Grouping Bard Tips

[Rakana]

So, I've recently started playing a Bard, only about level 8 so far, and am mostly trying to group rather than go the kiting route. Any tips on playing a bard well in a group? The wiki seems to have depressingly little bard grouping info.

Thanks in advance!

[sox7d]

This post makes me happy.

Don't play Chords of Dissonance if there's an over pull and there's an enchanter in your group.

If there's no harmony/luller in your group, pull with lull song.

If there's no enchanter, be on top of your mez song.

If there's no snarer/slower, be on top of slow song.

Always twist haste during fights.

Always twist HP regen.

Always twist mana regen.

Keep good hand posture. If your fingers hurt from twisting, change how your hand rests on the keyboard.

To be a better group member, constantly be looking for ways you can make your group more efficient, smoother, faster and stronger. You can do most things, be creative with it. You can do almost anything, be creative with how you augment the group.


-Guy that played a bard 8 years ago, but grouped with a really shitty one recently.

[sox7d]

or play mana song and afk

[Estu]

You can adopt a bunch of different roles; it depends on what your group has and doesn't have in terms of class makeup.

A common role for bards is pulling, since they have selo's and lull song. Pulling is pretty straightforward: find mobs, lull the ones you don't want to pull who will social aggro, then pull the one you do (boastful bellow is good for that). Be aware that lull may fail and end up pulling the mob you're trying to lull; high charisma helps avoid that, although the biggest factor is the mob's level relative to you.

Crowd control (CC) is also popular. You have an AE mez song that's great at low levels but not so great later on, so take advantage of it while you can. You can also single-target mez.

Then you can buff/debuff; you have group haste songs if your group is melee-oriented and you don't have an enchanter who wants to keep haste up on everyone, and you have slow songs you can use on monsters (be careful; slows will pull a lot of aggro, so you don't want to use it if you have a shitty tank like a warrior). You can snare mobs who are going to be fleeing (this is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT in dungeons).

Speaking of tanks, you can tank. You're great at holding aggro and you can load up on some HP gear if you want to do that and/or the group calls for it.

Then, things you should generally be doing regardless is helping with healing and mana regen with the appropriate songs, and switching instruments as much as possible/practical. Oh, and meleeing during fights, assuming that it makes sense to melee instead of using an instrument (it often does; don't underestimate your melee damage).

It's a complicated class and you have a lot of options; this is why it can be played very well and it can be played poorly. It might seem daunting at first but the nice thing is that you only get one song per level, so if you group all the way to 60, you're eased into the role(s). Experiment and have fun!

[seitil]

Pick up a mouse with a few buttons on the side, like the Razer Naga or Logitech G600 (I have used both over the years, currently using the logitech) it makes twisting so much easier and your wrists will thank you!

[Frug]

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

Pick up a mouse with a few buttons on the side, like the Razer Naga or Logitech G600 (I have used both over the years, currently using the logitech) it makes twisting so much easier and your wrists will thank you!

Is this considered OK, are are you just mapping the side buttons to number buttons (or alt-# buttons)?

[seitil]

Yea all I do is map the 12 buttons on the side of my mouse to the numpad, I don't see why it wouldn't be legal to do since they operate just like key strokes only its on your mouse. Completely changed how I play!

[Roku]

I'm not going to reiterate the good information already posted, but one additional thing I enjoy doing on my bard is to charm an add for extra DPS. If you get several adds, assist the tank, then start mezzing adds until you get to the last one, then start casting charm song, assist tank, when charm lands hit pet attack, then F8 and start recycling your mezzes.

When you get down to just your pet remaining, let the group start killing it until aggro is off you. Then go lull pull a single with Charm to add it to the fight. Pulling with Charm also keeps casters from casting on you. Until the cleric is screaming for mana or you run out of mobs to pull, then you should never just have 1 mob in camp.

You can also cycle in mana song and haste once you're down to 3 adds or less in camp that you're managing.

[Yumyums Inmahtumtums]

Make sure to keep your weapons armed when you Afk for 10 minutes at a time playing mana song.

[Jauna]

As a Bard you are going to adapt to what the group needs or what the group does not have. Get used to being the Enchanter, Tank, Shaman, Puller or assistant healer if you are grouped with a druid. Pack Regen/Hymn and so on are amazing together, and at lower levels Hymn with a Lute during downtime heals more then most healers until your mid20s or so, and it saves them mana.

Also dont forget about Alt Casting, when I am twisting songs I use Alt 1, Alt 2, Alt 3, Alt 4 for my regular lineup and use hotkeys for other songs, specifiably Mez and Lull