Final Fantasy XIV Sage Guide

Unlocking Sage

The Sage job becomes available if you own the Endwalker expansion. The job starts at level 70 and you can unlock it by completing the “Sage’s Path” quest offered by Lalah Jinjahl in Limsa Lominsa Lower Decks.

Healing Role Basics

As a healer, it’s your job to keep the party alive through any opposition. Despite your healing magic, however, it seems you’ve never taken the Hippocratic Oath as you boast some of the highest DPS among the other healers.

The Sage’s unique heal-through-damage mechanic makes this job unique among other healers and a nice change of pace if you’ve shopped around this game’s different jobs.

Sage Job Resource

The Sage has two job resources that empower their abilities: the Eukrasia Gauge and the Addersgall Gauge.

Eukrasia Gauge

The Eukrasia Gauge indicates when Eukrasia(LVL 30) is active. Eukrasia is used to modify the next cast of moves like Dosis(LVL 1), Diagnosis(LVL 2), and Prognosis(LVL 10) into modified more powerful versions.

Addersgall Gauge

The Addersgall Gauge gains up to three charges every 20 seconds in and out of combat. These charges are used to cast a bunch of the Sage’s off-global-cooldown (abilities that don’t share a cooldown with your regular abilities) like Druochole(LVL 45), Kerachole(LVL 50), Ixochole(LVL 52), and Taurochole(LVL 62).

At level 66 you gain access to the Sage trait Adderstring. This adds 3 new charges to the bottom of the gauge and is gained when the shield from Eukrasian Diagnosis(LVL 30) is broken by damage. These charges are used to cast Toxikon(LVL 66) and its upgrade Toxikon II(LVL 82).

Healer Role Actions

Like every healer, the Sage gains access to all the healer role skills. Repose(LVL 8) afflicts a target with sleep for 30 seconds. While this ability may seem good and definitely can be in solo play, you will rarely use it. In most content in the game, like dungeons and raids, putting an enemy to sleep will add nothing to the group.

Esuna(LVL 10) removes a single detrimental effect from a target. This ability is useful when your tank is hit with a nasty debuff, and can save you on some healing stress by getting rid of it.

Swiftcast(LVL 18) is one of the most, if not the most, important role actions for a healer. Swiftcast can help you instantly revive a fallen party member. This can make or break a dungeon or raid. A quick revive can be the difference between a party wipe or a successful clear.

Lucid Dreaming(LVL 14) Gradually restores your own MP. MP control is very important for a healer class. No MP means no way to heal and can put you in a tight spot. Use this when your MP gets too low to keep casting.

Surecast(LVL 44) allows you to cast spells without interruption. It also has the additional effect of nullifying knockbacks and draw-ins. The real strength of this ability comes from its nullification of knockbacks and draw-in effects. In general, you shouldn’t be targeted during content so spell interruption shouldn’t be a problem. Stopping a knockback when you’re too slow to get out of range can save your life. 

Rescue(LVL 48) instantly draws a target party member to your side. While incredibly specific, this move can save a party member from a tank-buster or dangerous mechanic. In most cases, however, server lag or bad timing will have you raising them instead.

Kardia

Kardia(LVL 4) is the gimmick of the Sage class and what makes it unique amongst the other healer classes. What this ability does is grant you the effect of Kardia and a select party member the effect of Kardion. With these effects active certain magic attacks will restore HP.

The abilities that activate the Kardion effect are Dosis(LVL 1), Phlegma(LVL 26), Eukrasian Dosis(LVL 30), Dyskrasia(LVL 46), Toxikon(LVL 66), Dosis II(LVL 72), Eukrasian Dosis II(LVL 72), Phlegma II(LVL 72), Dosis III(LVL 82), Dyskrasia II(LVL 82), Eukrasian Dosis III(LVL 82), Phlegma III(LVL 82), Toxikon II(LVL 82), and Pneuma(LVL 90).

While the main target of this ability should be your tank since they should be taking the brunt of the damage in your party, don’t be afraid to throw it on someone else if they need it. The recast for Kardia is incredibly short meaning you can move it from person to person with little issue. Use this to your advantage to keep people alive.

Soteria

Soteria(LVL 35) is an ability tied to your Kardion effects. This ability grants 4 stacks of Soteria which increases the cure potency of Kardion effects. This is an excellent ability for adding some extra healing in any given situation and should be used when you’re in a tight spot.

General Tips for Playing Sage

Here are a couple of tips to keep in mind while playing Sage:

• Always upkeep Eukrasian Dosis III. Much like every class with DoTs, you want to make sure you upkeep Eukrasian Dosis III since it’s a decent source of continuous damage. Especially if you’re forced to move and stop casting to dodge mechanics. 
• Cast Eukrasian Diagnosis before a dungeon pull. By casting this on your tank pre-pull there’s a better chance that the shield will be broken giving you a stack of Addersting to be used whenever you need it.
• Remember to spend your Addersgall charges. Since you passively gain Addersgall in and out of combat, having max charges means you’re wasting that resource. Try to spend an Addersgall charge before hitting max charges to keep your team healthy.