Bard DPS Rotation, Openers, and Abilities — Endwalker 6.4
On this page, you will learn how to optimise your opener and rotation in both single-target and multi-target situations. We also cover the use of your cooldowns, to ensure you can achieve the best use of them every time as a Bard DPS in Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker (Patch 6.4).
Opener
The opener is designed to align your buffs with the rest of the party while maximizing those buffs yourself. It sets up for clean two-minute burst sequences later on as well.
Grade 6 Tincture of Dexterity (fight-dependent) at 2s left on countdown
Stormbite →
The Wanderer's Minuet →
Raging Strikes
Caustic Bite →
Empyreal Arrow →
Bloodletter
Burst Shot or
Refulgent Arrow →
Radiant Finale →
Battle Voice
Burst Shot or
Refulgent Arrow →
Barrage and/or
Sidewinder
Burst Shot or
Refulgent Arrow →
Barrage or
Sidewinder (if not used yet)
Burst Shot or
Refulgent Arrow
Burst Shot or
Refulgent Arrow
Burst Shot or
Refulgent Arrow →
Empyreal Arrow
Iron Jaws →
Pitch Perfect
Use Bloodletter and
Pitch Perfect as able
throughout. For Pitch Perfect, use it at three stacks, or at two stacks
if Empyreal Arrow is coming soon.
" Barrage and/or
Sidewinder" is there because
you might have a Straighter Shot proc already. If so, you do not want to use
Barrage until after spending that proc on a
Refulgent Arrow. You
could also have a
Pitch Perfect to use there too, so you may not
be able to use both Barrage and Sidewinder even if there is no proc. Prioritize
Barrage in that case.
Make sure to spend any Pitch Perfect stacks you have after the
Iron Jaws. All the buffs that are about to run out there make it
well worth even a single stack usage.
Use Grade 6 Tincture of Dexterity before the opener in most cases. In
fights where you can use them on bursts at 2:00 and 6:30 or 2:00 and 8:00,
without losing a potential usage, do that instead.
Song Cycle
Song ticks (proc chances) happen based on the song timer - at 42s, 39s, 36s, and so on. You can not get a proc in the last three seconds. You want to use your songs in this pattern:
The Wanderer's Minuet for 42s (leave at 3s or less on the timer*)
Mage's Ballad for 33s (leave at 12s or less on the timer)
Army's Paeon for 42s (leave at 3s or less on the timer**)
*Use any remaining Pitch Perfect stacks before leaving.
**Use The Wanderer's Minuet as late in the oGCD window as you
can, so that
Enhanced Army's Paeon covers five GCDs.
Although Mage's Ballad is a tiny bit weaker than a fully
stacked
Army's Paeon, it is better to use it as the middle song
for a host of reasons. These include the timing of Mage's slightly better party
buff, Army's warmup period,
Enhanced Army's Paeon and other things.
Single-Target Rotation
Bard's rotation is very simple outside of the two-minute burst sequence and its setup. The general between-burst skill usage is covered here first.
GCD Priorities
Here is your general GCD priorities (in all songs):
Stormbite →
Caustic Bite - if DoTs are not applied
Iron Jaws - if DoTs are about to run out
Apex Arrow →
Blast Arrow - at specific times*
Refulgent Arrow - if available
Burst Shot
*For Apex and Blast Arrow, you want to use them during your burst window. To
ensure that you have enough gauge to do this, only use them once between bursts.
Use them either when your gauge fills during Mage's Ballad or before the
timer on that song hits 18 (so long as the gauge is at least 80). You will
sometimes fill the gauge during
Army's Paeon - do not use it. Wait
for your burst.
oGCD Priorities
Your handling of oGCDs will vary based on which song you are in.
In Wanderer's Minuet
Outside of the burst sequence:
Pitch Perfect - at three stacks
Pitch Perfect - at two stacks, if you are about to
Empyreal Arrow at the same time as a song tick
Empyreal Arrow
Bloodletter
In Mage's Ballad
Bloodletter - if at three charges (try to avoid this)
Empyreal Arrow
Sidewinder
Bloodletter
In Army's Paeon
Empyreal Arrow
Bloodletter - do not use if the song timer is 30 or less
Burst Sequence
Every two minutes, you will be able to stack Raging Strikes,
Radiant Finale, and
Battle Voice, alongside other
buffs from your party. You want to land as much damage as you can while you
have this large total damage increase.
To start, you ideally want to lead in with this sequence as you get to the
end of Army's Paeon:
Burst Shot or
Refulgent Arrow →
Grade 6 Tincture of Dexterity (if available)
Burst Shot or
Refulgent Arrow → wait →
The Wanderer's Minuet (as late as you can)
Burst Shot or
Refulgent Arrow →
Raging Strikes →
Empyreal Arrow
Burst Shot or
Refulgent Arrow → use
Bloodletter if at three charges
Burst Shot or
Refulgent Arrow →
Radiant Finale →
Battle Voice
After that, there is no set order - that will depend on your Soul Gauge and your procs. But the six GCDs you use under the 15 seconds of buffs should be:
Apex Arrow
Blast Arrow
- A
Barrage'd
Refulgent Arrow
Iron Jaws
- 2x
Burst Shot or
Refulgent Arrow
Then for your oGCDs, you should have:
Sidewinder
Barrage
Empyreal Arrow
- 3x
Bloodletter
- Any three-stack
Pitch Perfects you get
- A two-stack
Pitch Perfect (if needed to protect the
Empyreal Arrow proc)
- Use any
Pitch Perfect stacks you have after the sixth GCD
If you keep Empyreal Arrow on cooldown, save up
Bloodletters during
Army's Paeon, and use
Apex Arrow as described earlier, this should all come together
nicely every two minutes.
AoE Rotation
In dungeons, it is fine to use your songs in the same order. Use buffs on
The Wanderer's Minuet to have strong output in two songs for trash
packs (not just
Mage's Ballad). You can use your usual rotation on
bosses this way too, though you will need to start in whatever song you happen
to be in.
Against two or more enemies, instead of Burst Shot and
Refulgent Arrow, you want to use
Ladonsbite and
Shadowbite. Also, use
Rain of Death instead of
Bloodletter.
You can use Apex Arrow and
Blast Arrow on mob
packs at any gauge from 80 to 100. There is not a large gap in efficiency. This
may put them at odd times on bosses, but hitting multiple targets is well
worth it. This is true for raid bosses, too - working your Apex usage around
chances to hit two or more targets is usually a gain.
Make sure you still use your single-target oGCDs in AoE, since they are free
value. Sidewinder,
Empyreal Arrow, and
Pitch Perfect should all be used.
Ideally, use these on the enemy with the most HP. If you put that damage on
enemies that are already going to die first, the damage is effectively wasted.
Blast Arrow puts its 600-potency hit on the targeted mob, too.
Make it a goal to get the whole pack to die around the same time.
However, you need to be careful about Shadowbite, since it
has a smaller five-yalm radius around the targeted enemy. When that procs, you
may need to swap to a target near the middle of the pack to hit everything with
it. Then, get back to your priority target(s) afterwards.
Changelog
- 25 May 2023: Updated for Patch 6.4
- 10 Jan. 2023: Updated for Patch 6.3
- 20 Sep. 2022: Updated as of Patch 6.2
- 20 Apr. 2022: Updated for Patch 6.1
- 09 Feb. 2022: Guide added.
Guides from Other Classes
This guide was written by Cetonis, who has been a Bard theorycrafter and guide contributor since late ARR. He is also part of The Balance as a Bard mentor. All good theorycraft is a group effort, and credit goes out to the Bards of the ranged theorycraft discord for helping to work things out.
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