Quest	NPC	Location	Conditions
A Song of Bards and Bowmen	Luciane	Gridania, Archers' Guild	ARC 30

For each quest you complete, you will be rewarded with a new ability, while the latter quests will also reward you with artifact (AF) armour that is shown in the screenshot above.

Introduction to Bard

Bard is a support job that branches off the damage dealing class Archer. The idea behind the job is that it sacrifices some damage in order to buff party members via songs.

Attributes

As a Bard your main stat is Dexterity (DEX) for your ranged damage. You should be focusing on equipment with this stat. For secondary stats you should be focusing on the likes of Direct Hit Rate, Determination, Critical Hit Rate and Skill Speed in addition to simply boosting DEX. However you'll find Skill Speed is generally not worth it.

Skill Speed and Critical Hit Rate are self explanatory in what they do. For the other two, Determination is used to boost the damage dealt by all attacks and the amount of HP recovered when healed while Direct Hit Rate is Stormblood's replacement for Accuracy. Instead of a simple hit or miss effect that Accuracy could give, having low Direct Hit Rate for a fight will reduce damage dealt so it is important to improve this stat.

Actions

Actions are skills that the Bard can equip to their bar and select to use at any time as long as their timer is available. Actions used in a combo will generate additional damage and effects. All Bard actions are exclusive to that job.


AST  BRD  BLM  DNC  DRK  DRG  GNB  MCH  
MNK  NIN  PLD  RDM  SAM  SCH  SMN  WAR  WHM

	Name	Level	Cast	Recast	MP	TP	Range	Radius
	Mage's Ballad	30	0	80	0	0	25y	0y
	Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 100. Additional Effect: Grants Mage's Ballad to all party members within 30 yalms, increasing their damage dealt by 1% Duration: 30s Additional Effect: 40％ chance to grant Repertoire when damage over time is dealt by Caustic Bite or Stormbite Repertoire Effect: Resets the recast timer of Bloodletter and Rain of Death This action does not share a recast timer with any other actions. Furthermore, the recast timer cannot be affected by other actions.
	the Warden's Paean	35	0	45	0	0	30y	0y
	Removes one select detrimental effect from self or target party member. If the target is not enfeebled, a barrier is created nullifying the target's next detrimental effect suffered. Duration: 30s
	Army's Paeon	40	0	80	0	0	25y	0y
	Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 100. Additional Effect: Grants Army's Paeon to all party members within 30 yalms, increasing their direct hit rate by 3% Duration: 30s Additional Effect: 40％ chance to grant Repertoire when damage over time is dealt by Caustic Bite or Stormbite Repertoire Effect: Reduces weaponskill cast time and recast time, spell cast time and recast time, and auto-attack delay by 4% Can be stacked up to 4 times. This action does not share a recast timer with any other actions. Furthermore, the recast timer cannot be affected by other actions.
	Battle Voice	50	0	180	0	0	0y	20y
	Increases direct hit rate of all nearby party members by 20%. Duration: 20s Can only be executed while singing Mage's Ballad, Army's Paeon, or the Wanderer's Minuet.
	the Wanderer's Minuet	52	0	80	0	0	25y	0y
	Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 100. Additional Effect: Grants the Wanderer's Minuet to all party members within 30 yalms, increasing their critical hit rate by 2% Duration: 30s Additional Effect: 40％ chance to grant Repertoire when damage over time is dealt by Caustic Bite or Stormbite Repertoire Effect: Allows execution of Pitch Perfect Can be stacked up to 3 times. This action does not share a recast timer with any other actions. Furthermore, the recast timer cannot be affected by other actions.
	Pitch Perfect	52	0	3	0	0	0y	0y
	Delivers an attack with a potency of 100 when Repertoire stack is 1, 250 when Repertoire stack is 2, and 450 when Repertoire stack is 3. Can only be executed when the Wanderer's Minuet is active.
	Empyreal Arrow	54	0	15	0	0	0y	0y
	Delivers an attack with a potency of 230.
	Iron Jaws	56	0	2.5	0	0	0y	0y
	Delivers an attack with a potency of 100. Additional Effect: If the target is suffering from a Caustic Bite or Stormbite effect inflicted by you, the effect timer is reset Additional Effect: 35% chance of becoming Straight Shot Ready Duration: 10s
	Sidewinder	60	0	60	0	0	0y	0y
	Delivers an attack with a potency of 100. Additional Effect: If the target is suffering from a Caustic Bite or Stormbite effect inflicted by you, Sidewinder potency is increased to 200 for one effect, or 350 for both Shares a recast timer with Shadowbite.
	Troubadour	62	0	120	0	0	0y	20y
	Reduces damage taken by self and nearby party members by 10%. Duration: 15s Effect cannot be stacked with machinist's Tactician or dancer's Shield Samba.
	Caustic Bite	64	0	2.5	0	0	0y	0y
	Delivers an attack with a potency of 150. Additional Effect: Poison Potency: 40 Duration: 30s Additional Effect: 35% chance of becoming Straight Shot Ready Duration: 10s
	Stormbite	64	0	2.5	0	0	0y	0y
	Deals wind damage with a potency of 100. Additional Effect: Wind damage over time Potency: 50 Duration: 30s Additional Effect: 35% chance of becoming Straight Shot Ready Duration: 10s
	Nature's Minne	66	0	90	0	0	30y	0y
	Increases HP recovery via healing actions for a party member or self by 20%. Duration: 15s
	Refulgent Arrow	70	0	2.5	0	0	0y	0y
	Delivers an attack with a potency of 340. Can only be executed when Straight Shot Ready.
	Shadowbite	72	0	60	0	0	0y	5y
	Delivers an attack with a potency of 100 to target and all enemies nearby it. Additional Effect: If the target is suffering from a Caustic Bite or Stormbite effect inflicted by you, Shadowbite potency is increased to 160 for one effect, or 220 for both Shares a recast timer with Sidewinder.
	Burst Shot	76	0	2.5	0	0	0y	0y
	Delivers an attack with a potency of 250. Additional Effect: 35% chance of becoming Straight Shot Ready Duration: 10s
	Apex Arrow	80	0	2.5	0	0	25y	25y
	Delivers an attack with a potency of 120 to all enemies in a straight line before you. Soul Voice Gauge Cost: 20 Potency increases up to 600 as Soul Voice Gauge exceeds minimum cost. Consumes Soul Voice Gauge upon execution.

As well as these the Bard can also equip Archer actions.

Role Actions

Since the A Realm Reborn expansion for FFXIV, cross class actions were removed and replaced with the concept of "role" actions. Role actions are more generic as they don't belong to specific classes, but instead to roles such as melee DPS, magic DPS, healer or tank. The Bard can equip up to 5 of these.

Name

Level

Cast

Recast

MP

TP

Range

Radius

PvP Actions

From the Stormblood expansion PvP was revamped significantly and you can no longer use PvE actions during PvP battles. That means all of the actions above you can no longer use in PvP. Action Points (AP) were also removed. While some of the dedicated PvP actions do have the same name, they will have different potencies or effects. Below are the PvP actions that are unique to the Bard. There exists even more PvP actions and even traits but these are not unique to the Bard. You can find these further down the page.

	Name	Cast	Recast	MP	TP	Range	Radius
	Terminal Velocity	1.5	15	0	0	30y	30y
	Delivers an attack to all enemies in a straight line before you with a potency of 6,000 for the first enemy, 25% less for the second, 50% less for the third, and 75% less for all remaining enemies. Additional Effect: Reduces target's HP recovered by healing magic by 25% Duration: 15s Can only be executed while the Adrenaline Gauge is full.

Shared PvP Actions

The following is a list of PvP actions which are shared across all classes and jobs. These can only be used in PvP areas and you are limited to selecting two of them.

	Name	Cast	Recast	MP	TP	Range	Radius
	Aetheric Siphon	0	6	0	0	25y	0y
	Activates the instrument.
	Anti-gravity Gimbal	0	5	0	0	0y	0y
	Simulates the spell Levitate using Nero tol Scaeva's odd contraption.
	Bolt	0	45	0	0	0y	0y
	Movement speed is increased. Duration: 10s
	Chimatsuri	4.5	45	0	0	8y	0y
	Concentrate	0	45	0	0	0y	0y
	Creates a barrier preventing Stun, Sleep, Bind, Heavy, Slow, Silence, and knockback effects. Duration: 10s
	Deflect	0	2	0	0	0y	4y
	Scatters potentially harmful aether.
	Doom Of The Living	4.5	45	0	0	8y	0y
	Dragonsong Dive	4.5	45	0	0	8y	0y
	Enliven	0	90	0	0	0y	0y
	Restores 50% of maximum TP.
	Final Heaven	4.5	45	0	0	8y	0y
	Delivers an attack with a potency of 9,000.
	Muse	0	90	0	0	0y	0y
	Restores 25% of maximum MP.
	Purify	0	45	0	0	0y	0y
	Removes Stun, Sleep, Bind, Heavy, Slow, and Silence from target. Can be used regardless of own status affliction.
	Recuperate	0	45	0	0	0y	0y
	Restores 25% of maximum HP.
	Safeguard	0	90	0	0	0y	0y
	Reduces damage taken by 25%. Duration: 10s
	Smoke Screen	0	2.5	0	0	0y	20y
	Throw an incendiary device that creates a blanket of smoke temporarily granting you the Stealth status.
	Ungarmax	3	30	0	0	14y	20y
	Vril	0	3	0	0	0y	0y
	Use the aetheric residue lingering on your body to temporarily disguise yourself as one of Lakshmi's loyal dreamers.

Shared PvP Traits

The following is a list of PvP traits which are shared across all classes and jobs. These can only be used in PvP areas and you are limited to selecting three of them.

	Name	Description
	Decreased Damage Taken	Decreases damage taken by 3%.
	Decreased Recast Time	Decreases recast time of additional actions by 20%.
	Increased Action Speed	Decreases weaponskill and spell cast and recast times by 3%.
	Increased Damage Dealt	Increases damage dealt by 3%.
	Increased Healing Potency	Increases spell-based HP restoration by 5%.
	Increased HP	Increases maximum HP by 5%.
	Increased MP Regeneration	Increases MP regeneration rate by 25%.
	Increased Resistance Duration	Increases duration of resistances by 50%.
	Increased TP Regeneration	Increases TP regeneration rate by 40%.

Bard Equipment

The best equipment for your Bard constantly changes depending on what was added in the latest patch so it is important to do your own research on top of this guide. We have broken the equipment down into tiers in order to give some indication of what you can use before you get up to that item level tier.

Slot	Best	Next Tier	Third Tier
Main Hand	Edenmorn Cavalry Bow	Augmented Cryptlurker's Composite Bow	Cryptlurker's Composite Bow
Head	Augmented Cryptlurker's Helm of Aiming Edenmorn Mask of Aiming	Cryptlurker's Helm of Aiming	Augmented Law's Order Elmo of Aiming Edenmete Mask of Aiming Law's Order Elmo of Aiming Exarchic Hood of Aiming
Body	Augmented Cryptlurker's Corselet of Aiming Edenmorn Coat of Aiming	Cryptlurker's Corselet of Aiming	Augmented Law's Order Corselet of Aiming Law's Order Corselet of Aiming Edenmete Coat of Aiming Exarchic Top of Aiming Ornate Exarchic Top of Aiming
Hands	Edenmorn Armguards of Aiming Augmented Cryptlurker's Vambraces of Aiming	Cryptlurker's Vambraces of Aiming	Law's Order Gauntlets of Aiming Augmented Law's Order Gauntlets of Aiming Edenmete Armguards of Aiming Exarchic Armguards of Aiming
Legs	Augmented Cryptlurker's Hose of Aiming Edenmorn Hose of Aiming	Cryptlurker's Hose of Aiming	Edenmete Hose of Aiming Augmented Law's Order Brayettes of Aiming Law's Order Brayettes of Aiming Exarchic Bottoms of Aiming
Feet	Augmented Cryptlurker's Boots of Aiming Edenmorn Sabatons of Aiming	Cryptlurker's Boots of Aiming	Edenmete Sabatons of Aiming Law's Order Sabatons of Aiming Augmented Law's Order Sabatons of Aiming Exarchic Boots of Aiming
Waist	Edenmorn Leather Belt of Aiming Augmented Cryptlurker's Belt of Aiming	Cryptlurker's Belt of Aiming	Edenmete Leather Belt of Aiming Exarchic Sash of Aiming
Neck	Edenmorn Necklace of Aiming Augmented Cryptlurker's Choker of Aiming	Cryptlurker's Choker of Aiming	Edenmete Necklace of Aiming Exarchic Choker of Aiming
Ear	Augmented Cryptlurker's Earring of Aiming Edenmorn Earrings of Aiming	Cryptlurker's Earring of Aiming	Edenmete Earrings of Aiming Exarchic Earrings of Aiming
Rings	Edenmorn Ring of Aiming Augmented Cryptlurker's Ring of Aiming	Cryptlurker's Ring of Aiming	Edenmete Ring of Aiming Exarchic Ring of Aiming
Wrist	Edenmorn Wristlet of Aiming Augmented Cryptlurker's Bracelet of Aiming	Cryptlurker's Bracelet of Aiming	Edenmete Wristlet of Aiming Exarchic Bracelet of Aiming

AST  BRD  BLM  DNC  DRK  DRG  GNB  MCH  
MNK  NIN  PLD  RDM  SAM  SCH  SMN  WAR  WHM

The following comments are from our legacy commenting system.

Nimrod [Anon]	Jun 22, 2015 - 21:09:27 | Location: Nowhere, In a Box
	There seems to be an error in the explanation of Iron Jaws. (Potency taken from Empyreal Arrow)
Anonymous	Jul 15, 2014 - 08:50:19 | Location: Nowhere, In a Box
	I have a question. Farshot said Potency is not affected by distance. Is distance affected only in pvp or both pvp and pve?
Anonymous	Jan 15, 2014 - 03:46:30 | Location: Nowhere, In a Box
	Invigorate restores 400tp
Koramu Akura [Anon]	Sep 19, 2013 - 02:32:46 | Location: Nowhere, In a Box
	Feint only slows attack/skill//cast speed. It does not slow run speed so it isnt that great. Best cross class skills for BRD are: Groups: 1.Internal Release 2.Blood For Blood 3.Mantra 4.Invigorate 5.Second Wind Solo: 1.Second Wind 2.Haymaker 3.Internal Release 4.Invigorate 5.Featherfoot
Nanaki386 [Anon]	Sep 06, 2013 - 19:34:11 | Location: Nowhere, In a Box
	Anyone know if the "additional effect: slow" of Feint is a movement speed decrease? Or if its just attack speed?
Calder [Anon]	Sep 05, 2013 - 18:53:55 | Location: Nowhere, In a Box
	Cure is horrible for anyone that doesn't have mind, even a Paladin it's almost worthless. Bard is better off with PGL and LNC abilities, Second Wind will work way better as a heal anyway.
Xenor	Sep 02, 2013 - 07:34:54 | Location: Durham, United Kingdom
	I'll fix this tonight. I don't know how it was over looked when I updated the jobs after phase 4.
Darq [Anon]	Aug 30, 2013 - 17:06:43 | Location: Nowhere, In a Box
	Agreed with Mirth Alfa. This needs to be updated. Can't use the CNJ abilities and need to add the PUG abilities that can be used as cross skills.
Euphya [Anon]	Aug 30, 2013 - 09:40:10 | Location: Nowhere, In a Box
	Dang too bad....,cure and raise were actually two big reasons for me going bard...especially cure argh.
Anonymous	Aug 30, 2013 - 03:45:19 | Location: Nowhere, In a Box
	yeah I heard we can only cross skill from pugilist(duh) and lancer now. I'm not quite sure about lancer since I haven't levelled it and I'm kinda sad I can't cross skills my conjurer abilities when I'm a bard.. self heals saved me alot of times because I tend to solo alot and move at a fast pace that sometimes my HP doesn't regen to full before I start another fight.
Anonymous	Aug 30, 2013 - 03:45:07 | Location: Nowhere, In a Box
	yeah I heard we can only cross skill from pugilist(duh) and lancer now. I'm not quite sure about lancer since I haven't levelled it and I'm kinda sad I can't cross skills my conjurer abilities when I'm a bard.. self heals saved me alot of times because I tend to solo alot and move at a fast pace that sometimes my HP doesn't regen to full before I start another fight.
Anonymous	Aug 30, 2013 - 03:42:32 | Location: Nowhere, In a Box
	yeah I'm kinda sad that I can't cross skill other classes anymore as a bard. I've heard that We can only cross skill pugilist and lancer skills now. I don't know about lancer since I haven't levelled one
Mirth Alfa [Anon]	Aug 29, 2013 - 07:21:21 | Location: Nowhere, In a Box
	I can confirm that cure is no longer usable by BRD nor is protect or Raise
KazumiAmano	Aug 04, 2013 - 17:53:37 | Location: Unknown, United States
	In Phase 3, I'm almost sure you wanted to stay a Bard. The best weapon was for BRD only, Rain of Death gave 10% damage taken debuff, and I think BRD got a bunch of DEX as a bonus just for changing to BRD. The cross-class skills you could use would never make up for this. In Phase 4, I saw there are variations of top level gear (relic+1 and an equivalent) for class and job, so that shouldn't be an issue, and Rain of Death lost that damage taken debuff. It may well be that for purely top DPS you'll want to choose Archer when you're completely decked out, but even then a Bard will almost certainly be more desirable in any party formation even IF it does slightly less DPS, as an 8 man buff is well worth a little DPS loss for the individual.
Dps archer [Anon]	Aug 04, 2013 - 01:44:41 | Location: Nowhere, In a Box
	Does max lvl archer have to go bard for max dps?
fate167	Aug 01, 2013 - 12:45:50 | Location: Unknown, United States
	do conjurers and white mages have skills or spells that can restore the mp of party members to help when a bard does run out of mp?
Xenor	Aug 01, 2013 - 12:34:11 | Location: Durham, United Kingdom
	It is a constant MP drain until you run out of MP, cn't remember if it restores your own too but I don't think it does. You can turn the songs off and on however by recasting them. From what I read elsewhere you get abut a minute before your MP runs out. You can boost this time with PIE and ethers, and I think having a second BRD will mean unlimited time with a rotation.
fate167	Jul 31, 2013 - 12:59:16 | Location: Unknown, United States
	If it doesn't restore your own mp then I'm assuming that the mp drain while singing will probably be a slow drain so that you can still use a decent amount before running out of mp. At least most of the attacking skills that the bard would use come from the archer and use tp instead of mp. Other than singing, most of your need for mp would be for healing spells, which would be minimal in a dungeon or party since there would more than likely be a dedicated healer anyway.
Anonymous	Jul 31, 2013 - 01:11:42 | Location: Nowhere, In a Box
	Is this a constant MP drain or just during cast time? I'm really hoping that Mage's Ballad can be used to regenerate the Bard's own MP as well as the party. I would hate to lose more MP than I can regenerate. This is vital for long battles in my experience.
Anonymous	Jul 16, 2013 - 18:50:53 | Location: Nowhere, In a Box
	need a heal over time song...

Final Fantasy XIV Launches to the Moon This Autumn in Brand New Expansion Endwalker

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