A Bard looking to be better

[Syfinosis]

ok I have been told by numerous people that CHR is your key to happiness when sticking songs like Elegy and Lullaby on mobs...

peeps also tell me that flutes or harps w/ +1 or +2 on them for that specific song is better...

So i ask you a simple question~

What is better for the song?
CHR or +1/+2

and when i say this i am talking...
Go w/ mary's horn or Royal spearman's horn?

Thx much

[Fredjan]

Always (cannot stress that enough) use the instrument that benefits the said song. It'll help you more, really.

CHR is your key to happiness when sticking songs like Elegy and Lullaby on mobs...

CHR helps, yes. But never use that in place of a Mary's Horn or Horn +1 for the respective songs. Use CHR in other slots.

[Belkin]

Like all spells, Magic Accuracy, Skill and CHR help resistance rates of songs.

Instruments for buffs add 20 seconds to the duration (Cornette, Faerie Piccolo, etc)
Instruments for debuffs add to the effect (Horn +1, Mary's Horn, etc)

Elegy is somewhat of a special case, it is always a 50% slow effect (52% with Horn+1) so CHR doesn't really help it except with resist rates.

Lullaby is similar, Mary's Horn adds a couple seconds to the maximum duration.

So basically, you should be looking for skill gear/magic accuracy first, then CHR where you can get it.

[Fng]

XP mobs? Add wind skill.

HNM Mobs? sub BLM (ES Troubadour)

[Syfinosis]

thx a lot now i must decide weather to farm mary's horn or buy it >_>

[Zosi]

One exception to the "ALWAYS" rule. Don't ever buy or use a Military Harp.

In that case, the +2 Finale from the instrument is much less of an accuracy buff than the accuracy you lose from using a string instrument for debuffs as opposed to a wind instrument.

[Gergall]

Elegy is somewhat of a special case, it is always a 50% slow effect (52% with Horn+1) so CHR doesn't really help it except with resist rates.

Battlefield Elegy is buffed by Soul Voice and by Horn +1, but it seems that Carnage Elegy is capped at 50% and can't be improved at all.

viewtopic.php?f=31&t=33148&p=1040982

[Linliel]

Most of those HQ2 lowbie instruments don't give any extra over the HQ1 instruments, check out how much they add to the song before you shell out for them, just by the way.

Otherwise:

correct instrument > +skill > CHR is a basic bard rule o' thumb. Magic accuracy fits in there somewhere too but I wouldn't worry about it too much til you find yourself trying to land debuffs on resistant HNMs.

[Fredjan]

One exception to the "ALWAYS" rule. Don't ever buy or use a Military Harp.

In that case, the +2 Finale from the instrument is much less of an accuracy buff than the accuracy you lose from using a string instrument for debuffs as opposed to a wind instrument.

Yeah, that slipped my mind.

That's one instrument one shouldn't bother getting, it's just not worth the trouble.

Most of those HQ2 lowbie instruments don't give any extra over the HQ1 instruments, check out how much they add to the song before you shell out for them, just by the way.

I wouldn't bother with ANY of the blue box instruments. They provide nothing extra to the song over the white box ones, just a random stat that's gone anyway after you do another buff (by changing instruments). Don't waste the gil - stick with HQ1's as they do provide a larger bonus to the song over the NQ, whereas the HQ2s are the same as HQ1s but with an extra random stat.

[Septimus]

One exception to the "ALWAYS" rule. Don't ever buy or use a Military Harp.

In that case, the +2 Finale from the instrument is much less of an accuracy buff than the accuracy you lose from using a string instrument for debuffs as opposed to a wind instrument.

Yeah, that slipped my mind.

That's one instrument one shouldn't bother getting, it's just not worth the trouble.

I used a Military Harp when I leveled up BRD. I do not remember a Finale being resisted during XP time, and I didn't have to worry about skilling up an incredibly gimpy skill all at once.

If you don't want to use it for HNMs, I can see that, but there is no reason to not use it in an XP party.

[Charismatic]

Well, it's not as if skilling up is difficult for BRD anyhow... just spam Threnodies on goldfish in sea.
That's what I did.


Whichever method you prefer will work out just fine, I think.

[Bakthi]

I used a Military Harp when I leveled up BRD. I do not remember a Finale being resisted during XP time, and I didn't have to worry about skilling up an incredibly gimpy skill all at once.

If you don't want to use it for HNMs, I can see that, but there is no reason to not use it in an XP party.

I used whatever harp I had on hand and still never had Finale resisted in exp (and obviously still easily capped string). Right now I use an Angel Lyre to finale non-HNMs because of the 2% haste. So no, there's no reason to buy Military Harp.

[Seyrr]

One exception to the "ALWAYS" rule. Don't ever buy or use a Military Harp.

In that case, the +2 Finale from the instrument is much less of an accuracy buff than the accuracy you lose from using a string instrument for debuffs as opposed to a wind instrument.

I've heard things like this time and again, but I've never been able to get an adequate or clear explanation. What is the difference between wind and stringed instruments/skill? It sounds like string instruments are less accurate. Is there some other benefit you get instead, then? Can you (or anyone) precisely explain just what the difference is?

I kind of like the harp music and wish I could hear it more often, but everyone uses horns.

EDIT: Never mind, just read the other BRD topic.