Bard AAs

[Idracab]

Any advice on AA lines that a bard should have asap?

Obviously number 1 with a bullet is Fading Memories. Absolutely game changing, and I love it.

What other AAs are 'must haves' for bards? I was going through the Class AA tab yesterday, and some (mostly the song mod ones) seemed decent, but I was left wondering if they were worth the AA points. I just completely forget, and what will all the new AA lines, I'm at a complete loss for what to get next.

All I know is once I'm getting to 75, I'm getting Memonic Retention 2. Beyond that ... I ain't got a clue.

**EDIT**
Because I'm at home and have some more time now, I've decided this should be the official Bard AA thread. Below is a list of all the Bard class AAs although with a brief in game description (and how many levels there are to buy).

Acrobatics (3 levels - 3 points lvl 1) : Reduces damage taken from falling : Passive
Adv. Trap Negotiation (3 levels - 3 points lvl 1) : Reduce reuse on Sense and Disarm traps skills : Passive
Ambidexterity (1 level - 9 points) : Increased change to dual wield : Passive
Ayonae's Tutelage (6 levels - 2 points level 1) : Allows for further improvements in the use of all instrument and singing types : Passive
Bladed Song (2 levels - 9 points lvl 1) : Causes opponent to take damage every time they attack : 15 minute recast
Boastful Bellow (21 levels - 3 points lvl 2) : Insta cast bellow, chance to interrupt spell casting : 18 second recast
Body and Mind Rejuvenation (1 level - 5 points) : 1 point of mana / hp regen : Passive
Cacophony (9 levels - 3 points lvl 1) : Engulfs target in noise, causing them to take damage for duration of effect. Also has chance to interrupt spells : 15 minute recast
Dance of Blades (6 levels - 3 points lvl 1) : Greatly increases chance to make maximum number of attacks per round. Modified by percussion : 36 minute recast
Dirge of the Sleepwalker (1 level - 10 points) : Mez. Level 79 required : 10 minute recast
Extended Notes (6 levels - 3 points lvl 1) : Increases range of songs. 10%; 15%; 25%; 30%; 35%; 40% : Passive
Fading Memories (1 level - ? points) : Drops all aggro, makes you invisible. Uses 900 mana : 1 second recast
Fierce Eye (1 level - 10 points) : Increase chance for those around you to do a critical strike with spell or melee : 10 minute recast
Fleet of Foot (2 levels - 4 points lvl 2) : "Allows bards to run at previously unheard of speeds" : Passive
Funeral Dirge (6 levels - 3 points lvl 1) : Weaken enemies ability to defense themselves, increasing damage taken. After 30 seconds, causes 'massive damage' to the target : 30 minute recast
Harmonious Attack (10 levels - 2 points lvl 1) : Chance to perform a double attack : Passive
Hastened Blades (3 levels - 5 points lvl 1) : Decrease Dance of Blades by 4 minutes per rank : Passive
Hastened Cacophony (3 levels - 6 points lvl 1) : Decreases cacophony reuse by 1 minute per rank : Passive
Hastened Funeral Dirge (3 levels - 6 points lvl 1) : Decrease Funeral Dirge reuse by 3 minutes per rank : Passive
Hymn of the Last Stand (3 levels - 3 points lvl 1) : Increases max hit points when decay slowly over time : 10 minute recast
Instrument Mastery (4 levels - 3 points lvl 1) : Improved use of all instrument types : Passive
Jam Fest (3 levels - 3 points lvl 1) : Sing songs at a higher apparent level : Passive
Maestro's Concentration (4 levels - 7 points lvl 1) : Avoid stunning blow - 5% avoidance per level : Passive
Master of Disguise (1 level - ? points) : Permanent illusion : Passive
Physical Enhancement (1 level - 5 points) : Improve Natural Durability, Avoidance, Mitigation : Passive
Quick Time (1 level - 9 points) : Play multimedia content on the internet and give haste and accuracy to group members : 15 minute reuse
Scribble Notes (1 level - 3 points) : Reduce amount of time taken to memorize a song : Passive
Selo's Enduring Cadence (3 levels - 3 points lvl 1) : Innate run increase (run 6, 7, and : Passive
Selo's Sonata (1 level - 7 points) : Increase run speed buff : 5 second recast
Shield of Notes (9 levels - 3 points lvl 1) : Decrease damage taken from spells and melee attacks : 36 minute recast
Singing Mastery (4 levels - 3 points lvl 1) : Allows for specialization and improved use of your voice : Passive
Sinister Strikes (1 level - 12 points) : Increase damage casused by off hand attacks
Song of Stone (6 levels - 3 points lvl 1) : Swarm pet gargoyles : 30 minute recast
Steady Hands (3 levels - 5 points lvl 1) : Increase lockpick skill : Passive
Thief's Intuition (1 level - 15 points) : Innate change to detect traps : Passive
Tune of Pursuance (5 levels - 4 points lvl 1) : Increase tracking by 10

[Vasei]

Since I always play my bard project with my shaman, I went ahead and boosted weapon affinity for more cougar procs.

After that, I'm in the dark with you.

[Unmei]

Weapon Affinity doesn't increase cougar procs.

Weapon affinity only works on...weapon procs.

[Vasei]

Well poop. Apparently there's more to being a melee than just not clicking off my buffs.

[Brohg]

#1 is song boosters, the ones that give innate instrument mod to your songs. Double attack ones next.

Defensives are just as good for bards as for everyone else. After those maybe the mana regen AA, though OOC regen has meliorated the need for those somewhat.

First, songs stuff.

[WaringMcMarrin]

I would assume the one for making meming songs faster would also be up there.

[Brohg]

That one seems like a convenience thing to me. How often would one swap songs in the middle of a fight?

[anaskesia]

[Idracab]

I agree with Boastful Bellows. Level 1 is all you really need - a long range insta cast pulling spell. I use it all the time.

God to know about Dirge!!! It sounds like Stasis (enchanter AA mez), but without the 72 minute reuse timer! That really sounds like a must have AA. I wonder what the minimum level for it is.

I was wondering about the Selo's AA. It's a pain to have to have it memmed and remembering to recast every couple of minutes. Is this AA affected by percussion? I have a macro that casts, bandolier my drums, finishes cast, and re equips weapons. Would I still have to do that with this AA? It would still be worth it just to free up the spell slot.

Agree with Run Speed AA. Bards pull, and run 8 is flat out needed in a lot of places.

As for the song mod boosters, is that a flat increase per point spent? So if I have a 2.8 mod drum, will 2 points in the song booster AA increase that at a flat rate to 3.0? And, just to make sure I have this correct, the max mod rate for any skill is 3.8, right?

Thanks for the excellent advice so far.

[anaskesia]

[anaskesia]

[Finori]

Singing and Instrument Mastery are added on top of eqipped mods. Aoyonae's Tutelage increases your mod cap.

[chordling]

With all instrument AA the modcap for bards is 4.2
With all instrument AA the best instrument mod you need to be hitting the cap is 3.4
Get a 3.4 flute for curing, especially if the bard is gonna raid, theres a spider in the hive that drops one - other than curing wind mod doesnt do much for you so any wind mod will do.
Get a 3.4 drum - the "frozen crystal" tarn event in WoS drops one - and the best worn mod you can.
Get the best worn brass mod you can for maximum DS from warmarch.
Get the best worn singing mod you can, also boosts DS and AC from ac songs as well.
Stringed isn't all that important, just make sure you have one, it increases the HP healed per tick of manasong but not the mana/tick so meh.

Selos AA is treated exactly like the song in that its instrument modded so yea you'll hafta keep swapping in your drum.
If you use your bard for tanking stuff get shield of notes its awesome.
Master of disguise is a must have, its not just fun its useful too when you get air elemental lute (perma levi ftw).
Quick Time and Fierce Eye are awesome group dps burst AAs, with bard epic, shaman epic, FE, QT you can almost have one of them up at all times boosting dps in a grind situation and when burst dps is needed, popping all of them at once does incredible things for melees.
Cacophany is useful if you have problems with mobs casting, its a dot with a chance to interrupt spells every time it ticks (its a rather big AA sink tho to get it maxed @ 900/tick for 1min.)
Bladed song is mediocre, gives 100pt reverse DS at level 1 for 1min but gets resisted by everything, at level 2 it gives 110pt reverse ds for 1min but has a much better resist adjust.

[Brohg]

You use QT & FE during bard/shm epic? Isn't there some element that doesn't stack?

[chordling]

Anything not bolded below is stuff that doesnt stack when you drop all 4 at once, the things that don't stack are relatively minor and if its a short fight, eg. ur-floxiz lochmaul, then dropping it all at once is the only sensible thing to do. All that stuff thats bolded stacked up together provides an incredible boost to a group of melees who are burning discs as well. The only time it makes sense to take into account the minor stackability issues is when its a long fight and you want to boost sustained dps over a long period.

Spirit of Vesagran Detail | History | Stacking | Raw Data

Slot Description
9: Spell Crit Chance(12)
10: Critical DoT(12)
12: Increase Accuracy by 140%

Fierce Eye Effect Detail | History | Stacking | Raw Data

Slot Description
2: Critical DoT(10)
3: Critical HP Regen(10)
4: Critical Heal(10)
5: Spell Crit Chance(10)
8: Increase All Skills Damage Modifier by 10%
9: Increase Proc Modifier by 300%
11: Critical Damage Mob(10)

Quick Time Detail | History | Stacking | Raw Data

Slot Description
5: Hundred Hands Effect
6: Increase ATK by 150
9: Increase Chance to Hit by 10% with All Skills

Prophet's Gift of the Ruchu Detail | History | Stacking | Raw Data

Slot Description
10: Critical Damage Mob(110)
11: Increase Chance to Critical Hit by 65%
12: Increase Hitpoints v2 by 500 per tick

Our rogues with irissa or mining behemoth daggers are parsing in the 5 - 5.5k dps region over 100seconds on lochmaul when I dump all this stuff as well as funeral dirge and ac debuff him with ddd. It's the only fight they currently hit those size numbers on because its so short of a fight and theyre pretty much burning everything they have from engage to enrage and they still have discs left over.

[Samanna]

Chordling, do you see anything that needs updating on http://samanna.net/wiki/index.php/Comba ... ras.2C_etc. ?

[Brohg]

How good is the Quick Time Hundred Hands? Any raid burn will have AE Warcry on it

[Finori]

[Dakota]

Is there something in the spell data somewhere that shows how good the Hundred Hands effect on any given effect is, or was that gathered just through parsing?

[Finori]

[Kilgaroz]

What exactly does Hundred Hands do and how do the - modifiers on Quick Time or War Cry change its efficacy? Just a minor addition, Shield of Notes is great for RTing too on mobs like Squire. You're already a plate class, add in defensives and a 41%/11k rune and you're damn near perfect if there's not another tank around.

[Brohg]

Hundred hands reduces the Dly of weapon attacks. Extraordinary "sideways" version of overhaste.

[Kilgaroz]

Ah, good to know. Thanks.

[anaskesia]