Perilous Bard
Party-support controller - stack auras on your group, turn the room against itself with barding, and scale it all up as you climb.
Overview
The Bard is the group class. Its passives sharpen the three barding skills, and almost every fork is a party aura that buffs everyone within 25 tiles of you - armor, damage, regen, mitigation. On your own it is fine; in a group it is the multiplier that makes the whole party hit harder and die less.
It plays off Musicianship plus Peacemaking, Provocation and Discordance, and it gains a little Dexterity every level so you are not helpless when the singing stops.
Passive Bonuses
Always on against monsters, scaling with your Bard level. Maxed at level 10:
| Bonus | Per level | At level 10 |
|---|---|---|
| Peacemaking / Provocation / Discordance success | +2% | +20% |
| Effective Musicianship (up to your skill cap) | +2 | +20 |
| Dexterity | +1 | +10 |
| Damage taken | -1% | -10% |
Signature Procs
Two procs fire off your own attacks and casts against monsters. The weaker triggers at 0.5% per level (5% at 10); the stronger at 0.1% per level (1% at 10). PvM only.
- Melody (weaker): stuns the target for 1 second, and your next barding attempt against it gets +25% success chance and +50% duration.
- Crescendo (stronger): hits the target with Peacemaking and Discordance at your skill's effect for 10 seconds times the number of Peacemaking, Discordance and Provocation you have at 100 or above - so a maxed three-barding Bard locks a mob down for 30 seconds.
Fork Abilities
At levels 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 you pick one of two, permanent for the build. Each costs Golden Notes (10 / 20 / 30 / 40 / 50). Most are party auras that reach everyone within 25 tiles of you.
| Level | Option A | Option B |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Lute Mastery - +1% barding success per level while wielding a lute | Serenade - party aura: -1% damage taken per level |
| 4 | Song of Iron Will - party aura: +2 Armor per level | Replenishing Dance - party aura: +2% mana regen per level |
| 6 | Battle Ballad - party aura: +2% damage per level | Healing Chant - party aura: +5% HP regen per level |
| 8 | Virtuoso - party aura: +1 STR, INT and DEX per level | Show Stopper - 2.5% per level chance on a barding skill to stun every mob within 5 tiles for 3s |
| 10 | Maestro - all your auras run at 150% effectiveness | Grand Finale - active: Discord all nearby enemies and give the party +20% damage and +20% mitigation for 30s, 5-min cooldown |
One Bard's aura at a time. Auras do not stack between Bards - only the highest-level Bard in range applies theirs. Maestro is the designated scaling pick: it multiplies your own auras by 1.5, which is why a party wants its best Bard to take it.
How It Plays
PvM. The Bard is a force multiplier. Solo, you lean on barding - Provoke monsters onto each other, Peace a room, Discord a boss - and your success rates are the best on the shard. In a group you are the engine room: pick the aura the party needs (Battle Ballad for a damage push, Healing Chant and Serenade for a grind, Song of Iron Will for a tanky front line) and everyone within 25 tiles gets it. Melody and Crescendo turn even your filler attacks into extra crowd control.
PvP. Your aura and damage bonuses are PvM only, so they go quiet in a player fight - but your raw barding skills, the flat Dexterity, and hard control like Provocation still matter. The Bard is a support piece in PvP, best played next to allies rather than trading blows.
Coins & Leveling
The Bard spends Golden Notes. Earn class XP worth 10% of the gold your kills drop (active class only), fill the bar, then pay the Bard Guildmaster the target level times ten in Golden Notes per level (about 550 for the full climb to 10). Fork abilities cost extra coins. Coins drop for everyone off tough monsters, and Prism Coins cover any class coin you are short.
Not Locked In
Your first class is free and instant. Changing later takes a 2-minute channel (hold still, take no damage) plus a cooldown between swaps. Each class keeps its own level and forks, so leaving and returning does not reset your Bard.
One character can also hold multiple skill builds through the Personality system - two slots to start, up to five for gold or Ether Charged Powder, swapped with a 2-minute channel (a fresh slot starts your skills at zero to retrain). A support Bard and a solo damage build can live on the same character.