Bard PvP Guide for FFXIV

The Bard Is one of three Physical ranged DPS that differs from its Machinist and Dancer counterparts through powerful team buffs, mass enemy knock-backs and the unique ability to drain enemy MP on top of amazing burst combos.

The Bard blends in with the crowds to unleash powerful coordinated attacks that can catch players off guard. As of patch 7.1 the fluidity of the Bards kit pushed the Bard into being one of the best roles currently going in both Frontline and Crystalline Conflict.

Bards used to struggle within Crystalline Conflict due to the fact there damage for select skills required the Bard player to maintain distance from there selected targets. The current rework has removed the Bards ranged requirements greatly improving the role in Crystalline Conflict.

Note: This guide is focused on PVP as a whole Frontline, Crystalline Conflict and Rival wings all play differently to one another however the fundamentals and understanding of a roll translate across all game modes.

Strengths

• Fast and Powerful burst damage rotations whilst keeping a safe distance
• The ability to mass knockback entire groups through blast arrows
• Capable of removing cc from yourself or a party member which also buffs the target with the Warden's Paean
• Access to both Bind and Silence cc allowing for escapes and to shut down targets
• A powerful supportive limit break that no only buffs the team
• Bard has the unique ability of draining 5000MP from multiple targets at once

Weaknesses

• Reliant on the team presence alone the Bard is easily overwhelmed by Tanks and Melee roles
• No defensives meaning Bard is very vulnerable against other ranged classes
• Your only mobility skill requires you to be in the danger zone and can be easily messed up jumping further into the enemy team
• Bards can very quickly burn through cooldowns leaving them with no follow-up
• A 120s limit break charge meaning some fights you face enemy limit breaks without your own

4.

Skill Selection

Every job has access to a few common actions, but their utility differs between jobs.

Recuperate Standard-issue Elixir Guard Purify Sprint

3.1.

Recuperate

Recuperate – This is your most important healing ability. MP in PVP is only used for this ability. With a max of 10,000 MP, recup will consume 2,500 and heals you for 15,000 HP. The amount of healing received can be increased and reduced by healing up or down status effects, such as Summon Seraph to increase or Biolysis to decrease. You gain 500 MP per 3 seconds passively, something to keep in mind!

3.2.

Standard-issue Elixir

Standard-issue Elixir – This is your second-most important healing ability. Elixir allows you to gain back all your HP and MP, resetting yourself for the next fight! The listed cast time is 4.5 seconds, which means the cast is actually snapshotted as complete after 4 seconds, after which you can move and opponents can no longer cancel your Elixir. You'll see moments where you get hit, and the position will still finish.

When not under pressure, make sure to top up your resources for the next fight. As with the animations counted in the death timer, you will be out for 20~ seconds instead vs a 4 second Elixir!

3.3.

Guard

Guard – Grants 90% damage reduction and immunity to most crowd-control debuffs for up to 4 seconds. Using another action cancels this guard early. Damage over Time effects that have been applied before Guard will always tick for the full amount and wont be negated with Guard!

Per Patch 7.1, there have been multiple abilities added that work against Guarded targets. Where Shield Smite and Chain Stratagem half the defensive bonus of Guard (90% → 45%), there are also abilities that simply ignore guard when dealing damage; Drill, Assassinate, Enchanted Riposte, Disesteem, Wreath of Fire, Serpent's Tail and Chaotic Spring

Damage per ability is now tight to animations, compared to pre-7.1 where the damage would register when pressed. This means Guard is more reactive than it has been before, but it's also possible now to start ability animations that will hit the moment your Guard ends. Beware of your surroundings and what the enemy is doing!

3.4.

Purify

Purify – Cleanses all common crowd-control debuffs and provides a 3-second immunity to further crowd control, draw in and knockback effects. Use this to prevent yourself from getting CC-chained to death.

With the amount of crowd-control abilities, try not to be trigger-happy when using Purify. Taking a stun with no follow up from the enemy team, doesn't bring you in danger! If you have no defensives ready against a crowd-control heavy enemy team, it's recommended to play defensively before making another engage.

3.5.

Sprint

Sprint – Toggle for increased movement speed. This is a GCD and using any other action cancels the buff, so be smart in using it. Sage is a fragile job, as it has the lowest HP out of any job. If you are using off-global abilities repeatedly while running away or chasing, you should try to late-weave them if you can afford to, to avoid canceling too much of the Sprint duration.

Your most basic damage ability is the Powerful Shot dealing a simple 6000 damage to your target within a 25 yalm reach. Each shot from your Powerful Shot Reduces the recast time of your Harmonic Arrow during any downtime you will always want to be firing your Powerful Shot as much as possible ensuring you have as many Harmonic arrows at the ready to go at a moments notice.

Harmonic Arrow Is one of your main tools during burst damage and to finish off weakened targets. Sharing the same 25 yalms as the Powerful Shot they combo perfectly right after.

Harmonic Arrows charge 1 per every 15 seconds with that timer being reduced by 5 seconds for each Powerful Shot in which you can hold up to 4 charges. The first arrows deals 9000, the seconds deals 6000, the third 5000 with the fourth dealing 4500 with all charges being fired at the same time and can be fired no matter your charge count.

Apex Arrow is a one part of a two-part combo that is one of the most important in your entire kit, 25 yalm range dealing damage within a 25 yalm straight line. Apex Arrow deals 8000 damage to all targets struck and will reduce the weaponskill cast and recast timers by 10% whilst increasing damage dealt by 5% to yourself and all party members within 30 yalms for the next 30 seconds.

Apex Arrow serves as your starting engage tool as this provides a instant advantage for the team, which also readies the follow up ability Blast Arrow. Apex Arrow can also combo nicely into your Repelling Shot, Silent Nocturne and the role action Eagle Eye Shot as small burst rotation.

Blast Arrow is your instant follow-up to your Apex Arrow sharing the same 25 yalm range dealing damage in a 25 yalm straight line. Dealing a nice 10,000 to all enemies in the AoE. It's true value comes from the huge 10 yalm knockback to every single target struck.

Blast arrow is wonderful to finish targets and to prevent aggressive enemy pushes through the multiple target knockback, resist the urge to fire off randomly as an example if your teams Dark Knight jumped the enemy team pulling them together through there ability Salted Earth your mass knockback can actually save enemy players.

Pitch Perfect is another instant cast ability with a 25 yalms reach dealing damage within a 5 yalm radius. Dealing 9000 to your first target and 4500 to all other targets that also reduces your Harmonic Arrow recast timer by 5s.

Pitch Perfect is accessed through your evade abilities, Repelling Shot and Silent Nocturne and is not often part of your burst combo's mostly serving as a nice extra follow up ability.

Encore of Light is your most powerful ability which unlocks through your Limit Break, Final Fantasia with a 25 yalm reach and 5 yalm radius. Encore of Light deals 10,000 damage to all struck but what makes the action truly unique is that all struck targets lose 5000 MP half of a players total MP count.

This MP drain alone makes this skill terrifying but can be combined with your other abilities with deadly results, and obviously the bigger the crowed the more impact this MP drain can have. Put into context having your MP halved leaves players with only two uses of the Recuperate placing the enemy at a huge disadvantage.

Silent Nocturne is your 20 yalm range instant cast Silence CC. Silence is one of the most powerful CC actions going shutting down a enemy target hotbar entirely until they use Purify. Silent Nocturne also grants access to Pitch Perfect.

There is never really a wrong time to use Silence as it can be used to secure kills on weakened targets. It can even force a role like Samurai to miss their timing on Zantetsuken. The better you can track what your targets are doing the more lethal Silent Nocturne becomes.

Repelling Shot has movement and cc rolled into one which can be cast from 10 yalms dealing 4500 damage whilst you jump 10 yalms backwards from said target binding that target in place. Repelling shot unlocks your Pitch Perfect.

Repelling is a your means of creating space should a player dive you, but equally can be used aggressively being able to run up to a target bind them in place before following up with your combo actions, very effective against mobile jobs.

The Warden's Paean can be used upon yourself and party members within 30 yalms, one status affliction (Crowed Control) will be removed and if a status affliction cannot be removed the target obtains a barrier removing the next cc action that comes there way.

Upon successfully removing or nullifying a status affliction the player under the effect of Warden's Paean receives a 25% damage taken reduction whilst also increasing movement speed and healing by a further 25%. This action is amazing to partner up with a tank or melee role giving that player much more freedom to engage while you strike from afar.

Final Fantasia is you very powerful supportive Limit Break with a natural charge time of 120s. Upon use, reduce the weaponskill cast and recast timers by 10% whilst also increasing damage by 10% topped off with a 25% movement speed boost to yourself and all within a 30 yalm radius.

Final Fantasia also unlocks your ability to use Encore of Light and also gradually fill the limit gauge when targets are in combat. Use the Limit Break right as you push as a team or as a defensive, providing that extra boost that can very well change the outcome of a battle.

The Three role actions bring a lot of new utility to Bard starting with Dervish which reduces cast and recast timers by 10% and granting a 33% movement speed boost, this can be effective with rush comps as the speed boost can stack with other speed boosts such as Final Fantasia but overall is the least commonly used with a 15 Yalm Radius of effect lasting for 12s.

Next, a very popular pick, Bravery which can be cast on yourself and team member within 30 yalms granting a huge 25% increase to damage dealt alongside a 25% damage reduction. My Top three personal favourite targets of choice are Viper, Warrior and the Gunbreaker as their survivability and damage are amplified further, turning them into one-man armies.

Your third option is Eagle Eye Shot which is amazing for securing kills in my Opinion. From experience this is the strongest pick if you are playing solo, as Eagle eye shot has a huge 40 yalm reach delivery 12000 damage that also ignores the effects of Guard. This one Skill in Frontline Alone will often secure myself an extra 5-10 kills, and is part of the reason why the Bard is one of the top Meta picks.

The Bard has some extremely powerful Burst combos that can even drop tank players who are not ready and these combos can be adapted on the fly depending on your situation. This first combo is a fast burst utilising the role action Eagle Eye Shot.

1. Apex Arrow
2. Harmonic Arrow
3. Eagle Eye Shot

This rotation can be taken one step further with your limit break Final Fantasia which can deal heavy damage into the enemy team whilst picking off a singled out target.

1. Final Fantasia
2. Apex Arrow
3. Encore of Light
4. Harmonic Arrow
5. Eagle Eye Shot
6. Blast Arrow

A third option is mix your CC actions in with a burst rotation which works extremely well against tanky and mobile roles giving your team the chance to shut them down.

1. Powerful Shot
2. Repelling Shot
3. Apex Arrow
4. Harmonic Arrow
5. Eagle Eye Shot
6. Blast Arrow

The rotations will vary based on your situation which only time and practice can provide, these are tried and tested rotations which I use very frequently. Position well, support your team and you yourself will be landing high kill games in no time.

These two useful PvP Macro's are for playing around a party member who you designate as your focus target allowing you to use The Warden's Paean and the role action Bravery without the need to manually target saving valuable time.

/merror off
/micon "The Warden's Paean" pvpaction
/pvpaction "The Warden's Paean" <f>

/micon "Bravery" pvpaction
/pvpaction "PVP Role Action" <f>