Brd Set Help, Please.

Bard is my only job, and favorite (Suppose since only xD) I enjoy playing it, but it needs a lot of improvement, please help! :)

This is my idle, and yeah Gala Corsage, but meh I ♥ it xD
I'm working on refresh Hairpin and Subligar, and Dark Rings, but unsure in idle if the Regen pulls out (I use Spellcast) and Pan's Horn mainly, but sometimes its what ever horn I last used for what ever song.

Any advice on anything to change (Besides me Corsage xD)

I do a lot of Voidwatch I have 365 Wind and 350 singing skill atm, with gear working on capping it asap, but a lot of the mobs resist a lot and not like the average one or two, but by a large amount, sadly I nearly went a fight today without landing a single song >.<
I use this set while I work on a few pieces like AF3 etc

Any advice on gear to make that better (Also note I change different instruments etc, Pan's Horn was base to fill the slot)

And this is my stranded buff set atm

If any improvements to that as well :) (Again horns there to fill void xD)

I haven't touched Bard in forever, so I can't really point to things that may be obvious to others, but in regards to landing songs, Wind Torque, Choral Cuffs +1, and Omega Ring/Balrahn's Ring if viable would be improvements.

Id actually noetic torque and aoidos' Manchettes +2 ^^;; for hands rather then those two tbh :X but yes omega n balrahns ftw :x <3

Er, wow. AF3+2 hands are much better. And Piper's Torque would actually be the best neck slot, but Wind or Singing will be better than Noetic.

Uhm... I honestly don't have an issue landing threnodies on a mob in VW unless the NM is immune to it ~.~ and I don't have anything special... for debuffs I use AF3+2 body and hands, tho, musical earring and the chr+8 waist, for buffs I have wind torque and astute cape.

So idk, maybe next time try af3 body and see if it makes a difference? I honestly don't like praeco ~.~ (but maybe I'm just old school!)

Musical Earring instead of Skald. AF3+2 body is a significantly better debuff piece. In terms of head pieces, Bard's Roundet +2 > Marduk's Tiara > Bard's Roundlet +1 > NQ > Aoidos'.

Sorry for being so scattered, I haven't played Bard outside of meleeing in years.

Aristo Belt is worse than Demonry Sash, thought only slightly.

It's a bit out there, since pretty much nobody does Salvage anymore, but Marduk's Jubbah if you want a refresh body piece.

Twilight Torque if you want another -5dt, since Aoidos' doesn't really help you there

Balladeer's Cape for major CHR and skill boost

Musical Earring is a must. Don't know how much Aristo Belt would help you.

You can also look in to an HP- / Minstrel&SongCast- / SongBuff set. A lot of stuff happens outside Abyssea now, and it's worth looking in to. I think iirc off the top of my head, the most you can get -song% is 38 or 39, so Minstrel is still worth it.

(Though I have those sets built into my actual song macros ^ and stuck Deep Devourer on because I assumed Minstrel wouldn't work in there, and for some reason all my songs became insta-cast. No lie. Still trying to figure out what the hell happened.)

They raised the fast cast cap to 80% and you're probably at 70%+.

I'd go out to gustav tunnel and use the worms there to cap Wind/Singing.

Some random sets I made. Some might not be perfect. Criticism is welcome.

For Idle this will give 5mp/tic refresh

If you can get Heka's body it will give 6mp instead of 5. Also in the test server dats there are more legs with refresh coming if you dont have luck with subligar augments.

For song precast:

Sha'ir/Praeco/Yigit alternative bodies. -Song spell casting time augment on zenith pants.

For capped buff

5/5 AF3+2 for set bonus.

For uncapped buffs

AF3+2 feet if Scherzo. I think there isnt really any uncapped buffs at the moment, except maybe scherzo if you dont have 800 combined skill. The augment songs effect of empyrean set bonus will be weakened since not 5/5 AF3+2.

Debuff

Full AF3+2 is fine I think. Magian M.acc Staves better too. There are slightly better pieces for the other slots if you deem them to be worth an inventory spot/gil.
Sweven Boots +1
Enchanter's earring
Demonry Sash or Elemental Obi if weather/day.

If you are able to stick songs reliably you can start changing things out for -song recast time equipment like Sheikh Gages/Harmony Cape.

Cure potency/-enmity

cure cast time/cure potency augment on zenith feet.

Unless you're debuffing in Daurdabla(or another Stringed Instrument for some odd reason), I fail to see how it beats Mesmeric Cape.

For head, Demon Helm +1 is another option. Not better than Relic +2/+1/NQ or Marduk's, but it should beat AF3+2.

Going along with the Musical Earring comment there, seeing as BRD is OP's only job, Moonshade Earring with mACC+4 is a good second earring. If you're saving it for something else, Enchanter's Earring is probably the best alternative.



Angha Ring is a good substitute for Balrahn's if you don't have yet/got another ring for some reason.

Wanted to throw out there, if you can get your hands on em, Valkyrie's Clogs can be augmented with Singing Skill+5, which should just barely beat Sweven Boots +1(if you're lucky, maybe you'll hit CHR+ from the random pool too, lol)

Also, unless there's something I'm not seeing here, don't think Praeco beats AF3+2 body.



jeez, I don't know how some people have enough space for that kinda stuff XD I usually only have like 2 free spaces as it is @_@ My Fast Cast build is pretty high, but can only cap it if Minstrel's Ring activates, sadly :/




Wanted to point out Anhur Robe is another option for "alternative bodies", that has Fast Cast+10% iirc.

and don't forget about Augmented Dweomer Knife(5%) if you're in a situation that you're /NIN or /DNC!

For abyssea you dont need a -HP set. You can just cancel your cruor HP buff and it will automatically reapply putting you in the yellow, but for outside I'd probably be too low on space to bring it aswell.

Thank You all for your help ^_^♥

Victory march caps at 600 combined skill, scherzo caps at 800 combined skill. Minuet V caps at 672 combined skill. If you cap wind+singing @ 99, thats 746 combined skill before merits. You only need a skill set for Scherzo, otherwise i would just cast everything everything in fast cast/song spellcasting time, unless said piece of gear had song +1.

AF3+2 for set bonus. and Song effect duration+ gear (Aoidos' Matinee, Aoidos' Hongreline+1/+2, Carnwenhan.) otherwise yeah, don't really need a full swap

I've always really loved how Brd's AF3+2 Set Bonus was constant and not something similar to the other sets with a 5% or lower proc rate.

I also really like how it complements Daurdabla and Etudes so well lol x.x

...I also love giving a party of DDs Light Carolx2 and Ballad while we're idle at an event and watching them just be like "Wtf, how do I have an extra 100 MP!?!?!? o.O"

Anyways lol, Reain covered a lot of the sets really well. I would just add that if you must focus on a certain set to improve, I would focus on Precast and Debuffing (if you are having such trouble landing them in VW). But I do have to ask though, are you making sure you're using Ascetic's Tonic/Braver's for VW? You have a decent debuff set and those two drinks should really help eliminate most of your debuffing problems.

If you don't have them yet, which it doesn't seem you do, I would definitely make it a top priority to get AF3+2 Hands. Those will help a lot with your debuff set and you'll want the March+1.