Best starting job for an intended BRD main?

[Lindelle]

I'm quite new to this game, but my intention is to start a new character(which I know is silly, but I'm doing it anyway) with the ultimate goal of having BRD be my first(and possibly only) level ninety-nine job. I'm not sure, however, how I should begin, given the six jobs initially available. I was told a good while ago that I should choose the best subjob for my intended job's best subjob. As I'm fairly sure BRD's best subjob is WHM, I'm pretty sure I should begin with RDM or BLM, but I'm frankly stumped as to which. Any insight on this matter would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!

[Glamdring]

whm or rdm, most bards are also back-up curers, at least early on. You could also blm since brd/blm is useful for elemental seal later in the game. later you'll want nin and dnc for pulling and melee respectively, but neither are starting jobs.

[Babekeke]

I use SCH almost 100% as my SJ on BRD.

Benefits:
BRD is there for AOE buffs, so offering AOE aquaveil and/or Stoneskin can be very helpful.
All ..na spells that WHM gets, apart from Stona. (and you can AOE them too).
Sublimation, so it doesn't matter if you're just Pianissimo Ballading your mage(s).
Light arts for -10% to curing cost, and the boost to healing magic improving the potency of your cures.
Dark Arts and Drain/Aspir if required.

Alternative or situational SJs:

WHM, if you specifically need to teleport, or if you will need stona.
COR, you can never have too many buffs.
NIN, sometimes useful for fast pulling (blink/stoneskin take a long time to cast, unlike Utsusemi: Ni)
THF, if Treasure hunter will have any effect on your drop rate, but taking a THF for that only reason will be too much of a damage drop, BRD is one of the best options to have a THF sub without gimping themselves or the party too much. Also flee can sometimes come in handy for pulling/kiting.
PLD, for a couple of light magic procs and shield bash in VW.
SMN, for hastega in Neo Nyzul Isle.
BST, Now that charming pets is viable again, and BRD gets an absolute tonne of CHR gear. Also Virelei as a backup for if charm fails. Just remember to level BST to 99 for the best charm rate when it's subbed.
BLM, only if fighting a mob that you need Elemental Seal to land elegy on.
GEO, Maybe? I don't know how geo spells work yet, nor how useful they are when subbed. But maybe useful.

I can't think of any useful reason for RDM though.

[Glamdring]

sch isn't a starting job either.

as to blm use, not many, just that "hard to land" song on highly resistant mobs. /rdm-fast cast applies to songs, defensive buffs, 2nd dispel option, and if you are in the mage pt, yet more refresh. convert for MP (since bard has none main unless from gear or merits) to help with back-up curing and raise never hurts. and it doesn't hurt you stat-wise. and the melees love that extra haster, plus you can cap slow between elegy and slow. but down the road, yes, sch is very nice.

[Creelo]

/whm is going to be your most commonly used SJ.

/rdm can be nice though too if you don't require the status cures of /whm or /sch. Personally, I wouldn't give them up, but I can still it being more useful than /whm in some situations. Also, on anything worthwhile a Brd/rdm or Brd/whm is not going to be landing slow/para/silence on them. It is relatively easy though on older content NMs with a decent set; Salvage comes to mind.

I've yet to truly play with /sch but giving up Haste, Cure IV, Curagas, and Stona (so many NMs nowadays have access to Breakga!) just isn't worth it imo. A Cure III with Light Arts is not going to be healing for as much as a Cure IV from /whm or /rdm. Even with 500 Healing skill, it's not going to come close to a /whm or /rdm's Cure IV. For comparison, a /sch's Cure III would be around 450-475 vs. /whm and /rdm's Cure IV being about 650-670; these numbers ranging depending on mostly on how much healing skill you use (Mnd/Vit playing a small factor though as well). Both number ranges are with 50% Cure potency.

This doesn't mean I think /sch is useless though. If the Brd didn't have Gjallarhorn/Daurdabla, the more efficient cures from /sch I think would be nice since you aren't getting a huge amount of refresh from your Ballads. I could see giving Blink/SS to your DDs useful while fighting some Delve NMs (not so much on Mega Bosses though). But imo, giving up Haste is really the kicker, especially since nowadays it's more important than ever for the Brd to be hasting rather than the Whm since they're much more occupied with healing.


Also @Glamdring, Kirschy did tests long ago that discovered that Slow doesn't cap at 100% on mobs. There may not be a cap, or it may not be reachable atm. Carnage Elegy + Slow doesn't cap at 100% anyways, more around 80% with capped dMnd on slow.

[Lindelle]

Having read the responses(all of which are very informative, so thank you all very much!), I have what I hope is a sound plan.


My first job, which I'll use at the start of the game, will be BLM. I'll level BLM solo from level one to around eighteen or so for access to Elemental Seal and certain elemental spells, as well as Warp. After completing my subjob quest(which I think I can do alone or with the help of maybe one other person), I'll change from BLM to WHM, which I'll level from one to fifty. When I've done that, I'll unlock BRD, level that from one to ninety-nine, then focus on other jobs such as BST, THF, and SCH. I'd like to avoid NIN if I can(I'm not a fan of that job aesthetically), but if I have to, then I have to.

Do I have a good grasp on what's best for my character, do you think?

[Glamdring]

/Also @Glamdring, Kirschy did tests long ago that discovered that Slow doesn't cap at 100% on mobs. There may not be a cap, or it may not be reachable atm. Carnage Elegy + Slow doesn't cap at 100% anyways, more around 80% with capped dMnd on slow.

Based on a quote from a rep that they wouldn't give a 3rd elegy because anything beyond Slow+Carnage would weaken the damage output of mobs too much. I might be misremembering, could have been slow II. But it's the same logic they used to keep Addle from stacking with Nocturne.

[Glamdring]

not bad, however you'll need to get all of the SJ to 49, preferably with capped skills to have utility end-game. You will need nin, brd is still a common puller and Utsu shadows are still the fastest to get. As to beast, the belief is that it needs to be equal to your main for charms to work, I have no idea, it's my main job so it's always been capped. You may want to look at thf sooner, depending on your income stream you may need it for farming, spells can get expensive. Also, make alot of friends, end-game people want brd to have the empy harp, relic is not required but it is appreciated, and there are no delve or skirmish instrument alternatives even planned based on current SE statements, and you'll need the friends because brd is NOT going to be soloing that stuff.

Unless you think you can full-time party you'll probably want to level a 2nd job for soloing, sch, blm or thf are your best choices based on what you said you are going to level, but if it's thief you'll be wanting /dnc for cures with the least downtime, not to mention people are going to look at you like you grew a 2nd head if you thf/whm.

[Lindelle]

...hm. I see. It looks like I have my work cut out for me, then. Thank you very much for your help. By "all of the subjobs", however, do you mean every other job in the game, or just the ones mentioned in this thread?

[Creelo]

Based on a quote from a rep that they wouldn't give a 3rd elegy because anything beyond Slow+Carnage would weaken the damage output of mobs too much. I might be misremembering, could have been slow II. But it's the same logic they used to keep Addle from stacking with Nocturne.

I don't recall a post about slow, I do remember the post about Nocturne/Addle. I think I remember them saying Slow + Elegy stacking was acceptable because they could still use TP moves, unlike when casting spells. It's irrelevant anyways because tests were still done to show that Slow doesn't cap at 100%.

I hope they haven't forgotten about Massacre Elegy (and that third tier March). Don't think they've mentioned a post about Massacre Elegy since like 2 years ago lol... x_x