Bard Endgame - Suggestions and Strategies

[Rosencranz]

1 -I usually start with buff myself to let tank take aggro, if i start doing damage i risk to steal aggro, and isn't useful :3

So other than buffs, i start with barrage on, so it will be 3 atk > Bloodletter > 3 atk > Straight shot > 3 atk > Ven Bite > 3 atk > Wind bite.

After that stick with heavy shot, bloodletter or misery end, go back to straight shot when the effect is over, and so on.

2- Healers have to stay at least at 1/3 mp. So i usually don't use song till this time, then i use ballad w/ battle voice, so i need to keep this up just the time of battle voice effect. When finished usually whm and sch have mana at 60-70%, so i can stick on the damage routine. If should drop again, return to ballad. For TP, here's the tip: if you see the dps lacking attacks, they need it, because that means they're low on tp. If you are low on tp, usually other dps are too.

[Rosencranz]

3- Basically spells like skills that use a long charge time need that. Don't use silence before asking if the tank is stunning, or that may cause problems.

4- As far as i saw, differents song stack. I used foe requiem while another bard ballad. They both worked.

5- for stats, i suggest going full 30 dex. we got already a decent amount of mp at lvl 50, so we can sustain song as much a needed.


Hope this will help :3

[Rosencranz]

The good thing about Rain of Death is that you do not need to be near the target to shoot it.

BUT if a bard does decide to run in and whisper sweet melodies in the enemy's ear, they can use Repelling Shot to bounce out again.

Repelling Shot is also independent of the global cooldown timer, so you can use it like Bloodletter. (e.g. Heavy Shot/Straight Shot -> Bloodletter -> Repelling Shot within a 3 second window).

Repelling shot is mostly situational, like Shadowbind. They are great skills, but as far as i saw, in endgame dungeons (wanderer palace, amdapor keep) and in primals fights aren't used so much. Saying that, i do understand that those are really useful in a lot of situations.

So thanks for the advice, really.

[ChanceSkeleton]

Level 37 bard checking in.

Current rotation for me is Straight shot -> Bloodletter -> Windbite -> (insert off GCD buff here) -> Venomous bite -> (insert off GCD buff here) -> heavy shot/straight shot xN -> Bloodletter (when its up).

My goal is to cram as much as I can into as little time as possible and using buffs while all your abilities are on GCD is the best time for it. Obviously the rotation will change when I start getting more abilities, but I think this maximizes damage output.

[Rosencranz]

Level 37 bard checking in.

Current rotation for me is Straight shot -> Bloodletter -> Windbite -> (insert off GCD buff here) -> Venomous bite -> (insert off GCD buff here) -> heavy shot/straight shot xN -> Bloodletter (when its up).

My goal is to cram as much as I can into as little time as possible and using buffs while all your abilities are on GCD is the best time for it. Obviously the rotation will change when I start getting more abilities, but I think this maximizes damage output.

i suggest invert straight shot and bloodletter. you can shot those faster, i think. And you can directly shot venomous and wind after that. Also go on, you career as a bard is just started, sing and shine! *_*/

[_C-a-e-r-i-t-h_]

What macros do you use? Since we have a lot of skills and not a lot of space on the crossbar, I have two macros set up currently:

1) Attack Macro
/ac "Misery's End" <t>
/ac "Bloodletter" <t>
/ac "Heavy Shot" <t>

I use Misery's End every time it's up, but I often neglect to use Bloodletter, so having this macro lets me use ME every time it's up, use BL every time it's up, and use Heavy Shot all the other times.

2) Buff Macro
/ac "Raging Strikes" <me>
/ac "Hawk's Eye" <me>

I keep Internal Release and Barrage on their own keys so far, since I want to be conscious of when I use them (IR all the time, Barrage only when I can afford the enmity). Raging and Hawk are close enough in damage that I figure I can press one button and be fine with whichever one is up.

Any other skills I can group up to be on the same macro? I'd like to macro Windbite and Venom Shot together, but they're both on GCD so it would just refresh whichever I do first.

[Rosencranz]

snip

my attack one is

misery's end
bloodletter
haymaker
heavy shot

my attack two is

straight shot
wait 2.5
venom bite
wait 2.5
windbite

my buffs is

raging strike
1.5
internal release
1.5
hawk's eye
1.5
barrage

i keep barrage at least, so i can always use the crit enhancer, then the atk enhancer. And if i need the acc or the 3atk, i just load them on those boss attack that need you to run doing nothing - like ifrit teleport, demon wall repel, and such.

But is my personal way to fight, so i dont push my mentality on anyone :3

[_C-a-e-r-i-t-h_]

Haymaker? Do you get that to proc very often?

I don't like the idea of having /wait in my commands, since I'd rather stay in control, you know? But for Windbite/Venom Shot, maybe I'll just have to.

[Rosencranz]

Haymaker? Do you get that to proc very often?

I don't like the idea of having /wait in my commands, since I'd rather stay in control, you know? But for Windbite/Venom Shot, maybe I'll just have to.

with high dex and featherfoot, procs almost everytime

Also, forgot to mention it: i may be an endgame player, and with my fc i can do a perfect amdapoor keep run w/o gettin a single death (other than pld of course when we do the "Run&Die" style to avoid trash mobs), but still in a ps3 player, and i play with a ps3 pad.

I know that may put me in a "bad" category, as ps3 players or pads players are always seen as more casual - or less "pro" - than uberpc players.

But i reassure you: pad works well for bards, the sticks gave added moviment control, and the right macro make fights a lot easier. :3

[ChanceSkeleton]

i suggest invert straight shot and bloodletter. you can shot those faster, i think. And you can directly shot venomous and wind after that. Also go on, you career as a bard is just started, sing and shine! *_*/

True, the 2 shots (straight shot and bloodletter) will come out faster, but than you will have 2.5 seconds of GCD where you are not doing anything waiting to unleash windbite. I suppose you can go:

Bloodletter -> straight shot -> (insert buff here) -> windbite -> (insert buff here) -> Venomous -> (inserrt buff here) -> heavy shot etc etc.

I will give it a try. Might be a little better, not sure though. Might be the same haha.