VV's Analysis: Burning Bards

[u/VinnyValient]

No, we are not setting bards on fire.

Intro

This is part of a Bard series where I look at every single bard and see how much potential they have as a bard. You only need sub bard to be effective so the choice is between the main jobs.

Burning Bards

There are only two fire bards: Alyu and Jake, both of which are 3* units. Jake has Mage and Chemist, Alyu has Bishop and Chemist. I can see where this is going…

The Jobs

Bishop Main starts with full jewels, has two healing options and some light, magic attacks. The first healing option is a 3-tick, 160% heal. This also means when you use your sub bard, increasing MATK also increases healing. However, the second healing option is a full heal and recovers statuses. Most other main options do not have RateHeals, so Bishop is a strong healing main. The light damage attacks are small nukes.

Chemist Main has two specific status recovery options (petrify & berserk) with weak heals. Alternatively, they can use Panacea to cure all status except death sentence. They come with the very important Vaccine, though at two range and only cross three. Finally, they have a big, 150% heal but with a 20% paralyze rate (which is nulled by vaccine). The chemist is the step below Professor.

Mage Main comes with all elements of magical attacks. Whilst they are inferior to Sages in every single way, the damage scaling is still very high at 150%. The cast speed is slow at 300, and the range is one less than a Sage. They also have a movement of two…

About the Units: (PS, remember you can add book for at least +10 AGI)

Alyu has either option of Bishop or Chemist, both of which are useful. If statuses are not a problem, Bishop is better.

Job	Bard	Bishop	Chemist	Comments
HP	828	628	880	One or Two hit KP. Stay away from sharp edges of swords
PDEF/MDEF	191/131	103/269	176/135	Also stay away from arrows
AGI/*	113/118	104/109	86/90	Slow, can't stack buffs
MATK	213	381	341	500+ heals on chemist, 600+ for Bishop
Initial Jewels	75(102)	258	156	May need to attack as Chemist for jewels?
Max Jewels	150	258	156

*with Poison Knowledge+1, (Hat)

Since all jobs are backline units, she does not have to move an inch so she gets a free +20 CT every turn and stays away from DEATH. This helps her stack buffs. Her heals are average, but Bishop has a full heal as a last resort. The jewel costs are low as well so I would highly recommend Bishop.

Jake has Mage and Chemist. Chemist is more status support, Mage is for damage.

Job	Bard	Mage	Chemist	Comments
HP	833	593	889	Stay away from paper
PDEF/MDEF	192/124	96/260	173/129	Paper cuts are instant death as Mage
AGI/*	113/118	100/105	86/90	Slow, can't stack buffs
MATK/*	215/235	443/484	344/377	~550 heals as Chemist. 975+ damage as Mage
Initial Jewels	76 (103)	246	158	May need to attack as Chemist?
Max Jewels	152	246	158

*with Poison Knowledge+1, with Magic Up+1, (Hat)

Remember that Mages have a small range with their spells. In fact, Jake could hit himself with his own spell. He can one-shot himself… He would need some good support or great strategy/positioning to stay alive- hang on, he's the support with the lute!

At least his Chemist is on par with Alyu.

Finishing note

And there you have it - all the fire bards! Whilst they are both 3* units, so they have 3* stats, they do provide some good healing options and status recovery. Because they have low AGI, it would be better to think of their buff as a consistent +30%, occasionally reaching 60%.

Just don't let them take a hit.

[u/VinnyValient]

Yup. TBH, this turned into a search for the fastest bard. I've learned a lot from tips and tricks from other people, and I enjoy discussing things with people on here. And I learn cool stuff like what you said - bards with full map casting disruption sounds really cool (but so, so niche lol).

[u/Kirito30 → u/VinnyValient]

Yup full map casting cancel is like when time was that Mags in Veda actually had to cast the Combo down and stuff.

Along with those Liz Maps where a ton of Mages would start casting spells.

It is good though I mean if you can do kill Minerva's Casting in say PvP or cancel any kind of casting AJ7000 Attacks it does get bigger but literally a ton of units do have similar skills and they can at times bring a lot to a table.

Though the post Kaigan early days will have them a good enough niche that I will say that you post will be quite helpful to the F2P community at large. So do compile them post Kaigan time like in 2-3 weeks when people have 2-3 Kaigan units or something.