I'm just not sure DS is strictly added group damage. Cause this is damage that you would get even solo, or with an all caster group. I think it is justifiably attributeable to the bard.


For comparison group haste would be variable based on group comp. But DS values would be constant all the way from a full group down to solo. (Varying slightly based on mob ofc)

DS I would directly attribute to the bard the same way I would attribute the damage from a mage DS. Haste/buffs/etc is grey area but not relevant to a thread discussing blam sticks on bards or whether or not to buy your bard a SBoZ or BoC.

Yeah it's a bit grey. Anyway, this is all stemming from a misinterpretation of your original comment anyhow. Which I agree with following clarification.

Did I just win the internet?

Lol jk man I see where the confusion stemmed from in retrospect. My biggest regret is that I never finished Troxx’s epic. It would have rocked my face off … I still get hard daydreaming about it. I hate instrument swapping.

Why not both though? With primary instruments you can easily swap our primary weapon & put on instrument before dots land. This way you get the maximum amount of melee AND max dmg from dots.

This seems like winning strategy (IMO) but does require more work of course.

Aside from that, I do like charming for more DPS. With the proper control/mezzing between fights you can hold a mob for quite some time to augment the groups DPS.

Not every bard has the full compliment of primary hand weapons. And even then you’re only adding the offhand damage (no dmg bonus) on a class that can’t double attack and isn’t the beez kneez in terms of dual wield skill.

I’d rather slit my wrists than try to keep 5 instrument modded dots up on mob and trying to swap in weapons (in and out) before the next dots land in 3 seconds. You’re loading up an initial and then doing a nonstop every 3 seconds of casting with swapping drums and strings as it is.

Not gonna happen. And not using instruments cripples the dot damage.

Other than the Crys short sword, what else is good around 1kpp? Axe of velium brood seems okay?

Guardian's Mace and Breath of Harmony are pretty good. BoH is way out of that price range on green, but maybe close enough to be worth mentioning at blue prices; the effect is an instant click not a proc.

I've never understood the fascination with Blam Stick. People know about Mainhand Damage Bonus, right? That delay tanks its' real ratio to like tradable item tier.

If the (dmg * 2 + dmg bonus) / delay formula is actually accurate then the blam stick is only slightly inferior to a sboz with the max dmg bonus so yea probably better off with the sboz if you can afford it but that is a big if