RvR Bard Spec.

[boni_ofdavoid]

Well my bard is fast approaching 40 and its gonna be time to respec out of my lovely pve spec for an rvr spec. Heres what I am thinking:-

43 Nurture - all songs bar mana5, one point less will lose speed 5 which im not sure is acceptable.

47 Music for second aoe mez. Is this mezz a larger radius than the 37 one? According to the catacombs char builder its 300 for the l47 as opposed to 150 at l37.

16 Regrowth - everything that is left.

What about weapon stats, some specs say less regrowth and 10 in blades or something.

I have heard that the damage from an unspeccable weapon is greater than a low spec blades/blunt is this true and I would be better of with a staff and 0 points in blades, than say 10 in blades?

Oh while we are on the subject of bards, what affects 'twisting' i.e. the amount of time a song plays for after switching, is instrument con a factor or just nurture level?

 

[old.Tzeentch]

the spec you listed is fine

here's some more thoughts
http://forums.barrysworld.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=52588

and its only the instrument con.. the colour.

kinda dumb, but there ya go.

 

[Kobold]

I thought qualety of the instrument allso counted on how long the pulses lasts...might be wrong

 

[old.Laryssa]

kobbie, at least in albion it's that way

(got that confirmed)

 

[boni_ofdavoid]

Thanks for the info re instruments, ill have to get some 99's made up.

How about the AOE mezz question. Does the 47 have a much larger radius as catacombs char builder suggests?

And is a staff better than a blade (with 10 in blade + whatever). I was sure i read somewhere that unskilled weapons where treated as something like level/2, so I would have either 25 staff or 10 + 15 = 25 blades, giving me rougly equal damage but having lost the spec points...?

 

[old.Tzeentch]

weapon wont really matter to you as a bard.. i mean, if you're relying on a weapon, you're already dead.

yes, the 47 ae instant is 300 radius, the lower one is 150 or smth.. quite a difference.

btw, its the con colour of instrument, not the quality.. just to clarifiy since you said you are getting some 99s done

 

[boni_ofdavoid]

Thanks,
Tzeentch, Laryssa and Eternal seem to have a different opinion to you if quality affects it or not, time to experiment maybe.

Yeah so second AOE insta it is, as thats has 4 times the coverage of the 37 level!

Now stop dodging the weapons spec question
Yeah I know im not ever gonna get a weapon out in a group fight, but for those bored evenings where I go looking for a blue con to molest it might be usefull to know!

 

[VodkaFairy]

Don't think 10 blunt/blades will make alot of difference from no weaponspec, as your DD will still do alot more damage than your actual weapon styles with high music

My bard has 2 in blunt and 2 in blades just to get the styles because they look nice, but I wouldn't sacrafice anything for a weapon on a bard.

 

[Cloak_]

Originally posted by VodkaFairy
Don't think 10 blunt/blades will make alot of difference from no weaponspec, as your DD will still do alot more damage than your actual weapon styles with high music

My bard has 2 in blunt and 2 in blades just to get the styles because they look nice, but I wouldn't sacrafice anything for a weapon on a bard.

how about sepccing to a detaunt on your bard,, just for PvEing

 

[VodkaFairy]

Detaunt is useless when you're solo'ing with a bard most of the time and in groups sprint is the best detaunt imo

I think the level 15 big heal > high defence move. But I could be wrong as my bard is only level 37

 

[Cloak_]

Dont forget LuL

 

[VodkaFairy]

Originally posted by N07ABL3
Dont forget LuL

Yeah that too

 

[SingerOfSoul]

+% Bonus does nothing for instruments so save youre cash

 

[old.Tzeentch]

Originally posted by boni_ofdavoid
Thanks,
Tzeentch, Laryssa and Eternal seem to have a different opinion to you if quality affects it or not, time to experiment maybe.

i'm 100% that its only the instrument con colour.

TL said it.

 

[inuyasha]

hmm

Okey, i also thought quality on instruments mattered, at least since i still twist fairly easy with my grey 99% drum
But, if TL says so, i guess its right =) Will still get 99s for the scing though =)

 

[<Harle>]

gonna try to answer your wepaon-question:
afaik, if you have an unspecable weapon the game calculates damage as if you had 50% spec in it, so in theory a staff should be more effective than a low-specced blade or blunt, especially with the very low dmg-bonus on the first few styles.
Staff-damage is based on dex, blade/blunt is based on str, so no difference here either, since you get neither of those per lvl as bard ( thx Mythic for emp), and you have a baseline-buff for both.
On the other hand you will even receive a dmg bonus for using a 2-handed weapon.
The only obvious downside of the staff is your lack of having a shield, but then again when I had to solo now and then with my bard I never blocked much anyway.

 

[inuyasha]

weapon spec

Ditch all that, get aggro attacks in blade and blunt so you can twist, and never ever use either in rvr =)

there ya go, and you have bonus against anything

 

[boni_ofdavoid]

Thanks Harle, thats what I wanted to hear Staff it is.

 

[inuyasha]

boni:

staff is a bad idea, since the 2handed slot DO take a spot from one of your instruments, making it impossible to hotkey your melee thing .D

If you ever need to fight melee, you wont have the time to mix around in your inventory

Stick with a 1handed thingy, the shield helps keeping you alive as well, and that is basicly what you would be doing in melee 0)

 

[old.Niljindil]

Originally posted by VodkaFairy
My bard has 2 in blunt and 2 in blades just to get the styles because they look nice, but I wouldn't sacrafice anything for a weapon on a bard.

lol, couldnt agree more

Gotta have shiny lights when using those weapons!

Oooo, shiny things.....

 

[boni_ofdavoid]

Re: boni:

Originally posted by inuyasha
staff is a bad idea, since the 2handed slot DO take a spot from one of your instruments, making it impossible to hotkey your melee thing .D

If you ever need to fight melee, you wont have the time to mix around in your inventory

Stick with a 1handed thingy, the shield helps keeping you alive as well, and that is basicly what you would be doing in melee 0)

If im in melee I want to inflict damage. Im not going to be doing this in group rvr, just for fun on greens and blues and stuff when im bored. The extra damage from staff will be worth it I think, esp considering that I dont have to waste any spec points for it and I am worried about my damage output. To take blades would lose me something somewhere else, if only a level in regwroth, and im not really prepared to sacrafice my group skills for a whim.

Oh and when it comes to messing around with my inventory and sorting quickbar slots on the move, im quite happy with that, an essential skill imo and one that opens up lots of skillfull options. Besides ill have minutes to think about it

 

[Faeldawn]

Talking about a bard rvr spec, any bard in rvr pulling out a weapon will seriously screw up their group's chance of success, unless its a group with 4 or more healers.

Nothing worse when melee in rvr, getting damaged badly to glance to your right to see the groups bard or druid swatting flys with an EBOP or similar uber weapon rather than healing, mezzing, twisting, rooting or any of the other things that healers excell at.

Imho, bards should be made to check their weapons at the door when entering rvr, prolly get flamed for this, but what the hey

Peace out.

 

[Tank Init]

Originally posted by boni_ofdavoid
Thanks Harle, thats what I wanted to hear Staff it is.

it might say that a bard can use a staff but after level 5 a bard can not use a staff try it and see for yourself.

unless in the new patchs they changed this that is

 

[boni_ofdavoid]

Originally posted by Tank Init
it might say that a bard can use a staff but after level 5 a bard can not use a staff try it and see for yourself.

unless in the new patchs they changed this that is

been changed, I used one in bg1 , all classes should be able to use staff. was a bug that bards coudlnt.

 

[barda_jp]

well...from experience I can tell u. don`t make a grp bard like me. they are wery booring.

Make a battlebard with low nurt and higher blunt/blades =) if I could respecc my bard I know I would.

 

[Pempulla]

Originally posted by Cloak_
how about sepccing to a detaunt on your bard,, just for PvEing

There should be no reason to get detaunt as bards have lullaby.

 

[old.Sko]

50 weapon, rest into regrowth.
should be absolutly unique bard.

 

[vipr]

Imo i agree with with Barda, i been playin a bard for wat seems like an eternity. I just find grp rvr with a bard soo tedious, if i had the chance to re roll id go full battle spec just for the fun of it and try to be something a bit different.

Some times u lose sight of how you would like your character to develop or play the % too much and then end up going for the easy option of being a clone. (Guilty as charged)

I say choose a spec u think suits you and dont give a damn wat any one else thinks

 

[old.Niljindil]

I did it the special way, speced my bard 100% focused on grouping(both pve and rvr, so going reasonably high reg) and at the same time levelling a ranger to solo with

 

[boni_ofdavoid]

I toyed with the idea of a battle bard, but this charachter is really just for those days when my Hero cant get a group and theirs a genunine lack of bards willing to lead random groups to their death in emain

oh and 41 now, and I miss my regrowth a lot, but am looking forward to insta mezz and speed5.

I would heartly recommend that players do what I did, and spec nurture and regrowth till 40 then resepec. I could out heal a few druids I met before I dinged 40 and felt quite comfortable being main healer with just a warden or other bard for backup.