Bard tactics vs caster mobs?

[Niis]

What do people find to be the most effective vs caster mobs in solo or group? Resist songs worth keeping up? I normally just chaining mez to interrupt which seems bad (for having to drop 2 other songs). Solo I usually end up having to mez/heal if there is no room to fear kite or charm.

[SirAlvarex]

I've only tried to solo light blue casters without fear, but for that I just use my resist songs. Their spells will almost never land.

You might want to just do chain mezing, since it interrupts spell casting. Most spells seem to take longer than 3 seconds to cast, so you might be able to lock casters down.

Charm is...risky. I haven't used it solo in dungeons since you'll get beat on by two mobs at once typically. If you are able to do it reliably, then that sounds like a great option!

Something I've never tried before is Mezing + Mana Drain. Since mana drain does no damage, maybe it doesn't break mez? If so, that might end up working if the mob doesn't have uber mana pool.

[falkun]

There's a lot of additional things to keep in mind for handling casters, both solo and in group:

Solo:
Am I in a dungeon? (Can I fear safely without getting adds?)
Is this mob a shaman, cleric, or wizard? (Am I worried about heals, debuffs, or just straight nukes?)
Can I charm him, sic him on a 2nd, and have him burn his mana on the add?

Group:
Are other classes responsible for interrupt so I can focus on other songs? (Can the tank, wizard, cleric, or possibly monk interrupt?)
Do I have aggro concerns chain mezzing the mob?
Is this mob a SHM/CLR/WIZ?


Basically, if I can fear safely, I do, if not I chain mez and eat the melees. In groups, if the tank sucks at bashing/stunning/interrupting, I'll try to interrupt myself; you should be able to get a feel for how well your other group members can interrupt after 1 or 2 wizard mobs. If they can't do their role, then you must, but be sure to give them criticism so they can learn to improve: warriors and knights should be saving bash/slam for casts and if a paladin doesn't have every stun he knows loaded while tanking, he's playing his class wrong while monks should be saving their big push moves (their special kicks and such) for casts for the chance that it'll be enough push to interrupt.

Mob type definitely plays a factor in my chain mezzing philosophy:
For wizards I'll try to chain stun 100-0%, while for shaman and clerics I usually only worry about the heals, so I'll start chain mezzing around 40% until they die.