Question - Bard Weapon

[bigdogs175]

I was wondering what is best weapon/instrument for a bard to use . Nothing specific , I can look on raidloot , but as in wind/drum/horn or just plain old weapons to help with adps . Thanks

 

[naamloseeen]

Depends on your level and what kind of server you're playing on.

If you're playing on live, your armor will have instrument mods on it. This starts with defiant gear and all of the raid/group gear has it as you level up. You'll almost always use weapons in the group game unless you're doing something unusual.

 

[burdsjm]

There was some discussion on discord about this yesterday.

Consensus was 19-21 delay weapons but the best ratio wins over all.

 

[q8reflex]

Is it normal for a bard level 120 using T2 ToL weps to hit for as low as 550dmg in group?

 

[Sic]

Is it normal for a bard level 120 using T2 ToL weps to hit for as low as 550dmg in group?

bard have them weakass arms

 

[burdsjm]

My bard was recently suspended and this is a full COV raid geared bard with the best augs in the game. Subbed in a COV ore geared bard with some TOV raid weapons. And I barely noticed a drop in dps.

 

[bigdogs175]

He is almost 117 on live servers , been using best weapons , didnt know if equipping an instrument would help his adps . Thanks

 

[Rufus]

I've had an interesting discussion with another bard user. His bard is raid geared, but he uses double stun proc weapons (daggers & rapiers) to arguably "lock down" a mob while killing it. It seemed to make sense so I switched my group geared bard to dual rapiers.

I haven't noticed much of a difference but I'm not keeping logs nor am I making an evidence-based claim. Just feels.

 

[burdsjm]

Alot of people say the same thing about the lifetap weapons too.

 

[knave23]

my bard runs stun and heal proc weapons but I don't know if it's ideal. It makes me feel better though. As far as I know bard dps comes from their dot spells anyway

 

[Many_Whelps]

I raid with my bard, so my perspective is purely from the standpoint of optimal raid performance. The group game content just isn't challenging enough to make the choice of weapon proc matter in the slightest. Stuns will rarely work on raid mobs. Maybe some of the adds can be stunned, but you won't be stunning a raid boss. So IMO, stun procs are right out. Lifetap procs are interesting in theory, but if you are ever in a situation where you need to lifetap to save you from a nasty AE mechanic, you're basically spitting in the ocean for all the good that it'll do ya. They just don't parse enough healing returned to matter. Raid groups should have a whole lot of rain heals coming down to get you through. You're better off having a Blood Drinker's Coating on a hotkey for that OHSHIT! moment. Same goes for the heal proc that heals the target's target, it just doesn't proc often enough or for enough HP to make it worth giving up direct DPS. Also, if the tank is relying on heal procs to stay alive, your clerics aren't doing their job.

So I stick with the pure damage procs, as that is my main job. There is a 1HS (usually an axe) and a 1HP, at each tier, that have a pure damage proc to them. I use the 1HS in primary and the 1HP in secondary.

 

[v1ndi]

If you have a beastlord, you run highest ratio dagger you can get + slow mace offhand with big DD proc. The 100 fists uptime from bst dicho means you're getting increased value from slower weapons, and DD procs. There's math and parses to support this if you want I can screenshot it and send you.

if you dont have a bst in group, then you run the highest ratio fast weapons you have (19 dly instead of 24)

if you want to meme and pad overheal parse in raids, you can run double heal sticks...

 

[arander]

I was wondering what is best weapon/instrument for a bard to use . Nothing specific , I can look on raidloot , but as in wind/drum/horn or just plain old weapons to help with adps . Thanks

As someone who used to raid as a bard(not boxed raid just solo play raid)
I run 2 24del weapons (remote heal and a spike of ice) with bard haste/overhaste he is max hasted 100% of the time. so that higher base dmg is super nice. at one point i ran 2 19 del and 2 21del that i woudl swap in and out for procs. Ive ran some parses 6 months ago of 21del weapons vs the 24del ones and bard dps is 5 to 10% higher not huge but nice
i just prefer the maces vs swords