anyone have a recent Bard/cleric guide! I really need one.

hardbread · Post by **hardbread** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 12:45 pm

hi guys. im a lvl 10 bard and im not really sure how to make a bard/cleric.. hope you guys can show me a guide! thank !

phulshof · Post by **phulshof** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 12:57 pm

I still don't feel qualified to actually write a guide, but perhaps i can answer some questions. What would you like to know?

hardbread · Post by **hardbread** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 12:59 pm

Well, erm. Like what skills am i suppose to add for bard? and how would i make a cleric out of it as well. i don't want it to be messy.
do i max my bard skills first then add cleric skills?

phulshof · Post by **phulshof** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 1:08 pm

It depends a bit:
- If you just want to play bard for now, with a few clerical spells.
- If you want to play bard or cleric depending on the party need.
- Will you be grinding by yourself or in a party?

In principle, all bard/cleric spells are quite useful. With the cleric spells you could make a few choices in the healing and res department (they get a ton of those to choose from), especially when it comes to healing non-party (you are always in your own party) members.

Damage wise, the two classes are not that different, so depending on what good weapon you get your hands on you could grind as bard or cleric when you're by yourself. At low level however, you don't have a lot of healing over time spells as a cleric yet, so you'll either be switching back and forth a lot with your weapon, or you stick to cleric attack spells.

Once you hit level 40 however, recovery division will be your main source of HP recovery. If things really get dangerous, I personally run more often than that I go for personal healing spells or healing cycle. Since recovery division lasts 5 minutes, you can safely grind as a bard. The noise spell is your main source of character protection, making sure that you only fight 1 mob at a time unless you want otherwise.

Hmm, give me a sense of how you want to play your character, and perhaps I can be a tad more specific.

hardbread · Post by **hardbread** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 1:12 pm

Ahh that helps alot.
Well, i'll be grinding with a friend.. He's a wizard. And if im not with him i'd look for parties.. erm, anything else you needa know?

phulshof · Post by **phulshof** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 1:20 pm

Well, check the spells for which ones REQUIRE (rather than USE) the weapon of the class. Those are generally the skills that will stay when you switch weapon.

When you're playing as bard, activate holy word and recovery division (when you get it) as a cleric, and bless if you want 45 seconds of relative safety), and activate moving march, noise, and whatever tambour is appropriate for the mob you're fighting (physical or magical). Then use horror cord to deal the first hit. Depending on how much HP that takes, and how many mobs are around you, you can continue with:
- booming cord, deals massive damage all around you, and damage gets distributed, so only use it if you're standing by yourself and the mob that just ran towards you
- tuning noise, for relatively low damage that gives you MP
- normal attack (quite powerful still at lower levels); I currently have auto attack set to my middle mouse button
Every now and then you can activate mana cycle on yourself to regain MP for 16 seconds.

When there's a group of mobs, cast temptation on one of them, and watch them starting to fight among each other (works best with mobs that do splash damage; you can get a whole group fighting that way). While they do that, you use the previously mentioned method to kill some other mobs, and when temptation is done you have either already received the xp for the mobs they killed, or you can give the last few hits to the mobs that were fighting each other.

Bard damage spells are not incredibly powerful, but they are cast quickly, and have a small cool-down time. You can usually cast them relatively quickly (compared to a nuker for instance) in succession.

hardbread · Post by **hardbread** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 1:26 pm

ohoh! OK i understand i understand.. One more thing. There are so many of the skills to learn. Should i sp farm first then add them all up together?

phulshof · Post by **phulshof** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 1:37 pm

The idea behind SP farming is nice, but it only works well if you can afford a good weapon (SoX preferably) or if you have a friend who can power level SP farm you. Personally I just take all the skills I want, and don't increase my class level until I have done so. This means my gap varies depending on my SP need. Currently it's 2, but yesterday it was still 4 since I didn't have all my level 40 skills yet. Now I won't raise my classes again until I've bought all level 42 skills (there are no level 41 skills). At some levels there's a lot of skills to buy, so your gap will increase; at others there's only a few or even none, so your gap will stay the same or decrease. Also: consider using a skill gold ticket; it helps a lot.

For a bard/cleric, SP farming is probably easier at higher levels, when everyone wants you in a party anyway. The healing/protection/buff spells don't increase that much with a few levels, and within a party you're not the one taking the damage anyway. On the other hand: a bard/cleric will be very popular with parties. I'm quite often invited by people 10-15 levels above my own.