I swear you have to be reading my mind. I just got my friend to play FF14 as his first MMO. I just linked him your pugilist/monk guide and i decided to play archer/bard for the first time. Now we both have updated guides to follow! You're work is always appreciated 👌🏿
@Lefein NoelI transferred to Sephirot in Oceania and had my friend create their too due to the congestion and exp bonus. Its also free to transfer as well. Was initially worried about latency, but its pretty spot on for the most part for me. You should see if that may work for you.
As someone who just hit 78 in Bard today, I was JUST thinking like two hours ago “I hope he puts out the Bard video soon, I’m probably not using this stuff in the right order.” AND SO YOU PROVIDED. Looking forward to this.
I just wanna say even though I'm not a beginner I still enjoy watching these. Your explanations are very clean and to the point, it's just nice to listen to. Also great to see content that is actually aimed at new players. I find that most videos aimed at beginners assume the player actually has some prior knowledge already, but yours don't really do that. Great content, you're doing a big service for the community.
I just want you to know that your ShB Bard leveling guide is the reason I main as a Bard!! It was my starting class but I didn't understand anything related to Repertoire so I abandoned the class for a while but then I watched your other video and it made everything make perfect sense. Now that I main BRD and have beaten Endwalker I feel confident in my barding abilities but I dropped everything I was doing to watch this video as soon as I saw it go up because you can never learn too much about your favorite class! Thank you for all your hard work, whenever I have a friend start FFXIV for the first time I always send them your leveling guide videos for whatever class they start out as. Looking forward to seeing the rest of your guides!
I like these a lot. Even for the Jobs I don't play, it's nice being able to see them. 6.3 Update to this one is Minne now has a 120 sec CD, but is party-wide at a SLIGHTLY decreased buff. It's basically a stronger Mantra, but on a 30 sec longer CD. Waiting on your post-6.3 PLD video with great anticipation as well. :D
Just a few things for level 90 8 man content. Your buffs in the opener are really strong, so much so that using PP2 as buffs are running out is better than waiting for PP3. In fact, with a few more party buffs, PP1 is even worth it in the same scenario. For Apex arrow and blast arrow, a mnemonic rule is around 24 seconds remaining in mage's ballad the latest. (You can also plan to apex/ blast 1/2 gcds before your iron jaws to save you the potential of Iron jaws overwriting a Straightshot ready proc) The other one you hold it to use it on your reopener as it is way better with party buffs (and your buffs). Speaking of the reopener, things are different. You will use Wanderer's minuet alone, then Raging strikes and Empyreal arrow, then a single bloodletter and then your buffs. Why the adjustments? We have Wanderer's minuet alone because we want to weave it somewhat late in our weave slot just to give us a bit more room to breathe to fit in 9 GCDs in our burst window. As such, Raging strikes has to move a bit and we have Empyreal arrow there to give us room for error because if it is slightly delayed, we can use it in the next ogcd window with bloodletter as usual, if we delay it further, it will have to move to after the ogcd window where we use our buffs and we will be sad for the rest of the encounter (because we will lose a use of empyreal arrow under our buffs). Finally, a use of Empyreal arrow takes priority over everything except using a GCD. If there is anything to take from all this long winded comment are the first and last points.
Ah, bless you and your guides. I got Bard to 78, boggled at the possibilities of the improved Army's Paeon, and came over here to figure out just where it was supposed to go in the song rotation. Now everything makes sense! Bard really is a job that benefits from understanding the whys and hows of your skills so you can properly prioritize, yowza.
Bard is one of the most fascinating jobs in the game for me. It was my starting class back when I started playing in late Stormblood and I hated it. I thought "oh it'll get better when I get my job stone" and with every new skill the job felt clunkier and clunkier. Eventually I switched for WHM and never looked back until recently. After a multiple year long break starting back in 2021 I came back to the game recently and Bard was one of the first jobs I started leveling to get up to WHMs level and once I got past lv50, something clicked and everything fell into place. It's still not my favorite but i can tell BRD got a lot of love post ARR. It's interesting how much better most jobs get post lv50
Although you go through all the skills a little quickly, these are videos I can rewind. With that said, I wouldn't really know my rotations without your videos, so thanks! I can Samurai because of your SAM vid, and now I can start to Bard it up!
I'm not playing atm, but I still love watching your guides to see what has changed. :D Bard was one of the remaining jobs I was looking forward to most!
this is the third time in a row you've released a class guide Exactly as i decided to actively start leveling/playing it. i'm starting to think you have some kind of subconscious telepathic connection to me lol. jokes aside thank you so much once again! even as i get better at instinctively knowing what to do with classes, i always watch your guides because listening to you talk makes me happy ^_^
I really enjoy end walker bard, it’s a good amount of procs to optimize, but the lengthened poison and song timers really make things less frantic than they were in shb. As always you make the best guides for Ff14 classes. Keep up the great work!
still wrong guide, i need some for my SAM and RDM. :) but we are looking at 18 classes by now afaik; the guides will have to pop out for months to cover each and every class. this guide is #7
I swear I read my tooltips... but I had no idea Empyreal Arrow gives a repertoire stack, nor did I know Barrage works with Shadowbite. Thanks for the guide, Wesk!
Soooo glad this was here. I hadn't paid super attention to BRD since I switched to MCH for my main, and post DT I guess Wide Volley got added (readded?), haha. Threw me off when I got synced down for a roulette on it.
I just discovered your guides and I have to say they are some of the best ones out there. You do a great job with these and you've got a new sub because of it!
Awesome job on all these guides! I came back to FFXIV after quitting early in ShB and having the goal to level all the jobs to 90, these guides are super helpful. I even use the Legacy ones for those not updated yet - they are still miles better that anything else I checked so far
This might've changed since the video released, but you can use Barrage when already under the effect of Hawk's eye and you won't be wasting it. It basically gives you 2 stacking buffs so you can do 2 refulgent arrows in a row. I make sure to use Barrage as early as possible just to get the cooldown going.
Wow I don't know how but this is exactly what I needed, I just finished watching the [legacy] guide to get what information I could and then a day later you release the EW version. This is omega brain playz.
I started leveling Bard again and 7 levels in I found out that Repertoire doesn’t trigger on DoT ticks anymore, which I find kinda funny. Thanks for the quality guide as always!
Wow, the usage of the songs changed more than I noticed. (Or I've played it wrong all along? Wherever I looked for guidance Army's Paeon was treated as the "useless" song that has to be cut short and is basically just there to close the gap until Wanderer's Minuet is up again, which always was treated as the most important one, even in mobs, which didn't made sense to me.) I've been a bard for quite some time and was confused about the EW update. Because the longer I looked at the skills the more changes I found, not only in the skills but also how they interact with each other. The biggest question I had was about how to handle AOEs, now where I don't need to put dots on all enemies (or at least some) to get Repertoire. I mean, in later dungeons it is still a good idea, but especially on low to mid-level duties it felt like a waste of DPS to not just spam the AOEs, considering that the enemies die so quickly. It felt like being one of these players who outright ignore their AOEs and target every single mob enemy in a Shadowbringers dungeon. xD So thanks for giving me some guidance in this. :)
I hope you don't take offense to this, but you have the perfect, stereotypical "nerd" voice and it legit really helps me follow guides. Alot of guide makers have such a monotonous voice/don't sound like they care about the game, whilst your the complete opposite and it keeps me watching😅
Not gonna lie, the only reason I leveled up Bard was to unlock Performance Mode when the electric guitar got added. Now I spend most of my time trying to play Speed Of Light by Joe Satriani, or Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love by Van Halen.
Thanks for the video! I've recently been leveling bard and got the Empereal Arrow and was wondering where to use it! You're right in that so far I'm enjoying the job more now that I have the HW skills, feels better to me. Though I think part of it is that I was a lala which to me didn't make sense using a long bow with tiny arms and now I'm a hrogthar with arms that are more archer-able. Anyways, thank you so much for these amazing guides!
Well... thanks to you I'm trying and max leveling all classes. Funny job bard, but a low levels is too boring, just like dragoon, but it gets better as level up. It reminds me a lot the hunting horn from monster hunter, i really love it there in any moment a healer that really put a lot of buffs, and Astro isn't enough.
Thank you for this guide! I'm just about to start HW as bard and this will definitely help me going forward in fights. I was never sure when to use the songs and esp didn't even realize (guess I forgot after I first read the description) battle voice can only be used during songs. Lol thanks again!!
@@WeskAlber oh LMAO shows how much I pay attention!! I'm still getting used to knowing what all to look at during battles this being my first mmo I am ~overwhelmed~. I usually pop battle voice like 5 sec before a song ends anyways. Keeping a rotation has definitely been the most challenging for me. But again thank you for this guide it helps a lot to see the rotation in use.
@@sailor_anna9924 Yeah get used to using things sooner rather than later. Stacking offensives is multiplicative, so song + BV is way stronger than either alone
@@WeskAlber ok I'll work on that. I think it's cause I had read or watched another bard guide and they were talking about doing that. It might have been outdated lol. Thanks
Just macro bloodletter to a second heavy shot button (before) it so once it comes it automatically fires it while spamming your main attack (keep a normal heavy shot button so you can do a rotation without having blood letter interrupt your burst
When ARR was new I tied FFXIV on a free trial with a Bard. I got so lost and confused (and then tricked by some higher level people) that I ended up who knows where and the MOBs were way to high for me. I gave up on the game before my 2 week trial was over. When I came back to the game 3 years ago I couldn't remember where my original character was. So I made a new one (Summoner which later became a BLM). I recently found my original Bard and want to start leveling her. This guide will be priceless as I remember nothing at all about playing her.
Everyone talks about the songs and the DPS output, but I do want to shine some light on the other support util for Bard - I ran Ktisis Hyperboreia the other day, and there was a Sage in my party that just kept dying first during boss battles, and also was out of MP most of the time while pulling trash mobs. I've never used my utility more than in that one dungeon - Arm's Length to help slow the mobs' attack while the Sage tried to recover MP (not a Bard exclusive, but still handy regardless), Nature's Minne on the Tank when he got low to boost his self-healing, and Troubadour during trash mobs as well as tankbusters. We ended up clearing the final boss as a duo after the other DPS died, and it was really rewarding that the utility was able to give us enough to survive. Most of the time, it might not seem like much, but Bard's support util is actually pretty good in a pinch. I feel like the only thing that would make it better is a battle res- giving us the ability to res would make us invaluable.
Awesome just got Bard to 80 & still a little rusty cause I stopped playing Bard during Shadowbringers cause of how “clunky” the Dots to proc repertoires thing felt
I absolutely love your pronounciation of "yard" , but don't let this get to you. This is one of, if not *the* most professional job-guide series, *imo* . Execution- and teaching-wise. Thank you for your efforts. Edit: OH, I meant "yalm" , I keep hearing and seeing it ingame, but I somehow alway confuse it with "yard". My bad! 😅 That being said, still love the pronounciation!
Maybe they could make sidewinder work so that when you use sidewinder, and if both of your dots are on the target, sidewinder gets 2 bonus potency buffs, a basic 150 potency, and then bonus potency of 50 - 250 based on how long the effects have been active ( 6s = 50, 15s = 100, 24s = 150, 33s = 200 and after you've had to use iron jaws at least once, and they've been active for 45s, you get +250 potency from sidewinder on top of the bonus 150 for having both buffs. rewards you for keeping them up, and using sidewinder.
If you use Face Enemy when attack ,options and you should be if you play a lot of ranged classes When you use quick Knock you will always fire your cone at the enemy due to auto facing , meaning you can run circles around enemies , solo and spam QN and it will always aim at them (your target) , or in a dungeon run around a trash pack to avoid damage whilst spamming QN
Thanks for this clip. I gave me exactly the information I was looking for. I think I'm gonna play a black / white mage if it's all the same to you guys though. :-)
Once again, thanks for these WeskAlber. Have a quick question for anyone. Is it standard practice for you guys to cut off the bloodletter animation by doing an immediate Heavy Shot or Straight Shot (when available). It seems to work.... :D Or is that considered an exploit?
You are not supposed to worry about animations. Animation lock isn't a thing except for very specific skills. Animation cancelling is less a matter of anim cancels, and more just "hitting the next button when you're meant to be allowed to." What matters is the GCD spinning, which you should be keeping spinning non-stop
I just started playing ffxiv and after a lot of consideration and research chose to play bard, because I've always mained healer in other games and when seeing how healers work I figured I'd just go with a class that is actually classified as support dps. I was so disappointed with the bard soul quest that I'm now considering starting over with something else, it was so underwhelming. I don't want spoilers, but does it get more interesting later? Also, thank you for making these amazing guides, I've watched all of them, even the previous iterations just to get a basic idea of jobs that aren't updated for endwalker yet.
Ty for the guide. It’s always a good refresher when I’m trying to get better at my main. Lately Ive been doing extremes, which often requires a lot of movement. I’ve been running and shooting off my blast arrow when the gauge gets to the correct point. So, I’m just wondering, when I shoot Blast Arrow while running, I’m often not facing the boss, though the boss is targeted. Does it still hit, or is the arrow being wasted? I should go test this out on a training dummy sometime I guess… (when I get a chance, RL has been busy and I’m often fatigued) But if you happen to know, would appreciate any tips.
Hey Wesk, do you not pre-record the intro sequence? I don't think there's much of a difference in the script of you reminding us about sprint and limit break.
Hello, so i wanted to ask what is the order you are posting this in? Cause i really want to get back into Astro after the changes. Also i always use your videos for each job cause yoda best.
(since youtube won't let me edit the message, I'll leave a personal one here) Your videos have seriously helped me with learning each class. The first one I ever watched from you was 1-80 ShB Bard guide and it really helped me fall in love with the class! (hence why I chose this video to tip ya for :]) You seriously deserve more for what you're doing for the community, these videos are incredibly informative and especially helpful for the more overwhelming classes which start with more moves. Even with classes I already felt I've gotten a hang of and understand, coming back for refreshers or watching your videos on classes I play but haven't seen your guides on helped me understand them better than I had been along with the tips for openers. Thank you so much and keep up the good work!
looking at your 90 starter makes mine look like an absolute headache. the starter i made myself is this with skills in ( ) for the weaves: caustic bite (Army's paeon, raging strikes, battle voice) stormbite (empyreal arrow, bloodletter, sidewinder) burst shot (bloodletter x2) burst shot (barrage) refulgent arrow. i never looked at radiant finale in my opener because i never looked at it's cooldown like that regardless of the fact i see it off cooldown every time i go for 3rd coda cast but i at the very least start weaving it somewhere in my own opener as my muscle memory is too far gone without super retraining
I never even noticed that they changed sidewinder until I watched this. Why did they change it?? that feels so weird since BRD’s play style revolves around it’s dots
Thank you, this is very helpful. But I don’t quite understand why the rotations start with heavy shot (I‘m at the level 50 rotation now). Wouldn‘t it be best to apply the DoTs as soon as possible, replacing the first two heavy shots? This leads me to an unrelated question regarding bigger groups of enemies: I usually try to put the two DoTs on all enemies first (weaving Rain of Death in between, when available). But with many enemies this takes a long time, to the point that I wonder whether it‘s worth it over the many uses of Quick Nock I could have used instead. Is it wrong to do that?
So correct me if my math is wrong, since I haven't played Bard yet and this is all just reactionary calculations, but after watching this, Blast Arrow seems to be a loss over Apex Arrow on 3+ targets. Assuming Apex hits with the highest available potency (375 at 75 Soul Gauge), then in boss fights, BA is obviously better, same with 2 targets (750 Apex Arrow vs 600+240=840 Blast Arrow), but with 3 targets, AA hits for 3x375=1125, while BA does 600+480=1080. And with every additional target, AA gains 375 potency, while BA only 240, so the damage gap only grows in favor of AA with more enemies. Kind of a weird interaction.
@@WeskAlber oh ok nvm then, I thought that AA changes into BA simply when SG is at 80 or higher, didn't notice it changes upon EXECUTION at that SG level
That's a pretty long opener, especially when you have to juggle other songs, prioritising the right skills to use, etc. Maybe Bard wasn't the right choice for my first job all those years ago ^^
Im a little confused on the level 60 opener. On the screen it looks like I'd have a guaranteed straight-shot (after) the first sidewinder on top right 25:57 when you show the potential change in the opener. Is that straight-shot meant to be ignored?
That Straight Shot is guaranteed because of Barrage. If you aren't using Barrage there, it's because you have Straight Shot Ready already, meaning you still have Straight Shot
@@WeskAlber I understand why it’s there, but assuming I already have straight-shot, is this my combo? Straight shot - sidewinder - barrage - straight shot - bloodletter, and so on?
@@freakstar1867 No no, you don't Sidewinder + Barrage, it's OR Heavy Shot (because Straight shot isn't guaranteed) > Do you have Straight shot Ready? If no, Do Barrage. If yes, Do Sidewinder. > Straight Shot > If did not Barrage, do now. The STraight Shot is ONLY Straight Shot, because it's guaranteed whether or not you get the proc. If you get the proc, you just use it. If you don't get the proc, you Barrage
@@WeskAlber I understand. But let’s say the very first heavy shot procs straight shot. Do I heavy shot - battlevoice - straight shot - sidewinder - heavy shot - barrage - straight shot - blood letter?
Question: why is Sidewinder pushed one GCD back? Even at 90, there's room to fit it sooner, potentially double weaving with Barrage. Sorry if you mentioned it at any point
I do not recall, but it is still the recommended opener even up to now. Likely due to the randomness aspect and to not bait you into using Barrage when you already have a proc
I'm currently at I wanna say 52 bard, but currently doing the Crystal Tower and Doma Refugee quests that are before Heavensward. All this time I had been waiting to use battle voice until Army's Paeon got all four stacks. My logic being that with Army's Paeon at its max power and giving me faster attacks, that I'd get more value out of the increased direct hit buff. But I just wanna make sure, you're saying I should instead use it with Mage's Ballad and at the very beginning of fights?
wondering, is there any real reason to single weave ogcd's apart from 3 to 4 stacks of army's Paeon because you would clip sometimes? I usually double weave any I have in order of priority but I noticed in your opener who slow it down and single weave. Just wondering to get better
![Intro to Tool Dev in Unity - An Improvised Live Course [part 1/4]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/pZ45O2hg_30/mqdefault.jpg)
You can still add Pitch Perfect to bars via a macro. Ex.
/hotbar action "Pitch Perfect" 1 7
I swear you have to be reading my mind. I just got my friend to play FF14 as his first MMO. I just linked him your pugilist/monk guide and i decided to play archer/bard for the first time. Now we both have updated guides to follow! You're work is always appreciated 👌🏿
@Lefein NoelI transferred to Sephirot in Oceania and had my friend create their too due to the congestion and exp bonus. Its also free to transfer as well. Was initially worried about latency, but its pretty spot on for the most part for me. You should see if that may work for you.
Realm lock hasn't even been in place for a year
@@WeskAlberWow good to know! I'll probably be switching back to Cactuar with my friend after my Road to 80 buff runs its course
As someone who just hit 78 in Bard today, I was JUST thinking like two hours ago “I hope he puts out the Bard video soon, I’m probably not using this stuff in the right order.” AND SO YOU PROVIDED. Looking forward to this.
Spoilers: I was not.
I just wanna say even though I'm not a beginner I still enjoy watching these. Your explanations are very clean and to the point, it's just nice to listen to. Also great to see content that is actually aimed at new players. I find that most videos aimed at beginners assume the player actually has some prior knowledge already, but yours don't really do that. Great content, you're doing a big service for the community.
Big same.
I just want you to know that your ShB Bard leveling guide is the reason I main as a Bard!! It was my starting class but I didn't understand anything related to Repertoire so I abandoned the class for a while but then I watched your other video and it made everything make perfect sense. Now that I main BRD and have beaten Endwalker I feel confident in my barding abilities but I dropped everything I was doing to watch this video as soon as I saw it go up because you can never learn too much about your favorite class! Thank you for all your hard work, whenever I have a friend start FFXIV for the first time I always send them your leveling guide videos for whatever class they start out as. Looking forward to seeing the rest of your guides!
SEE! I'm not making these long on purpose!
I like these a lot. Even for the Jobs I don't play, it's nice being able to see them.
6.3 Update to this one is Minne now has a 120 sec CD, but is party-wide at a SLIGHTLY decreased buff. It's basically a stronger Mantra, but on a 30 sec longer CD.
Waiting on your post-6.3 PLD video with great anticipation as well. :D
@@SubduedRadical see description
@@WeskAlber Right on. I don't know how you do these things, but they're amazing, man. o/
Bro singlehandedly raising the skill level of the entire playerbase.
I really appreciate using the full name for each skill, I may have a few level 70's but I'm still a new player overall in playtime as well
hey man, im a new sub and new player in FFXIV. i have never seen guides as great and simple as yours. please continue!
Just a few things for level 90 8 man content. Your buffs in the opener are really strong, so much so that using PP2 as buffs are running out is better than waiting for PP3. In fact, with a few more party buffs, PP1 is even worth it in the same scenario.
For Apex arrow and blast arrow, a mnemonic rule is around 24 seconds remaining in mage's ballad the latest.
(You can also plan to apex/ blast 1/2 gcds before your iron jaws to save you the potential of Iron jaws overwriting a Straightshot ready proc)
The other one you hold it to use it on your reopener as it is way better with party buffs (and your buffs).
Speaking of the reopener, things are different. You will use Wanderer's minuet alone, then Raging strikes and Empyreal arrow, then a single bloodletter and then your buffs.
Why the adjustments?
We have Wanderer's minuet alone because we want to weave it somewhat late in our weave slot just to give us a bit more room to breathe to fit in 9 GCDs in our burst window.
As such, Raging strikes has to move a bit and we have Empyreal arrow there to give us room for error because if it is slightly delayed, we can use it in the next ogcd window with bloodletter as usual, if we delay it further, it will have to move to after the ogcd window where we use our buffs and we will be sad for the rest of the encounter (because we will lose a use of empyreal arrow under our buffs).
Finally, a use of Empyreal arrow takes priority over everything except using a GCD. If there is anything to take from all this long winded comment are the first and last points.
When you mean alone for WM do you mean only weaving with WM and Not Raging Strikes as well?
@BirdyistYT correct. You are weaving it late, and due to the lower gcd during the army's peon, you can't weave anything else without clipping your gcd
pp hehe
Ah, bless you and your guides. I got Bard to 78, boggled at the possibilities of the improved Army's Paeon, and came over here to figure out just where it was supposed to go in the song rotation. Now everything makes sense! Bard really is a job that benefits from understanding the whys and hows of your skills so you can properly prioritize, yowza.
Bard is one of the most fascinating jobs in the game for me. It was my starting class back when I started playing in late Stormblood and I hated it. I thought "oh it'll get better when I get my job stone" and with every new skill the job felt clunkier and clunkier. Eventually I switched for WHM and never looked back until recently. After a multiple year long break starting back in 2021 I came back to the game recently and Bard was one of the first jobs I started leveling to get up to WHMs level and once I got past lv50, something clicked and everything fell into place. It's still not my favorite but i can tell BRD got a lot of love post ARR. It's interesting how much better most jobs get post lv50
Although you go through all the skills a little quickly, these are videos I can rewind. With that said, I wouldn't really know my rotations without your videos, so thanks! I can Samurai because of your SAM vid, and now I can start to Bard it up!
I'm so glad you spent so much time with Warden's Paean, it's such a crazy good ability and so underutilized!
I'm not playing atm, but I still love watching your guides to see what has changed. :D Bard was one of the remaining jobs I was looking forward to most!
Of course this comes out right after I complete my goal of leveling Bard to 50. Not complaining though. Keep up the good work.
this is the third time in a row you've released a class guide Exactly as i decided to actively start leveling/playing it. i'm starting to think you have some kind of subconscious telepathic connection to me lol.
jokes aside thank you so much once again! even as i get better at instinctively knowing what to do with classes, i always watch your guides because listening to you talk makes me happy ^_^
I really enjoy end walker bard, it’s a good amount of procs to optimize, but the lengthened poison and song timers really make things less frantic than they were in shb. As always you make the best guides for Ff14 classes. Keep up the great work!
You’re guides are great. And thanks for updating for endwalker.
Wake up y’all
NEW LEVEL 1-90 SKILLS GUIDE JUST DROPPED
still wrong guide, i need some for my SAM and RDM. :)
but we are looking at 18 classes by now afaik; the guides will have to pop out for months to cover each and every class. this guide is #7
9 classes. 19 jobs
@@WeskAlber 12 more glorious guides from the man himself (Unless a new Limited Job comes out)
@@WeskAlber ok, even one more. still not afraid of the work ? we want all of those guides, you know ? :D
@@rivenoak they come when they come.
well glad to know that i have been using bards almost right... just a diff order. will def adjust. am so thankful for you videos!
Awesome guide!
Perfect timing! I just started leveling Bard two days ago.
I swear I read my tooltips... but I had no idea Empyreal Arrow gives a repertoire stack, nor did I know Barrage works with Shadowbite.
Thanks for the guide, Wesk!
Gotta check the trait tooltips too. Empy doesnt show the proc line itself
Very informative guide!
also the limsa bard gag killed me
Together with glamour, Limsa bard idling is the true endgame. (For bards at least.) :D
Soooo glad this was here. I hadn't paid super attention to BRD since I switched to MCH for my main, and post DT I guess Wide Volley got added (readded?), haha. Threw me off when I got synced down for a roulette on it.
Was waiting for this thank you. Keep up the guides man. And can you possibly do dragoon or paladin next?
As voted by patrons PLD is after AST
@@WeskAlber Alright cool
Wesk is the hero we need but don’t deserve.
I just discovered your guides and I have to say they are some of the best ones out there. You do a great job with these and you've got a new sub because of it!
Awesome job on all these guides! I came back to FFXIV after quitting early in ShB and having the goal to level all the jobs to 90, these guides are super helpful. I even use the Legacy ones for those not updated yet - they are still miles better that anything else I checked so far
THANK YOU FOR THE UPDATED BRD VIDEO! Really helpful video, and with so much explanation for each skill, learned something new again!
and again ty haha you are my go-to guide for all my jobs after taking a long time out of ff14
This might've changed since the video released, but you can use Barrage when already under the effect of Hawk's eye and you won't be wasting it. It basically gives you 2 stacking buffs so you can do 2 refulgent arrows in a row. I make sure to use Barrage as early as possible just to get the cooldown going.
Wow I don't know how but this is exactly what I needed, I just finished watching the [legacy] guide to get what information I could and then a day later you release the EW version. This is omega brain playz.
I am always here for an Emperor's New Groove reference!
I started leveling Bard again and 7 levels in I found out that Repertoire doesn’t trigger on DoT ticks anymore, which I find kinda funny. Thanks for the quality guide as always!
Wow, the usage of the songs changed more than I noticed. (Or I've played it wrong all along? Wherever I looked for guidance Army's Paeon was treated as the "useless" song that has to be cut short and is basically just there to close the gap until Wanderer's Minuet is up again, which always was treated as the most important one, even in mobs, which didn't made sense to me.) I've been a bard for quite some time and was confused about the EW update. Because the longer I looked at the skills the more changes I found, not only in the skills but also how they interact with each other. The biggest question I had was about how to handle AOEs, now where I don't need to put dots on all enemies (or at least some) to get Repertoire. I mean, in later dungeons it is still a good idea, but especially on low to mid-level duties it felt like a waste of DPS to not just spam the AOEs, considering that the enemies die so quickly. It felt like being one of these players who outright ignore their AOEs and target every single mob enemy in a Shadowbringers dungeon. xD So thanks for giving me some guidance in this. :)
I hope you don't take offense to this, but you have the perfect, stereotypical "nerd" voice and it legit really helps me follow guides. Alot of guide makers have such a monotonous voice/don't sound like they care about the game, whilst your the complete opposite and it keeps me watching😅
I have been practicing my Christopher Walkens impression. You have it naturally bro. Thanks for vid bruh.
Not gonna lie, the only reason I leveled up Bard was to unlock Performance Mode when the electric guitar got added. Now I spend most of my time trying to play Speed Of Light by Joe Satriani, or Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love by Van Halen.
Thanks for the video! I've recently been leveling bard and got the Empereal Arrow and was wondering where to use it! You're right in that so far I'm enjoying the job more now that I have the HW skills, feels better to me. Though I think part of it is that I was a lala which to me didn't make sense using a long bow with tiny arms and now I'm a hrogthar with arms that are more archer-able. Anyways, thank you so much for these amazing guides!
Well... thanks to you I'm trying and max leveling all classes.
Funny job bard, but a low levels is too boring, just like dragoon, but it gets better as level up.
It reminds me a lot the hunting horn from monster hunter, i really love it there in any moment a healer that really put a lot of buffs, and Astro isn't enough.
love play bow in monster hunter rise(only one I try bow), but I Don't Want to Be a bard.
Is NO ONE GOING TO TALK ABOUT HOW THAT MINION FAINTED ON QUEUE????
Thank you for this guide! I'm just about to start HW as bard and this will definitely help me going forward in fights. I was never sure when to use the songs and esp didn't even realize (guess I forgot after I first read the description) battle voice can only be used during songs. Lol thanks again!!
The description is saying you no longer need to wait for songs for BV. You will anyway cuz openers. Those are the same I think
@@WeskAlber oh LMAO shows how much I pay attention!! I'm still getting used to knowing what all to look at during battles this being my first mmo I am ~overwhelmed~. I usually pop battle voice like 5 sec before a song ends anyways. Keeping a rotation has definitely been the most challenging for me. But again thank you for this guide it helps a lot to see the rotation in use.
@@sailor_anna9924 Yeah get used to using things sooner rather than later. Stacking offensives is multiplicative, so song + BV is way stronger than either alone
@@WeskAlber ok I'll work on that. I think it's cause I had read or watched another bard guide and they were talking about doing that. It might have been outdated lol. Thanks
Another fantastic informative video, as usual. Thanks a lot.
Just macro bloodletter to a second heavy shot button (before) it so once it comes it automatically fires it while spamming your main attack (keep a normal heavy shot button so you can do a rotation without having blood letter interrupt your burst
I’m enjoying bard. Glad it has only 1 major proc that isn’t on the gauge
just as i started to level an archer... love you wesk
Just gonna applaud your reference to the poison. The poison for Kuzco. The poison chosen especially to kill Kuzco. Kuzco's poison.
The best XIV job guides by far. Thanks for these
“Level 20: Peloton. The exercise bike wishes it were this.” 😂
When ARR was new I tied FFXIV on a free trial with a Bard. I got so lost and confused (and then tricked by some higher level people) that I ended up who knows where and the MOBs were way to high for me. I gave up on the game before my 2 week trial was over. When I came back to the game 3 years ago I couldn't remember where my original character was. So I made a new one (Summoner which later became a BLM).
I recently found my original Bard and want to start leveling her. This guide will be priceless as I remember nothing at all about playing her.
Everyone talks about the songs and the DPS output, but I do want to shine some light on the other support util for Bard - I ran Ktisis Hyperboreia the other day, and there was a Sage in my party that just kept dying first during boss battles, and also was out of MP most of the time while pulling trash mobs. I've never used my utility more than in that one dungeon - Arm's Length to help slow the mobs' attack while the Sage tried to recover MP (not a Bard exclusive, but still handy regardless), Nature's Minne on the Tank when he got low to boost his self-healing, and Troubadour during trash mobs as well as tankbusters. We ended up clearing the final boss as a duo after the other DPS died, and it was really rewarding that the utility was able to give us enough to survive. Most of the time, it might not seem like much, but Bard's support util is actually pretty good in a pinch. I feel like the only thing that would make it better is a battle res- giving us the ability to res would make us invaluable.
Awesome just got Bard to 80 & still a little rusty cause I stopped playing Bard during Shadowbringers cause of how “clunky” the Dots to proc repertoires thing felt
I wish Mage’s Ballad had an indicator that Bloodletter is being reduced. The other songs do for their effects.
It does. The song gauge pulses. Not great but it's there
I’m surprised they didn’t add in an audio cue after all this time.
Came here because I didn't understand the Iron Jaws tooltip. Glad to see it's the most replayed section on this video.
I absolutely love your pronounciation of "yard" , but don't let this get to you. This is one of, if not *the* most professional job-guide series, *imo* . Execution- and teaching-wise.
Thank you for your efforts.
Edit: OH, I meant "yalm" , I keep hearing and seeing it ingame, but I somehow alway confuse it with "yard". My bad! 😅
That being said, still love the pronounciation!
I'm not saying yard, I'm saying yalm.
But thank you, I put a lot of work into these!
@@WeskAlber My bad! I meant "yalm" despite my error. I keep confusing them two despite seeing/hearing them ingame!
@@Kaninjäveln Yeah it's the in-world version of yard, but I try to be on-theme where I can!
Just do what I do and measure things in Lalafells.
Thank you for this!!
Maybe they could make sidewinder work so that when you use sidewinder, and if both of your dots are on the target, sidewinder gets 2 bonus potency buffs, a basic 150 potency, and then bonus potency of 50 - 250 based on how long the effects have been active ( 6s = 50, 15s = 100, 24s = 150, 33s = 200 and after you've had to use iron jaws at least once, and they've been active for 45s, you get +250 potency from sidewinder on top of the bonus 150 for having both buffs. rewards you for keeping them up, and using sidewinder.
Go check how Sidewinder was in ShB. It was stronger after DoTs were applied, but not based on time.
Great job yet again!
If you use Face Enemy when attack ,options and you should be if you play a lot of ranged classes
When you use quick Knock you will always fire your cone at the enemy due to auto facing , meaning you can run circles around enemies , solo and spam QN and it will always aim at them (your target) , or in a dungeon run around a trash pack to avoid damage whilst spamming QN
This, or just use legacy controls which is way easier
@@brandonforrester7342 I use legacy controls and face enemy
Bard has so much to manage… It’s overwhelming at times
Thanks for this clip. I gave me exactly the information I was looking for. I think I'm gonna play a black / white mage if it's all the same to you guys though. :-)
Once again, thanks for these WeskAlber. Have a quick question for anyone. Is it standard practice for you guys to cut off the bloodletter animation by doing an immediate Heavy Shot or Straight Shot (when available). It seems to work.... :D Or is that considered an exploit?
You are not supposed to worry about animations. Animation lock isn't a thing except for very specific skills. Animation cancelling is less a matter of anim cancels, and more just "hitting the next button when you're meant to be allowed to." What matters is the GCD spinning, which you should be keeping spinning non-stop
@@WeskAlber Much appreciated. I remember at LOTRO, some people used to get all bent out of shape if you cut animations short. Thanks for the insight.
I was surprised to see how long the “line” aoe of Apex Arrow went when I first used it.
Thank you for these guide very useful
I just started playing ffxiv and after a lot of consideration and research chose to play bard, because I've always mained healer in other games and when seeing how healers work I figured I'd just go with a class that is actually classified as support dps. I was so disappointed with the bard soul quest that I'm now considering starting over with something else, it was so underwhelming. I don't want spoilers, but does it get more interesting later? Also, thank you for making these amazing guides, I've watched all of them, even the previous iterations just to get a basic idea of jobs that aren't updated for endwalker yet.
I have been waiting for this
Mate, are you reading my mind? I just got bard to 70 and was struggling a little looking for up-to-date resources lmao
Damn, from video about DPS class I've learned that debuffs with white bar on top I can despell with Esuna as a healer :D
Ty for the guide. It’s always a good refresher when I’m trying to get better at my main. Lately Ive been doing extremes, which often requires a lot of movement. I’ve been running and shooting off my blast arrow when the gauge gets to the correct point. So, I’m just wondering, when I shoot Blast Arrow while running, I’m often not facing the boss, though the boss is targeted. Does it still hit, or is the arrow being wasted? I should go test this out on a training dummy sometime I guess… (when I get a chance, RL has been busy and I’m often fatigued) But if you happen to know, would appreciate any tips.
It's physically impossible to aim attacks away from an enemy. It doesn't even let you use the attack without facing them.
These guides are a godsend
Hey Wesk, do you not pre-record the intro sequence? I don't think there's much of a difference in the script of you reminding us about sprint and limit break.
I have been doing it fresh every video
Hello, so i wanted to ask what is the order you are posting this in? Cause i really want to get back into Astro after the changes.
Also i always use your videos for each job cause yoda best.
out now
@@WeskAlber thank you very much
Thanks
(since youtube won't let me edit the message, I'll leave a personal one here) Your videos have seriously helped me with learning each class. The first one I ever watched from you was 1-80 ShB Bard guide and it really helped me fall in love with the class! (hence why I chose this video to tip ya for :])
You seriously deserve more for what you're doing for the community, these videos are incredibly informative and especially helpful for the more overwhelming classes which start with more moves.
Even with classes I already felt I've gotten a hang of and understand, coming back for refreshers or watching your videos on classes I play but haven't seen your guides on helped me understand them better than I had been along with the tips for openers.
Thank you so much and keep up the good work!
looking at your 90 starter makes mine look like an absolute headache. the starter i made myself is this with skills in ( ) for the weaves: caustic bite (Army's paeon, raging strikes, battle voice) stormbite (empyreal arrow, bloodletter, sidewinder) burst shot (bloodletter x2) burst shot (barrage) refulgent arrow. i never looked at radiant finale in my opener because i never looked at it's cooldown like that regardless of the fact i see it off cooldown every time i go for 3rd coda cast but i at the very least start weaving it somewhere in my own opener as my muscle memory is too far gone without super retraining
You should never triple weave on any job and Army's is your worst song by far
Just a heads up, you no longer have to be singing in order to use battle voice.
Yes, it says that. I wrote that.
Is there a 70 and 80 opener? Trying to get ready to hit Stormblood on my new alt.
I never even noticed that they changed sidewinder until I watched this. Why did they change it?? that feels so weird since BRD’s play style revolves around it’s dots
thank you for those guides
Only if the votes are in its favor
Holy shit that thumbnail is amazing
Thank you, this is very helpful. But I don’t quite understand why the rotations start with heavy shot (I‘m at the level 50 rotation now). Wouldn‘t it be best to apply the DoTs as soon as possible, replacing the first two heavy shots?
This leads me to an unrelated question regarding bigger groups of enemies: I usually try to put the two DoTs on all enemies first (weaving Rain of Death in between, when available). But with many enemies this takes a long time, to the point that I wonder whether it‘s worth it over the many uses of Quick Nock I could have used instead. Is it wrong to do that?
Considering you DoTs are weaker on like 5 targets only, yes. You should be AoEing. You dot on the move like I describe not when enemies are in place
Do you think that they should remove "shadow bite ready" and make "straight shot ready" work on both abilities?
So correct me if my math is wrong, since I haven't played Bard yet and this is all just reactionary calculations, but after watching this, Blast Arrow seems to be a loss over Apex Arrow on 3+ targets. Assuming Apex hits with the highest available potency (375 at 75 Soul Gauge), then in boss fights, BA is obviously better, same with 2 targets (750 Apex Arrow vs 600+240=840 Blast Arrow), but with 3 targets, AA hits for 3x375=1125, while BA does 600+480=1080. And with every additional target, AA gains 375 potency, while BA only 240, so the damage gap only grows in favor of AA with more enemies. Kind of a weird interaction.
Very wrong. Apex Arrow combos into Blast Arrow. You can't use one or the other. You use both.
@@WeskAlber oh ok nvm then, I thought that AA changes into BA simply when SG is at 80 or higher, didn't notice it changes upon EXECUTION at that SG level
@@kubasliwa204 Yup! It's a both, not one or the other.
That's a pretty long opener, especially when you have to juggle other songs, prioritising the right skills to use, etc.
Maybe Bard wasn't the right choice for my first job all those years ago ^^
You only have one song at a time. This is actually a smaller opener, the issue is as you said, making sure you pitch perfect
Do we have PLD coming any time soon? Also this is amazing I'm almost to 90 on PLD and BRD is my next job I'm taking up!
Patrons voted BRD > AST > PLD > RDM
@@WeskAlber Thanks for the reply! I'll be looking forward to it!
Im a little confused on the level 60 opener. On the screen it looks like I'd have a guaranteed straight-shot (after) the first sidewinder on top right 25:57 when you show the potential change in the opener. Is that straight-shot meant to be ignored?
That Straight Shot is guaranteed because of Barrage. If you aren't using Barrage there, it's because you have Straight Shot Ready already, meaning you still have Straight Shot
@@WeskAlber I understand why it’s there, but assuming I already have straight-shot, is this my combo? Straight shot - sidewinder - barrage - straight shot - bloodletter, and so on?
@@freakstar1867 No no, you don't Sidewinder + Barrage, it's OR
Heavy Shot (because Straight shot isn't guaranteed) > Do you have Straight shot Ready? If no, Do Barrage. If yes, Do Sidewinder. > Straight Shot > If did not Barrage, do now.
The STraight Shot is ONLY Straight Shot, because it's guaranteed whether or not you get the proc. If you get the proc, you just use it. If you don't get the proc, you Barrage
@@WeskAlber I understand. But let’s say the very first heavy shot procs straight shot. Do I heavy shot - battlevoice - straight shot - sidewinder - heavy shot - barrage - straight shot - blood letter?
The first heavy shot has nothing to do with anything. It's only what haappens in that one specific spot. You never waste a proc
So starting from level 52, do we use The Wanderer's Minuet before Mage's Ballad in the level 50 opener? Or keep it as is?
I do say that yes
@@WeskAlberoh you definitely did. Sorry about that. Thank you for the reply, though.
Yes!!!! The Bard Guide Yes!!!
Ps: Love your videos
Quick nock to be used on two mobs already - I’m not sure he mentioned this?
If Raging Strikes buffs all dots, why did you start level 60 rotation with Windbite, leaving this dot out of the buff?
Iron Jaws
Question: why is Sidewinder pushed one GCD back? Even at 90, there's room to fit it sooner, potentially double weaving with Barrage.
Sorry if you mentioned it at any point
I do not recall, but it is still the recommended opener even up to now. Likely due to the randomness aspect and to not bait you into using Barrage when you already have a proc
I know this is old but I believe it's for Pitch Perfect procs.
Sorry if I missed it but when you get 3 stacks of pitch perfect should you use barrage on that or refulgent arrow still?
You can't Barrage an Ability
@@WeskAlber OK thank you 👍
I've got 900 hours in the game and I never knew about the white line on debuffs
Me coming back to FF14 after a year: "Give dem WeskAlber videos"
I'm currently at I wanna say 52 bard, but currently doing the Crystal Tower and Doma Refugee quests that are before Heavensward. All this time I had been waiting to use battle voice until Army's Paeon got all four stacks. My logic being that with Army's Paeon at its max power and giving me faster attacks, that I'd get more value out of the increased direct hit buff. But I just wanna make sure, you're saying I should instead use it with Mage's Ballad and at the very beginning of fights?
Buffing your party is more important than anything. Plus later you're using it in your best phase anyway
@@WeskAlber Okay, thank you!
wondering, is there any real reason to single weave ogcd's apart from 3 to 4 stacks of army's Paeon because you would clip sometimes? I usually double weave any I have in order of priority but I noticed in your opener who slow it down and single weave. Just wondering to get better
Super high ping or your gear sucks and gives a billion SS
Also putting space just in case PP happens
Now can say I am the very model of a bard Eorzean.
From bard to bongo cat
I’m new to mmos and I’m currently an archer . Can someone explain what a dot is? I keep hearing that term in the video but idk what it is
I explained it in the video. Damage over Time. Timer / 3 * potency