Looking for make and OP Elven Bard! Resources/advice welcome

[Catts]

Been playing this game nearly 3 months now and I really like the idea of a bard, but I know nothing about them. From listening in on lnet I gather "pure" can be pretty outstanding, but you have to wait till level 50ish to reap the rewards. I'm mostly interested in that, and being an Elf so I can join the Legion.

If anyone's familiar with a pure build like that I'd be gracious. Also, I dont even really understand what pure means...so in the meantime I'll do some looking on kraki, however if you have any hidden gems like websites or good threads on the topic I'd be obliged

I'm basically looking to get a set build as far as training and stats for this type of bard.

[Vossin'87]

Pure to me just means all you use are spells to hunt with. In this case you're wanting focused 1030. You're better off using a weapon until at least 40 trains and using a fix skill after that point at the earliest. If you can't find a build of one just pm me later and I'll show you how I've trained mine

[Gilralyn]

In terms of starting stats (after 30 days), I'd recommend:

STAT@ 0 100 (BON)
STR 62 100 (25)
CON 82 100 (25)
DEX 49 100 (30)
AGL 68 100 (40)
DIS 88 100 (10)
AUR 49 100 (30)
LOG 88 100 (25)
INT 68 90 (20)
WIS 73 100 (25)
INF 33 100 (35)


That yields 100 in each stat except for INT (90) at level 100.

Training:
1x Physical Fitness
1x Armor Use
2x Polearm Weapons
1x Combat Maneuvers
1x Spell Research (I went to 1007, then 425)
1x Harness Power
0.5x Climbing
0.5x Swimming
0.5x Perception
1x Lores

As Training Points allow:
Dodge
Mental Mana Control

It is hard to go wrong with a bard. This is just one option of many, and I'm sure there are many other opinions out there.

You may find that after 40 levels of playing a polearm bard that you don't want to switch to pure. That's what happened with me on my bard.

[Catts]

Ahh thank you, I need to take a look at the bard spell circle some more...I know someone told me start of with claidmore during 30 days. I like the idea of a polearm for a while.

That definitely gives me somthing solid to start with though.

[Androidpk]

I like the name of this thread.

[Catts]

WTF damn I must've been tired haha...I'm kinda glad you can't change that.

WANT FOR MAKE BIG BARD FOR GREAT SUCCESS TY

[Tgo01]

I think pure bards are awesome. Mine is only level 55 but has been a pure bard since after his first 30 days. Yeah you'll mostly have to under hunt until you get higher levels but it's fun. Just remember to start off with 1002 on critters that hold a weapon or shield, that spell alone often times crit kills something on the first hit. And only two mana. Win freaking win baby!

[Androidpk]

Yeah, I've heard that 1002 has a pretty high kill rate.

[Manamethis]

Do you advise going up the 1000's or 400's first?

425, then 1007?
or 1050 then 425

[Catts]

I think pure bards are awesome. Mine is only level 55 but has been a pure bard since after his first 30 days. Yeah you'll mostly have to under hunt until you get higher levels but it's fun. Just remember to start off with 1002 on critters that hold a weapon or shield, that spell alone often times crit kills something on the first hit. And only two mana. Win freaking win baby!

that sounds very winning I am liking it...so first 30 days I guess i could max like...stength, aura, dex, logc? I've no idea what's important to a bard but aura seems to go up fast, logic for exp.

I didn't realize bards had no dodge tho...where do they get their defense..just holding a bigass sword?

[Catts]

amg first page hijack...but I suppose thats good to know

[Androidpk]

I maxed my physical stats + logic for the first 30 days and used a claidhmore until I hit 15, then switched to TWC. I used this web site to plan my stats for cap.

http://home.mchsi.com/~cphillips73/StatCruncher/GS4/StatMaximizer/StatMaximizer.html

[Tgo01]

Pretty sure I did 1008 then 430 then after that everything into the bard circle. It's kind of slow going using stunning shout but it worked.

[Gilralyn]

You get dodge from song of mirrors, but it is nice to train in Dodge as well if you have enough points.

On my bard, I over trained in spells so I could have 1007 and still get 425 at level 25. Worked well for my polearm build. If I switch to pure, it'll be around level 60 or so.

[Jace Solo]

That's when I'm planning. 60 ish. Current training:

(at level 39), your current skill bonuses and ranks (including all modifiers) are:
Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Armor Use....................| 130 35
Combat Maneuvers.........| 138 39
Polearm Weapons...........| 182 82
Physical Fitness..............| 138 39
Dodging........................| 105 25
Harness Power...............| 138 39
Mental Mana Control........| 90 20
Mental Lore - Telepathy...| 105 25
Perception.....................| 138 39
Climbing.......................| 54 11

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

Spell Lists
Bard...............................| 20

GoS if that matters to you.

[Ricer]

I switched at 58 - The past 22 trains have been a breeze.
Probably going to skip training songs for a few to get PF closer to 2x.

Armor Use..........................| 160 60
Shield Use.........................| 264 164
Brawling...........................| 182 82
Physical Fitness...................| 220 120
Arcane Symbols.....................| 40 8
Harness Power......................| 180 80
Mental Mana Control................| 120 30
Mental Lore - Manipulation.........| 175 75
Perception.........................| 96 22
Climbing...........................| 120 30
Swimming...........................| 140 40

Spell Lists
Minor Elemental....................| 45

Spell Lists
Bard...............................| 91

[Catts]

alright so 1008 then bard spells for life, high logic/phys stats for first 30 days, claid till 15 then a lance I guess? And I think the first reply he showed stats set for cap so that works.

now I just need an instrument and 60 levels

[Ricer]

I'd suggest having 1012 after your 30 are up to be able to do undead bounties, unless you have someone who can bless for you. If you have read the posts from previous years you should know that Bards can train any number of ways and succeed.

[Catts]

I'd suggest having 1012 after your 30 are up to be able to do undead bounties, unless you have someone who can bless for you. If you have read the posts from previous years you should know that Bards can train any number of ways and succeed.

One of the problems I ran into with my ranger was reading old posts actually...seems like a lot had changed and it was hard to tell what was outdated and what held true. I think my interest is primarily in this pure build as an elven.

As for that spell, might be a good idea actually since he won't be voln and my ranger runs into problems getting arrows blessed

[Whirlin]

I recommend training up to 1020 before swapping over to MnE... but that depends on what armor you have at your disposal to wear instead of relying on Sonic armor.

I would typically hunt with 1003, 1006, 1007, 1010, 1014, and 1019 up...

I typically followed:
1x PF
2x Polearm
1x Dodge
1x CM
@ Level for HP
1x Spells.

Then, with the additional points, I (in order)
Got 25 ranks of Telepathy
Got 60 ranks in Armor Use (since you can only 1x in lores, you start this pretty early)
Overtrained Spells til I hit 1020/430 (this was about level 42ish?)
Got 11 ranks of MIU
Trained up 10 ranks of EMC, MMC
10 ranks of Climbing/Swimming...

Once you finish off that list above, you're probably high enough to swap to pure!

[Catts]

Ahh you know bards too eh!? That's good stuff there thank you sir...never even heard of sonic armor but I know I can afford some 4X armor I guess to get started

[Tenzle]

Something big that I haven't seen mentioned here -- you want to make sure your adept in an instrument by the time you are going to go pure. An adept bard playing a 2h instrument gets 60 phantom ranks of lore when singing 1030 -- meaning you really only need 15 ranks of Manip so you can foucs the song and still get the max damage bonus. I found that at 30 with 15 ranks of manip lore I was able to get 1030 425 1.5x brawl and ~60 ranks of armor use. With sign of wracking it was a breeze to fry at 30 just using a 2h instrument, and 1030. Your DS is a little bit low, but honestly fighting +/- 5 levels I crit kill so often that I rarely if ever got hit.

[Catts]

Something big that I haven't seen mentioned here -- you want to make sure your adept in an instrument by the time you are going to go pure.

Thanks for the info on that. I forgot about instruments. Might just buy one of the ones in Illistim

also here's what I threw together for level 0 stats. Going to do the THW claid build for now. (Also GoS just because I haven't tried it. CoL is pretty strong but so boring)



Strength (STR): 100
Constitution (CON): 20
Dexterity (DEX): 90
Agility (AGI): 90
Discipline (DIS): 55
Aura (AUR): 70
Logic (LOG): 90
Intuition (INT): 60
Wisdom (WIS): 20
Influence (INF): 65
I actually wasn't sure which stat should be highest. It's a shame they make you remake your char at the inn, because with the website character creater I was able to start two stats at 100 on my ranger
nevermind figured out how