BRD Equip Question

[Ruin]

Just hit lvl 51 BRD, and wanted some opinions on rings to use.

Slot1) Balahran's Ring (mag acc+4) does mag acc help alot on brd for elegy etc?
or Wind skill+3
or CHR+3

Slot2) Tamas Ring (I know doesnt really have any BRD stats but still seems good to use for mp and -enmity)

[Phla]

balarans / tamas solid combo and if you really really care i'd macro out tamas and use the wind+3 ring for elegy and use tamas/wind ring for buffing.

[TacoTaru]

I was /Nin and pulling merit burn style at 41, and if you follow that path I'd do Balahran's Ring/Trumpet Ring for elegy and double Trumpet for March/Min/Mad. Hell I think even /Whm I'd use that combo, I don't really see the appeal of Tamas at all.

[Ruin]

Well Tamas was only for -enm and MP, and I guess you guys confirm mag acc is good for elegy etc.

What does +wind skill do for buffs like madrigal tho?

[Tiernin]

I never have problems with MP and especially emnity while playing brd (61 atm). I usually only use mp when i'm bored or casting stoneskin/blink. I find myself at capped MP 95% of the time due to ballad.

Higher skill lvl increases the effect of the buff songs as I understand it, ie more acc from mad, and more att from min.

[Isiolia]

More skill can increase the effects of a buff, but it's tiered, and eventually caps for most things.

[Linliel]

Been a while since I followed bard maths but IIRC you could pretty much cap out most buffs (march excepted? what's the status on that post-haste nerf anyway?) by putting one merit in wind and then you could play in the nud pretty much lol. Of course debuffing is another story though and naked tarutarus are a little creepy.

[Antithesis]

You could most likely put w/e rings you want in those 2 slots and it really wouldent make a huge impact. Our ring slots are really the biggest placebo slots we got on bard.

[Sylphet]

There's a decent chance that a BRD in the process of leveling does not have capped skills so it's worth it to use some skill gears. BRD is lucky in that much of the lower level Skill gears are also end game equipment since there's not a WHOLE lot out there for skill gear.

You need skill (both singing and wind/string - depending on which kind of instrument you're using) for both buff strength and de-buff accuracy. As mentioned before though the strength of some buffs are capped. For example. when a BRD gets Minuet IV for the first time. it will not give as much +attack as Minuet III does. Eventually as the BRD raises their skill it will. In a recent party it took the BRD until level 69 before her attack was higher on Minuet IV than III.

So for party buffs, you'll want to maximize your combined wind/string + singing skill for buffs.
Please look at this topic regarding haste from March which unlike Minuet has not been found to have a hard cap (you're really going to have to work your ass off if you want to achieve maxed out March - I'll never have it because I refuse to de-merit enfeebling skill for singing): All BRDs should read this

Now for de-buffs like Elegy it's a bit different in terms of the best gear for it. To directly answer your question, yes, Magic accuracy affects your ability to land de-buffs. Magic accuracy is available to BRD in amounts greater than skill for certain slots. At 51, your best bet would be Balahran's Ring/Nereid's Ring for elegy (Actually that's your best bet at 75 as well). Tamas Ring really doesn't offer anything directly to your BRD abilities but it is nice to use as you mentioned for the MP and -enmity. How you use Tamas ring will probably be determined on an individual party level. If you are helping out with healing a lot and you aren't having problems landing songs you will probably be fine using Tamas full time. Elegy does NOT work like Slow in that there is any CHR factored into it's potency. It's a straight 50% (52% with HQ instruments) slow if you land it. The best thing you can do for yourself in terms of landing de-buffs at 51 is to make sure you're using HQ staffs (guessing you have those because you have a Tamas Ring but figured I'd mention it anyway).

Generally speaking, when it comes to potency gear for de-buffs, people will prioritize Skill > Macc > CHR. Mind you this is not set in stone. If you have the choice between using Minstrel's Coat (3 wind/string) vs Marduk Jubbah (12 CHR), the CHR is substantially weighted so that it would be (imo) the better choice. Ultimately the best body armor for landing debuffs would be Shadow Coat (10 magic accuracy) but that's not exactly the easiest thing to get.

[Darkmoon]

I second what Sylphet said, Id third it if she would slap Ruke into anwsering my PM also :nikkei:

But with exp pts some times you have to be a healer and the MP helps, some times its better just to focus on sticking Elegy, With DNC and other healing jobs more at hand then there use to be its more likly youll be buffing and pulling and doing very little curing where the extra MP will help much, and -3 emnity should never be an issue in exp pt for brd.

[Tulun]

Merit question for a friend

Alright, my buddy has leveled RDM and is leveling BRD (and possibly BLM, but let's ignore that for now). For magic skill merits, how much does he *really* need for his brd in terms of singing / wind merits for all the range of spells? The fact it shares with elemental and enfeeb is definitely an issue.

He's more likely to go RDM I think, but he wouldn't want to gimp his brd too much, because you never know if it'll be called upon.

[Sylphet]

What magic merits does he currently have?

[Tulun]

What magic merits does he currently have?

None, actually. His RDM is just recently 75, and he hasn't had a lot of time to merit yet. So, thankfully, none have been spent.

[Darkmoon]

For Merits, and 90% of the game he doesnt need a single merit in Singing/Wind. All skill is going to help with is a little be of March Haste, and elegy/lullby resists for the most part in endgame situations. Unless your a carear BRD or Ghorn BRD i really don't see any reason to put merits into Singing/Wind.

[Sylphet]

He should just work on meriting the job specific ones first then and after he figures out what he's going to use more at 75 he can figure out which magic he wants to merit.

Generally speaking though unless you are a serious BRD, the benefits of meriting Wind/Singing aren't as strong as meriting Enfeebling or Elemental (personal opinion).

I have BRD RDM and BLM leveled and I'm a relic BRD. I still won't give up my Enfeebling magic merits. The only reason for me to max out Wind and Singing skill would be to reach another March tier. While it would also increase my ability to land debuffs it's just not worth it to me compared to the benefits of the Enfeebling magic on RDM. So for me personally, I keep Enfeebling at 8/8. I figured out how much skill I needed to reach my maximum March tier given my gear and upgraded Wind skill for that. I decided to put the rest into Elemental magic. Bear in mind though that I am a relic BRD and that's why I put my merits into Wind Skill as opposed to Singing. For most BRDs it's better to merit Singing than Wind.

[Darkmoon]

Sylphet,

I was in a similar boat when I got Gjallarhorn also, but Decided to go Full Wind/Singing. Honestly the biggest bonus I get from it over no merits is that I can cast Elegy/Lullby pretty effectivly without swaping in any skill gear (so i can slack more!). Other then Wyrms, LBC, Omega, I dont leave my haste gear much at all, as its just not needed.

So for the Poster, Id tell your friend to follow what Sylphet did, because overall solo/endgame your going to get a lot more bang for your buck out of those enfeebling merits then wind/singing.

[Baha]

Think I'm really going to end up regretting meritting wind and singing, like I sort of regret going 4 hp 4 mp instead of 8hp now.
DRK got 75, RDM is 58, solo'ing BLM up veeeeeeeeeery slowly. ugh, hate deleting merits. :/

[Bakthi]

At 75, for rings I go between CHR, Nereid, Minstrel's, and BQ. The only reason I have MP rings are to temporarily equip to help lower my HP >.> As always, max MP doesn't make a huge difference aside from the first fight or two, or after a break, or whatever (though I do have 8/8 MP merits). What matters is how quickly you can get it back. Gaudy/Vermy are nice things to have until Dalm/Marduk, if you even get those.

As far as merits go, yeah; unless your BRD is Serious Business, you can easily manage with no magic merits for it. I use BRD most of the time, and my BLM is 40, so I have singing/wind merits.

[Ruin]

Ok thanks for the info, I now understand which rings will be best.

Another question I have tho:

I know Terra's staff for Elegy, but what other staffs should I be macro'ing in? Like does say Aquillo's help land Ice Threnody?(The element color for it is oposite I know) Lullaby, Finale both Apollo's? And Requiem?

[Zosi]

As with EVERY offensive spell in the game, use the staff that matches the spell's icon. White icon = light-based spell = Apollo's staff. Same goes for threnodies, match the icon, not the name.