You Spoony Guide! - A Troubadour's Libretto

Lol, you are the one who tried to argue preferences FIRST, not I.

I've been arguing math this entire time. But you keep arguing preference so I had to tell you my preference too. It's not that I place personal preference above math.

Math 2020

I run REMA bard (currently on hiatus). And the progression of my build was actually : REMA . You get your Gjallarhorn 1st because its cheap and easy way to get songs with max potency quicker. Next came Daurdabla because it was behind more hoops to jump through to get (both time and gil). Next came Mythic for me because i wanted the max song time / magic accuracy / and love to DD bard. Last i obtained was Aeonic because it required finding a Linkshell to team up with and getting jobs equipped/capped to be useful to Aeonic runs.

Its really a matter of progression then a stat argument, some sets like MACC and Song Potency come 1st in progression / price because of ease of access/gil so Relic +3 set with Gjallarhorn gets your foot in the door. Most of the bards I know tend to progress through Gjallarhorn : Daurdabla : Marsyas : and optional Carnwenhan.

Because they read guides overrating Gjallahorn or listen to people owning bard and overrating it. It's like Afania said, if they would know that Gjallahorn is least benefiting of all REMA, they would leave it for last upgrade.

I mean I would grab blurred harp and an eminent flute. literally no one knows the difference between +2 and +4 (or +6 and +8) the difference is negligible. (unless you need easy wins to keep you motivated.)

Haste capped without gjallerhorn, attack capped without gjallerhorn since everyone uses geo brd and cor

Worry about the gear, do daur as you find free time, then get marsyas by sleeping for smn shout or buying, then do gjaller ... carn if you really care

2 factors put you into categories that determine the ease and order or making REMA and determine whether you progress down a certain path:

(A) Your a returning player with little profit coming in and limited group access (linkshells and friends to make farming Empyrean popsets quicker, Aeonic runs with competent group, friends to to do Mythic Tokens/Ichor/Books ... etc ..)
(A)) build order: R,E,A,M

or

(B) Already doing endgame content, have access to friends / linkshells who can help you achieve REMA quicker / smoother, and knows the most efficient process to build said REMA.
(B) build order: E,R,A,M

I fell into category (A) for Relic due to my moderate gil income rate, lack of PARTY pop-set farming/access, and familiarity with time/process of build efficiency. Then once I established myself with 2 groups (one 6 man another a LS) I was able to team up for Empyrean Pop farms and Aeonic Linshell / Discord, so was able to do EMA builds smoother.

The point is Gjallarhorn has very low impact on progressing from (A) to (B) and farming Empyrean Pops for Daurdabla is the easiest thing ever. So if your goal is to get into LS and build Aeonic for free, then do Daurdabla first, use it to get into Ambuscade shouts and make easy money for Whistle +1 and 119 Carn, at which point you should be able to get into said LS. Then farm more gils with your Daurdabla/119Carn/+1Whistle BRD and finally make a Gjallarhorn, while hopefully already making progress toward Marsyas with your new/old LS.

If you do BRD for a bis mule and want to start using it asap in variety of content and you plan to buy all instruments, then buy A>E>M>R.

That my last post about this, because obviously people involved in this discussion have clearly very established opinion and nothing will change it.

Isn't this like what happens 99% of the times over these boards lol? xD

If I can add my personal main-BRD point of view.
BRD isn't the job I would suggest to play first to a returning player, period.
Use a different non-DD job, easier/faster to gear up, then use that job as a means to gear up BRD, it's as simple as that.
Returning with with a new character and expecting to gear up BRD as your first job for your one and only account sounds so intensly masochistic to me.

Speaking of priority of Legendary Weapons, I'm with SimonSes concerning the importance order of aquiring them.
A > E > M > R.

This is in general though, some additional considerations are to be made.
Under spoiler in an attempt to reduce the wall o text

Mythic
Empyrean:
Horn

That's it, just my two cents.

The progression argument isn't valid because progression isn't limited to REMA.

People repeatedly pop on the forum and made the same "it's easy so it should comes first" comment. You know what's easier for a new player?

Don't build a ghorn and don't tell anyone that you don't have one! ;) ;) ;).

I am not so sure about this, I have done numerous Augs on Linos and have never actually seen +2, yeah in hindsight going "get Linos it's just as good as horn" is okay, but in reality you are saying go for RnG over the option that you will do in the end anyways.

If anyone is HELP I AM TRAPPED IN 2006 PLEASE SEND A TIME MACHINE enough to not invite you because you don't have a Ghorn but have a +2 Linos that's a different option, but saying get Linos it's so easy is also a bit of a moot point as you could be 100+ augs down and still not have seen a +2 Linos.

100 augs is not really "a lot", keep trying!
Are you 100% sure you're using the right stone?
Are you using +2 stones?

Honestly, while gimp, I'm so obsessed with inventory space I'd take even a +2 (total) songs over gathering 2000 other different instruments lol

Speaking of which don't forget there's Homestead something, a Flute you can buy with Bayld. Has All songs+2 and Duration+x% and some singing skill. Quite nice if you can't get a +2 aug on Linos or simply don't wanna bother with it and save gil for something else.
If you plan to get Ghorn regardless, in the end, I'd save the gil you would have to spend on Linos stones, and use it for something else.
AF upgrades, some Mousai pieces, Neck+1, stuff like that.

Keep Linos though, you'll still want at least one for DD.

Homestead Flute only has that in Reives, which limits the usefulness significantly. Eminent Flute is just a basic +2 to all songs though, so it's viable to start with even if not as good.

Quite a lot of all of this just comes down to individual goals or expectations. It takes very little for a new/returning player (or an alt) to be a significant improvement over a trust BRD.

I wouldn't get +3 linos, personally. I'd just get a Cantabank's Horn for madrigal because that's one song that I really care about potency. Maybe a blurred +1 for better ballad too, which makes it easier to main heal, and useful for sleeps.

Everything else can stay +2 and they still won't make a difference. Haste is capped with +2 if you haste people, so does attack if you ask DDs to do def- WS. Even a better DD set is probably a bigger PT DPS improvement than a few more points of attack. I'd just +3 a few relevant songs then move on to DD set.

Now that Daybreak exists, there's no reason to idle in Sangoma for refresh anymore, is there?

Well that dagger also gives regen as well. I guess if you want the MP and 30mnd (might might help with resists?)

Daybreak also gives 30 MEVA

Does anyone know if the apadamek KI drops in the gold chests? Surely its not time gated behind a 15 min pop + TH?

it is time gated

Any tips is there any low amber strats to get the frags in small boxes or?

All you can really do is keep Amber low enough to not get large boxes, since once you start adding KIs to the potential list of contents, chances for Sisyphus Fragments go down.

Otherwise, it'll be easier and faster if people come help or you can bring additional characters.

So do you know the optimal light spread?

definitely keep it under 100, maybe even as low as 80 from what i remember

We always used 48 amber for Apa farming. Fragments seemed to rain.

Might be a dumb question...but which is better? Blurred Harp +1 or Emp Harp? For sleeps

Blurred +1 is 2+2(Lullaby+4), so +40% duration plus magic accuracy, vs. Daur's +30% duration only.

Daur allows you to use pretty much your normal duration/macc/midcast gear without any sort of sacrifice, and still reach the 486skill range tier for Horde Lullaby II (+2 yalms radius).
This is possible thanks to the String+20 on Daurdabla.

With Blurred Harp +1 you get +10% duration, but you would need to swap stuff in your midcast Lullaby set to reach the 486skill tier.
Personally I never spent time to check if this is possible without sacrifices.
I mean without sacrificing any of the slots that have +song duration. Legs, Body, Feet, Hands (Lullaby+2) etc.
I bet you would lose some macc, which is an affordable loss if you plan on having NiTro up.


Personally I went a different approach. Big duration (but small range) or slightly less duration and big range.
In the first setup I use Marsyas (+50% duration), in the second setup I use Daurdabla (+30% duration but wide range).

Ok did a small test.
This is the set I currently use (max duration) for Horde Lullaby II

ItemSet 372127
Cape is CHR+20, Macc+30, FC+10.
It's 489 String skill with Daurdabla(skill range tier is 486).
Not sure if it's really BiS since I haven't updated it in a while (except the new earring) but should be pretty close to BiS I guess.
With Blurred Harp+1 you would need at least 17 String Skill from somewhere else.

Can get:
+5 on waist (small macc loss)
+4 on back (HUGE macc loss)
+3 on sub if you're /NIN or /DNC (huge macc loss)

That's it unless I'm forgetting some augmentable thing.
So yeah, not possible if you want to keep the same duration.
If you don't wanna keep the same duration the smallest sacrifice is Body.
If you equip Brioso Justaucorps +3 in its place you lose 12% duration and gain lots of macc and +14 String Skill.
Just Body and Waist would be enough and you would get more or less the same macc, bit more probably.

But all of this for what reason? Let's move a few steps back: to benefit from Blurred Harp +1's bigger duration (10%) over Daurdabla, and still mantain the same range.
But to do that you lose 12% duration from the body...



Conclusions:
Blurred Harp +1 is imho not particularly worth it.
If you want max duration and you don't care for range ==> use the set above (or similar) and Marsyas
If you want max duration AND range AND duration ==> use the set above (or similar) and Daurdabla (~2% more duration than Blurred Harp +1)
If you want max Macc and then the most Duration AND 486 skill tier without any sort of sacrifice to macc ==> use a different set (5/5 AF+3, Luminary Sash, 2x Macc earring) and Blurred Harp +1.

Last set will get you best macc, 486 skill tier range but ~19% less duration compared to the previous two setups.
Remember that the mentioned ~19% duration is ~38% duration during NiTro, also remember that during NiTro Macc is virtually non relevant.

Last note for people who don't know it.
Horde Lullabies cast with a Wind Instrument have fixed range (the minimum) but receive a macc bonus from the Wind Instrument skill (both innate and from gear)
Horde Lullabies cast with a String Instrument have variable range in tiers according to String skill, but have less macc (they don't receive the bonus mentioned above).

Said in other terms:
Wind Instrument Skill gives Macc but of course is ignored if you use a String Instrument to cast your song.
String Instrument Skill gives bonus range but is ignored if you use a Wind Instrument to cast your song.

I managed to get a hold of two pieces of Chironic (legs and feet) with +2 TH each. They both have a little extra MACC on them as well. How do you guys feel about a TH4 toggle for spamming Horde Lullaby I/II in things like Dynamis wave 1/2? I still maintain full AoE for Horde II with Daurdabla and seems good for utility. Obviously if there's a THF there it might not be needed, but it seems like a cool thing to have on hand.

ItemSet 372128

Relevant Augments Only
Chironic Legs:
MACC +10, TH +2

Chironic Feet:
MACC +13, TH +2

ooo thx u for the explanation!