Bard
The master of song — jack of all trades, master of all.
Role: Support / Utility / Melee / Buffer
Core Description
Bards are jack-of-all-trades adventurers who use songs to create a wide variety of magical effects. Though they often use melee weapons, bards are primarily a magic-using class, with the ability to wear plate armor and wield many different weapons and instruments.
Bards can do a little bit of everything. Their songs can regenerate health and mana, increase attack speed and accuracy, momentarily charm angry enemies, help friends resist many types of damage, and even directly damage enemies. Bards are perhaps best known for their ability to greatly increase the foot speed of their group.
🎵 EQL Bard Change
In EQL, Bard songs no longer require twisting! Songs activate once and sustain automatically. The classic EQ micromanagement of song rotation is gone. A confirmed AA allows Bards to autocast some songs. Instrument focus items are also all/all, making itemization much simpler.
Key Songs
| Level | Song Name | Effect | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Selos Accelerando | Run speed increase (stacks with SoW) | 🔥 Must Have |
| 4 | Brusco's Boastful Bellow | Stun + damage | ⭐ Key |
| 8 | Anthem de Arms | Attack power buff | ⭐ Key |
| 10 | Psalm of Vitality | HP regeneration | ⭐ Key |
| 14 | Elemental Rhythms | Damage shield | ⭐ Key |
| 18 | Cassindra's Chorus of Clarity | Mana regeneration | 🔥 Must Have |
| 22 | Largo's Melodic Grasp / Bewitching | Snare / Pacify | 🔥 Must Have |
| 26 | Warsong of the Valiant | Attack speed (Haste) | 🔥 Must Have |
| 30 | Guardian's Rhythmic Aegis | AC/HP buff | ⭐ Key |
| 34 | Aria of Innocence | Magic resistance | ⭐ Key |
| 44 | McVaxius' Horn of Unity | Invisibility | ⭐ Key |
Stat Priorities
- Charisma (CHA): Affects lull songs, charm tick checks. Bards have the most useful stats of any class but CHA is #1.
- Dexterity (DEX): Reduces song fizzle chance, affects weapon procs.
- Stamina (STA): HP. Bards wear plate so STA helps survivability.
- Strength (STR): Melee damage, carry capacity. Bard plate is heavy.
- Intelligence (INT): Only affects two songs that use mana (Solon's Bewitching Bravura and Denon's Desperate Dirge). Low priority for song-focused play.
EQL-Specific Bard Changes
- No twisting — songs sustain automatically
- Autocast AA — new AA allows autocasting some songs
- All/all instruments — any class can use instrument focus items
- Boon of the Guru (werewolf illusion + lifetap + dex) is an Enchanter ability, not Bard
- Tracking — Bard has tracking ability (shared with Ranger, Druid)
- Sneak — available to Bard, Ranger, Monk, Rogue