Bard TRing build

[RoguemcStabby]

Yeah so.. i recently returned to the game and I have a toon that's 12 bard / 2 rogue and I am thinking of using the LR +20 to respec to a pure bard.

The point is that I am looking for a pure bard build (or some derivative) in order to gain 3 bard past lives..

the question:

what is the most painless way to do this? I mostly PUG, but do have some buddies that I group with with.
What is a build that is not uber-gear dependent that can be effective in PUGs from a support/casting role?

[BoBoDaClown]

Yeah so.. i recently returned to the game and I have a toon that's 12 bard / 2 rogue and I am thinking of using the LR +20 to respec to a pure bard.

The point is that I am looking for a pure bard build (or some derivative) in order to gain 3 bard past lives..

the question:

what is the most painless way to do this? I mostly PUG, but do have some buddies that I group with with.
What is a build that is not uber-gear dependent that can be effective in PUGs from a support/casting role?

If all you are after is the bard pastlife, I would run a Human Bard 10 Fighter 6 Rogue 4, str and melee based. This would be a nice self healing buffin melee toon that could get through the content quickly.

For casting, you want to be pure and cha based, but to be honest, casting isn't so important in Heroic TR because the content gets crushed - you just want dps to do the crushing.

[marinerfan]

You might find yourself being more useful if you keep the 2 rogue - evasion + trap skills is mighty handy. As long as you have a majority of your levels in bard (ie: 8 bard/6 fighter/6 barbarian), you'll still get bard past life.

If you want pure bard build..here's one I've been playing lately:
- 28 pt build -, I've been running a pure bard that mostly fights with sword and board (the level 12 swashbuckler is actually awesome). I think I started with something like 16 str, 16 con, rest in cha and then level ups are going into cha or str - depending on my mood on a given day.

Get a decent longsword, take the power attack, cleave, and great cleave feats and you can actually do some respectable damage. Right now I'm level 13 and have actually had PUG'ers comment on how surprisingly useful I've been. I'm not sure Sword and board would be worthwhile without the swashbuckler, if not, get some 2-handed weapons and use master's touch.

[Uidolon]

when getting 3 past lives of bard one thing you need to realise is that pure is always going to be a slower lvler then a deep multiclass bard reason for this is simple it just multi just adds more damage total to a group of 2-6people then a pure bard does. only in a raid team of 12 can the pure bard hope to be able to add as much damage as the deep multiclass does and even there its not a huge gain. the personal DPS between a example 9bard-6fighter-2rogue and a pure lvl18 bard is huge were not talking 10% or 20% its id say were closer to 50%-100% increase in damage your better of comparing the deep multi bard with a pure fighter then you are comparing it with a pure bard. (should note you start off getting mostly bard lvls its not until late game you stop taking your bard lvls so it still feels like your playing a bard). im very unsure on the damage diffrence between a pure and deep splash since those comparisons ive done myself has always been aimed at comparing myself to the pure fighter or the pure barbarian. generally you aim at hitting close to 70-80% of the damage of a pure fighter without bard songs with a multiclass str bard but so your looking at adding sigificant DPS even if your HP and saves are your biggest weakness not your damage


should add pure bard is not a weak lvler and has one of the lowest impact on scaling when soloing making it certain quest that are hard ironically easier on bard compared to stronger solo charcters. bard on the whole are pretty amazing for soloing quests on hard quickly and easily while they suffer from doing things elite since in my experince your damage just makes things bit slow on elite even if you dont have any trouble getting things done. if you do plan on never soloing you could do a pure bard and get the lives like that but even so your slower getting exp lvl1-12 ish and even after this reason for this is that only in raids do the extra buffs a pure bard adds compare to the extra personal DPS you offer in a 6man team.

personally think 9 is a sweet spot to park your bard lvls when doing deep bard multiclassing. it is a significant increase were talking about not a small boost when comparing deep multi bards with pure bard.
bards cant be lawful so this takes out paladin and monk which id imagine would have been super popular to mix into bards if this wasnt the case (its a shame). ranger is not very popular to multiclass with you can do it but you need to have a very clear goal for doing so and there are almost always a better option and its very easy to mess up its a tight rope to walk with low return if you do manage to pull it off. fighter and rogue are what you almost always multi a bard with (and with good reason) and then there is the third class of barbarian which while not ideal does offer a few uniques you cant get from the fighter-rogue but most admit its not as powerful as fighter.

feel like the fighter class is the best fit for the bard class to deep slit with. both the rogue and the barb does offer a few things you cant get no matter how many fighters lvls you take, the reason for the fighter class is the combination of feats+damage both which a bard lacks. while in theory rogue offers actually more damage then the fighter splash it requires you to be not the target of what you damage to do the higher damage. limits your tactical options while in team and just makes you less good as solo (traps can be gotten with just a single rog lvl so not tied to being rogue deep splash). also bard being starved for feats makes each gained feat giving you a great feat. the fundamental to the barb class mechanic of rage negates bard spells making you a weak barb rather then a powerful melee bard when raged, making barb deep splash both unpopular and lot harder to defend from a pure power gamer perspective.

my conclusion has been that 2-5 rogue and 1 barb are the best third class split to take if you start off with a mix of bard+fighter lvls. both of these always granting you a higher benefit then couple more fighter lvls with the exception being 8bard-12 fighter which does not work when talking getting past lifes bards.

the one barb makes a good case for itself if your a super zerger while the 2 rogue offer to fit more peoples playstyle and even offer a better zerging experince for those not super zergers but fast paced powergamers as well as a more versatile playstyle. and i do mean super zerger not normal zerging if you stop running before you get red alert in most quests id say your not a super zerger (or as i term them in my own mind idiot savants but thats not politically correct)

tried several splits with couple of lvls of ranger into the mix but never found one that is comparable to the fighter class or rogue class, been meaning of wanting to try out picking up 6-9 lvls of arti and see if you can get that mix to work well id imagine you could make a decent case for this split but just dont play enough these days to have the energy for much experimentations.

found mixing sorc or other caster classes directly detrimental to the bard hurting more then it helps or best case just being irrelevant and taking away the powerful boost the other class you cant take now.

splits i could see work just fine is:
9bard-9fighter-2rogue (9-8-3 same and 10-8-3 also being viable taste matter which of the benefits are stronger you always lose 1 small benefit and grant a diffrent alternative benfit in each of these. at lvl 18 they would be basically identical in all three splits ironically enough 9-7-2 or 9-6-3 while at first glance at lvl18 many would say wouldnt the third lvl of rogue just do more damage and make it easier to max out rogue skills? this isnt actually very important and to make things worse you would basically always take the last rogue lvl at lvl18.

if you want to go 2weapons or a single big weapon or even 1sword and shield is a one of your builds most important choice. alternative if you can use the bow also but currently dont like this option, dont think the bow are very rewarding even though you could build in manyshot if you wanted to but the class is already complicated in the amount of equip weapons scrolls it carries on it and clickies adding bow capabilities makes it super clicky intensive and your inventory becomes even more of a nightmare especially if mixed with 2weapons which is common since you then want little bit of dex anyhow for the bow. the sword and shield is to me not how i want to play but perfectly viable, also basically requires you to be a legened with tomes.

overall id suggest a 2handed weapon build focusing on melee damage basically pure str/con with a tiny tiny sprinkle of dex/cha and int maybe +1 to all those three dont have these details in my head right now and for these type of things it relly comes down to details and even in some cases tomes+equipment.
this is were i feel the game is currently also since you will be carrying lot of junk as TR bard and i do mean LOT of junk having just a single weapon can for some people make you a better player. dwarf is the best race but lvl low the Horc gives the dwarf a run for the money. or you could say F>it im gona be the sexiest elf i can be and swing that big falchion but overall id not suggest you go this from a numbers perspective but if this is your idea of fun go for it and never doubt yourself. more fun=more playing=more exp+more loot so its likely even supportable when looking at statistics

its hard to go wrong with the classic dwarf 9bard-7fighter-2rogue at lvl18 i doubt you will be disapointed and get stunning blow early it is so much fun to use spend the feat it will reward you with a more fun playstyle early game and lategame

and sorry for the wall of text not very good at making my point with few words

conclusions:
-multiclass bard is always better for a team of 2 to 6 people and solo, compared to pure bard. assuming: no risk of failing a quest and the character is str based.

-THF is less gear intensive while offering in most peoples opion higher damage right now for bards the superior choice (almost all other choices with bards are trade offs lose x to gain y)

-fighter rogue are by far the most popular classes to multiclass a bard with and for good reason.