Introduction
The Bard is the first premier support class introduced in Lost Ark. She was the only support option before the introduction of the Paladin. Her music provides a wide variety of supportive skills.
In PvP, the Bard plays like your traditional support class. Although low in personal damage, she makes up for it with great defensive skills and buffs. She ranks high on the PvP tier list with only Paladin challenging her supportive position. Just having a support on your team alone gives you an innate advantage before the battle starts. Navigating the map can be tricky at first, but a well-played Bard can be the difference between winning and losing.
This article assumesyou have a Character with a minimum level of 26 before transitioning to it. Check out the Bard Levelingand 1-50 Leveling guides to reach Level 26.
Check out the General PvP Guide for a better understanding of the arena systems in place.
Support ✔
Best Buffs ✔
Great Peels ✔
High Push Immunity ✔
❌ Low Base Stats
❌ Teammate Reliant
❌ Decent Skill Ceiling
❌ Requires Good Positioning
Core Skills
- Rhapsody of Light is your main peeling skill. Use it on downed teammates to mitigate damage. You can also use it for Push Immunity as a last resort.
- Sonic Vibration another great Push Immunity skill that can peel opponents off teammates or yourself.
- Rhythm Buckshot is a fast, short range Push Immunity skill that Knocks Up enemies.
- Soundholic is your main damaging skill.
- Prelude of Storm is your long range Hard Crowd Control skill.
- Heavenly Tune is one of your buffs that provides attack speed, mana regeneration and attack power to your entire team. Note that this skill is not map wide, so stay close with your team.
- March is your main mobility skill. Don't be afraid to run ahead of your teammates to drop some notes on the map to slow your opponents.
- Guardian Tune is your defensive buff. This is one of the best buffs in the game, as it is the only skill that provides a mitigation with a Debuff Immunity (Hard Crowd Control) shield for the team. It also has Push Immunity on cast, making it a great reactive defensive tool if needed.
- Serenade of Salvation is your main Identity usage, as the heals are more impactful. It's preferable to use it with two or three bars of gauge. You don't have to make use of the Push Immunity, just drop it in a good location for your teammates to heal. Note that the total heals will be split between everyone in the circle, so teammates that don't need heals should not be in it.
- Serenade of Courage Identity is another offensive buff for your team that is quite good in overtime mode. You won't be using this as much as Serenade of Salvation, but it is much easier to use. This skill provides a quick buff, while Serenade of Salvation requires positioning and time commitment in the healing circle. It provides Push Immunity on cast.
- Symphonia is your Awakening skill that is best used when the team is under pressure, to save someone, or for the final push of the battle. Don't be afraid to use this skill to protect yourself as well or to push a 3v2 advantage. Any opponents hit have their speed reduced.
PvP Builds
- Team Deathmatch (3v3)
- Team Elimination (1v1)
- GvG
Team Deathmatch (3v3)
Combat Stats
- 750 Swiftness, 1 Critical and 249 Domination for more damage.
- 750 Swiftness, 250 Endurance for more defense.
Alternatives
- Spreading Vibration for Sonic Vibration can be taken if you prefer more damage over the bigger area.
- Quick Preparation on Heavenly Tune if you want to sacrifice casting speed for a lower cooldown.
- Shock Enhancement can be taken on Rhythm Buckshot.
- Sound Concentration and Raid are interchangeable on Soundholic.
Basic Combo
- Start with Prelude of Storm.
- Follow with Heavenly Tune if you have it.
- Finish with Soundholic.
Gameplay
- Stick with your teammates and coordinate buff timings. Be mindful of your teammate and enemy positions.
- Start with Heavenly Tune once the gates fall. Before casting Guardian Tune look at your team composition. If you a melee teammate, cast Guardian Tune before they charge in. Otherwise, wait to use it when opponents engage. You want to get the most value out of the buffs, especially the Crowd Control buff on Guardian Tune. Casting it on a ranged team could become a waste if the other team waits for it to be over before engaging.
- After the opener, just freely buff whenever you can. Keep in mind where your teammates are as the buffs aren't global.
- Sonic Vibration, Rhythm Buckshot and Guardian Tune should be your main Push Immunity skills before resorting to Rhapsody of Light.
- Move around the map with March. Don't be afraid to use Sound Illusion to get to your teammates if they need help.
- Hitting Prelude of Storm is crucial, using auto attacks to bait out skills could help with hitting this skill.
Team Elimination (1v1)
Combat Stats
- 750 Swiftness, 1 Critical and 249 Domination for damage.
- 750 Swiftness, 1 Critical and 249 Specialization for more identity guage.
Alternatives
- Wind of Music can be added over March. Catching someone with this skill can lead to Soundholic.
- Sound Concentration and Raid are interchangeable on Soundholic.
- Wide-angle Attack can be taken on Sonic Vibration.
- Harp of Rhythm can be taken if you need more damage over Guardian Tune or Wind of Music.
Basic Combo #1
- Connect Wind of Music.
- Finish with Soundholic.
Gameplay
- In the 1v1 variant, you be mainly play around Serenade of Salvation.
- Bards aren't very good at killing people in 1v1s, so keep that in mind and try to sustain through the battle. Your main goal should be to time out your opponent with Serenade of Salvation.
GvG
Heavy Armor
Strong Will
Spirit Absorption
Awakening
Fortitude
Crisis Evasion
Gameplay
GvG is more chaotic than Arena battles, so you rarely have the opportunity to do long combos. This mode is more about zoning/interrupting objectives and assisting allies. Do your best to coordinate with your team and stick together. Refer to 3v3 section for more gameplay tips.
Please refer to the GvG Islands and GvG Builds Guide for more information!
Heavy Armor Equipment
Spirit Absorption
Judgment
There are no actual combos listed here compare to the other PvP builds because the build is built around zoning/interrupting objectives and mostly assisting allies. Since there will be more than 8 enemies on the field, it'll be really hard to pull off a long combo with many spells and attacks being unleash on the field.
Basically, use the skills base on the situations. Holy Land, can be use for annoying enemies on the objectives as it can prevent enemies from trying to capture the objectives by interrupting the capturing animation from the damage ticks that the ground effect does, and it helps in mass fights were the enemies can't stand on top of your allies for more than 3 ticks before they get stun by the skill.
GvG can be a lot more chaotic than Arenas as theres more than 3 opponents rushing into the fight, Paladin's role usually be sticking close to the backlines or allies immobile range classes to assist them if they get group on, while also play around from their range since the build is kitted with more range skills than Arena builds.
GvG Engraving
Priority
- Heavy Armor Equipment-engraving] level 3 increases all defense for higher survivability. Moreover, armor shredding debuffs doesn't affect the bonus defense increase effect from the engraving.
- Spirit Absorption increases attack speed and movement speed by a significant amount at level3 engraving effect which will help with positioning and getting skills cast out quicker.
- Judgment level 1 increases duration of Sacred Executioner by 100% to 40 seconds. Additionally increases sword skills damage and identity gauge gain rate.
Additional Choices
- Cursed Doll since Cursed Doll doesn't affect a player character, this is the next best engraving for damage increase in general. Furthermore, Island PvP disables consumables so the penalty isn't too penalizing and GvGs consumables are very limited as well which eventually player will run out consumables quick as well.
- Divine Protection, Fortitude and Strong Will these are the engravings to stack for maximum defenses.
- Raid Captain is also another good damage engraving option for Island PvP and GvGs since players will be stacking high Swiftness stats for having fast animation casting speed and general movespeed as well as more cooldown reductions then stacking with Spirit Absorption will max out 140% movesment speed cap which will grant the max 18% damage increase from Raid Captain.
- Champion's Tenacity Island PvP with disabled consumables and the very limited amount of consumables in GvGs means a lot of the time the player spent being damaged and unable to heal up, so this engraving will help give some boost to damage while the player is below 50% health pool.
- Shield Piercing self-explanatory; usually well coordinated guilds will stack lots of classes that has team shield or personal shields, this engraving will help a little from shield stack pushes.
- Basic Game Plan;
- there's no actual combos listed here compare to the other PvP builds because the build is built around zoning/interrupting objectives and mostly assisting allies. Since there will be more than 8 enemies on the field , it'll be really hard to pull off a long combo with many spells and attacks being unleash on the field. Basically , use the skills base on the situations.
- Holy Land, can be use for annoying enemies on the objectives as it can prevent enemies from trying to capture the objectives by interrupting the capturing animation from the damage ticks that the ground effect does, and it helps in mass fights were the enemies can't stand on top of your allies for more than 3 ticks before they get stun by the skill.
- GvG can be a lot more chaotic than Arenas as theres more than 3 opponents rushing into the fight , Paladin's role usually be sticking close to the backlines or allies immobile range classes to assist them if they get group on, while also play around from their range since the build is kitted with more range skills than Arena builds.
- Basic Combo;
- Basic Combo;
- Basic Combo;
- Basic Combo;
Summary
- Keep your enemy and teammates within vision.
- Peel for your team; you are a support, not a damage class.
- Remember your Push Immunity skills and escapes.
- Abuse FoV (Field of Vision) by and keeping your opponents horizontal from you.
Credits
Written by Starlast
Reviewed by Lexyu
Changelog
Feb 5th 2022
Article updated for Tier 3 content.
Jan 19th 2022
Article published for Tier 1 content.
FAQs
How good is Bard in PvP Lost Ark? ›
PvP is a large part of Lost Ark, with the game featuring various 3v3 modes to take part in. The Bard can be a great support option, but due to its low attack stats, it isn't very well suited for certain PvP modes. Here is our PvP support build for the Bard class.
What is the best build for Bard support Lost Ark? ›For most, a max Swiftness Bard build is recommended because Swiftness does many things that are extremely beneficial for supports. It increases your Movement Speed, which helps with positioning and increases your Cast Speed, which helps to get buffs out faster.
What stats for Bard Lost Ark PvP? ›Best Bard PvP Stats
As Always 750 Swiftness is a must in PVP alongside 1 Crit with how PVP mechanics work. For more Damage we go with 249 Domination, For faster Identity Gauge Charge and Healing 249 Specialization, and For more Survivability 249 Endurance.
Best Stats For The Bard
Swiftness is a great stat on Bard because you'll need to a) dodge damage, b) be close enough to the boss during some of your small-AoE abilities. Your abilities are also cast more quickly because of Swiftness.
The Paladin class has moved to the top in the most recent meta, thanks to its support skillset. Lastly, the Gunslinger still remains at the top of the order, thanks to her quick movements and variety of guns making her perfect for tearing through waves of enemies quickly but also hitting hard when it counts the most.
What is the most damage in PvP Lost Ark? ›Soulfist. The class that is famous for the Spirit Bomb. The iconic Soulfist ability does the most damage in the game but takes 5 seconds to prime, leading to many frustrating misses.
What is the best build for a Bard? ›For a classic bard feel, the Half-Elf and the Tiefling are great choices. For a powerful martial bard, the High Elf's ability to learn Booming Blade is perhaps the Bard's best option for weapon attacks. For a powerful support build, the Fairy's flight and innate spellcasting are hard to beat.
Is Bard or Paladin better for PVP Lost Ark? ›Paladin is better in the early raids because its very simple to get the heals and the dps. Bard is better in the later raids because you can overheal through mechanics and give a better dps buff.
What is the most demanding class in Lost Ark? ›Bard (Mage)
If you're looking to group up with other players then having a high-level Bard will be indispensable, as it's easily the most-requested class when forming parties, thanks to her possessing the best healing and shields in the game.
- Weapon Damage;
- Dexterity;
- Critical Hit;
- Determination;
- Direct Hit;
- Skill Speed.
What are the two best stats for Bard? ›
While bards are natural spellcasters, all their magic comes from their charm and performance skills, so you're going to want to prioritize Charisma (Cha) over everything else. Dexterity (Dex) and Constitution (Con) are going to be your next highest stats.
Do bards heal or damage Lost Ark? ›Bard is one of the few support classes in Lost Ark. They're focused on short duration but strong buffs for healing, shielding, and damage increasing. Although they don't do much damage themselves, the damage increase they give to their team as well as the utility they provide is more than worth the difference.
Is Bard bad in Lost Ark PVP? ›Bard is a low S tier for 3v3 ranked. Not because of their damage but because of how much they can support the other 2 players. Everyone will be happy if you end up on their team and you're decent at playing support. 1v1 Bard is terrible, probably the worst in the game.
What is the best weapon for Bard Lost Ark? ›Bard is an advanced class for the female mage found in Lost Ark. She is primarily a ranged class that uses harps as her main weapon.
What is the easiest PvP class to play Lost Ark? ›Lost Ark best PvP class for beginners
If you're unsure how to get stuck into a group battle, the Bard can be a great first choice, thanks to her ability to support her team from a distance.
In PvP, you must grind 66,791 XP to attain the 1st Limit, which is the needed XP for this tier. It's a lot simpler to say than it is to accomplish. In actuality, to reach the 1st Limit, you must be among the top 0.30 percent of your server's players.
What is the average PvP rank in Lost Ark? ›| Rank | Competitive Match Average Score |
|---|---|
| Gold | 1600 – 1799 |
| Platinum | 1800 – 1999 |
| Diamond | 2000+ |
| Master | Top 31 – 100 players in the region |
Lost Ark PVP has a rather high skill floor and ceiling, making it quite overwhelming for newer players to get into. Before attempting to learn the abilities of fifteen subclasses, and with more to come, it is important for players to learn the fundamentals first.
What is the easiest class to play in Lost Ark? ›Striker. A striker is a hit-and-run class later in the game, but they start pretty powerful compared to the monsters in Lost Ark. This is an advanced Martial Arts class that is probably the easiest to use.
What is the strongest DPS in Lost Ark? ›If you're set on rolling the best DPS in Lost Ark, then Death Blade and Striker are the ones to go for.
How do you make a strong Bard? ›
Charisma: It's already been said that a Bard needs to ooze charm to be effective, so it shouldn't be surprising that a bard's highest stat should most definitely be Charisma. If the Bard starts the game with their Charisma score below a 20, then the player should focus on getting them there through gaining levels.
Is The Bard overpowered? ›As the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game evolved between editions, the Bard class evolved too, going from underwhelming to very powerful. In a Dungeons & Dragons-style fantasy world full of monsters and magic, the Bard has surprisingly risen from a weak character class into one largely considered overpowered.
What is the best God for a Bard? ›Bards were drawn most often to the worship of gods of magic, such as Corellon, Selûne, or others. Good bards sometimes worshiped Bahamut or Moradin. Less moralistic bards were instead sometimes drawn to the worship of Lolth, Tiamat, or Zehir.
Is Paladin tankier than Bard Lost Ark? ›Compared to the other support class the Bard – Paladins will be much tankier and focus a bit more on damage while maintaining damage buffs and damage reduction buffs to the team. The bard tries to be more defensive, keeping allies alive longer with shields and heals.
Why you should play Bard Lost Ark? ›The Bard class is one of Lost Ark's main supports - viable for both PvP and PvE. This is the class you pick if you want to almost guarantee a spot in endgame content.
What is the hardest to master class in Lost Ark? ›Arcanist is one of the hardest classes to master in Lost Ark. With a unique Identity system through its Card Deck, focus on high APM & a playstyle requiring quick thinking and adaptability; Arcanist is easily a class that can challenge players to their limits.
What is the hardest class to level up in Lost Ark? ›Soulfist is distinguished by the presence of ranged and melee combat skills. It is also one of the hardest classes in Lost Ark due to its mechanics.
What is the coolest looking class in Lost Ark? ›Assassin. The Assassin classes in Lost Ark are some of the best-looking and most enjoyable to play. They're all about big damage, high mobility, and typically really shine in PvP. Like all classes in the game, though, there is a lot of balance for PvE, too.
What race is best for Eloquence Bard? ›College of Eloquence Races
Anything with innate offensive spellcasting is a solid choice since you can use Unsettling Words to help it land. Half of the legacy Tieflings, Yuan-Ti, etc. Beyond that, nothing worth calling out.
The Bard has some well rounded Max stats, with 670 HP, 385 MP, 55 ATT, 25 DEF, 55 SPD, 70 DEX, 45 VIT, 75 WIS. How does that compare to other classes? Well, the Bard beats both the Huntress and Archer in Dexterity, Vit and Wis.
What alignment should a Bard be? ›
Bards must be human or half-elf, and must have at least 15 Strength, Dexterity, Wisdom and Charisma, 12 Intelligence, and 10 Constitution. They must be of any neutral alignment.
What is the best multi class for a Bard? ›Which classes do Bards want for multiclass dips? Bards have much to gain from other Charisma-based spellcasters, Sorcerers and Warlocks. As usual, the Hexblade Warlock is mighty tempting. Paladins can also be good for Bards if there is enough room in the build to get Paladin auras.
What class goes best with Bard? ›Of all martial classes, the best one to take with the bard is the paladin. In part, this is due to complementary spellcasting. Even though the bard's high-level spells will be delayed, they gain access to several unique paladin spells, all of which use Charisma and are therefore compatible.
What are the three best skills for Bard? ›Typically, bards tend to be best with Charisma-based skills, and then have either Wisdom, Dexterity or Intelligence-based skills as a second speciality.
Can Bards counter Lost Ark? ›Lost Ark Bard Skill Bonus
You can counter all the actions of the boss in your team so that your teammates can concentrate on the output. If there are not so many skill points in the early stage, these countermeasure Skills can be used at level 1.
Bards can heal themselves and allies, as well as provide powerful shields and damage buffs. The class wields a Harp that produces magical songs to put its abilities to use.
Can Bards cast cure wounds? ›The Bards have healing spells (Cure X Wounds) because Bards have always had healing spells, in every previous version of the game that exists.
What is the best starting weapon for a Bard? ›Daggers are already a good starting Bard weapon, due to being a primarily dexterity-focused weapon. Magically enhanced with powers like Vampirism and Life Stealing, this particular dagger was used by a Drow priestess in gruesome rituals.
How good are bards in Lost Ark? ›Bard is one of the few support classes in Lost Ark. They're focused on short duration but strong buffs for healing, shielding, and damage increasing. Although they don't do much damage themselves, the damage increase they give to their team as well as the utility they provide is more than worth the difference.
Is Bard or Paladin better for PvP Lost Ark? ›Paladin is better in the early raids because its very simple to get the heals and the dps. Bard is better in the later raids because you can overheal through mechanics and give a better dps buff.
Is the Bard a good class Lost Ark? ›
Class Overview
The Bard is one of Lost Ark's dedicated support characters and is usually the top choice for a dedicated support in both PvE and PvP, although the Paladin (and in the future, the Artist) see play as well.
Bard is a great pick for anyone looking to play a core support role, allowing you to focus on healing and buffing allies, with two builds highlighting each playstyle. It's also very desired in-game, so a great pick if you always want a spot in a group.