Bard Group: When to hangup the sword and pick up the lute?

[RDawg816]

Originally Posted by mefdinkins [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I think lute is worth it for the HP alone but still, I thought lute didn't impact mana regen?

It doesn't impact mana. You do 1 cantana and 2-3 pulses of straight mana.

[Troxx]

Lute amplifies the 12hp regen component of cantana (55) and Nivs 5hp component (forget the level). These stack and with maestro lute gives you over 40/tick.

The 12 mana regen component is not modified but does "stack" with the flat 7 mana per 3 sec cast of the mana pulse song. You can technically get 4 pulses to land between refresh of cantana giving you 36 (12x3) + 28 (7x4) for 64 mana per 18 seconds.

Cantana with lute and 4x pulse gives 21 mana and 29hp per tic averaged
Cantana and Nivs with lute and 3x pulse gives >40hp and 19 mana per tic averaged

Gypsy lute still lets you put out ~36hp and 25hp per tick

As it relates to this conversation - the healing potential of a bard alone demonstrates the potency of using your instruments more often. With breath of harmony click you can still keep up 17 a tic (both songs without mod) - so depending on your level and gear weapons use is still reasonable, just don't trick yourself into thinking you're putting out good damage. I've parsed myself many times and even at 60 it's not pretty.

Epic changes everything. 1.8 song mod while meleeing is fantastic and the proc haste for group is amazing.

For the lower level bards - don't be quick to adopt the lower level cantana too quickly. Level 6 hymn of restoration scales up a bit higher than even the 55 cantana. From levels 6 through 50 I'd argue that in all but a very few cases bards with one song and a 100p lute outheal every other class. We have no burst healing but I know I've almost put more than a few healers to sleep even in my 50s in KC because they didn't have to cast a heal in over a half hour. At best you can heal for the group exclusively, at worst you save your healer (especially useful for Druids healing) a ton of mana - more mana than you would have given them with lower level cantana.

Cantana of Soothing caps at 4hp/tic. It does give 5 mana a tic but if healer mana is what you're most worried about you would likely save them mana (a lot) in the long run by using hymn of restoration.

Sorry for any autocorrect spelling issues - on phone right now.

[Dreenk317]

Troxx is right. You can save your healers a lot of mana if all you do is twist regen songs. But you can also save them a lot of mana AND deal some damage if you use your weapons and know what songs to play.
Lvl 55 cantana does not require an instrument. You have AC, agility, and strength buff songs, as well as haste, slow, and snare, and resists. All these things will equal people doing more damage, taking less damage, and saving your healer mana also. While being a lot more fun.
This does not mean there aren't times when you should just twist regen though.

[Troxx]

Did anyone say you should just twist regen?

Bard melee dps is bad. The original question was when to consider dropping weapons. It depends on the group, the content, and the bottlenecks you're facing but the real answer is anywhere between level 6 and 60.

If the group would benefit more from your songs being amplified than your crappy melee dps - use instruments.

If your group is facerolling at full mana and health 24/7 ... feel free to add crappy dps.

If you have your epic, it doesn't matter.