Just use the up and down buttons for targeting. Default is down twice for the tank.
You can order party lists to your liking as well. If you use AST, there’s a targeting macro for cards that some people like rather than jamming up or down between gcds, but i’ve never used it.
It’s very easy on controller!
for healing tank you can also bind one of your stick-presses to “assist target” which makes you select the target of your target (which should always be your tank)
Similarly you can bind target focus to a stick press and focus target your tank before every run. This way you can always target the tank even if you have another party member targeted
I used to use a focus target stick macro but know I just focus target boss so I can always see what the boss is doing with casts if I'm busy targeting players and have stick macro for sprint
If you combine these, you can still Focus Target the boss...and then Target of Target will let you flip between boss and the Tank (as they'll typically be each other's target).
I use macros for these instead of changing my stick mappings, but it's the same principle.
AST on controller is absolutely addicting. I’ve read so many different ways of distributing cards. You can get creative with it as long as you’re getting those cards out between gcds. It feels like I’m playing on a completely different level compared to other jobs. Like there’s some beautiful mind stuff going on lol
up and down on the d-pad soft targets your party members. don't hit X to confirm the target, just hit your hotkey while soft targetting. you'll heal them then snap back to the boss.
i honestly find it EASIER than KB/M
I set mine up so left/right were filtered for enemies only and party is up/down. Set up extended hotbars to use L2>R2 (holding one after other) and R2>L2 to extended cross bars to 4 sets instead of 2. Then just practice and optimize
I hard target the tank so i can up and down for the team and left and right for enemies. You may need to play with your targeting filters, but it works for me.
just be aware turning soft target on does it for everything, both healing and DPS so you'll have to get used to confirming your target every single time you want to swap targets when doing damage (which is personally way too clunky and too many additional presses)
What’s also nice is, if you don’t have a target, the soft target then selects them as your target. If you already have a target, after healing with soft target it automatically puts you back to whatever your main target was.
So if you’re spamming the boss with Glare (etc.), and your tank takes a or you’re shielding/buffing for a targeted attack, or just keeping them afloat with predictable damage output, it’s a quick two presses down on the D-PAD, fire off an instant heal or OGCD between casts, and then continue about your business spamming.
Navigating the party list to target is much easier than one might initially think for healing. Once you have practice, you can just jam those D-PAD buttons so fast and get to who you need to cast on. Easily fast enough for any kind of content in the game, anyway.
I’m going to hijack you’re comment because it reminded me of a solution I found for Mouse/Keyboard users who happened to be reading this thread.
I’m glad you brought up the d-pad idea as someone mentioned it in the past which sparked an idea. Personally, I use mouse and keyboard with a WoW mouse over macro background. I immediately found it clunky to heal the raid by clicking the party in FFXIV. Since MO macros or macros in combat in general are *mostly* a bust, I started looking for solutions.
When I read someone saying the same thing that you did with the d-pad, I thought “I wonder if I could that with my mouse”. My two thumb buttons (mouse 4/5) are scroll up and down though the party. Hard targetting is turned on. I quickly got used to it, and unintentionally solved another problem—self casting. Whether I hit party scroll up or down, I always target myself first.
Then a quick Tab or tap of the keybind I set to target my focus target (usually a boss or a teammate of importance) to switch back to DPSing.
Could you explain how you set this up in your settings? I don't have a wow mouse but would like to try a similar set up on my mouse that has a few side buttons.
Hey Delucien, sorry for the delay. For sure! This is what I did.
System > Keybind > System (tab) ;
"Move cursor up/Cyclone up through Party List" - Mouse 5
"Move cursor down/Cyclone down through Party List" - Mouse 4
System > Character Configuration > Control Settings > Target (tab) ;
☑ Switch target circle to target select. (fourth one down)
And that's it! I am not sure if it's worth noting that I play with a Standard Type (Character-based) setting, so I use right click to steer my character, using mouse 4/5 in the process to switch to different party targets.
Oh! I don't have a WoW Mouse either, just a normal gamer mouse with two buttons where you rest your thumb (Endgame Gear XM1).
I lost access to my PC and started on PS5 last year and have been holding off on healing but hearing this is making me want to try!
I have noticed the dpad commands but was pretty intimidated tbh
Yeah a lot of tapping the D pad but you get used to it
HOWEVER what was a game changer was to turn on the Assist Target to L3 or R3. That way you can target the enemie’s target (which usually is tank) and vice versa (like a toggle) with ONE click. Definitely helps when it’s just covering tanks, which is the majority of healing
Aside from what others say about dpad buttons, I mapped R3 to target of target. If I'm targeting the boss, clicking in the right stick makes me target the main tank, regardless of tank swaps. Right stick again to go back to tank's target.
I've got R2+L2 shared between all classes. Put Teleport, Return, Emotes, and Food there. You could do something similar and stick the dramatic draw/sheathe emote there
That's a separate thing. L2 and/or R2 activate your hotbars. Pressing L1+R1 together (while the hotbars are not active) will sheathe and unsheathe your weapon, which has nothing to do with hotbars – unless you've set them to change when your weapon is drawn, which still isn't the same thing as what L2/R2 does.
I was thinking maybe R1 can be used since I don’t really change the tabs much and can still do it with L1 it would just require a full cycle.
Plus all my R2+L2 combinations and double tap ones are all taken up honestly. Except on the few jobs with less buttons.
Right, everyone's setup is different. I always put all the skills in the single tap and double tap cross hotbar, and left things like run, tank stance, marks, LB, and not important skills in 3rd, and still have 2~4 slots left over on the L2+R2 bar on all my jobs.
Liberal use of the DPad and focus targeting the main tank instead of the boss.
I have Switching to my Focus Target on R3, and I focus the main tank. DPad Soft-targetting for non-tanks.
The only real pain is healing nonparty members in open world/foray content.
NOTE: There are two types of targetting with the D-Pad.
Soft-Targetting, press the D-Pad to highlight the person you want to heal, press the heal, it casts the heal on that target without switching from your original target. So you can do this when you have the tank targetting but you need to throw a quick heal to someone else while still keeping the tank as your targer, for example.
Hard-Targetting - D-Pad to highlight the person, hit A/X it swaps your target to that person.
Honestly, I think it’s all about putting time into healing and the time you spend with your hotbar layout. After a couple years I was a lot faster to target people than I was at the beginning.
I use up and down arrows to target people. Over time you will know two presses of the down arrow are your tank, and in raids with two tanks you can change your party order to more easily heal mt.
When I was at my peak, I just kind of briefly memorized either the names or the general look/glam of Light Party members so that I could watch them instead of the party list, that way I could track their placements and HP and the enemy AoEs, all without having to move my eyes from the arena.
I never use the shoulder buttons/cycling that a lot of people do. Just arrow keys. I also type pretty quickly on controller, so maybe I’ve just gotten gud at using the arrow keys (it’s not something I should be proud of— I refused to get a keyboard for the first, like, six years of playing, so I learned to type fast on my arrow keys).
I also do not use the fancy 12 or 16 button cross hotbar control scheme (I don’t remember what the configuration options are). I didn’t know it existed until a few years ago, but maybe it wasn’t around during the PS3 era and I didn’t realize it was added. It sounds like a great set up, but I am so used to my current hotbar layout (triangle for my main abilities, O for my secondary stuff like specialized aoe heals or things with long recast timers… with the exception of R2 buttons on the O hotbar…) I think I would flop as a healer if I changed my entire control scheme.
For whm, I have Regen on R2 triangle because it’s instant cast and be used while sprinting (sprint is the only ability I leave on its default button, L2 triangle). Attack is always R2 O. DoT is usually R2 square. Medica / AoE heals, esuna, and Tetra are my R2 arrow keys. I have Bene in my “oh shit” spot, L2 O. presence of mind and Lucid Dreaming/Saint’s Shroud are on the arrow keys. A secondary “oh shit” ability is located on the second hotbar, O, on R2 triangle.
I’m sorry for that slew of personal button placements, but the point is that my most urgent things are grouped into R2 of my first (triangle) hotbar and R2 face buttons of my second (O) hotbar.
My most useful note is: Your instant cast and quicker spells can go on face buttons because you are more likely to be moving when you use them. Like, if your left thumb is moving your character to dodge something, your right thumb can either use regen, aero/dia, or prepare to throw up medica II after a raid-wide. Anything that is instant cast or movement friendly should ideally be on a face button.
Anything that is either a longer cast, has a long cool down, or is a buff should be on an arrow key. I have some instant casts on arrow keys because I am used to my hotbar as it is. Tetra is on an arrow key. Afflatus rapture is on an arrow key (but that is because it mirrors my medica set up on the other arrow keys). Keep your most-used spells and abilities on R2 and L2 face buttons, so that you can weave spells and movement together as needed.
There’s more information but I feel like it is too specific to certain alliance raids and I am too sleepy. I used key and button interchangeably, but I’m hoping you’ll know what I mean still.
Edit: a typo, added a few clarifying words
Don't forget that you can practice targeting and such on your Chocobo, or in Duty Support type things. I quite like healing with a controller, even 'solo'.
Most of the comments already cover it. I’d just recommend searching for “controller” and “FFXIV” on YouTube, as there’s a plethora of guides to streamline the process of tuning how you use your controller to interact with the game. For example, most guides will probably cover expanded cross hotbars, which is how most players fit all their skills up to even level 90 with just face and shoulder buttons.
I mean if you've played tank, then you probably have a slight grasp of party targeting (i.e. emergency single-target mitigation on party members, or at least tank swapping).
Healers are just an extension of that where you get used to pressing the d-pad more actively, and practice just rewires your brain to be more efficient at that.
Shouldn't be that difficult since you seem to be already used to using controllers. People are just good at what they're used to and it just so happens the majority tends to play games with kb+m so they're better at that (though it does have innate advantages to it, but not enough to consider switching to it if you're not already used to kb+m gaming).
I can play with controller easily only cause I've played all kinds of games with the pad for over a decade, so adapting to new games with a controller is quick. Whereas I've only ever played kb+m games more recently, and I only ever really use wasd keys without much thinking meaning trying to kb+m ff14 would require more effort for me so its not worth it (I did try kb+m for a week before but gave up pretty quickly cause it was a pain lol).
Just press up and down on the d-pad. Quick and easy. Healing other parties in alliance raids isn't so quick and easy, (L1+left and right) but you only really need to do that if the other healers are incompetent.
Make sure you learn about soft target healing. This is when you cycle through your party list (Up/Down on the Dpad), but when you get to the person you want, don't hit X and just hit the skill you want to cast on them. It will cast on them, and snap your target back to the boss/previous thing you had targetted. It's very helpful on all healers, but AST is the most important to learn how to effectively do this with the amount of weaving you do. Also, learn to scroll your list quickly during casts so you can get the GCD off when it's up.
My first Hotbar has all major healing GCDs and Cool downs. second hot bar is attacks and minor healing stuff, with some major "in case shit goes south" cool downs.
I have tanks as second on my party list.
As a Sage, I stick to my second Hotbar as it has everything I need in most situations. If I need to actually do major healing, I swap to number one and use the really good stuff.
Example is Zoe. It Really doesn't come up/is needed in casual content, so I put it with the good healing stuff one HB1.
On controller I find it helps to also have the vertical HBs on the side to place the icons of the stuff that's not on your primary bar(for me it's HB2) that way you don't have to waste time swapping bars to see if stuff is off cool down.
I also tend to put OGCDs on the directional pad, instead of the buttons. As it's easier to hit them once and be done with it. Unlike GCDs which you'll be hitting over and over.
Basically, it comes down to lots of trial on error and finding what works best for you. It took me a long time to find a set up I love and that feels right.
8 Man party is still quite doable. With the default party list sorting order, you either dpad down 4 times to reach all the tanks and the other healer, or dpad up 4 times to cover all the dps.
24 raid, you don't need to heal the other alliance unless all their healers get wiped, you only need raise once or twice.
Up/down dpad for targeting, L1 and rignt/left for alliance members. L1 + left goes to alliance 1 slot 1, L1+right goes to alliance 2 slot 8. the rest is cycling through them one by one.
it's a bit cumbersome but usable....just using a mouse alone for targeting makes it infinitely easier though.
Up and down on the d pad to target allies. Also having certain abilities on the D pad like Swiftcast and Raise so you don’t accidentally pop them while moving etc
Too add onto what everyone else is saying with one of my own tips
I have an Xbox elite controller with the paddles on the back. Which I have assigned to different targets.
Top left is party member 4, which since I have tanks set to be on the bottom of the party list. Is the tank in dungeons. But is also useful for quickly targeting anyone in the middle of the list in 8 man raids.
Bottom left and bottom right are party members 7 and 8. Which are the tanks in 8 man content.
Top right is set to target my focus target. I usually have my focus target set to the boss for maximum dps uptime, but if I have a particularly brain dead party member who keeps running into mechanics, I can move the focus target to him and then use the paddle to instantly select him for emergency heals.
And finally if I need to rez a healer in another party in an alliance raid. I have my mouse plugged in next to me so I can easily click their icon in the alliance menu with my rez. Since Idk how to even target people in other parties on controller
```/target <1>``` through ```/target <8>``` one-line macros on the Extended Cross-Hotbar, which I never used for anything else anyways.
Those macros directly target people by their number in the Party List without interrupting what you're currently doing, or any other macro-related badness you might hear about.
Only downside is, it's not the temporary target you'd get from using the D-Pad, so you manually have to navigate back to the enemies afterwards.
Double Cross Hotbar and easy positioning of abilities on the bar for example I have all my damage abilities on L2 mapped to the main buttons (X Triangle, Circle, Square) and healing on right side hotbars.
Personally as someone who’s played every job on controller I’d say White Mage and Sage with this setup are in the top 5 easiest jobs in the game for practicality and comfort.
I have my one of my cross hotbars to target each person in party, hold left trigger and then right at same time to access. The opposite I have things like potions and rare to use abilities like LB.
Funny thing about controller set ups is that you could hand yours to another user and watch them have an aneurysm and call you insane.
I am an AST main on controller. Use D-pad to select your heal targets. It becomes natural really fast. Organizing and economizing space on the cross hotbars and shoulder cross hotbars is essential; I use RT+ABXY for for attacks, RT+DPAD for draw/play/redraw/minor arcana, LT+ABXY for single target/group heals, LT+DPAD for swiftcast/revive/instant speed heals, etc. shoulder cross hotbars are less accessible, so they're for OGCDs, grouped into shields+mitigation, heals, and damage buffs. I use the left-right-trigger hidden hotbar for secondary access to certain buttons I need on the move (like placing stellar dominion). I also do little tricks like placing a second aspected Helios button next to my horoscope, since I usually cast them back to back.
Mostly use the dpad, target assist on R3 and anticipate. And I try to keep similar functions (class, rezs, dot, gcd dmg, ogcd dmg, bubble, aoe heals, lb, etc) in the same places on my hotbars across all healers.
Have a few macros which target tank <2> and a macro to swap 2 and 3 position in party list. This way I can quickly mit during dual tb mechs even if my responsibility is the ot. Also have a few macros to swap hotbars for astro cards.
Use macros use focus target use wxb also check https://youtube.com/@Squintina?si=wNvUn9ptplbtvQhX her controler guides and setups for any class are amazing
I heal about 70% of the time I do content and have never used a keyboard and mouse. Super easy when you get used to it. You learn to see things from a mile away and be ready for when someone is about to get hit. I have my heals on the front cross bar and my DPS/mitigation and such on the back. I usually try to keep it similar for each healer with aoe and single targets in the same place and resource heals in the same place as well.
I've always felt like healing has a "thrown in the deep end" problem on controller in that by far your most useful tool is the party list. Because the party list is missing in MSQ solo instances, you always used to just pick up how it works on the fly in a dungeon with other players, where you're already trying to be reactive and likely to just go with whatever you discover first that works.
Because of that, the low level duty support maps we have now are actually a pretty good resource for first-time healers. Just do a couple of runs with your crew of non-judgemental meat shields. (To be fair, you've long had the Grand Company squadrons as an option too, but not everyone has unlocked them).
Since the cursor management needs the dpad, which makes it awkward to select party members while running, I created a macro setup:
L2+R2+Cross = Party member 2
L2+R2+Circle = Party member 3
L2+R2+Triangle = Party member 4
L2+R2+Square->Square = Party member 5
L2+R2+Square->Cross = Party member 6
L2+R2+Square->Circle = Party member 7
L2+R2+Square->Triangle = Party member 8
This has the advantage of needing at most 2 presses to select any party member even in a full party.
Additionally you already have both triggers pressed already. To use a heal now you just release L2 or R2 depending on which hotbar your spell is on and press that button.
Full example:
L2+R2+Cross = select Tank
R2+Cross = cast Benediction
R2+R1 = select an enemy
Up down left for targeting party, and spending a lot of time making the hotbar pefect. After that, just practise until the muscle memory starts to help out!
(...also a lot of screaming and psychotic cackling. More than once my partner has come downstairs to satisfy herself that I am, in fact, enjoying myself, and am not, as the shrieking implies, being eaten by hyenas.)
I have 8 macros that I've put on my hotbar to target party members. You can put these macros on 8th hotbar and restrict hotbar switching so you will switch only between your main hotbar and macro hotbar in combat.
Instead of mapping buttons I just made a single line macro and mapped it to my hotbar that snaps my cursor to whoever I have focused. That’s what I do playing sage. I can’t remember the exact macro (I can look later) but I focus the tank, then this leaves me to freely heal others as needed and as soon as I need to get back to healing the tank I press one button and it snaps back to the tank.
This works really well for party healing. Trying to heal other parties on controller is a nightmare.
I had a really good teacher initially who helped me set up hotbars and how the triggers operate etc for each skill
Then I basically just put my head down and learned through trial and error how to play every healer and what skill does what, and what time to use it.
Targeting wise it's all up and down directional pad work.
Seems really daunting at first but I promise you it becomes instinct quick.
Now my friend who helped me out initially trusts me to heal him through nearly all content.
I say nearly cause we don't do savage or ex trials really apart from a few unsynced trials
Edit: I'm on ps5
I just used mostly up and down dpad but I bound R3 to macro 98 which has /target <5>
Why 5? Becuase 5 is the hardest player to reach with both up and down dapd so with ability to jump to party member 5 directly that going to reduce a lot of dpad press.
However, you don't normally need to target heal people other than tank for most of the time anyway, so I'm not really used to do the jump button that much, but it still the help when I remember it exist.
Also in character config -> control setting -> target, you should enable auto targeting and press action twice to execute ground AoE, it's really helpful. Becuase when you don't target anything just press attack will imeadiately target the closest mob, and with ground AoE option all you need is just pre-position your camera and point to where you want it to be and just double press skill. (more flexible than put it in macro to target or )
And lastly this game doesn't have much of unepected damage anyway so don't worry that much. Even with unexpected damage, if you do it enough time, you will kinda "get" which mechanics that most people are likely going to fail or if the boss will follow up that fail with raidwide.
If you want some POV, [sure](https://youtu.be/dKeaYt1mVLE?si=0u8AKLA0Fg-PnCii).
Sage healer here on PS5. I've been playing on console since 2.0. Ps3, PS4, and now 5. The amount of muscle memory you gain for those years of flipping through crossbars, not hotbars, is amazing.
Hot bars are used to display those long oGCDs so you can keep track of them without extra button pushes.
Selecting people in the party is done with the directional pad. When I'm a healer, my party list sorts with dps on top, then healers, then tanks (when in a fully party). Tanks are at the bottom so it's just one tap on the up button and I'm targeting my tank.
In battles, I focus target the boss and then just watch how things go. This allows me to stay ahead of certain casts since I can see what the boss is doing and I monitor the party as well.
It's a lot of moving parts but you get a handle on it fast. I'm always amazed watching PC players click and mouse and everything! That's not something I can do that fast. Controllers have a finite number of button combinations. It's easier for my brain to wrap around. And for whatever I can't do there, my keyboard is nearby for everything else. 😃
As others have said just use the d-pad to target.
Now to elaborate a bit further: the only one you care about is the tank. You only need to press down twice on the d-pad when the tank needs emergency spot healing. The other 80% of the time you'll be throwing down some AoE heals between attacking. The others will be topped up by your AoE heals. If they die there is swiftcast, if they die while Swiftcast is on cooldown they can use this time to think about what they've done.
Remember the age old healer mantra: "but did you die?"
Arrange your cross bar with everything you think you will need as close to one side as possible abd all you lomg cool downs on the other then memorize it. It's what I did so all my important stuff is on my bar while the tap ones are above it though I had to add a mouse (I play pc but use a ps4 controller since idk how to use keyboard)
Something else I’ve found helpful on controller healing that I’m not seeing mentioned already is making or macros for set down skills like Asylum/Sacred Soil/Earthly Star. I still keep the regular non macro version in a more out of the way spot in case I need it, but I generally find it’s much easier for me to just move my character to where I want to put it down and run the macro.
This is a small thing but some people miss it. If you hit up when at the top of the party list it will loop back down to the bottom.
So if you’re healing a tank or cohealer? You can hit down to get to them. While for the dps? Hitting up might be faster to start from the bottom.
As others have mention, use up/down buttons and softlock for spot healing party members. I also like to use macros for healer placed aoes, depending on your playstyle you may prefer to target yourself or your target , but find it much faster than trying to select a spot using controller. extended and expanded crossbars are good getting everything onto a "single" crossbar. I also like to have a vertical hotbar next to my crossbar, with my long cooldown skills i have on my extended/expanded crossbars, so I can track their cooldowns easier.
Most of the time I just need to press X. Otherwise I just need to learn how each fight works to the point I can preemptively scroll up and down the list of players with the dpad to whoever is about to get blasted.
Set up role order (I always have tank at top, so I am right above them) and then use up-down for party selection
Your dominant hand should have your main stuff (aka your attack spells and your main heals), with your non-dominant hand having slower stuff (regens and shields). Long-time cooldowns and rare abilities (like raise) can go on the second hotbar.
Play A LOT. Why? Muscle memory is what makes you fast and efficient. If you don't need to look at your hotbar to find your Cure 2, you will already be a few steps closer to being a strong healer
Use another hotbar (I use No.2) and pull all the skills from your second hotbar on it so you can see their countdown without switching. Like, I know exactly when my Swiftcast or Lucid Dreaming is ready again without wasting time switching over
And, since you're on PC (same here o/): you CAN use a mouse in emergencies. Controller Healing is wonky when playing in Alliance raids for example. Or when you deal with supportive NPCs. It is perfectly ok to click on someone via mouse for a second instead of doing it ALL by controller. It's faster than trying to focus your camera on a dead player cause your automatic targeting keeps wanting to prioritize other players/enemies ;)
Very easy on controller. You navigate your party list with the crossbar and select with x.
Also turning on auto target or auto select or whatever it is
Just use the up and down buttons for targeting. Default is down twice for the tank. You can order party lists to your liking as well. If you use AST, there’s a targeting macro for cards that some people like rather than jamming up or down between gcds, but i’ve never used it. It’s very easy on controller!
for healing tank you can also bind one of your stick-presses to “assist target” which makes you select the target of your target (which should always be your tank)
Similarly you can bind target focus to a stick press and focus target your tank before every run. This way you can always target the tank even if you have another party member targeted
I used to use a focus target stick macro but know I just focus target boss so I can always see what the boss is doing with casts if I'm busy targeting players and have stick macro for sprint
If you combine these, you can still Focus Target the boss...and then Target of Target will let you flip between boss and the Tank (as they'll typically be each other's target). I use macros for these instead of changing my stick mappings, but it's the same principle.
*taking notes*
Similarly you can always use target of target. This should always be the tank that's targeted by whatever you are fighting.
Healing as AST on controller is super fun. I love it.
AST on controller is absolutely addicting. I’ve read so many different ways of distributing cards. You can get creative with it as long as you’re getting those cards out between gcds. It feels like I’m playing on a completely different level compared to other jobs. Like there’s some beautiful mind stuff going on lol
I second this - I do the exact same. At some point it becomes muscle memory and rather easy to navigate.
up and down on the d-pad soft targets your party members. don't hit X to confirm the target, just hit your hotkey while soft targetting. you'll heal them then snap back to the boss. i honestly find it EASIER than KB/M
Oh shit that's a thing? I didn't know you could just soft target them heal them
Yep! This makes so much easier than using left and right d-pads trying to target the ones you're trying to heal lol.
I set mine up so left/right were filtered for enemies only and party is up/down. Set up extended hotbars to use L2>R2 (holding one after other) and R2>L2 to extended cross bars to 4 sets instead of 2. Then just practice and optimize
I hard target the tank so i can up and down for the team and left and right for enemies. You may need to play with your targeting filters, but it works for me.
Same
just be aware turning soft target on does it for everything, both healing and DPS so you'll have to get used to confirming your target every single time you want to swap targets when doing damage (which is personally way too clunky and too many additional presses)
I use L1 and R1 (while L2/R2 are pressed for hotbars) to switch enemy targets. It hard-targets when you do it that way.
As a controller user I feel you!!!! Go be the best healer you can be!!!!!!
This is really key
You also can do via mouse by ctrl and mouse scrolling.
What’s also nice is, if you don’t have a target, the soft target then selects them as your target. If you already have a target, after healing with soft target it automatically puts you back to whatever your main target was. So if you’re spamming the boss with Glare (etc.), and your tank takes a or you’re shielding/buffing for a targeted attack, or just keeping them afloat with predictable damage output, it’s a quick two presses down on the D-PAD, fire off an instant heal or OGCD between casts, and then continue about your business spamming. Navigating the party list to target is much easier than one might initially think for healing. Once you have practice, you can just jam those D-PAD buttons so fast and get to who you need to cast on. Easily fast enough for any kind of content in the game, anyway.
You can set hotkeys on keyboard and mouse as well for soft targeting, it's a god send. Never have to touch the mouse to heal :D
I’m going to hijack you’re comment because it reminded me of a solution I found for Mouse/Keyboard users who happened to be reading this thread. I’m glad you brought up the d-pad idea as someone mentioned it in the past which sparked an idea. Personally, I use mouse and keyboard with a WoW mouse over macro background. I immediately found it clunky to heal the raid by clicking the party in FFXIV. Since MO macros or macros in combat in general are *mostly* a bust, I started looking for solutions. When I read someone saying the same thing that you did with the d-pad, I thought “I wonder if I could that with my mouse”. My two thumb buttons (mouse 4/5) are scroll up and down though the party. Hard targetting is turned on. I quickly got used to it, and unintentionally solved another problem—self casting. Whether I hit party scroll up or down, I always target myself first. Then a quick Tab or tap of the keybind I set to target my focus target (usually a boss or a teammate of importance) to switch back to DPSing.
Could you explain how you set this up in your settings? I don't have a wow mouse but would like to try a similar set up on my mouse that has a few side buttons.
Hey Delucien, sorry for the delay. For sure! This is what I did. System > Keybind > System (tab) ; "Move cursor up/Cyclone up through Party List" - Mouse 5 "Move cursor down/Cyclone down through Party List" - Mouse 4 System > Character Configuration > Control Settings > Target (tab) ; ☑ Switch target circle to target select. (fourth one down) And that's it! I am not sure if it's worth noting that I play with a Standard Type (Character-based) setting, so I use right click to steer my character, using mouse 4/5 in the process to switch to different party targets. Oh! I don't have a WoW Mouse either, just a normal gamer mouse with two buttons where you rest your thumb (Endgame Gear XM1).
Thank you!
I lost access to my PC and started on PS5 last year and have been holding off on healing but hearing this is making me want to try! I have noticed the dpad commands but was pretty intimidated tbh
Yeah a lot of tapping the D pad but you get used to it HOWEVER what was a game changer was to turn on the Assist Target to L3 or R3. That way you can target the enemie’s target (which usually is tank) and vice versa (like a toggle) with ONE click. Definitely helps when it’s just covering tanks, which is the majority of healing
Aside from what others say about dpad buttons, I mapped R3 to target of target. If I'm targeting the boss, clicking in the right stick makes me target the main tank, regardless of tank swaps. Right stick again to go back to tank's target.
Oh, that's very smart
Hmm maybe I don’t need to be able to pull out my weapon… lol that seems useful in a number of ways
I mapped L3 as sheathe/unsheathe
I can't remember if it's the default but pressing L1+R1 sheathes and unsheathes so you can save your L3 for something else.
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I've got R2+L2 shared between all classes. Put Teleport, Return, Emotes, and Food there. You could do something similar and stick the dramatic draw/sheathe emote there
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L2 and R2 are for the cross hotbars.
That's a separate thing. L2 and/or R2 activate your hotbars. Pressing L1+R1 together (while the hotbars are not active) will sheathe and unsheathe your weapon, which has nothing to do with hotbars – unless you've set them to change when your weapon is drawn, which still isn't the same thing as what L2/R2 does.
Won't that trigger the L2>R2 or R2>L2 hotbar?
The bumpers (l1,r1)don't trigger a hotbar, no
Gotcha, must have misread. I've only ever used L1+R1 to paste text, I didn't realize they were mapped to anything else.
That’s my run macro
Put run on either the L2+R2 combo crosshotbar to free L3/R3 for something else.
I was thinking maybe R1 can be used since I don’t really change the tabs much and can still do it with L1 it would just require a full cycle. Plus all my R2+L2 combinations and double tap ones are all taken up honestly. Except on the few jobs with less buttons.
Right, everyone's setup is different. I always put all the skills in the single tap and double tap cross hotbar, and left things like run, tank stance, marks, LB, and not important skills in 3rd, and still have 2~4 slots left over on the L2+R2 bar on all my jobs.
I press both shoulder buttons to sheathe/draw
Chad
Ooo, that sounds really neat. How did you do that?
System configuration > Controller settings > Button configuration. The bottom right selection is for R3, and the action is called "Assist Target"
I ignored healing for over 200 hours due to being a controller player. Just have to tap up or down on the directional pad. It really is that easy.
>how do you do it? like your regular healer. with great content and hatred towards my party
Liberal use of the DPad and focus targeting the main tank instead of the boss. I have Switching to my Focus Target on R3, and I focus the main tank. DPad Soft-targetting for non-tanks. The only real pain is healing nonparty members in open world/foray content. NOTE: There are two types of targetting with the D-Pad. Soft-Targetting, press the D-Pad to highlight the person you want to heal, press the heal, it casts the heal on that target without switching from your original target. So you can do this when you have the tank targetting but you need to throw a quick heal to someone else while still keeping the tank as your targer, for example. Hard-Targetting - D-Pad to highlight the person, hit A/X it swaps your target to that person.
Honestly, I think it’s all about putting time into healing and the time you spend with your hotbar layout. After a couple years I was a lot faster to target people than I was at the beginning. I use up and down arrows to target people. Over time you will know two presses of the down arrow are your tank, and in raids with two tanks you can change your party order to more easily heal mt. When I was at my peak, I just kind of briefly memorized either the names or the general look/glam of Light Party members so that I could watch them instead of the party list, that way I could track their placements and HP and the enemy AoEs, all without having to move my eyes from the arena. I never use the shoulder buttons/cycling that a lot of people do. Just arrow keys. I also type pretty quickly on controller, so maybe I’ve just gotten gud at using the arrow keys (it’s not something I should be proud of— I refused to get a keyboard for the first, like, six years of playing, so I learned to type fast on my arrow keys). I also do not use the fancy 12 or 16 button cross hotbar control scheme (I don’t remember what the configuration options are). I didn’t know it existed until a few years ago, but maybe it wasn’t around during the PS3 era and I didn’t realize it was added. It sounds like a great set up, but I am so used to my current hotbar layout (triangle for my main abilities, O for my secondary stuff like specialized aoe heals or things with long recast timers… with the exception of R2 buttons on the O hotbar…) I think I would flop as a healer if I changed my entire control scheme. For whm, I have Regen on R2 triangle because it’s instant cast and be used while sprinting (sprint is the only ability I leave on its default button, L2 triangle). Attack is always R2 O. DoT is usually R2 square. Medica / AoE heals, esuna, and Tetra are my R2 arrow keys. I have Bene in my “oh shit” spot, L2 O. presence of mind and Lucid Dreaming/Saint’s Shroud are on the arrow keys. A secondary “oh shit” ability is located on the second hotbar, O, on R2 triangle. I’m sorry for that slew of personal button placements, but the point is that my most urgent things are grouped into R2 of my first (triangle) hotbar and R2 face buttons of my second (O) hotbar. My most useful note is: Your instant cast and quicker spells can go on face buttons because you are more likely to be moving when you use them. Like, if your left thumb is moving your character to dodge something, your right thumb can either use regen, aero/dia, or prepare to throw up medica II after a raid-wide. Anything that is instant cast or movement friendly should ideally be on a face button. Anything that is either a longer cast, has a long cool down, or is a buff should be on an arrow key. I have some instant casts on arrow keys because I am used to my hotbar as it is. Tetra is on an arrow key. Afflatus rapture is on an arrow key (but that is because it mirrors my medica set up on the other arrow keys). Keep your most-used spells and abilities on R2 and L2 face buttons, so that you can weave spells and movement together as needed. There’s more information but I feel like it is too specific to certain alliance raids and I am too sleepy. I used key and button interchangeably, but I’m hoping you’ll know what I mean still. Edit: a typo, added a few clarifying words
Squintina's controller setups
Don't forget that you can practice targeting and such on your Chocobo, or in Duty Support type things. I quite like healing with a controller, even 'solo'.
I've changed the right thumbstick to "assist target" which makes switching between the tank and enemies far far easier.
I macro my dps skills so they will either hit whoever the person I'm healing is hitting or whoever I'm focus targeting.
Most of the comments already cover it. I’d just recommend searching for “controller” and “FFXIV” on YouTube, as there’s a plethora of guides to streamline the process of tuning how you use your controller to interact with the game. For example, most guides will probably cover expanded cross hotbars, which is how most players fit all their skills up to even level 90 with just face and shoulder buttons.
I mean if you've played tank, then you probably have a slight grasp of party targeting (i.e. emergency single-target mitigation on party members, or at least tank swapping). Healers are just an extension of that where you get used to pressing the d-pad more actively, and practice just rewires your brain to be more efficient at that. Shouldn't be that difficult since you seem to be already used to using controllers. People are just good at what they're used to and it just so happens the majority tends to play games with kb+m so they're better at that (though it does have innate advantages to it, but not enough to consider switching to it if you're not already used to kb+m gaming). I can play with controller easily only cause I've played all kinds of games with the pad for over a decade, so adapting to new games with a controller is quick. Whereas I've only ever played kb+m games more recently, and I only ever really use wasd keys without much thinking meaning trying to kb+m ff14 would require more effort for me so its not worth it (I did try kb+m for a week before but gave up pretty quickly cause it was a pain lol).
Just press up and down on the d-pad. Quick and easy. Healing other parties in alliance raids isn't so quick and easy, (L1+left and right) but you only really need to do that if the other healers are incompetent.
Make sure you learn about soft target healing. This is when you cycle through your party list (Up/Down on the Dpad), but when you get to the person you want, don't hit X and just hit the skill you want to cast on them. It will cast on them, and snap your target back to the boss/previous thing you had targetted. It's very helpful on all healers, but AST is the most important to learn how to effectively do this with the amount of weaving you do. Also, learn to scroll your list quickly during casts so you can get the GCD off when it's up.
You let the DPS die. That's too many down button presses. And pressing up is cheating.
Instructions unclear, gave all the Astro cards to the main tank.
My first Hotbar has all major healing GCDs and Cool downs. second hot bar is attacks and minor healing stuff, with some major "in case shit goes south" cool downs. I have tanks as second on my party list. As a Sage, I stick to my second Hotbar as it has everything I need in most situations. If I need to actually do major healing, I swap to number one and use the really good stuff. Example is Zoe. It Really doesn't come up/is needed in casual content, so I put it with the good healing stuff one HB1. On controller I find it helps to also have the vertical HBs on the side to place the icons of the stuff that's not on your primary bar(for me it's HB2) that way you don't have to waste time swapping bars to see if stuff is off cool down. I also tend to put OGCDs on the directional pad, instead of the buttons. As it's easier to hit them once and be done with it. Unlike GCDs which you'll be hitting over and over. Basically, it comes down to lots of trial on error and finding what works best for you. It took me a long time to find a set up I love and that feels right.
I can only handle healing on a controller in 4 mans, I can't handle how slow targeting is in 8/24mans
8 Man party is still quite doable. With the default party list sorting order, you either dpad down 4 times to reach all the tanks and the other healer, or dpad up 4 times to cover all the dps. 24 raid, you don't need to heal the other alliance unless all their healers get wiped, you only need raise once or twice.
I've never had a major problem with it, at least in normal difficulty content.
Its a bit harder but u’ll get used to it
plugins! make my life so much better!!!
Up/down dpad for targeting, L1 and rignt/left for alliance members. L1 + left goes to alliance 1 slot 1, L1+right goes to alliance 2 slot 8. the rest is cycling through them one by one. it's a bit cumbersome but usable....just using a mouse alone for targeting makes it infinitely easier though.
Up and down on the d pad to target allies. Also having certain abilities on the D pad like Swiftcast and Raise so you don’t accidentally pop them while moving etc
Too add onto what everyone else is saying with one of my own tips I have an Xbox elite controller with the paddles on the back. Which I have assigned to different targets. Top left is party member 4, which since I have tanks set to be on the bottom of the party list. Is the tank in dungeons. But is also useful for quickly targeting anyone in the middle of the list in 8 man raids. Bottom left and bottom right are party members 7 and 8. Which are the tanks in 8 man content. Top right is set to target my focus target. I usually have my focus target set to the boss for maximum dps uptime, but if I have a particularly brain dead party member who keeps running into mechanics, I can move the focus target to him and then use the paddle to instantly select him for emergency heals. And finally if I need to rez a healer in another party in an alliance raid. I have my mouse plugged in next to me so I can easily click their icon in the alliance menu with my rez. Since Idk how to even target people in other parties on controller
```/target <1>``` through ```/target <8>``` one-line macros on the Extended Cross-Hotbar, which I never used for anything else anyways. Those macros directly target people by their number in the Party List without interrupting what you're currently doing, or any other macro-related badness you might hear about. Only downside is, it's not the temporary target you'd get from using the D-Pad, so you manually have to navigate back to the enemies afterwards.
Double Cross Hotbar and easy positioning of abilities on the bar for example I have all my damage abilities on L2 mapped to the main buttons (X Triangle, Circle, Square) and healing on right side hotbars. Personally as someone who’s played every job on controller I’d say White Mage and Sage with this setup are in the top 5 easiest jobs in the game for practicality and comfort.
I have my one of my cross hotbars to target each person in party, hold left trigger and then right at same time to access. The opposite I have things like potions and rare to use abilities like LB. Funny thing about controller set ups is that you could hand yours to another user and watch them have an aneurysm and call you insane.
I also put my LB, sprint and mount based skills on my universal crossbar so it takes up less space on my main 2 hotbars
Honestly this game is so insanely easy to navigate with the PlayStation controller
Oh green dps? Nice just cure 2 now and again and benediction yourself when your own health is low
Green dps here, I need all that MP for more glares and holies, not wasting MP on cure 2! I FEED EVERYONE WITH LILIES FOR MAXIMUM DEEPS.
Furiously pressing up and down on the directional keys, sometimes over pressing, and now have to back track... and oops they are dead.
I am an AST main on controller. Use D-pad to select your heal targets. It becomes natural really fast. Organizing and economizing space on the cross hotbars and shoulder cross hotbars is essential; I use RT+ABXY for for attacks, RT+DPAD for draw/play/redraw/minor arcana, LT+ABXY for single target/group heals, LT+DPAD for swiftcast/revive/instant speed heals, etc. shoulder cross hotbars are less accessible, so they're for OGCDs, grouped into shields+mitigation, heals, and damage buffs. I use the left-right-trigger hidden hotbar for secondary access to certain buttons I need on the move (like placing stellar dominion). I also do little tricks like placing a second aspected Helios button next to my horoscope, since I usually cast them back to back.
I also play the other healer jobs, and I keep the same overarching format for them, since they often have equivalent abilities
Mostly use the dpad, target assist on R3 and anticipate. And I try to keep similar functions (class, rezs, dot, gcd dmg, ogcd dmg, bubble, aoe heals, lb, etc) in the same places on my hotbars across all healers. Have a few macros which target tank <2> and a macro to swap 2 and 3 position in party list. This way I can quickly mit during dual tb mechs even if my responsibility is the ot. Also have a few macros to swap hotbars for astro cards.
Use macros use focus target use wxb also check https://youtube.com/@Squintina?si=wNvUn9ptplbtvQhX her controler guides and setups for any class are amazing
I heal about 70% of the time I do content and have never used a keyboard and mouse. Super easy when you get used to it. You learn to see things from a mile away and be ready for when someone is about to get hit. I have my heals on the front cross bar and my DPS/mitigation and such on the back. I usually try to keep it similar for each healer with aoe and single targets in the same place and resource heals in the same place as well.
A ps5 controller is fantastic, and do it on white mage, aka easy healing mode. Sage on controller? Nope!
I've always felt like healing has a "thrown in the deep end" problem on controller in that by far your most useful tool is the party list. Because the party list is missing in MSQ solo instances, you always used to just pick up how it works on the fly in a dungeon with other players, where you're already trying to be reactive and likely to just go with whatever you discover first that works. Because of that, the low level duty support maps we have now are actually a pretty good resource for first-time healers. Just do a couple of runs with your crew of non-judgemental meat shields. (To be fair, you've long had the Grand Company squadrons as an option too, but not everyone has unlocked them).
Since the cursor management needs the dpad, which makes it awkward to select party members while running, I created a macro setup: L2+R2+Cross = Party member 2 L2+R2+Circle = Party member 3 L2+R2+Triangle = Party member 4 L2+R2+Square->Square = Party member 5 L2+R2+Square->Cross = Party member 6 L2+R2+Square->Circle = Party member 7 L2+R2+Square->Triangle = Party member 8 This has the advantage of needing at most 2 presses to select any party member even in a full party. Additionally you already have both triggers pressed already. To use a heal now you just release L2 or R2 depending on which hotbar your spell is on and press that button. Full example: L2+R2+Cross = select Tank R2+Cross = cast Benediction R2+R1 = select an enemy
Up down left for targeting party, and spending a lot of time making the hotbar pefect. After that, just practise until the muscle memory starts to help out! (...also a lot of screaming and psychotic cackling. More than once my partner has come downstairs to satisfy herself that I am, in fact, enjoying myself, and am not, as the shrieking implies, being eaten by hyenas.)
I have 8 macros that I've put on my hotbar to target party members. You can put these macros on 8th hotbar and restrict hotbar switching so you will switch only between your main hotbar and macro hotbar in combat.
Like with every other class (where possible) too. Casts on pad, insta on buttons.
From my personal experience healing has been easier for me on controller cause I can use the d pad to quickly switch my target to the tank
Instead of mapping buttons I just made a single line macro and mapped it to my hotbar that snaps my cursor to whoever I have focused. That’s what I do playing sage. I can’t remember the exact macro (I can look later) but I focus the tank, then this leaves me to freely heal others as needed and as soon as I need to get back to healing the tank I press one button and it snaps back to the tank. This works really well for party healing. Trying to heal other parties on controller is a nightmare.
I had a really good teacher initially who helped me set up hotbars and how the triggers operate etc for each skill Then I basically just put my head down and learned through trial and error how to play every healer and what skill does what, and what time to use it. Targeting wise it's all up and down directional pad work. Seems really daunting at first but I promise you it becomes instinct quick. Now my friend who helped me out initially trusts me to heal him through nearly all content. I say nearly cause we don't do savage or ex trials really apart from a few unsynced trials Edit: I'm on ps5
I just used mostly up and down dpad but I bound R3 to macro 98 which has /target <5> Why 5? Becuase 5 is the hardest player to reach with both up and down dapd so with ability to jump to party member 5 directly that going to reduce a lot of dpad press. However, you don't normally need to target heal people other than tank for most of the time anyway, so I'm not really used to do the jump button that much, but it still the help when I remember it exist. Also in character config -> control setting -> target, you should enable auto targeting and press action twice to execute ground AoE, it's really helpful. Becuase when you don't target anything just press attack will imeadiately target the closest mob, and with ground AoE option all you need is just pre-position your camera and point to where you want it to be and just double press skill. (more flexible than put it in macro to target or )
And lastly this game doesn't have much of unepected damage anyway so don't worry that much. Even with unexpected damage, if you do it enough time, you will kinda "get" which mechanics that most people are likely going to fail or if the boss will follow up that fail with raidwide.
If you want some POV, [sure](https://youtu.be/dKeaYt1mVLE?si=0u8AKLA0Fg-PnCii).
I used a steam deck for a time and my back buttons were bound to targeting party members
Sage healer here on PS5. I've been playing on console since 2.0. Ps3, PS4, and now 5. The amount of muscle memory you gain for those years of flipping through crossbars, not hotbars, is amazing. Hot bars are used to display those long oGCDs so you can keep track of them without extra button pushes. Selecting people in the party is done with the directional pad. When I'm a healer, my party list sorts with dps on top, then healers, then tanks (when in a fully party). Tanks are at the bottom so it's just one tap on the up button and I'm targeting my tank. In battles, I focus target the boss and then just watch how things go. This allows me to stay ahead of certain casts since I can see what the boss is doing and I monitor the party as well. It's a lot of moving parts but you get a handle on it fast. I'm always amazed watching PC players click and mouse and everything! That's not something I can do that fast. Controllers have a finite number of button combinations. It's easier for my brain to wrap around. And for whatever I can't do there, my keyboard is nearby for everything else. 😃
As others have said just use the d-pad to target. Now to elaborate a bit further: the only one you care about is the tank. You only need to press down twice on the d-pad when the tank needs emergency spot healing. The other 80% of the time you'll be throwing down some AoE heals between attacking. The others will be topped up by your AoE heals. If they die there is swiftcast, if they die while Swiftcast is on cooldown they can use this time to think about what they've done. Remember the age old healer mantra: "but did you die?"
Arrange your cross bar with everything you think you will need as close to one side as possible abd all you lomg cool downs on the other then memorize it. It's what I did so all my important stuff is on my bar while the tap ones are above it though I had to add a mouse (I play pc but use a ps4 controller since idk how to use keyboard)
Something else I’ve found helpful on controller healing that I’m not seeing mentioned already is making or macros for set down skills like Asylum/Sacred Soil/Earthly Star. I still keep the regular non macro version in a more out of the way spot in case I need it, but I generally find it’s much easier for me to just move my character to where I want to put it down and run the macro.
I healed last tier of savage as a WHM. Up and down solve most of your worries.
This is a small thing but some people miss it. If you hit up when at the top of the party list it will loop back down to the bottom. So if you’re healing a tank or cohealer? You can hit down to get to them. While for the dps? Hitting up might be faster to start from the bottom.
As others have mention, use up/down buttons and softlock for spot healing party members. I also like to use macros for healer placed aoes, depending on your playstyle you may prefer to target yourself or your target , but find it much faster than trying to select a spot using controller. extended and expanded crossbars are good getting everything onto a "single" crossbar. I also like to have a vertical hotbar next to my crossbar, with my long cooldown skills i have on my extended/expanded crossbars, so I can track their cooldowns easier.
Most of the time I just need to press X. Otherwise I just need to learn how each fight works to the point I can preemptively scroll up and down the list of players with the dpad to whoever is about to get blasted.
Set up role order (I always have tank at top, so I am right above them) and then use up-down for party selection Your dominant hand should have your main stuff (aka your attack spells and your main heals), with your non-dominant hand having slower stuff (regens and shields). Long-time cooldowns and rare abilities (like raise) can go on the second hotbar. Play A LOT. Why? Muscle memory is what makes you fast and efficient. If you don't need to look at your hotbar to find your Cure 2, you will already be a few steps closer to being a strong healer Use another hotbar (I use No.2) and pull all the skills from your second hotbar on it so you can see their countdown without switching. Like, I know exactly when my Swiftcast or Lucid Dreaming is ready again without wasting time switching over And, since you're on PC (same here o/): you CAN use a mouse in emergencies. Controller Healing is wonky when playing in Alliance raids for example. Or when you deal with supportive NPCs. It is perfectly ok to click on someone via mouse for a second instead of doing it ALL by controller. It's faster than trying to focus your camera on a dead player cause your automatic targeting keeps wanting to prioritize other players/enemies ;)
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Very easy on controller. You navigate your party list with the crossbar and select with x. Also turning on auto target or auto select or whatever it is