Playing as Bard, how necessary are additional skills?

[SeraviEdalborez]

While the DPS boost from Blood for Blood is indeed really nice, the problem is that it gives you just a 10% boost to damage on Bard, while at the same time increasing the damage you yourself take (incoming damage) by 25%. This trade off is problematic in fights such as Titan (Hard) and (Extreme) where you are constantly bombarded with AoE's, many of which are unavoidable. So while it is useful to have an increase in damage, it is not essential.

The downsides of BfB are negated by using them at the correct time. Which is usually immediately after stomps. Or you have a good enough healer(s) to be able to just use it on cooldown.