Bard Gear Suggestions

[Selphiie The Enchantress]

Ok please critisize (not flame) my Bard gear. I really need some suggestions on what to buy or obtain as far as bard gear goes.

Just a quick note, that i quit sky, so gear from sky just isnt an option at the moment. I do however do Dynamis.

http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x319/FFXIMaker/bardgear.jpg

Instead of Joyeuse I have a Light Staff and a Bugard Strap+1 as my sub.

So far I have a

Bard's Roundlet, Star Necklace, Melody Earringx2, Kirins Osode, Sha'ir hands/legs/feet. 2x Moon Rings (yes i know, but idk any better rings atm). Jesters Cape+1, Gleeman's Belt. I CAN Afford a Sha'ir manteel but i am getting mixed messages from bards both on the "Get Yigit Gomleck side and the Sha'ir Manteel side", some just say the Kirins Osode is fine.

Thanks~

[hongman]

I guess it all depends on how much Gil are willing to throw at Bard and making it pimp. For 95% of the population, the differences between Yigit and Sha'ir are neglible at best (and this is the opinion of almost every bard I have spoken to)

[Dux]

Hi

I think it really depends for which situation you are talking about so I try and cover a few alternatives I like to use.

Head: Solo/farm/Merit: Optical Hat. IT++ mobs: Relic is good.
Neck: Solo/Farm: Peacock Charm, Merit/IT++Mobs: Wind/String/Evasion Torques
Earrings: I use Musical Earring and Loqucious Earring for everything.
Body: Yigit Gomlek for everything (or if you have a nice end game LS Sha'ir/Dalmatica).
Hands: Relic.
Rings:Merit / Minstrels / Light. Tamas is situational
Back: IT++ Mobs: Astute Cape.

Hope that gives you some ideas.

[Sevv]

Ok please critisize (not flame) my Bard gear. I really need some suggestions on what to buy or obtain as far as bard gear goes.

Just a quick note, that i quit sky, so gear from sky just isnt an option at the moment. I do however do Dynamis.

http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x319/FFXIMaker/bardgear.jpg

Instead of Joyeuse I have a Light Staff and a Bugard Strap+1 as my sub.

So far I have a

Bard's Roundlet, Star Necklace, Melody Earringx2, Kirins Osode, Sha'ir hands/legs/feet. 2x Moon Rings (yes i know, but idk any better rings atm). Jesters Cape+1, Gleeman's Belt. I CAN Afford a Sha'ir manteel but i am getting mixed messages from bards both on the "Get Yigit Gomleck side and the Sha'ir Manteel side", some just say the Kirins Osode is fine.

Thanks~

Hi selphie!

Ill give you my personal favorites for gear in each slot.

Main: Apollo's/Light staff -> Chanter's Staff (Macro In piece)
Sub: Staff Strap (Full Run time) -> Bugard+1 (Debuffs)
Instruments-> Ofcourse one for each song unless you have Relic =D
Head: Marduk's Tiara -> Bard's Roundlet
Necklace: Wind Torque
Earrings: Musical Earring -> Loquacious Earring, Melody Earring +1
Body: Sha'ir Manteel -> Yigit Body -> Kirin's Osode -> A body
Hands: Bard's Cuffs and Choral Cuffs +1 swapping for your songs
Rings: Neried Ringx2, Minstrels ring (for merit pt pulling)
Back: Birdmans Cape (lol) -> Astute Cape -> Jester's Cape +1
Waist: Gleeman's Belt
Legs: Marduk's Shalwar/Choral Cannions +1 -> Choral Cannions
Feet: Marduk's Cackrows-> Rostrum Pumps -> Sha'ir Cackrows

[Callisto]

There was a similar discussion the the 'Endgame BRD Gear' or something thread, but basically it boils down to if you: your current set is great for debuffing, really the only upgrades I'd recommend are Apollo's and Terra's staves(they do go a long way in terms of spell accuracy) a Wind Torque in the neck, Choral Cuffs+1 on the gloves, and I personally prefer to use my Balhran's Ring in one of the Ring slots. If you are part of a Nyzul Isle assault group, Goliard Clogs are also a fantastic piece for the feet slot, imo the best availabe outside of the Einherjar Shadow abjuration ones.

If you really want to be hardcore you could push an extra % or two out of March if you hit 506 combined Singing/Wind skill, but that's not a small investment in terms of time or Gil. This would involve:

Wind Torque
Musical Earring
Singing or Wind Earring
Either Marduk's Tiara or Neried Rings x2
Astute Cape
Choral Cuffs +1 and Cannions +1
Minstrel's Coat

But again, this is alot of work/gil for a minimal return, it's really only if you're very into it. In terms of just sticking Lullaby/Elegy when needed and all-around BRD stuff, you're in good shape, just upgrade your staves and get AF+1 hands when you can.

Edit: In terms of the Manteel, remember that the reduced casting time is only really useful in meripo, for events you would be better to go for debuff accuracy and buff potency. In a way, all 3 views of get Yigit/Manteel/Keep Osode are all correct for certain situations. I'd personally get a Gomlek for meripo and spend the Manteel gil on HQ staves.
______________________________

Back: Birdmans Cape (lol)

I swear I'll get that gd bird one day lol, I want that cape like all hell!

[Olorin401]

Ok please critisize (not flame) my Bard gear. I really need some suggestions on what to buy or obtain as far as bard gear goes.

Just a quick note, that i quit sky, so gear from sky just isnt an option at the moment. I do however do Dynamis.

http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x319/FFXIMaker/bardgear.jpg

Instead of Joyeuse I have a Light Staff and a Bugard Strap+1 as my sub.

So far I have a

Bard's Roundlet, Star Necklace, Melody Earringx2, Kirins Osode, Sha'ir hands/legs/feet. 2x Moon Rings (yes i know, but idk any better rings atm). Jesters Cape+1, Gleeman's Belt. I CAN Afford a Sha'ir manteel but i am getting mixed messages from bards both on the "Get Yigit Gomlek side and the Sha'ir Manteel side", some just say the Kirins Osode is fine.

Thanks~
Well to be honest you have some pretty good gear there, and some places to make improvements or expand your variety & build gearsets.

Specific gear builds:
It looks like you're going all out for Charisma & Haste, which isn't bad at all. CHR affects your enfeebling songs proc rate (how long the effect lasts and how potent it is). Something to keep in mind though is that total CHR more than say.. 110-120 is about max needed. At that point you would want to include a combination of singing and instrument skill in order to floor your resist rates. And for casting Elegy, an Earth or Terra's Staff is a must.

While we're on singing & instrument skill, you should have a gearset for that as well. Party buff song effects benefit greatly from having these skills at their maximum (right now the cap for combined Bard skills is believed to be about 490 before before merits and instrument bonuses). Some good pieces to use for this are Relic Head, AF Hands (NQ or +1), Minstrel's Coat, and Wind/String Torque. Chanter's Staff and the skill earrings/rings tend to be luxury, so I'd hold off on those unless you wanted to experiment with the skill caps.

On Osode vs. Manteel vs. Gomlek:
All three are fantastic pieces to have. Osode is good for a Max-CHR build, Max MP build or just generally for pulling because of the stat boosts. Manteel is a nice, all-around piece to have which is why it's so highly regarded, but it has an extremely prohibitive cost unless you're in a high-end HNMLS. Gomlek takes a while to get, and while it's not specifically tailored to BRD it can make a nice part of a standing/resting set for BRD/WHM.

The song cast time reduction (I'll call it Allegro, since it's not quite Fast Cast) on Gomlek and Manteel is useful when you need to casts multiple songs in short time (i.e. rebuffing between pulls or before a zerg fight like Dynamis Lord), or even when you just need an edge to outpull another party next to you at the Greater Colibri camp!

So the real question is.. is a Manteel worth buying when you already have Osode and Gomlek? Probably not, unless you want some bling to wear around town or you want the absolute max on your allegro/haste set.

P.S. : I don't use any of the three - I wear Minstrel's Coat almost full-time, and to improve my casting time I use Loquacious Earring and Rostrum Pumps.. If I had to get one though, it would be Yigit Gomlek.

[Callisto]

It looks like you're going all out for Charisma & Haste, which isn't bad at all. CHR affects your enfeebling songs proc rate. Something to keep in mind though is that total CHR more than say.. 110-120 is about max needed. At that point you would want to include a combination of singing and instrument skill in order to floor your resist rates. And for casting Elegy, an Earth or Terra's Staff is a must.

Yes and no there...debuff song potency and duration are set, it's really just a matter of landing it(like with Ninjutsu, you can't increase potency but you're guaranteed it'll always be a certain level). A CHR/Skill/MAcc build is good, basically a good rule of thumb is take whatever the largest boost you can get, and IMO MAcc < CHR or Skill in equal amounts in regards to debuffing.

While we're on singing & instrument skill, you should have a gearset for that as well. Party buff song effects benefit greatly from having these skills at their maximum (right now the cap for combined Bard skills is believed to be about 490 before before merits and instrument bonuses). Some good pieces to use for this are Relic Head, AF Hands (NQ or +1), Minstrel's Coat, and Wind/String Torque. Chanter's Staff and the skill earrings/rings tend to be luxury, so I'd hold off on those unless you wanted to experiment with the skill caps.

Almost every song will hit their potency hard cap with just capped skill + a few decent chunk pieces, Torque + Choral Cuffs +1 would do the job on most. The only song shown to have higher potency tiers at higher skills(500+) is March, so how in-depth you go with a Skill+ set really depends on how importan the extra 1-2% of Haste are.

The song cast time reduction (aka Allegro)

Isn't that one of those pills that makes yer peener all happy? >.>

[Olorin401]

Almost every song will hit their potency hard cap with just capped skill + a few decent chunk pieces, Torque + Choral Cuffs +1 would do the job on most. The only song shown to have higher potency tiers at higher skills(500+) is March, so how in-depth you go with a Skill+ set really depends on how important the extra 1-2% of Haste are.

Actually I thought I read somewhere that someone might have discovered a new skill tier on Minuet, which made me assume that maybe the hard skillcaps weren't so hard on everything else. Needs moar testing, I think.

Isn't that one of those pills that makes yer peener all happy? >.>

Speaking of not so hard.. :biggrin: Nah Allegro is a musical term that basically means fast in Italian.

[Callisto]

Actually I thought I read somewhere that someone might have discovered a new skill tier on Minuet, which made me assume that maybe the hard skillcaps weren't so hard on everything else. Needs moar testing, I think.

According to G-horn users they get the same hard cap+2+5 that us normal Joes get, are there any in TAL you could ask to confirm it? Otherwise, if it there is a new tier, it'd have to be something only available to G-Horn + full merits + full-on skill set, b/c it sure isn't available by 520.