[Kitalrez]

Originally Posted by Icemage

If you've only been in parties with WHMs that suck then you haven't seen very many high level WHMs. It's an excellent job when played correctly. The reason many of the lower level WHM suck is because, despite the rate of invites, there are a lot of people that are just levelling it just as a subjob through 37 or 38 and don't really care about the doing a good job.
Career WHMs who focus on what they're doing bring healing efficiency with low enmity to the table, and that's a very powerful combination.
Icemage

Icemage is right here. If you're playing with someone who plans to be a "Career WHM", or at least someone who wants to hit the AF stage with the job, they're gonna be pretty good at staying on top of enfeebles. The math just makes sense. On a PLD tank at my current 65 lvl range, every time Paralyze activates on a mob, that's a Cure II I don't have to cast. I've had battles where I looked at the benefit of Slow, and we were seriously looking at the Cure IV/V range. It may not always stick, but if the RDM and BLM aren't moving, I'm definitely making at least an attempt to debuff. Maybe the act of getting up, making the attempt, and getting resisted will prompt someone who can actually stick the spell to give it a shot.

[Karinya]

Originally Posted by Kitalrez

Must be a new WHM thing. I got used to tossing Slow, Dia, and Para every battle early, then we hit 40 range and I got used to RDMs complaining about casting Slow, Dia, and Para while trying to keep the Refresh cycle going. Then I got used to casting Slow, Dia, Para and a few Hastes every battle. Last time I partied on WHM, I got a /tell from the RDM saying I could probably cut back on the enfeebles. It shocked me, not because I got let off the hook, but more because I forgot he was still in the party by that point.
It's a little different when I party on SMN, though.
NIN>> Hey, I need Slow on this mob
ME>> *looks at his enfeebling magic skill* heh heh?
NIN>> Paralyze would help too.
ME>> HAHAHAHAHAHAHA... you're kidding, right?

If you have Fenrir, you can Lunar Cry to reduce acc (and eva, a nice side benefit), then since Lunar Cry is a Ward, follow up immediately with Crescent Fang which causes paralyze. This is not that expensive (60 MP plus perpetuation and the initial summon cost) and available from level 21. Without Fenrir, you could try Leviathan's Slowga (if the area is clear) followed by Tail Whip for Gravity, but that doesn't give you acc down, costs more MP and Slowga is level 33. Tail Whip will probably do more damage than Crescent Fang, though.


In general unless there is a RDM casting paralyze and slow, a WHM should be casting them; if you don't have either of those, a BLM with appropriate SJ can cast them too. Generally it's better for ninjas to cast their own blind since it has pretty substantial hate.

Many people seem to think that the only spells a WHM needs to cast are the ones with Cure, Protect or Shell in the name. This is not true, and when someone who believes this plays WHM, it becomes a problem.

[Kitalrez]

Originally Posted by Karinya

If you have Fenrir, you can Lunar Cry to reduce acc (and eva, a nice side benefit), then since Lunar Cry is a Ward, follow up immediately with Crescent Fang which causes paralyze. This is not that expensive (60 MP plus perpetuation and the initial summon cost) and available from level 21. Without Fenrir, you could try Leviathan's Slowga (if the area is clear) followed by Tail Whip for Gravity, but that doesn't give you acc down, costs more MP and Slowga is level 33. Tail Whip will probably do more damage than Crescent Fang, though.

Yeah, that's actually a fairly new tactic. I wasn't even aware yet the debuffs were considered Wards instead of Rages. On the other hand, Slowga rarely stuck long enough pre-patch to make it worth using, so I'm not in the habit of looking through Leviathan's menu for it just yet.

One suggestion to your debuff list here, though, you're using Lunar Cry to drop ACC and EVA, your Rage attack however, is Paralyze. That's nice and all, but you might want to look at whipping out a Moonlight Charge instead. It's a lot less damage than Crescent Fang, but it's going to stick the Blind effect on a target that already has ACC down. Now, with an already hard to hit character, like a NIN tank, that would have the effect of doubling-up the accuracy penalty you already stuck on the mob. If you're taking on something that's already pretty slow and inaccurate, like a Dhalmel, that might be worth more in terms of damage mitigation than the Paralyze.

This is fairly new territory for SMNs in party, though. Before the patch, Slowga stuck so rarely or was such a short duration effect that most of us stuck to Earthen Wards and Ecliptic Howl/Growls depending on the tanker. That last patch levelled the playing field for SMNs in party so much it's awe-inspiring. I hope the rest of you do as well as we have when your job updates come down the line.

[Jei]

Luna cry misses so much tho

[Androus]

If the whm only cure, you can try to ask her to be a outside party healer, like all the GS party does jk

[Murphie]

Please don't bump old posts unless you have something constructive to add.