Useful things for Heavy Bards, looking for your ideas!

Discussion in 'Skills and Combat' started by Violet Ronso, May 4, 2021.

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  1. Violet Ronso

    Violet Ronso Avatar

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    Hey everyone! It is no surprise to anyone when I say I am currently playing as a bard. I am trying to test multiple things out with bard skills, but also with skills and specializations that could have a good synergy with it.

    As of right now, I am trying out Heavy Armor for Bards (as it has been something I always wanted to do, and also something a lot of players ask questions about), so I will describe what I currently have, and then start brainstorming on different skills and specializations. I would actually really appreciate if you guys come and throw out your own ideas and suggestions, or even questions here, so that if I forget or overlooked something, you guys can help me with that! Let's try to explore everything that needs to be explored with bard skills!

    *Important thing to note, Bards should soon be less efficient if not holding an instrument in their hand. For this reason, I will mostly ignore weapon skills for now as I do not think those will be able to help me once the fix goes in*

    So here goes,

    My Gear
    Helm : Meteoric Iron Epic Plate helm
    7.8 Base resistance, 8.8% Max
    3% Avoidance
    60.8 Health
    12.1 Strength

    Chest Armor : Meteoric Iron Plate Chest Armor of Gaiaism
    13.6 Base resistance, 12.8% Max
    7% Avoidance
    26.5 Strength of Earth Power
    10 Earth Attunement
    33.6 Strength

    Leggings : Meteoric Iron Epic Plate Leggings
    10 Base Resistance, 8.8% Max
    3% Avoidance
    17% Glancing Blow Power and Duration
    23.9 Strength

    Gloves : Meteoric Iron Epic Plate Gauntlets
    5.7 Base resistance, 6.8% Max
    2% Avoidance
    25.7 Health
    13.8 Strength
    8.2% Inner Strength Power and Duration

    Boots : Meteoric Iron Epic Plate Boots
    5.8 Base resistance, 6.8% Max
    3.5 Dexterity
    17.1 Strength
    8.5 Glancing Blow Power and Duration
    0.9% Move Rate

    Shield : Meteoric Iron Heavy Round Shield
    7.8 Resistance, 0% Max
    1% Avoidance
    11.1 Combat Block modifier
    34 Focus
    33 Health
    6.4 Strength

    Backslot : Front Clasp Cloak
    38 Strength

    Necklace : Warlocks Chain (uncommon)
    23.2 Intelligence
    15.7 Health
    +10 MAagic resistance and attunements
    +5 Adventurer level

    Belt : Meteoric Iron Heavy Belt
    27.8 Strength
    3.5 Dexterity

    Everything else is not mentioned because it is not good gear for now, just placeholders.

    Currently, this build consists of me sitting in the middle of mobs (or hiding behind cover sometimes), while playing Atonal Aria, Melody of Mending and Refrain of resistance, while keeping shield and heavy armor defensive buffs up. I use the water elemental for extra healing, and that is about it for now.

    Now here are a few things I have considered :

    Specialization #1 : Bard
    Pros :
    - 6th stack for increased power
    - Damage resistance buff on RoR
    - Stronger buffs when playing with a group

    Specialization #2 :
    1. Heavy Armor
    - Lots of DR
    - Longer BS stun

    2. Earth Magic
    - Stronger Strength of Eart
    - Avoidance on Earth Shield
    - Shorter Torpor Root
    - Longer Root (for archers)
    - Option to cast Earth spells (Earthquake, stone fist)

    3. Life Magic
    - Very low cast time
    - Stronger heals
    - Good for support play
    - Strong Banish Undead

    4. Water Magic
    - Soothing Rain's Fire dot dispell
    - Stronger Water Elemental


    As you can see, I am considering 4 different specializations as my secondary specs, Heavy, Earth, Life and Water. I cannot look at the other magic trees as my fizzle chance is 70-100% for every spell in the other trees. I considered Shields, but there wasn't enough Pros in my eyes. I am also considering Spellbinders stance, unless Chris makes Cast speed modifiers have the opposite effect on bard songs (making them take longer to cast when cast time is lower), so I might stay away from that if it is the case, but Spellbinders could be a nice way to integrate some spells to my arsenal if it is possible.

    As for foods, I have been considering Health and Health Regen foods, such as the Plesiorus Pie and Dragon Stew.

    So there we go, Got any suggestions?
     
  2. Lazlo

    Lazlo Avatar

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    Heavy can never be too bad since it gives you a ton of passive damage resistance, but out of those choices, earth seems the most promising to me without having actually tested. It's all available in full heavy, it increases stat benefits by quite a bit, and earthquake fits in really well with a build that's constantly stacking and using proximity AE.
     
  3. FBohler

    FBohler Avatar

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    Does Chaotic Feedback work with Bard songs?
     
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  4. Violet Ronso

    Violet Ronso Avatar

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    In fact right now, they have the opposite effect!
     
  5. FBohler

    FBohler Avatar

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    That's confusing! Maybe it's a misinterpretation from the devs?
     
  6. Chemical

    Chemical Avatar

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    I am currently playing a "Tank Bard" 6 stacking (when I can) Atonal Aria & Melody of Mending. In between that I cast the other bard buffs (except Rhapsody of Recovery) and spam defensive abilities. When it comes to melee I can tank multiple mobs fairly easy. When it comes to Casters or Archers I get destroyed. I also notice I get stunned quite often from mobs that stun resulting it me constantly loosing 6 stack of Atonal Aria due to its long cast time.

    Specialization #1 : Bard
    [​IMG]

    Specialization #2 : Heavy Armor

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    My armor isn't anything special "White Iron Epic Plate" +6/7 that I made myself focusing on Health & Strength.
    Same with Spear and Shield nothing special.
    Same with the remaining slots just random +health/str gear.
    Using Belt of the troll Lord, Uncommon (+33% Aggro Boost)

    Buffs:

    Water Elemental
    Shield of Crystal (5 stack): +160 Health
    Strength of Earth (5 stack) +27.5 Strength
    Food Slot 1: Banana Bread
    Food Slot 2: Broiled Mackerel
    Food Slot 3: Plesiosaurus Pie

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: May 5, 2021
  7. Violet Ronso

    Violet Ronso Avatar

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    Hey Punk! Thanks for sharing your deck, and let me give you a few recommendations!

    1. When you say you release AA and MoM 6 stay (when you can), I think your #1 slot has a bit too much there that slows your deck down. Are you spam casting whatever goes in 1? If not, and you pull 2 defensive glyphs in a row, that will lock up your deck a little and slow it down, and as long as you draw those, it will hurt you. I usually leave my defensive buffs locked ( I use 3 identical decks but I have different defensive buffs on then, and I shuffle through them to refresh. As long as your dynamic slots are setup the same, you wont lose your stacks upon deck swapping. To compensate for the lost glyphs in your deck, I stack a 3rd song. Refrain of Resistance and Psalms of Stagnations are my prefered choices : Slowing down mobs means melees hit me less, and I can kite, meanwhile the extra resistances are always good, especially for mages.

    2. Make sure you train the stun resistance passives and skills when you can for both the Heavy and Shield trees. Also, maybe try Meteoric Iron plate, and aim for more strength! Strength affects a lot of effects in fights, so you want it at a reasonable amount, I am for 300+

    3. Do you feel like you need your taunt/provoking shout in there? Usually singing 3 songs I hold all the aggro, without the need for those skills! Could free up some space! Also, why are you using the Savage and Anthem songs? Is it because you are buffing your party? If so, you could use those stacked instead of AA if you are already tanking, sure you'll deal less damage but you will still be tanking and buffing your group!

    For the armor, check out Coswalds Shoppes District in Aria (near Nightshade pass), he possibly has the pieces of gear that I did not pick when he crafted my armor, so you could try those out!
     
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  8. Chemical

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    Yes, I spam #1 (whenever I can). I do notice that at times I am waiting like 5 seconds for either AA or MoM to popup.

    From my little time I've played with this build I haven't really had to use it, so ya I could optimize it. As for Savage and Anthem songs ya I use it to buff my bro we are only a duo so I wanted to make sure I am optimizing my damage output to assist.
     
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  9. Virsago2099

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    I would avoid spellbinder stance due to the DA & DR negatives. If the goal is to tank while barding, I think that might do more harm than good. If you try it though, let me know how it goes.
     
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  10. Violet Ronso

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    For now I use it pre-fight to stack my songs quickly and buff myself up. Meanwhile, the -25 or so DA and DR is not too bad if in exchange I start using something like Earthquake which will CC them. Not tried yet, still waiting on a wand for that, but yeah!
     
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  11. Duke Gréagóir

    Duke Gréagóir Legend of the Hearth

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  12. Lazlo

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    It's too bad the damage reflection effect on obsidian armor is so weak. It'd be perfect for heavy bard post held instrument change if it actually made a difference.
     
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  13. Violet Ronso

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    Yeah, I am actually working on making a set for myself and try it out! Not right now, not quite yet, but I'm almost there!
     
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  14. FBohler

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    Maybe they can add a Spec bonus in some bard song which multiplies the damage reflect?
     
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