A few points about Bard group play, particularly regarding charm;
Charming is indeed situational when in a group. A full group with a charming class (Necro/Chanter/Druid) easily turns into confusion if you start charming as a Bard. Because Bard charm works differently in several ways aside from the short duration.
- Bard charm wipes all but 1 point of aggro on the Bard. It's a memblur in this case, and in fact after Bard takes a swipe from his former pet, next one on hate list gets it. Try dropping charm next to the sitting caster who annoyed you. Or use it to save a Shaman or Chanter with a lot of aggro from mez, slow etc. the attention he's due shortly from a pissed off mob.
- All charm spells breaks duration spells cast by NPCs, like Slow and DoTs. For a Bard charm with above exceptions in mind, this turns otherwise annoying or downright nasty spells into a short inconvenience.
- Some times, charm is the only option to stopping a mob from dealing damage, like caster giants, or most mobs in Skyfire. Can't mez'em, can't root'em and stop them nuking. Charm at least stops them cold for a duration while other stuff is handled.
- Finaly, best use of charm tends for me to come in small groups or duos, especially if there's a root capable class involved. The Cluster Charming (bunch of mobs rooted in melee range, charm one after the other) is a firm favourite for fun and effective tactic. Cleared trains in KC that chased full groups to zoneline with just a Ranger buddy, who it has to be said is well aware of the silly stuff I like to pull and thus on the ball. Remember you can use your mez to push rooted mobs that end up out of melee range, just turn your facing to adjust the direction (Twilight pulls, so face away from the direction you need).
Have fun and remember, a well played Bard is a true asset to any group, if you get told to bring out weapons and just play mana song, it's perhaps a good time to look for another group.
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