Whm/brd

[bikkebakke]

For those of you that have seriously played WHM/BRD. Can you tell me how you play this, what gear you go for and how effective it is for you?

(Icemage I would really like your input here.)

[Icemage]

Re: Whm/brd

For those of you that have seriously played WHM/BRD. Can you tell me how you play this, what gear you go for and how effective it is for you?

(Icemage I would really like your input here.)

- Don't sub bard before level 50/25. Mage's Ballad is the main reason you want to use this combo (though there are other fringe benefits).

- Don't sub bard if there's a main job bard in the party. It doesn't add enough to the party otherwise.

- Macros. Macros. Macros. Keep a macro handy for Mage's Ballad and Sword Madrigal, and be open to the possibility of using Hunter's Prelude for any rangers in the party as well. At higher levels, keep a macro for Magic Finale as well.

- Manage your time. This is I.M.P.O.R.T.A.N.T. Songs take 8 seconds to sing, during which you can't do anything else - and cancelling doesn't help much unless you /heal and get back up (which still takes several seconds). Don't start a song when you know a hard-hitting enemy has a lot of TP to use on a big attack like Sickle Slash - you're going to need to react to those quickly, and you can't if you're singing.

- When you first start off, just do your normal WHM stuff and throw in Ballad during lulls in the fight, and right before the end of a fight. Learn the range of your songs, and learn how to position yourself to include the people you want.

- Once you're comfortable with how to use Ballad, try singing Sword Madrigal at the start of the fight for melees, then overwrite it with Ballad for PLD/mages/yourself. A good way to do this is singing Madrigal as the puller is coming back to camp, so you can save the 8 second casting time and open with Regen II/III on the tank or whatever, and while you're casting that, use the time to figure out where you need to stand to sing Ballad.

- If Madrigal is not practical due to space limitations, consider making macros for Etudes (STR or DEX) for your melees. To avoid having to choose targets every time, use :

/ma "Sinewy Etude" Playername

- Foe Lullaby/Horde Lullaby are not very useful when subbed. Avoid using them - they won't land well even on things that are weak to light magic. Exception: Against enemies that use Blink, such as Aura Weapons in Shrine of Ru'Avitau, you can open fights with Horde Lullaby to strip away their Blink shadows without costing MP.

- In rare cases, you can take advantage of enemy weaknesses to land a Threnody. Dark Threnody against beetles can help your BLMs/RDMs with Drain and Aspir, Wind Threnody against Cockatrices can be useful if you're using a Fragmentation burst, etc. Remember to use the right elemental staff to improve your magic accuracy!

- Magic Finale is great against Spartoi Sorcerors (King Ranperre's Tomb) and RDM-type Weapons in Ro'Maeve and Shrine of Ru'Avitau. Against these types of enemies (weak to light), Magic Finale is 100% successful at stripping away their spell-based enchantments.

Icemage

[Ghostraven]

Re: Whm/brd

I've partied with only one whm/brd and it was during a nin tank pt in bibiki 67ish

The whm looked like he was having fun and with blm/rdm/whm as backliners he didnt really need blm sub. it ended up being a great party overall.

[bikkebakke]

Re: Whm/brd

Thanks for the info, you provided exactly what I was looking for.

[Rones]

Re: Whm/brd

Just a tip when you are learning it. Don't strain yourself to get madrigal on the melees (don't interrupt rest ticks). Subbed madrigal is only between 6 and 9 +accu as 75whm/37brd. The real strength comes in the ballad for all your mp users. If you have the typical backline of whm, blm, rdm and pld tank, try to hit eveyrone with one ballad. This will give you 4 times the mp regen of just going whm/smn since you have 4 people now regaining 1mp per 3 sec instead of just you. Finale isn't 100% resist free even for brd main. I still get the occasional resist with brd main and subbed you will get a moderate number. It is still a very good ability you should use.

[Omni]

Re: Whm/brd

i give whm brd a 2 taru thumbs up.
my buddy i set pt with from 37-60 was a taru whm/brd.
nice added boost to refresh on the mages, and nice added melee acc too.
he didnt try landing any songs on the mob really, since resist was high. but having these extra things was a nice bonus. his mp pool was still decent being a taru. if you like keeping busy as a whm, this is a great combo to try out.

[Cait Sith UK]

Re: Whm/brd

Give this a switch round (BRD/WHM) and you have your self a definative job/subjob