Bard

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Bard

'The Magical Minstrel'

Strength

13

Vigor

13

Agility

13

Dexterity

20

Will

11

Knowledge

20

Resourcefulness

15

Health

96

Memory

14

Description

Bards in Dark and Darker are versatile performers, who use their skills in music, storytelling, and magic to support their allies and hinder their enemies. They can cast a wide variety of spells, ranging from healing and protection to charms. Bards can also inspire their allies with rousing speeches and music, boosting their morale and granting them temporary bonuses. In combat, bards can use their weapons and martial skills, but they excel at using their charm and wit to manipulate their enemies, making them an unpredictable and dangerous foe.

Class Info

To play the lute, the bard needs to hold the instrument and then activate the Skill: Music Memory by pressing the default E button. From there, the player can select the desired song and initiate it by right-clicking.

To successfully activate the song's effect, it is crucial to hit the right notes at the right time. As the song plays, the player should press the right mouse button at the correct moment to ensure a smooth and uninterrupted performance. If the player can successfully play the song to the end, the song effect will be activated, providing a variety of benefits in combat and other game scenarios.

Weapon of choice: Rapier

• Pros:
  • Extremely good selection of powerful passive buffs. Passive healing, spell restoration for friendly casters, as well as defensive and offensive buffs alike.
  • Able to manipulate NPCs with a variety of crowd control songs. Able to massively debuff NPC damage resistance, up to 60% extra damage with Shriek of Weakness which is great for bosses
  • Access to melee weapons, a shield, and ranged options, allowing for high versatility.
  • Several AoE damage sources and debuffs, allowing for strong space control and party play.
  • High interaction speed and movement speed (when buffed).
  • Highest potential Luck stat + Can unlock chests with Unchained Harmony
• Cons:
  • Tunnel vision: it is difficult to be aware of your surroundings and make the right decisions while switching instruments, focusing on the music minigame, and rotating your buffs.
  • Weak without buffs, leading to slow gameplay and clears when played solo. If played too hastily, there is the risk of getting caught in PvP while unbuffed.
  • While versatile, has a limited gear selection and is a jack of all trades. Only bow is the Survival Bow, only shield is the Buckler, and only has access to a few melee weapons.
  • Timing tunes is not easy in dire situations.
  • Low durability and limited access to armor.
  • Very loud, attracting attention from other players.

Music Minigame

Songs have different effects depending on how they are played, Bad/Good/Perfect each giving different performances.

Each hit add a score to the performance.

• Good Hit = 70 (White part of the note)
• Perfect Hit = 100 (Gold part of the note)

Score determines performance quality if it is higher than the thresholds:

• Bad = 50%
• Good = 65%
• Perfect = 90%

Total possible score:

• (Note Count) x 100

You can equip an additional perk every 5 levels. Currently maxed out at Level 15, so a total of 4 perks can be equipped.

Name	Description
Charismatic Performance	Upgrades a 'good' performance into a 'perfect' performance.
Dancing Feet	Gain 10 Move Speed Add when holding an instrument.
Fermata	Gain 5 Resourcefulness
Jolly Time	Drinking Ale recovers 5 Physical Base Healing and grants 10 Move Speed Add when drunk.
Lore Mastery	A high level of understanding of objects grants you 25% Regular Interaction Speed.
Melodic Protection	While playing songs, gain 30% Physical Damage Reduction.
Rapier Mastery	When a rapier is equipped in either hand, gain 2 Physical Buff Weapon Damage and 5% Action Speed.
Reinforced Instruments	Gain 50% Physical Power Bonus when attacking with a musical instrument as a weapon. (This does not apply to Songs)
Story Teller	Give all party members within 4.5m 3 Will and 3 Knowledge.
Superior Dexterity	Gain 50% when switching between weapons/utility items.
Wanderer's Luck	Increases the chances of finding high-quality items when opening treasure chests by gaining 50 Luck.
War Song	If a song performance is successful, grant 3 Physical Buff Weapon Damage to yourself and allies within 4.5m for 6s.

You can equip a total of 2 skills.

Name	Description	Cooldown
Dissonance	Creates an unpleasant noise to block hostile targets within a 6m area from casting spells, Silencing them for 3 3s.	24s
Encore	The next song is automatically played to the end without any input and is sure to succeed. Gain 100% Manual Dexterity on this song, though capped to 50%.	4s
Party Maker	Remove drunk effect from self and all allies	4s
Music Memory	Can store up to 5 sheet music as space permits.	/
Music Memory 2	Can store up to 5 sheet music as space permits.	/

Instruments

Drum

Flute

Lute

Lyre

- Cast Time Intervals represent the time between each note in a song

- Base durations listed are calculated with (as of Patch #2) Bard's base 15 Persuasiveness

- Some songs are noted to not scale with Persuasiveness, meaning they always last the listed amount, before Buff/Debuff duration, noted as 0% Persuasiveness Scaling.

- Some songs technically apply no duration where their affect lasts only while Channeling, like Peacemaking and Chaotic Discord, meaning they cannot possibly scale with Persuasiveness nor Buff/Debuff duration. Not noted in the Persuasiveness column.

Name	Description	Range	Damage/Persuasiveness Scaling	Cast Time	Cost	Sample
Rousing Rhythms	Grant all allies within range 2 All Attributes for 30s/60s/90s.	3m/4.5m/6m	100% Persuasiveness Scaling	Total: 4s Intervals: 0.75 > 0.75 > 0.75 > 0.75 > 1	3
Din of Darkness	After finishing the song, Channel for another 7.36s during which you deal 1/3/5 Dark Magical Base Damage per beat to all enemies/monsters within range.	5.5m	Magical Damage: 6%/9%/12% Scaling	Total: 7.36s Intervals: 0.92 > 0.92 > 0.92 > 0.92 > 0.92 > 0.92 > 0.92 > 0.92	3
Beats of Alacrity	Grant self 5/7/9 Move Speed Add for 30s/60s/120s.		100% Persuasiveness Scaling	Total: 3.6s Intervals: 1.2 > 0.6 > 0.3 > 0.3 > 1.2	1
Allegro	After playing, grant all allies within range the Allegro buff which grants ramping 3%/4.5%/6% Action Speed and 3%/4.5%/6% Spell Casting Speed while the Allegro buff lasts, stacking up to 3 times and refreshing every second.	3m/4.5m/6m	0% Persuasiveness Scaling	Total: 4.25s Intervals: 1 > 1 > 1 > 0.75 > 0.5	4
Accelerando	After playing, grant all allies within range the Accelerando buff which grants ramping 1/3/5 Move Speed Add while the Accelerando buff lasts, stacking up to 3 times and refreshing every second.	3m/4.5m/6m	0% Persuasiveness Scaling	Total: 4.94s Intervals: 0.78 > 0.78 > 0.78 > 0.78 > 1.04 > 0.78	4
Unchained Harmony	Open all doors/containers within range, including locked containers but not locked doors.	3m		Total: 7.92s Intervals: 1.22 > 1.22 > 0.61 > 1.84 > 1.22 > 0.61 > 1.2	5
Shriek of Weakness	Shriek into the ears of all enemies/monsters within range, causing them to suffer -3/-4/-5 Physical Power and -10/-20/-30 Armor Rating for 6s/12s/18s. Damage Increase Graph	4.5m	100% Persuasiveness Scaling	Total: 4.5s Intervals: 1.6 > 0.8 > 0.6 > 1.5	3	(Noteskip)
Piercing Shrill	Deal 15/20/25 Physical Base Damage to all enemies/monsters within range and inflict the echo sound effect on the affected target for 3s if the target is a player.	5.5m	Physical Damage: 10%/30%/50% Scaling	Total: 7.21s Intervals: 1.03 > 1.03 > 1.03 > 1.03 > 1.03 > 1.03 > 1.03	3
Banshees Howl	Cause all enemies/monsters (except Sub-boss and boss monsters) within range to suffer -1/-2/-3 All Attributes for 20s.	3m/4.5m/6m	100% Persuasiveness Scaling	Total: 5.4s Intervals: 1.2 > 0.6 > 1.2 > 0.6 > 0.6 > 1.2	3
Song of Silence	Silence all enemies/monsters within range for 1s/1.5s/2s. See Silence page for more details.	4.5m	0% Persuasiveness Scaling	Total: 4.56s Intervals: 0.88 > 1.06 > 1.06 > 1.06 > 0.5	2
Peacemaking	Channel for 5s, during which, all characters within range lose the ability to fight or use any attack related animation when enchanted.	3m/4.5m/6m		Total: 6.42s Intervals: 1.48 > 1.48 > 1.48 > 1.48 > 0.5	3
Lament of Languor	Cause all enemies/monsters within range to suffer -10 Move Speed Add for 6s/12s/18s.	3m/4.5m/6m	100% Persuasiveness Scaling	Total: 3.55s Intervals: 0.71 > 0.71 > 0.71 > 0.71 > 0.71	2
Chaotic Discord	Channel for 5s during which you excite all monsters (no effect on players) within range to attack the nearest target except the performer. Monsters deaths inflicted by other monsters are accredited to the Bard, at least for Adventure Points.	3m/4.5m/6m		Total: 5.92s Intervals: 0.74 > 0.74 > 0.74 > 0.74 > 0.74 > 0.74 > 0.74 > 0.74	3
Aria of Alacrity	Grants self 4%/6%/8% Action Speed for 30s/60s/120s.		100% Persuasiveness Scaling	Total: 4.33s Intervals: 0.83 > 1 > 1 > 1 > 0.5	1
Tranquility	Grants all allies within range the ability to restore 1 Recoverable Healing per second when resting for 10s/20s/30s.	3m/4.5m/6m	100% Persuasiveness Scaling	Total: 4.88s Intervals: 0.75 > 0.38 > 0.75 > 0.38 > 1.12 > 1.5	2
Song of Shadow	Grants all allies within range invisibility for 15s/25s/35s. Invisibility breaks upon movement.	3m/4.5m/6m	0% Persuasiveness Scaling	Total: 6.19s Intervals: 0.63 > 0.63 > 0.63 > 0.95 > 0.95 > 0.95 > 0.95 > 0.5	3
Harmonic Shield	Grants all allies within range 15 Armor Rating and 15 Magical Resistance for 30s/60s/120s. Effective Health Increase Graph	3m/4.5m/6m	100% Persuasiveness Scaling	Total: 7.84s Intervals: 1.12 > 1.12 > 1.12 > 1.12 > 1.12 > 1.12 > 1.12	4
Chorale of Clarity	Grants all allies within range the ability to restore 8 Spell Points per second when resting for 8s/16s/24s	3m/4.5m/6m	100% Persuasiveness Scaling	Total: 4.68s Intervals: 1.04 > 1.04 > 1.04 > 0.52 > 1.04	3
Ballad of Courage	Grants self within range 5/7/10 Physical Power for 30s/60s/120s.	3m/4.5m/6m	100% Persuasiveness Scaling	Total: 3.75s Intervals: 0.75 > 0.75 > 0.75 > 0.75 > 0.75	1

These Stats do not include starting armor.

Stat Name	Base Stats
Strength	13
Vigor	13
Agility	13
Dexterity	20
Will	11
Knowledge	20
Resourcefulness	15
Health	96
Memory Capacity	14
Utility Effectiveness	0
Luck	0
Health Recovery Bonus	-6%
Spell Recovery Bonus	73%
Move Speed	298 ( 99.33% )
Action Speed	3.25%
Manual Dexterity	15%
Spell Casting Speed	15%
Equip Speed	25%
Regular Interaction Speed	-1.2%
Magical Interaction Speed	-20%
Persuasiveness	15
Buff Duration	-8%
Debuff Duration	8.7%
Armor Penetration	0%
Magic Penetration	0%
Headshot Reduction	0%
Projectile Damage Reduction	0%
Physical Damage Reduction	-22%
From Armor Rating	0 ( -22% )
From Bonuses	0%
Magic Resistance	2%
From Resist Rating	18 ( 2% )
From Bonuses	0%
Physical Power Bonus	-4%
From Physical Power	13 ( -4% )
From Bonuses	0%
Magic Power Bonus	-20%
From Magic Power	11 ( -20% )
From Bonuses	0%
Primary Weapon	0
Secondary Weapon	0
Impact Power	0
Primary Weapon Impact Power	0
Secondary Weapon Impact Power	0

-See Persuasiveness for more on song's base durations

-The Bard has access to many powerful songs. Considering bringing both Song Memory skills to maximize your versatility.

-Remember that not all of your buffing songs will buff your party. Some songs, such as Beats of Alacrity, Aria of Alacrity, and Ballad of Courage will only buff the Bard playing the song.

-Chaotic Discord is a great way to solo clean chaotic rooms. Mobs will kill each other while keeping the Bard safe. Can also be used as a protection if attacked by other players while in a room full of mobs.

-Peacemaking can be a powerful stalling tool, but beware of ranged attackers outside of its AoE. The song is quite long to play, so beginning it before the encounter is recommended. It also will not disable spellcasters.

-Accelerando is a powerful tool both for fleeing and engaging.

-Tranquility is a reusable heal, but depends on the quantity of Recoverable Health. In groups, it is most useful on high Health classes, like the Barbarian, or classes who generate a lot of Recoverable Health, like the Warlock.

-Shriek of Weakness can nearly double your party's physical damage against mobs, and can provide significant assistance against plated Fighters and Clerics.

-Chests opened with Unchained Harmony gives experience to the Bard. In theory, this would mean that Bard's Luck is used to generate the loot of the chests, however this is not confirmed.

All bolded numbers are automatically updated; however, non-boldened phrasing/numbers are written manually by the community. See Class Ability Documentation for more.