How to and Where to Unlock Astrologian
Unlike the Dark Knight, unlocking the Astrologian in Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward is fairly straight forward. Marked on your map in the Pillars is the Athenaeum Astrologicum. Enter it and you’ll find Jannequinard, your quest giver. Accept the job quest, Stairway to the Heavens, and follow its instructions.
First, you’ll have to speak to three Astrologians right outside of Athenaeum Astrologicum. Easy. Next, teleport to Coerthas and head south to reach the Observatorium. Go about half way up the large tower and you’ll find your next quest target. He will point you in the direction of Quarrymill which will be your final destination.
Follow your map marker and you’ll view the final cutscene. After that, you’ll have unlocked FFXIV’s newest job, hurrah! However, you’re going to have to learn how to be a proper FFXIV healer real fast, because your next quest will rely on your ability to keep a small party alive.
While you’re free to do what you like after unlocking Astrologian in FFXIV, it’s highly recommended that you go ahead and also start your next quest right away from Mace’s Granddaughter.
Your First Job Quest and Unlocking Diurnal Sect
It’s time to find and rescue Mace, the man who entrusted you with the Astrologian Soul Stone. Luckily, he dropped cards to help you find him. The two NPCs that accompany you are more than capable of dispatching enemies, especially if you can help them out by tossing in Combust and Malefic here and there. But they will rely on you for healing, so that should be your first priority.
Use Benefic and Benefic 2 to keep their HP high, and don’t forget about your instant healing ability, Essential Dignity, if you need extra help keeping up. As you pick up each card, you’ll receive a description of what each one does. Each card correlates to a specific FFXIV star constellation and you can utilize them by using the Draw ability. Feel free to mix them in if you want, but it isn’t necessary to win this fight. They will be more important when we discuss how to play Astrologian shortly.
Follow the path and the cards to reach the final boss area. This fight is extremely straight forward. Keep everyone’s HP high, help take out the adds, and stay out of trouble. Do these three things and you’ll complete the quest and unlock Diurnal Sect in no time.
With Diurnal Sect unlocked, let’s now cover the basics on how to play the job before you enter your first dungeon as an Astrologian.
How to Play as an Astrologian
Astrologian is first and foremost a healing class. Perhaps more so than any of the other FFXIV healing classes before it. What Astrologian lacks in damage dealing capability, though, it more than makes up for in healing prowess and versatility.
One important thing that is worth mentioning before we get into it: Astrologian benefits GREATLY from the Conjurer cross class skills. At the bare minimum, you’re probably going to want to get your Conjurer to 34 for Protect, Stoneskin, and Cleric Stance, if you plan on taking Astrologian seriously. Party members will definitely notice that they aren’t getting Protect and Stoneskin and your overall DPS will suffer without Cleric Stance.
Astrologian’s signature ability in Heavensward is Draw. Draw randomly picks one of six (beneficial) effects and applies them to a targeted party member. You then have 15 seconds to decide if you want to lock this buff in, or reassign it to someone else. The idea is you want to see which card was drawn and then reapply it to someone that gets the most out of that buff. For example, if you draw The Bole you’ll most likely be giving that to the tank since it reduces damage taken. If you draw The Ewer (MP Regen), throw it onto a partner healer, a caster DPS, or yourself.
Aside from Draw and its basic curing abilities (Benefic 1 and Benefic 2), Astrologian has a powerful instant cure ability by the way of Essential Dignity. Although this ability has a cooldown, it instantly cures without a cast time and heals for more potency the more damage the target has taken.
Lightspeed is your typical “oh sh!t” ability. Using it makes most spells nearly instant cast at the expense of some potency. Make sure to use that if you need to pop off some quick Benefics or Heloios (your AoE healing spell). You could also use it offensively to rapidly land some Malefics
Luminiferous Aether is an Astrologian’s best friend as it reduces your enmity generated AND refreshes your MP. Awesome! You newly earned ability, Diurnal Sect increases your attack speed and when used with certain actions that you’ll learn later on, adds an additional healing Regen effect. And of course, Astrologian has its own native status remover by way of Exalted Detriment.
And that just about does it as far as beginner Astrologian tips are concerned in FFXIV: Heavensward. As you level up, you’ll acquire new abilities that you’ll need to work into your rotation. But as long as you understand the basics, you’ll be in a great position to learn how to use these new abilities with ease!
Enjoying Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward and its new Jobs? Let us know in the comments!
Published: Jun 24, 2015 02:20 pm