Good bardcher ideas/builds?

[Ausdoerrt]

Hey all,

Can anyone point me to some good bardcher build ideas? I'm looking at a bard life for my ranged-focused main, but getting confused by all the new options in the bard class. Thanks!

[unbongwah]

I haven't updated them for U22 yet, but see my Bardcher thread. I've been mulling some Swashbuckling (SWF) Bardcher ideas, but I haven't put anything together yet.

[Ausdoerrt]

Yes, I did look at your bardcher thread (really the only decently up-to-date discussion on it), and got some ideas from there. Not sure if I want to miss out on Victory Song for a deeper ranger splash, though. I also feel like deeper splashes obscure the "feel" of the different classes on the TR train, which is part of my goal - 1 life of each class, ranged-focused but not too rules-bending.

I'm looking for a full-ranged, not melee/ranged hybrid build, so swash may not be the best choice, but it may be interesting to splash into it. Sadly, Lamm testing yesterday showed that "Blow by Blow" still doesn't work properly, which is a shame, since it could've been a cool bardy counterpart for the ranger's "Sniper Shot". The doubleshot boost also looks interesting, but then there's the manyshot debuff, so not sure how that synergizes, if at all.

So far, I've been mulling two possible idea: spellsinger to shoot and nuke, or chanter for max buffs. Either way, gotta be very careful with the action points, cause it's way easy to spread too thin. I've been thinking of giving up the capstone for 2 ranger levels to deal with feat starvation and save points from unlocking racial AA.

Another problem is the stats: you need decent dex to hit stuff with a bow, good CHA if you want to use spells beyond buffs, and good STR for damage unless you want to spend 15+ AP in the elf racial tree.


Additional ideas are definitely welcome.

[unbongwah]

What's wrong with ranged Blow by Blow?

[Ausdoerrt]

What's wrong with ranged Blow by Blow?

On Lamm, it did not apply the sonic damage. A quick search suggests that it's an old issue and is probably on live as well.

Had no way to test the threat part, and unsure on the crit range part.

[unbongwah]

I'm looking for a full-ranged, not melee/ranged hybrid build, so swash may not be the best choice, but it may be interesting to splash into it.

The problem with "fully ranged" bardchers is the same one all non-monkchers face: namely there simply isn't any ranged feat nearly as good as 10K Stars for complementing your "while MS is on CD" DPS.

Sadly, Lamm testing yesterday showed that "Blow by Blow" still doesn't work properly, which is a shame, since it could've been a cool bardy counterpart for the ranger's "Sniper Shot".

Sniper Shot (DWS) req's rgr 6, so you're already talking about a heavily-MCed build.

So far, I've been mulling two possible idea: spellsinger to shoot and nuke, or chanter for max buffs.

Battlehawke's thread contains at least one pure bardcher SS. Personally I think pure bards are too feat-starved to make good archers and good casters (even if you pick up Elven Grace so you don't need Bow STR), but it's worth a look-see.

[Ausdoerrt]

The problem with "fully ranged" bardchers is the same one all non-monkchers face: namely there simply isn't any ranged feat nearly as good as 10K Stars for complementing your "while MS is on CD" DPS.

Not like I'm looking for the "optimal build", just interesting/viable options.

Sniper Shot (DWS) req's rgr 6, so you're already talking about a heavily-MCed build.

What I mean is, Blow by Blow feels similar to Sniper Shot, so the latter could make up for NOT having the former.

Battlehawke's thread contains at least one pure bardcher SS. Personally I think pure bards are too feat-starved to make good archers and good casters (even if you pick up Elven Grace so you don't need Bow STR), but it's worth a look-see.

Thanks, I'll take a look. Bards are traditionally jacks-of-all-trades, so they don't have to be "the best" casters. Gee, I wonder how gimp my builds will get when I decide to do pure caster lives