Sage PvP Guide for FFXIV

Sage is a healer that is converting its healing into damage and vice versa. Although the job does not have direct healing like its Astrologian and Whitemage counterparts, its able to place barriers onto their teammates and putting amplifiers together with its AoE burst on the enemy.

Note: This guide is focused on Crystalline Conflict. Much of it may apply to other PvP modes, but it is written with only Crystalline Conflict in mind.

Strengths

• One of the best movement abilities of any job
• Fantastic point control Limit Break
• Amplifier on demand

Weaknesses

• No direct healing abilities
• Lowest HP in the game
• No way to cleanse or protect against party crowd control
• Mediocre damage

4.

Skill Selection

Recuperate Standard-issue Elixer Guard Purify Sprint

Every job has access to a few common actions, but some will have additonal info for you.

3.1.

Recuperate

Recuperate – This is your most important healing ability. MP in PVP is only used for this ability. With a max of 10,000 MP, recup will consume 2,500 and heals you for 15,000 HP. The amount of healing received can be increased and reduced by healing up or down status effects, such as Summon Seraph to increase or Biolysis to decrease. You gain 500 MP per 3 seconds passively, something to keep in mind!

Every job has access to a few common actions, but some will have additonal info for you.

3.2.

Standard-issue Elixer

Standard-issue Elixir – This is your second-most important healing ability. Elixir allows you to gain back all your HP and MP, resetting yourself for the next fight! The listed cast time is 4.5 seconds, which means the cast is actually snapshotted as complete after 4 seconds, after which you can move and opponents can no longer cancel your Elixir. You'll see moments where you get hit, and the position will still finish.

When not under pressure, make sure to top up your resourcers for the next fight. As with the animations counted in the death timer, you will be out for 20~ seconds instead vs a 4 second Elixir!

Every job has access to a few common actions, but some will have additonal info for you.

3.3.

Guard

Guard – Grants 90% damage reduction and immunity to most crowd-control debuffs for up to 5 seconds. Using another action cancels this guard early. Damage over Time effects that have been applied before Guard will always tick for the full amount and wont be negated with Guard!

Per Patch 7.1, there have been multiple abilities added that work against Guarded targets. Where Shield Smite and Chain Stratagem half the defensive bonus of Guard (90% → 45%), there are also abilities that simply ignore guard when dealing damage; Drill, Assassinate, Enchanted Riposte, Disesteem, Wreath of Fire, Serpent's Tail and Chaotic Spring

Damage per ability is now tight to animations, compared to pre-7.1 where the damage would registrate when pressed. This means Guard is more reactive than it has been before, but it's also possible now to start ability animations that will hit the moment your Guard ends. Beware of your surroundings and what the enemy is doing!

A Sage-specific trick to escape after your Guard runs out is to use Icarus on a far away enemy or friendly target to quickly dash out of danger.

Every job has access to a few common actions, but some will have additonal info for you.

3.4.

Purify

Purify – Cleanses all common crowd-control debuffs and provides a 3-second immunity to further crowd control, draw in and knockback effects. Use this to prevent yourself from getting CC-chained to death.

With the amount of crowd-control abilities, try not to be trigger-happy when using Purify. Taking a stun with no follow up from the enemy team, doesnt bring you in danger! If you have no defensives ready against a crowd-control heavy enemy team, it's recommended to play defensively before making another engage.

Every job has access to a few common actions, but some will have additonal info for you.

3.5.

Sprint

Sprint – Toggle for increased movement speed. This is a GCD and using any other action cancels the buff, so be smart in using it. Sage is a fragile job, as it has the lowest HP out of any job. If you are using off-global abilities repeatedly while running away or chasing, you should try to late-weave them if you can afford to, to avoid canceling too much of the Sprint duration.

What makes Sage different, is that it doesnt have direct healing spells or abilities. Healing is tied to damaging abilities, where it's mainly directed towards your Kardia target. Sage deals damage to erect a barrier; once the barrier depletes, its converted back into damage again. Being the job with the lowest HP pool in the current game, you have to be careful with your playstyle and watch your positioning to make sure the right target gets your heals, while also attacking the enemy that your team is attacking.

Note: All heals and shields of Sage are effected by healing up or down effects.

Just like in PvE, Kardia is your core tool in pvp for healing, barriers and converting them to damage. Kardia has a 1s recast time, meaning you are able to swap it around quickly through your team members or yourself.

Your Kardia partner will have the buff of Kardion. The abilities that grant healing and shielding to your partner are Dosis III and Eukrasian Dosis III. These abilities will only affect the person with the Kardion buff.

Kardia needs to be actively managed during a game. It's important that you are aware of what happens around you during the game. Melees who are in the face of the enemy often have a higher chance to pop your barriers, converting it into damage, but more on that later!

Dosis III is your basic damage spell. It deals a decent amount of damage with a short cast time, allowing you to slidecast. Attacking the enemy with Dosis will also heal your Kardion target by a small amount of HP. Having Dosis being damage and healing at the same time, its important to cast whenever you can, without risking being attacked suddenly. Positioning is therefore very important!

Holding 2 charges, Eukrasia will turn your next Dosis III cast into Eukrasian Dosis III. Eukrasian Dosis is a DoT that deals half the damage of Dosis per tick (which happens every 3 seconds), dealing 12,000 damage over 12 seconds. The DoT applies decent passive damage and is often applied in combination with Toxikon to amplify it's effect on the target.

When you apply the DoT, your Kardion target will receive a shield of 8,000 potency. Once the shields breaks, you will be granted Addersting for 15 seconds, enhancing your next Toxikon to deal more damage. As you are able to hold up 2 charges of Eukrasia, you are able to shield your team or yourself whenever they are being attacked. Breaking the barriers that you apply is giving you more damage to put into the next burst, so its important to be aware who is being attacked, shield them and return the damage!

Toxikon is an oGCD AoE damage ability that increases the targets' damage taken for a short time. It has two charges and a short cooldown, but it deals very little damage on its own, so it should always be used before a stronger ability from you or a party member.

Toxikon II is another oGCD AoE damage ability that increases the targets' damage taken for a short time. It is significantly stronger than Toxikon, dealing four times as much damage to the initial target and half to the enemies around it. This enhanced version still applies the amplifier to all enemies hit. It can only be used with Addersting, which is obtained when Eukrasian Diagnosis is broken. Toxikon is an excellent ability to use against a target right before your party bursts them, or as part of a combo with Phlegma III and/or Psyche.

Phlegma III is your only source of crowd-control and the start of a combo towards Psyche. This GCD deals AoE damage around the target and every enemy close to the target will be drawn in and be afflicted with the Bind status. Phlegma is an close-ranged ability that brings you near the enemy, so be careful when you want to engage.

As Phlegma has the same cooldown timer as Toxicon, you should always use a Toxikon before applying Phlegma onto the target for the extra damage and follow up.

Psyche is an GCD ability that is followed up after the use of Phlegma. Compared to Phlegma, Psyche becomes a ranged attack that deals good AoE damage, with a 50% drop-off for everyone hit further than 3 yalms away.

The skill animation of Psyche takes about 2.2 seconds before the damage is done to the target. A fun trick you can do is use Psyche first, and a Toxicon after. This will apply the amplifier effect while the Psyche animation is going off.

After the use of Phlegma and you have Psyche ready, the cooldown of Phlegma will start on the background. Every combo GCD can be used within 15s of activation, meaning you could save up Psyche, use it and follow it up with another Phlegma and Psyche again.

Pneuma provides both strong party shielding and deals high AoE damage at a large range. It is an excellent initiator for teamfights, dealing 12,000 damage in a large area and giving your party an extra 12,000 effective HP. Thanks to its range, you can hit squishy backline enemies or harass from safety, but it is your longest cooldown so be sure you won't want it for a teamfight before doing so.

Icarus allows Sage to move quickly around the battlefield, dashing in to use Phlegma and then back out to safety. When you are about to dash in, look around you quickly to see what your escape target or route is going to be.

It holds two charges and has an extremely short cooldown, so mastery of Icarus allows you to access a very large area. It's important to remember its limits though. You can only dash to enemies or party members, so if there's no one to retreat to you're stuck, and you're still vulnerable to crowd control when you dash so you still need to be cautious. Dont forget, Sage is a fragile healer afterall.

Mesotes is your Limit Break. Its base charge time is 120 seconds. Mesotes creates a zone that makes party members inside it immune to all damage from enemies outside of the zone. This even includes enemy Limit Breaks such as Sky Shatter. Enemies who do enter the zone are afflicted with a powerful DoT effect, but will be able to deal damage to you while under its effect.

Mesotes is an incredible Limit Break to counter enemy offensives and siege point control. During Overtime when its mandatory for people to stand on the crystal is where it really shines. Be careful with the usage and second application of the LB, as people can walk away from you and stall out the timer.

When your team knows what you are planning, you can also place Mesotes on your team before you engage yourself. The buff will be applied the moment you summon it ontop of your targets, however it can take a servertick to get the buff if it's already been placed on the ground before. After using the LB on your team and get the Mesotes buff, you can run into the enemy, negating all damage for 5 seconds. After the melees are in a group of enemies, you can replace your LB on top of them to extend the timer and win more ground during battle!

You don't need to be in the LB when you cast it. Placing it on-top your melees while you are at a safe distance is also a good play. You can run around while your team can fight on the crystal or in the Mesotes.

Remember that you aren't immortal during this LB! If the enemy steps in and gains the Lype debuff, they will do the same damage to you as they would normally do!

Sage has high mobility and requires to get close to deal damage and apply crowd-control. When playing Sage, the 'hit and run' playstyle is adviced. You jump in with Icarus, use Phlegma III and keep running after, as the rest of your instant abilities are instant ranged ones.

When your team is fighting, its best to stay in the backline, close to walls. The enemy is not able to jump easily to you if you Line of Sight them. Your gap-closer has a big range, so you can stay far in the backline till a target is being called to burst. Till then you can cast Dosis III and heal your team while applying shields and preparing an Addersting to cast Toxikon II at the next target.

Sage has a lot of GCDs, making its burst rather slow compared to others. All of the damage within the burst is AoE damage, however you do have to get into melee range to use it. For the optimal high-damage burst, you can do the following;

1. Note: Use Toxicon II whenever you can while you are bursting.
2. Toxikon II
3. Pneuma
4. Icarus
5. Phlegma III
6. Toxikon II
7. Psyche

This burst deals about 40,000 damage to the primary target while also dealing damage to other enemies and shielding your party. Pneuma can be dropped if simply finishing off a low health enemy, or if you'd rather save it for a teamfight. As you are a fragile healer, be careful where you engage and how you want to escape. Pick your fights with the team as your damage is more predictable than before and they can use Guard.

Sage can apply Toxikon on demand on a target. Be sharp and see who your team is going for. Help them by applying the modifier and use the damage you have to fight the target, but watch out for your position!