How To Bard

[Mirimon]

How to Bard

Now, You may have come here to sharpen your skills either because you choose to play a bard or because you have been selected to do so.. either way I will lay down some very simple ways for you to play the role in a raid environment. First I will discuss the basic specs, and why they are talented the way that they are. Then, I will cover the gear one might go for and why, and finally I shall explain the fundamentals of barding, no matter the spec or gear. For those of you who are still leveling, bard can work as a secondary soul, especially with ranger, but once you are high enough (around lvls 32+) it is usually better to choose something else, as bard does not do significant damage or healing to be useful enough, and may simply slow you down until you reach level cap again. This Guide is particularly Focused on RAID BARDING ONLY

Raid Barding Builds

These were tests from 1.8, and while the numbers may change from having better gear and more AP, how they relate to the specs and the abilities to heal remain the same. Though not all possible spec combinations are represented here, it does not mean that they have not been tested or will not be tested, yes, I have gone down the SIN tree in several ways and found it all together horrible for raid barding.
As a base, a pure 51 bard with NO other souls does:

Healing

Cadence: [COLOR=324
Invigorated Soul: 344
Coda of Restoration:1661

With 2nd and 3rd souls

10 NB/5RS

Cadence: 407dmg
Invigorated Soul: 427
Coda of Restoration:1761

15NB/0MM (done with molten skin procs(happens on occasion from ranged auto attacks, use a swift shotx1 to ensure it applies)

Cadence: 423
Invigorated Soul: 448
Coda of Restoration: 1661

10MM/5RS (done with +ap% procced)

Cadence: 401
Invigorated Soul: 420
Coda of Restoration: 1927

7RNGR/8RS

Cadence: 364
Invigorated Soul: 404
Coda of Restoration: 1994

8NB/Sin

Cadence: 380
Invigorated Soul: 400
Coda of Restoration: 1661

15 Rngr (focusing on piercing shot, and using head shot proccing bestial fury the following occurred)

Cadence: 324
Invigorated Soul: 340
Coda of Resto: 1107

8nb/7mm

Cadence: 424
Invigorated Soul: 427
Coda of Restoration: 1661

8nb/7rs

Cadence: 407
Invigorated Soul: 426 (445 on self if specced 2 into boosted recovery)
Coda of Resto: 1761 ( (1829 on self if specced 2 into boosted recovery)

40 Bard, 15 NB, 10MM

(yes.. this leaves 1 point to go in several directions, NONE of which do anything for healing raids. Options range from armor piercing for dps finishers, repelling shot, run speed, to Fell blades (might be a usefull debuff to put on some bosses that might have a self healing component).


Cadence: 487

Invigorated Soul: 523

Motiff of Regeneration: 229

Coda of Restoration: 1829


So, enough data.. lets get to what will be used in Raid.

First off, your raid group may require specific mechanics of your for bosses, this is the primary mission of the Bard, to support, so, as a support you may be required to use several different barding specs depending on the fight and raid comp.

Some of the Raiding specs for use with Vanilla Rift are as follows:

51Bard/10mm/5RS (Standard Bard Build)

This is your standard barding spec for nearly any non-specific raid encounter. It has all of the utility of 51-point barding while using Marksmen as a ranged soul for the +weapon dps bonus to your healing via cadence as well as +ap from Rift stalker. Having mm also gives us use of ranged weapon attacks for building combo points at 30m distance or using fan out for 30 meter aoe. Rift stalker here also gives more Hit Points to the bard, allowing us a larger pool to help ensure survivability.


BD BARD 51Brd/~12bd RAID INTERRUPTS, MELEE

This build starts off with enough points in Blade Dancer to allow the bard to be a dedicated Interrupt for the raid group. Put the remainder of points where you wish, I generally go toward RS for +ap to help with healing. This build offers some gap closers, avoidance utility, additional self healing, as well as melee aoe dps cp builders and finishers. THE INTERRUPT HAS A 20 METER RANGE!!! USE IT!


PIERCING SHOT BARD 51Brd/~14Rngr BOSS ARMOR REDUCTION, RANGED

The primary role of this Bard is to reduce the armor of the enemy the raid is fighting. Why is the bard doing this? Well, as good as ranger is for rogue ranged ST DPS (during 1.8-1.9) there may be a time when your raid, for some reason or another, doesn’t have any rangers there for the fight, and so it is up to you to apply this debuff “Piercing Shot” and maintain it on all required targets.

BURN BARD 40Brd/16NB/10MM TOP BARD HEALING

Now.. though this particular spec has the highest overall healing per second and over all healing in a long term parse, it comes with a few costs to obtain it. The most noticeable is the loss of Verse of Joy, which progression raids will definitely require for mage charges to build up and for the few rogue builds out there that are still energy starved, it also offers the casters more Mana on a regular interval. Also at a loss is Verse of Vitality, an AOE Heal that effects the ENTIRE raid or party, the only heal like it we have, but with a 1 minute cool down (48 seconds with Barding Crystal).

What does this build offer in return? The highest heals from a Bard in the game. Stealth so that a bard might perform some pre pull CC via nb’s sap “Lost Hope”. Dark Malady, a decent opener for a bard to start with. Fell Blades, a great anti healing/self healing weapon enhancement which, unlike vampiric munitions, does not have a reduced chance to proc depending on the number of targets (great for helping to prevent boss healing or player healing in pvp as well as keep you up during pvp, Fan Out+FellBlades=works well together). Melee aoe cp builders for dps options, and of course having Marksman offers the standard ranged weapon bonus modifier to barding as well as ranged utility options.

USE THIS SPEC ONLY IF THE RAID DOES NOT NEED VOJ BUT DOES NEED HELP HEALING, or for being the main healer in 5-Man instances. (also, great for farming favor/prestige/xp in pvp modes such as Conquest (discussed in another thread))

Bard Gear

Right from the start there isn’t much out there different from a traditional DPS rogue for gearing. Crit helps, so does Hit rating, though bards can generally do the most important things for the raid without meeting the hit requirements it is still important for you to reach that requirement. But, Most of all, Attack Power, preferably from Dexterity, but Strength gives us the same amount of AP, in the end, for a bard, it’s all about which items in the end will offer the most +AP in total, if this means wearing a Strength heavy item, or a ranged weapon meant for a tank, so be it, and upgrade is an upgrade. Barding Synergy Crystal is a Must.

For Stats:
Overall AP>DEX>STR

As far as similar tiered gear goes, ranged weapons usually have a higher DPS rating than Melee weapons for rogues even up to 2 tiers above them, why does this matter? Because as a Bard we can get our Cadence and in turn our Invigorated Soul to damage and heal for much higher by applying a ranged weapon DPS Modifier. This is why most Bard builds will have some form of either Ranger or Marksman in them, by simply having a ranged soul, even at zero points, applied to the bard spec their Barding abilities will be based off of that usually higher dps factor when operating from a ranged distance (standing in melee may cause the bard to auto switch his “Weapon” to being his Main Hand Melee DPS weapon).

With that out of the way, let’s Talk about our Pieces of Flare, Trinkets and Essences. As a long term bard, I use several different types depending on the raid groups requirements, you may also want to do the same.

For Source Machines, stack the highest AP essences you can get.

Greater essences will be the only changing factor, as will Trinkets.

Make the following source machines using 2 greater essences of:

Buff Bard =Chance on heal to proc +AP/SP

Mitigation Bard= Chance on heal to apply an absorption shield (HailstoneTideshard etc.)

Heal Bard= either keep the +ap/sp greaters if you have a stong healing bard spec, or make a new machine with Chance to heal like Cauterizing Gem


Similar goes for Trinkets:

Buffing= trinkets such as Musical tide

Mitigation= Token of Warding comes to mind

Healing= SHOE (they are funny and keep making trinkets with different names that use the same acronym) but also keep in mind, a + AP trinket may be superior for your build to enhance healing, such as the pvp trinket available from Conquest as it provides a static and reliable +ap gain.

For bard healing trinkets: Conq>GI>SHOE>KPD


With the coming of Infernal dawn we something that Bards have yet behold until then, Gear specifically made for Barding! I speak of the Songblade, a sword that offers great stats on its own, but when upgraded will proc a +ap/sp buff to the entire raid! We know not if this is a one time thing, or a trend yet to come. Also of note, please research and see if the essences/trinkets you want to equip will proc from barding at all or well enough before going for them, The list of potential gear is long, but getting to test each and every one of them to see if a bard might proc the effects is a long and difficult thing to do, especially when the devs do not seem to offer said gear for us to test on pts specifically for barding.

Fundamentals of Barding, No Matter Your Gear

Buff, buff again, buff some more. As raid support, your main mission unless specified by your raid lead will be to maintain buffs. During the pre-pull phase, once the entire raid is within Line of Sight of you, buff them up with all of your three Fanfares, Knowledge, Power, and Vigor. The remaining buffs are needed, but can get you killed, so ensure the raid knows not to face pull but to use threat abilities first or you, the Bard, will instantly generate the most threat no matter who pulled the initial agro and most likely instantly meat your end, even in stealth. If the raid cannot bother themselves with initial threat issues, simply deny them these remaining buffs until they do have initial threat under control.

Fervor, Put this up ONLY if your raid has no Archon or specifically preferred by the raid, otherwise you will most like have up Competence to increase the entire raids movement speed the other buffs seldom have, and almost never will be needed or used as far as Anthems go. Now for the big stuff, Motifs. Motifs get cast constantly through any fight, there are 5 of them in total. Only 3 of them are needed for the most important buff to proc (RESONANCE). Cast up all Motifs in this order (bravery and focus are interchangeable, it is important that tenacity is 3rd): Bravery>Focus>Tenacity. This will proc Resonance as soon as tenacity goes off (Resonance, when 5/5, will increase strength, dexterity, wisdom, intelligence, and endurance by 5% to all people with your motifs of bravery, focus, tenacity). You want those three up first as the raid will immediately be applying all of their skills. Then follow up with Grandeur and then Regeneration. By the time you have casted all five Motifs, you will have under 25 seconds of the first Motif Buff remaining. With lag and other wrenches thrown into the works, it’s a good idea to start rebuffing those Motifs, in that same order, again when you have ~5 seconds of the first Motif remaining. The idea is to maintain Resonance up time constantly. (depending on make up, a Warrior tank may require you to rebuff certain motifs sooner than expected, look into warrior abilities and see that something like 15 seconds after he does his thing you redo yours, you can literally never over Motif, as if there is anything you do, do that part right.

Verse of Joy, in a raid environment it is best to time this with the other people of your group for when they do their big CD’s like Wild Growth. A good raid member will have this macro’d to state that he is using it. Otherwise, if lacking this component to raid cohesion just pop it when it’s up or until you have a good feel for the fights and know when your raid needs it the most.

So…. Finished buffing for the time being? Now you need to Debuff. As a general rule, Coda of Jeopardy is your primary goal to be put up on the main Targets. You want to use this when you have all 5 combo points to spend on it. Some mage abilities will occasionally overwrite this, so get with the people doing it and time when you need to re-apply yours. The other debuffs are to be used ONLY in massive AOE situations, as there is no limit to the number of Mobs that Codas of Distress and Cowardice can reach as long as they are in range, Never use on Single Target unless you happen to be the only one with such debuffs.

And now.. You have Buffed, You have Debuffed, and re-buffed again, there is some time for Healing. Start with Power chord to build 2 cp, then hit cadence while still to finish off the rest to 5 cp( or, when on the move or beyond 20 meters, use swift short or other attacks if needed to build cp, its all the same) while also adding some small raid healing, then use the “finisher” required for the moment, assuming all the buffs and debuffs have gone out, do a Coda of Restoration. Keep Verse of Vitality in your back pocket for an emergency Heal. Repeat.

Riff will be off CD more often than your Verses.. so don’t be afraid to also use it for gaining an instant 5cp, great for debuffing process or emergency healing. The really big and handy thing to use it for, is Virtuoso. Virtuoso will allow you to spam any BARD “Finishers” for 15 seconds without losing combo points, but make sure to have 5cp up before use. Riff>Virtuoso, then spam Coda of Resto for great raid wide healing, or, if need be, Coda of Fury for Some impressive if not for the 15 second time limit dps.. I like to also take that first 3 seconds of time to ensure all debuffs are up and running, also make sure all motifs are up before doing this, as it will improve your results and the timing is pretty close so that when Virtuoso is over it’s time to Re-buff your Motifs.

Legend
ST=Single target
AOE= Area of Effect
CP=Combo Points
AP=Attack Points (character stats)
SP=Spell Power
CoR=Coda of Restoration
VoJ= Verse of Joy
CoJ=Coda of Jeopardy
CoD=Coda of Distress
CoC=Coda of Cowardice
VoV=Verse of Vitality
CD=Cool Down
TOW=Token of Warding
KPD=Kushes’ Petrified Detonator
GI=Golem Inductor or Government Issue if you are into that sort of debauchery.
SHOE= Sacred Heirloom Of the Eth (and similar wordings)
RS=Rift Stalker
BD=Blade Dancer
BRD=Bard
RNGR=Ranger
MM=Marksman
NB=Nightblade
SIN=Assassin
SAB=Sabatour



In short:

Stats:
Overall AP>DEX>STR for healing

Performance:
Raid Mechanics>Motifs>Debuffs>Healing>DPS

Motifs Order
Bravery>Focus>Tenacity>Grandeur>Regeneration

Debuff Order
CoJ>CoC>CoD

MACROS

There are some simply macros to make also:

#show Virtuoso
suppressmacrofailures
cast Riff
cast Virtuoso

#show verse of joy
suppressmacrofailures
cast verse of joy
raid VoJ is up

Builder for standard bard
#show power chord
suppressmacrofailures
cast power chord
cast planar strike
cast swift shot

Standard Bard AOE (also great for when virtuoso is up.)
#show Coda of fury
suppressmacrofailures
cast coda of fury
cast fan out

ST builder for BD Bard
#show cadence
suppressmacrofailures
cast power chord
cast quick strike
cast keen strike


Burn Bard Builder
#show Power chord
suppressmacrofailures
cast power chord
cast dusk strike
cast primal strike
cast swift shot

Burn Bard AOE
#show weapon flare
suppressmacrofailures
cast power chord
cast dusk strike
cast fan out
cast weapon flare

I keep cadence off on it's own, helps to control when I really want heals and when I just want CP/DPS

There are some strange methods out there to making Motiffs easier(1 button mash style) But I don't use them, in the hopes of a future Bard overhal that will impliment some other form of control.



Keep that head on a swivel, eventually you will become bored with barding, and given our perspective of the fight one can begin to see things other people simply do not have the time to focus on.

“A good Bard keeps his Motifs up, a Better bard will be given much more responsibility.”
-Mirimon Niracas Nyellumenna-


*This is not all inclusive, and may change and or adapt to the ever evolving game that is rift.
*Constructive input is appreciated.
*This Guide is, at present good for Rift 1.8-1.9

[Primalthirst]

In the Fervor section I believe you meant Chloromancer for Living Energy, not Archon.

Otherwise good stuff as always!

[Mirimon]

haha, yeah, oops, meh, medicine, not knowing much about other classes anymore, w/e.
Been meaning to do this for a while, finally got around to it.. soo much convo on barding but it's all over the place.

[Highland]

I use this one aswell, default gives fervor, pressing it again, speed, fervor, etc.

#show Anthem of Fervor
suppressmacrofailures
cast [notactive] Anthem of Fervor
cast [notactive] Anthem of Competence

Also, instead of your tip of runspeed vs. fervor, you kinda want fervor 24/7 unless everyone needs to run, otherwise you will lose dps on rogues.
Same with verse of joy, I sync it with flaring power btw.

a Warrior tank may require you to rebuff certain motifs sooner than expected,

The motifs get overwritten, resonance stays up.

[Mirimon]

true about the motifs, that is why tenacity may need to be redone more often, or that tank goes without % of mitigation for a short moment if he hasn't redone his Call, it was just a side note to be aware of, any good tank will almost always have it up, any good support will be looking to help fill that gap should it occur.

As far as fervor goes, yes, it is my preference, but more often than not I find my raids wanting additional movement speed over that 1% ability cost difference. The only rogue losing dps are the ones in builds that are starved even with fervor. and yes, flaring power and/or wild growth are qeue's for a bard to pop VoJ.

[TheGrinnz]

true about the motifs, that is why tenacity may need to be redone more often, or that tank goes without % of mitigation for a short moment if he hasn't redone his Call, it was just a side note to be aware of, any good tank will almost always have it up, any good support will be looking to help fill that gap should it occur.

Agreed there is really no harm in it, but if you know your tank understands Calls (and you can watch the Call to Entrench buff on yourself to find out), there is no reason he would ever let Call to Entrench time out (barring mechanics where attack pts can't be built). So if you are doing something else there's no need to refresh until Resonance is up. When you are uncertain you might as well refresh it. Just want to avoid people thinking Tenacity dropping is any concern.

[TheGrinnz]

and yes, flaring power and/or wild growth are qeue's for a bard to pop VoJ.

I'll try to test this (bards don't always announce VoJ) but I'm curious if VoJ regens charge even with charge-blocking consumers like Power Drain and Internalize Charge on. Flaring Power and Wild Growth don't block charge gain so it definitely helps with those, but I'm wondering if I can put on Power Drain during Flaring Power when it's up, or similarly the Chloro can put up Entropic Veil with Wild Growth.

[Highland]

I'll try to test this (bards don't always announce VoJ) but I'm curious if VoJ regens charge even with charge-blocking consumers like Power Drain and Internalize Charge on. Flaring Power and Wild Growth don't block charge gain so it definitely helps with those, but I'm wondering if I can put on Power Drain during Flaring Power when it's up, or similarly the Chloro can put up Entropic Veil with Wild Growth.

Its the other way around, bards are just semi-afk all the time anyway, and I have karuulalert looking at Everything I can override or put on a target.

So that's calls, illuminate, wild growth, spotters, resonance, motifs....
A bard's stuff gets overwritten and is has once every 30 seconds a consequence (or with illuminate once every 20 seconds.
I generally dont waste an overwrite on an illuminate, i just time my jeopardy buff exactly when it runs out.

oh and fervor is 13% so that's 3% ( I know my stuff, do you?)

[TheGrinnz]

Its the other way around, bards are just semi-afk all the time anyway, and I have karuulalert looking at Everything I can override or put on a target.

So that's calls, illuminate, wild growth, spotters, resonance, motifs....
A bard's stuff gets overwritten and is has once every 30 seconds a consequence (or with illuminate once every 20 seconds.
I generally dont waste an overwrite on an illuminate, i just time my jeopardy buff exactly when it runs out.

oh and fervor is 13% so that's 3% ( I know my stuff, do you?)

think you quoted the wrong post...

[Cinnibar]

I'll try to test this (bards don't always announce VoJ) but I'm curious if VoJ regens charge even with charge-blocking consumers like Power Drain and Internalize Charge on. Flaring Power and Wild Growth don't block charge gain so it definitely helps with those, but I'm wondering if I can put on Power Drain during Flaring Power when it's up, or similarly the Chloro can put up Entropic Veil with Wild Growth.

Unfortunately, Wild Growth and Flaring power have have limited durations.


As for a note on barding, it is better to continue cadencing at 5 stored combo points and wait for actual raid damage to happen - then slamming your CoR - than it is to burn your CP on a CoR during a phase with very little raid damage, as it ends up being more effective healing. But that is just my opinion.

[Mirimon]

Cinnibar is correct on this, using a CoR when not needed is simply a waste, save that 5 cp for something useful, otherwise spam that cadence and/or dmg abilities (if you have no real worries I suppose you could use dmg finishers.. I know I do it on occasion).

[Vera]

BD BARD 51Brd/~12bd RAID INTERRUPTS, MELEE

This build starts off with enough points in Blade Dancer to allow the bard to be a dedicated Interrupt for the raid group. Put the remainder of points where you wish, I generally go toward RS for +ap to help with healing. This build offers some gap closers, avoidance utility, additional self healing, as well as melee aoe dps cp builders and finishers. THE INTERRUPT HAS A 20 METER RANGE!!! USE IT!

OK, I'll bite. This is, as I'm sure you know, a terrible spec. To me, if you have to take this spec, it's because other people aren't doing their job properly. The solution is... for them to do their job properly, not to gimp yourself as Bard.

Secondly, Karine's Fancy Songblade. It should buff the entire raid - but only 5 at once. It's not all that easy to keep up, although I haven't tested mine fully, yet.

Thirdly, I really don't think people should be encouraged to go 40 Bard. It's... just awful. If you were only, only ever playing Bard, I can see why you might want to take it, but for everyone else it's a waste of a spec slot. 51 Bard is fine for everything. Experienced Bards will understand the distinction between 51 and 40 Bard, but if I asked someone in a pug to go Bard and they went 40, I would **** a brick. Maybe this is just personal prejudice, but I think the less said about this spec, the better.

I actually use 11 MM / 4 RS. For On The Double. It's pretty nice for Maelforge, although admittedly unnecessary - I've never struggled with the green bubbles, even when I took a spec with no blink or speed buff at all. But it is useful for fights where you need to reposition quickly, and it's very similar to the default spec.

Now:

8NB/Sin

Cadence: 380
Invigorated Soul: 400
Coda of Restoration: 1661

Your own testing (which is excellent, if I may say) has indicated that this is a rubbish spec. I would change it to 7NB / 8Sin. That would at least have some utility in the poison crit debuff. Some of our warriors in SO sulk and refuse to put this up, so having it as a backup would actually make it fairly useful.

Lastly, one proposed amendment:

Motifs Order
Doesn't actually matter, because if they fall off, you haven't done your job properly

Other than that, excellent work, I hope you continue.

[Mirimon]

as for the bd bard.. yes, I hate it, But I have been asked specifically to cover interrupts on occasion, as stated in here, if I wanted to truely do the highest amount of healing as a bard, the burnbard does top, but again, as stated, it sacrifices VoJ, something people who have not out geared ID will not do without. It does do well in 5m as a main healer though, and nets me huge rewards in conquest as well as spreading fell blades all over the place.

as for 11mm.. sure, perhaps.. but that is aN AP loss from rs, which means less heals, for a spec that can already move about very well and never needed any additional movement increase.. (shifting, competence, hasted shot, insoles.. all of those add up to be more than enough.

the top part was simple data showing what specs, no matter how bad, did to effect the healing of bard abilities. And yes.. I have also been asked specifically to provide poison, and also piercing shots.. in the end I end up with soo many bard specs that I have to maintain.. I can hardly enjoy being a rogue doing any ranged, no sab, no tanking.. just Bard bard bard.. this may mean that barding might need to be spread throught the raid group/guild.. or that we need mroe slots, or moreso.. Bard itself may need alot of changes. Yes.. I dislike having to perfomr activities that people may argue should be performed by others.. but if it means Higher dps/HPS numbers for the raid as a whole, being a support I will perform those duties.. It's kinda liek... if all you ever played was a tank, for years.. and then one day decided to do something else.. it's hard to shake off that tank mentality, and you still find yourself jumping infront of the healer to take the hit.

for the motiff order.. it has been shown that there are some issues with Calls dropping Tenacity.. if tenacity drops before you get off breaver and focus, guess what? you have no resonance.. that is why I have placed Motifs in such an order.. to ensure that resonance goes off no matter what the tanks do./ sure.. we may be arguing apple and oranges here.. but in progression every little bit counts to get that first kill, to push the raid just that much further.

Thank you for your input here, and also for the others, as good bards are a rare breed.

[Vera]

for the motiff order.. it has been shown that there are some issues with Calls dropping Tenacity.. if tenacity drops before you get off breaver and focus, guess what? you have no resonance.. that is why I have placed Motifs in such an order.. to ensure that resonance goes off no matter what the tanks do./ sure.. we may be arguing apple and oranges here.. but in progression every little bit counts to get that first kill, to push the raid just that much further.

This is true. I use kalert to monitor both Call to Entrench and Motif of Tenacity. There are fights with mechanics that you can't predict, such as Warmaster Galenir, or Zilas (with the random Rift Prisoning) that may prevent you from casting motifs. In those situations, I would advise people to refresh buffs prematurely, so they don't fall off.

[Mirimon]

for now bard seems set, but after today's postings and recent discussions be prepared for some much needed change to barding for the expac, and possibly new builds involving our healing soul. I think as bards we need to be pro active, and push for time on the pts to not just see these changes, but put them through their paces and help forge the rogues we want to play.