UAC Bard Build

[Fortybox]

So, having great success on my soon to be capped bard. Leveled him up completely on this build so would just throw out that a bard UAC build is extremely viable and a lot of fun.

Wanted to get advice on best way to spend remaining TPs:

Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Two Weapon Combat..................| 5 1
Armor Use..........................| 160 60
Combat Maneuvers...................| 198 98
Brawling...........................| 296 196
Ambush.............................| 108 26
Multi Opponent Combat..............| 198 98
Physical Fitness...................| 198 98
Dodging............................| 198 98
Harness Power......................| 198 98
Elemental Lore - Air...............| 175 75
Mental Lore - Telepathy............| 120 30
Perception.........................| 198 98
Climbing...........................| 150 50
Swimming...........................| 170 70

Spell Lists
Minor Elemental....................| 30

Spell Lists
Bard...............................| 68
Training Points: 564 Phy 76 Mnt
(Use SKILLS BASE to display unmodified ranks and goals)

[Maerit]

Tertiary skills are useful. MIU/AS - EMC also. Then there's the survival/FA option to start skinning as well. Can also boost your Telepathy ranks to improve the duration of Tonis and other spell songs.

Out of curiosity, what is your weapon configuration? I've been toying with using a sonic weapon + KO Flaring gloves with ensorcell, and was considering adding in an esorcelled sprite flaring cestus.

[Fortybox]

Tertiary skills are useful. MIU/AS - EMC also. Then there's the survival/FA option to start skinning as well. Can also boost your Telepathy ranks to improve the duration of Tonis and other spell songs.

Out of curiosity, what is your weapon configuration? I've been toying with using a sonic weapon + KO Flaring gloves with ensorcell, and was considering adding in an esorcelled sprite flaring cestus.

Thanks. I kind of wonder if working towards manipulation ranks would also help so that I could use 1030.

I have 14 point, exceptionally padded augmented chain and use the 6x drama gloves/boots (ensorcelled) from Duskruin. I use a sonic cestus (flares work very well with the build) because I hate Simu and their stupid disarm mechanic. I'd eventually like to get better upgraded gloves/boots 8x+, permablessed, KO flares...whatever would be a good build basically.

Nelemar is pretty easy and I can hunt there self-spelled:

You concentrate intently, focusing all your energies.
You explode into a fury of strikes and ripostes, moving with a singular purpose and will!
You attempt to jab a siren!
You have decent positioning against a siren.
UAF: 587 vs UDF: 470 = 1.248 * MM: 95 + d100: 18 = 136
... and hit for 5 points of damage!
Fancy twisting jab to side confuses foe!
Strike leaves foe vulnerable to a followup grapple attack!
You attempt to grapple a siren!
You have good positioning against a siren.
UAF: 587 vs UDF: 470 = 1.248 * MM: 95 + d100: 72 = 190
... and hit for 43 points of damage!
Strong grasp to right hand! Wrist stretches like taffy!
The siren starts to favor her wounded arm!
You attempt to punch a siren!
You have good positioning against a siren.
UAF: 587 vs UDF: 464 = 1.265 * MM: 100 + d100: 59 = 185
... and hit for 47 points of damage!
Quick chop crushes several fingers into uselessness!
You attempt to punch a siren!
You have good positioning against a siren.
UAF: 587 vs UDF: 462 = 1.270 * MM: 105 + d100: 36 = 169
... and hit for 51 points of damage!
Fast, painful strike to lower back.

** With a loud snap, a blast of energy bursts from your sonic cestus! **
... 40 points of damage!
Hard blow to neck loosens head on shoulders.
Quite fatal!
The siren gives a plaintive wail before she slumps to her side and dies.
The brilliant luminescence fades from around a siren.

Your series of strikes and ripostes leaves you winded and out of position.
Roundtime: 6 sec.
Roundtime changed to 3 seconds.

[Tumbadoo]

tonis and UAC for the win.

[Taluric]

1030 will be underwhelming at 1x songs unless you invest very, very heavily in the lore. But I am speaking from a pure bard standpoint which relies almost solely on that spell song.

[nocturnix]

Could be a good postcap goal, you will need 75 manip ranks and 121 bard ranks to max 1030. I’m a pure bard and would consider brawling as a postcap goal when I get there someday.


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[Zarston]

There are a couple of quick, cheap goals you can hit right at cap that would give you some immediate, comfortable benefits. I would go mental mana control to 30 to increase the effectiveness of 1040 on yourself as well as allow you to use charged crystal/blue wands as mana batteries. Then I would pick up 25 ranks of earth lore so that you can have the Elemental Guard Parry effect.

After that it sounds like you want to take a dip into the pure path. If I were you, I would barrel down the spell rank training to increase CS and just use a mastered two handed instrument for increased 1030 DF now rather than picking up manipulation lore. You already have the brawling/defensive skills to keep you up while you're strumming your mandolin. The spell route I would suggest for you is a rush to Minor Elemental 75 for maxed out AS/DS/CS from Barrier/Targetting, then the rest in Bard. This route should compliment your main fighting style the best while you're pumping up your CS.

[Dantx]

My bard is 93, atm. He hunts Nelemar now also, (did bowels before Nelemar).

This is his build, for comparison. He's not pure UAC, but more of a hybrid pure, although he used UAC exclusively until about level 85.


Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Two Weapon Combat..................| 5 1
Armor Use..........................| 160 60
Combat Maneuvers...................| 160 60
Brawling...........................| 290 190
Multi Opponent Combat..............| 130 35
Physical Fitness...................| 195 95
Dodging............................| 195 95
Harness Power......................| 193 93
Elemental Mana Control.............| 50 10
Elemental Lore - Air...............| 175 75
Mental Lore - Manipulation.........| 170 70
Mental Lore - Telepathy............| 105 25
Survival...........................| 195 95
Perception.........................| 120 30
Climbing...........................| 140 40
Swimming...........................| 170 70
First Aid..........................| 195 95
Trading............................| 140 40
Spell Lists
Minor Elemental....................| 47
Spell Lists
Bard...............................| 50

I agree, UAC bards are a completely viable build and can succeed at any level.

Gear is:

6x HCP, SWDP aug chain
4x T2 parasite gloves, T1 ensorcell
5x T1 parasite boots, T1 ensorcell

[Fortybox]

My bard is 93, atm. He hunts Nelemar now also, (did bowels before Nelemar).

This is his build, for comparison. He's not pure UAC, but more of a hybrid pure, although he used UAC exclusively until about level 85.


Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Two Weapon Combat..................| 5 1
Armor Use..........................| 160 60
Combat Maneuvers...................| 160 60
Brawling...........................| 290 190
Multi Opponent Combat..............| 130 35
Physical Fitness...................| 195 95
Dodging............................| 195 95
Harness Power......................| 193 93
Elemental Mana Control.............| 50 10
Elemental Lore - Air...............| 175 75
Mental Lore - Manipulation.........| 170 70
Mental Lore - Telepathy............| 105 25
Survival...........................| 195 95
Perception.........................| 120 30
Climbing...........................| 140 40
Swimming...........................| 170 70
First Aid..........................| 195 95
Trading............................| 140 40
Spell Lists
Minor Elemental....................| 47
Spell Lists
Bard...............................| 50

I agree, UAC bards are a completely viable build and can succeed at any level.

Gear is:

6x HCP, SWDP aug chain
4x T2 parasite gloves, T1 ensorcell
5x T1 parasite boots, T1 ensorcell

I said screw it and went pure. Huge difference.

UAC is kewl and all but pure bard melt fayce is just downright faster, easier and safer. They really need to nerf it.

[Greng]

What does your training look like now that you're pure - also, when is a good level to think about swapping to pure?

[Fortybox]

Here's current training:

(at level 100), your current skill bonuses and ranks (including all modifiers) are:
Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Armor Use..........................| 160 60
Shield Use.........................| 302 202
Brawling...........................| 302 202
Physical Fitness...................| 201 101
Dodging............................| 201 101
Harness Power......................| 201 101
Mental Mana Control................| 105 25
Elemental Lore - Air...............| 175 75
Mental Lore - Manipulation.........| 175 75
Mental Lore - Telepathy............| 108 26
Perception.........................| 201 101
Climbing...........................| 150 50
Swimming...........................| 170 70

Spell Lists
Minor Elemental....................| 30

Spell Lists
Bard...............................| 100
Training Points: 28 Phy 0 Mnt (978 Phy converted to Mnt)

I converted to pure at like 94. Knowing how crazy it is, I probably would have done it around 75-80 or right around the bowels hunting levels. The crazy part is I'm not even 2x spells and can hunt Nelemar with ease.

[nocturnix]

I went pure at 40 and never looked back.


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[Orthin]

I went pure at 40 and never looked back.


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Do you remember your build when you went pure at 40. I am closing in on that threshold and might be tempted to give it a shot. Currently UAC and just rolling through ish so may be foolish to swap but have always had my eyes on the pure life.

[Delarock]

Does it matter what hand the cestus is in, in terms of flares?

Parasite gloves/boots work well with UAC? I was under the impression that flaring weapons reduced the flare rate of the sonic weapon.

Does ensorcell affect that? Do flaring boots affect the flare rates of sonic weapons?

[Maerit]

I can't remember, but if you don't have anything in your MH, and you OH the cestus it will impede you. While if you have UCS weapons in both hands, the sonic weapon makes you immune to disarm. From my experience, it is much better to MH the sonic weapon than OH the weapon due to all the sonic specific benefits. I am also not sure you can attack undead (permabless) with the sonic weapon in the OH unless your gloves/MH weapon are blessed.

The flare rate is going to halve for all items that have CAT B flares regardless of what hand you wield the weapon. If you're using Jab/Punch/Grapple, then the flare rate is static per attack, and it would be irrelevant which hand you hold weapons on for flare rates. The end result is the same chance to flare. Script flares, like parasite, shouldn't interfere with sonic flare rates. However, blessing your gloves will halve your sonic flare rate as that constitutes as a CAT B conflict. After testing and doing log analysis, I can say that KO flares on gloves did not change the flare rate of my sonic cestus, nor was the KO flare reduced, while having disintegrate flares on my gloves definitely reduced the rate of flares for the cestus.

[Delarock]

Thanks, that makes sense.

What about boots?

[Maerit]

Boots don't impact your rate of flares or any factor from your non-kick attacks. Holding a weapon will still reduce your MM with kicks though. If you can build a "stow/sheath" cestus into your combat routine whenever you kick, then you might benefit from the weapon being put away. While you'll hit harder in those moments, you will be wasting some time that is noticeable when you have 1s RTs.

[wetsand]

Here's another take on the UAC/hybrid pure build:

Bardito (at level 35), your current skill bonuses and ranks (including all modifiers) are:
Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Two Weapon Combat..................| 78 17
Armor Use..........................| 120 30
Brawling...........................| 174 74
Multi Opponent Combat..............| 120 30
Physical Fitness...................| 130 35
Dodging............................| 130 35
Harness Power......................| 130 35
Elemental Lore - Air...............| 5 1
Perception.........................| 130 35
Climbing...........................| 120 30
Swimming...........................| 105 25

Spell Lists
Minor Elemental....................| 25

Spell Lists
Bard...............................| 29
Training Points: 16 Phy 0 Mnt (352 Phy converted to Mnt)

He will have Tonis by level 40, and will continue to 1x bard spells. At some point down the line I will grab 430 but his self spelled DS is decent and small statues really help. Currently trained for brig but wearing doubles. I will train up to aug chain when the doubles(or brig)start to hinder him.

Gear is 6x doubles and +28 SWCW gloves/boots with some ensorcelling. Sonic cestus in main hand. When using a sonic cestus, do I still get the crit weighting from the gloves?

I have some realm flaring boots to swap in when I'm forced to hunt living creatures but I was wondering if OTS(or maybe T1) parasite boots would be better? I'd love some KO flaring gear but I doubt I will ever be able to afford some.

[Maerit]

T1 parasite UAC gear is like 15k BS, so not exactly on the cheap side, and only 4x OTS. On the upside, they can be enchanted (though it is really hard) and ensorcelled (also really hard) - but overall that's an expensive project. At T1, they're going to continue to inflict HP damage to your character, and the flares will be normal flare rate. On the upside, you can still bless them!

Realm flares are nice to some extent. 5x OTS, and can be ensorcelled, but that's where they stop. Much cheaper to buy, but you will be stuck with 5x because enchanting is blocked.

Because bards naturally have to get 75 ranks in Air Lore for their tonis to be -2s RT (1s for all attacks), eblade is also a great option for your gloves/boots. You can get 2x gloves/boots, and eblade them to have 6x void flaring gloves/boots. Then just use your sonic cestus vs everything, and you'll have 2x permabless vs undead, 6x air / sonic flares vs living, and you'll get the DS bonus of having 6x gloves for parry DS. That is the cheapest route, though you do halve the flare rate of the sonic cestus by using 411.

[Izzy]

T1 parasite UAC gear is like 15k BS, so not exactly on the cheap side, and only 4x OTS. On the upside, they can be enchanted (though it is really hard) and ensorcelled (also really hard) - but overall that's an expensive project. At T1, they're going to continue to inflict HP damage to your character, and the flares will be normal flare rate. On the upside, you can still bless them!

Realm flares are nice to some extent. 5x OTS, and can be ensorcelled, but that's where they stop. Much cheaper to buy, but you will be stuck with 5x because enchanting is blocked.

Because bards naturally have to get 75 ranks in Air Lore for their tonis to be -2s RT (1s for all attacks), eblade is also a great option for your gloves/boots. You can get 2x gloves/boots, and eblade them to have 6x void flaring gloves/boots. Then just use your sonic cestus vs everything, and you'll have 2x permabless vs undead, 6x air / sonic flares vs living, and you'll get the DS bonus of having 6x gloves for parry DS. That is the cheapest route, though you do halve the flare rate of the sonic cestus by using 411.

I'm reasonably certain that realm flares can be enchanted under the new system. I was under the same impression as you, but someone provided evidence to the contrary. Unfortunately I don't have the specifics, but I believe they're off the no-enchant list (contrary to the wiki article)

[Donquix]

They can be enchanted, but last i checked the penalty was stupidly higher than it should be and the script difficulty review should be done ANY DAY NOW. only like a year or whatever since release. RSN.

https://discordapp.com/channels/226045346399256576/532373273816858636/582205659219492865

Most of the penalties are the same between 735 and 925. Realm flares are another script that is too high.

[Maerit]

They can be enchanted, but last i checked the penalty was stupidly higher than it should be and the script difficulty review should be done ANY DAY NOW. only like a year or whatever since release. RSN.

https://discordapp.com/channels/226045346399256576/532373273816858636/582205659219492865

That statement from Estild is 100% incorrect. I have ensorcelled Realm flaring gloves/boots very easily with my capped sorcerer. The read on them from a wizard is impossible.