SCH Merits

Well I finally dinged SCH75 couple weeks ago, and decided to start on finishing up merits for WAR/PLD/SAM and SCH. While I was looking at the list for SCH merits I couldn't decide where to start. This is what I was thinking:

Magic
Enfeebling Magic: 8/8
Elemental Magic: 8/8

SCH
Group 1
Helix Magic Acc./Attk.: 5/5
Max Sublimation: 5/5

Group 2
Enlightenment: 5/5
Stormsurge: 5/5

I am debating a couple of those such as doing 5/5 on Modus Veritas for more Damage over Time + Longer Lasting. Also not sure about the Magic category set-up I have. Any suggestions are welcome please^^; I intend on using it largly as a BLM-like job, though still having some WHM-like capabilities that will keep me alive.

V.

*editing merits to fit suggestions*

Elemental and Enfeebling 8

Enhancing doesn't contribute much to SCH. You're basically adding at most maybe 1-2 pts for Enspells/Phalanx. Not worth 8 Enfeebling Skill.

Helix 5 and either Sublimation 5 or Modus 5

Helix is the only "must" from T1 SCH.

Case for Modus: Soloing single NMs. Helix damage in general. SCH burning NMs (18x SCH using MV at the same time).
Case against Modus: 10min recast and can hinder you if you're using MV to get the helix off the mob

Case for Sublimation: More MP per Sublimation Charge. Greater returns the more you depend on max charged sublimations.
Case against Sublimation: You have to charge that extra MP I believe. There are times where you don't want to or cannot use Sublimation. There are situations where you cannot wait for sublimation to finishing charging.

Your group 2 merits are fine.

I am leveling SCH right now. I am going with.

5/5 Helix
5/5 Max sub

5/5 Focalization
5/5 Stormsurge

Awesome question, as I'm going to be using my SCH more like a BLM as well...although I have 20 levels yet to go lol

Max sublimation is limited usefulness while multi sch is insane modus... and obviously max helix too. Then 5/5 stormsurge and the rest Id say depends on your gear and what you fight. Obviously if you dont care about hate equaminity wont matter and if you got a good maccc/skill set enlightment wont either. 8/8 elemental is obvious enhancing is pointless depending on what you doing dark or enfeebling Id prefer enfeebling but I know a sch that makes good use of dark

Okay, so scratch the enhancing cap enfeebling/elemental.

You're right about the Sublimation thing so I'll prolly just 5/5 MV and Helix Magic Acc/Attk.

Thanks^^

V.

I much rather go 5/5 on Enlightenment than Stormsurge. It's something I find myself using a lot more. The rest of group 2 seems nominal to me I'll probably merit the rest of them once to have everything.

As far as group 1s, Helixes of course. What you put your other merits into is situational. If you're Elvaan or especailly Galka Sublimation is an obvious way to go. If you really heavily rely on your helixes Modus Veritas is a good option even though it does nothing for that lengthy recast time. If you're playing more like a BLM Arts recast may be something you want though, since I imagine you'll need to keep putting up certain buffs.

As far as magic, I'm in agreement with dropping the enhancing, you won't get as much use out of it. I wish SE'd give us more dark-based spells to make that skill more useful.

The recast on Modus Veritas is soooo long that meriting it is like meriting Elemental Seal or something on BLM.

I'd go with Helix+Sublimation (it's what I did). You can't always use Helices to good effect. Unless you're an Elvaan or Galka having 50MP more coming back from Sublimation is pretty nice.

"Group 2
Focaliztaion: 4/4
Enlightenment: 1/1
Stormsurge: 5/5"

You can go this way with Group 2 if you want, but really Focalization isn't useful except during 2hr because of how Strategem Charge happy it is. I rarely use Tabula Rasa, so I just capped Enlightenment and Stormsurge. (People neglect Klimaform when they consider group 2 merits.)

@Evilpaul
About skipping the MV merit, it says:



So less time = more damage.

Also jsut figured Focalization would allow me to not worrying so much about macc and through in some MAB or something where I would put MACC or INT, maybe?

I know that about MV merits, it's just you can only use it so rarely (10min recast and all) that it isn't worth it to me.

For merit level stuff and weaker junk mobs (dynamis, limbus) you'll be fine using Errant/ACP/Yigit body mostly. For stronger stuff AF/AF+1.

If you Alacrity+Klimaform on more resistant things and avoid elements they're strong against you probably won't have much problem on things elemental magic is effective on. I haven't done any Sky gods as SCH and don't camp Tiamat, so I'm not sure how you would fare against stuff like that just using Klimaform. (Or with Klimaform+Focalization.)

I'd definitely open Enlightenment though as it's handy to have around. Just test and see if you really will need the 20 or 25 Macc before dumping all those merits into it.

Another question about SCH,

Is there any AF+1/AFv2+1 that should be obtained?

I'll start with your last question ;o

for AF+1 : definitely you would like to have at least body+1

since it's soooo useful @lv75 especially for your style , if you're playing it more BLMish .. INT/MND+2 over NQ & much more MP + hMP , combine that with Food "Cream Puff" & you can toss your ugly Errant

if you're playing more hybrid like my style you can go for further 2 pieces , hat & legs

while the hat is not the best nuking piece for SCH yet, "Ree's Headgear" is being the best potency/int/MAB hat but the AF hat+1 is your second best choice

legs are just magnificent for the additional MND+3 for about additional +1.5 M.acc on MND-Based enfeebles or to cap SS "which you should have it capped without that anyways"

For AFv2+1 : I upgraded 2 pieces myself

Hat: since it is one of the pieces that have use in both arts , the MND+1 can make difference yeah , depends on your MND build .. still not necessary but it is good to have + epeen whitebox .. DEF+1 HP/MP+2 adds minor .. the Elemental Magic+7 / Fast Cast+5% Bonus is the same , just great to have NQ either

Hands: especially if you're hume & sick of carrying your Marine M Gloves around with you .. INT/MND+4 MP+20 & Enfeebling Magic+7 "the skill bonus same as NQ" & Enmity-3 just makes it the best idling"when u r not charging sub"/curing/max MND/INT "if u don't have yigit hands" & ofcourse enfeebling piece beside it is better than Yigit since it is all in round piece "who doesn't like to save some inventory on situational ***!"..

Congratulations for dinging 75 ~(*'.')

In my opinion, merit Focalizition. Get 4/5 on it and put 1 in Enlightenment. 5/5 Stormsurge is a godsend, no questions there. No one will ever question you giving them 7 of a stat. Enlightenment is useful, but you do NOT need the full recast on it to get use out of it. Focalization is a very useful spell for nuking and especially enfeebling situations. Frankly, if you play SCH well, you can play your charges well enough to be able to switch to opposing addendums to get to those few spells that Enlightement grants you (otherwise known as Erase, Raise II, and all the -nas from Light Arts, and Sleep II from Dark Arts). Yes Sleep II is useful to have every 5 minutes or so... but...

Start by putting one merit in Enlightement and one in Focalization. From there you can see whether or not you need to lower the recast on Enlightment (which I personally do NOT). Yes you can Alacrity Klimaform for magic accuracy but this is FAR from MP efficient, which is one of the staples of SCH.

Also, about Focalization taking 2 charges... That doesn't really matter for what it was designed for. When you are nuking or enfeebling to avoid resists, the chances are you taking something that requires heavy nukes or a heavy enfeeble. Basically, if a /blm or BLM can only sleep a certain mob by Elemental Sealing it, this is where Focaliazation is and proves to be a godsend.

TBH, it's how you play SCH that will determine how you merit. Ask advice, yes, but if its worth your time, try out the group II merits to your own discretion, even if it means you'll have to delete merits when you chose your own path. It's clear to me that I play SCH differently than the people above me. EVERYONE plays SCH differently. That's how SCH was designed!

Census results if it helps at all: http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/guide/development/census/09/4.html

I will talk about SCH merits from my own perspective , that doesn't make me totally right , just giving you clue , in the end merits are personal choices & what is the best for you that suits your play style of the job ..

since we're talking specific about SCH Merits , I'm not going to mention the basics merits in Magic Skills Category, it is personal choice + depends on what other mage jobs you have

I'll tell you what I merited personally & why,

Group1:
Modus Veritas Duration 5/5
Helix Magic Acc./Atk. 5/5 << "must imo"

I merited helix 5/5 first .. & it did make huge difference regarding the damage/m.acc especially solo , & since I was going for all the way to make Helix better is logic to do MV 5/5 .. MV basically w/o meriting it , is useless .. while it makes double damage , the remaining ticks are halved so it is more like same damage in less time, but with MV 5/5 duration you're basically adding 50% duration with double damage which is technically enhancing your helix power even more.. so that makes sense if you have same intent to maximize your helix

ok , why not Graimore Recast, Max Sublimation?
usually as SCH you're playing in either arts for whatever the situation in hands , 10 seconds isn't of biggie unless somehow you switched arts back & forth which doesn't happen except by mistake lol

Max Sublimation sucks.. why? get it as this .. sublimation is basically "Refresh-Self" of SCH but it differs from that of Refresh you get mp back on going , on the other hand it is true you're charging sublimation on going but in the end it is store of MP , so what to do to make it faster in handy? just keep that untouched because you're *** up your sublimation timer , so you would need more ticks for merely 50 MP in return which is not charged from your Max HP , the game count the 50 MP alone after reaching your usual cap .. technically you could have your sublimation charged & used & start recharging again "unmerited sub" by the time that extra 50 MP get charged "merited one" .. so that will render it useless over time , that as useless as going after max MP outside of having that spare for buffs that doesn't depend on stats "pro/shell/RR etc"..

so How to make your Sublimation better w/o having to go through this merit?
be balanced about having +HP gear that u swap it while charging sub & have "regen" beuild to counter off the DoT effect w/o having to waste mp on casting SS or regen(spell)..

Group2
Focalization 3/5
Tranquility 1/5
Enlightenment 1/5
Stormsurge 5/5

while group 1 is more of straight/logic .. group 2 can vary depends on your play style only..
I will explain why I merited this way exactly..

I play SCH more of hybrid support & more of BLMish when I solo / in situation where I nuke / or just BLM supporter

so my first choice was Stormsurge because I always wanted / imagined Strom type would give stats bonus & it was kind of disappointment when it didn't , since that will make storm more useful & not limited for BLM PTs only .. It was so plain to me , beside the fact it helps me so much as nuker in HNMs cases INT+7 from Hailstorm regardless of the spell I'm casting , that bonus helps much toward breaking lol320skill/120INT theory on HNMs/Gods

only downside is .. don't over do it when you're running low on mp , better save that charge "accession" +/or the mp cost on something else.

I decided for Enlightenment to just keep it unlocked by tossing 1 merit in that , why? because before It's obvious disappointment if u thought about it the way I did..
@first before they released that update I thought this JA will offer you the ability to not just use all spells but to be able to use stratagems in the other book w/o having to switch "which u can't even do it during Tabula Rasa" :<
so ended up just unlocking it , because eventually it is of restricted usefulness to some situations namely, being in Light Arts & have to Sleep II something , being in Dark Arts "nuking situation" & have to erase/~na yourself solo or to free charge by using it to cast RR2 on yourself if u r just buffing before switching to Dark Arts..
so there was no point for me to go further in Enlightenment recast when I barely use it

Focalization 3/Tranquility 1
to be honest I only use Focalization in few cases against some highly resistant HNMs/Sky Gods when only MP is not issue other wise I'd prefer Parsimony for more MP utility/damage over time ratio .. also for someone who geared his SCH well/merited elemental magic 8/8 resist won't be much of issue unless you're nuking something highly resistant .. +15 skill again can break tier for me in MAB gear for SCH

ok what about Tranquility ?
as you know Enmity of big concern for SCH , gear alone might not help .. even though I have least enmity-25 in my gear sometimes that's not enough , especially if you know using stratagems generates much hate "refer to Kaeko's page for more info" , but still would that make it any good to sacrifice 2 charges? NO

then why bother meriting these?
the Answer is while u can use focalization outside of 2 hr , Tranquility is mainly used for 2 hr Tabula Rasa when you're in zerg case where u need to cure IV-ga bomb , -10% enmity adds up over time , same goes for Focalization during 2 hr , you're free of charges why not to use it then?!

for rest of group 2 , it is really situational / personal preference .. I can't criticize good or bad for something I haven't merited in group 2 ..

I hope that gives you good idea , sorry too much to read lol

Holyman's perspective is a very good one, especially regarding Tranquility (which is a merit I first considered and I'm sad I never put one into it). However I must disagree with Holyman's perspective Max Sublimation. I don't have much to say on it, only that it allows you to go longer without having to touch Sublimation, and it allows you to use 50 more MP also without having to touch Sublimation (which one might do if one is playing the "Always Full MP" style, which I sometimes find myself doing when I do full support). Also, when in quick nuking situations where you won't have time to start charging Sublimation again in the middle of the battle, that extra 50 return, if you use it on empty MP, can mean the difference of an extra nuke or helix or a couple of crowd-control spells, ect.

Holyman, you said that you have to wait that extra 50 before you can use it, then wait 30 seconds before charging again, that's not true at all... Sublimation can be used mid-charge at ALL times after 30 seconds of activation. If you need the MP, you can use it. If you time it well, you can use Sublimation exactly when you might use it without merits, and with the merits, it allows you to keep focusing on magic without having to worry about Sublimation. To me, Max Sublimation is like a mini-Composure Refresh.

didn't bother to read the whole thread but Modus Veritas are worthless now after they nerfed it. Since it can miss completly (specially on things u'd actually want use on).

edit: ok why are really old post showing in the most recent listings on main page...

Considering your 4 choices in the Group 1 merits, Helix seems to be the obvious choice followed by either Modus Veritas (my choice) or Sublimation. In my personal opinion meriting grimore recast by 2 seconds each isn't really how a scholar should be played. Especially when you can do 1/1 at the very least to enlightenment in the second group.

What I currently have setup is:

5/5 Modus Veritas Duration
5/5 Helix Magic Acc./Atk.

Enlightenment 5/5
Stormsurge 5/5

Though there's some rumor about Modus Veritas having no effect within Abyssea.