New Bard player build help

[Xyzima]

Ive been playing DDO since it became f2p. yet i have never played a bard.

Before the enhancement pass, i was going to level up my artificer, to level 20, and tr it into a bard 16 and either arti 4 or fighter 2 arti 2. and use crossbows.

now my question is, are these still viable, would it be worth losing the bard 18 enhancement?

or should i make a pure bard, (this would require me actually TRing, since my current Helf Arti is level 16.)

what are other good options for bards?

[giftie]

Ive been playing DDO since it became f2p. yet i have never played a bard.

Before the enhancement pass, i was going to level up my artificer, to level 20, and tr it into a bard 16 and either arti 4 or fighter 2 arti 2. and use crossbows.

now my question is, are these still viable, would it be worth losing the bard 18 enhancement?

or should i make a pure bard, (this would require me actually TRing, since my current Helf Arti is level 16.)

what are other good options for bards?

I'd say it's not really viable to do a crossbow build without 6 levels of Rogue or Artificer, since you have no attribute to add to damage.

Other good options?

Spellsinger capstone is potentially fantastic for the dedicated healing bard. But most bards wish to contribute more to damage, and splash up to 4 levels. The general opinion seems to be that the level 18 cores are not worth it for either tree, but Inspire Excellence and level 6 spells are important enough to not splash more than 4 levels without good reason.

I'd say the most popular choices are 2 Rogue for evasion (and often trap skills) and 2 Fighter for the free feats. For the ranged Bard, up to 2-4 levels of Ranger are more common, usually Elf or Helf for racial access to AA tree.

[Xyzima]

thank you
thats very helpful

i guess ill have to TR it, and make a bard that way