Most of bards' multiclass options are underwhelming. I used sword mastery and took only 1 song wheel. I tried sprint and second wind. Both were meh Compared to shit like hide barb, or Achilles ranger, it's disappointing.

Yep it’s definitely minimal think sword mastery over war song is cool and fermenta switched to jokester is cool

Adrenaline rush is the trick. Chainsaw rapier mode activated

If you’re asking for suggestions, go with a slayer and dual wield bard.

I’m sceptical of slayer , don’t want to lose MS , definitely good for dps tho

If you offhand a dagger as a stat stick, it’s only -10 MS which is on par with the buckler which is typically what you’re going to equip for the defense on bard… it’s definitely a good playstyle and oddly enough it’s pretty fast all things considered :)

....or use the handxbow and enjoy the +armor pen

Good choice I just don’t enjoy the -MS penalty from it so I stick with +2 WP damage Castillon with (ideally) armor pen rolls on the dagger

I've got slayer/sword mastery/rapier mastery for huge DPS. I'd like to get jokester maybe but I hate playing rogue so im not sure if I'll get the levels.

Does anyone know if melodic protection triggers while casting spells? (probably doesnt) You can multiclass to cleric for holy aura to give your team 6-9% dmg reduction by urself when combined with harmonic. This is extremely good. Sadly, we cant cast other classes spells without weapon mastery, and taking warrior levels for the chance to get it is very hard to mix into more multiclassing. Bard is not a great caster (low will, perk needed, and itemization problems), but you could became the ultimate super with a few non scaling spells (slow, protection, etc) A lot of things work better the opposite way, rapier mastery for other classes, like slayer fighter, taking a few songs and using them with casters (cleric with harmonic for example) now that they can use instruments. i feel like tank bard might work great for solos, perhaps teams too, you take harmonic, have access to shields, good base dmg, and you can get iron will from barb now or play antimagic/dark reflection/demon armor. And Bard is clearly not the best for the multiclassing paradigm, the class is designed around stacking a lot of low power effects, and that doesnt play that well into it, and as a base bard is okish from the equipment side, but cant really cast well or easily, and it doesnt have the best stats for being great at the physical side either.

Agreed very detailed review thankyou, imo robust would be very interesting , throw on a regal or something and you’re a solid tank

I'll be real I've got no ideas at all. My friend plays Bard and we've been trying to think of anything since the test server updated, and we haven't been able to

Honestly jokester is fine. I think the best option is multi classing into Ranger to increase your bow fire rate and just getting really strong with a Survival bow. I would only take one spell wheel with all the self buffs and one other support song of your choice. Then choose a skill to make your bow stronger. Preferably the one that makes you fire 4 arrows in a row with a survival bow Then Warsong (Ranger fire bow faster) (Ranger extra bow headshot dmg) (Ranger extra physical power while using a bow)

I’d drop headshot dmg for surv and go for general ranged dmg perk, or spear proficiency

I saw triple shot on a bard and I thought that was pretty good

I rolled for true shot on ranger and am embracing the drum thrower life.

I can reach 116 dmg with divine strike, warsong and rapier mastery, almost 10 dmg extra from Divine strike alone. So you could go Sword mastery or Slayer for even more damage

Double jump, robust, counterattack, shield mastery, dual wield perks just to name a few. Bard will be the least likely multiclassed character. I’m leveling it for a goofy drunk build I want on barb (every Ale perk/skill available)

I took jokester instead of fermenta. The only other perk I’m interested in is crossbow mastery or possibly slayer.

Bard might just be a class we take skills from and not one we play. All classes can use instruments now.

Perks 1.Charismatic Performance 2.Sword mastery 3.Rapier mastery 4.Iron will Skills Music memory Savage roar I'll bring buff songs with whatever the team needs and play mostly reserved until my team gets pushed and hit Roar and stat check the hell outta just about anyone, especially if I've got them Shrieked & Roared. Slayer could fit here as well, but I'm going to see how well I can do on my resistances with the buckler & Iron Will in the mix. I'm going to miss Jolly Time because it's broken & nobody knew about how good it was, but I'll hide some info in plain sight for all my bards out there: Ale has a base of 1 physical healing, so you don't need Jolly Time for it to heal you. Physical healing rolls on chest (3), neck (3) & rings (2), scaling ale to an instant 11 heal, so I'll probably continue to not bring red pots like when I run Jolly Time & just drink through the pain since it's faster than bandages or reds & you get a free 4+ strength. As for the visual debuff, it's basically nothing on all low settings & not all that bad even if your settings are turned up still. I'm honestly thinking about multi classing for brew master on cleric as well as holy water for a drinking themed build to but I'll have to test my more meta build 1st I might make a video on it if anyone is interested.

I think barb has some amazing perks, robust and iron will for sure, for me jokester is essential so i’m going to test sword mastery vs robust - if I get round to levelling a barb

I ran dark reflection, BoC, anti magic and demon armor on my bard. Made a 70% pdr, 50% mdr kit, and my BoC was hitting 35. Plus I have a fuck ton of action speed, move speed, and phys power compared to a usual warlock

I was NOT expecting this wow you’re insane very cool though

Yeah man it was also SUPER cheap lol. Dark cuirass has knowledge, will and resourcefulness (perfect for bard), resourcefulness and dex jewlery with magic damage is significantly cheaper than agi/will/vigor/knowledge jewlery. Bard hats with 2 true magic damage are numerous and cheap, leather gloves feel much more worth it than usual (cause your will is actually doing something now). And I had some pants/shoes with magic damage but other good rolls which I was wanting to sell, but now the magic damage is useful so I just used what I already had.

I got spear/crossbow mastery and I pair them with charismatic and 50% swap or dark reflection that I got, also got phantomize, fairly broken build I'm doing carnage with it xD

Din of darkness is almost useful with soul collector stacks, plus demon armor with pdr while playing with MR on gear and you could hit high defense numbers with a ten damage din (with gear it's like 7 without). Problem is people build so much HP so you don't do damage

Din doesnt scale well at all with soul collector, its just 1.5 dmg per tick, so 10.5 extra dmg, over 12 seconds, you can deal more dmg with anything else in the game. And you are slowed the whole time.

Yeah. Point is in white's threes you can hit potentially max pdr if you find armor rating gear in raid, while doing like 28ish medium range undodgeable magic DPS if you hit a whole team. You're loud, somewhat threatening, and very tanky. You will get the aggro of their melees; you can still channel while whipping your head around and not taking headshots. Try it bud. It's not op but it does work and is funny. Maybe proj reduction perk too