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Introduced in Build X.34 (May 2020), the Bard is the third bow class since the Huntress was introduced in Build 104 (September 2010). Unlike the more combatative Archer and Huntress, the Bard wears less durable Robes, befitting his role as a support class. He is unlocked by reaching level 20 on Huntress and Paladin. However, he is only playable on the Exalt client. See his stat gains, caps and averages here.
The Bard’s maxes out at an exceptional 75 Wisdom and 385 MP, giving him quicker mana regeneration and a large mana pool to utilize his abilities. His Dexterity also caps at 70 points, allowing him to attack much faster than Archer or Huntress. In addition, his speed cap of 55 means he can run a bit faster than other classes. However, his delicate nature comes to a head with a max HP of 670 points and a cap of 55 Attack.
Unlike other robe classes, the Bard’s choice of weapon is the bow. Bows deal damage at mid-range and pierce enemies, though the individual shots themselves have less damage. This makes bows like the T8 Golden Bow and up excellent for crowd control. It should be noted, however, that each missed shot counts against your accuracy. If that is important to you, try to land every shot. Still, the untiered bow options provide the Bard with a versatile arsenal for any situation.
The Bow of Covert Havens (tradable), Bow of Mystical Energy, and Bow of Deep Enchantment are the most powerful bows in the tiered list. By using a spread of three arrows and enemy piercing, these bows are able to mow down groups of enemies. Players that are particularly skilled at dodging can exploit the “true” range of the three shots (3.56 tiles) to get better damage on single targets in which the Bard can also increase this true range. Unfortunately, the weaker damage per shot makes it worse than other UT bows as defense increases. It is for this reason many bow class players will opt to carry an additional, untiered bow as a swapout, to mitigate the drawbacks of using one bow or the other.
The Doom Bow (DBow) is a slow shooting, hard hitting, untiered bow found in the Undead Lair. This bow works well against high defense enemies in particular as its slow rate of fire means defense will be less effective. The reduced fire speed fits the Bard better as opposed to the Archer and Huntress, since the high DEX stat reduces the need to plan each shot. The Doom Bow is considered the best bow to get soulbound damage on Event and Dungeon bosses given the sheer damage of each shot. However, it should be noted that this bow has inferior DPS to many other bows in situations where a Bard can safely approach an enemy with negligible defense.
The Coral Bow (CBow) is an untiered bow found in the Ocean Trench. It fires two shots at a slightly increased rate of fire from tiered bows. It has a slightly lower DPS than the best tiered bows when all shots hit. However, its true range and effective range (5.08 and 7.77 tiles, respectively) are longer than you get from tiered bows. This bow is often paired with the Doom Bow, being used for general purpose while the DBow is swapped for higher defense enemies.
The Leaf Bow is an untiered bow found in the Woodland Labyrinth. This bow sacrifices the ability to pierce enemies for a significant gain in DPS. This makes it useful in situations where piercing isn’t necessary or desirable (e.g: clean Tomb boss runs). It also has a very slightly longer range than tiered bows (7.2 tiles). Do note, the projectiles wave around with increasing amplitude as they travel farther away, so keep that in mind when you use this bow.
The Thousand Shot (TShot) is a fast-firing bow found in the Puppet Master’s Encore dungeon. This bow fires a single shot with a range of 7.59 tiles. Its special feature is its extremely fast rate of fire modifier of 200%! This bow fits Bard particularly well, as it provides some extra mana and its speed penalty of -5 is mitigated by Bard having a slightly higher SPD cap. Most importantly, because the TShot can attack to its entire true range, Bard can take full advantage of the inspired buff while using this bow to attack to an even farther range of 9.4875 tiles!
The Bergenia Bow uniquely pierces armor, in exchange for not piercing enemies. It boasts surprisingly good DPS for an armor-piercing weapon, and has a great 8-tile range. The bow’s armor-piercing trait makes it so good for higher DEF enemies that it always outdamages the Doom Bow at any DEF. It is good for clean Tombs; Shatters; and Lost Halls, due to ignoring the high DEF stats of bosses and certain enemies.
The Bow of the Void and the Deathless Crossbow are untiered, single-shooting, very rare bows that boast extraordinary DPS at dagger range that thankfully the Bard can extend this range. While the Void Bow outputs more damage than Deathless in all cases, Deathless shoots straight, and extremely fast to boot. Though the Thousand Shot is often seen as a middle ground to the Doom Bow and the Coral Bow, these two bows are the “true” middle ground, boasting great DPS without any glaring weaknesses than range.
The Bard’s choice of ability is the Lute. Lutes provide a party buff known as “Inspired.” Inspired increases weapon attack range by 25%. For example, a tiered bow (7.04 tiles) would have its range increased to 8.8 tiles under this effect. Unfortunately, lutes do not alter the shot pattern of the weapon, so the true range is unchanged on certain weapons (tiered bows, most namely). Higher tiered lutes also provide the user with a defense boost. The defense boost of tiered lutes is always 2 seconds shorter than the Inspired duration.
The Skyward Lute and Nebular Lute are the best tiered lutes. They provide the longest, most mana-efficient inspired duration, and also provide the highest DEF boosts for the group (+7 / +8) . In addition, they provide a passive +4 / +5 Defence on equip, which is important for the Bard’s survivability
The Snake Charmer Pungi is an untiered lute from the Snake Pit. It sacrifices the inspired buff from tiered lutes in exchange for speedy. Along with the +7 speed bonus, this lute is great for rushing.
The Wavecrest Concertina is an offensive lute that instead of giving a def boost, it throws a fighting parrot. There is also a small chance to throw more parrots upon firing your weapon. In addition, it provides a decent boost of +4 ATT and +4 Dex on equip, which is useful for DPS boost.
The Pharaoh’s Requiem is a defensive lute that helps out the group by inspiring allies and weakening enemies. Upon taking 50 or more damage, you will gain the Armoured buff for 3 seconds. This lute is best for survivability.
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Unlike other bow classes, the Bard wears robes. As a robe class, Bard benefits from a much larger mana capacity than other bow classes at the cost of less durability and health.
The Robe of the Grand Sorcerer / Robe of the Star Mother / Robe of the Ancient Intellect are the primary armors of the Bard. Both provide ample Defense and greatly amplify the Bard’s damage output with increased MP, and boosted ATT. While these robes may not be as powerful in specific areas as some untiered robes their versatility cannot be ignored, one can never go wrong with these.
The Anointed Robe provides great DPS boost output and is relatively easy to obtain. With +4 ATT and +3 DEX, use this robe if you want to deal more damage than using tiered robes until you find more powerful robes.
The Soulless Robe gives a healthy mix of 60 HP and +15 DEF. It helps out the Bard a bit with his low defense and HP. However, this robe doesn’t give any more damage or wisdom stats compared to other robes.
The Water Dragon Silk Robe is a highly versatile robe that sacrifices 65 MP, 3 DEF and 4 WIS for a nice increase of 6 SPD and 1 ATT. Quite good on bard because his lutes do not benefit from extra wisdom as they do not have a wismod.
The Esben’s Shaman Attire is an untiered robe which sacrifices def in exchange for some HP and a decent ATT boost. It also has a chance to slow enemies upon taking damage. Only use this robe if you would like the slow debuff, because it has mediocre stats otherwise.
The Shendyt of Geb is an ST robe. Its stats are a mix between tiered robes and the Soulless robe, providing a hefty +7 wis in addition to a small HP bonus and 15 DEF.
The Diplomatic Robe sacrifices DEF, MP, and WIS, but grants a great HP bonus and a huge spike in DPS in both ATT and its proc. The proc is a portal that deals single-target damage to enemies in its range. The portal’s cooldown and duration are both 4 seconds, though you have to take 50+ damage which isn’t always be an option. Even though the DPS is the highest of all robes, the portal’s placement can be annoying.
The Vesture of Duality is the preferred DPS robe as it gives +5 ATT which can be increased to +20 ATT by using your ability. However, it will redure your DEF which can hurt, considering that robe classes are generally squishy, but your long range and the +10 SPD boost helps as you can dodge in time. Furthermore, the cooldown is as long as its duration, giving it a potential 100% uptime if the player uses their ability once every 5 seconds.
Bard players often choose to wear rings that either boost defensive capability or focus on offense.
As for a tiered protective ring, HP is always preferred over DEF on a class like Bard. However, because of Bard’s low defence, it can be justified to use Defence ring over HP in some circumstances.
The top choice by many players, Ring of Unbound Health (UBHP) is the best ring to use on any classes if you want to maximize your survivability as a Bard. This ring will boost your HP by 180. If you happen to have a Ring of Decades, the boost of +190 HP will let you fare a bit better than the UBHP. Regardless of reasons, majorities of players swear by wearing an HP ring over a DEF ring.
An unconventional choice of many, the Ring of Unbound Defense (UBDef) can be seen as a reason choice for a Bard due to his low Defence stat. In addition, it pairs fairly well with tiered Lutes’ Defence boost effect as it allows him to be tanky as a Warrior/Paladin.
The Ring of the Pyramid fits well on any classes, particularly the Bard. It provides a solid boost of +4 ATT which fits well for increasing his DPS. In addition, +100 HP and +4 DEF significantly increases the surviability, which is also equally important for a Bard.
For a tiered offensive ring, the Ring of Unbound Attack is the optimal choice for a Bard as he possesses high DEX but low ATT. In fact, ATT will always outdamage DEX regardless of the enemy’s defence. There’s also Esben’s Wedding Ring which grants the same ATT boost and also +60 HP and +60 MP but lowers your defense but that shouldn’t be issue with your increased range. Just note, rings that boost both ATT and DEX will provide better DPS.
The Forgotten Crown and the Magical Lodestone both provide +12 to offensive stats (+6 ATT and +6 DEX). The catch is Crown grants 110 HP while the Lodestone provides 6 SPD and 6 DEF. The Lodestone does have an edge over the Crown in the fact that a Bard can benefit from the +6 Defence as he’s faily squishy without Defence boost and the +6 Defence for effective rushing. Nonetheless, many players view the Crown as the superior option because of the HP boost it provides.
The Bard is a versatile and balanced class. He can range from a DPS centered character that attacks from a distance, to a support character that buffs the group and debuffs enemies. The variety in untiered bows allow him many different playstyles. Yet this eclectic variety in items makes him suffer with the reduced DEF from robes–and also the DPS meta. The Bard, then, becomes quite dependent on the UTs for specialization in either offense, defense, or support, which can be tricky for newer players who can’t get UTs as easily. But if that’s okay for the player, then they have nothing to worry about.
The Bard can inspire his allies, giving them increased range. This is very beneficial to sword classes, as they can now attack from a good distance, keeping them safer.
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Play the Bard class and see what you think. If you have any information that one would find useful while playing Bard, feel free to add to this guide!
