills, making the gameplay of all four jobs more fun and dynamic.

Even with a certain growth in the niche of those who enjoy and attempt the challenge of facing difficult fights without healers, this remains just a niche within the community and not a reality for most groups, therefore, the position of healers remains undisputed, and their role continues to be more than indispensable for a large part of the player base to achieve their clears in a harmonious manner.

With the current changes to skill kits, it is also possible to predict that Square Enix is ​​taking us down a path in which, in the future, the two sub-functions within the role (shield and regen healer) are extinguished and that any composition is valid so that everyone can play with the class of their choice without worrying about losing their team, which would bring even more dynamism and mean that new strategies and healing + mitigation combos can be explored and created by both developers and the community, thus bringing more diversity and interesting ideas to the FFXIV healing community.