[Sabaron]

Ok, after looking through a few threads and poring over the Advanced Searches and the AH, of course, I've come up with an idea for my end-game Bard gear sets. Please let me know if any pieces I've listed aren't worth carrying or especially if there are ones I've missed.

Head:
Walahra Turban: Speed/MP - Haste+5%, MP+30
Bard's Roundlet [+1]: Stick/Buff - Singing+5, CHR+5[6]

Body:
Yigit Gomlek: Speed - Song spellcasting time -10%
Minstrel's Coat: Stick/Buff - Wind+3 String+3

Hands:
Sha'ir Gages: Speed - Song Recast - 2 CHR+5
Choral Cuffs [+1]: Stick/Buff Singing+5[10]

Legs:
Choral Cannions [+1]: Exclusively - Wind +3[8]

Feet:
Sha'ir Crackows: Exclusively - CHR+4 Haste +1%

Back:
Jester's Cape: Exclusively (until Bard's Cape)
Bard's Cape: If I ever do DL Dynamis, then exclusive.

Neck:
Star Necklace: Exclusively - CHR+3 15mp

Ears:
Musical Earring: Exclusively - String+5 Wind+5
Melody Earring: Until I decide I want to do Locquacious.

Rings:
Trumpet [Nereid]: Exclusively - Wind Skill +2[+3]

Questions I have:

With all of the +Skill stuff I can get nowadays, do I seriously need a heavy +CHR build? Which is better for ensuring songs stick, skill or CHR? I realize that point-for-point skill is better for sticking, but how does CHR measure up? Is there a certain threshold I should shoot for like 100?

I feel like I don't have enough shoes...

Yes, I realize this is obviously a wind build. My string skill is...weak. What are the most common activities in which a Bard will want a string gearset for?

I looked at Goliard quite seriously, but in the end I couldn't find anything I thought was terribly interesting.

I'm working on Musical Earring and AF+1 as my biggest interests right now. I've been doing Nyzul Isle, but I'm seriously considering dropping it and using all of my tags for Periqia Assault to get Yigit Gomlek (I don't feel like shelling out 4mil on Sha'ir Manteel).

Please note: I don't really care about weapons/instruments. Basically, the goal is to have all top-quality instruments and weapons will be Elemental staves generally. I'm thinking toward party and not solo. I doubt I'll ever use Bard in solo since I have RDM.

[Icemage]

Shadow Clogs are strictly superior to Shi'ar Crackows, assuming you have access to a group that has a chance to clear Einherjar.

MND +5 CHR +5 Magic Accuracy +2 Enmity -2 Physical damage taken +1%

Yigit Gomlek sucks in any circumstance aside from merit parties where you're pulling on Bard, and is eclipsed by Shi'ar Manteel in any case for song casting speed. You've got 2 minutes+ to recast your songs. If taking 0.8 seconds off the casting time is going to make you lapse song coverage, you're doing it wrong.


Icemage

[Sevv]

Sha'ir Manteel (depending on your linkshell)
Rostrum Pumps (depending)
Wind Torque
Loq. Earring

[IfritnoItazura]

Rostrum Pumps are nice, but for endgame event you may want those CHR+ for feet.

Einherjar comes to mind in particular; stack all the skill+ and CHR+ and defense you can, and hope someone has SCH/RDM ready for Gravity-ga. Good thing exp buffer on BRD is a breeze.

[Callisto]

Originally Posted by Icemage

Shadow Clogs are strictly superior to Shi'ar Crackows, assuming you have access to a group that has a chance to clear Einherjar.

MND +5 CHR +5 Magic Accuracy +2 Enmity -2 Physical damage taken +1%

Yigit Gomlek sucks in any circumstance aside from merit parties where you're pulling on Bard, and is eclipsed by Shi'ar Manteel in any case for song casting speed. You've got 2 minutes+ to recast your songs. If taking 0.8 seconds off the casting time is going to make you lapse song coverage, you're doing it wrong.
Icemage

Goliard Clogs are about as good as Shadow Clogs, and infinitely easier to attain. DEX/MND/INT/CHR+4 MAcc+2 Eva+5 hMP+3

Originally Posted by Sabaron

With all of the +Skill stuff I can get nowadays, do I seriously need a heavy +CHR build? Which is better for ensuring songs stick, skill or CHR? I realize that point-for-point skill is better for sticking, but how does CHR measure up? Is there a certain threshold I should shoot for like 100?

I go for a mixed build on Debuffs, getting huge amounts of CHR is easy, tack in skill in other slots.

For buffs I go strictly skill+, trying to hit the 506 combined tier for an extra % on March. I'm missing some pieces, but at the moment I use:

Buff Set

Bard's Roundlet
Wind Torque
Melody Earring
Loqacious Earring
Minstrel's Coat
Choral Cuffs+1
Trumpet Ring x2
Jester's Cape +1
Gleeman's Belt
Mahatma Slops
Goliard Clogs

I'm saving towards Musical Earring and Singing Earring, and waiting on the Apollyon piece to drop for the AF+1 pants, and need to get another Chanter's Staff at some point. If you aren't planning on going after a relic horn, try to aim for 506 total skill if you're into min/maxing.

I go for a heavier CHR build with MAcc for debuffs:

Debuff Set

Bard's Roundlet
Wind Torque
Same Earrings(for now)
Errant Houppelande
Choral Cuffs +1
Balhran's Ring
Angel Ring
Jester's Cape
Gleeman's Belt
Mahatma Slops
Goliard Clogs

Yigit Gomlek and Manteel are both out for awhile due to me being in a Nyzul static and having better uses of 2m at the moment, so I just stick with the skill/CHR pieces.

Originally Posted by Sabaron

Yes, I realize this is obviously a wind build. My string skill is...weak. What are the most common activities in which a Bard will want a string gearset for?

Almost never. Fights like Divine Might if using a Supertank method where you'd use Minne, or if you go with a Nursemaid's Harp(I prefer Mary's Horn).

Originally Posted by Sabaron

I looked at Goliard quite seriously, but in the end I couldn't find anything I thought was terribly interesting.

Already mentioned it, but the feet are a great piece, and from the first boss floor. Worth getting(you'll want them for RDM anyways!).

Originally Posted by Sabaron

I'm working on Musical Earring and AF+1 as my biggest interests right now. I've been doing Nyzul Isle, but I'm seriously considering dropping it and using all of my tags for Periqia Assault to get Yigit Gomlek (I don't feel like shelling out 4mil on Sha'ir Manteel).

Like Ice stated, Gomlek is a meripo piece without much warrant outside of it, stick out the Nyzul group until you get the boots. And do the earring after the AF+1 if possible, they get much more bang for the coins.

[Sabaron]

A couple of additional Bardly questions:

Does +Magic Accuracy help stick debuffs? (Currently, I'm working under the assumption that it does).

I totally forgot about torques.

Loquatious Earring isn't particularly high on my list of things to spend 75 ABC's on. It's 2% fast cast doesn't thrill me all that much. Melody Earring, Bard AF +1 (pieces mentioned above) and RDM AF+1 pieces are first.

Sha'ir Manteel is 4m on Asura--I'm not going near it especially since Yigit Gomlek is free. Song casting time doesn't seem terribly important, but I do like the Recast Time bonus on Sha'ir Gages for debuffs. Of course, it's terribly hard to ignore how powerful Choral Cuffs +1 are, and I'm not sure if the Sha'ir gages will survive after I upgrade my hands (first on my list btw).

As far as a speed set, I don't think I need too much speed because I don't really want to be fighting with other pullers anyway, so claim speed is a moot point since it's better to just switch camps than stay where there are too many people. Also, from my first Bard Meripo, we hit chain #54 with me pulling (Puk/Mook, no wyvs), so it doesn't seem incredibly necessary.

Oh, and (for now) I've got Demon Helm which is definitely not as pretty as Bard's Roundlet, so DH is going in the trash once I find Roundlet.

So, I'm now not going to trade in Nyzul for Periqia until I have at least Goliard Clogs.

I've never done Einherjar, but it doesn't appear terribly popular on Asura (at least no one ever shouts for EinLS recruiting). That will have to wait until I'm done with Limbus most likely anyway.

[Icemage]

Originally Posted by Sabaron

Does +Magic Accuracy help stick debuffs? (Currently, I'm working under the assumption that it does).

Yes. More so for Bard than most other jobs, actually, since our base skill level is C.

Loquatious Earring isn't particularly high on my list of things to spend 75 ABC's on. It's 2% fast cast doesn't thrill me all that much. Melody Earring, Bard AF +1 (pieces mentioned above) and RDM AF+1 pieces are first.

Loquacious is seriously overrated. Unless you're a RDM who wants it for MP boost/fast casting, it's pretty meh.

Sha'ir Manteel is 4m on Asura--I'm not going near it especially since Yigit Gomlek is free. Song casting time doesn't seem terribly important, but I do like the Recast Time bonus on Sha'ir Gages for debuffs. Of course, it's terribly hard to ignore how powerful Choral Cuffs +1 are, and I'm not sure if the Sha'ir gages will survive after I upgrade my hands (first on my list btw).

4M is a steal for Shi'ar Manteel IMO, since Vir Subligar costs 8M from NPC and the desynth breaks quite often, and sometimes only yields Shining Cloth.

The other option is, of course, to kill Vrtra for cashmere (each kill drops exactly enough materials to make 1 manteel). Good luck with that unless you belong to a high end HNMLS.

As far as a speed set, I don't think I need too much speed because I don't really want to be fighting with other pullers anyway, so claim speed is a moot point since it's better to just switch camps than stay where there are too many people. Also, from my first Bard Meripo, we hit chain #54 with me pulling (Puk/Mook, no wyvs), so it doesn't seem incredibly necessary.

Not necessary, but it does make pulling just a shade safer, as you get an extra half-step ahead, plus a slightly faster Lullaby cast, both very important when trying to pull and hold multiple enemies.

I've never done Einherjar, but it doesn't appear terribly popular on Asura (at least no one ever shouts for EinLS recruiting). That will have to wait until I'm done with Limbus most likely anyway.

Einherjar is what you might call ludicrously unfair. Sometimes there's nothing you can do but lose.


Icemage

[Gobo]

I'm no BRD, and I might never be one, but I do have a few questions comparing endgame pieces of gear.

Marduk's Tiara vs Bard's Roundlet.

and

Marduk's Shalwar vs Choral Cannions+1?

which are better?

[Icemage]

Originally Posted by Gobo

I'm no BRD, and I might never be one, but I do have a few questions comparing endgame pieces of gear.

Marduk's Tiara vs Bard's Roundlet.

Marduk's Tiara.
You can get CHR in almost every slot. Singing skill is much rarer. Also +MP is generally favorable compared to +HP unless you're in a merit party as BRD/NIN or something (in which case both pale in comparison to Walahra Turban).

Marduk's Shalwar vs Choral Cannions+1?

which are better?

Tough call here. Choral Cannions+1 have a huge amount of Wind skill (+8) but no CHR. Marduk's Shalwar has a more moderate +5 Wind skill, but +10 CHR.

I'd say if you have enough CHR from other sources, Choral Cannions are superior, but if you're hurting for CHR boosts (need at least +20 or so at endgame) then Marduk's not a bad choice.


Icemage

[Callisto]

Some consideration does need to be given to the difficulty in obtaining as well, lol. In most slots Salvage sets will destroy other pieces, but they can take a very long time to get, whereas a Bard's Roundlet is a relatively common Dynamis-Sando drop(in my experiences, I've seen at least 10 of them not counting my own), and AF+1 is also much easier to obtain than Salvage pieces.

[Sabaron]

I deliberately left out Salvage gear due to difficulty and expense in obtaining it. The amount of work and money that goes into getting an additional +2 singing skill over Bard's Roundlet is immense.

[Callisto]

It really just depends how into it you're willing to go, for me personally BRD is my 3rd job that I get to use maybe once a month, so having it in top form isn't exactly a priority. At the same time, I can't really stand for any of my jobs to be defficient, which is why I only have 3 75's at the moment(with SCH being my next, since I pretty much have full endgame gear for it already).

Really when it comes to skill+, only one of your songs(March) is going to see any boost past natural skill caps added to whatever you get from reasonable gear(Wind Torque, AF+1, Musical Earring), and even then it's only an extra 1% of Haste. Minuet, Madrigal, Minne, and Mambo all hit hard caps much earlier than 506 skill.

For me personally I'm aiming for that goal of 506 combined skill because having that extra 1% is better than not having it, and I'd rather be the best I could feasibly be without having a relic or salvage gear, but if BRD is just a merit whore for you then it's not really worth going all out on a skill+ set, get a Gomlek for buffs and a decent CHR build for Elegy/Lullaby. If you're planning on being your linkshell's main BRD on the other hand, and want BRD to be your main job, then go for it. BRD will never be my main job because I'm needed as RDM usually, and if I'm not I play COR because I enjoy it more, so if I do end up going for Salvage gear it'll be for Morrigan's or Skadi's. Although, the +2 Singing skill from Marduk's would be nice, as it would allow me to undo my one merit and apply it to Elemental Magic for RDM & SCH.

Also not to be left out when it comes to debuffing are Terra's and Apollo's Staves. I'm working on full HQ set for RDM anyways(just Vulcan's to go!), but those two do make a big difference for BRD.

[Sabaron]

The question being, is Marduk's Tiara necessary to attain 506 combined skill? If it's not, then why bother? If I can get full power from AF+1 and one Relic, why not just stick with that? The rest of the tiara's uses are for WHM and SMN (basically)--I'm sure I'm not levelling WHM (yet), and though I like SMN as an idea, I've been continually disappointed with what it's rather limited purposes--second string main heal, two-hour spike DD, and kite.

The original intent of me levelling Bard is broaden my support abilities--whoring merits is a secondary thing, but I will grant that it is quite a nice bonus. That is the reason for the multiple gear sets. If I was just meriting I would only have speed gear.

I really just enjoy support jobs. Running back and forth buffing people, pulling, back-up healing. It's a very active job. Though I think for my third job, I might go unconventional and take something far removed from support, but I haven't picked a job yet.

[Callisto]

Originally Posted by Sabaron

The question being, is Marduk's Tiara necessary to attain 506 combined skill?

Well, let's see:

Natural caps: 450

Chanter's Staff: +4
Bard's Roundlet: +5
Wind Torque: +7
Musical Earring: +5
Singing Earring: +3
Minstrel's Coat: +3
Choral Cuffs +1: +10
Trumpet Ring x2: +4
Astute Cape: +5
Choral Cannions +1: +8

This brings you to 504, so you have 3 options:

1) Spend 1 merit on Singing or Wind skill.
2) Upgrade to HQ Trumpet Rings
3) Upgrade to Marduk's Tiara

The easiest is obviously the merit, which is what I've done, however like me you have RDM as well, and that's a point you could put towards Elemental Magic.

The HQ rings, while easier to obtain than Marduk's, are actually more expensive(by current Ramuh prices they'd run 1.2m, I believe the 12 lumbers for the tiara run about 350-400k), so that's a toss-up between those two.

Add: lol, I made it sound a little easy to just poof! have an Astute Cape and Bard's Roundlet, but relative to the discussion they're not so bad I guess. It must be noted that this is easily a 2-3m gil investment just for another 1% haste out of a buffing set, not counting the rare/ex stuff that can be hard to get so like I said you need to be pretty into BRD for this to be worth your while.

[Sabaron]

Originally Posted by Callisto

Well, let's see:

Natural caps: 450

Chanter's Staff: +4
Bard's Roundlet: +5
Wind Torque: +7
Musical Earring: +5
Singing Earring: +3
Minstrel's Coat: +3
Choral Cuffs +1: +10
Trumpet Ring x2: +4
Astute Cape: +5
Choral Cannions +1: +8

This brings you to 504, so you have 3 options:

2) Upgrade to HQ Trumpet Rings

That's quite a ton of money in all that stuff--It'll be a very long time until I can get all of that. HQ Trumpets are 250k on Asura. Singing Earring is 350k and Wind Torque is 500k each themselves. Chanter's staff is 160k. Astute Cape is Lumorian Farming which I don't have a group for . I don't think I'll be trying especially hard for the extra 1% Haste. Capping the rest of my stuff will likely be sufficient to the point where no one will notice much difference. Eventually, perhaps, I'll have the inclination to do all that, but I can see where Marduk's becomes a valuable piece considering I'd already be investing about 420k in jewelry just to make up for its absence. I'm sure if I do Salvage, it'll probably be for Marduk's.