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Question - Ultra Bard newbie looking for tips/pointers/guidance. (1 Viewer)

chriswilford9

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Jan 16, 2020
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I would like to add a bard into my team but I’m an extreme newb to the class. Any tips, advice or links to guides would be greatly appreciated.

I understand kiss and ini’s for other classes but when it comes to bard I feel overwhelmed. You got kiss, some twist plugin/macro thingy, and I thought i saw a macro for changing instruments?

Do I need to be always changing instruments? What kind of song rotations should I be doing during battle or non battle and how do you switch song playlists? Like a hotkey or does it do it automatically?
 
I would like to add a bard into my team but I’m an extreme newb to the class. Any tips, advice or links to guides would be greatly appreciated.

I understand kiss and ini’s for other classes but when it comes to bard I feel overwhelmed. You got kiss, some twist plugin/macro thingy, and I thought i saw a macro for changing instruments?

Do I need to be always changing instruments? What kind of song rotations should I be doing during battle or non battle and how do you switch song playlists? Like a hotkey or does it do it automatically?
for modern content you don't need to swap for instruments any longer - the gear you wear are all instruments
Like these legs are wind instruments

I have a couple of bard inis in the kiss library - but bards are very flexible and depending on what you are doing you might run wildly different spell setups
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We have some resident bard mains who might be able to share some personal tips @sl968


>> HERE << is a bard guide with some info from the toon guides in the resource section >here<
 
This whole RedGuides "newly botting bard" thread is a great place to start. It's RoS 110 songs, but nothing really changed for current content except the songs are just upgraded versions. It has song rotations along with the post Sic linked too.

Care and feeding of heroic bards is also super info.

Instrument swaps: No, only if you feel like it. I run a couple bards and don't swap at all. At upper levels, your standard T1 armor set has 2.6 (260% increase) mods for all instruments and singing. If you collect instruments you can get up above 3.0 mods and maybe setup some EQ bandoliers to swap. Raid gear also has above 3.0.

KA will rotate songs for you. Same with IHCbard.

Sic's 115 bard is great if you're going KA. I have some older versions if you're playing EoK/RoS content.

In KA, you can run a song rotation for downtime/buffing/regen, another single song you'll run if you sit to med (can't twist while sitting) and another full twist you can start for melee. You can also disable twist while pulling if you want.
INI:
[General]
TwistOn=1
TwistMed=5
TwistWhat=5 13 2 4 7

[Melee]
MeleeTwistOn=1
MeleeTwistWhat= 4 3 2 7 6 9 13


mq2twist is a plugin that KA uses to run the song rotations. It occasionally fights with you. Make sure you add an "/mqp on" & "/twist off" to any invis/move group type hotkeys, or the bard with break their own invis. Sic's signature links to his bard movement broadcasts hotkeys.

There is also a bandolier or weapon swap plugin, but I'm not sure if its still supported. You can setup bandolier swaps in KA with the "command" line in buffs/DPS and conditions. You can ask in forums or Discord if you need help setting one up.
 
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I like to have a bard in my melee group who plays melee songs, and a song that adds AC for the tank, and ones that add over haste and whatnot. And then I have another bard in the caster group which adds power to nukes. And they both have resistance songs which are vital for some fights, and they can invis my whole party with one click, and run speed is nice too.
 
For heroic toons, IHCBRD will be great at getting your Bard productive in your group. For long term success, if you use IHCBRD, I suggest studying Sic's INIs at the same time to understand the optimal twists, buffs, abilities, and such.
 
From my experience it seems IHC reacts faster than KISS but KISS had a lot more customization. For simple every day grinding I prefer IHC but for tough situations or just uncommon stuff it's tough to beat KISS. I feel both are needed in my group.
 
Question - Ultra Bard newbie looking for tips/pointers/guidance.

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