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Alright, I'm a level 33 Bard and I still trying to learn the tricks of the trade. I see tips for Black Mage (main job is White Mage)- so I want to know from the other bards out there. What are your tips for the low levels and what should I work on so I'm not acting like a complete noob at the high levels?
Here are some tips. You don't have to follow them, obviously, but here's what I recommend.
Keep your DoTs up on the primary target, but don't overwrite early. This doesn't really matter that much at low levels, but it matters a lot at endgame due to River of Blood, so getting used to doing it now really helps you get in the habit.
Don't use AoEs against less than 4-5 targets, and even then, focused fire is often better unless the targets have low health. In endgame dungeons, there are pulls where there are a large number of weak enemies designed to be AoEed. In Raids, there are places where you pull all the trash together and AoE them to death. Those are great times for AoEs. Normal pulls are not a great time. I see low level bards making this mistake a lot and either wasting all their TP on sub-optimal damage or just making it take forever to take down the mobs.
Prioritize Crit as a secondary stat. If you aren't sure of why, read the description of the trait "River of Blood."
Replace each of your basic attacks (Heavy Shot, Straight Shot, Venomous Bite, Windbite) with the following macros:
Where (skillname) is replaced with each of the four skills in the four different macros. Put the macros where the skills used to be on your hotbars. If you press the macro and your global cooldown doesn't start, jam on it until it does. What this will do is, whenever you try to use one of those four basic attacks, if Misery's End is ready and the target is weak enough, it'll go off. Otherwise, if Bloodletter is ready, it will go off. Otherwise, you'll do the skill you attempted to do. This will increase your DPS because you won't have to think about when to use bloodletter/misery's end, you can just jam on the button you want to jam on until it works, then switch to the next button to jam on. You can, and should, leave Misery's End and Bloodletter somewhere on your hotbars so you can see visually when they're ready to go in case it matters, but don't worry about clicking on them, just use the macro.Code:/micon (skillname)
/ac "Misery's End" <t>
/ac "Bloodletter" <t>
/ac (skillname) <t>
If you want to just do a basic attack on the target, if Straight Shot is not up, use Straight Shot. If Straight Shot is up but Straighter Shot is not, use Heavy Shot. If Straighter Shot is up, use Straight Shot. No need to alternate between them, just use Straight Shot to buff, and to guaranteed crit when Straighter Shot procs.
Use your cooldowns, don't wait on them (unless you're fighting a boss who has a DPS check coming up - save them for the check in that case). The cooldowns recharge fairly quickly, and really add to your DPS. Also, they apply to DoTs if you use them before you apply the DoT. You only have two DoTs, but they're important at endgame, and them critting is especially important.
Endgame rotation, single target: Straight Shot -> Internal Release (crossclass) -> Raging Strikes -> Blood for Blood (crossclass) -> Windbite -> Venomous Bite -> Steady Shot -> If Straighter Shot procs, Straight Shot, otherwise, Steady Shot (x5) -> (repeat from Windbite)
Obviously, use CDs when you can, and use Misery's End/Bloodletter every chance you get in the middle of that rotation (the macros really help here).
With multiple targets, after using Windbite and Venomous Bite on your primary target, you might want to use them on 1-2 other targets too. This will increase the chance of River of Blood proccing, but spread out your damage some. However, if you do this, you don't want to use the macored versions. You want to use the normal versions of the skills. Otherwise, you'll spread out your damage too much.
Hope some of this helps. I don't main BRD, but it was my first non-crafter 50.
Generally speaking ( assuming you don't have insane skill speed for no good reason ) you can fit 5 skills on the global cool-down in between your first dot applications. If you keep this in mind you will never have to check to see when your dots will fall off. The macro in the above post will help you if your not to good at weaving in your cds but i would highly suggest you start practicing at low lvls without them so by the time your 50 you wont rely on a macro. Also i disagree with the start of his endgame rotation, it isn't usually a good idea to blow them all off the back like that but instead weave them in.
As Nyalia said, keeping DoTs up is very important as a BRD. It's about 50% or more of your DPS, and without it you're bringing the party down. I also agree with using your buffs when you can, but do NOT use them one after the other, you throw one in while the GCD on your attack skills is going. Just make sure that the Straight Shot buff on you is always going (don't use the move unless the Straighter Shot crit procs or it runs out), keep your DoTs up, and use your cooldowns (buffs) when they come up and you'll be fine 90% of the time. The other 10% of the time is the boss fights where you really want to time some of your buffs for burn phases and whatnot, but you can worry about that at endgame.
Also, for songs, use Mage's Ballad if the healer's MP reaches about 2/3 or lower, or if they've just been revived from death. It may lower your overall power, but it keeps their MP up enough so they can heal, and so rest of the party can survive due to it. Just be sure to turn it off once their MP gets over 75% or if the battle ends, you don't usually want your damage output to be down that long. I really only suggest that for WHMs usually, since it's easier as a SCH to keep your MP up thanks to Aetherflow and Energy Drain. Use
Foe's Requiem whenever there is a BLM or a SMN in the party to help up the power of their spells against the enemy, but be careful as it has a HUGE radius that can cause some aggro onto you since you're debuffing the mobs with the skill. Though I don't suggest the song being on during 8-man instance bosses simply because you never know when things will go wrong and you'll end up having to throw out Mage's Ballad.
Make sure to use Battle Voice with any song once you get it, simply because it doubles the power of all songs. And once you get Quelling Strikes, don't be afraid to combine it with Raging Strikes, since it lowers the aggro gain of all attacks you do for 15 seconds (which really comes in handy to 'cancel' the increased aggro caused by your buffed attacks). That's all the tips I have for a new BRD, until I think up anything else.
Thank you for the tips. I'll be sure to use them in my rotations/ make them better!
The only thing I want to add is that although that macro seems neat (and actually, it is), I am not a big fan of it for the fact that if you are keen to mash on buttons, you could run into the possibility of using those off GCD abilities (ie: Bloodletter) before the GCD ability you want to use (ie: Heavy Shot, Straight Shot), causing a slight delay between both, which over time lowers DPS.
I suggest playing BRD initially without using macros, and getting used to keeping an eye out for when River of Blood procs, to get used to it. Some people will argue that macros aren't a big deal, and you might eventually be in this camp yourself, and if you are, use macros -- but I suggest trying it each way first.