WHM

Work in progress

Equipment

**** There is a LOT of equipment to gather here, some of it very rare.  Then with the augments, you're looking at a long time before you get something similar to the sets below.  These are nearly ideal sets, and nobody is expecting you to have them.  For a look at something more quickly achievable, scroll down to the What the heck paragraph. ****

Backline jobs have more sets than other jobs due to the wait time before games start.  This is because the herald syncs you to 60 before the game starts - if you're wearing a Max MP set, when you sync you'll have that bonus MP in order to cast your pregame spells.  Right before the game begins, with those spells intact, you can change to one of your in-game sets.  Currently we use a 1 minute pre-game timer, so we only really have time to cast Protectra III (46 MP), Barblizzara (12 MP), Barparalyzra (22 MP), and 1 Haste (40 MP).  That's 120 MP.  So we should have at least 120 bonus MP from this set.  But should we stop there?  No, because..

Elixirs and Hi-Elixirs recover 25% and 50% HP/MP each, so the higher our Max MP, the better recovery we get from these items.  Is there time to swap back into our Max MP set, use an elixir, and swap back in a high intensity game!?  Not usually, but sometimes you don't have anything else you can do.  (Edit with a comment from Zirk, Mana Powder also recovers a percentage amount, so throwing that into the mix here will be even more efficient.  Might be a good idea to tell your teammates to hold any Mana Powder they get until you're ready to do this technique.)  With this being said, DON'T worry about this kind of advanced swapping if you're just learning WHM.


Max MP Set: 

Body Anything that gives MP! eg, Black Cotehardie

Feet Anything that gives MP!

Weapon  Anything that gives MP!  eg, Healing Staff

Rings and earrings Anything that gives MP! eg, Serket Ring, Astral Rings/Earrings, etc

Hands Anything that gives MP!

Legs Anything that gives MP!

Head Anything that gives MP!

Neck Anything that gives MP!

Belt Anything that gives MP!

Cape Anything that gives MP!

Grip Anything that gives MP!

Once your pre-game spells have been cast and the game is seconds from starting, you'll want to swap into your in-game set.  All of these sets should be ready on macros using the gearsets option.

The following two in-game sets differ only in their resistance priority, and everything else is the same.  Your in-game set should include a Vermillion/Royal Cloak for the Refresh.  It's 1MP/3sec, 300 bonus MP in a 15 minute game assuming it's worn the entire time.  The rest of your set should be focused on resistances (wind, ice, dark) and MND.   The greater difference between your MND and your target's MND (dMND), the more potent your Slow and Paralyze will be.  MND also helps with cure potency a little.  The resistances are to avoid enemy WHM spells.  

We don't care about defense or HP in these sets.

But what set do you use for the game you're in?  That depends on the enemy team composition.  This is mostly determined by whether or not Aspir, and to a lesser extent, bloody bolts, are a part of the game.  Is Dark Knight being played?  Yes?  Then your decision is easy.  It's the ......

Dark Resist Set:

   example

Body Vermillion/Royal Cloak (augmented - augments well, MND5 possible, ~18 resist possible).

Feet Cure Clogs (augmented - does not augment well, feet generally won't give good resistance augments, if you get MND1, move on).

Weapon  Chatoyant Staff (augmented - augments well, ~18 resist possible).

Rings Ideal rings here are (dark augmented) Serenity Rings +1.  They have MND+4 and augment well for resistances (~12 ice or wind + ~12dark possible).  Demon's Rings +1 are great if you need a lot of dark resistance when the rest of your set isn't there yet.  They augment well (double 12~ resists possible).  Medicine Ring (10% cure potency latent) is good to have around if the opponent team is regularly keeping you at low HP.

Earrings Ideal earrings are (dark augmented) Genius Earrings +1.  They augment well (double 12~ resists possible).  Mana Earrings +1 are a decent choice as well if you are lacking dark resistance, but in the long run you're better off augmenting Genius since they already have 2 of the 3 important resists already. 

Hands  Magical Mitts (augmented - augment very well, double ~20 resists possible).  Devotee's Mitts +1 (~13 resist possible), highest MND possible if you have enough resist already. 

Legs  MND increasing leg gear of any kind work well here, there aren't a lot of good augmentable options, and leg augments don't give good resistances.  Magic Slacks is what I use.

Head  [Taken by cloak]  Since AF head is so good for this kind of set, having both MND and dark resistance, you could make a case for using this if you needed the resistance.  Personally I don't use it because I have enough dark resistance already.

Neck  Ajari Necklace (augmented - augments well, with double ~15 resists possible).  Very cheap and accessible option.

Belt  Penitent's Rope (augmented - augments well ~18 resist possible).  

Cape  Intensifying Cape (augmented - augments well, double ~18 resists possible) or Red Cape +1 (augmented, double 10~ resists possible) or Aurora Mantle +1 (augmented, augments about as well as Red Cape).

Grip  Enki Strap or any other MND Grip.

Ranged  Aureole, for rook guarding if you're silenced/out of MP.   A MND phial could work here too if you don't have Aureole or are confident in your rook guarding abilities without it.

 

This set is designed to prevent the enemy from landing solid Aspir on you.  This is a big deal.  In a real game, you don't have vile elixirs, and the enemy won't kill you.  You have to balance your MP and a fat 80MP Aspir is absolutely brutal.  This set lets you keep the MP you have.  As a bonus, bloody bolts are useless against you (assuming 100~ dark resist) and basic sleep spells just won't work!  

Ideally we want 100/100/100~ wind/ice/dark resists.  That's not really realistic though.  In this set, just aiming for 100~ dark resist plus some wind and ice should be good.  Barspells give 80 resist in at level 60 with merits.  


If there's no Dark Knight/Aspir in the game, then you default to the.......

Wind/Ice Resist Set:

example

This set is designed to avoid enemy WHM Silence and Paralyze.  When the game is at a neutral state, the opposing WHMs will be exchanging Silence, Paralyze, Slow, etc with each other.  With this set you'll avoid your opponent WHM's attempts to stymie you.  You'll likely be casting Barblizzara and Barparalyzra on your team, since your front liners won't be carrying much resistance, and those spells will save you some, but not all, of the headache casting Paralyna on them.  With your set, plus the Bar spells, Paralyze is a wasted spell on you.  If you can successfully cast Paralyze and Silence on your opposing WHM and they can't return it on you, they're going to have a hard time.

This is very very similar to the Dark Resist set, just not having to worry about any dark resist.

Body Vermillion/Royal Cloak (augmented - augments well, MND5 possible, ~18 resist possible).

Feet Cure Clogs (augmented - does not augment well, feet generally won't give good resistance augments, if you get MND1, move on).

Weapon  Chatoyant Staff  (augmented - augments well, ~20 resist possible)

Rings Ideal rings here are (augmented) Serenity Rings +1.  They have MND+4 and augment well for resistances (~12 ice or wind).  Medicine Ring (10% cure potency latent) is good to have around if the opponent team is regularly keeping you at low HP.

Earrings Ideal earrings are (augmented) Genius Earrings +1.  They augment well (double ~12 resists possible). 

Hands  Magical Mitts (augmented - augment very well, double ~20 resists possible).  Devotee's Mitts +1 (~13 resist possible), highest MND possible if you have enough resist already. 

Legs  MND increasing leg gear of any kind work well here, there aren't a lot of good augmentable options, and leg augments don't give good resistances.  Magic Slacks is what I use.

Head  [Taken by cloak] 

Neck  Ajari Necklace (augmented - augments well, with double ~15 resists possible).  Very cheap and accessible option.

Belt  Penitent's Rope (augmented - augments well ~18 resist possible).  

Cape  Intensifying Cape (augmented - augments well ~18 resist possible) or Red Cape +1 (augmented, double 10~ resists possible) or Aurora Mantle +1 (augmented, augments about as well as Red Cape).

Grip  Enki Strap or any other MND Grip.

Ranged  Aureole, for rook guarding if you're silenced/out of MP.   A MND phial could work here too if you don't have Aureole or are confident in your rook guarding abilities without it.

 

At this point, the game has been going well, and the opposition simply can't keep up with your A+ White Mage.  So, they choose to make the critical decision of ending you.  This is normal, to be expected at some point in every match.  They're hoping that they can kill you, and somehow stop you from going hyper....  but how can they prevent that?  Oh that's right, killing you over, and over and over again before you're able to build up any items.  So lets build a set to make their life as difficult as possible...

Hyper/Survival Set:

example

This is the turtle set.  The core set of gear for WHM.  You don't have any MND boost, and you don't have many resistances.  The most important thing coming at you is big damage, and you need to be able to mitigate it.  Your team is depending on you to survive!

Body  Divine Breastplate.  The quintessential White Mage piece.  (augments so-so)

Feet  Cure Clogs (augmented - does not augment well, feet generally won't give good resistance augments, if you get HP+ or VIT+, move on).  These stay on for hyper, cure speed is essential.

Weapon  Terra's Staff (augmented - augments well for resistances, possible to get 20HP here)

Rings  Any combination of Phalanx Rings and HP Rings you have.  I use Bomb Queen Ring and a Phalanx Ring(VIT+2).  Bomb Queen/Multiple Ring might be better.

Earrings  Intruder Earring/Cassie Earring. 

Hands  Protecting Bangles.  Magical Mitts isn't a bad choice here but I prefer the bangles.

Legs  AF Legs are great here, VIT, good DEF. 

Head  AF Head or Lv99, good defense.  The only other equipment I've seen used here to good result is the Raven Beret, but probably only worthwhile against Ranger.  **update 2023~ Magi Hat augments well (double 20s possible) if you want to have a decently defensive augmentable.

Neck  Tempered Chain.  Best DEF in slot, 20 HP, augmentable.

Belt  As Tarutaru, the RSE Belt with 3 VIT and 40 HP is unbeatable.  As other races, any HP/DEF option will work well.

Cape  Intensifying Cape (augmented - augments well, double ~18 resists possible). 

Grip  Any HP Grip.  I use Kupayopl.

Ranged  Aureole, for rook guarding if you're silenced/out of MP.   A case could be made for Bibiki Seashell here.

Ideally you have some wind resistance from this set as well, from augments.  This way you can cast Baraera on yourself and be immune to the enemy WHM's Silence.  Obviously if you get Silenced during the enemy onslaught, you're dead.

 

Recap of Augmentables:

Highest Priority, as they will almost always result in some resistances and you need multiple of the same gear for different sets: 

    Serenity Rings +1, Genius Earrings +1, Verm/Royal Cloak, Ajari Necklace, Magical Mitts

Highish Priority: 

    Penitent's Rope, Cure Clogs, Intensifying Cape, Tempered Chain, Terra's Staff, Aurora Mantle +1


What the heck

Some of these sets will take a long time to complete.  That's fine.  Nobody is playing Hako with perfectly completed sets of equipment, and everyone's always working on augmenting something.  So what's good enough to jump into Hako WHM with?

Max MP Set:  Grab a couple cheap MP items like Serket Ring, and call it a day.

Resist/In-Game Sets:  Buy a Vermillion Cloak, get a Chatoyant Staff made.  Buy/farm up a pair of Cure Clogs.  The rest of the gear can be anything MND/MP/Resist related.  Maybe toss on a few Demon's Rings for some Aspir protection when you fight a DRK.

Survival Set:  Terra's Staff.  AF Body, Head, Legs.  Farm up a pair of Protecting Bangles, a Bomb Queen Ring, and buy a Phalanx Ring.  The rest can be whatever you've got with HP/DEF/VIT on it.

 

Bonuses

Mog Garden Cheer effect:  Great Adamantoise (VIT8)  [the MP+12% Snoll cheer is not correct and does not work]

Mog house effect:  Bongo Drum/Besigiled Table (Resist Silence) or Bonfire (Resist Paralyze) 



Gameplay (3v3)

 

 There's so much subtle stuff going on with WHM, I've been struggling thinking about how to write it down.  The general idea of your position is a scorer, so obviously everything hinges on you quarrying at every opportunity - cleanly.  You'll be damaged often for TP gain, so time your quarries in between those hits.  

Use the partyinfo setting to be able to see your teammates' status.  You can constantly wheel through them by pressing F1, F2, F3.

My macro sets look like this

CTRL:  Paralyze Slow C3 Celerity C4 Holy Blink Barblizzara Stoneskin Benediction

ALT:  Flash Paralyna Erase Penury Quarry Repose Haste Silence DivineSeal Dia1

On pregame macro set:  LightArts AfflatusSolace ProtectraIII ShellraIII Barparalyzra Barblizzara Haste Gearswap1 Gearswap2 Gearswap3 Gearswap4  DarkArts+Drain  CuragaIII

At the top of the magic menu: Cure RegenII DiaII ProtectIII ProtectraIII Shellra III Silena Shell Aquaveil

I'm not advocating for this mess of a macro palette, but these are the spells you should be able to cast quickly.  Like other jobs, you want your key job abilities (Benediction, Divine Seal, Penury) to be readily accessible.  I'd put elixirs and revitalizers on here too but there isn't much free space.

When you're just learning WHM, it's a good idea to just play defensively.  Focus on removing debuffs and healing.  Breathe a bit and play in a reactive way to get a feel for how combat plays out and where you can best use your spells.  Whenever I haven't played for a while or haven't played with the members in the match, I like to play this way so I can study the overall flow a little.  If you can play this way well and keep your teammates well-oiled, while keeping up scoring petras, you're going to be a huge asset even if you never cast a single Paralyze.

Game start - be already in your max MP set prior to being synced so that you get all your bonus MP.  As soon as you're able, pop Light Arts + Afflatus Solace and start your pre game spells, Protectra III, Haste, Barparalyzra, Barblizzara.  The game will start as that last spell resolves.  First thing you do as the game starts? Quarry

It's your choice whether or not you immediately change to your MND/resist set as the game starts.  If you have a massive max MP set and have MP left over after casting your initial spells, then you can stay in that set and use up all of that free MP in the game before eating the "preparation" stun effect and swapping gear.  However, you are very susceptible to enfeebling in a max MP set.  Sharp opponents will likely notice this and bombard you with debuffs.  It's a gamble you can take if you think you can get away with it.

The next minute or so is a combination of Hasting the other DD and/or yourself, Dia II on the target, Regen II on your target DD.   From here it's all dependent on how the game goes.

Paralyna will probably be your most used spell.  Keep your teammates Paralyze-free and Hasted.  Whether or not you want to aggressively debuff their team is up to you, but fixing your own teams' ailments comes first.

Flash should be on standby and ready to use.  You don't really have to count enemy TP anymore since almost all setups have a dedicated skillchain - you can keep your cursor on the SC closer and be ready to Flash them whenever you see the SC opener use their WS. 

As your experience increases you'll see that Flash can be Erased, and try to use it mid-SC to cancel your opponents' Flash.  This timing is pretty tight and it assumes your Erase target doesn't have other ailments to be removed.  Erase takes a random ailment, so you can't guarantee anything if they also have attack down from demon arrows, Dia, etc.

Erase is good for removing enemy Dia II, although they'll likely reapply it.  Have Erase handy for binds and removing DRG's Spirit Surge Jump's defense down.

As for Holy, you should have ample time to land it after a Transfixion lands, ideally pairing Penury with it.  Holy gains its damage from your Afflatus Solace pool, which is filled by curing HP.  It feels like the equivalent of four Cure IVs fills the pool, but I might be off on that math.  If you don't have Afflatus Solace on or it's been dispelled, or you haven't cured any HP, your Holy damage is going to be weak and probably not worth the MP spent.  Raw Holy with no Afflatus pool might deal ~300 damage on a transfixion MB, versus ~800 damage with a fully charged magic bursted Holy.

Don't use Holy too much.  It can be tempting to throw it out to end every kill, but you'll suffer for it later when you're out of MP.  If you're going to use it, try to pair it with Penury.  

Repose is a unique sleep.  You can quarry and score petra while Reposed.  You can't do either of these things when slept by DRK's Sleep or BRD's Lullaby.  Repose can be used as a stun spell.  If someone uses an elixir in earshot of you, you can use Repose to interupt their elixir and waste their time.  Likewise if you want to help an ally score, Repose used even on a target with poison can still offer a short stun.  Repose battles between WHMs are usually just random casts of Repose hoping to get lucky.  Poison potions last 3 minutes, so if you see them use one, you can time it out.  Be wary of Blink eating your spell; you can prep with Banishga.  Keep in mind that poison potions overwrite themselves, so they may have refreshed their poison off-screen.

Benediction also clears all status ailments, including your poison potion.  Enemy Benediction is a prime time to counter with Repose.  Be expecting this when you use your Benediction.  Reapply poison, run out of range, Spiritual Incense, etc to avoid getting slept after your 2hr.

Penury is your go-to SCH ability.  Use it on cooldown or wait to use it on MP heavy spells.  

Celerity has very limited use.  Don't use this when healing a teammate.  I use this when I'm under attack and need to use Cure IV through enemy hits.  I've sometimes used this in conjunction with Repose at the end of the game to attempt to sleep multiple members quickly.  I've seen WHM make use of Celerity+Flash just to reduce Flash cooldown, with varying results.

Throughout the game your DD will die and it's a good idea to rebuff them when they return.  Just a simple Protect III goes a long way.

Aim for about 15 petras a game.  If you die holding them, that's fine.  Luck plays a part but on average you should be able to quarry up 15p in a 15 minute game.

After Death

Like every other job, your time will come and the enemy will kill you at some point.  If death is imminent and unavoidable, I change into my DEF set just before dying so that I avoid the preparation debuff when I respawn.  

Once you come back, any good team is going to be after you immediately.  Before you reenter the fight, make sure you have buffs on.  I usually reapply LightArts/Solace, and cast ProtectIII, Baraera, and Aquaveil.  [My thought process here is the quicker I can be back and useful, the better.  Also, the more prep time the enemy has, the greater likelihood of being smoked by a skillchain or a 300TP Raiden Thrust.  I have a lot of experience on white mage, so I'm confident that I can sacrifice the extra buffs]  This is barebones and I think newer WHM should prepare more spells like Stoneskin (beware of Repose), Blink, Barsilencera and Shell.   People love using Lethe Water on WHM, so the more spells you have on the better.  Try to reapply LightArts/Solace/Protect right away if they are Lethe'd.

In certain setups, a barthundra/thunder resist build might be better than the usual baraera to avoid Silence.  I'm haven't made a set but it stands to reason that if you can mitigate Raiden Thrust and Leg Sweep in a hyper SAM situation, it's going to give better results.

Since you've been gone, your DDs have been getting debuffed.  Try to remove these from afar before going for the rook.

Up to this point, if you really want to give yourself the best chance at surviving, don't quarry.  If you pick up a petra you won't be able to sprint (you could have a Petra Eater on hand and can use that when you're ready to fight).  Now, game time permitting, you want to play for hyper.  Get on that rook and quarry for items.  Focus on survival, the petras can come after you're boosted and revitalized.  Use flash to interrupt bursts of damage, and weave your CureIVs between hits.  Understanding the DDs abilities and damage output goes a long way here.  If you have it available, sprinting away to recover isn't a bad play.  Your teammates should be aiming to bring down one of the DDs.  If they can manage it, tanking the remaining DD is easy.

Having the ability to /sprint here is nice, but don't use the Ballista Band just for that.  You'll be sacrificing too many petras in the early game.   


MP management - I'm really a feel-based player so I don't think I can provide any numbers here.  At the beginning of a match, if your targeted DD is DRK, WAR or DRG, it's my opinion that you can just let them die.  It's a much, much safer bet to use your limited MP pool curing a hyper-DRG than a non-hyper-DRG.  Even then, don't blow all your MP on one exchange.  I see this sometimes where both WHM are so determined to win the current combat that they'll use everything, the rest of the game be damned.  Then we're sitting in a game with 9 minutes left and one or both WHM have no MP.   It's best to save your MP pool for the right time... and I can't really tell you when that is.  This comes from experience and the game state.  

If your targeted DD is MNK, these days it's possible for them to not die at all in a game, so it's a gamble whether or not you want to let yours die.

Here are some game states to keep in mind.

Does your target-DD have a body boost on/in inventory?  You're free to go nuts with MP.  Ideal situation.


 

Here's an example,  WHM DRG WAR game.  Our WAR has died and returns to the nearby rook to quarry, 3 digs, no good items.  The enemy team sees him and approaches with TP we have seen them build up from hitting us; what's the play?  IMO at this point I am leaving my WAR's life in their own hands.  Are we able to avoid the coming skillchain?  If no >> I'm not going to waste MP filling you up from 200/1500 HP and I'll let you die.  If yes >> now it feels worth spending MP on - the other team can't quickly kill you and we have a chance to turn the tide.  In the event that our WAR got a body boost, then it's all hands on deck, divine seal etc. to keep them going.

 

 

super WIP gd this is hard to write up


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