Ah yes, so you have hit level 30 and have now decided that it is time to start your advanced job. With that I will start this guide giving an explanation of what (in my opinion, though my opinion is always right) of what a bard’s reason for existence is. I have spent a lot of time compiling this information and this is meant to be as detailed as possible. I will obviously miss some things or there will be some information that someone would like that is not included. Please feel free to contact me with this information and I will add it if I feel it is required. Also although I am always right I am apt to make typing mistakes, though very rare. If you notice a mistake please email me and I will happily verify it and make the according changes. Remember if you see a mistake it was simply a mis-type and not any fault in my knowledge. J

The life of the singer:

The bard is the epitome of the support classes next to white mage. The bards songs are used for enemy debuffs and group rebuffs alike. They help make fights go smoother and easier in the long run for both mages and melee. But overall they are there for 1 reason: to make leveling faster. The consistent buffs on party members and debuffs on mobs makes the fights go quicker. Aside from that they can keep HP and MP regen up between songs keeping downtime to a minimum. The quicker fights and lower downtime equate to more fights within a given amount of time thus faster exp. Because of this, once a bard hits level 25 (gets MP regen song) he/she will be in demand almost as much as a white mage.

Bard songs are affected mainly by Charisma. The forums are filled with controversy over the actual affect of Charisma, so I will provide you with my findings. Remember in the aforementioned statement that I am always right. Charisma, in relation to song effect, mainly reduces the chance of resistance by enemies. You will find that as you mostly fight IT mobs your debuffs, DOTs or sleep songs will be resisted. You can counter this with a high charisma. Charisma does not affect song duration or strength. Song duration is always set at 2 minutes unless you have an intstrument equipped that increases duration I.e. Mary’s Horn. The instrument you are using and your level in that type of instrument affect Song strength.

Music for the masses:

Songs are purchased at shops, the AH or dropped just like standard scrolls. There is at least 1 new song per level and at 1 point 2 per level though there are a few levels in the beginning and near the upper levels where there is not song for the level. All songs last a total of 24 seconds after cast and will then disappear. Bard songs do not require any MP so there is no worry of running out in the middle of a fight, not that a bard gets any MP anyway. At the same time though you can only have 2 songs on party members and 2 songs on an enemy per bard. By per bard I mean that if there are 2 bards in the group then 4 songs can be going and 3 bards can have 6 songs and so on. Songs take an average of about 8 seconds to cast for buffs and debuffs on enemies take about 3 seconds. Most buff songs affect everyone in your party and within the area of effect, though there is 1 buff that is target sensitive. Most enemy debuffs are single target though there is 1 that is area effect. Songs are broken up into: Minuet, Minne, Elegy, Madrigal, Threnody, Mambo, Lullaby, Ballad, Carol, Paeon, March and a few other odds. Each type of song has specific effects.

Tools of the trade:

Different instruments affect different songs in different ways. I will first start by explaining the difference between wind instruments and string. There is absolutely no difference in song effect. The only difference is that string instruments have a further area of effect than string instruments do. With that in mind whether you use a string or wind will largely depend on whether you want everyone in your party to be affected by the song or only certain members. I will go into more detail on this when I discuss strategy. With that, as a bard buys higher-level instruments there will be effect adds to certain types of songs. For instance, a Piccolo gives a plus 1 to threnody type songs. This means that the effect of all mambo songs, when played with this instrument equipped, will be increased. Likewise When a Traversiere +1 is used when playing a madrigal song, the effect of the madrigal will be increased. Does the additional effect really help? Absolutely. There is a lot of controversy over how certain instruments affect certain songs and I am not going to get involved in those controversies, as it is not worth my time or effort to do so. I have songs to sing and stories to tell.

Because there are differences in the way songs are affected by certain instruments, there are repercussions and things to consider. First of all trying hump around an instrument for every type of song is both taxing on your gil account and also taxing on your inventory space. Therefore I strongly recommend against this. As you play you will find that there are certain songs that you play on a regular basis and others you will only play very rarely if even at all. These songs that you play regularly are the ones that you want to have the corresponding instrument with. Aside from this you will still have to own a few instruments, on top of your standard weapons and other gear and drops. Because of this I highly recommend, no order you to, complete the goblin baggie quest as soon as possible. The extra 5 spaces you get will be a huge help.

Because you will need to change instruments depending on the song you wish to enlighten others around you with, you will have to have an efficient way to change instruments in the heat of battle. Doing so by standard equipment menu is by no means efficient. For this you will have to use your macros. If you do not then you are not an efficient bard and should put your instrument down and follow a different path. All instruments are equipped in your range slot. You should set your macros so that the instrument is equipped before the corresponding song is played. Following is a sample of a macro used to both equip an instrument and then play song. Note that macros are case sensitive and quotations are needed.

/equip Range "Piccolo"
/wait3
/so "Ice Threnody" <t>

Note: The wait in between equipping instruments is needed for 2 reasons. First you have to make sure that the instrument is fully equipped before the song is sung. Second there is a bug causing the play animation to not show if you play too quickly after equipping. 2 seconds is usually long enough but still may bug. The <t> after the song plays the song on the current target, in the case of a threnody, the enemy.

Here is another example:

/equip Range "Ryl. Spr. Horn"
/wait3
/so "Advancing March" <me>

Note: Almost all, save for 1, party songs will be targeted on the bard itself. Thus the <me> following the song. Because of this the bard will be running around allot to make sure that the song affects the proper members. I will go further in detail when I discuss strategy.

The Bard's Way:

The bard is by far the most active in the group. He/she must make sure that only the desired members are getting certain songs. If each member can only have 2 songs on them per bard, then having an attack up song on a whm. is a waste. This accounts for 2 things that the bard must do. First is the bard needs to be the crowd controller. You must be able to control where the other members are at all times. For this you need leadership skills. If your melee and casters are too close together, then you are going to start mixing songs. This means that the casters are going to be getting melee songs and the melee will be getting caster songs. This must not happen. Second, if you are going to keep the casters and melee separate then you will be running back and forth between the 2 quite a bit in order to keep their songs up. With this in mind the bard has very little down time. They are always busy. These 2 situations don't really come into account until level 25 when you get your first caster only song. At this point crowd control and proper group execution is essential. You will just be learning how to work the group as will your party members who are not always sure how to group with a bard at this level.

First thing you must do before the fighting starts is establish the rules. These rules come into account from level 25 on. Many melee types may take offense to this but too bad. You as the bard are the controller. You want to: 1) Establish location of casters and melee away from each other. Distance should be far away enough that songs would not mix. 2) Explain to everyone the reason for the distance. With this make sure that all melee know that if the casters get hate that they should not chase after the mob. They should stand their ground and provoke from there. If the melee chase the mob the distance between the casters and melee will be lost as the fight will surely ensue again right in front of the casters. 3) If for some reason the distance closes make sure that the melees pull the mob back to a safe distance away from casters. You will find that by around level 32 or so, most players will have played with enough bards to know the rules, though there is always 1 in there that doesn't.

Ok so you have the crowd control thing going. The distance is set and now its time to fight. I usually stand by the mages while the puller is searching. As soon as the puller announces a pull I sing Mages Ballad for MP regen. I then run up to the melee and sing 2 buff songs; in my case I usually do Madrigal for accuracy and Minuet for Attack increase. I then continue on with debuffs on the enemy. If you have time at this point you can try to get a few whacks in on the enemy. Try to keep an eye on the effects of the MP regen for your casters. If you know it is about to wear off or you see it wear off, detarget the enemy and run back to recast for the casters. Notice the order I said I do these songs. There is a reason for it. First of all I wait for the pull announcement so that the song will have more time during the fight instead of the first 10 seconds of it wasting away during the downtime waiting for the pull to come in. Second becuase all the songs are sung on yourself, and you can only have 2 songs on you at any one time, songs will overwrite each other as you cast 3 and 4 songs. Therefore, if you want to get any melee time in between songs then you want to make sure you have melee songs on yourself. If you cast your melee songs first then run back and cast your caster songs then run to the battle, you will have caster songs on you instead of the previous melee songs. Therfore I cast caster songs first, then do the melee songs. That way I am there at the front lines with the proper songs on me that I need for the few whacks Im going to get in.

When the battle is over you want to make sure you cast Paeon for HP regen and redo your MP regeneration if necessary. It is for the Paeon that the harps come in handy. You will most of the time want everyone in your group to have the HP regen effect. Having the harp macroed for this song will assure that everyone in the group is more likely to be within the area of effect.

As you can see the bard is very busy indeed. These are the things that separate the good bards from the bad bards. If you can keep good control of the group and understand what songs to play in what situations and where to play them, then you are a true entertainer.

Dealing Damage:

If there is one thing the bard is not, it’s a damage dealer. By the time you hit level 15 you will be hitting very few times and with minimal damage. With that in mind I would not concentrate on having the best weapon all the time. Your money will be better spent on instruments and songs. That is not to say don’t keep somewhat up to date on your weapons because though you wont be dealing that much damage in the first place, you still want to try to maximize what you will be dealing. There are other sites that argue between what is best for weapon choice. I never get involved in these conversations (along with sub job conversations) as everyone has their own view. As far as I am concerned though you will be best off with a sword in your early days. The sword will deal the most damage of the weapons that are available to a bard and there is large variety that a bard can use. At the same time though the bard will want to keep up some levels in dagger, as eventually he/she will want to switch to this. The bard’s AF1 is a dagger and for this reason having some levels in it is a good idea. The only other weapon available to a bard is a staff. I do not recommend them as they have a painfully long delay and will be pretty much useless. The only reason I would see having a stave is for the use of the Monster Signa that is a Charisma increasing staff that all bards should want, but cannot have due to its outrageously high price tag, around 300,000 gil.

Tonight’s act includes the following:

Here is a list of bard songs and where they are found. There are a few that I do not know the location of and I could not find any other posts or guides that knew. If you know where the songs can be found please notify me so I can add it in. My email is at the bottom.

Bard Traits and abilities:

A little action on the side:

I am not going to go over any detail at all concerning sub jobs. There are 2 reasons for this. First of all there are numerous other guides dealing with sub jobs and countless posts of the same. Second because everyone and I mean every 1,000,000 players have their own opinion about what is a good sub and what is not. It is very hard to really gimp your character so I leave you with 2 choices to consider when thinking about sub job. First consider the main job that you made to 30 in the first place. Getting to 30 takes a lot of time. And if you spent your time getting there then you probably like that class. Why waste all that time upping another class just so you can fit what other players say you should be. Second, thing to consider is that bards do not usually make great subs as you cannot equip instruments and you only get 1 song instead of the 2. With these two things in mind, go ahead and pick the sub that you most want to be. You’ll have more fun in the long run.

Getting there and back:

In order to become a bard you must complete The Old Monument quest. First of all you must be at least 30. Then go talk to Mertaire in lower Jeuno at the Merry Minstrel I-8. Then when he is done you need to talk to Bki Tbujhja who is behind the counter. After this is done you will need a parchement. This can be done either by purchasing in the AH for about 1k or can be synthesized. Take the parchement, you only need 1, to Burmbima Peninsula. Head to Khoonta Dunes in the south of the zone and on the wesern edge you will see an area where you can enter a cave. Go into the cave and click the stone. A cut scene will start. After the scene is done, click the stone again then trade the parchment to the stone. Now head back to Mertaire. When you are done talking to Mertaire then talk to Bki Tbujhja again.

Upon completion of the first part of the quest you now need to head to Valkurm Dunes for the second stone. Note that you do not need a parchment for this part. In the far north western corner is a cave at C-6. This cave leads to the hidden beach. At B-7 you will find the second stone. Click on this stone and watch the cut scene. Upon completion of the cut scene you will be able to become a bard.

He can dress as well as sing:

As of the time of this posting I have not completed the AF quests yet. I will add them as I complete them.

This guide was written by Peter Faso aka. Quinlayen, 40 BRD/ 33 RDM/ 8 SAM/ 9 WHM/ 2 BST and soon to be thief, on Cerberus server. I would like to thank myself for being such a damn good bard and I would also like to thank the great friends I have in game and in my LS, Sanctuary. I would also like to thank all the forum posters and other guides for providing me with the song information that I posted in my guide. You can contact me at Jukariz@yahoo.com if you feel compelled to do so.