***PAGE 2 IS PURELY FOR 2.2 CONTENT, and will probably contain OUTDATED info, only use this if you’re new and gearing up for Turn 6-10 onwards***
Don’t be the Monk that “drops his stacks”! Gear and skill are to sides of the same coin! Let our Monk BiS gear guide help you PUNCH STUFF CORRECTLY.
Ah, the mindless facerolling continues in 2.2, huh? Let our Bard BiS gear guide make PEWPEWing easier (if it was even possible!)
Navigation:
[Page 1: 2.2 Gear] [Page 2: Pre-Turn 6 Gear]
BRD BiS & Options | BRD Soldiery Buy Order | BRD Gear Notes
Exact accuracy cap for back/flank isnt 100% known, but 498 seems to be a good number! Besides, making exact isn’t worth it for bards since you’ll be sacrificing a TON of crit if you do!
511 is the max attainable Crit Rate WHILE using the highest ilevel gear. When using Rosenbogen, this number increases to 544.
| BRD | BEST | No T9 Drop | Notable Fillers (NOT A SET) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weapon | High Allagan Bow | Rosenbogen | |
| Off-hand | - | - | - |
| Head | High Allagan Mask of Aiming | High Allagan Mask of Aiming | > Allagan Visor of Aiming |
| Body | Auroral Tabard | Auroral Tabard | == High Allagan Coat of Aiming |
| Hand | High Allagan Gloves of Aiming | High Allagan Gloves of Aiming | > Saurian Gloves of Aiming |
| Waist | Auroral Sash | Auroral Sash | - |
| Legs | High Allagan Breeches of Aiming | High Allagan Breeches of Aiming | > Any i90 (Myth, T5 or Crafted) |
| Boots | Auroral Boots | Auroral Boots | - |
| Neck | High Allagan Choker of Aiming | High Allagan Choker of Aiming | > Ribbon of Aiming |
| Ears | Auroral Earrings | Auroral Earrings | - |
| Wrist | High Allagan Bracelets of Aiming | Auroral Wristlets ** | - |
| Ring | Auroral Ring | Auroral Ring | - |
| Ring | High Allagan Ring of Aiming | High Allagan Ring of Aiming | > Weathered Auroral Ring |
| Food | Apkallu Omelette | Lava Toad Legs | |
| ACC/CRIT | 502/511 | 503/528 |
Set 1 is simple. It’s the best possible Bard set, the only refinements being your preference of DET/SS, but even so that is extremely marginal.
Set 2 is designed as your first goal. It shares all auroral pieces with the first set, and the only extra soldiery purchase you need is Auroral Wristlets.
Bad luck with drops? Need filler gear? Check out the third table above, and the Gear Notes.
2.2 Bard Soldiery Tomes Buy Order
“Does is have crit herp derp”… If you’ve asked yourself “What do BRD’s purchase first with my tomes of Sol?” – Here’s the answer!
- Rosenbogen *only if you’re neat UAT.
- Auroral Tabard (the HA is in T9)
- Auroral Earring is a great piece all around.
- Auroral Ring it’s one of two i110’s!
- Auroral Sash (Only marginally better than HA)
- Auroral Boots (Only marginally better than HA)
- Auroral Wristlets is technically optional but great to have.
After the above the rest is OPTIONAL.
- Auroral Bracers = VERY SUITABLE Substitute for bis.
- Auroral Coif = same as above.
- Auroral Choker is meh. use ribbon!!!!
- Auroral Brais, not just trash, but the definition of it.
2.2 BRD Gear Notes
Bards are quite easy to gear up this time around. Basically your fist goal is to fill up the “No T9 drop” set first. the only piece that will ever be wasted is the AURORAL WRIST.
Basically the only difference between set 1 and 2 is :
- -High Allagan Bow, +Rosenbogen.
- -High Allagan Bracelet of Aiming, +Auroral Wristband.
- -Apkallu Omelette, +Lava Toad Legs.
Bad luck with Coil drops?
- i90 Myth Head as a sub to High Allagan Head.
- Saurian Gloves of aiming (See melding below)
- Legs? Any i90 (T5, Myth, or Cashmere) are viable.
- Neck? Ribbon of aiming is legit. Dont waste sol on Auroral Choker.
- Wrist? Buying Auroral wristlet is part of the Rosenbogen BiS!
- Ring? Use Weathered/Unweathered OR…
- …any i90 ring in the meantime
Further note on legs: The T5 legs give huge accuracy and decent crit. It’s a great filler piece to have.
2.2 BRD Crafted Gear Viability
I only placed Crafted Gear as Alternatives to High Allagan (if you’re getting nyerked by RNG coil drops). I find it useless to substitute any Auroral piece with crafted since its only a matter of time until you get them.
Saurian Gloves of Aiming – Cost effective melding:
Heavens Eye IV, Heavens Eye IV, Savage Aim III, Heavens Eye II
The rest aren’t really that good IMO. There are numerous suitable replacements without having to waste a ton of gil.
Navigation:
[Page 1: 2.2 Gear] [Page 2: Pre-Turn 6 Gear]
BRD BiS & Options | BRD Soldiery Buy Order | BRD Gear Notes
Good luck gearing your Bard! This page be updated as more gear will be introduced into the game. Want to add something? Violent Reactions? Comment Below!
=== 3.2 revised BiS ABOVE, comments cleaned up a bit to avoid confusion ===
Is it ok to skip the torrent bow altogether if I have the hyperconductive gandiva? Even the augmented torrent bow doesnt have crit with it.
Hyperconductive Gandiva is indeed a great “filler” by all means use it. I’m pretty sure it can compete.
What do you mean with eso boots being “not too amazing”? Critical – Spell Speed is what you want the most from gear in general. Meanwhile the gordian boots with their Acc – Det are horrible in a set that is already forced to overkill the accuracy cap in order to maximize stats.
Boots are a very solid piece of gear that you should be aiming for just as soon as your accuracy needs allow you.
Btw, as main bard who bought chest before that subpar weapon, I appreciate your guide for it offers way more logic reasonment than the mass of monkeys yelling others to buy weapon first or gtfo and l2p just because they have to try and infect you with their same mind narrowness.
Keep it up!
In comparison to the value gained off shirt, haha. It is great, but the lack of accuracy can be a painful buy for some. Yes I understand your statement, I didnt mean to sound so literal in mine haha.
bard much people preferred to buy craft pieces 220 and meld: BODY everything ,det. PENTAMELD;… HEAD,.. CRIT E ACC; AND GLOVES, ALL CRIT, THEN THE RINGS, BRACELETS AND EARRINGS ALL PENTAMELD… AND A DEAL OR A LOSS OF MONEY?
PAGE WAS BUGGY, SHOWING MCH GEAR FOR A DAY OR TWO, SHOULD BE OKAY NOW. ALL COMMENTS BELOW THIS ARE PRE-FIX and PRE 3.0!
So I’d like to say that this information is Machinist Best In Slot gear, not Bard Best In Slot Gear. And although their stat weights are probably the same, their gear stats per piece are not. For example, Machinist Goggles have Dex, Vit, Crit, Skill Speed, however the Aoidos’ Turban has Dex, Vit, Det, and Skill Speed. Which means that the gear and information is not exactly interchangeable. Like the example above, Machinist Goggles are BiS for Machinst, but for Bard the BiS Head piece is the Gordinan Hood of Aiming. I don’t know if this is on accident or you purposefully put Machinist BiS under Bard BiS thinking it would be the same, but just pointing it out even if it’s both. Either way, this information should definitely be under Machinist, not Bard.
Oh whut, that’s kind of buggy! lemme fix this
It should be okay now!
That looks like the right class now! Just a question on top of that, but how come the three new jobs don’t have a drop down under “Jobs”? Would be a lot easier to find their guides.
Yes yes! I want to do this, but i try to backup the site before that. The menu is NOTORIOUSLY BUGGY to update!
Look forward to it! i believe in you and the menu!
For those that can’t afford melding the crafted 4 star gear, there is an alternative way to make your bard viable.
http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/QT6I
Yoichi Bow – 18 ACC – 43 CRIT – 29 DET (Yes, ACC it makes it even more affordable to the average player)
Demon Hat of Aiming
Demon Tabard of Aiming
Augmented Ironworks Vambraces of Aiming
Dreadwyrm Sash of Aiming
Dreadwyrm Breeches of Aiming
Augmented Ironworks Leg Guards of Aiming
Augmented Ironworks Choker of Aiming
Dreadwyrm Earring of Aiming
Dreadwyrm Bracelet of Aiming
Augmented Ironworks Ring of Aiming
Ironworks Ring of Aiming
Flint Caviar (You can even go cheaper and get HQ Deviled Eggs and meet the T13 Cap with a good amount of Crit)
652-DEX/535-540ACC/626-632CRT/326DET
Any input on 2.5 stuff? The bard gear from WoD is pretty good, and I think it could very well be BiS with some tweaking.
Here is my list:
Yoichi Bow (49Crit/35Det)
Augmented Mask
Demon Tabard
Dreadwyrm Bracers
Augmented Belt
Dreadwyrm Breeches
Augmented Leg Guards
Augmented Choker
Dreadwyrm Earring
Dreadwyrm Bracelet
Augmente Ring
Ironworks Ring
Flint Caviar HQ
Giving 651Dex, 539Acc,604Crit, 343Det and no SS.
I am rather curious about this, there are now added Zodiac quests up to i135 with the latest patch too, possible making the Zodiac a real competitor against the Dreadwyrm
I am working through my Zodiac weapon at the moment and just cleared T5. I’ve been told to expect Additional Stats when I get to my Novus. Do you have any suggestions which stats I should use as planning my Yoichi Bow.
“Players can upgrade additional stats such as Piety, Determination, Accuracy, Spell Speed, Skill Speed, Critical Hit Rate and Parry up to a total of 75 points. Accuracy, Spell Speed, Skill Speed, Critical Hit Rate and Parry cap at 44 points each. Piety caps at 33 points and Determination caps at 31 points.”
Short Answer: 44 crit if you have the money. 31 DET.
If I had Yoichi Bow: 44 Crit 22 Accuracy 11 DET
Long answer: http://64.227.107.16/ffxiv-novus-stats-materia-guide/
Why no mention of the Yoichi Bow? The stats on the Magitek bow are so awful that a perfect zodiac is better than the augmented bow.
Yes it goes without saying.. lemme add that. The Magitek bow is to freakin terrible the Zodiac easily trumps it.
Hey I have full 110 set What should I meld on other pieces ? same as the chest/legs or something different?
As a general rule: as much CRIT as you can.. ACC if needed and DET wherever you can fit it. ill add some more ideas
Is there a reason you choose crit/det materia over dex materia when melding?
DEX cannot be melded onto any crafted gear which already has DEX :) Main stats are generally capped by default.
Ran the 2.4 gear through a calculator and the difference between Standard and Practical on Crit is just ridiculous. Hard to believe the sets only have an average ilvl difference of 2 but 85 point (at least) difference on Crit favouring Practical. Granted that’s not counting food but it still hardly seems like a contest. Is it really even worth considering the Standard one just for those extra 2 ilvls?
There are so many factors to consider! To be completely honest if i mained a bard i would never go for the standard… in fact Ironworks Ring + Vit melded Iolite are NEEDED to clear t13 (in any semblance of speed)…
Also, sweating about BiS in this patch is a little low priority since heavensward gear will be level 60 – making our current gear OBSOLETE!
Finally, almost any coil drop you need in the practical list can be replaced easily with kirimu!
Interesting… I’m actually working on the kirimu brais right now. Not exactly a cheap upgrade path and finding a trustworthy and cheaper omnicrafter is a bit of a problem.
I just hope SE thinks about the stats a little more for heavensward. This is 2 major patches with terrible stats on the bard tome pants. If it happens again I either have to give up on bard or spend the rest of my days in the shard mines
Where is the 2.4? Everything else is updated!
posted! sorry for the wait ;_;
Why is this the only article that is not updated :/
Oh man… Im about to post the update to this… but i fear the backlash haha.
Need some poetics buy order for poetics so bad~ please post! :D
Any information on when the update will be posted? :D
posted! sorry had a tough weekend
What the hell is taking so long for this update for Bard I’m sitting on unspent poetics because with all the s.spd I can’t make up my mind what’s worth having?
Posted!! :D
So… where was that update?
posted!
2.4!!! :)
The link at the bottom of the article (‘”[Page 2: Pre-Turn 6 Gear]”) which supposedly points to page 2 actually points to WHM page 2.
/FIXED! Thanks macmog
Would you ever go back to redo the PRE-TURN 6 gearing options?
I find it a very useful gearing guide, but I feel they are heavily out dated. Maybe you have a Gearing for Turn 5 table to help us newbies :)
Honestly gearing for turn 5 should be extremely easy with access to i100 Soldiery gear. If you’re having a hard time with TT i’d recommend to learn the fight (as it was doable with i85 no echo): Twintania Guide
The guide is great, but u can always change it up. For example use Soldiery gear and ST gear prior to your coil drops :D
Weapon: Novus or Rosenbogen
Head: Allagan Visor Of Aiming
Body: Auroral Tabard
Hand: Amon’s Sleeves
Waist: Auroral Sash
Leg: Amon’s Breeches
Boots: Amon’s Boots
Neck: Ribbon of Aiming
Ears: Auroral Earrings
Wrist: Auroral Wristlets
Ring: Auroral Ring
RIng: Myth Ring/Weathred Ring/Ramuh Ring
Food: Lava Toad/HQ Lava
I find these as the BiS prior to your 2nd coil drops, I wouldn’t waste any more solidery gear on brd and spend them on alt classes. Your Acc should sit above 475+ with these items (depending if you put acc onto novus, if u don’t you’ll be looking at 475-478 acc)
I’ve use these as my BiS and cleared up to T8 without accuracy issues, as long as you keep the food. And u won’t need the food in T6 i believe, I haven’t miss in T6 with 476 acc.
Yep! Amons stuff is enough to clear t9 even.
A Crit/DET melded Novus is a significant DPS increase on the Rosenbogen. Why is it not listed? :(
For many, Novus is extremely grindy to get. We could list all novus items, but in the end HA is much better. Rosenbogen can be obtained in a fraction of the time it would take a novus, and HA bow shouldnt be far off
It shouldn’t matter. This is a best in slot guide, not a “Best in slot that’s easy to get” guide, right? The difference between Novus and Rosenbogen based on stats (using the weights given to Ariyala) is as large as the difference between the Novus and the High Allagan Bow. At the very least mentioning it while acknowledging the grind is the correct thing to do, because it is without a doubt the second best bow. (For most classes, it’s the second best weapon.)
notice on the leftmost column, the HA weapon is listed. It is, far and away, the best in slot weapon for BRD. Novus is second, and Rosenbogen is third. The latter two are both fillers, however. Novus is quite obvious, and I guess It should be listed. The LACK of novus, however, still does not detract from the leftmost column being BEST. The other 2 columns are merely easier to obtain fillers and other notable gear.
dude, what they are saying “until you can get this, use this”, you are not going to use novus until you can get HA unless you suck. in that case just forget the BiS guide cuz your not getting t9 drops.
HA bow isn’t better than a correctly melded Nexus anyway and BRD has one T9 drop that’s awful. But hey, congrats on posting on a 3-month old post!
Quite Confused on the Gloves and Boots (Auroral).
Wouldn’t it be a better choice to go with HA, since they offer Determination instead of Skill Speed?
The glove slot is definitely HA, maybe you saw it wrong.
TBH either boot works. HA Boots of aiming would be my choice for Turn 9, Auroral in other instances.
how are hq deviled eggs still not the best food with crit 24 vit 14 and acc 10?
Simply because Apkallu Omelette gives 27 crit, 11 acc and 19 vit, superior to deviled eggs in ALL aspects. (XIVDB cannot link HQ food)
Also deviled eggs max at 22 crit…
http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/M7NF This list could potentially be higher DPS. Either way Lava Toad legs is required for either of these sets to achieve 100% accy on T9.
Only set 2 needs lava toad (rosenbogen). Set 1 Uses Apkallu Omelette.
ACC/CRIT/DET/SS
499/497/333/408 (artemicon)
502/511/305/433 (listed)
The only diff in your set would be to switch the boots, and use buttons. Like we mentioned the slight choice between SS/DET are possible refinements depending on your preference.
Nice work, but I’m wondering why you chose the Auroral Boots over the High Allagan Boots when the latter has more acc, determination instead of skill speed, and drops in T6?
Either can be used and still be BiS in our opinion! Using the boots, there is ZERO combination of items wherein that determination will be worth the extra accuracy! It’s kind of hard to explain… but there is a quote in the guide…
“the only refinements being your preference of DET/SS, but even so that is extremely marginal”
Don’t worry about it! If you get one or the other! With the amount of Base DEX bard have in this patch SS isn’t so bad anyway!
Cool thanks a lot!
2.2 Bard Soldiery Tomes Buy Order–>Update please
updated!