bard charm
 

Can someone explain to me how you charm with a bard. I understand it lasts only 18 seconds (3 ticks).
Do you need to stop the song and start it again?
Does it continually charm the mob 3 ticks at a time?
When it wears off does the previously charmed mob take hits at me and how long is it before I can recharm him?
There will probably be other questions as these get answered. Thank you

- It lasts for a maximum of 3 ticks but can break sooner than that or be resisted altogether.
- No, you cannot charm an already-charmed target to "reset" the timer to 18 seconds again.
- Once the effect wears off the mob will need to be re-charmed. All Bard songs have the same casting time which is how long it will take you to cast charm again.
- Charm is a high-aggro spell and the mob will come immediately after you once it drops. Keep your distance so you have enough time to re-charm before it pummels you.

Can you use Gob Gaz Ring to some benefit here?

Thank you for the answers Sage. It looks like it is a high risk vs reward tactic similar to using a chanter. I may just keep my original plan and go Necro.

Yes. Break charms instantly.

Also resets damage done on mob. If you hit a mob to low hp, charm, use ring, and then another person kills, he or she gets full experience.

Goblin ring is an awesome item to have.

Actually, bard charm (unlike enchanter charm) has the opposite effect. When it wears off, the bard has minimal aggro on the mob (1 aggro point?). The mob will actually attack any nearby sitting players before going for the bard that charmed it, and if anyone hits it, they will easily take aggro from the bard.

You can cast up to 4 or 5 other songs while a mob is charmed, then recast charm.

When charming in open areas in outdoor zones, you can use Selo's Accelerando to speed yourself and maintain plenty of distance so the mobs never hit you. You can then recharm the mob (or charm the other mob instead, if you want). To kill 2 mobs via charming, you might sing the charm song 20+ times, get both mobs low, and finish them off with chants or melee, all without getting hit at all, if you have enough space.

Bard charm really goes for 18-23 seconds (unless it breaks early) as you might land it 1 second after the last server tick. But assume 18 seconds, so at 3.5 seconds per song/ungrey, you've got about 4 songs to squeeze in between charms.

But I rarely use them. I find two mobs, charm one, sic it on the other. I don't want one to do better than the other, so I don't snare/slow, dot, or anything like that. I just let them beat each other up, while I play speed song and stand at max range.

On charm break I charm the other mob (that wasn't my pet) and sic it on my former pet. Because I only had 1 point of aggro they lock up again. Speed song and wait.

Eventually they'll get low enough that one starts fleeing. I'll now snare that one so that on the next charm break they will separate, and both flee now. Chant them down at your leisure.

It's fun, and very effective, but unfortunately bard mana comes back very slowly (1/tic standing, 2/tic sitting) and can't be increased in any way. So once you get out of mana it's back to other forms of soloing.

It's useful to have Target Last Target keybound while charm-kiting. Charm mob, press hotkey to swap to the other mid cast, sic pet. Rinse repeat.

Also note that when charm breaks any damage your pet did to the target is transferred to you. This makes it so you can't do the original "swarm kiting" that was very popular back in the day.

You would social aggro a pile of mobs, charm one and sic it on the rest. Break charm when it's below 10% and chant it down. Basically a kill every 30 seconds or so till you ran out of mana. Back then when charm broke you still had only social aggro so everything would stick on your next pet again. Those were the days.