Bards are the newest class, released with the Song of the Surging Waves expansion.
Pros:
- Targeted squad heals
- High survivability in PvP
- Ability to chain critical hits
- Ability to prevent squad wipes
Cons:
- Lacks buffs/debuffs that benefit the squad in dungeons
- Damage output drops drastically in one-on-one PvP or when channeling is interrupted
- Weak to control skills
Statistics[]
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Equipment[]
Weapons[]
Bards primarily use zithers, as they are required to cast most skills.
Damage Chart: Lower-Low-Medium-High-Higher
| Weapon Type | Minimum Damage | Maximum Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Zither | Minimum | High |
Armor[]
Arcane armor is ideal for bards due to their high magic.
Bards in PvP[]
The Bard's ΨRoaming Dragon Blessing skill makes them particularly onery to kill, however, they are not without weaknesses. In particular, bards are weak to two things: movement control and stuns. Bard's most powerful damage stems from its ability to chain its attacks; however, this can be broken by the enemy simply stunning the bard or running away. Bards can somewhat mitigate the latter in the short-term by use of ΨUpstream Glow; however, due to its relatively long cooldown of 30 seconds, this is but a stop-gap. Bards additionally have a number of control skills theirselves, albeit none with the ability to do this for significantly prolonged periods. ΨClouds Encompassing the Sea in particular will give the bard 5 seconds of reprieve. Finally, a bard finding theirself stunlocked will be granted brief reprieve by ΨRoaming Dragon Blessing's stun immunity when they would otherwise die; however, bards largely do not have the skills in and of theirselves to combat control-type combat.
Bards in PvE[]
At low level, bards will typically face extreme difficulty fighting physical-based mini-bosses and bosses which other classes don't seem to have problems with. Their self-buff only triggers when receiving damage in a single hit totaling the triggering amount (and additionally only against players), causing it to be near-useless. Their squad buff provides no comfort either: though useful, it yields zero survivability. Though bards have support skills, unlike the Cleric and Mystic, they have no heal-over-time skills. Unlike Psychic, they cannot boost their own defense by sacrificing attack. Unlike Venomancer and Mystic, they cannot summon any helpers. Unlike Stormbringer, they cannot move while casting at low level, and as such cannot fight while running away. Unlike Wizard, they don't have any shield spells. On the other hand, they will not have problems with normal mobs due to the fact that they can guarantee critical attacks by chaining their attacks. Additionally, mini-bosses can be partially dealt with via the control portions of Waves of the vast sea, Drunken Clear Dream, and Clouds Encompassing the Sea.
At level 59, this begins to shift due to the gaining of a second heal skill. At level 100, this drastically alters due to the acquisition of ∆Great Sound of Hope, which grants them a powerful transformation once every 5 minutes, supposing they have Subsiding Dirt in inventory. During this 20-40 second transformations, bards become massive damage-dealing tanks due to their assassination skills. In dungeons, they become top-tier supports due to their ability to spam heal the tank, which will automatically heal portions of the party. This means that the tank which is soaking up the majority of the damage gets heals which then transfer to various party members, effectively dynamically reacting to situations, so long as players don't get in large AoE spells. Even those, however, can result in the bard becoming a saving angel: the bard skill ΨYu: Kunshan Jade Shatter can save a party from getting subjected to a squad wipe, preventing massive damage AoEs from killing weaker party members.
Bards in Territory Wars[]
It is largely unknown how bards work in territory war, however a particularly well-planned use of ●Strumming the Cool Strings would result in high potential for large scale collateral.
Other Articles[]
Skills[]
| Classes | |
|---|---|
| Human | |
| Untamed | |
| Winged Elf | |
| Tideborn | |
| Earthguard | |
| Nightshade | |