Bard Support : Bard Build Guide

Build Details & Information

Basics

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Stats: Swiftness is the primary for this build, but as your gem cd gets higher you can arguably give up some for more spec, there's a lot of breakpoints on this but essentially the idea is to have 100% uptime of your attack buffs, with level 10 that translates in to 1300 MINIMUM with ideally 1350+
To put this into another way you're giving up AROUND 9% cdr to GAIN 20-25% more meter/courage buff.
Spec: 600+
Crit: 0
Swift: 1300-1700+

Neck - Swift/Spec
Earrings - Swift
Rings - Swift
Bracelet - Swift/Spec

Relic Set: Yearning, anything else is trolling
Cards: Lostwind Cliffs 30 > You Have a Plan > Max HP
Engravings: The core 3 will always be Desperate Salvation, Awakening, Expert.. after that most of the community will say nothing else matters or is impactful and I say bs
Vital Point Hit The amount of raid wipes due to a stagger check is too damn high, you're the support, help them
Drops of Ether Giving your DPS 30 seconds of Adrenaline 3 or Cursed Doll? Capping off that last 1% movement speed for their Raid Captain?
Explosive Expert Are you a baller and love throwing Dark Grenades? This is massive if you can afford it
Crisis Evasion Not a joke, 1 rank of it can be cheap and a great fallback
Heavy Armor I personally hate everybody that says this is a core engraving for Bard, you receive every shield, every DR, have Raphsody and are NOT wearing Grudge which automatically makes you tankier than 1/4 of the DPS in the game, you wouldn't be okay with a Gunslinger or Reaper using Heavy Armor so why should Bard? As a last spot +1 or +2? Sure for a cheap option
Skills: This is honestly simpler than a lot of people make it out to be...
Heavenly Tune, Sonic Vibration Attack buffs, alternate them they do NOT stack together but WILL stack with your Identity
Prelude of Storm Meter generation
Wind of Music, Guardian Tune Defensive Skills, Shields on both, Debuff BLOCK (Not cleanse) on one
Sound Shock Branding Skill, can be replaced with Harp of Rhythm or Sonatina but neither are as reliable due to movement or cd
Rhapsody of Light God skill, if it's not a literal one shot mech, this will probably make you and/or allies survive it, plus weakpoint

Last spot is 100% preference
Soundholic Stagger - best set and forget if you're not changing skills
Rhythm Buckshot Counter - Prelude of Storm CAN counter but the timing, range, and it's your best meter gen make this a better one when you NEED a personal counter
Stigma Meter generation

Gems: Prioritize highest gems on Buffs > Defensive > Utility > Leftovers.
The higher your gem cooldowns go the more you can sacrifice swiftness into spec