How to DPS as Bard - Tips & Tricks - Achieve 450 dps

[KrietoR]

Hello Everyone

I would like to share with you all my new Bard guide with all the Tips and Tricks that ive learned this last Year.

http://solitude.guildwork.com/forum/...ard-by-krietor

Snippet of a 730 Peak DPS opener: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAbAOZEBfjg

Hoepfully someone finds it usefull

GL and HF outdpsing some of your friends & foes

[RinchanNau]

Not really sure about some of these tips. Leaving Blood for Blood waiting for 10 seconds each time it comes off CD? Hmmm. And unless the fight is fairly short it may not be worth clipping dots for RS. In any extended fight it may not be worth the TP cost. But for a 3 min parse w/ a HA bow or optimized Novus + mostly i110 gear + a DRG for disembowel 450 is a pretty good place to be. Would be more interested in seeing a 8 min parse without a DRG.

Edit: reading more closely now. Windbite is 330 potency. Not 360. Which dot is used first doesn't really matter on a boss with a lot of HP. On enemies that die fairly quickly you may want to use venomous bite only as it is more front loaded. After 2 ticks VB is more potent than a heavy shot. Takes WB 3 ticks.

You also say that both dots should be used one after the other without exception. I disagree. There are exceptions. What if you put a dot up and then are unable to attack for a period of time because of some mechanic preventing you from doing so? It happens. To maintain optimal DPS your dots then may not be able to be one immediately after the other. Of course there is always the option to be lazy, clip a dot, and realign them. Can't say I never do that.

[KrietoR]

Your right about windbite, and i miss typed, i knew it was 330. About the DOTs alignment , its something i try always to do, but has you say, sometimes its not possible, and i do admit that sometimes i clip them to realign them (damn ocd

[Tharian]

You realize you can't really control when Straighter Shot procs?

Also, you should only use Foe Requiem if there is a Black Mage or other class that can use Elemental Attacks in the party (Dragoon for example). And even then Mages Ballad always takes priority if the healers are running out of MP.

Blood for Blood should really be saved to be used with your songs more than anything else. Afterall your Songs deprive you of 20% of your damage dealt, while Blood for Blood increases your damage dealt by 10% meaning overall you will only be losing 10% of your damage dealt for the duration of Blood for Blood all told.

Between Invigorate, Blood for Blood, Second Wind, Internal Release, and Mantra you really shouldn't have room in your Cross-Class allocation for Keen Flurry. If you do, then you aren't using your Soul Stone in the first place, and as such won't have your songs. Granted, I am one to talk as I have neglected to obtain Mantra at the moment, but still.

[Dwill]

You realize you can't really control when Straighter Shot procs?

Also, you should only use Foe Requiem if there is a Black Mage or other class that can use Elemental Attacks in the party (Dragoon for example). And even then Mages Ballad always takes priority if the healers are running out of MP.

Blood for Blood should really be saved to be used with your songs more than anything else. Afterall your Songs deprive you of 20% of your damage dealt, while Blood for Blood increases your damage dealt by 10% meaning overall you will only be losing 10% of your damage dealt for the duration of Blood for Blood all told.

Between Invigorate, Blood for Blood, Second Wind, Internal Release, and Mantra you really shouldn't have room in your Cross-Class allocation for Keen Flurry. If you do, then you aren't using your Soul Stone in the first place, and as such won't have your songs. Granted, I am one to talk as I have neglected to obtain Mantra at the moment, but still.

Just a slight correction. Foe's Requiem also works for Summoner, it always did but people didn't think it did at release due to how the tooltip was worded. They changed the tooltip from Elemental Resistance to Magic Resistance to make it clear.

[Tharian]

Just a slight correction. Foe's Requiem also works for Summoner, it always did but people didn't think it did at release due to how the tooltip was worded. They changed the tooltip from Elemental Resistance to Magic Resistance to make it clear.

I never even noticed the change... does that mean Dragonfire Dive doesn't benefit from it like I thought it did?

[Dwill]

I never even noticed the change... does that mean Dragonfire Dive doesn't benefit from it like I thought it did?

Even if there is an elemental damage attached to it, it's still a physical attack therefore doesn't. Only casters benefit from it.

[RinchanNau]

I should also note that clipping dots at 8s in your opener sounds far from optimal.

Here is my opener for example: IR up for 2 dots. RS, BfB, HE up for 3. Dex pot up for 2.

Perhaps my opener could also be better, but I do believe it it to be more optimized than the opener in the guide.

IR, SS, BL, HE, VB, RS, BFB, WB, Ba, HS, Dex pot, HS, FA, HS, poison pot, HS. And reset with the normal priorities. SS or HS would be up next. Followed by refreshing your dots. no clipping required.

Throw in BL as it procs. Throw in Blunt Arrow and Repelling Shot when possible. Use Straighter Shot when it procs.

[GalaxyGirl]

450 dps on a dummy? How long was this parse?

[Shurrikhan]

At enough skill speed I've been using this rotation for fight-start:

Quelling well before pull if needed, BV slightly before, and IR just before pull; Straight, Blood for Blood, Venom, Hawk's Eye, Windbite, Raging Strikes, Heavy, Potion, Heavy, Barrage, etc.... Straight if no procs at 4 seconds, next Venom will have all buffs and Windbite will have all but Blood, opposite to first application. I usually get around 5-7 Bloodletters in that time.

It takes very little skill speed to absolutely ensure the near-complete set of buffs on 2nd WB. A bit more is necessary if you want to make up for lost GCD time from former double-oGCDs, such as buff+Bloodletter.

All 20-second buffs really have no necessary time to be applied, though they can optimally affect 2 WBs. Only Internal Release needs to be placed optimally, to affect both DoTs and give each an additional 10% chance to generate Bloodletters (usually about 4 of these, and running at 416/436 speed they haven't been a problem).

Of course, this amount of skill speed can also make it just as useful to double up on Buffs from the start. BV/IR as tank runs in, Venom, Blood/Hawk, Wind, Raging/Flaming, Heavy, Potion/Barrage, etc. Just be sure to have no delay on launching that Flaming, and even with my lowish gear (102-3) I can hit a burst of almost 700 over that time, though it will taper out to exactly the same dps as the above rotation very quickly, ofc. It's a bit harder to weave in Bloodletters this way though.

Edit: Unless DoTs are coming up, there seems to be little difference between using Heavy or Straight for your last shot on the Straight Shot buff (I have pretty bad luck with this, maybe getting that proc about half of the times I really need it over 5-6 Heavy's). Keeping up SS buff for the SS reapplication is worth about 7 potency, and using that last shot on a HS instead would be about 7.5. Base crit affects an additional 10 potency on HS with a 15% chance of auto-crit as compared to a 10% stacking crit bonus (auto-crit wastes base crit chance, SS stacking with it does not). The higher your crit, the more you might favor SS reapplication as it drops off instead of going once more for proc.

Edit 2: Though it feels like argument on the basis of superstition between rotating AoEs and sticking to Quick Nock, I've personally noticed significantly better TP conservation from using Wide--Rain--Quick than just Quick. But, RNG will be RNG. Some people may never see an AoE proc in a full TP bar.
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What I'm most curious about is how to check (or guess) whether a DoT ticked instantly upon application, and therefore will not tick just before drop-off, or vise-versa, when attacking the same target as others, such that you cannot distinguish your own DoT text. How useful might it be to use one's CDs as a way to check/guess the global tick, and how delayed the Bloodletter refreshes are from the actual DoT ticks. Any educated guesses?