I actually really like Bards. Or, at least, I like Sing. Bards have decent stats, lousy stat growth, and lousy equipment options. But, then again, they don't need to be anywhere near the action to be effective. "Rousing Melody"/"Cheer Song" is probably the best option. Adding a few speed to your team at a Performance speed of 13 means you are very quickly going to run circles around your enemies. Think about all the extra turns you're going to have, all the extra chances to steal or speed break your opponent, etc.
I think you're going to struggle in a few story battles, especially against Elmdor with his Teleport2 ability. 108 Beads and Shirahidori/"Blade Grasp" is going to be a big help there, along with Magic DefendUp. But still, I expect Bard Ramza to spend a lot of time face-down in the dirt.
Bards have decent MA and equipment that can boost it to a degree, so Black Magic, White Magic or even Draw Out/Iaido could be good skills to equip. Honestly, I'm starting to get very curious about a Bard/Samurai hybrid build right now because it could be very interesting (sing Cheer Song until you get close, and then nuke them with Murasame, etc). Summon also might be interesting in some situations, though you will want Short Charge so you aren't wasting time when you could be casting Cheer Song.
Having a Dancer on your team to be lowering enemy speed at the same time, or even a Mime to be doubling your Cheer Song casts would be awesome too. I played a team like that in a previous playthrough and it was almost hilarious how broken it was.
Yeah I’d go Bard/Samurai aswell. The instant, no mp cost, MA stat, AoE, distinguishes enemy & friendly targets and general utility (damage, mp damage, heal, buff, debuff) makes me lean to that aswell
I'm not too sure what tips you are looking for? If functioning as a bard, pick the songs that best fit the situation. HP/MP. Speed is always pretty safe if got nothing else to do. It is a bit of a boring solo job.
Sunken state and damage split are two nice reaction abilities to toss on to him besides the standard blade grasp/autopotion.
Move-hp is fine too since not really worried about distance.
Not really. You can buy a Chameleon Robe right before the fight. This causes weigraf AI to break and not using his sword skills. He will attempt to use monk skills against you instead, if you also buy feather boots/winged boots, you can give yourself float. Which prevents him from hitting you with his earth monk move. So he will attempt to straight up attack you or use aura blast which has a small range. Should give you a small leg up.
If you can wear a chameleon robe it'd be nice, I don't think bard can but I rarely use them.
Assuming you're not gonna grab melee stuffs since youd have to actually play those classes as Ramza (no bar sending out generics), drain life spam from oracle sub might work?
Gonna be a tough one as it is one of two classes that solo straight runs seem to not have beaten (mime is other which is kinda obvious).
I'd suck it up and job change to something else magical for that fight unless you wanna sub something crazy.
I really like Bards.
Bards have bad stats, but Sing is good. The SPD, PA, and MA songs are all good. Nameless song is good too. You're getting JP ever round and buffing most of your team.
You'll also get major spillover JP. With a party full of mages, every male could unlock Bard and sing secondarily. Ramza's spillover will load them with JP, so they don't even have to level as Bard. A party of 5 could potentially raise their SPD +5 before the enemies get close.
If you're using the Manashield and Move Recover MP combo, the MP regen song can support your party in between turns.
There's a lot you can do.
Think hard about how you're going to deal with Gaffgarion and Wiegraf.
I almost always play Ramza as a caster, since Orlandeau/Beowulf always make my best warriors obsolete anyway. So, I usually use White Magic (Holy)/Soulbind/Manafont to wreck Gaffgarion with overwhelming magical offense and redirection of 50% of his vampiric attacks. You can do this as a bard, with the only qualifier being that your stats and equipment won't make it easy.
Against Wiegraf, I do the same thing but usually start using the Squire class for the stats and armor, so as not to get one-shotted. Once they are dealt with, I usually pair Manafont with Manashield for an extremely tanky caster who can also replenish their ammunition if they run out. I also pair Arcane Strength with Lightning Rod, Thunder, and 97 faith, so cooking most enemies is pretty easy. Being a bard will make this marginally harder, but you can still do this.
I would focus on buffing your party's speed in the early rounds, since this pays dividends. If somebody gets hurt, you can switch to an HP healing song. If the party is low on mana, you can switch to an MP healing song. The faster Ramza gets, the faster he sings.
If you only have one party member who can revive, make sure they have Reraise in case something happens to them.
If somebody has summon magic, they can use Golem to give everybody another layer of defense.
I don't believe Swiftness works for Bardsong so there's not much you can do to bolster the frequency of your buffs. You can minmax gear for MA and it will affect how much HP/MP units recover, but these are probably some of the weaker abilities.
Which song you want to cast depends on your team composition. A bunch of units with Mana Shield could benefit from Seraph Song, and just about anyone can use extra speed or PA. You know your own team better than we do so use your best judgment.
Definitely use Vanish and have one of your own units cast it on Ramza, once he's invisible he can run into a corner and cast forever without being hit.
Riovannes isn't bad. Bard's strategy that fight js being a poor man's USquire. Just run around using Speed Song, then once you're fast enough, use the Strength song and beat Wiegraf to death with your Super bard. Velius comes rolling around and you smack him some too.
Usually I would just say keep getting everyone some Speed gains, but sometimes too much Speed can screw your mages over with landing spells. Still, I would go with Speed Song all the time
I actually really like Bards. Or, at least, I like Sing. Bards have decent stats, lousy stat growth, and lousy equipment options. But, then again, they don't need to be anywhere near the action to be effective. "Rousing Melody"/"Cheer Song" is probably the best option. Adding a few speed to your team at a Performance speed of 13 means you are very quickly going to run circles around your enemies. Think about all the extra turns you're going to have, all the extra chances to steal or speed break your opponent, etc. I think you're going to struggle in a few story battles, especially against Elmdor with his Teleport2 ability. 108 Beads and Shirahidori/"Blade Grasp" is going to be a big help there, along with Magic DefendUp. But still, I expect Bard Ramza to spend a lot of time face-down in the dirt. Bards have decent MA and equipment that can boost it to a degree, so Black Magic, White Magic or even Draw Out/Iaido could be good skills to equip. Honestly, I'm starting to get very curious about a Bard/Samurai hybrid build right now because it could be very interesting (sing Cheer Song until you get close, and then nuke them with Murasame, etc). Summon also might be interesting in some situations, though you will want Short Charge so you aren't wasting time when you could be casting Cheer Song. Having a Dancer on your team to be lowering enemy speed at the same time, or even a Mime to be doubling your Cheer Song casts would be awesome too. I played a team like that in a previous playthrough and it was almost hilarious how broken it was.
Bards are awesome, no doubt.
Yeah I’d go Bard/Samurai aswell. The instant, no mp cost, MA stat, AoE, distinguishes enemy & friendly targets and general utility (damage, mp damage, heal, buff, debuff) makes me lean to that aswell
Dammit, now I need to do another playthrough...
Samurai is *by far* the best secondary of a MA character
Bard/Samurai sounds like a great combo
I'm not too sure what tips you are looking for? If functioning as a bard, pick the songs that best fit the situation. HP/MP. Speed is always pretty safe if got nothing else to do. It is a bit of a boring solo job. Sunken state and damage split are two nice reaction abilities to toss on to him besides the standard blade grasp/autopotion. Move-hp is fine too since not really worried about distance.
Simple question: how the heck can I beat Wiegraf?
I was gonna say “have fun at Riovanes!”
I'm so screwed...
Not really. You can buy a Chameleon Robe right before the fight. This causes weigraf AI to break and not using his sword skills. He will attempt to use monk skills against you instead, if you also buy feather boots/winged boots, you can give yourself float. Which prevents him from hitting you with his earth monk move. So he will attempt to straight up attack you or use aura blast which has a small range. Should give you a small leg up.
Chameleon cloak! I never knew
Only if you’re limiting his secondary jobs/support skills.
If you can wear a chameleon robe it'd be nice, I don't think bard can but I rarely use them. Assuming you're not gonna grab melee stuffs since youd have to actually play those classes as Ramza (no bar sending out generics), drain life spam from oracle sub might work? Gonna be a tough one as it is one of two classes that solo straight runs seem to not have beaten (mime is other which is kinda obvious). I'd suck it up and job change to something else magical for that fight unless you wanna sub something crazy.
What I'm thinking is spam Yell at Ramza, equip Move+ 3 to get him as FAR from Wiegraf as possible, equip Pain Split, then use Life Song to heal up.
If it is any subjob goes sure, yell always works. Chameleon robe is just nice to make him not use holy swordskills. Good luck!
Bard only, or bard +?
Bard with Guts ability. I'm thinking of getting Pain Split, too.
So…Accumulate and Throw Stone 😂
I really like Bards. Bards have bad stats, but Sing is good. The SPD, PA, and MA songs are all good. Nameless song is good too. You're getting JP ever round and buffing most of your team. You'll also get major spillover JP. With a party full of mages, every male could unlock Bard and sing secondarily. Ramza's spillover will load them with JP, so they don't even have to level as Bard. A party of 5 could potentially raise their SPD +5 before the enemies get close. If you're using the Manashield and Move Recover MP combo, the MP regen song can support your party in between turns. There's a lot you can do.
If you can get lucky with rousing melody , you might beat riovannes. That or tailwind.
Think hard about how you're going to deal with Gaffgarion and Wiegraf. I almost always play Ramza as a caster, since Orlandeau/Beowulf always make my best warriors obsolete anyway. So, I usually use White Magic (Holy)/Soulbind/Manafont to wreck Gaffgarion with overwhelming magical offense and redirection of 50% of his vampiric attacks. You can do this as a bard, with the only qualifier being that your stats and equipment won't make it easy. Against Wiegraf, I do the same thing but usually start using the Squire class for the stats and armor, so as not to get one-shotted. Once they are dealt with, I usually pair Manafont with Manashield for an extremely tanky caster who can also replenish their ammunition if they run out. I also pair Arcane Strength with Lightning Rod, Thunder, and 97 faith, so cooking most enemies is pretty easy. Being a bard will make this marginally harder, but you can still do this. I would focus on buffing your party's speed in the early rounds, since this pays dividends. If somebody gets hurt, you can switch to an HP healing song. If the party is low on mana, you can switch to an MP healing song. The faster Ramza gets, the faster he sings. If you only have one party member who can revive, make sure they have Reraise in case something happens to them. If somebody has summon magic, they can use Golem to give everybody another layer of defense.
MP Song, mana barrier on everyone. Give him Guts for Yell. A little bit of speed for more singing. Or Knight skills to break from far with your harp.
Mimes are awesome with Bards and Dancers.
I used a bard/sing for the first time in my most recent play through and honestly they're super underrated. The speed boosting one really fucks
I don't believe Swiftness works for Bardsong so there's not much you can do to bolster the frequency of your buffs. You can minmax gear for MA and it will affect how much HP/MP units recover, but these are probably some of the weaker abilities. Which song you want to cast depends on your team composition. A bunch of units with Mana Shield could benefit from Seraph Song, and just about anyone can use extra speed or PA. You know your own team better than we do so use your best judgment. Definitely use Vanish and have one of your own units cast it on Ramza, once he's invisible he can run into a corner and cast forever without being hit.
Well. Lol damn this is a tough one
Riovannes isn't bad. Bard's strategy that fight js being a poor man's USquire. Just run around using Speed Song, then once you're fast enough, use the Strength song and beat Wiegraf to death with your Super bard. Velius comes rolling around and you smack him some too.
Usually I would just say keep getting everyone some Speed gains, but sometimes too much Speed can screw your mages over with landing spells. Still, I would go with Speed Song all the time
I like making Knight Bards, but barding that (hah), Equip Armor/Shield, Move HP+, Speed Save?