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

[Babekeke]

...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?

Just the ones mentioned.

And, as stated above, taking BST all the way to 99 allows you to choose 1 of 2 options; using BST for solo play (particularly in abyssea/dynamis/limbus/salvage where you can't charm mobs and need to call your own) or use /BST for solo play when you can charm a pet (good for farming mobs in adoulin, or doing reives).

Oh and I forgot to mention that if you only intend to use BST as a sub job and never as a main, you don't need to skill anything up, so it doesn't matter if you level it too fast to keep skills capped.

[Glamdring]

...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?

the "all of the subjobs" was based on what you were planning on leveling in your earlier post about your path, + the earlier post by Babs about other viable subs for situational use. note, those situational subs you won't be shunned for not having (I've never even been asked to /pld and I've been playing brd for about 11 years as an example), but it never hurts to have a bit of utility and low level growth (1-49) is easy, especially if you solo since that will keep your skills up. The caveat is you WILL want nin if you plan on being a usefull puller, and that IS an expected role for brd.

[Lindelle]

So, to summarize, I should level WHM, THF, NIN, and SCH to forty-nine if I intend to play BRD at ninety-nine, and apparently BST to ninety-nine won't hurt either.

That's not too daunting. I can do that. Thanks much, all.

[Glamdring]

Yep, but keep an eye on the comment treads, maybe read a few strategy guides for the content you are interested in and the like, requirements change over time, ex. my /blm comment comes from Aby where you had to try to !! proc threnodies and sometime the mob was resistant to the element you needed to hit, there was also another boss you really wanted to Elegy but he was Earth resistant. Also helpped when you needed to hit a dark sleep on light-resistant mobs (lullaby is light, so is finale if you are ever looking at /rdm). Those guides will give you an idea of the "sub of the month", and that does change as content is rolled out.

You'll also need to work on bard skill to keep it all capped. The best ways used to be sleeping mobs in Dynamis and cycling to proc in Aby, but both of those have largely died so you'll need another outlet. Your best bet if you skip alot of the old content like sea is probably going to be going with someone else to farm in the new 99 areas, you can't get skill right now from reives but you CAN from killing regular mobs; there was talk of returning skill-ups to Campaign but I didn't see it in the update notes, if they do put it back it was excellent, beseiged still works, too. The only other advice is that you need to make and keep a good set of friends in game because solo bard is largely restricted due to its squishiness and it not hitting very hard. Best of luck to you going forward, bard is a much-loved job if you are any good, so if you have good people with you they SHOULD help you with your end-game gear needs, because they are THEIR endgame gear needs, too.

[Lindelle]

How does one find a group of friends in this game? I don't have any friends out of the game who play it, and as eager as I am, it seems like much of the player base is really far ahead.

[Glamdring]

actually, it's not that hard. when you get to levels where you will join a GoV burn alliance just talk to the group, you'll probably get an LS invite quickly. You may also get random buffs from people who have them, or a random raise when things go wrong. Talk to them, use your friends list (ask first), talk in your parties, all of that. And learn to play the job well. if you do all that you will be rememberred and get your invites to content that will help you advance. Yes, most people will be well ahead of you (XI isn't getting new players often), but they backtrack to do stuff, to recap lost XP, to farm, all of that. Believe me, show yourself to be a good person and you'll get into groups. Show yourself to be skilled and you could be a raging bitch, you'll still get groups. + you picked bard, you'll get plenty of party love...

[Lindelle]

I've done book burn alliances in Gusgen Mines in the past. I guess I just need to be a touch more talkative. Thank you!

[Babekeke]

The caveat is you WILL want nin if you plan on being a usefull puller, and that IS an expected role for brd.

I haven't used /nin since lvl 75 meripo, and I pull all the time in plasm runs. Emp +2 feet and plenty of fast cast/song cast gear should mean you don't get hit much, and as /sch you have an almost unlimited MP pool as BRD to cure yourself with.

[Underpanties]

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?

It's a good plan, but bear in mind everything that you're saying right now is so very tiny in regard to advancing your character to be the best brd it can be. Not to say it doesn't matter, but you should stop and experiment a bit with other sub jobs and mains as well. BST sub, in particular, will make your leveling much, much easier since its Charm will be based on the bst's main level, not it's subjob level. Bard has high CHR, to help charm's accuracy so the combination goes hand in hand pretty well, and helps to compensate for bard's weak melee prowess.
Bard is a really fun job, but also can't do anything on its own where you don't have access to trust/charm mobs. When you get to the point where you require empyrean +2 set (and bard flat out requires it more than almost any other job), you're going to have a really hard time, and it's hard to find help for those activities anymore. Beyond that, there are a lot of solo activities you need to do to farm money, and its good to think about a backup job for when you need to get something done.

[Creelo]

The sturdiness of your Brd is going to be dependent upon your PDT/MDT sets, and I would highly advise working on these sets (mostly just PDT) if you plan to be pulling for your group since pulling often means adds. Depending on the number of adds, you may not be able to survive long enough to Horde Lullaby them without a PDT set. Even if not pulling, DT sets can be incredibly helpful and CAN mean the difference between dying/surviving attacks.

Also I would also argue that a Brd can become incredible sturdy between Minnes/Paeons/Ballads (endless MP for curing self); however, this is highly dependent upon having a Daurdabla.

At lower lvls long ago, I remember Paeonx2 (I think combined with Regen from sub) helping quite a bit when fighting mobs that were DC or so. When the going gets rough, Lullaby is an amazing asset for survival too, provided you haven't DOT'd the mob/s your're fighting.

[AppropriateName5786]

Before you worry about the jobs you have to level and the subjob you need, just take a moment to think about whether you can invest enough time/effort to get a harp for 3-4 songs and a Relic horn from Dynamis. Without one or both of those special pieces of gear, which require a great deal of time and will most definitely lead to a lot of frustration, you will NEVER get an invite to relevant content. Others may sugar coat it for you, but that is the truth no matter how unfortunate it is. This game is full of elitists, and you will not be invited to do anything without 3 songs at the least. Just ask all those paladins who don't have Aegis/Ochain (special shields).

Since you mentioned you don't know people in the game to do things with, it may be worthwhile to think about playing another job that requires much less work, like GEO, COR, or WHM. I hope I don't sound mean saying this. This game needs more bards, but the playerbase is very unforgiving towards them, so be prepared.