Best solo melee class?

[DeathsSilkyMist]

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

I appreciate demonstrating the fact that it is kind of viable but you're still spending like 150k to turn a class into something it is not really when you could spend a fraction of that and level 10x faster. Or put that money on a class that does the same thing but better.

Even untwinked I think a melee Bard would do suprisingly well compared to an untwinked Monk levels 1-45. I'll probably do a writeup in the evening.

Originally Posted by kjs86z2 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

now do it for charm killing

I don't think anybody was suggesting Bard melee is more efficient than the other options Bards have. Bard melee simply isn't as bad as people think when comparing to other melee classes who don't have charming/swarm kiting as options.

[Crede]

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

Even untwinked I think a melee Bard would do suprisingly well compared to an untwinked Monk levels 1-45. I'll probably do a writeup in the evening

Yea bards are probably the best dungeon crawlers until 51. With moderate twinkage I was doing stuff and killing at a rate that even an enc couldn’t keep up with. This did involve mixing in charm but still crazy good. Even though their aoe mez is one tick it’s really effective still into the mid 40s. Fantastic class that unfortunately ends up swarming as their stuff just doesn’t scale as well 51+. I will say though if I had epic at 46 I would have liked to try more things as melee + chant dots is a ton of dps.

[bcbrown]

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

Overall bards are the casterest of the hybrids and probably not what someone asking for a melee alt is looking for. I agree with Vexenu that they melee better than people give them credit for, that their solo melee is overshadowed by pbaoe/charm if you're willing to take advantage those, and that a duo/trio with another twink melee can be surprisingly solid.

I have a 57 bard twink I have been slowly leveling. I haven't tried much toe-to-toe, but I have mixed in some attempts at fear+melee (although I have primarily leveled with charm or pbaoe). l was able to clear bloodgills while they were still blue using just fear+melee. I have drums of the beast and lute of the howler, though. Harder to justify melee without those: lute illusion gives 40% haste without costing a song and prime hand drum lets you drum dot while meleeing, so you snare/fear/3xdrum. A similarly geared monk can clear it too, I've heard.

Agree with this and what the other bards are saying. A venomous axe lets you rip through the teens and 20s, especially since bards tend to have good dex. At higher levels melee is still possible, especially since you can always mez and regen halfway through a fight, but it really did fall off hard as a viable playstyle in the 30s and 40s as charm comes online and mobs get tougher. I would mildly disagree at calling drum-dotting with Drums of the Beast with an offhand weapon "meleeing" though. That's just adding a little dps to the drum-dots.

In the context of OP's question, in addition to being the "casterest of the hybrids", the other thing about bards I'd note is that they thrive in random ad-hoc duos and trios. So if you're intent on only soloing you'll skip one of the most fun aspects of playing a bard, but on the other hand if you're up for grabbing a random duo with whomever else is soloing nearby, it might be a factor in favor of choosing a bard. But if you're looking for pure hack-and-slash all the way to 60, probably not the best option.

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

Yea bards are probably the best dungeon crawlers until 51. With moderate twinkage I was doing stuff and killing at a rate that even an enc couldn’t keep up with. This did involve mixing in charm but still crazy good. Even though their aoe mez is one tick it’s really effective still into the mid 40s. Fantastic class that unfortunately ends up swarming as their stuff just doesn’t scale as well 51+. I will say though if I had epic at 46 I would have liked to try more things as melee + chant dots is a ton of dps.

Yeah one thing bard is great at is zero-downtime fighting, especially with charming or a duo. But the aoe mez has been nerfed to not land on anything above level 25.

[Vivitron]

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

I would mildly disagree at calling drum-dotting with Drums of the Beast with an offhand weapon "meleeing" though. That's just adding a little dps to the drum-dots.

You melee prime hand too, just pop the drum in as the dot lands. Probably a bit under half the dps comes from melee.

[bcbrown]

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

You melee prime hand too, just pop the drum in as the dot lands. Probably a bit under half the dps comes from melee.

Oh yeah that makes sense. I'm jealous of your instruments, still a ways away from getting them.

[Duik]

Now i see why bard epic is useful as a melee bard. Not so much for the ratio and the white damage but the instrument mod.
What a newb i am.

[Snaggles]

Originally Posted by kjs86z2 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

melee with a bard pre epic is doing it wrong

Soloing? Yea probably.

In a group? Most your normal spells aren’t even modded. Slow has the same effect, mana too, snare hardly affected, dots don’t matter, charm and mez nobody is cycling in a flute. The ones that matter like regen and McVaxious there are better primary instruments to cycle.

The real question is can the bard melee and actually play songs efficiently. Most can. With a lot of CC needed most likely can’t and should step back and tab-target instead of swinging steel.

It’s like most classes, if they are meeting the Bell Curve let them do their thing. If the pre-epic bard isn’t twisting songs to do SK pet dps…ugh.

[kjs86z2]

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

Soloing? Yea probably.

In a group? Most your normal spells aren’t even modded. Slow has the same effect, mana too, snare hardly affected, dots don’t matter, charm and mez nobody is cycling in a flute. The ones that matter like regen and McVaxious there are better primary instruments to cycle.

The real question is can the bard melee and actually play songs efficiently. Most can. With a lot of CC needed most likely can’t and should step back and tab-target instead of swinging steel.

It’s like most classes, if they are meeting the Bell Curve let them do their thing. If the pre-epic bard isn’t twisting songs to do SK pet dps…ugh.

eh was more thinking you should be pulling (either with eye helm or getting your ass out there)

if you're letting any other class pull you're bad - the monk is doing way more damage and no other class can cast and move at the same time...oh and eye helm too is pure amazeballs for keeping your twist going in camp

there should always be a steady stream of mobs coming into camp, throttled by group dps / capability

obvious caveat being you're breaking some super dangerous spot where you need FD...but for standard leveling groups this doesnt apply ever...especially once you get aoe snare

if you happen to be the virtuoso sperg that can do it all perfectly and melee - bravo...the mage sitting there sending his pet in while watching netflix thanks you for all that extra work

[zelld52]

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

Even untwinked I think a melee Bard would do suprisingly well compared to an untwinked Monk levels 1-45. I'll probably do a writeup in the evening.



I don't think anybody was suggesting Bard melee is more efficient than the other options Bards have. Bard melee simply isn't as bad as people think when comparing to other melee classes who don't have charming/swarm kiting as options.

bard doesnt get double attack, dont get any special attacks, and cant use any 2h weapons. they simply, mathematically, cannot be on par with the other melee classes.

[zelld52]

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

Yea bards are probably the best dungeon crawlers until 51. With moderate twinkage I was doing stuff and killing at a rate that even an enc couldn’t keep up with. This did involve mixing in charm but still crazy good. Even though their aoe mez is one tick it’s really effective still into the mid 40s. Fantastic class that unfortunately ends up swarming as their stuff just doesn’t scale as well 51+. I will say though if I had epic at 46 I would have liked to try more things as melee + chant dots is a ton of dps.

if you were doing better than an enchanter at level 51, it was a really bad enchanter.