Optimising DPS for BRD

[DenzelTaru]

So BRD has become my main and I really love it after tanking and healing for most of the game its nice to shoot things and really not care about much else but shooting things til they die lol..

But something I am struggling with is optimal rotation and ironing out the kinks.. I know that watching the hate chart isnt the best measure of how much DPS you are doing because that has multiple factors including rate of attack etc but i see it as a good judge.. and i havent used parsers for a long time so don't have that to check up on..

But having said the above, I often find myself in the middle of the DPS in the hate chart.. so in a party of 8 i will often be 4 or 5, with or without Quelling. So I am wondering if someone has any BRD tips

I tried to watch Mr.Happys video to see if I was missing anything and I think I am in line with what he is doing.. though I could not sit through him just reading out ability names for 25mins.

and people who parse say I clock between 200 and 350 DPS depending on echo buff at ilv101

any tips appreciated

[isomy]

Bard has the lowest weapon damage out of all of the jobs. Unless all the dps in your party is bad or you have a full party of bards, you probably won't be topping any dps charts.

[ExiaQuanta]

As you stated using the aggro bar isnt really the best way to determine how much dps you are doing. At i110 with nexus im doing about 340-350 dpish on turn 8, so if you can constantly hit around 300+ in the SCoB (excluding t7 if u kite) than imo you should be fine. Like Isomy stated, no matter how you look at it, our numbers aren't really big lol. If in doubt just do the usual "DPS Priority" check.

Buffs up? go to dots. Dots up? go to dps move. If neither are up? reapply. In bards case, always have straight shot crit buff up. But dont just spam straight shot for its buff. I like to reapply straight shot when it has about 1-3 seconds left unless it got a free crit proc from heavy shot. Keep up windbite and venom bite. again dont constantly reapply them. Wait till they are near the end of their timer. I usually weave in bloodletter with both dots because each dot least about 18 seconds and Bloodletter is a 15second recast timer. by the time bloodletter is up, you dots should be near the end of their duration. But if you get bloodletter free proc than just use bloodletter and reapply dots whenever there at 1-3 seconds left of duration. Use flaming arrow when available. People ignore blunt arrow and Repelling shot as OGCD but you should use these 2 skills as part of your rotation. But be careful with Blunt Arrow if the fight requires a silence rotation. Even if it just a little, little is better than none.

The rest is just how you use your buff skills like Blood For Blood, Raging Strikes, Internal Release and Hawkeye.

[Emiin]

The trick is getting a feel for the best times to use your abilities. Personally I typically go around your max dps at 100 ilvl, depending on the fight, near 400 with echo in turns..opener around 500~

maintaining proper buff/debuff uptime is going to be your number one focus, and I see many bards that do not do this properly. Some just spam Straight shot, some forget about it, and letting your poisons fall is seriously crushing to your damage. Not watching for when Bloodletter procs can be seriously infringing on it as well.

One trick I learned (if your ping is good) is queueing two OffGCD abilities in between your GCDs, especially on your opener. The only delay I've ever noticed in the GCD is occasionally after Hawk's Eye, but that's pretty random. Too bad you're not on Lamia or I could show you personally; I've coached many of my friends on the intricacies that can help you out. Another protip is learning when bosses will disappear, fly off, go underwater, you get stuck in goo, etc...and put a fresh debuff on 'em! keep doing damage while you dodge randomness.

[Ooshima]

Some of the recent bard discussions:

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ove-mine%21%29

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...chieve-450-dps

200 DPS @ IL100 in SCoB is way too low, maybe the above 2 threads would help.

[Ooshima]

Sorry, but that BRD guide is horrible. 'Achieve 450 DPS' rubbish. Their opener involves clipping your dots by 3 ticks. Zero sense made.

Hitting a lvl50 dummy (Misery's End), with a party buff, and DRG buff... Anyone can do that. And this looks better than '449'. http://i.imgur.com/lAOKgBU.png

Boss that's why I said it is "recent bard discussion"

You saw that I disagreed with the guide and the OP too. But reading that I guess this thread's OP can understand some of the concepts and why people disagree etc. Negative example, you know...

[SlyRoyale]

First off, Mr. Happy's 2.1 guide is outdated and not the best source to go by (heresy, I know, but bear with me here).

Second, ditch macros. Regarding the way they work, they're a DPS loss and encourage senseless button mashing. You want to be fluid and concise with your inputs.

With that out of the way, your opener should look like this (which I got from a pretty damn good BRD):

DoT1 + Bloodletter > DoT2 + Hawk's Eye* > Straight Shot + Raging Strikes + Blood for Blood > Heavy Shot + Barrage** + Internal Release > Heavy/Straighter Shot + Flaming Arrow > Heavy/Straighter Shot filler until 2-4s remaining on your first DoT. Reapply your DoTs before they fall off and go back to your priority system.

*If your skill speed isn't too high, or there isn't a move that needs to be silenced, you can weave in Blunt Arrow right after Hawk's Eye.
**If you are using high-quality X-Potions of Dexterity, you might want to use it before Barrage. The potion greatly boosts your damage output, and Barrage grants us our biggest damage spike with three auto-attacks in a single auto-attack.
Here's a list of priorities BRDs should watch for:
1st) Use Bloodletter in-between GCDs whenever it is off CD. Should the recast timer refresh during your opener, use it and keep on going. Your DoTs will still be reapplied with all buffs still up regardless.
2nd) Reapply DoTs before they fall off. Letting DoTs fall off is not only a DPS loss, but you lose out on potential Bloodletter resets, which helps contribute to our spikes in DPS.
3rd) Reapply Straight Shot's buff before it falls off. Reapplying DoTs with the buff up improves your chances at getting more Bloodletter resets.
4th) Does Straighter Shot proc after using a Heavy Shot? USE IT. Guaranteed critical damage is always welcomed, and using Straighter Shot refreshes the Straight Shot buff.
5th) Make sure to face the target whenever possible. Auto-attacks contribute to our DPS and not facing the boss means a chance to lose out on that damage.

Before anyone bashes me for not suggesting the traditional Straight Shot opener, opening with either Windbite or Venomous Bite and following up with Bloodletter right after, in-between GCDs, exposes you to potential Bloodletter resets right from the get-go. That means you already have the chance for a 150 attack potency move to reset its cool-down and be ready to weave in again. On top of that, you reapply your DoTs with all of your buffs up, so you don't have to lose DPS to clip them before the buffs fall off. With the Straight Shot opener, you have to get a Straighter Shot proc within 3-4 GCDs or you have to reapply it before clipping your DoTs, or reapply your DoTs without the buff up which defeats the purpose of the opener.

Now for cool-down rotations, which are used throughout long fights like trials and raids. I credit our resident BRD Ooshima for this rotation of cool-down groupings, which I copied and saved in a text file months ago while lurking.

LEGEND
RS = Raging Strikes
HE = Hawk's Eye
B = Barrage
BfB = Blood for Blood
IR = Internal Release
FA = Flaming Arrow
XD = X-Potion of Dexterity

CD Groups
G1: IR + FA
G2: BfB + HE + B
G3: RS

Weave Rotation
Start: The opener I provided
60s: G1
80-90s: G2
120s: G3 + G1
180s: G1 + G2
240s: G3 + G1
270s: G2 (+XD between HE and B)
300s: G1
360s: Go back to Start (use XD when available)

With this rotation of cool-down groups, your overall DPS should see some definite improvement. Remember to keep your DoTs up, use Straighter Shot and Bloodletter whenever they proc, face your targets. Oh, one more thing: be mindful of how you use Repelling Shot and always sing Foe Requiem right when the tank begins the pull and turn it off after that pull is cleared. You don't want to have "loldrg" (or is it "lolnin" now?) moments with it. As for Requiem, it is the only song that doesn't nerf our damage while its up and boosts all caster damage. Even if you don't have caster DPS (BLM, SMN) in your party, sing it either way in case you get a healer who also helps with DPS when they don't need to heal. Just remember to turn if off after each pull or otherwise you'll pull the mobs instead. A lesson I learned the hard way. Sing the other two songs when needed.

I hope this helps you out, OP!

[dday3six]

*snip*

There is some okay info here and while I disagree with your opener for other reasons the notable lack of Quelling Strikes is the most worth mentioning. Unless woefully under-geared your opener should include QS.

[Da_Diver]

Straight Shot ( should always be up)
Venomous Bite
Flaming Arrow (While Waiting on GCD - if you cant apply it fast enough. ignore it)
Windbite
Bloodletter (Apply whenever UP, if you have strong delay, ignore it till you end this rotation)
Heavy Shot
Blood for Blood
Heavy Shot Or Straighter Shot (if up)
Hawk's Eye
Heavy Shot Or Straighter Shot (if up)
Raging Strikes
Heavy Shot Or Straighter Shot (if up)
Internal Release
Venomous Bite *Fully Buffed
Barrage *Fully Buffed. LOOK AT THOSE NUMBERS!!!!!
Windbite*Fully Buffed
----End Of Rotation----
Spam Heavy Shot Or Straighter Shot (if up)/ All Other OGCD inbetween
Wait for ALL BUFFs to reset Then redo (Notice Internal Release Can be used once more if applied as soon as timer resets. by the timer it resets again other abilities will be ready)