Final Fantasy XIV How to play White Mage

Learn everything there is to know about the Glare Factory with a side of healing!

On paper, White Mage is the clean cut, no gimmicks healer. You kiss the ouchies goodbye and bring the pain to the ones who caused it.

Enter the White Mage

In theory. In practice every White Mage is a sleeping monster. You are being healed only to further their evil deeds. They are usually spamming Glare or blinding everyone with Holy. And if you beg them to heal, you'll usually get a remark like ‘Assize is still on cooldown' or ‘wait till I get another lily'. Because why would you waste one precious global on a measly Cure II? You could go for that sweet 100% Aero/Dia uptime instead?

Yes, we have all been bamboozled. Welcome to Glare Mage, one of the four green DPS. You probably thought that White Mage is one of Final Fantasy's classic healing jobs. But thanks to intentional game design, you are also expected to dish out the pain. As consolation, you get the best AoE spell in the game.

White Mage History Lesson

The White Mage is one of the signature Final Fantasy jobs. Introduced all the way back in the first title on the NES. It's signature ability, besides healing and elemental damage. Was casting Raise on undead enemies to instantly kill them. And while that is sadly not a feature in XIV, its still a neat piece of trivia.

In Final Fantasy XIV, the art of white magic is actually forbidden. An era ago, the schools of white and black magic clashed in what is now known as the War of the Magi. Besides being a clever reference to Final Fantasy VI, both schools of magic brought only devastation. Causing a great flood, now known as the sixth umbral calamity. Now, over a millennia removed from that catastrophic event. We see a resurgence of white magic in the form of the Conjurers of Gridania. But only the Padjal, spiritual leaders of Gridania, know all its secrets. Willing to pass them down to only select few of their most decorated students.

Conjurer turned White Mage

If you want to take up the mantle of White Mage, you have to study first. If you're beginning your adventure, you get to pick the class Conjurer and start out in Gridania. But worry not, you can later pick up the class anyways once you get there by simply progressing through the main story scenario. Just do the class quests and be yelled at by a teenager who's actually over 200 years old. So no wonder he's so grumpy all the time. After learning the basics, you get to advance into the White Mage job at level 30. You'll only have to meet the level requirement and complete the Conjurer class quests. Now you're ready to learn some advanced healing.

How to Heal with White Magic 101

Healing in Final Fantasy XIV looks in most cases a lot scarier than it actually is. While you might look at half empty health bars and start to panic. I want you to remember that you are a White Mage, the pure healer. Your heals are so big, and so strong that you rarely have to worry about anything. Unless stuff goes completely south, (then pray that there is a Red Mage in your party.) We've covered the general basics of healing here. But we're gonna go through your kit and explain what your skills do and when to best slot them. Most importantly though is that you start developing a feeling for healing, something you can only really gain through practice. But by simply leveling through the dungeons, you should be in shape in no time. You've just got to learn to trust your gut.

Cure

A single target heal that heals for a decent potency. This is your early level heal, but its also an evil trick by the developers. On paper the smaller MP cost and chance of a free Cure II might look like its worth it. But when considering that we also want to do damage and that global cooldown (GDC) heals are something we want to avoid. You best knock it off your hotbar once you get Cure II.

Cure II

This is your chunkier single target heal. You usually want to use this whenever your off global cooldowns (oGDC's) or a Regen won't do. Such as fixing up a team mate that got hit by a mechanic but there are no Lily's for you to use and a Regen won't fix them up in time. That being said, avoid spamming this one. It will quickly drain your MP.

Cure III

And here is your chunky AoE heal. While Cure III has less range than Medica, it still heals for more if three or more people are within range. You'll see most White Mages ignore it, since its use case is very specific. You'll use it to heal the party after a stack mechanic, either in a light party or a full party scenario. Do keep in mind that this is targeted, so you can use it to heal a small group after they solve a mechanic. It really shines whenever the party is faced with multiple hits like an Akh Morn. Best way to solve it is precast a Medica II for the Regen effect, then use Cure III to out heal the incoming damage.

Raise

You use this spell to raise downed party members. I know, a cure to death seems unlikely, but here it is. It's commonly used in combination with the ability Swiftcast. Since a hard raise usually takes about 7.5 seconds and is not worth being hit by mechanics over. Just wait for Swiftcast to come back up or till you have some breathing room. It goes without saying but the raising priority is as follows: Make sure at least one Tank is alive and well, raise your co-healer if they went for a nap. Then the rest. Unless you have a Red Mage past level 64 in your party. Raise them first. Red Mages can, if they have MP, raise an entire party within seconds and usually recover MP pretty fast.

Regen

Its one of your bread and butter skills. In theory, you always want to have this on the main tank. Use it as soon as the tank pulls to mitigate auto attacks and what not. In most situations this should be enough, mixed with your co-healers abilities to keep the tank alive. Unless there are any mechanics going on. Use it also on team mates who just got hit by a mechanic, but are not expected to get hit again in the near future. Since its a heal over time (HoT) effect, it will tick for 250 potency every 3 seconds. And with a total potency of 1500 within 18 seconds, its one of your most powerful tools. And these ticks can also crit and heal double by the way. And it stacks with other Regen abilities like Astrologian's Aspected Benefic.

Medica

This is your GDC group heal. It has quite the range and should be used after any party-wide mechanic goes off. Especially in full party settings, if both healers use this kind of heal you should be able to mitigate most party-wide attacks. You can also use this to fresh everybody up doing downtime.

Medica II

For the low low price of just 100 more MP, you get this upgrade for Medica. It directly heals a little less, but applies a HoT that heals for 150 potency over 15 seconds with the chance to crit. Totaling out at a healing potency of 1000. If you are confident in your timing, you can cast this just a moment after party-wide damage goes off to not waste it. If you cast it a little to early, it will still heal for a potency of 750. Which combined with your co healers abilities should easily mitigate most incoming damage. Alternatively its also great to fresh everyone up during a transition phase.

Afflatus Solace, Afflatus Rapture & Afflatus Misery

You might've noticed that all the previously listed skills are on the global cooldown, that means that they share real estate with your damage skills. Which is very important since healing is more your side-hustle alongside doing damage. Besides refreshing Regen on the tank, you don't want to press any of the previously listed skills unless you run out of oGDC's. Optimizing around this is one of the core elements of the White Mage job and healers as a whole. So you might notice that Cure II and Medica have their counterparts in Afflatus Solace and Afflatus Rapture respectively. They'll also use up one GDC and Lilies, a resource you'll get every 30 seconds once an encounter starts. But unlike their counterparts, you'll get that GDC you could've spend doing damage refunded in the form of Afflatus Misery. That skill's damage makes up for four missed casts of Glare III. Now you shouldn't go and fish for Afflatus Misery either, so don't spend the Lilies unless you have to. But always prioritize using them over your regularly-casted heals.

Benediction

This is your panic button. While it is not recommended to use it cooldown, since it takes three minutes to come back up. You can use it for other purposes with some proper communication. Stack mechanic for both tanks? Have them use their invulnerability skill if they are a Warrior, Dark Knight or Gunbreaker and bring them back to speed with just one button. Benediction is very powerful since it heals any party member to max health. But you should normally only use it if the tank is in trouble or someone was just raised and you'll need them at full health for a mechanic. Otherwise just treat it like the emergency button it is.

Asylum

Its very powerful and you usually wanna hold off on using it until some kind of mechanic is happening. In a dungeon, you can just use it whenever it comes off cooldown. In raids and trials you don't want to waste it. That doesn't mean you have to wait for the perfect moment to use it, but maybe you should hold off on it until the next mechanic goes off. Especially when's a party wide, since the +10% on healing and the regen effect can really save your butt in some situations.

Assize

This oGDC skill is in a little bit of a weird spot. While it is a healing and damage dealing ability, most White Mages will use it primary for the latter. Since its on a very short cooldown, there is no reason not to use it as soon as it comes up. But you can delay it for a little to wait for partywide damage to come in, to get a little assistance with healing. Keep in mind that you will be operating on a damage loss if you do this. So only hold off on it, if you know you'll need it in the next 10 seconds or so. Another incentive to use it regularly is that refunds you some MP. Which will really come into play if a fight drags out a bit longer than expected.

Tetragrammaton

Pretty much a free Cure II that you get to use every 60 seconds in-between spamming damage casts. Use it whenever you can and need it. Its first on the list of heals to use whenever you need one. Unless you are full on Lilies then you should spend them on Afflatus Solace instead.

Divine Benison

If you are used to playing a regen healer, shields might come off as a little confusing in comparison. While you usually want to apply a regen effect after the damage comes in for maximum efficiency, shields are the opposite. You want to use them before damage goes off to spare you the trouble later. Divine Benison grants a shield for 15 seconds that makes up a 500 heal potency. Since you'll have two charges and get a new one every 45 seconds, you can use it as much as you want. But you want to specifically use it on a tank who's about to face a mechanic. Or yourself, since healers are also often targeted. So if you'd rather be more safe than sorry, keep one charge for emergencies and use the second one on the tank whenever you can.

Aquaveil

This is a short mitigation skill similar to those tanks use. But unlike tank ones you can put it on pretty much everyone and it comes off cooldown in a reasonable timeframe. You'll probably want to use it on someone who's about to take a lot of damage over the next 8 seconds. Or most likely the tank who's about to take a big attack to the face like a tank buster. Like always, any kind of mitigation is good mitigation. The less you have to heal, the better.

Liturgy of the Bell

You can think of White Mage's new capstone ability like an auto Medica/Afflatus Rapture. Coming with a big cooldown of 180 seconds, makes its usage very situational. There are not many instances where you have to crank out a number of heals over 15 seconds. However there are many instances where you want to heal while also dealing damage. But the bell will get its most usage with mechanics like Akh Morn when the party gets hit multiple times in a short time frame. And while you don't have to get full use out of the bell. Keep in mind that after the timer ends, it will only heal half of its potency times the up to 5 stacks left.

The Other Useful Stuff

Here is a short break down of the other skills you'll have at your disposal that don't really fall under the category healing or damage.

Presence of Mind

This is simply a speed buff. You can definitely forget that 20% reduction on auto-attack delay. Because non of the casters will actively make use of it. But the 20% reduction on spell cast time and recast time is pretty good, especially to crank out some extra damage. Or to quickly heal up before going back to dealing said damage. And unless you know there is a tricky situation coming up that might require fast healing or lots of damage. There is no reason to hold off on it, use Presence of Mind just whenever it comes off cooldown. Its free healing and free uptime.

Thin Air

Being on a relatively short cooldown, you'd think you will get alot more usage out of Thin Air. But like a good number of skills in your kit, its very situational. In most cases, you want to use it before having to raise someone. Because dumping a quarter of your MP is always a big tax to pay. And there are some other cases, lets say you have to throw out a few more big heals than expected. So use Thin Air on Cure II and Cure III or Medica and Medica II if needed. But if you don't have to throw out any Raises and make good use of Lucid Dreaming you should never have to use this.

Plenary Indulgence

This is an injection for your party-wide heals. It will slap an extra 200 potency on those big heals, which have a chance to land a critical separately. Its probably best used when you have to get your party up to full health really fast. And for those 10 seconds its up, everyone who's under the effect will get a nice extra healing potency. Be aware that other White Mages can also make use of this one. So coordinate for even chunkier heals.

Temperance

Not only will you grow wings, they'll also jack you up quite a bit. Adding 20% healing potency while giving everyone in range a neat defensive buff for 20 seconds. This skill pretty much begs to be used before you place a Liturgy of the Bell once you know damage is incoming. It'll make your life way easier. And while you should not use it whenever it comes off cooldown, it only taking 120 seconds to recharge. You should try and get the most out of it during an encounter. More defensive buffing and stronger heals, just means you have to heal less and you can focus on spamming Stone/Glare instead.

Damage as White Mage

You may have been tricked into being a healer on paper, but one of your priorities is dishing out the pain. When you're not busy fixing everyone's mistakes. Luckily for you, White Mage design allows you to just do your one button rotation with some healing on the side. But here are the tricks of the trade just to be sure.

Single Target

On single target, this is relatively effortless. Your number one priority besides your healing duties is to keep your damage over time effect up. Aero which will later turn into Dia. So whenever Aero/Dia is gonna run out within the next 3 seconds, reapply it. Between applying Aero and the occasional heal, you use Stone which will later turn into Glare. This is your main source of damage and whenever you don't have to heal or apply a DoT just use it. Make a habit out of checking your party's health and as long as you're sure no one's dying within the next 2 seconds, cast Stone/Glare. Another one is Assize which might fool you into thinking its for healing, which is only partially true. Since it comes up fairly regularly with that 45 second cool down, there is no reason not to use it. Especially for the MP recovery and free healing that comes on top of the damage. You should also use Presence of Mind fairly literately to get out a few more damage dealing casts. As a White Mage, your heals are rather chunky, so don't fret too much over using it for damage.

Multi Target

First of all, congratulations, you now get to use arguably one of the best spells in the game. Holy and its upgrades all the way to Holy III. But first we need to understand math, to use Holy proper. While the stun effect is rather useful, you'll only gain damage with Holy if there are more than three enemies for you to hit. At level 90, Glare III will deal a damage potency of 310. Holy III on the other hand only 150 per enemy. So since two enemies would only be a potency of 300 and the occasional stun, three enemies will already exceed this by a mile for 450 potency. And it gets even better ⁠— for Holy you don't even need to target an enemy. So, you can keep the tank targeted and heal them while spamming Holy as much as possible. In most cases, especially in dungeon pulls you'll stun lock most mobs anyways. And it should be enough to slap a Regen on your tank to keep them alive. It is also recommended to Swiftcast Holy once the tank has the mob group gathered. That way you can prevent a lot of damage early. Oh and keep using Assize as it comes up.

White Mage Pro Gaming

As the one and only Glare factory, there is not much crazy tech that I can teach you here. I will however advise you to make a macro for both Asylum and Liturgy of the Bell to save yourself from having to place them. Since both of them have quite the range, either placing them on target or yourself should do. So here are some handy macros for it. Using these will place the effect either on target or if none is selected it will be placed on yourself instead. Other cool tech that Yoshida doesn't want you to know about is that you can queue up skills. Especially with the tight window casters usually have to deal with. Pressing an off global cooldown during the cast of a spell will cast it immediately after; so you can weave without using that precious uptime. And on the topic of weaving, using Swiftcast will allow your to double weave. Like using Assize and Asylum imminently after a Glare or Cure cast. And on that topic, make good use of the fact both Afflatus Solace and Afflatus Rapture have an instant cast time. Allowing for even more double weaving!

But What Makes a White Mage?

Maining or simply playing White Mage is realizing how good life is. While other healers have to deal with pesky gimmicks, you just have very chunky heals and decent damage. And yes, you are a little plain compared to them. But who cares? Can they heal a tank from 1 to max HP with one button? Do they have a magical bell that does the healing for them? Is their AoE Holy? No? Well too bad for them. If you enjoy an easy, carefree life and fast queue times, play White Mage. And whenever someone accuses you of not healing, act like it was not your fault and passive aggressively start healing them only when their HP is below 10%.

AND I DARE YOU TO FISH FOR FREE CURE II WITH CURE! (DON'T DO THAT ITS A TRAP!)

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