How To Improve As Bard — Endwalker 6.55

Last updated on Jan 30, 2024 at 12:00 by Cetonis 6 comments

On this page, we will show you some of the most common mistakes players make when playing as a Bard DPS in Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker (Patch 6.55).

1.

Gaps Between Songs

Many new Bards wait for one song to fall off before starting the next one. This naturally leads to having 1-2 seconds of songless time between songs - this adds up, and it is not good for your DPS output. When in doubt, do not be afraid to move to your next song with 0.5-1s left on the current one.

2.

Leaving Heal Range

Just because you can be 25 yalms away from the boss at all times does not mean you should be. Most AoE heals have a limited range, and missing one that the healer is relying on can lead to death. Try not to wander out much further than the rest of the party.

3.

Slow Bloodletter Reactions

This takes practice, but it is very common for newer Bards to be slow to use their Bloodletter Icon Bloodletter procs during Mage's Ballad Icon Mage's Ballad. The song gauge will flash when you get a proc, so you can either look at that or your hotbars.

4.

Not Using Defensive Utility

Nature's Minne Icon Nature's Minne and Troubadour Icon Troubadour are good skills to help with periods of heavy healing and damage, respectively. Make sure you keep an eye out for good places to use them.

The same goes for being aware of debuffs that The Warden's Paean Icon The Warden's Paean can prevent or cleanse. (These will have a white bar above them)

5.

Spectating

As a physical ranged DPS, you have 100% uptime on the boss any time it can be targeted. This is a benefit, but only if you leverage it no matter what is going on in the fight.

With the amount of attention that Bard's rotation requires, it can be easy for players to get caught spectating mechanics and forgetting to stay on top of their damage output. This is normal when learning a fight, but it should be the first cause to suspect if you find your damage lacking.

6.

Changelog

  • 30 Jan. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 6.55.
  • 12 Oct. 2023: Updated for Patch 6.5
  • 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
  • 01 Feb. 2022: Guide added.
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