Not sure how many people are going to find genuine use for this, but here we go.
STATS & BASIC INFO
The Bard’s equipment of choice are as followed:
- Weapon: Bow
- Ability: Lute
- Armor: Robe
- Ring: Any
So let’s try to figure out what these numbers mean by going through all of the stat caps.
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HP & DEF – The Bard only has 670 compared to the other bow classes’ 700. And although the DEF stats are the same, the Bard wears a robe, which grades down his defense as well. This immediately tells us that the Bard is a squishy class.
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MP & WIS – 385 MP, which is considerably greater than the max MP stat of the Archer. Paired with a high 75 WIS cap (Archer has 50), we know that the Bard is heavily reliant on his ability, which we’ll get into in a moment.
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ATT & DEX – The Bard only has 55 ATT, while the Archer has 75. Fortunately, the newcomer’s DPS is bumped up with an impressive 70 DEX, which is 20 more than the Archer.
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SPD & VIT – Good to note that the Bard is slightly more mobile than the Archer with a +5 SPD cap. VIT is rather useless as of now, but I should probably chip in the fact that the Bard has a +5 VIT advantage.
BOWS
I used Pfiffel’s DPS Calculator to compare most of the top bows in the game. Since the tool hasn’t been updated in a while, I changed the ATT, DEX, and WIS stats to simulate the Bard and keep it accurate.
The Bow of the Void is the best bow for the Bard’s use, the most obvious reasons being that A) it usually deals the most damage up to around 120-125 DEF, where it is overtaken by the Doom Bow, and B) the low range can be nullified by the Lute ability.
The Deathless Crossbow can be considered as a slightly weaker alternative to the Bow of the Void. It deals approximately 2 more damage than its stronger counterpart, but has a 5% fire rate reduction.
The Coral Bow and Thousand Shot can serve as your crowd-controlling weapon. Each has their own advantages. The Coral Bow is a more common weapon (dropping from Thessal in the Ocean Trench), shoots two shots simultaneously, and is the better choice for when you’re dealing with massive amounts of enemies. On the other hand, the Thousand Shot is rarer, shoots a single fast stream of projectiles, has more range, works better on high DEF enemies, and is generally more versatile.
My recommendation? The Coral Bow, and for a number of reasons:
- The Coral Bow’s lower range does not matter as much due to the Bard’s Lute.
- You’ll switch to another bow for high DEF anyway, so TShot’s advantage at high DEF is pointless.
- The Coral Bow can be estimated to have a more common drop rate.
- More people seek OT because of its larger variety of loot.
- You can max mana while grinding OT.
However, if you’re short on swap-outs for the bow, the Thousand Shot can find uses, as it makes a pretty good all-around weapon for many circumstances.
Throughout my time playing the Bard, I found myself in situations where range is very important. Maybe you’re in the middle of a Tomb boss fight. The Void Bow is too short-ranged, and the Coral Bow does too little damage for your taste. Having a long-ranged bow like the Doom Bow or Leaf Bow is extremely helpful for circumstances like these.
When it comes to my opinion, the Leaf Bow is the better weapon. Here’s why:
- It has slightly longer range.
- You’ll usually be using it on bosses, where piercing isn’t really needed.
- The Doom Bow does more DPS at ~75 DEF, but enemies usually don’t have that much.
- The Leaf Bow has a high fire rate, making it easier to aim.
So the best bow setup?
If you can, try going for something like this:
Bow of the Void for general use and damage.
Coral Bow for crowd-clearing.
Leaf Bow for range.
But it’s all up to preference. I would just play around with all of them and see what you like.
Or maybe you don’t have a Coral Bow? Try replacing it with a T12 Bow of Covert Havens – it’s tradable and it works decently. Maybe you don’t have a Leaf Bow? Replace it with a Doom Bow if you have one. Don’t have a Void Bow yet? Or even a Deathless Crossbow? Just go without it, it’s fine.
LUTES
The Lute is the Bard’s ability. Upon usage, it forms a musical aura around the user. Every player within that aura is granted a status effect known as Inspired. When a player is Inspired, their weapon range increases by x1.25.
FOCUS: Support & Defense
The T6 Skyward Lute is best tiered Lute as of now, and does the usual Inspired and DEF boost at the highest efficiency available. This item shines most in the Lost Halls, Shatters, and some of the more difficult boss fights. In all of these scenarios, range is crucial. However, if you’re planning on hopping into a large group, there will likely already be a Bard giving Inspired to everyone, so you don’t really need it. On the other hand, if you’re running an endgame dungeon with a tight group (maybe a few guildmates/friends), you may want to bring this along if no one else is using a Bard.
FOCUS: Speed
The Snake Charmer Pungi is a UT Lute that grants the user the Speedy effect instead of the usual Inspired (and it gives a nice +7 SPD). During times when range and offense isn’t much of a concern, and you need to move to another place quickly (rushing dungeons, getting to an Event Boss, etc.), this helpful utility will be your best friend.
If you’re planning on using the Bard a lot, it’s a good idea to invest some time in grinding Snake Pits to obtain this item. As soon as I got it, I was surprised by how wit opens up a ton of possibilities. I found a special use of this in Wine Cellars where it’s very helpful to be fast. Snake Pits are incredibly common and easy to complete, and you can even do this while maxing SPD.
FOCUS: Damage
A UT Lute that purely focuses on damage and damage alone (it even gives +ATT and +DEX upon equip), but at the cost of no DEF boost. Upon use, a parrot is thrown towards your cursor and circles around, dealing damage to every enemy within that area. Every time you shoot with your weapon, there is a 5% chance of spawning a different parrot that circles you while attacking nearby monsters.
If you’re fine without extra DEF, the Concertina could very well be considered one of the best Lutes in the game, perhaps bested only by the Pharaoh’s Requiem. It’s also probably helpful to mention that this item has no cooldown, so if you want to slap on some equipment that give MP, this (along with the Requiem) is the Lute for you.
It drops from Jon Bilgewater the Pirate King, who is located at the end of the Deadwater Docks in Bilgewater’s Grotto.
FOCUS: Support & Defense
The Pharaoh’s Requiem is a powerful UT Lute that drops from Nut in the Tomb of Ancients. Unlike the Concertina, which is DPS-based, the Requiem is a support ability that summons a mask that inflicts nearby enemies with Weak. At the cost of a rather high MP cost, all affected enemies deal 10% less damage for all of their attacks. This can be incredibly useful for places where there are many projectiles that deal a lot of damage.
Another very useful feature is that its reactive effect – whenever you take 50 or more damage, you get Armored for 3 seconds. Though this effect has a 15-second cooldown, it can be invaluable for boss fights and times where you are suddenly rushed by a group of high-damaging enemies. That’s right – very good for the Lost Halls (crusades that catches you off guard), Shatters (a large group of aggravated enemies), and the Nest (where some of the bees move very quickly).
Overall, this is a great support ability for endgame dungeons.
ROBES
The Bard is the only bow class to use robes. When trying to decide which one to use, always remember the following points.
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Tiered Lutes and the Snake Charmer Pungi have cooldowns. If you are planning on use these a lot (or you don’t have access to the other Lutes), avoid +MP. Because of their cooldowns, they cannot be spammed, so more mana does not matter. This is also why you usually don’t put MP rings on the Rogue.
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None of the Lutes have WIS modifiers (though the Bard ironically has a high WIS cap), so extra WIS does not matter.
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The Bard is exceptionally weak in defense and health compared to the other bow classes. Thus, a survival-based robe could be a great choice.
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Since the Bard has access to the Lute, which increases weapon range, some Bard users may desire an offensive robe that gives more DPS stats so they can put the ability to maximum efficiency.
Below are some of the top robe picks.
+20 MP, +4 ATT, +13 DEF, -3 VIT, +2 WIS, +3 DEX
The Anointed Robe is one of the best robe for both defensive and offensive stats. It grants +13 DEF, which rivals the DEF stat of the T13 Robe, +7 to DPS stats, and +20 MP. The extra mana could come in handy if you have access to either the Wavecrest Concertina or the Pharaoh’s Requiem, since neither of them have cooldowns.
+60 HP, +15 DEF
The Soulless Robe is a perhaps the best survival-based robe in the game. Boasting the highest DEF increase (only tied with the Robe of Twilight) and the highest HP increase (only tied with the Shendyt of Geb). Since +MP and +WIS do not matter as much to the Bard, they can focus on pure survival stats like DEF and HP without missing out on anything.
You can obtain this robe by first locating a Lich, a Realm quest monster. The Lich spawns Haunted Spirits, which individually have a chance of dropping the Soulles Robe at a very low rate.
+60 HP, +50 MP, +10 DEF, +3 SPD
The Robe of Twilight used to be a laughingstock of an armor until it actually got a good buff. Now, it’s a great alternative robe for the Wizard and (you guessed it) the Bard. The +60 HP more than balances out the lower-than-average DEF increase, more SPD is always welcome, and we also get +50 MP.
If you are planning on using either the Concertina or Requiem (which don’t have cooldowns and come at a higher MP cost), this is a solid choice for you.
+6 ATT, +12 DEF, +6 SPD, +3 WIS
Bard users looking for mobility should choose this armor without a doubt. The +6 ATT comes short to rival the DPS stats of the Anointed Robe, and the +12 DEF comes short to rival the DEF stat of the T13 Robe. On the bright side, the +6 SPD can be very helpful for easier dodging and running past enemies. Paired with the Snake Charmer Pungi, which grants the Speedy effect, the Bard has a chance at becoming a decent rusher.
RINGS
Bard users should look for rings that give defensive stats due to how squishy the class is, and preferably those that also give DPS stats to put Inspired to good use. Rings like the Experimental Ring are not as good on the Bard because (like repeated multple times above) he usually has no need for more MP.
+190 HP
This doesn’t need an explanation. Though many prefer a more balanced ring, or perhaps one that doesn’t focus so much on safety, but it’s hard to argue against the fact that the Ring of Decades is hands down the best survivability ring.
As always, a Ring of Unbound Health could serve as a cheaper alternative. It is often tradeable for a much lower price, and the difference between this and a Ring of Decades is only 10 HP – a minimal loss for those who do not have enough wealth.
Don’t forget that Exa HP and Para HP also serve as great rings!
+4 ATT, +4 DEF, +100 HP
The Ring of Pyramid is great on every class. A balanced set of stats that boosts DPS while maintaining a good combination of DEF and HP. If you have one of these in storage, it can definitely be something to consider for a Bard.
+110 HP, +6 ATT, +6 DEX
The Forgotten Crown is similar to the Ring of Pyramid, though it can be considered a rarer and more offensive alternative. It trades the DEF for a sliver of HP, but its real power comes from the +6 ATT and +6 DEX, which can drastically increase a character’s offensive capabilities.
+6 ATT, +6 DEF, +6 SPD, +6 DEX
The Magical Lodestone is good if you’re fine with missing out on the safety and want to go purely offensive with extra stats like SPD. Along with a Leaf Bow, Snake Charmer Pungi, and Water Dragon Silk Robe, you can reach up to an impressive 79 SPD, not including the fact that the Lodestone’s DPS stats rival those of the Forgotten Crown.
Extra Notes
- To chain a T6 Skyward Lute, you need a pet of at least Level 79.
The user must recover 100 MP within the 7-second cooldown, which requires around 14.3 MP per second. A regeneration like that would require around 239 WIS, because 14.3 divided by 0.06 (the amount of MP regeneration that 1 WIS amounts to) is 238.3 (but we need to round up). A LVL-78 pet is equivalent to 225.9 WIS, and a LVL-79 pet is equivalent to 242 WIS. Thus, LVL-79 is the minimum pet level for chaining the Skyward Lute.
- To chain a Snake Charmer Pungi, you need a pet of at least Level 86.
The user must recover 100 MP within the 5-second cooldown, which requires 20 MP per second. A regeneration like that would require around 334 WIS, because 20 divided by 0.06 (the amount of MP regeneration that 1 WIS amounts to) is 333.3 (but we need to round up). A LVL-85 pet is equivalent to 328.6 WIS, and a LVL-86 pet is equivalent to 340.4 WIS. Thus, LVL-86 is the minimum pet level for chaining the Snake Charmer Pungi.
The above points do not include the player’s WIS or WIS bonuses from equipment, so the actual required pet level may be less than the aforementioned numbers.
- Don’t treat the Bard like the Archer. The Bard is far more frail with less DEF and less HP. If you think you can tank just as many shots, you will die.
If you have any of your own tips/strategies, let me know!
