Help, how do I BRD?

Hello everyone!
I recently got my BRD to 60, geared it up for roulettes and got all my crossbars in order. However, I am feeling very overwhelmed.
(For context, my main is SMN, which I've played up to A12N with great success. I feel like I can SMN in my sleep.)

But with BRD there are... so many buttons to press. So many OGCDs to weave and line up, so many timers to keep track of... I've run some level 60 dungeons and I don't feel like I'm doing well at all, mostly just frantically pressing all the highlighted buttons I see with no rhyme or reason to prioritizing them.

Can I get some tips? I'm not looking for crazy min-maxing openers (since I'm not bringing BRD into raids for a good long while) but basic help on how to get over this hurdle and grow from there.

TL;DR How the heckity heck do I pew-pew good passably?

First, Wanderer's Minuet.
Second, is there a BLM, SMN, or DPS-active Healer in your party? If yes, Foe Requiem whenever possible.
As for your actual actions, first priority should always be Straight Shot. Once you've got that buff up, you should proceed to throw Venomous Bite and Windbite on your current target. Personally I like to get off a Blood Letter or Rain of Death between them, depending on the size of the pull. Then hit Empyreal Arrow, get that off whenever it's up. Tracking the Straight Shot timer is a good way to measure things. I wait till it's around 8-10 seconds left, then hit it again, use Bloodletter/RoD if it's up, and then Iron Jaws to re-establish the DoTs. Fill in the blanks with Heavy Shot. Or Wide Volley or Quick Nock for big-pull AoE. If Straighter Shot procs, I use it and then go right into hitting up Bloodletter and Iron Jaws. Personal quirk, if the timers allow, I'll use the Straighter Shot to time a burst, triggering Raging Strikes + Hawk's Eye + Blood for Blood to buff the crit, and then a Barrage + Empyreal Arrow and a Sidewinder if it's up.

Of course I'm a complete and utter noob who's never once read any kind of guide, so feel free to ignore me as I'm sure there are no end of problems to what I've outlined that actual end-game Bards could point out and make far better suggestions regarding.
As far as passable goes though? I've never had any complaints, so...

Bard is about minimalizing loss. Take each potency of each ability and divide it by its cool down. Take Bloodletter/Rain as a face value of potency/3 (server tick.) when your Dots are up. Consider Empyreal Arrow an ability. Use that as a road map for understanding which abilities you press in which order.

Minimize clipping your GCD.

On expert, turn off WM during the pull. Instead, straight shot and multi dot. This will generate a bunch of free aoe from rain of death procs, while keeping up with your party. When the tank stops, but back WM and go ham with a bunch of those free procs.

Feint if you have to move like in Sophia EX during tilts. The DPS is about the same as heavy shot outside of WM, but blood letter/ others will still be buffed.

Use repelling shot and use it to your mobility advantage. Don't let it be wasted. Think dodging Aero III in sophia EX, as an example.

Foe Requiem, just before a boss becomes vulnerable and mages ballad when it becomes invulnerable, if your healers have less MP than ideal.

Just a few tips. I'm serious though. Do that math for potency/CD. Don't look it up. You'll understand it better.

1) Maintain Critical Up Rate
2) Keep DoTs applied as much as possible.
3) Use Emphyial Arrow anytime it's available.
4) Use Sindwinder when it is available.
5) Use Bloodletter/Rain of Death when it is available.
6) If there is more than one enemy then quick nock.
7) If it's unsafe or too difficult to use quick nock, then use wide volley.
8) Use Heavy Shot if you have nothing better to do.

TIP: Aside from the very begining, all of your damage up cooldowns to use with barrage and E.Arrow, try to quickly use only 1 OGCD between every weaponskill.
TIP: If you proc'd Straight Shot then try to save it to pair with E.Arrow or 1~2 OGCDs.

Barrage should always be used with Empyreal Arrow.

Don't forget about Battle Voice, it doubles the potency of your songs.

Also, Sidewinder should always be used with Windbite and Venemous Bite on your target. If not, it's just wasted.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ZhaneX

Straight Shot. Once you've got that buff up, you should proceed to throw Venomous Bite and Windbite on your current target.

---

If there are multiple targets, these should absolutely be used on anything but your current target. If you're in a situation where where it's more appropriate to DoT than to spam AoEs, your first target will die long before your DoTs tick or proc enough to be worth it. Throw them at anything else to get more ticks out of them.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Chevronone

Don't forget about Battle Voice, it doubles the potency of your songs.

---

Turn on Battle Voice after your song is active. If you Battle Voice first, and then sing, it'll take a few seconds to sing and then another few seconds for the effect to apply (because of how aura buffs apply on the server tick), so you can lose up to two ticks of the boosted effect.

For dungeon roulettes (expert especially) trash mob pull...

1. Always Wanderer's Minuet on/Always Foe On during mob pull if you have spell casters
2. Run after the Tank when they begin to gather mobs and when you see them about to slow down, pop Hawk's Eye/Blood for Blood/Raging Strikes (depending if the mob is too much or not)
3. Flaming Arrow the mob pile
4. Wide Volley/Rain of Death till all is dead, if your TP drop around 300, pop Invigorate
5. If the mob pile is still not dead and there is no tp, apply dots, eventually something will crit and refresh your Rain of Death.

Next mob pull you will likely have Hawk's Eye and Blood for Blood on cooldown and if you haven't used Raging Strikes, I suggest you pop that and Internal Release on next pull and do absolutely the same.

For bosses, it's doing one 15-16 skills opener and then it's all priority skills. Always refresh your dots with ironjaws before they fall off, always apply your dots after your buffs and don't forget to look fab af when you do that LB3 :o

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MuseTraveller

For dungeon roulettes (expert especially) trash mob pull...

1. Always Wanderer's Minuet on

---

ive started leaving WM off during an aoe pull. Putting dots on the mobs while we are running to the next pack then putting WM back on when we stop

Yeah it's a total mess at lv60, but in general use WM, Straits shot, Dots, sidewinder, and Empyrial arrow with barrage while activating buffs and procs in between skills. This is a mess because it can leave players little time to pay attention to your party, but try to remember to look at your party's composition for offensive castors when using foe because it doesn't effect all job types. You really don't have to stick to the formula strictly to perform moderately well as a bard, but everyone wants players to be top raiders in terms of skill for some reason with speed running and stuff. It's so annoying.

Thank you for the tips, everyone! I've been trying to incorporate them while playing and I think I'm making some progress. I still feel pretty inept compared to my skill at SMN, but my FC mates keep assuring me that I'm doing fine, so maybe I'm just being overly self-critical. Maybe one of these days I'll be able to do a dungeon run without pulling with Foe...