Bard — Varnarok Games

AVAILABLE ON: Eden, Blackthorn, Live

Bards are tasked with recounting the stories of the valiant defenders of Hibernia, whose bones and blood now nourish the soil of their beloved homeland. They are also there to soothe the troubled minds and heal the broken bodies of those who still continue the fight.

Bards are integral to any group, as it is their songs that beckon the winds to hasten their groups’ travels through hostile territory, and their melodies which lull the enemy. Your primary duties as a Bard will be to control the enemy through area-of-effect mesmerisation effects and to hamper their spell-casters with your powers to inflict amnesia on enemy spell-casters.

PvE:

Bards are support powerhouses with an incredibly diverse set of skills. This makes them highly sought after by every group but sadly not very efficient to play solo. Your songs require you to have an instrument equipped for them to work, which means they will only last for around the first 10 seconds of combat after you switch to your melee weapon.

In groups, Bards will focus on keeping their songs active (they end if you run out of power) , pulling mobs for the group, casting crowd control spells, buffing and providing backup healing.

RvR:

In RvR, Bards are typically the person who the group follows, as the further ahead the Bard is, the closer they will be to any enemy encounters. This will allow the Bard to cast their area-of-effect crowd control spells as soon as the enemy is within range. Bards are uniquely advantaged for this compared to the equivalent classes on the other realms, since Bards have access to instant amnesia spells. Amnesia spells will nullify any spell that an enemy spell-caster is performing, without cancelling the animations, meaning that enemies will have to finish their casting animations before realizing that their spells have failed.

Character planners:

Eden: https://eden-daoc.net/charplan?c=Bard

Blackthorn: https://blackthorn-daoc.com/class/Bard

Live: https://daoc.gg/charplanner/overview#c=BARD

Suggested starting stat point distribution:

15 Dexterity / 10 Charisma or Constitution

Suggested class skills:

43 Nurture, 38 Music, 27 Regrowth, 10 Blades (43 Nurture is required for the highest level of movement speed song)

47 Music, 43 Nurture, 13 Regrowth, 10 Blades (Higher music and less regrowth trades better crowd control for worse healing)

Suggested realm skills:

Long Wind 1

Purge