Bard Endgame

[Artifact]

To all Bard mains, I'm curious on your setup. I have only played WAR since beta 4 until this week. I want BRD to be my main. I went through level 50 dungeons yesterday and had some success. I want to know that I am playing the job the way it should be.

I only used mage's ballad to start. There was another BRD casting paeon and the mages were not happy.

I have my hot bar setup with my actions (barrage, hawks eye, raging, etc) / AoE on top (control+#) and my normal tp moves/songs on the bottom.

My gear is Darklight and a few pieces of AF saving my tomestones with an Ifrit's Bow (I know...behind).

I am looking for all the suggestions in the world, I want this to be my best equipped job and the job I know how to play best.


Note: I have not looked into a Relic Reborn quest. I started it for BLM in 1.0, but dumped way too much gil into the Astrolabe +1 with melds. How much would I need to put into Relic Bow?

[Katlan]

um.. hotbar setup is purely based on preference. Nobody can tell you that one way is superior to another. It's all about rotation, so h/e you do that best, all the power to whatever way you want to setup your bars.

Gear isn't that difficult: AK level 50 green set is good, darklight is better, AF+1 is best (dunno if bahamuts coil is better). Gear isn't like XI where its purely situational and you have a different set for nearly every ability. Gear that is higher ilv that has dex is usually better than a lower ilv piece. I mean if you want to get extremely nitpicky then Twin Snakes GC 50 bow is probably better than Ifrit because it has critical hit rating instead of accuracy

Oh yeah, never start a fight w/singing. That's a waste of MP and DPS. Everyone has full MP/TP at the start, so why sing then? I generally sing when I notice MP is around 40-50%'ish since a ballad/paeon with Battle Voice is all you need to get everyone topped back off. Then stop singing until stuff gets low again.

[Artifact]

um.. hotbar setup is purely based on preference. Nobody can tell you that one way is superior to another. It's all about rotation, so h/e you do that best, all the power to whatever way you want to setup your bars.

Gear isn't that difficult: AK level 50 green set is good, darklight is better, AF+1 is best (dunno if bahamuts coil is better). Gear isn't like XI where its purely situational and you have a different set for nearly every ability. Gear that is higher ilv that has dex is usually better than a lower ilv piece. I mean if you want to get extremely nitpicky then Twin Snakes GC 50 bow is probably better than Ifrit because it has critical hit rating instead of accuracy

Oh yeah, never start a fight w/singing. That's a waste of MP and DPS. Everyone has full MP/TP at the start, so why sing then? I generally sing when I notice MP is around 40-50%'ish since a ballad/paeon with Battle Voice is all you need to get everyone topped back off. Then stop singing until stuff gets low again.

I know on the hotbar. Still I find it interesting to see what other players find to be more convenient. And thank you on the singing, cause I was most definitely doing it ass backwards.

I got extremely into trying to multi-meld my jewelry as well with acc+, determination+, crit hit+, spell speed+ (accident but whatever) and skill speed+. Had no direction, but wasted a lot of gil and materia.

[Katlan]

I'm no expert but I think crit rating is OP (dunno if crit or dex is better). Having your dots reset bloodletter is retarded. Can literally spam it every GCD if your Crits proc enough

[Korialstrasz]

On the note of dots and such, keep in mind that they snapshot your stats at the time of application. Aside from always having the straight shot buff up, try to also have things like internal release on when applying them, as they'll be procing and resetting bloodletter a lot.

[Majidah]

To all Bard mains, I'm curious on your setup. I have only played WAR since beta 4 until this week. I want BRD to be my main. I went through level 50 dungeons yesterday and had some success. I want to know that I am playing the job the way it should be.

I only used mage's ballad to start. There was another BRD casting paeon and the mages were not happy.

I have my hot bar setup with my actions (barrage, hawks eye, raging, etc) / AoE on top (control+#) and my normal tp moves/songs on the bottom.

My gear is Darklight and a few pieces of AF saving my tomestones with an Ifrit's Bow (I know...behind).

I am looking for all the suggestions in the world, I want this to be my best equipped job and the job I know how to play best.


Note: I have not looked into a Relic Reborn quest. I started it for BLM in 1.0, but dumped way too much gil into the Astrolabe +1 with melds. How much would I need to put into Relic Bow?

I got this macro setup from a video, and it's very good:

basically you always want to use Misery's End and Bloodletter so long as you have straight shot up.
So you replace poison arrow, heavy shot and windbite with macros that go

/action "Misery's End" <t>
/action "Bloodletter" <t>
/action "Your Ws" <t>

That way whenever the skills are up, it uses them automatically. When one of the first two skills go off you'll need to tap again the same macro to do the desired skill, of course.

For your straight shot macro, since its your #1 priority, you make it in the following order Straight shot > Misery's End > Bloodletter

You don't even need to waste 2 slots for Misery nor Bloodletter since they go off automatically.
I really like this setup, thought I'd share.

For the songs... you'll only use ballad if the healers are low on MP. And the TP buff you'll rarely use unless you are spamming AOEs. I wish SE would be transparent with other PT member's TP, since there's no real way of having an eye on it other than have your party mates tell you.

---


On that note, would you guys like to share your buff rotations? I'm not sure which is the optimal combination. I'm pretty sure certain combinations go over cap on damage so it's best to use them separately.

[Artifact]

Thank you Kori, that makes a difference for me.

I got this macro setup from a video, and it's very good:

basically you always want to use Misery's End and Bloodletter so long as you have straight shot up.
So you replace poison arrow, heavy shot and windbite with macros that go

/action "Misery's End" <t>
/action "Bloodletter" <t>
/action "Your Ws" <t>

That way whenever the skills are up, it uses them automatically. When one of the first two skills go off you'll need to tap again the same macro to do the desired skill, of course.

For your straight shot macro, since its your #1 priority, you make it in the following order Straight shot > Misery's End > Bloodletter

You don't even need to waste 2 slots for Misery nor Bloodletter since they go off automatically.
I really like this setup, thought I'd share.

For the songs... you'll only use ballad if the healers are low on MP. And the TP buff you'll rarely use unless you are spamming AOEs. I wish SE would be transparent with other PT member's TP, since there's no real way of having an eye on it other than have your party mates tell you.

1. So after you use the 3 weapon skills you hit the macro again, like in XI? I haven't used macros very much. But I will make that macro and let you know how it works out for me.

2. I use Foe Requiem to bring down elemental defense, it doesn't really seem like a bad idea not too. Is there ever a time you don't use it?

[Kami]

Maybe merge this with the other BRD thread ?

[Ahmera Mae]

Since you asked for a hotbar-setup, although i see no reason in sharing it~~
http://www.abload.de/img/setuph9uoy.png

Bow choices, some quotes. Grats if you can make sense of those.

Serpents is by far the best GC bow and Limsa bow sucks.

Mog bow is best primal one, not even worth really mentioning a second and while Garuda's is tech second best since none of y'all have any hope of beating that any time soon you're looking at Mog / Primals / Serpent / Longarms Composite (new relic). If I had a choice between the other primals and the serpent I'd probably use that though.

Relic+1 is better because the stat if offers more of is more beneficial for what you'd be using it on. Allagan still better than reg arty bow for damage value->mog. The Primal weapons DPS is high enough to be better than anything else below it, then Serpent, then other stuff/gc stuff.

Mog weapons are tits all around, sad I got rid of all of mine even if I'd never use them anymore.

The stuff ahead is valid pre-coil cause i don't know shit bout coil, hmkay.
(There are rough acc numbers for coil bosses, but not confirmed, thus not sharing).

Statwise: Acc until 363 > DEX > DET > Crit > Speed > Acc above 363 (boo, DL)

Next, some common sense:
Don't even TRY to refresh a buffed WB/VB without dropping it first
Stack your cooldowns
Get BvB, Invig, Int Release etc.
Never drop SS
Use Blunt Arrow
Songs do affect yourself, don't believe the non-believers!
Avoid singing without BV if possible, drop song ASAP
try legacy movement settings
in case you use macros, disable error messages

[Churchill]

w/food +24crit/+14vit/+10acc

easy 225DPS half asleep and with no bloodletter procs. w/procs and actually trying, or with multiple targets available to venom/windbite, DPS can be retarded high. maintain 35% crit rate np, tell tanks to l2p and kite bosses like a boss

UI: Ability->What it effects
Stats: Good for el Coil

[Niiro]

Thank you Kori, that makes a difference for me.



1. So after you use the 3 weapon skills you hit the macro again, like in XI? I haven't used macros very much. But I will make that macro and let you know how it works out for me.

2. I use Foe Requiem to bring down elemental defense, it doesn't really seem like a bad idea not too. Is there ever a time you don't use it?

The idea behind redundancy macros (for BRD in particular) is that Bloodletter's recast can be reset at random and you virtually always want to use it when it's up as it costs no TP and isn't tied to the GCD. Rather than placing it directly to the hotbar and have to constantly keep an eye out for when the recast resets you simply put it at the head of your general use WS macros, if the recast is up it'll fire instead of whatever WS is below it, if it's not then your regular WS will fire.

Likewise, Misery can only be used when the target's HP is below 20% (no TP cost, not tied to GCD) so instead of having to eyeball the mob's HP or the icon on the hotbar and hit a separate button when it's ready you simply put it at the head of your general use WS macro and it'll fire when it can, Misery is more damage than Bloodletter so you'd generally put it ahead of it.

edit: to be a little more clear, this macro

/micon "heavy shot"
/ac "misery's end" <t>
/ac "bloodletter" <t>
/ac "heavy shot" <t>

will appear on the hotbar as Heavy Shot with it's TP cost/recast displayed normally, when you hit this macro the game essentially does a series of checks. If Misery can be used (recast is up and target hp >20%), it will fire, if not then Bloodletter will be used if it's recast is up, if it's not, then Heavy Shot will fire.

Only 1 action will be performed per press as there are no /waits or anything, it's just a matter of priority from the top down.

[Blackroses]

Great topic! Really like the stacked macro tip.

I am curious to ask what kind of gear a BRD needs for garuda+. I am currently running with DL bow and belt, Toxotes hat+neck, choral and Spinel HQ acessories. Which specific pieces should i aim for?

[Kami]

Ifrit bow and a mix of toxotes and darklight will do just fine for Garuda. I'd suggest full/pretty full DL for Titan as the extra HP really helps and can save your life in case of the occasional screw up. Or simply to not die to Tumult lol

Maybe the GC bow (if Gridania) is enough but meh, Ifrit bow is easy enough to get and you really wanna kill Titan asap in P3+, let alone the heart phase obviously

Anything AF level would be meh at Garuda and a big no no at Titan imo

[Deader2818]

im like 0/15 on ifrit for bow, lol.

[Krandor]

After going 0/24 on Ifrit and 0/10 on Garuda, I eventually cleared Titan for Artemis still using Grid GC bow.

(And wearing 2 pieces of AF).

More on topic, I'd say the minimum HP range on Titan should be around 3200. Since I had been spending my tombstones on accessories and was a little low in the VIT department, I used food to push myself into that range.

[Deader2818]

Yeah, I have 4/5 gear from AK and some DL accessories and Grid GC bow. At this point id rather just get lucky and beat Titan and get relic then just keep spamming Ifrit, lol.

[kisada]

w/food +24crit/+14vit/+10acc

easy 225DPS half asleep and with no bloodletter procs. w/procs and actually trying, or with multiple targets available to venom/windbite, DPS can be retarded high. maintain 35% crit rate np, tell tanks to l2p and kite bosses like a boss

is crit capped at 35%?

[kisada]

The idea behind redundancy macros (for BRD in particular) is that Bloodletter's recast can be reset at random and you virtually always want to use it when it's up as it costs no TP and isn't tied to the GCD. Rather than placing it directly to the hotbar and have to constantly keep an eye out for when the recast resets you simply put it at the head of your general use WS macros, if the recast is up it'll fire instead of whatever WS is below it, if it's not then your regular WS will fire.

Likewise, Misery can only be used when the target's HP is below 20% (no TP cost, not tied to GCD) so instead of having to eyeball the mob's HP or the icon on the hotbar and hit a separate button when it's ready you simply put it at the head of your general use WS macro and it'll fire when it can, Misery is more damage than Bloodletter so you'd generally put it ahead of it.

edit: to be a little more clear, this macro

/micon "heavy shot"
/ac "misery's end" <t>
/ac "bloodletter" <t>
/ac "heavy shot" <t>

will appear on the hotbar as Heavy Shot with it's TP cost/recast displayed normally, when you hit this macro the game essentially does a series of checks. If Misery can be used (recast is up and target hp >20%), it will fire, if not then Bloodletter will be used if it's recast is up, if it's not, then Heavy Shot will fire.

Only 1 action will be performed per press as there are no /waits or anything, it's just a matter of priority from the top down.

love this /micon thing. didn't know about it.

also, did some testing to see if my suspicions were correct and they seem to be. it looks like the order of ME > BL > HS is slower than if it were the other way around. i don't think it's new to anyone, but there is a substantial lock on button input because of a skill animations, but this only applies to off-GCD stuff. so if you're jamming on a macro with that order, heavy shot has to wait for ME and BL to finish a good portion of their animation to go off and you'll have to press your macro a few times for it to finally heavy shot. conversely, if you start off with HS and follow up with just BL you'll notice that BL will immediately go off and cut right into HS's animation.

[Churchill]

is crit capped at 35%?

no

[Niiro]

love this /micon thing. didn't know about it.

also, did some testing to see if my suspicions were correct and they seem to be. it looks like the order of ME > BL > HS is slower than if it were the other way around. i don't think it's new to anyone, but there is a substantial lock on button input because of a skill animations, but this only applies to off-GCD stuff. so if you're jamming on a macro with that order, heavy shot has to wait for ME and BL to finish a good portion of their animation to go off and you'll have to press your macro a few times for it to finally heavy shot. conversely, if you start off with HS and follow up with just BL you'll notice that BL will immediately go off and cut right into HS's animation.

I can't speak to this personally as I really don't play BRD much but I recall someone mentioning that macros like this do tend to cause issues with not being able to pre-empt the previous action's animation.

One of the reasons why they need to implement a more customizable macro mapping structure (I went into this in the random complaint thread, there should be ways to map multiple actions to a single macro properly).