Note: This page is a work in progress.
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. See his stat gains, caps and averages here.
The Bard’s maxes out at an exceptional 75 Wisdom and 385 MP, giving him easy access to his abilities. 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. Tiered bows fire two side shots, which pierce armor, but have a low true range unaffected by a Bard’s Inspired. Untiered bow options provide the Bard with a versatile arsenal for any situation.
The Bow of Covert Havens , Bow of Mystical Energy, and Bow of Deep Enchantment are the most powerful tiered bows. These bows can mow down enemies thanks to their wide spread and piercing shots. It comes at the cost of a low “true” range to hit all three shots (4.07), but skilled players can exploit the damage increase. With the much higher range of some untiered bows, its recommended to keep tiered and UT options as swapouts. Mystical Energy are a soulbound drop from O3, but the other two bows are tradable.
The Doom Bow (DBow) has a massive damage per shot - at 500-600 - but shoots incredibly slowly. The slow firespeed means that enemy DEF matters less, but means that every shot counts even more. Thankfully, Bard’s higher DEX eases that pain a little. It is effective at getting soulbound damage on bosses. However, it often sports an inferior DPS when enemies have low DEF, or other bows are safe to use. It can be found in the Undead Lair.
The Coral Bow (CBow) fires two shots with a better rate of fire and much tighter spread than tiered bows, sportng much higher true and effective ranges (6.35 and 7.77 tiles, respectively). It’s weaker than the T13 bow, but found in the Ocean Trench. It is often paired with the Doom Bow; this clears, swapping when range or defense piercing is required.
The Leaf Bow (LBow) and Thousand Shot (TShot) are rapidly firing, single-shot bows. The Leaf Bow sacrifices piercing for a significant gain in DPS. In situations where piercing is not necessary (such as “clean” Tombs), the Leaf Bow is a very strong option. The Thousand Shot has a even faster fire speed (200%!) and piercing, making it better for realm clearing. Both bows have great ranges, taking full benefit of the Inspired buff. The Leaf Bow can be found in the Woodland Labyrinth, and Thousand Shot in the Puppet Master’s Encore.
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 also found in Woodlabs.
The Bow of the Void (VBow) and the Deathless Crossbow are single-shooting, very rare bows that boast extraordinary DPS at dagger range, though boosted by Inspired. The Void Bow sports superior damage in all cases, but fires slightly wavy and is only dropped by the Void Entity. Unlike other UT bows, these do not compromise much for their amazing damage.
The Predator Bow is an untiered, multidirectional firing and high DPS bow. It surpasses even that of the Bow of the Void until 57 DEF, assuming that 3 out of 5 shots hit its target. Hitting all 5 of the shots possesses one of the highest damage models in the game. However, hitting all 3 shots has a range of about 2.8 tiles (less than swords), and hitting all 5 requires standing directly on top of the target.
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 (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 (tradable) 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, which throws a fighting parrot instead of boosting DEF. It provides a decent boost of +4 ATT and +4 Dex, and sometimes spawns parrots when firing, which greatly boost DPS. Because of its throwing mechanic and the parrots ignores enemy’s defence, it allows the Bard play as a hybrid of support/offense (and as a pseudo-Assassin).
The Pharaoh’s Requiem is a defensive lute that helps out the group by also weakening enemies, reducing their damage by 10%. Upon taking 50 or more damage, you will gain the Armoured buff for 3 seconds. This lute is best for survivability.
The Angel’s Fanfare is a ST lute that, while alone serves as a high-MP cost defensive lute, when combined with other parts of the set, gives powerful offensive and defensive bonuses. While best used with other parts of the set (especially in solo play, where healing may not otherwise be available), the +80 HP for the group on use (which can be stacked with a Paladin’s buff) makes it a useful swapout.
The Chief’s War Horn is a lute that supports the group by placing a banner that inspries and grants Berserk to everybody near it. This is especially useful when there’s no warriors nearby. As a bonus, it will also slow enemies within 4 squares so you can keep a distance against enemies.
The Noble Mandolin from The Forgotten King is a more offensive lute, similar to the Wavecrest Concertina. However, it instead grants the user a large ATT buff for a few seconds, at the cost of your weapon’s shot speed. The lute also summons a ring of spinning shots. This lute sacrifices utility, as shots are slower and the lute’s shots are not very mobile, for damage, as you gain a large ATT buff.
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 strongest tiered robes. They provide ample Defense and greatly amplify the Bard’s damage output with increased MP, and boosted ATT. Their versatility cannot be ignored; one can never go wrong with these. Ancient Intellect is soulbound, dropping from 2 endgame dungeons, but the other two are tradable.
The Anointed Robe and Water Dragon Silk Robe provide good DPS boosts, comparable to the T15 robe. They both sacrifice Wis, but the Bard’s abilities aren’t boosted by it. The Water Dragon Silk can heal for +100 HP on proc, which improves bulk a little more. They are squarely mid-game robes, from Oryx’s Castle and Lair of Draconis, respectively.
The Soulless Robe and Shendyt of Geb are tradable ST robes that sacrifies offense for defense. They both don’t boost Atk, but Soulless gives a respectable +60 HP, and the Shendyt gives Vit, Wis, and a smaller (+25) HP boost.
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 Diplomatic Robe and the Vesture of Duality sacrifice DEF, MP, and WIS for a massive DPS stat increase. Diplo creates 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 to activate it. The Vesture increases Attack to an insane +20 by using your ability - its defense penalty is negated by a tiered lute’s defense buff.
Bard players often choose to wear rings that either boost defensive capability, or focus on offense.
As for a tiered protective ring, HP is generally preferred over DEF. However, because of Bard’s low defence, it can be justified to use Defence ring over HP in a few 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. Regardless of reason, the majoriy 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 reasonable choice for a Bard due to his low DEF stat. In addition, it pairs fairly well with tiered Lutes’ DEF boost effect as it allows him have the same defense as a Warrior/Paladin.
The Ring of the Pyramid fits well on any class, and the Bard is no different. It provides a solid boost of +4 ATT in addition to a significantly increase to surviability, both of which are equally important.
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. 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.
The Forgotten Crown and the Magical Lodestone are endgame rings that both provide +12 to offensive stats (+6 ATT and +6 DEX). Crown’s HP boost is generally preferred over the Lodestone’s Def and Speed, but both give great damage increases.
The Divine Coronation (Coronation) and Exalted God’s Horn (Horn) are powerful alternatives, with Horn giving DPS only if you are above 90% HP. Both drop from the endgame Oryx Sanctuary.
The Bard is a versatile and balanced class. He can range from a ranged DPS centered character to a support character that buffs the group and debuffs enemies. The variety in untiered bows and lutes 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’s main role in a group is to provide consistent buffs, which will generally be Inspired and the DEF buff given by tiered lutes. For example, wand classes can hit Oryx The Mad God 2 during his dance phase with Inspired. Sword classes can also attack from a good distance, keeping them safer.
You should be as consistent as possible with your Inspired buffs. While not strictly necessary, Inspired is best “chained”, one after the other, so that players using weapons that have wavy shots (such as Sword of the Colossus) don’t have to constantly be re-positioning themselves in order to guarantee that their shots land.
Since Bard is by no means lacking in DPS (On a maxed character with only Wine Cellar top weapons, Bard outdamages several characters up until 20 or so DEF) you don’t need to focus on trying to get soulbound damage, rather, it’s more okay on focusing on how to best support the group you’re in.
Against Event Bosses, the Bard’s range increase is very helpful, even if it is not strictly necessary. In the case of bosses like the Skull Shrine, Cube God, or Avatar of the Forgotten King, Bard’s Inspire buff can allow squishier classes like Priests and Sorcerers to hit the Event Boss from a safe distance, and helping survivability to boot (via DEF buffs). The buff also allows Bards to get their own shots on the boss without coming into much danger of their own, or needing to pay too much attention to the HP and MP management that comes with playing classes like Priest.
In dungeons, Bards play much of the same role as they do against Event Bosses, primarily present to increase survivability through their buffs. However, Bards are especially more useful against bosses that possess attacks that are capable of maiming or even instantly killing players that are too close, which are more frequent in end-game dungeons than in the realm. By allowing other players (especially sword-based classes) more range against bosses like Oryx the Mad God 2 and 3, alongside various other end-game critters, Bard can help increase the survivability of the group.
Overall, the Bard is a easy-to-use, team-oriented class that focuses on increasing range and survivability through the use of his ability. His bow allows him to engage from a safe distance, and his high MP and WIS caps allow him to consistently provide buffs to his team, allowing far-range classes to pick at enemies without much danger and short-range classes a fighting chance against enemies with powerful shotgun attacks.
