Need a simple but effective Bard rotation guide for my friend.

[UltimateAoe2]

My "rotation"...

Wanderer's Minuet (just this one time)
Battle Dance + Foe Requiem
Flaming Arrow
Blood For Blood
Hawk's Eye
Internal Release
Raging Strikes
Straight Shot
Wind Bite
Venomous Bite
Barrage
Empyreal Arrow
Sidewinder
Feint
Bloodletter
Blunt Arrow
Heavy Shot (twice if time allows to get in Iron Jaws without WB and VB falling off)
Iron Jaws
Straight Shot
Empyreal Arrow

...then whatever I feel is appropriate. Always keep Straight Shot, Wind Bite, Venomous Bite, Flaming Arrow, and whatever song is most useful up. Barrage + Empyreal Arrow at every opportunity, Sidewinder with Venomous and Wind Bite up at every opportunity. Debuff with Feint (Slow) and Blunt Arrow (Silence). Use Bloodletter then Heavy Shot, Heavy Shot, Bloodletter if it procs, Straight Shot, Iron Jaws to refresh WB + VB.....it's really situational depending on what attacks/buffs are off CD and what's going to be most beneficial, but for an opener and a "rotation" the attacks I listed as a list could work for decent DPS.

Anytime there are packs of mobs your friend could technically get away with keeping a song up, buffs up when available, Straight Shot up, Flaming Arrow up, Rain of Death when available, and then spam Quick Nock. Use Barrage + Empyreal Arrow, VB + WB + Sidewinder, and Misery's End at their own discretion. Also, wisely using Feint (Slow) and Blunt Arrow (Silence) can be beneficial as well.

I've been maining Brd for the past couple of months and am very comfortable with my playstyle, and while I do not doubt that there is a set "rotation" for optimal DPS that has been thoroughly tested by a theorycrafter, my playstyle and "rotation" work well for me and output good DPS, as far as I am aware. (I don't use a parser.)

If anyone wishes to criticize my "rotation", or playstyle, feel free. I'm certainly not against learning nor am I against improving my DPS.

Popping 4 oGCDs isn't a good thing for an opener.
Also, unbuffed Flaming Arrow, not good :P.

If there's a pull macro, prebuff HE RS BFB at 5s, right into Bloodletter -> IE -> Straight Shot -> Pot -> Windbite -> Flaming Arrow -> Vem Bite -> Barrage -> Empy -> Heavy Shot -> Sidewinder -> IJ -> Priorities.
Thats for when you're putting WM on at the beginning, though I dislike it.

(btw nice timing for Feint right after empy arrow, never really thought of that.)

[Jim_Berry]

It helps to know the fights, especially on a boss. In a dungeon, don't pressure yourself to have "rotations" on trash. However, what I like to do is, with 3+ mobs, I Wind/Venom bite each mob. Once done, I hit each one with Iron Jaws. While you may ask, "How does this allow for more damage?", don't worry about it; trust me.

With a boss, while there's no official rule against it, don't be ashamed to reapply Iron Jaws early. Sometimes, refreshing it early gives you lots of time to blow all your other attacks, such as getting that Bloodletter spam. I also reapply Iron Jaws if I know I need to move from the boss for aoe or to take care of adds.

[Pompompar]

My starting Rotation
Prologue - Foe Requiem and Battle Voice
1) Internal Release
2) Straight shot
3) Raging Strike
4) Venom Bite
5) Eagle Eye
6) Wind Shot
7) Blood for Blood
8) Iron Jaws (to make sure both are not dropping plus rebuff stronger DoT)
9) Barrage
9) Empyreal Arrow
10) Feint ( use this animation combining with 9 to jump-ish closer to Mob)
11) Sidewinder
12) Repelling Shot
13) Iron Jaws
14) Flame Arrow
15) Blunt Arrow

All buffs were about to dropped, and from this point onwards, keep Straight Shot, Iron Jaws up all the time, and use Heavy Shot, Empyreal Arrow, Sidewinder, and any other buffs / non-gcd while they are up.

9 to 10 is always a move that I used to jump closer to monster, if my repelling is out of range.

And .... 9 to 10 are always very cool to do immediately follow with a Repelling Shot


For Dungeon, group mobs -
Foe Requiem
Eagle Eye
Flame Arrow
Buff
Straight shot
Rain of Death
Venom
Wind
On each mob
Rain of Death whenever reset/ ready

I did this and seems to be quite significant

Of course, pumps whatever Crits you can get from your gear selection.
Or take some Crits Food but cheap to make or from MB helps!

[MugenMugetsu]

Excellent advice!

Thanks for the advice! It's greatly appreciated and I will definitely have to put it into practice.