Bard Endgame - Suggestions and Strategies

[Rosencranz]

1st part: things to do not.

- Don't consider Second Wind a crappy skill: having the best crit rating actually seen (i have not so good gear, and still i have 400+ crit rating w/o buffs), Second Wind can trigger critical healing pretty often.

- Don't forget to use songs. Many players look bad at songs because of that -20% damage. But remember, we are critical masters, so isn't so problematic that. And during endgame you'll need a source of mana regeneration, or tp regeneration, the fights are long, tiring, and healer's mana need to be at least 1/3 of his total, almost never dropping below this point. If you have a magic dps in your party, the -10% elemental resistance is nice, very nice.

[Rosencranz]

2nd part: things to do.

- Rain of Death is useful even with single bosses: isn't useful for the damages or for the area, but for the -10% damages the mob will do. -10% damages inflicted means +10% Tank health saved, which mean -10% time healer spend healing him, and +10% time dps can damage the boss. So, stick with that, and go on.

- ALWAYS keep your buffs up. Raging strike, Hawk's eye, Internal Release, Featherfoot... Are useful, really. Don't spam attacks, take a second and put up your buffs. You'll need that +20% dodge, or that +20% critical rating (remember second wind and critical healing?). And, mostly of all, quelling strike. Less Enmity mean more attacks, and so more damages w/o being targeted.

- Look and the enmity meter. Don't make it go too much in yellow. You're squishy, so a misplaced step and you're dead.

[Rosencranz]

3rd part: All about bard

Bards have a lot of debuffs, so we must learn to do a little damage to do a greater effect. Is better to cause -20% damage less to do +20% healing more for the sch and the whm (sch lose a lot of mp, remember). Or to give a lot of tp to other dps and tanks (dragoon can gain 500 tp on the spot, but we can do better, believe me. And tanks need tp too for the enmity combos). We must stay away from the front line, rushing in only to make our songs usefuls, to throw the occasionally rain of death attack, and then go back. Stay focused on your surrounding, always be on the move, hit & run, Dodge & sing, and you'll do a great Bard Job.

Last thing last... Have fun, be polite, you'll die a lot of times for every possible motive. Make a laugh of it, start again, and enjoy the game.

<joke> Also, our gear is AWESOME: who don't like that, isn't a true bard. U_U/</joke>

[Fiosha_Maureiba]

The good thing about Rain of Death is that you do not need to be near the target to shoot it.

BUT if a bard does decide to run in and whisper sweet melodies in the enemy's ear, they can use Repelling Shot to bounce out again.

Repelling Shot is also independent of the global cooldown timer, so you can use it like Bloodletter. (e.g. Heavy Shot/Straight Shot -> Bloodletter -> Repelling Shot within a 3 second window).

[Kairgon]

Just curious, question for you.

How rotation would you usually use when you run dungeon or raid?
Mines is more like Straight Shot > Windbite > Venomous Bite > Flaming Arrow > Heavy shot >Bloodletter > Heavy shot (until any of them ran out, and repeat)

And for song, do you just use right away as starting fight boss or? I usually use it when i see healer at 50% of mana, or myself's TP become getting a bit lower than 50%. (I never had issuse with healer's mana at all when theyre at 50% that is. But TP.. it's tougher when you cant see your party's TP.)

Also, I have trouble time to figuring out which monster can be silence, and what not. Mostly I've been using, seem doesnt work on a lot boss.

Oh and, I wonder if song does stack if you have more than one bard? Probably not for party member, but for yourself and Bard? Would be nice getting TP back from someone while youre doing Mana song.

[Acretia]

How should the Bonus 30 stat points be spent on BRD?

[Clavaat]

How should the Bonus 30 stat points be spent on BRD?

DEX mostly as far as I can tell.

Also, I just wanted to post about the importance of Shadowbind. This is definitely one of my favorite abilities as a BRD (only 42 atm, but have certainly used it a lot).

There have been several common scenarios where using SB correctly has saved my life and/or helped the party get through particularly tough spots in dungeons.

1. Combo's with SMN: SMN has a lot of knockback moves. They normally do this with the intention of buying the tank/healer some time to gather themselves. This works wonderfully with SB. You simply watch for the knockback, wait for their dizzy to end, and hit it with an SB. As long as it connects, you just bought another few vital seconds for you team.

[Clavaat]

2. Protecting a designated sleeper WHM: Sometimes the WHM is unable to land Repose the first cast. This is a perfect opportunity to help him out and give him some breathing room with an SB shot on a targeted mob. This also works if the tank needs more time to finish off a mob before going to the next, and the sleep wears off.

[Clavaat]

3. KITING: So, so, so very important in kiting. I can't tell you how many times this has bought me just enough time to gather breathing room and determine space while being chased. Last night, Aspidochelone popped (the giant tortoise). I was the only one around, I did a shout, waited a minute or two and no one showed up. I couldn't let this go to waste so I started kiting him around his FATE area. It took about 8 minutes for anyone to show up, I dropped him a little over 1/4 health and 2 other guys joined and helped kill him. The best times to use SB in that situation were when the boss was charging up one of his specials. This goes for all mobs. Wait for them to finish their move, then immediately SB them, you got yourself more time to use Barrage and deal lots of damage.

All of these situations are really dependent on SB actually landing, but I seriously recommend using this ability and getting practice with it even at early levels.

[Clavaat]

The good thing about Rain of Death is that you do not need to be near the target to shoot it.

BUT if a bard does decide to run in and whisper sweet melodies in the enemy's ear, they can use Repelling Shot to bounce out again.

Repelling Shot is also independent of the global cooldown timer, so you can use it like Bloodletter. (e.g. Heavy Shot/Straight Shot -> Bloodletter -> Repelling Shot within a 3 second window).

This is actually a very important note. You can essentially cancel moves that aren't on a Global Cooldown with ones that are, while still being able to get the damage off. The animation may not fully render, but you are getting the hits. This is helpful when deciding on a rotation, maximizing damage.