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You Spoony Guide! - A Troubadour's Libretto
You Spoony Guide! - A Troubadour's Libretto
Bard is a staple of the Final Fantasy series, first appearing in Final Fantasy 3 (the first game with a true jobs system) and appearing in nearly every Final Fantasy to include a job system since. Masters of songs, Bard's traditional role has been to buff their party and debuff the enemy using the Sing ability. In FFXI Bard is crucial as a buffer in alliance content (and even in some lowman groups), as an enfeebler of enemies and a remover of their buffs, and even as an attacker under the right circumstances. This guide, written with the assistance and wisdom of several others, will attempt to collect all the information relevant to the job and provide an updated insight into how the job is played in today's FFXI. I have done my best to collect as much information as possible, and my greatest hope is that this guide will continue to grow and knowledge of the modern Bard will increase.
Unlocking Bard and preparing for battle:
To unlock Bard you much first reach level 30 and complete the quest Path of the Bard. Scrolls are cheap and plentiful on the AH with few exceptions (I have never seen a scroll of Army's Paeon V on AH, but that's about it) so buy them up. Make sure to grab a string and wind instrument (don't worry about level). If you are collecting gear from Abyssea before you level/skill the job, grab everything! All three of Bard's AF3 accessories are useful, and the AF3+2 armor set is possibly the only one with a set bonus potent enough to justify wearing all 5 pieces until you obtain top-tier armor.
How to skill up - I'm guessing if you're concerned about skillups you probably Abyssea burned to 99. Fortunately, there is an easy and stress-free way to ungimp those skills. Here's what you can do: go to Sea and target Om'hpemde or another mob that does not become aggressive until it takes damage. Pull it to a quiet corner and spam threnody, finale, and lullaby until all skills are level 240+. It won't attack, and if you decide to go make a sandwich or run to the store for beer you can easily pull a new one when you get back (just watch for sharks!) You have two options next, one of which is to go to Castle Zvahl Baileys (S) and repeat the previous process on Zvahl Fortilace. Alternatively, head to Abyssea, stack regen atmas (, and repeat the previous process on your mob of choice (worms work really well) until cap. Bard has a skill ranking of C (caps at 373) in singing, string, and wind skills; you'll want to cap all your skills even if you only have one instrument right now. The level of your instrument has no impact on accuracy or skill up rate, but magic skill up food will help.
Subjobs in a Group: In party, Bard's 2 main options are /whm and /rdm. /whm grants more cure potency, access to -na spells, Auto-Regen/Magic Defense Bonus II/Clear Mind II job traits, the Teleport spells, and AoE barspells. /rdm lacks the support abilities of /whm for the most part, but grants access to the Fast Cast II job trait, Dispel (an Abyssea proc), Enspells, Phalanx, and Refresh. As a rule, if playing an event where you will be called on to support in a healing role, /whm is your best bet, but if purely worried about maintaining buffs and debuffing/dispelling mob /rdm is an option. If playing content that allows Bard to DD without supporting the healers, /nin will grant Dual Wield III and enhance your /check rate from alliance members.
Subjobs when solo: /dnc is the preferred subjob for Dynamis and some Abyssea content. It can take advantage of self-skillchains (Mordant Rime + Evisceration gives Darkness), Violent Flourish for stuns, and Dual Wield II. Note that it will vary on a mob-by-mob basis, but a good base atma set-up is RR/Sea Daughter. For casters, consider Future Fabulous, while for a more accurate, physically-oriented mob consider Gnarled Horn or Mounted Champion. /nin is also a viable solo job for mobs that don't require you to stun -agas, make sure to keep Elegy and Marches up full-time and it should be possible to cycle through shadows without needing to heal. There is a confirmed solo of Early Bird Gets the Wyrm by a /mage Bard, this is quite a bit slower than killing with a dual wielding subjob but it is encouraging to know there are more options out there if people have the guts to try new things.
Job Abilities
With little need to create gearsets specifically for a JA's effect, and only three significant macro pieces, Bard has it easy compared to some other jobs. Our arsenal is simple but when wielded properly your party will see big returns and NMs will cower in fear.
Soul Voice: 1 hour recast, 3 minute duration. Enhances the effects of all songs. Doubles the potency of Minuet, Madrigal, March, and Ballad. Increases duration of Mazurka (I have not had a need to test this, but hey, your $12.95). Increases potency and accuracy of enfeebling songs. Has a big disco ball, stacks with Nightingale/Troubadour but not with Marcato. When it goes off, make sure you have an instrument equipped and not your fishing rod. The augmented AF2+2 legs will increase the duration of this effect by 30 seconds.
Clarion Call: 1 hour recast, 3 minute duration. Increases the number of songs that can affect party members by one.
Pianissimo: 15 second recast, 1 minute duration or next song. Your next song becomes single-target and the casting time is halved. Extremely useful for giving mages ballads or giving alternate buffs (minuet for that picky RNG you know, for instance).
Nightingale/Troubadour: 10 minute recast, 1 minute duration. These merit JA, usually used in tandem, stack with Soul Voice and are a crucial tool for many endgame zergs. Nightingale halves casting and recast time, while Troubadour increases casting time by 1.5 and doubles duration for both enhancing and enfeebling songs. At 5/5 each these JA will give you one minute of instant-cast and all spells will cast as though Elemental Seal'd, this is handy for enfeebling a mob with Elegy immediately at the start of battle. Bard's AF2+2 Body and Feet can be augmented to add 4 seconds duration per merit level to Troubadour and Nightingale; these augments are highly recommended for anyone who plans on making a Daurdabla.
Tenuto: 15 second recast, 1 minute duration or next song. The next song you cast, if it enhances you, will not be overwritten by subsequent songs. Useful on occasion if you are swapping parties with another bard for extra songs but want to keep your original buffs.
Marcato: 10 minute recast, 1 minute duration or next song. Gives half the boost of Soul Voice and does not stack with SV. Similar to SV, it gives duration boosts to some songs and potency boosts to others. Does not affect Elegy, Lullaby, Requiem, or Threnody.
Merit Points
Merits are fairly simple for Bard, as 15/20 of our job-specific merits are no brainers. Group 1 contains the only decision to be made. Singing/String/Wind merits are fantastic for accuracy if you have the space for them, but you can easily get by without them and potentially see a greater return from meriting Healing Magic Skill or Enhancing Magic instead. If you are interested in the combat side of Bard, you will want to fully merit dagger skill, or potentially staff skill depending on your other jobs/merited WS.
Group 1: Minuet 5/5 with certainty, but how you spend your other 5 points depends on what events you use bard for and how many songs you have available to you. Lullaby and Finale recast reduction are both defensible choices for any bard. Daurdabla users may have some interest in Madrigal 5/5 as well.
Group 2: Nightingale 5/5, Troubadour 5/5. 100% instant-cast for 1 minute, these JA will be used in every event and are especially crucial in zerg fights such as Provenance Watcher. If you merit these to 5/5 Spellcast users need to make sure they are not casting in precast gear.
Songs
You may have wondered to yourself why Bard only had a C Skill rating (which caps at 373 skill without merits) in Singing, String, and Wing skill. This is because song effects are calculated using Singing skill + String or Wind skill (depending on the instrument you have equipped). Bard can grant two song effects naturally with an instrument equipped, and songs overwrite whichever active song has the shortest duration remaining (this can be important to keep in mind). What follows is a list of the most commonly used songs, their effects, and how Song+ gear affects their potency and duration (as a rule of thumb, assume Song+1 to mean +10% duration).
Ballad: Restores MP to party members, stacks with Refresh. Ballad + gear increases the MP received per tick, making quality Ballad gear essential in events outside Abyssea.
Carol: Increases magic evasion (resistance) to elemental spells, this can be a valuable song for NMs that used powerful elemental AOE like Gates of Hades or Tourbillion, particularly if you have a PLD supertanking mobs and eating lots of magic damage. Carol I is resistance only (and Carol+ equipment increases resistance only for Carol I) while Carol II is resistance with a currently undetermined chance of nullifying elemental damage (Carol+ equipment increases likelihood of nullifying element for Carol II).
Elegy: Increases target's weapon delay and increases their recast time, same effect as Slow and can stack with it and will not be overwritten by haste effects. Has a fixed potency value which is only increased by Elegy+ gear, however accuracy can be increased with CHR and skill gear.
Finale: Dispels a buff from a target, extremely valuable for mobs that have powerful spikes. Finale+ gear increases accuracy.
Lullaby: Inflicts sleep on target(s), has single target and AoE versions. Lullaby is light-elemental, making it a valuable tool when mobs are immune to Sleepga or Dream Flower. Overwritten by Sleep and Sleepga. Horde Lullaby has a 100% chance of wiping an enemy's shadows. Lullaby+ gear increases the duration by 3 seconds.
Madrigal: Enhances melee (but not Ranged) accuracy. Effect can be enhanced by group 1 merits, granting one accuracy per merit up to 5 per song. Madrigal+ gear increases potency and duration of the spell.
Maiden's Virelai: Charms an enemy. You probably won't be charming many NMs with this song, but it has an additional effect of wiping shadows, making this very handy when playing a subjob without access to Diaga.
Mazurka: The best part of playing bard, this song increases movement speed of party members. Chocobo Mazurka gives +24%, stacks with equipment (although not with another Mazurka spell). With easy access to 12% movement speed boots in our AF3 set, Bard is a great job when you have a lot of running around to do.
Minuet: Increases attack and ranged attack for party members. Minuet + gear increases attack bonus up to +17 (at +5), in addition to increasing base duration (before gear/JA) from 120 seconds to a maximum of 180.
March: Reduces attack delay and reduces recast timers for party members. Keep in mind that the delay reduction cap from magical haste is 448/1024. Depending on what other sources of haste your party has, you may not need to use Marcato to reach the magic haste cap. March+ equipment increased both duration and the haste effect; refer to the chart here from BGWiki for precise values.
Prelude: Enhances Ranged (but not Melee) accuracy. Prelude+ gear increases potency and duration of the spell.
Scherzo: Reduces damage taken from single attacks that would remove more than 75% of hp. Does not proc on multiple hit attacks. Damage reduction caps at 800 from skill (instrument + singing + gear) for a maximum of -45% reduction. Scherzo + gear can push Scherzo's damage reduction to -50% at +5, in addition to pushing base duration from 120 seconds to a maximum of 180 seconds (270 seconds with Marcato, which can be a huge help for any fight you'd use Scherzo for).
Threnody: Enfeebles target's resistance against magic of a certain element. Will not increase magic damage cap, but will increase the likelihood of unresisted magic attacks/enfeebles of a certain element. This is also Bard's main proc spell in both Abyssea and Voidwatch. Threnody+ gear increases the effect and duration of the song.
Instruments
The Relic and Empyrean instruments for Bard present a different challenge than that faced by most jobs (which is better?). Both provide a boost to the job that is unique to the instrument, and the top Bards have both 99 Relic and 90+ Empyrean.
Gjallarhorn: More than just the ultimate inventory saver, at the level 99 stage this relic wind instrument grants All Songs +4 making it the preferred instrument in the game for anything you can sing. In addition, the 99 version has +25 Singing and Wind Instrument skill. Notably, this instrument provides an additional enhancement tier for many songs that are not available otherwise, and for some songs (Scherzo and Ballad most significantly) is the only way to exceed +2 enhancement tiers.
Daurdabla: Another important piece for an elite endgame bard, the 90 stage of this empyrean string instrument grants an additional song effect and the 99 stage grants two additional song effects. The additional song effects granted by this instrument can be overwritten by other instruments. In addition, the 90-99 stages of this weapon have Song Skill/String Skill +20.If you want to play bard but do not have 99 Gjallarhorn, you have a bit of a scavenger hunt ahead of you, but it is possible to get +3 instruments for most songs. There are easier-to-obtain options for some of these songs, but for the sake of inventory I've only included those which I consider essential.
Terpander: Grants an additional song effect, great alternative to those who don't have a Daurdabla or who don't plan on putting in the work for one. Obtained by trading a Cehuetzi Pelt, an Ebony Harp, a Shofar, and 150 of either Plutons, Beitetsu, or Riftborn Boulders to Oboro in Port Jeuno(must have obtained any Delve Mega Boss title, completed an SKCNM with difficulty of "Difficult" or higher, and completed any High Tier Battlefield fight on difficulty of "Normal" or higher.)
eminent flute: All Songs +2. Obtained from a Records of Eminence NPC in exchange for 10,000 Sparks of Eminence. Other instruments beat this out as they give +3 to most useful songs, but this is a choice instrument for songs like Ballad for non-Gjallarhorn users.
langeleik: March +3, Etude +3. Drops from Celaeno, Bastok Tier IV VWNM.
apollo's flute: Minuet +3. Drops from Mx'grah, spawned with Colorful Demilune Abyssite in Abyssea - Misareaux
Pan's horn: Finale +3, Lullaby +3. Drops from Pantokrator in Abyssea - Uleguerand.
syrinx: Elegy +3, Minne +3. Drops off Seps in Abyssea - Vunkerl, can also be bought.
vihuela: Mambo +3, Mazurka +3. Drops from Blazing Eruca in Abyssea - Attohwa, can also be bought.
sorrowful harp: Threnody +3. Drops from Copycat, Double Dragonian, and Seasons Greeting BCNMs, can also be bought.
cantabank's horn: Madrigal +3, Prelude +3. Drops from Amun in Abyssea - Attohwa.
oneiros harp: Paeon +3. Drops from Va'Zhe Pummelsong in Dynamis - Bastok, can also be bought. This instrument also gives Regen +1.Precast Daggers
felibre's dague: Singing Skill +7, Song Spellcasting -6%. Drops from Azdaja in Abyssea - Grauberg.
dweomer knife: A crafted/bought dagger that can be augmented with Song Spellcasting Time -X% (ranging from 2-5%) through the quest Succor to the Sidhe.Postcast Daggers
Carnwenhan: The mack daddy of daggers, BRD's Mythic weapon, this extends Song effect duration by 50% when upgraded to Lv.99. Also a really good debuff weapon paired with a M.Acc+5 augmented Genbu's shield, only beaten by a max augmented lehbrailg +2 w/ mephitis grip. Obtained from the Arms of Balrahn questline, more info on that can be found here.
legato dagger: Good alternative to Carnwenhan, and may also be offhanded with it on a DNC or NIN sub. This increases Song effect duration by 5%. Obtained from the SKCNM20 "Kindred Spirits", but can also be bought.
Carnwenhan: The mack daddy of daggers, BRD's Mythic weapon, this extends Song effect duration by 50% when upgraded to Lv.99. Also a really good debuff weapon paired with a M.Acc+5 augmented Genbu's shield, only beaten by a max augmented lehbrailg +2 w/ mephitis grip. Obtained from the Arms of Balrahn questline, more info on that can be found here.legato dagger: Good alternative to Carnwenhan, and may also be offhanded with it on a DNC or NIN sub. This increases Song effect duration by 5%. Obtained from the SKCNM20 "Kindred Spirits", but can also be bought.Gear
Songs (Buffs)
•Magic Accuracy effects magic hit rate for songs.
•Charisma will either be equal to or less than Magic Accuracy depending on the target, but should generally be regarded as the latter: "2 CHR = 1 Magic Accuracy." 1 CHR is equivalent to Magic Accuracy until dCHR is greater than 10~15 (dCHR is the difference of your CHR and the target's CHR). In other words, once your CHR is at least 10~15 higher than the target's CHR, then 2 CHR is equivalent to Magic Accuracy. So, it is best to just make your set assuming the ratio is 2:1, as generally our CHR is this high for most targets anyways when you factor in gear assuming 2:1 already. There may be some very, very high level targets (high level Incursion/Vagary, maybe some VD merit fights) for CHR to be a M.Acc equivalent, even after considering your equipment. But even then, if you compare two optimal sets, one assuming 2:1 and one assuming 1:1, there is very few contrast anyways. So it's not a big hassle to have two sets ready for both instances of CHR's behavioral differences.
•Singing Skill is roughly equivalent to Magic Accuracy.
•Wind/Stringed Instrument Skill seems to be a bit more complicated. First assumed to be 1:1 like their counterpart, Singing Skill, it's recently been questioned to actually have lower Magic Accuracy values than Singing. It seems hard to believe that we would have so much more innate Magic Accuracy than any other job, so some have proposed instrument skills are a 3:1 ratio to Magic Accuracy, or it could even be a larger amount of Skill needed to match 1 Magic Acc. However, it's possible there's a further modifier or quantification to explain this, or that both Instrument and Singing Skills are valued lower than originally thought. The first explanation of Instrument skills just being a lower rate seems most likely though.
Equipment sets designed to optimize the most HP or MP generation while activities are Idle. While actually performing tasks, it would be wiser to build a set mixed more of Damage taken- pieces and these pieces, as opposed to the sets only intended for inactive purposes.
Darkness/Black Earrings are augmented with PDT-2%. The first two sets have 50% PDT and are most easy on inventory, the first can mostly be bought, the second uses reforged i119 Relic. The third set has 50% PDT but also frees your weapon slot, its purpose lies mainly in DD uses to avoid TP loss. The last set is a 50% PDT set as well, however it also has Regen pieces to fill in the cracks, harsh on inventory but you get the most out of this one.
Credit to Creelo for the first ideal set. The second set is stacked with -enmity and recast pieces. There are several cure potency pieces available to BRD. Everyone can take up their own preferences for how they build their sets whether recast is most important to you or the most potent cures is. Ideally you want to get 50% potency before anything else. Between Arka IV, Heka's kalasiris and either Iaso mitra, Marduk's tiara or Bokwus gloves it should be really easy to cap potency.
ItemSet 300398
With this set you can cap cure casting time, Cure Potency and get 6% Quick magic, -23 enmity. Genbu's shield Augments up to 5% Cure Potency and 8% Cure Casting Time, Iaso mitra Augments with Cure Casting Time 9 or 10%, Iaso boots Augments with Cure Casting Time 5 or 6%. pahtli cape is a good alternative choice to medala cape.
A set with all around casting reduction pieces.
Obviously, it is not optimized as a set by itself, for a number of reasons: 1.) Quick Magic is not capped, emphasis is on Fast Cast, and 2.) There are specific spells, that have higher casting reduction pieces specific to that spell type. For example, this set has a standard Fast Cast+8% leg piece, Volte Brais. However, for songs, we would be better off using Quirkening Brais (Song spellcasting time -10%) and for most Mage sub spells, we would rather use Doyen Pants (Cure Spellcasting Time -15% / Stoneskin spellcasting time -10%). By reducing more, this allows us to drop other pieces in the set, to either ease our inventory, or to add in other pieces like Quick Magic, Regen or Refresh. In my example, however, Volte Brais aren't totally irrelevant, as there are still other spells it would be useful for, like Utsusemi, Blink, etc.
Because there is a lot of variety in casting reduction pieces today, we can't necessarily be dogmatic about what is considered "best" in a casting reduction set. However, if you are considering having more than just a precast set for songs (Cure/Stoneskin/Utsusemi/Misc.) the goal should be:
•To cap casting time reduction (80%) in your precast set. Or get as close as you can if you can't cap.
•To cap Quick Magic (10%) in the same set.
•Accomplishing both of the above in as few pieces as possible to conserve inventory, and potentially using now-empty slots for Regen/Refresh/DT.
•Sharing as many pieces as possible between all sets, to further reduce inventory and wardrobe strain.
It's also worth noting that /RDM significantly reduces the slot usage in some combinations, too.
ItemSet 358404
Enhancing Magic Skill + (3×MND) - 190 determines Stoneskin potency, which caps at 350 HP. We can easily cap Stoneskin with MND gear at our disposal, without needing specific or specialized pieces, plus the four pieces above.
Song Swapping in Zerg Situations: In events such as Provenance Watcher, Absolute Virtue, and Legion alliances will frequently swap bards during buffing. Two bards singing different songs will not overwrite each other, so when asked to swap simply sing your set of songs, drop to other party, and sing the same set of songs. This enables both DD parties to keep up two (or more! but probably just two) full sets of buffs.
Abyssea: In Abyssea your main job will be Marches x2 and proc'ing yellow weakness. Ballads are irrelevant with refresh atmas, Minuets are unnecessary, and even Carols are useless considering the ease with which most NMs can be stunlocked. All of bard's yellow procs in Abyssea can be sung by /brd, so only the largest parties will have room for a Bard in this event. Bard can solo quite a few Abyssea NMs using /dnc and a mixture of Regen and Regain atmas, I'll be adding more information on this later.
Einherjar: March x2, Pianissimo Ballads for WHMs, Minuets for ranged attackers, horde lullaby on pulls. Einherjar is not difficult at 99 cap, but Bard is still a useful addition to the team. If your group is pulling a lot of mobs (particularly spellcasters) a helpful strategy is to cycle Horde Lullaby I and II, it stops a lot of spells from going off and keeps the untouched mobs asleep. If you're like me and you do Einherjar with enough people that no one cares if you do anything but marches, this is a great event to bust out your DD bard set!
Voidwatch: March x2, proc weakness. Minuet x2 for Bismarck. Voidwatch fights are so short, and temp items so plentiful, that bard has a limited role. Spam threnodies for hints, and make sure not to brag when you get the drop all the DDs want. Atmacites you may want to focus on are Atmacite of Enticement (MP +10%, CHR +15, Magic Accuracy +5, Sphere: "Regen" +3 at lvl 15) and Atmacite of the Shrewd (Damage taken -10%, "Magic Atk. Bonus" +10, Magic Accuracy +15, Enmity -10 at lvl 15). Another MACC atmacite might be handy, but in most Voidwatch groups you can safely sub /blm for access to Elemental Seal (for a hard-to-hit debuff proc), so feel free to consider Atmacite of Provenance.
Legion: Finally, a complicated event where bard shines! Bard has many roles in legion. The most important thing you can do is learn how your group's strategy works. You may be asked to Scherzo, keep Ballad up fulltime on healers, keep Carol up on supertanks, and keep a variety of offensive buffs up on your DDs. This is my favorite event to play on bard, as no matter what my role is I stay busy. I typically sub /sch to help remove Curse and other debuffs, but every group is different and you should communicate with your WHM and see if the Refresh spell from /rdm will be more useful. Whether you sub /sch or /rdm, make sure to pay attention to the health of everyone in your party. Legion is an event where a clutch Cure IV can be the difference between a smooth run and a wipe, so in this event more than any other you need to maximize your team's chances of winning by doing anything you can to help between rebuffing.
Odin v2: Odin v2 does nasty dispel moves, so constant rebuffing is necessary. As a result, positioning awareness is key for this fight. Keeping DD's HP topped off is essential, so make sure to keep Ballads up on your WHM full-time. Finale is the only means of dispelling Dread Spikes, make sure to watch for your cue. As with Legion, see what debuffs if any you'll be expected to help with and adjust your subjob accordingly, and be sure to throw cures and haste out when you have MP.
Nyzul Isle v2 (NNI): Fulfill all your pole dancing fantasies while watching Buffing the party, because you are going to be the Rune whore. Role of the Bard during NNI is to buff the party, primarily the DDs with Marches and Hastaga (from /SMN via Garuda), Giving the SCH and yourself Ballad and giving the whole party Mazurka during Lamp floors. After Buffing the party during a Lamp floor, take note of which way your party members have gone, since you may be required to find the Lamp if it is a Code floor, on boss floors buff party and debuff the NM and then head back to the Rune, if pressed for time and near a 80 or 100 floor, you might want to SV your songs to help push for it.
Delve: This is an event that brings back some of the lost art of Bard pulling, during Plasm farms, a Bard will be buffing their party with Marches/Minuets/Ballads, pulling mobs by aggroing with Mazurka and might even be required to sac NMs for the Sacrifice/Tank to hold, just be careful when getting back up after sacing as the NMs like to AoE.
Of coarse it would be rude to ignore the role of a Bard when killing the aforementioned NMs, on most of the NMs you'll be needing to land the usual Requiem, Elegy, Nocturne for debuffs and casting Finale to dispel any buffs on the NM, just take note of what NMs your fighting and adjust accordingly, also the NMs have higher evasion than the Fodder mobs, so you may need to throw around some Madrigals about depending on your DDs, that and the fact that the NMs have their own little tricks and build a insane resistant to debuffs results in a interesting fight.
Other content: I will post more to this section later, feel free to suggest a topic for me to add here!
This guide could not have been written without the knowledge and assistance of others, and I hope that it will continue to grow with the help of the AH community and foster a better understanding of the job. For a staggering amount of the information in this guide, credit is due to Bruno, who I absolutely could not have finished this project without. Would also like to thank some of my LS members for reading this over, the contributors at BGWiki and Wikia for giving me the foundation for much of this, and the FFXIAH community for inspiring me to learn more about this job and the game in general. If you notice any errors that need correcting and we miss your post feel free to PM Bruno, Hidegger or Sigfreid and we'll address it as soon as we have time. Thanks and happy singing!
| ItemSet 323184 |
| Swap | Song |
 |
Paeon |
 |
Scherzo |
 |
Ballad |
 |
Etude |
 |
Minne |
 |
Mambo |
Songs (Debuffs)
The precise mechanics of magic hit rate for Bard's debuffs are currently unknown, but what we do know is:
| ItemSet 321745 |
The precise mechanics of magic hit rate for Bard's debuffs are currently unknown, but what we do know is:
•Magic Accuracy effects magic hit rate for songs.
•Charisma will either be equal to or less than Magic Accuracy depending on the target, but should generally be regarded as the latter: "2 CHR = 1 Magic Accuracy." 1 CHR is equivalent to Magic Accuracy until dCHR is greater than 10~15 (dCHR is the difference of your CHR and the target's CHR). In other words, once your CHR is at least 10~15 higher than the target's CHR, then 2 CHR is equivalent to Magic Accuracy. So, it is best to just make your set assuming the ratio is 2:1, as generally our CHR is this high for most targets anyways when you factor in gear assuming 2:1 already. There may be some very, very high level targets (high level Incursion/Vagary, maybe some VD merit fights) for CHR to be a M.Acc equivalent, even after considering your equipment. But even then, if you compare two optimal sets, one assuming 2:1 and one assuming 1:1, there is very few contrast anyways. So it's not a big hassle to have two sets ready for both instances of CHR's behavioral differences.
•Singing Skill is roughly equivalent to Magic Accuracy.
•Wind/Stringed Instrument Skill seems to be a bit more complicated. First assumed to be 1:1 like their counterpart, Singing Skill, it's recently been questioned to actually have lower Magic Accuracy values than Singing. It seems hard to believe that we would have so much more innate Magic Accuracy than any other job, so some have proposed instrument skills are a 3:1 ratio to Magic Accuracy, or it could even be a larger amount of Skill needed to match 1 Magic Acc. However, it's possible there's a further modifier or quantification to explain this, or that both Instrument and Singing Skills are valued lower than originally thought. The first explanation of Instrument skills just being a lower rate seems most likely though.
| ItemSet 358398 | ItemSet 357206 |
Equipment sets designed to optimize the most HP or MP generation while activities are Idle. While actually performing tasks, it would be wiser to build a set mixed more of Damage taken- pieces and these pieces, as opposed to the sets only intended for inactive purposes.
| ItemSet 245506 | ItemSet 322809 | ItemSet 322810 | ItemSet 322811 |
Darkness/Black Earrings are augmented with PDT-2%. The first two sets have 50% PDT and are most easy on inventory, the first can mostly be bought, the second uses reforged i119 Relic. The third set has 50% PDT but also frees your weapon slot, its purpose lies mainly in DD uses to avoid TP loss. The last set is a 50% PDT set as well, however it also has Regen pieces to fill in the cracks, harsh on inventory but you get the most out of this one.
| ItemSet 336315 | ItemSet 336316 |
| ItemSet 333737 |
| ItemSet 255348 | ItemSet 261673 |
Credit to Creelo for the first ideal set. The second set is stacked with -enmity and recast pieces. There are several cure potency pieces available to BRD. Everyone can take up their own preferences for how they build their sets whether recast is most important to you or the most potent cures is. Ideally you want to get 50% potency before anything else. Between Arka IV, Heka's kalasiris and either Iaso mitra, Marduk's tiara or Bokwus gloves it should be really easy to cap potency.
ItemSet 300398
With this set you can cap cure casting time, Cure Potency and get 6% Quick magic, -23 enmity. Genbu's shield Augments up to 5% Cure Potency and 8% Cure Casting Time, Iaso mitra Augments with Cure Casting Time 9 or 10%, Iaso boots Augments with Cure Casting Time 5 or 6%. pahtli cape is a good alternative choice to medala cape.
| ItemSet 358172 |
A set with all around casting reduction pieces.
Obviously, it is not optimized as a set by itself, for a number of reasons: 1.) Quick Magic is not capped, emphasis is on Fast Cast, and 2.) There are specific spells, that have higher casting reduction pieces specific to that spell type. For example, this set has a standard Fast Cast+8% leg piece, Volte Brais. However, for songs, we would be better off using Quirkening Brais (Song spellcasting time -10%) and for most Mage sub spells, we would rather use Doyen Pants (Cure Spellcasting Time -15% / Stoneskin spellcasting time -10%). By reducing more, this allows us to drop other pieces in the set, to either ease our inventory, or to add in other pieces like Quick Magic, Regen or Refresh. In my example, however, Volte Brais aren't totally irrelevant, as there are still other spells it would be useful for, like Utsusemi, Blink, etc.
Because there is a lot of variety in casting reduction pieces today, we can't necessarily be dogmatic about what is considered "best" in a casting reduction set. However, if you are considering having more than just a precast set for songs (Cure/Stoneskin/Utsusemi/Misc.) the goal should be:
•To cap casting time reduction (80%) in your precast set. Or get as close as you can if you can't cap.
•To cap Quick Magic (10%) in the same set.
•Accomplishing both of the above in as few pieces as possible to conserve inventory, and potentially using now-empty slots for Regen/Refresh/DT.
•Sharing as many pieces as possible between all sets, to further reduce inventory and wardrobe strain.
It's also worth noting that /RDM significantly reduces the slot usage in some combinations, too.
ItemSet 358404
Enhancing Magic Skill + (3×MND) - 190 determines Stoneskin potency, which caps at 350 HP. We can easily cap Stoneskin with MND gear at our disposal, without needing specific or specialized pieces, plus the four pieces above.
Roles of Bard
Song Swapping in Zerg Situations: In events such as Provenance Watcher, Absolute Virtue, and Legion alliances will frequently swap bards during buffing. Two bards singing different songs will not overwrite each other, so when asked to swap simply sing your set of songs, drop to other party, and sing the same set of songs. This enables both DD parties to keep up two (or more! but probably just two) full sets of buffs.
Abyssea: In Abyssea your main job will be Marches x2 and proc'ing yellow weakness. Ballads are irrelevant with refresh atmas, Minuets are unnecessary, and even Carols are useless considering the ease with which most NMs can be stunlocked. All of bard's yellow procs in Abyssea can be sung by /brd, so only the largest parties will have room for a Bard in this event. Bard can solo quite a few Abyssea NMs using /dnc and a mixture of Regen and Regain atmas, I'll be adding more information on this later.
Einherjar: March x2, Pianissimo Ballads for WHMs, Minuets for ranged attackers, horde lullaby on pulls. Einherjar is not difficult at 99 cap, but Bard is still a useful addition to the team. If your group is pulling a lot of mobs (particularly spellcasters) a helpful strategy is to cycle Horde Lullaby I and II, it stops a lot of spells from going off and keeps the untouched mobs asleep. If you're like me and you do Einherjar with enough people that no one cares if you do anything but marches, this is a great event to bust out your DD bard set!
Voidwatch: March x2, proc weakness. Minuet x2 for Bismarck. Voidwatch fights are so short, and temp items so plentiful, that bard has a limited role. Spam threnodies for hints, and make sure not to brag when you get the drop all the DDs want. Atmacites you may want to focus on are Atmacite of Enticement (MP +10%, CHR +15, Magic Accuracy +5, Sphere: "Regen" +3 at lvl 15) and Atmacite of the Shrewd (Damage taken -10%, "Magic Atk. Bonus" +10, Magic Accuracy +15, Enmity -10 at lvl 15). Another MACC atmacite might be handy, but in most Voidwatch groups you can safely sub /blm for access to Elemental Seal (for a hard-to-hit debuff proc), so feel free to consider Atmacite of Provenance.
Legion: Finally, a complicated event where bard shines! Bard has many roles in legion. The most important thing you can do is learn how your group's strategy works. You may be asked to Scherzo, keep Ballad up fulltime on healers, keep Carol up on supertanks, and keep a variety of offensive buffs up on your DDs. This is my favorite event to play on bard, as no matter what my role is I stay busy. I typically sub /sch to help remove Curse and other debuffs, but every group is different and you should communicate with your WHM and see if the Refresh spell from /rdm will be more useful. Whether you sub /sch or /rdm, make sure to pay attention to the health of everyone in your party. Legion is an event where a clutch Cure IV can be the difference between a smooth run and a wipe, so in this event more than any other you need to maximize your team's chances of winning by doing anything you can to help between rebuffing.
Odin v2: Odin v2 does nasty dispel moves, so constant rebuffing is necessary. As a result, positioning awareness is key for this fight. Keeping DD's HP topped off is essential, so make sure to keep Ballads up on your WHM full-time. Finale is the only means of dispelling Dread Spikes, make sure to watch for your cue. As with Legion, see what debuffs if any you'll be expected to help with and adjust your subjob accordingly, and be sure to throw cures and haste out when you have MP.
Nyzul Isle v2 (NNI): Fulfill all your pole dancing fantasies while watching Buffing the party, because you are going to be the Rune whore. Role of the Bard during NNI is to buff the party, primarily the DDs with Marches and Hastaga (from /SMN via Garuda), Giving the SCH and yourself Ballad and giving the whole party Mazurka during Lamp floors. After Buffing the party during a Lamp floor, take note of which way your party members have gone, since you may be required to find the Lamp if it is a Code floor, on boss floors buff party and debuff the NM and then head back to the Rune, if pressed for time and near a 80 or 100 floor, you might want to SV your songs to help push for it.
Delve: This is an event that brings back some of the lost art of Bard pulling, during Plasm farms, a Bard will be buffing their party with Marches/Minuets/Ballads, pulling mobs by aggroing with Mazurka and might even be required to sac NMs for the Sacrifice/Tank to hold, just be careful when getting back up after sacing as the NMs like to AoE.
Of coarse it would be rude to ignore the role of a Bard when killing the aforementioned NMs, on most of the NMs you'll be needing to land the usual Requiem, Elegy, Nocturne for debuffs and casting Finale to dispel any buffs on the NM, just take note of what NMs your fighting and adjust accordingly, also the NMs have higher evasion than the Fodder mobs, so you may need to throw around some Madrigals about depending on your DDs, that and the fact that the NMs have their own little tricks and build a insane resistant to debuffs results in a interesting fight.
Other content: I will post more to this section later, feel free to suggest a topic for me to add here!
Conclusion
This guide could not have been written without the knowledge and assistance of others, and I hope that it will continue to grow with the help of the AH community and foster a better understanding of the job. For a staggering amount of the information in this guide, credit is due to Bruno, who I absolutely could not have finished this project without. Would also like to thank some of my LS members for reading this over, the contributors at BGWiki and Wikia for giving me the foundation for much of this, and the FFXIAH community for inspiring me to learn more about this job and the game in general. If you notice any errors that need correcting and we miss your post feel free to PM Bruno, Hidegger or Sigfreid and we'll address it as soon as we have time. Thanks and happy singing!
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