healer/caster bard.... and nukes =)

[Varis]

so there I go with bard reroll 21356854634543565643 and it occured to me that the healing line also boosts sonic.

I don't mean hedgehogs or 50's burger joints... nooo shout and greater shout!
It's like playing DDO with capslock on... or so I hope...


anyways, Drow, max charisma with a touch of str to help with dps here and there.
14 str
10 dex
12 con
10 int
8 wis
20 cha

going for spellsinger with the following feats

empower healing
empower
maximise
spell pen
greater spell pen
heighten
(at 18th) mental toughness / toughness... whichever feels right with mod9

soo as you can see I should have some crowd control going, some decent healing AAANNDD empower + maximise.
while they certainly make you look like a pro healer (for a very limited time)
I took them to NUKE.

that's right, a nuking bard.

now before I get bashed to heck and back... has anyone actually tested this?
and not just with empower or maximise

i'm talking max, empower, all enhancements, greater lore and greater potency.


my main is a sorc.. and just in theory it should hit as hard as a fireball... which is pretty **** hard. With the awesome stun on top of it, it should be quite possible to herd up some baddies then lock them until they drop.

Now.. a fair argument would be to say that why bother with bard? A sorc, wizard.. even cleric will do quite a bit better then you when it comes to nuking.

Why thank you for pointing that out sirs and ladies! It IS true.

On the other hand... I now have a FULL on crowd control and healing bard.. that can also burst DPS. Also not to be underestimated... sonic works on pretty much... ANYTHING.


what do you guys think? what have been your experiences so far?

[Noctus]

Im sceptical that the "nuking" part of your build will really work out as you hope, but all the other stuff is fine. (feats, stats, race , levels).

So give it a try and come back once you reached cap to tell us how it worked out in-game.

[Purgatory]

I have a healing bard speced out like this (but no emp have emp healing solo heals the shourd many times with no clr and mostly puggs man were they scared lol) i could make some adjustments and find items and test this out for you.

Give me a few days to swap spells and find correct lore items and ill test this out and see what i can come up with.

[Varis]

I have a healing bard speced out like this (but no emp have emp healing solo heals the shourd many times with no clr and mostly puggs man were they scared lol) i could make some adjustments and find items and test this out for you.

Give me a few days to swap spells and find correct lore items and ill test this out and see what i can come up with.

That would be much appreciated. As mainly a sorc, I know how much of a difference a well placed nuke makes and while it is not realistic to make a "nuker", the ability would add a lot of utility to a build that otherwise seriously lacks in any DPS role.

[maddmatt70]

There has been some posts in this forum on sonic specced bards. Aussie, has a bard in game that is a sonic/healing specced bard. It works well for her. I am not sure what the damage she deals with offensive spells, but not many monsters have sonic resist and the healing aspect works well for her. I would say this is a good build especially right now. I am not sure how things will look in the future in mod 9 when the cap goes up, but for now will be fine.

[maddmatt70]

I would probably swap out empower healing for quicken and heal with maimize and maybe empower. I would choose mental toughness over toughness. Mod 9 is not here yet and all.

[Varis]

I would love to see some numbers. Are we talking 250 or 300 without a crit?

Also quicken... is it that bad? Does spamming the 6th spell level without quicken feel like watching a glacier? a sand dune? or perhaps coastal erosion?

If it's not that bad.. I hope to avoid taking the feat. Was thinking of taking heighten instead (for the other CC)

[Lymnus]

Also quicken... is it that bad? Does spamming the 6th spell level without quicken feel like watching a glacier? a sand dune? or perhaps coastal erosion?

Not too bad. Just tried it on my bard. It goes out in decent time. Maybe the time taken to whip a wand throws out the scream.

[maddmatt70]

I would love to see some numbers. Are we talking 250 or 300 without a crit?

I do not have the number personally, but it will not be as good as a firewall or blade barrior in terms of what it can do and will likely be less solid in the future when the cap goes up just as a warning, but this build can be easily altered if need be with feat and enhancement respecss to something else.

I have not specced out the numbers myself and I am skeptical of
Also quicken... is it that bad? Does spamming the 6th spell level without quicken feel like watching a glacier? a sand dune? or perhaps coastal erosion?

If it's not that bad.. I hope to avoid taking the feat. Was thinking of taking heighten instead (for the other CC)

The reason for quicken is not for the usual casting spells its a much more situational feat, but for a real healing bard its kind of an essential feats. Examples where quicken is essential: Enter the Kobold as solo healer: even with fire shield on you will constantly have to make concentration checks as you take damage quicken allows you to get your healing spells off. VOD: at end fight with bats. Clerics and bards both really really need quicken for this scenario as the bats can interrupt healing spells. Superman: Just every so often when you have to put on your superman cape and really up your healing speed.

I am a fan of empower healing in general, but bard feats are limited and this build demands maximize and empower for sonic spells so something has to give so to speak. I also like heighten and prefer extend. Feats: extend, heighten, maximize, empower, quicken, and two more which could spell penetration feats or mental toughness or spell focus, etc.

[Purgatory]

Ok picked up greater shout on my healinng drow bard

34 chr - with only +1 tome and no shorud item

Feats Max/emp haling/quicken

This with healing/sonic line maxed out at 40%
Crit line 6% )(2nd tier)
Crit multiplier) none

28 dc/29 dc with out/with spell slinger song

1150 sp

picked up a hammer of ladden cloads and used my sup pot 6 club

(Combat): You hit Bearded Devil for 395 points of sonic damage

Stun the devils in the vale about 1/2 the time with a 29 dc

this on a crit for dmg

(Combat): You hit Bearded Devil for 395 points of sonic damage

prolby looking at 600-800 on crits if u max out the crit line and have emp

This wasnt very effective and the cool down time kinda sucked for spamming but the dmg was nice for burst dmg

With emp and max chr up to 39/40 and take feats for the school gget the dc to 34 might be lot more effective

also no auto crits while stuned

Also there seemed to be no need for spell pen for this spell so might want to drop spell pen and pick up evo focus only way i can see this spell being effective is if u can get the dc over 32 and try to push it up to 35 if possible. that would require +3 chr tome, +3 chr shroud item (note this be weapon so u would need greater pot 7 on ur gt armor if u were to stil use the hammer ofcourse u will want too or get greenblade/skiver or bluescale armor) and the trinket for abbot. this will get ur chr to 40 and the 2 focus feats, napkin and song will bring the dc up to 35.

your sp pool will be your bigest problem ( 40 chr and shroud item and skiver/bracers be close to 1400-1500 sp) and also that u wont be albe to heighten ur lvl 6 spell as that the cap lvl for bards spell so they just get weaker and weaker as u lvl up.

[Uska]

Ok picked up greater shout on my healinng drow bard

34 chr - with only +1 tome and no shorud item

Feats Max/emp haling/quicken

This with healing/sonic line maxed out at 40%
Crit line 6% )(2nd tier)
Crit multiplier) none

28 dc/29 dc with out/with spell slinger song

1150 sp

picked up a hammer of ladden cloads and used my sup pot 6 club

(Combat): You hit Bearded Devil for 395 points of sonic damage

Stun the devils in the vale about 1/2 the time with a 29 dc

this on a crit for dmg

(Combat): You hit Bearded Devil for 395 points of sonic damage

prolby looking at 600-800 on crits if u max out the crit line and have emp

This wasnt very effective and the cool down time kinda sucked for spamming but the dmg was nice for burst dmg

With emp and max chr up to 39/40 and take feats for the school gget the dc to 34 might be lot more effective

also no auto crits while stuned

Also there seemed to be no need for spell pen for this spell so might want to drop spell pen and pick up evo focus only way i can see this spell being effective is if u can get the dc over 32 and try to push it up to 35 if possible. that would require +3 chr tome, +3 chr shroud item (note this be weapon so u would need greater pot 7 on ur gt armor if u were to stil use the hammer ofcourse u will want too or get greenblade/skiver or bluescale armor) and the trinket for abbot. this will get ur chr to 40 and the 2 focus feats, napkin and song will bring the dc up to 35.

your sp pool will be your bigest problem ( 40 chr and shroud item and skiver/bracers be close to 1400-1500 sp) and also that u wont be albe to heighten ur lvl 6 spell as that the cap lvl for bards spell so they just get weaker and weaker as u lvl up.

The bard capstone should help with the dc its gives cha and bonus to dc

[Purgatory]

Changed out feat for emp and maxed out all my heal/sonic crit lines this what i got


(Combat): You hit Fiend-Blood Troglodyte Warmaster for 790 points of sonic damage

hope this helps


now we gona see pvp bards i bet lol

[Varis]

Changed out feat for emp and maxed out all my heal/sonic crit lines this what i got


(Combat): You hit Fiend-Blood Troglodyte Warmaster for 790 points of sonic damage

hope this helps


now we gona see pvp bards i bet lol

lol hell yeah, I knew it! Thanks for testing this for me. This is what I had in mind when I took empower and maximise.

Also, this build does not intend to go around nuking everything (unless its favor farming he he) A sorcerer is better at it.
This build is really a CC/heal bard with the ability to do high burst damage.

If we ever get access to some of the bard nuke spells in pnp dnd, it will work even better.

You may call this build the

" Sonic Bard "

[Zippo]

so there I go with bard reroll 21356854634543565643 and it occured to me that the healing line also boosts sonic.

I don't mean hedgehogs or 50's burger joints... nooo shout and greater shout!
It's like playing DDO with capslock on... or so I hope...


anyways, Drow, max charisma with a touch of str to help with dps here and there.
14 str
10 dex
12 con
10 int
8 wis
20 cha

going for spellsinger with the following feats

empower healing
empower
maximise
spell pen
greater spell pen
heighten
(at 18th) mental toughness / toughness... whichever feels right with mod9

soo as you can see I should have some crowd control going, some decent healing AAANNDD empower + maximise.
while they certainly make you look like a pro healer (for a very limited time)
I took them to NUKE.

that's right, a nuking bard.

now before I get bashed to heck and back... has anyone actually tested this?
and not just with empower or maximise

i'm talking max, empower, all enhancements, greater lore and greater potency.


my main is a sorc.. and just in theory it should hit as hard as a fireball... which is pretty **** hard. With the awesome stun on top of it, it should be quite possible to herd up some baddies then lock them until they drop.

Now.. a fair argument would be to say that why bother with bard? A sorc, wizard.. even cleric will do quite a bit better then you when it comes to nuking.

Why thank you for pointing that out sirs and ladies! It IS true.

On the other hand... I now have a FULL on crowd control and healing bard.. that can also burst DPS. Also not to be underestimated... sonic works on pretty much... ANYTHING.


what do you guys think? what have been your experiences so far?

you forgot probably the most usefull sonic spell in the game even at higher levels I've found it working quite ofter=n.

SoundBurst.

[Xyfiel]

And from the way back machine...

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php...96#post1436796

Spellsinger, healing dragonmarks, pure, is what I am going to do sometime soon. I deleted the character when I got back from the gulf and have been waiting to remake it.

[Junts]

You'd be way better off as a human, you know, especially if you want any kind of melee ability, you don't have enough con to melee as a bard with that build.

Also, it hits as hard as regular fireball, not delayed blast .. which is significantly less.

You're looking at 320ish on failed saves, tops, probably slightly less, which isn't very good.

[Varis]

You'd be way better off as a human, you know, especially if you want any kind of melee ability, you don't have enough con to melee as a bard with that build.

Also, it hits as hard as regular fireball, not delayed blast .. which is significantly less.

You're looking at 320ish on failed saves, tops, probably slightly less, which isn't very good.

It's less, but not horribly so.. my DBF hits for 1000, the post above said 790.
Certainly worth it as a kind of burst damage when the situation calls for it.

Oh and Xyfiel, very nice build although it focuses on heals more while I'm leaning towards crowd control. It's kinda scary.. but with the 20th capstone and spellsinger buff we can have a higher DC then a full caster for enchantment spells.


Also while we really can't melee we still do 1d6+20. If you get something better then a +5 weapon I'm sure we can do passable damage. Pointless on a raid but in a quest it's quite a bit of help. Especially when you run short.

[jumpinjahosiphat]

I had a nice detailed post written up but alas I've lost it to
the white screen of frustration.

Anyway are you still having fun with this build?

I might take Maximise and Greater shout on my TWF Spellsinger
Build. There are too many great synergies with the Healing/Sonic
Enhancements not to at least try this out.

Does the damage/stun also work on undead?

Will an Evocation focus from say dragon armor help with the DC
of the stun portion of the spell?

Thanks for any insight you might have.

[Cedrica-the-Bard]

I had a nice detailed post written up but alas I've lost it to
the white screen of frustration.

Anyway are you still having fun with this build?

I might take Maximise and Greater shout on my TWF Spellsinger
Build. There are too many great synergies with the Healing/Sonic
Enhancements not to at least try this out.

Does the damage/stun also work on undead?

Will an Evocation focus from say dragon armor help with the DC
of the stun portion of the spell?

Thanks for any insight you might have.

I've been playing this build for a while now and absolutely love it!!!

I have the blue dragon scale armor and full healing/sonic AP's and I use Maximize. When I have the sup pot 6 item in hand, average damage numbers are around 250-300 and the odd crit is maybe 500ish? (can't remember, I really like it for the stun portion more than the damage but the damage is fab...)

I run the Shroud primarily so in there I have a portal beater in my hand, not sup pot 6, and the damage is ~150ish (if they don't save). I blast it every time I come up on a portal with baddies around it. The hang their heads in shame and expect a good beating, lol. The only thing I would add is that the stun portion doesn't last too, too long, so you do need to drop them pretty quick, Dreamspitter is nice for that.

I do find that there is not alot of saving from the stun portion except from Orthons. They save alot on it but still take some decent damage.

Also, the cone in front area of effect can be slightly annoying but overall, I just love Greater Shout and the damage/stun effects of it. And no SR check for the spell, pretty sweet.

Plus, I can heal like a cleric in parts 4 and 5, have done it many time. Just keep that spellsinger song going for cheaper casting and +1 to those stun DC's and it's all good.

The charisma on my Spellsinger is only 30 too, so a maxed charisma Spellsinger would probably have a very high success rate on the stun portion compared to me.

[Aerendil]

Changed out feat for emp and maxed out all my heal/sonic crit lines this what i got


(Combat): You hit Fiend-Blood Troglodyte Warmaster for 790 points of sonic damage

hope this helps


now we gona see pvp bards i bet lol

Was that a regular hit or a crit? Just curious.

Kinda torn on my feelings on this, to be honest. Part of me is pretty impressed that Bardic sonic magic can put out that kind of damage. The other part of me looks at the PnP description of 10d6 damage, looks at that 790 figure, and wonders if DDO hasn't completely ruined D&D :/