Bard Class Guide

Bards are the jack of all trades in EQ but masters of none. They have a large array of abilities making them extremely versatile classes. Their main role in groups vary quite frequently. Sometimes they are used as pullers, other times they are used in place of an Enchanter and sometimes they even just sit pretty much AFK in the middle of the group and play Mana Regen, Haste and HP Regen Songs. One of the most noteable things about a Bard is that their songs stack with all other of the class' spells.

As a soloer Bard's don't really stand out amongst other classes. Pre-GoD, I think it, was when Swarm Kiting still existed Bards were beast soloers but once Swarm Kiting got removed their solo ability dropped drastically. As a Bard you will want to always try and get a group, which is pretty much the same for other classes; but moreso for a Bard. As a Bard your songs will drastically help a group, to the point of where you will almost double the ability of the group. Combine that with how uncommon Bards are in group situations and people will love you.

If you are looking for a class that can turn a mediocre group into a great one, then Bard is the class for you!

Instruments

Bard's are the only class with the ability to use instruments. Some songs require instruments while others are just improved by instruments. There are also other songs that are not at all even affected by instruments. There are also things called Instrument modifiers. Typically these are found on the instruments themselves but later on in the game it is not uncommon to find them on armor instead. Just as casters would seek focus effetcs to benefit their spells, the Bards seeks Instrument modifiers to benefit their songs.

Instrument modifiers initially have a cap at 3.6, however purchasing certain AAs can increase this cap. Instrument modifiers come in the form of a skill. The more a Bard plays a song that uses an instrument the better his skill will become and the less chance he will miss a note and stop singing/playing that song. In the early levels you will want to swap out instruments to practice your skills. Once you get a piece of armor that counts as all instruments (usually a piece of defiant) you won't have to worry about instruments anymore! Here is a list of each type of instrument available to a Bard:

Stringed: This instrument usually applies to Area of Effect damage songs, HP and MP regen songs and mitigation songs. To increase your stringed instrument skill you will want to use any Instrument with a string mod on it.

Brass: This instrument applies generally to haste songs, slow songs, some AoE damage songs and some single target DD nukes.

Percussion: This instrument is well known for modifying run speed songs such as Selo's Accelerando, Resist songs, DoT songs and other misc songs.

Wind: This instrument doesn't modify many songs. One of the only noteable ones that it does is the Bard's Invisibility Song.

Singing: Singing is arguably one of the Bard's most valued modifier. It affects slow songs, DD nukes, Resist songs, Snare songs, Mitigation songs and many more. In addition when a bard plays a song and does not have modifiers on his equipment or an equipped instrument the Singing skill will be used to play the song. This means Singing is very important to keep up as a Bard since it is really their "fallback" mod. There is one song, Amplification, which modifies the Bard's singing skill. This is excellent in boosting many different songs such as a group beneficial song, a DD nuke or landing an ability on a monster with no resists

Major Song Lines

In this brief section I will go over some of the Major Bard Song Lines. Note that not all of them will be covered, this is just more of a general list to give you an idea of what the class is about.

- A long HP Regen line starting with Hymn of Restoration

- A long Mana Regen line starting with Cassindra's Chant of Clarity

- A line of Run Speed increasing abilities (effects a group) starting with Selo's Accelerando. With a proper drum this ability will make you run faster than any horse ever could

- A long line of Charm songs starting with Solon's Song of the Sirens.

- A long line of Elemental Resistances songs. Probably not that useful for soloing or grouping but once you start raiding...

- A line of Overhaste spells. What this means is a class that is already haste capped (100%) will benefit from additional haste through this line of abilities that starts with Battlecry of the Vah Shir. Higher level versions will also improve the damage of other player's Nukes and DoTs as well as even improve healing of healing spells!

- Another absolutely unique spell called Song of Highsun that sends a target back to it's spawn location