Bard melee

[Vivitron]

Originally Posted by Crede [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

It's very powerful indoors, especially the earlier charm which costs no mana and lasts 4 ticks instead of 3. The latter one costs mana & only lasts 3 ticks so you will go oom fast. For this reason bards make the best dungeon crawlers until lvl 50 or so.

I found the key to indoor charming without a fungi was finding camps that were on the low end of the dark blue range. This was mostly to prevent resists: if I had a some charm resists indoors I would get shredded fast. I wouldn't put bard as the best solo dungeon crawlers (enchanter untwinked, maybe monk twinked both seem impressive sub 50), but there were a few spots where I could kill low blues very efficiently.

[Toxigen]

Originally Posted by Selene [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Lol I had no idea that bards fear kite without melee but use their DoT songs instead. So melee is rarely used if ever it seems.

With regards to charming, with all those charm breaks every 18 seconds, it seems like doing it indoors where there are tight quarters, I'm bound to get hit every time the charm breaks. Outdoors i get that selo's and snare will mitigate that risk but indoors charming seems not so safe.

Taking a hit here and there is fine, you have hymn of resto. Its going to happen.

The trick is having that sense of when your charm is going to expire (this comes with practice). You're a bard, you can move while casting. Just start pre-casting the charm while gaining a little distance...ideally your charm spell lands right after the charm breaks.

When I was learning, I would tend to cast my re-charm a bit too early (playing safe). No worries, you just stop your cast and start casting again...the charm IS going to break.

Doing it well in high ZEM dungeons is more about situational and spatial awareness. You can circle strafe in tight spots, avoid getting hit too much, and not aggro more. Obviously its easier to get a handle on this outdoors because it leaves you with ye olde selo's escape plan.

Once you dial it in...it just becomes second nature. People that crutch on GINA for it are shitters.

edit: I forgot to include why its important to charm the mob thats been drum DoT'd. Charm is an aggro wipe. If you re-charm the same mob there's a good chance that one you've been DoTing will stay on you. If you ping pong your charms between two mobs, you're constantly wiping the aggro and the new re-charm will pick up the now-free mob instantly.

Sugz does some pretty insane stuff on his bard:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1155754690
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1232511853

[Alarria]

That is a great post Toxigen. I also have noticed that a lot of bards I've watched videos of use Cantana to heal solo, which makes no sense since the healing is way less than Hymn and the mana regen does nothing.

Also, Sugz is on a different level for bard or enchanter (or necro or druid lol).

Melatunin is fantastic also, and has a lot of awesome solo bard kills on stuff on his channel: https://www.youtube.com/@melatuninthevirtuoso3659

[svevin]

Yeah, when I found out Bards stopped doing melee in later levels, I dropped my 40 Bard and haven't gone back. Up until that point, I had been doing the slow/haste/dot/heal twist with melee and having a great time, but apparently, that isn't sustainable.

[Loadsamoney]

Originally Posted by svevin [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Yeah, when I found out Bards stopped doing melee in later levels, I dropped my 40 Bard and haven't gone back. Up until that point, I had been doing the slow/haste/dot/heal twist with melee and having a great time, but apparently, that isn't sustainable.

It is once you get your Epic.

[Toxigen]

Originally Posted by Loadsamoney [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

It is once you get your Epic.

How many epics have you acquired?

[svevin]

Originally Posted by Loadsamoney [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

It is once you get your Epic.

Yeah, and that...is probably a good idea. I am super casual, though, so I doubt I could pull it off.

[Toxigen]

Originally Posted by svevin [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Yeah, and that...is probably a good idea. I am super casual, though, so I doubt I could pull it off.

Yeah don't mind him. He has extremely lofty goals for someone who has zero level 60s and has yet to raid competitively.

While Bard epic is incredible, the class is extremely capable without it.

Solo is great, but they shine even brighter in solid groups. Nobody wants to bard for a bunch of slackers though because it does take quite a bit of key inputs to do your job.

[Loadsamoney]

Originally Posted by Toxigen [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

How many epics have you acquired?

In my dreams? Many.

Yeah don't mind him. He has extremely lofty goals for someone who has zero level 60s and has yet to raid competitively.

There's nothing wrong with having lofty goals to aspire to.

Yeah, and that...is probably a good idea. I am super casual, though, so I doubt I could pull it off.

That has always been my thought train, but everyone is adamant that when I start raiding and accruing DKP, I will be able to bid on and win the White Scales eventually, so there's no reason why you can't too, especially if whatever guild you play with wants you to have your Epic and is willing to help you do it. Dream and dream big, I say.

[Selene]

only reason I asked about bards and melee is because i love dual wielding but found the pure melees really boring. bards basically seem like a variation of spellcasters though much more versatile and active