The Ultimate PvE Bard Guide for Ashes of Creation

Last updated on Jan 25, 2025 at 00:00 by Constantine

Bard is the most versatile archetype in Ashes of Creation, equipped with a toolkit that can adapt to any challenge. With exceptional crowd control, impressive damage, unmatched mobility, powerful buffs, and even healing capabilities, there’s no situation you can’t master provided you’re well prepared. This guide will cover everything you need to know to harness the Bard’s incredible versatility and conquer any PvE content that comes your way.

1.

Introduction to Bard (PvE)

Bard Character Art Ashes of Creation Step into the shoes of the Bard, a support archetype who redefines the term "Support". In Ashes of Creation, Bards are more than just masters of melody, they are the ultimate conductor of chaos, weaving spells that devastate foes and empower allies. With unrivaled versatility, Bard boasts an arsenal of tools that cater to every playstyle. Whether you enjoy dishing out high damage, locking down enemies with unparalleled crowd control, or supporting your team with powerful utility and healing, Bards have you covered. This class is designed to keep you on your toes, blending high-octane mobility with strategic depth.

The Bard's true strength lies in its ability to adapt to any situation. With the best mobility in the game, exceptional self and team utility, a vast array of crowd control, decent healing, and very high magical damage, the Bard archetype is the perfect choice for players who thrive on tactical gameplay and crave the satisfaction of mastering intricate combos.

This comprehensive guide will cover everything you need to know about the Bard archetype, from understanding its strengths and weaknesses to mastering key skills, passives, and gear choices. We'll dive into the best talent trees, consumables, and strategies for maximizing your Bard's potential. Keep in mind, the Bard's incredible versatility means you won't be able to do everything at once, choosing the right balance for your playstyle is key. Let's explore the ins and outs of this dynamic class in detail.

In the event you were looking for the PvP-focused portion of the guide, it is linked below.

2.

Bard Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths icon Strengths
  • +Huge value in group - a must have Archetype.
  • +Best buffs in the game.
  • +Very high damage.
  • +Insane mobility and crowd control.
Weaknesses icon Weaknesses
  • -Needs a group to truly shine.
  • -Hard to master.
  • -Relatively squishy.
3.

Melodies and Resonant Weapon

The Bard's arsenal is vast, sporting a wide variety of dances, buffing songs that combine into Sagas, numerous crowd control and damage abilities, as well as healing and sustain options. However, at its very core, the Bard's strength begins with melodies and how the Resonant Weapon interacts with them. This interaction sets the pace for the type of Bard you want to be.

Within a group, you can take on a variety of roles, such as healing, DPSing, and buffing. However, the melodies you choose will heavily influence the role you excel at. This is not only due to the permanent group buffs they provide, but also because of how the Resonant Weapon interacts with them.

Resonant Weapon is the first important mechanic you need to learn to become a good Bard. It comes in the form of stacks, gaining 1 stack of Resonant Weapon every time you use any ability, and it caps at 10 stacks. You consume up to 4 stacks of Resonant Weapon by auto-attacking and procing a weapon combo finisher. Depending on which melody you had active when consuming the stacks, you will get different effects.

  • If you had Menacing Melody active (DMG Boost Melody), you would get a huge damage bonus.
  • If you had Pensive Melody active (Mana Regen Melody), you would regenerate a large amount of Mana for yourself and your allies.

Managing your stacks effectively while performing all your other abilities simultaneously will greatly increase your power as a Bard. Do not let your stacks linger at 10 without using them.

For a full list of all Bard abilities and passives visit the Bard Skill Glossary

4.

Bard Gear Options

Selecting the best gear for a Bard is nowhere near as hard or complicated as selecting the playstyle. No matter what you decide to do with the Bard, there is one stat that stands above all, and that is Intelligence. Intelligence scales perfectly with everything the Bard does, from auto attack and ability damage, to shielding, healing, and mana regeneration. Absolutely everything you do scales off magic power, which you get the most of from Intelligence. That means when you are gear farming, you have one goal only; get as much Intelligence as possible.

Do not worry too much about the type of armor, whether it's heavy, light, medium, etc, as long as it has Intelligence. Currently, defensive values are almost irrelevant, as they scale very poorly, which allows us to simply focus on gathering as much Intelligence as possible without worrying about anything else.

Now, when it comes to min-maxing, we want gear pieces that have Intelligence alongside other stats. In the list below, you will see the starting order from the best secondary stats to the worst to look for.

  • Wisdom
  • Magical Power Rating
  • Magical Casting Speed
  • Magical Critical Chance
  • Magical Critical Power
  • Anything else

As you probably noticed, everything listed is offensive. That's because, currently in the game, defenses scale terribly while offensive stats scale insanely well, so you want to take advantage of that.

Please note: When it comes to weapons, the most important stats are raw Magic Power and Casting Speed. Stats such as Intelligence come second. You always want to use the highest Magic Power weapons available to you while leveling, preferably a Scepter with a Focus and a Spellbook, or a Spell Shortbow. There is a lot of depth when it comes to which weapon to choose and why, but that will be explained later in detail. For now, know that all weapons are viable.

Here is a list of some very strong items for Bards with proper stats that are not very hard to obtain.

4.1.

Best Consumable Options

Consumables are extremely important. They are very strong as of now and provide powerful buffs. You need to get them as early as possible. Below is a list of the best consumables you need as a Bard and their effects.

  • Rations - Provides health regeneration over a period of 20 seconds. Currently a bit overtuned, so you will never need high-quality rations. These can be bought at vendors.
  • Scroll of Intellect - Increases Intelligence for 3 hours. You can buy this at the laboratory northeast of Samia's Hope.
  • Fruit Salad - Provides additional magical power rating for 60 minutes. Higher-quality salads give you a bigger boost, but you need cooking to make them. You can buy them at the Cookhouse northeast of Samia's Hope.
  • Health Potions - Restores a set amount of health based on the quality of the potion. There is a 2-second cooldown for potion usage. Low-level potions can be bought at vendors, but they are not very impactful.
  • Mana Potions - Restores a set amount of mana based on the quality of the potion. There is a 2-second cooldown for potion usage. Same as health potions, they can be bought at vendors, but are not very impactful for Bards.

5.

Bard Passives and Skill Trees

Single Target Area of Effect
Skill Tree Scepter Spellbook
Skill Tree Scepter Spellbook
5.1.

Single Target PvE Bard Build

Single Target Bard DPS Build Click on the Talent Tree image to enlarge it!

Bard single-target PvE is not optimal at all. Bard's full kit is centered around AoE, and the class performs best in a group, as the buffs scale better with more people. Bard can be quite decent solo, but there really isn't any reason not to AoE solo, as the kit heavily favors that playstyle.

After the warning above, you still want to mostly solo with Bard, and you still hate the idea of hitting more than one monster at the same time? Well, let's see.

The image to the right showcases the skill selection for a single-target Bard up to level 25. The main differences here compared to the AoE build are as follows.

  • Dark Lullaby is picked as the single-target version, which does more damage.
  • Chilling Lament is also picked as the single-target version, which does more damage.
  • Fierce Wit is taken to increase our single-target DPS a bit.

Overall, as a solo single target Bard, you will probably be switching between Cathartic Melody for sustain and occasionally using Pensive Melody for Mana Regeneration. If you plan to play in a group and, for some reason, want to focus on single-target damage, we would highly recommend against it. It's very inefficient. If you follow the AoE-portion of this Bard guide, you'll see the drastic differences.

5.2.

Single Target Scepter Passives

Single Target Scepter Passives Click on the Talent Tree image to enlarge it!

The following Scepter weapon tree passive selection is ideal for the Bard archetype. The main focus is on maximizing the percentage for Deadly Finishers and Extended Deadly Finishers, so we can proc our Resonant Weapon stacks on command, whether it's single target or AoE. There is room for personal preference after selecting the mandatory chance increase perks.



5.3.

Single Target Spellbook Passives

Single Target PvE spellbook Passives Click on the Talent Tree image to enlarge it!

The following Spellbook weapon tree passive selection is ideal for the Bard archetype. The main focus is on maximizing the percentage for Deadly Finishers and Extended Deadly Finishers, so we can proc our Resonant Weapon stacks on command, whether it's single target or AoE. The secondary focus is the critical damage increase, as we have a lot of percentage from Chaos. As a special Extended Finisher, Echo is always best in slot for any Bard style.



5.4.

Area of Effect PvE Bard Skill Tree

Single Target Bard DPS Build Click on the Talent Tree image to enlarge it!

The most effective way to level up as a Bard is in a group. You specialize in enabling your group with insane buffs, good heals, CC, and surprisingly, the group enables you to do a lot of DPS. The best way to level up in a group is, by far, AoE farming.

Now, there are many roles a Bard can fill in an AOE group farm, and many factors that change depending on how good or bad your group is, as well as the location you're farming. However, we are going to focus on a specific build, which is usually considered to be the most fun and the best Bard PVE build. While most groups will ask you to be a Mana Battery for them (a viable and common strategy), it is, in our opinion, a much slower XP/hour method than the AoE Blaster Bard build rotation, which is showcased in this tab.

The image to the right showcases the skill prioritization as you progress your character up to level 25. It is not crucial that you follow the skills 1 to 1, but as you level up, it is recommended to take all of them.

Let's discuss rotation and how to maximize your value as a DPS/AoE Bard. First off, you and your group should always use melee weapons when AoE farming. They do the highest damage by far, and it's a big reason why groups that use this tactic level up significantly faster.

Next, here's a step-by-step on what to do as a Bard when a pull is made:

  • Before Pull
    • Have Menacing Melody active (10% damage to you and your group, increased further by Music Mastery: Crescendo).
    • Have 10 Resonant Weapon stacks pre-stacked (by casting random abilities while the tank is pulling).
    • Have 3 Chaos pre-cast for a total of 15% damage bonus. Do not use any Saga, as it will consume the bonus.
  • After Pull
    • Cast Chaos (15% magical critical chance for 30 seconds).
    • Cast Anthem of Alacrity (solo version, to yourself: 25% casting and attack speed).
    • Start AOE auto-attacking the mobs with your melee weapon until your Resonant Weapon stacks drop to 2. (You will consume 2x4 stacks on your Deadly Finisher proc, doing insane AOE damage each time.)
    • You are now left with 2 Resonant Weapon stacks.
    • Cast Mock x2 (Endless Jest passive enables 2 uses. We cast 2x Mock because it's instant and we get 2 stacks quickly).
    • Cast Discordance (not that big AOE damage, but we need the instant abilities out first for fast stacks).
    • Cast Dark Lullaby (AOE) (it will do insane AOE damage since mobs have a lot of debuffs by now).
    • Cast Chilling Lament (AOE) (it will do decent damage and slow mobs).
    • Cast Maddening Dance (important to fully cast it because it humiliates all the mobs, making them do -30% damage, which is insanely helpful in big pulls).
    • You are now at 8 stacks. Start AOE auto-attacking the mobs until you proc two Deadly Finishers and consume all 8 stacks.

This is the main AoE rotation to maximize damage. However, if the pulls are big, you will often need to cast a variety of other skills to help your group survive, without losing a lot of your DPS, since each of those skills will still give you a Resonant Weapon stack. Just make sure to never sit on 10 stacks. Here's a description of the defensive abilities you should use when pulling bigger pulls or when the group is in trouble:

  • Shielding Dance – Very strong defensive ability; use whenever necessary. It still gives a stack.
  • Nimble Dance – Best-in-slot (BiS) defensive ability. Use when the group is in trouble, as it gives 50% evasion to everyone, which can help you save a wipe.
  • Cast Flourish before using Shielding Dance and Nimble Dance to give them double the range.
  • Mesmerizing Dance – AOE CC, instant cast. Very good ability to use often.
  • Clever Retort – Great silence CC. Caster mobs in this game do a lot of damage, so keep them silenced.
  • Hymn of the Mind – Solo version mana recovery. Use if the pull is lasting too long and someone needs it.
  • Gambit – You can save a wipe just with this ability if you are paying attention. Use it on the tank if they are about to die.

The goal for this build is to maximize the group's damage by playing Menacing Melody and Chaos, utilizing the Resonant Weapon stacks properly to deal huge personal damage (which is only possible with Menacing Melody active).

Please note: If you are playing this build without a group, it's still possible to AoE solo; however, it's much less efficient, and you'll need to target lower-level mobs. The general rotation stays the same, but it will be harder to get melee AoE since you'll be tanking the mobs. The Spellbook will make AoE soloing easier but with less DPS.

5.5.

Area of Effect Scepter Passives

AoE PvE Bard Scepter Passives Click on the Talent Tree image to enlarge it!

The following Scepter weapon tree passive selection is ideal for the Bard archetype. The main focus is on maximizing the percentage for Deadly Finishers and Extended Deadly Finishers, so we can proc our Resonant Weapon stacks on command, whether it's single target or AoE. Other than that, Critical Damage perks are very fitting for Bard because of our high critical chance, so they are a great secondary addition.



5.6.

Area of Effect Spellbook Passives

AoE Bard PvE SpellBook Passives Click on the Talent Tree image to enlarge it!

The following Spellbook weapon tree passive selection is ideal for the Bard archetype. The main focus is on maximizing the percentage for Deadly Finishers and Extended Deadly Finishers, so we can proc our Resonant Weapon stacks on command, whether it's single target or AoE. Secondary focus is the Critical Damage increase since we have a lot of percent gain from Chaos. As a Special Extended finisher, Echo is always best in slot for any Bard style.



6.

Patch Updates

There's nothing here yet!

7.

Changelog

  • 25 Jan. 2025: Guide created.
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