Bard melee

[Selene]

Lol I had no idea that bards fear kite without melee but use their DoT songs instead. So melee is rarely used if ever it seems.

With regards to charming, with all those charm breaks every 18 seconds, it seems like doing it indoors where there are tight quarters, I'm bound to get hit every time the charm breaks. Outdoors i get that selo's and snare will mitigate that risk but indoors charming seems not so safe.

[Crede]

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

Lol I had no idea that bards fear kite without melee but use their DoT songs instead. So melee is rarely used if ever it seems.

With regards to charming, with all those charm breaks every 18 seconds, it seems like doing it indoors where there are tight quarters, I'm bound to get hit every time the charm breaks. Outdoors i get that selo's and snare will mitigate that risk but indoors charming seems not so safe.

It's very powerful indoors, especially the earlier charm which costs no mana and lasts 4 ticks instead of 3. The latter one costs mana & only lasts 3 ticks so you will go oom fast. For this reason bards make the best dungeon crawlers until lvl 50 or so. Having a fungi helps mitigate some of the damage you take indoors, but if you have the skill they have all the tools needed.

Bard songs per level

You can plug in diff mods and see just how much damage your dots will do with instruments, bard melee can't really touch this until you get epic with an 18 instrument mod which means you can melee and get pretty good dot damage which is why bards really shouldn't bother meleeing after lvl 30 or so until they get epic.

[Vivitron]

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

It's very powerful indoors, especially the earlier charm which costs no mana and lasts 4 ticks instead of 3. The latter one costs mana & only lasts 3 ticks so you will go oom fast. For this reason bards make the best dungeon crawlers until lvl 50 or so.

I found the key to indoor charming without a fungi was finding camps that were on the low end of the dark blue range. This was mostly to prevent resists: if I had a some charm resists indoors I would get shredded fast. I wouldn't put bard as the best solo dungeon crawlers (enchanter untwinked, maybe monk twinked both seem impressive sub 50), but there were a few spots where I could kill low blues very efficiently.

[Toxigen]

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

Lol I had no idea that bards fear kite without melee but use their DoT songs instead. So melee is rarely used if ever it seems.

With regards to charming, with all those charm breaks every 18 seconds, it seems like doing it indoors where there are tight quarters, I'm bound to get hit every time the charm breaks. Outdoors i get that selo's and snare will mitigate that risk but indoors charming seems not so safe.

Taking a hit here and there is fine, you have hymn of resto. Its going to happen.

The trick is having that sense of when your charm is going to expire (this comes with practice). You're a bard, you can move while casting. Just start pre-casting the charm while gaining a little distance...ideally your charm spell lands right after the charm breaks.

When I was learning, I would tend to cast my re-charm a bit too early (playing safe). No worries, you just stop your cast and start casting again...the charm IS going to break.

Doing it well in high ZEM dungeons is more about situational and spatial awareness. You can circle strafe in tight spots, avoid getting hit too much, and not aggro more. Obviously its easier to get a handle on this outdoors because it leaves you with ye olde selo's escape plan.

Once you dial it in...it just becomes second nature. People that crutch on GINA for it are shitters.

edit: I forgot to include why its important to charm the mob thats been drum DoT'd. Charm is an aggro wipe. If you re-charm the same mob there's a good chance that one you've been DoTing will stay on you. If you ping pong your charms between two mobs, you're constantly wiping the aggro and the new re-charm will pick up the now-free mob instantly.

Sugz does some pretty insane stuff on his bard:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1155754690
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1232511853