Starting To Get Confused On Brd Gear Help Me Out...

Ok, I'm 61 Brd and I'm getting confused with this job. I'm not looking to spending millions on it but want a decently geared Brd at the same time.

My Buff (Madrigal, Minuet, March, ect.) set is this:



My Debuff (Elegy, Lullaby, Requiem, ect.) set is this:



I use Terra's staff for elegy and have these instruments:
Cornette +1, Horn +1, Traversiere +1, Faerie Piccolo, and Nursemaid's Harp. I plan to get the Requiem +4 one when I can and I'm eyeballing the Cradle Horn as an upgrade.

So far I stick with Chr for my debuff songs and I will incorperate macc in when I can, where I can. Could prolly do for melody earring +1's but don't plan to use them later on and higher chr rings but same thing there.

I looked it up on wiki and still don't understand really what singing skill is doing for me and which is better for buffs that or wind skill.

Pretty certain string is for the AOE aspect of my songs be it debuff or buff?

I'm told wind is best for buffs but reading a lot of singing skill for buffs too so which is better and why??

String debuffs are generally frowned apon. Wind instruments are more magically accurate than a string instrument, but string is nice for buffs where people are scattered (like Dynamis) because of the greater AOE Range.

IIRC Horde is the only aoe debuff bard has so string suffers again.

Singing skill is a combo type skill. It'll work alongside String and Wind to increase String/Wind's attribute.

In this case, Singing skill combines with your Wind skill to give you an actual skill of around 350 (I think), meaning more potent buffs.

So boosting Singing is just as important as boosting Wind when you're buffing, and if you want range on your Horde Lullaby with a Harp then it's as important as String.

General rule of thumb is: Wind + Singing for buffs. CHR + MAcc for Debuffs.


I made another thread about BRD gear that taught me quite a bit about BRD. There's a few posts in here that go over buffing and debuffing, etc

EDIT: Personally, I wouldn't bother with the Requiem+ instruments, the higher up you go, the less useful it is. At 75 I don't use it, ever, unless I know something isn't sleepable. (Not that it ever sticks >_>)

I'm not sure on the level of Minstrel's Coat either, I think it might be a bit higher (like 63? ish), but that would be an awesome upgrade from your AF body~

This bumps me to
singing +21 ~21macc
wind +28 ~28macc
CHR +28 ~14macc
macc +3 ~3macc
__________________
total ~66macc. If you want more CHR, sing 2x CHR song on you and break 120 total CHR.
_________________________________________________________Wind skill will win because you use a wind instrument for MARCH songs. Need high wind skill to reach the higher March levels. Also instruments using wind skill: Minuet Madrigal Elegy Lullaby Carol Mambo Prelude. Paeon is only buff not affected by it.
Yes. Use only if you want AoE Ballad/Paeon. Horde Lullaby may be risky but if you have low-resist mobs you can use String for Horde lullaby.
Wind > String for buffs and debuffs. All the time anytime.

Helixx's post leads me to believe he has never played bard in his life.

Listen to Hitetsu, not Helix.

lol

lol

harping horde (personally i wouldn't bother). also, string != singing.


also, requiem is probably BETTER for those long, drawn-out fights in endgame than it is for something like xp mobs.

Requiem is certainly worth it. Its not critical like your other debuffs or as useful as Dia (for the def down), but if you find yourself with a few seconds free it is worth using.

Its not massive damage, but its effectively 'free' damage.

Although obviously only on non-sleepable mobs (or mobs you never intend on sleeping).

Yes, go CHR + Macc if you can't be bothered getting skill gear. Next people will tell you that 5INT on neck beats 7Ele.Skill on resistant mobs for BLM nuking.

How can you even believe that "+50 CHR" will EVER beat "+50 in skill AND +30 in CHR"?

Please dont quote me but i believe there is a cap to the ammount of chr you need. My set up pretty much looks the same as yours but i use a chanters staff where terra/apollo doesnt do much. I also didnt bother leveling string. I know many end game BRDs who dont either, but if your a perfectionist, i guess.

Figure I'll throw in my question here

For group 2, should I merit 5/5 trab/night for lack of anything else? For endgame stuffs

The hate diminishing one looked like it may be useful but maybe it'd never be better than march/ballad on tanks or w/e


Thanks in advance :D

Yes.

And @Helixx. I also believe there is a cap in CHR between 110-120, anything after that is wasted.

@Spency 5/5 Nightingale/Troubadour would be fine I think.. I haven't found a use for the other two songs yet but they may be useful during longer fights. How useful I do not know though, sorry.

ty ty!

I guess the question is are you planning to go end game with it?

Oh, I thought I mentioned that, this is for endgame, yes.

Ah okay. If you weren't going for end game, I wouldn't waist the time and merit those, unless you would want to if you're a perfectionist like me. :D

Lol good luck in keeping two chr songs on yourself in a fast paced party.

Also I'd suggest using the Nereids over chr rings for debuffing. I've found I've had far more Acc with debuffs since i've used Nereids. Chr is easy enough to get in most slots, Wind skill which is helpful for debuff accuracy is harder to get.

I've been going under the assumption that:

chr = 0.5
skill = 0.9
Macc = 1.0

By going with that, you can see how important skill and Macc are for hitting with debuffs.

If you go by those numbers (which i've found to be pretty accurate) even heaven's rings would only give you 2.5 Macc, and Nereids would give you 2.7

Go for chr on the parts where you can't get skill or Macc though in higher quantities.(It's a good idea to work toward 110 - 120 anyway to keep it capped)

Also, I wasn't sure whether you'd fully merit Night/troub due to the gains being minimal, but I also can't see the use of the songs, so I guess... why not?

Bard rotation :D soul voice + night + troub. :D

Ya I don't see meriting them 5/5 to be super useful but I'm the guy who'd accidentally hit it before everyone is ready so I guess waiting 10 minutes instead of 20 would be nice

Thank you for this, I just hit lv75 BRD and have been wondering myself if I should get CHR rings or not. Been using my Nereids all along, in xp parties landing debuffs normally isn't too hard. But as I start moving into End Game I wasn't sure which would be better.

If say my CHR is not capped, say I have it around 105. Should I swap a Nereid for a CHR ring? Or my wind torque back to star necklace? To make sure it stays between 110-120, or will the wind skill still be more important? (Normally my CHR is capped, but as I start building more gear, ie musical earring, some CHR might start leaving my set)

The wind/singing skill will still be important, chr will still make the same difference no matter how close to the 110-120 cap you get, just after it will do nothing.

^^

Only Requiem never really lands on anything worth it anyway.

The Endgame Barding Guide by Ghlin is a pretty good read if you haven't already been to the ffxiclopedia bard page.

@ Spence: having 5/5 N/T is super useful for when you're doing multiple "minizergs" endgame with a full bard rotation that's not SV'd. Examples would be multiple Kirins or multiple Sarameyas.

@ someone else: for debuffs Omega ring > Nereid or w.e else you wanna put in your #1 ring slot. Chr vs Skill is still debated though, so hard to say what's best i ring #2 slot. Personally I think Veela ring wins.

If CHR is 1 - .5 M.Acc depending on your CHR and the mobs CHR then yeah, I think Veela at worst would be the same as a Nereid's Ring and at best 2x better. I'm not sure if it works the same as INT but if it does then what I've said should be true.

5/5 Troub is needed for things like Byakko so your timer matches up with elemental seal. 5/5 Nightengale is nice for matching, etc.

Requiem never lands on anything useful.... except Salvage frogs. That's the only time I really use it, otherwise I rarely bother.

String skill (with the right gear) is great for Horde Lullaby.

Carry on.

The fact is, there has been very little documented testing on bard songs. If someone has a link to some actual numbers, I would very much like to read it.

There's nothing wrong with the accuracy of String skills, it's just that there isn't any real reason to actively pursue for buffs it because a majority of the +song instruments are Wind. Plus, there's a lot more +Wind Skill items available compared to String.

http://myffxigear.kicks-***.org/ (a quick but dirty gear checker)

I personally have gone with weighting it in this order for debuffs: MAcc > Skill > CHR. If I can get twice as much CHR as the other stats in a particular slot, then I go with CHR. Combination pieces are harder to judge this way, but they're usually the better piece (Omega Ring, Bard's Roundlet, Goliard Clogs, Piper's Torque for Wind, Goliard Clog, AF+1 body for String). I have an augmented Nereid Ring with +1 CHR, but I rely on Omega and Balrahn's for debuffs.

I've concentrated more heavily on pimping out my buffs (499 combined skill without merits) so I am missing little things like Piper's Torque, a few debuff instruments, Marduk's, and Nyzul hasn't put out a pair of Goliard Clogs for me yet. The only time I have difficulty landing Elegy is while fighting Sky Gods (subbing BLM and using Elemental Seal for highly resistant targets like this is the norm, but impractical for the small number of people I usually take). And no, putting both CHR Etudes does not help me land Elegy any better in this situation.