Mantra and Bard

[Truefaith87]

I'd have Keen Flurry over Mantra / Featherfoot anytime. And it's not time consuming at all if you're not planning to level a Mnk.

Good point, thought I was missing one in the list anyways, seems that was right too, thank you for the last one. Decent all around setup would be the 3 given (B4B, Invig, IR), Second Wind, and depending on what party needs, either KF (possible self preservation) or Mantra (little bit of help to healers if needed).

[PetiteMalFleur]

OP, it just sounds like this guy threw a FC raid group together with no real clue of what he's doing. I've been clearing turn 4 for months and never needed mana song on my healer and neither did the scholar. A Bard is nice but not necessary for turn 4. I've cleared it with a really good SMN and feel the difference when there is none in the group. I would insist the BLM get E4E and use virus over you getting mantra. I would easily take a good SMN over a bard. He can make the dragoons go get that skill.

[Bardo]

I'd have Keen Flurry over Mantra / Featherfoot anytime. And it's not time consuming at all if you're not planning to level a Mnk.

Bard STR is really low though, so you only parry 20% of the damage.
40% chance to block 20% damage is only 8% damage reduction on average.
15% chance to dodge is a pure 15% damage reduction on average though.

Even if you take into consideration that Keen Flurry lasts 5 seconds longer (~33% longer, so 0.08*1.33=0.106, you're still comparing a 10% damage reduction vs 15%), Featherfoot still comes out ahead by a good margin.
Featherfoot is the better defensive cooldown for bards any time you know you're going to be taking a few hits.

Anytime you're not going to get hit (by anything that can be dodged/parried anyway), Mantra is by far the best option for that 5th spot.
If you REALLY don't want to pick up Mantra, then you could probably convince the group that working in a Feint every 30 seconds (don't want to use it more often than that or it will suffer from diminishing returns) will reduce the damage the main tank is taking by about 3% on average over the course of the whole fight, which is probably just as good as popping a couple Mantras.

[Thorauku]

CMMIW, but isn't it stack with the DEX you have? Meaning you'll have higher chances for it to trigger?

[PArcher]

CMMIW, but isn't it stack with the DEX you have? Meaning you'll have higher chances for it to trigger?

It should, since KF adds a 40% parry chance, not sets it to 40%.

I know a lot of PLD and WAR who wish they had access to it...

And wow, haven't looked at the non-traited parry % in a while...thought it was 20% increase...still like my 80% better :P

[Bardo]

CMMIW, but isn't it stack with the DEX you have? Meaning you'll have higher chances for it to trigger?

Doesn't change the math when comparing them as it just increases your chance, not the percentage blocked. So the initial chance is irrelevant.

STR increases the amount of damage you avoid when you block/parry.
So for example, an i90 DRG with 500 STR will parry ~27% of the damage instead of the 20% that a Bard will parry.
With the Keener Flurry trait that bumps the parry chance to 80%, it averages about a 22% damage reduction while it's up for DRG vs the 8% for Bard.
Taking up-time into account to compare it directly against Featherfoot: 0.22*1.33=0.29
So for a DRG, Keen Flurry is nearly TWICE as good as Featherfoot.

But because Bards don't get the Keener Flurry trait or the bonus damage parried from stacking STR, Featherfoot is simply better for Bard.

[PArcher]

Featherfoot stacks with the dodge change you already have just like Keen Flurry stacks with the parry chance you already have.
Doesn't change the math when comparing them.

DEX gives you both parry and dodge chance.
STR increases the amount of damage you avoid when you block/parry.
So for example, an i90 DRG with 500 STR will parry ~27% of the damage instead of the 20% that a Bard will parry.
With the Keener Flurry trait that bumps the parry chance to 80%, it averages about a 22% damage reduction while it's up for DRG vs the 8% for Bard.
Taking up-time into account to compare it directly against Featherfoot: 0.22*1.33=0.29
So for a DRG, Keen Flurry is nearly TWICE as good as Featherfoot.

But because Bards don't get the Keener Flurry trait or the bonus damage parried from stacking STR, Featherfoot is simply better for Bard.

Wait...what? Since when does DEX affect dodge rates?

And don't say its in the tool-tip, cause its not.

[Bardo]

Wait...what? Since when does DEX affect dodge rates?

And don't say its in the tool-tip, cause its not.

WHOOPS!
Fixed... : /

[WiseWolfHolo]

Featherfoot sucks, for any class. For starters you assume with RNG that featherfoot would be better for a bard, but let us take a step back and remember bard is ranged and should not really need to "tank" anything other than maybe a slime on t1. Now with that in mind, there are certain attacks that can be parried, but never dodged (twintania's fireball just to name one). Now featherfoot on my warrior sucks, it purely sucks with a dodge rate on even lesser geared content such as prae, wp, hm primals, it cannot dodge at all so the result is the same for bard, you will more than likely never dodge, but you shouldn't be tanking as a bard either. Now this topic is about mantra for bards and no, mantra at 5% sucks for bards, maybe if it stacked with monk for that 1 time in the fight of 2h or whatever you want to call it, spike damage, but let us be honest, monks mantra is more than enough. So for bard, mantra is a no, featherfoot is a no and keen flurry because of the random target attacks that can be reduced by it is by far the greater skill for the 5th slot.

[Mhaeric]

IMO, either Mantra or Feint is good for your fifth slot. Neither is necessary, so whichever you want to use is okay. Mantra can be useful during AoE burns since you're going to be running in close anyway. Feint is useful for every other situation.

The only three abilities you "need" are Blood for Blood, Internal Release, and Invigorate. Second Wind is useful enough to fill the fourth slot, although not strictly necessary. There isn't any other option that is that useful to a Bard.