Bard
Job Base(s):	Archer
Job Type:	2-2
Job Level:	50
Race:	Human
Changes At:	Comodo
Number of Skills:	18
Total Skill Points:	91
Total Quest Skills:	1
Job Bonuses
STR AGI VIT INT DEX LUK +2 +7 +3 +5 +9 +4

After a life of plucking their bows, many Archers feel the itch to pluck strings of a different kind. The Bards of the Rune-Midgarts Kingdom are the right choice for the idealists who wish to change the world with their poetry and music. The voice of a Bard is laden with magical harmonies, singing hymns that invoke the ancient Gods of Asgard to instill fear in the hearts of his enemies and inspire his comrades to victory with songs of eternal youth and glorious charges. Where their female counterparts, the Dancers, are more bent on disruption, Bards specialize in support which make them central in all defensive strategies during the War of Emperium or in parties against powerful monsters.

Supporting with a Bard or Dancer requires a different approach than other classes. Music-based buffs are mostly percental values, as opposed to the absolute values of Priest buffs, and require careful strategy and positioning. Despite their supportive role, one should not forget that Bards are also capable of dealing good quantities of damage. One of their main advantages over Hunters is their immense SP pool which allows them to continually use offensive skills instead of normal attacks, ensuring a consistent damage output.

In general, there are two types of support skills for both Bards and Dancers; Solo Performance Skills (which can be performed without a partner of the opposite gender) and paired Ensemble Skills (where the player needs the other class to perform together).

See Bard Job Change Guide for detailed information.

In order to become a Bard, one must go to Comodo and look for the Roaming Bard. The applicant has to perform various tasks:

• Collecting a Flower-related Item
• Making friends with Mr. Snowman in Lutie
• Testing your Singing Abilities

Once these have been completed, the applicant will be made a Bard by the Roaming Bard. Depending on if you brought certain Trunk-related items with you, he will also give you a Weapon depending on what you have brought and, in one case, if you are Job 50.

Note that you can now skip this quest (for a fee) by following the instructions here: Job Change Quest Skip

Base Level 99 base stat distribution suggestion:

• STR: 1
• AGI: 1
• VIT: 90
• INT: 50
• DEX: 90
• LUK: 1

Although Bards gain access to new Instrument and Song skills, the Archer skill Arrow Shower is still the most reliable AOE and only becomes more powerful with better gear and stats. With a proper set up and the right Elemental Arrows or Elemental Converters, this build can level very effectively and quickly to Base Level 99 by continuing the same strategy as before.

DEX is still your main damage and HIT stat, while VIT keeps you alive when mobbing larger groups of monsters and INT is recommended for SP regen and pool size.

Base Level 99 base stat distribution suggestion:

• STR: 1
• AGI: 1
• VIT: 50
• INT: 90
• DEX: 90
• LUK: 1

This build focuses on using Magic Strings, once the defining skill of the Bard Class, to help reduce pre- and post-cast times of Melody Strike to rapid-fire arrows from your instrument one monster at a time. While this is a slower method of leveling than Arrow Shower, it does allow the Bard to wear a Shield for more damage reduction as well as focus on more SP for more skill usage. Using Unbarring Octave may help with keeping monsters at bay if you start to get surrounded.

DEX is still your main damage and HIT stat as well as primary reduction for VCT, while INT allows for a larger SP pool as help with VCT reduction as well. VIT is added for HP and survivability. Note that if you are able to insta-cast Melody Strike before hitting 90 INT (from other gear or Magic Strings), feel free to swap the final stats for INT & VIT.

As a Bard, you can choose from Instruments, Daggers, and Bows as weapons, whereas Dancers can use Whips instead of Instruments.

• When armed with an Instrument:
  • Bow Skills (Double Strafe, Arrow Shower, Arrow Repel) cannot be used.
  • Auto-attack can only be performed in melee range but damage depends on the Bard's DEX, not STR, just like it does for Bows.
  • Instrument Skill (Melody Strike) can be used.
  • Performance Skills, as well as Amp and Encore, can be used.
  • Unbarring Octave and Pang Voice are usable regardless of weapons.

Orc Archer Bow + Steel Arrow

This combination will give you a 50% Ranged Physical damage increase, which greatly increases Double Strafe and Arrow Shower damage output without needing any refining or cards. The only downside is the lack of Card Slots but the 50% will carry this weapon for a long time.

Steel Arrow Quivers or individual arrows for this combo cannot be bought from an NPC, but Arrow Crafting can be used on many common items to make your own or they can be purchased from other players' Vend Shops.

Amp and Encore can be used to dramatically reduce the cost of SP consumption if you are using Performances/Ensembles regularly.

Mental Sensing is an awesome Ensemble Skill that boosts all EXP gained from monsters by up to 60%. However, you will need to find a Dancer who also has this skill to use it. So, unless the player is planning on leveling with a partner frequently, this skill won't see much use but should still be obtained due a 4th Class Troubadour Skill that allows you to use it solo.

A popular technique used among Bards to stop a song immediately. By switching to a Dagger-type weapon while performing a song, the song is immediately interrupted. Although it is also possible to cancel a song by equipping a Bow, changing to a Dagger has the advantage of keeping the Bard's Shield equipped. Do note though, that switching to a Dagger will unequip any Arrows. This does not occur when switching to a Bow.

This is called "Amping" due to a previous version of the Amp Skill being the way you would stop a Performance Song before the 2020 Skill Update.

A tactic used to make full use of the Bard's support and combat capabilities. The Bard casts a Performance Song for an instant, then dagger/bow switches to a damage or status dealing configuration to participate in combat. This works because a song's effect stays on players for about 20 seconds after a person leaves the song's AoE. One can also Flash by moving around a large formation of players with a single song up.

Song Flashing is somewhat complicated and can be confusing to keep in action. If a song is replayed before the 20 seconds is over, the buff does not restart. For example, if another player receives a song buff, then the Bard cancels it at 18 seconds and restarts it at 19 seconds, the effect will only last for one more second instead of an additional 20 seconds (to total 39 seconds). The effect will only be refreshed for 20 more seconds if it is cast again 21+ seconds after the initial Flash. This is extremely hard to keep track of without external timers or resources.

Placing both your arrows and quivers on the hotkey bar will allow players to monitor how many arrows they have left, open new quivers with a single key-press, and equip arrows if you accidentally run out. This can be a life saver in emergency situations.

When mobbing or tanking groups of monsters, especially for AOE leveling, Healing Items WILL need to be consumed and often even spammed.

Two popular and cheap healing items are Nepeta Cataria and Fresh Fish due to their cheap cost and low weight:

• Nepeta Cataria can be purchased from Cat Paw Shrimp Merchant in Izlude (izlude 117/165)Paste Ingame or Prontera (prontera 137/223)Paste Ingame (or in Lasagna (lasagna 166/117)Paste Ingame if starting as a Doram) for only 15z each (11z with max Discount).
• Fresh Fish can be purchased from Cooking Merchant (payon 167/134)Paste Ingame in Payon or Chef's Assistant (alberta 167/134)Paste Ingame at the docks of Alberta, as well as other cities, for only 250z each (190z with max Discount).

For a list of Healing Items, a comparison, and a list of a couple popular Healing Items, please see the main article: Healing Items.

Main article: Eden Group Equipments Quests

Eden Group Equipment is free and a great place to start for gear to use. The Bow is a good weapon and generally a good choice for a Bard due to the high ATK. A Bard does require an instrument to play songs, but any regular instrument will work for this.

Main article: Equipment

The Equipment article lists some general all purpose equipment that is useful through the PVM phase and also for endgame use as well.

Main article: Maestro Equipment

It is recommended to look at the Equipment recommendations for the Third Class job to see what equipment to strive for, rather than to spend a lot of money on a piece of equipment that will not be used in the future as a third class. However, some equipment may have a high level requirement, or are transcendent only.

After considering what requirement skills have (some skills can only be used with certain weapon types), the Weapon Search tool within the iRO Wiki DB site is very helpful. Generally, for physical classes (both melee and ranged), something with high ATK is best. For magic classes, something with high MATK is best.

Link to the iRO Wiki DB Weapon Search: http://db.irowiki.org/db/weapon-search/

There are 3 types of weapons that Bards can use. Daggers, Bows and Instruments. Daggers serve a limited usefulness, a common Knife is usually carried for its use in the dagger-stopping method to cancel songs. Instruments are needed to perform the songs and duets that the Bard class can do. Bows are used for killing / leveling purposes.

NOTE: The iRO Bard Skill Section below may be outdated due to numerous changes. Do not be surprised if some of the skill descriptions differ from the other reputable website contents or current in-game descriptions.

See Archer Skills for first class skills.

Skill	Description	Levels	Type
Amp	Reduces SP cost of performances, ensembles, and dances by 20% for 3 minutes. Can be used in conjunction with Encore.	1	Active
Encore	Recast the last Performance Skill that was cast at half of the SP cost.	1	Active
Impressive Riff	Provides a buff that Increases ASPD.	10	Active
Magic Strings	Provides a buff that reduces Variable Cast Time and Cast Delay of skills.	10	Active
Melody Strike	Use an Instrument-type weapon to do Ranged Damage to a single target with an arrow.	5	Offensive
Music Lessons	Increases damage and ASPD with Instruments. Increases Movement Speed while singing. Also increases Max SP.	10	Passive
Perfect Tablature	Provides a buff that increases FLEE and Perfect Dodge.	10	Active
Song of Lutie	Provides a buff that increases the Max HP and incoming recovery rate.	10	Active
Unbarring Octave	Freeze monsters and party members within caster's view by chance.	5	Active
Unchained Serenade	Deals Neutral property magic damage to all enemies within 9x9 cells around the user. (PVP only Skill)	5	Offensive

Ensemble Skills can only be performed when a Bard and Dancer are in the same party and standing beside each other. When an Ensemble skill is performed by one of them, the lowest level of skill learned between them is the one performed.

• For example, when a Bard that has learned Acoustic Rhythm Lv.5 performs the skill with a Dancer that has only learned Acoustic Rhythm Lv.3, the Bard and Dancer will perform Acoustic Rhythm Lv.3

Skill	Description	Levels	Type
Acoustic Rhythm	Increases resistance against some Elements (Fire, Wind, Water, and Earth) and some Status Effects.	5	Active
Battle Theme	Provides a buff that increases ATK and DEF.	5	Active
Classical Pluck	Casts a 9x9 area around the caster that will inflict Confusion and disables all skills. (PVP only Skill)	1	Active
Down Tempo	Reduces the DEF of enemies within 9x9 cells around the user to 0. (PVP only Skill)	1	Active
Harmonic Lick	Grants a random buff to the user and nearby party members.	5	Supportive
Lullaby	Sing a dreamy song to put enemies in a 9x9 area to Sleep.	1	Active
Mental Sensing	Provides a buff that increases the EXP earned from monsters killed.	5	Active
Power Cord	Provides a buff that nullifies item costs for most skills.	1	Active

Skill	Description	Levels	Type	Job Level Requirement	Quest
Pang Voice	The Bard screams out at a single target, attempting to inflict Chaos status effect.	1	Active	40	Pang Voice Quest

See Bard and Dancer Spirits.

Description	Skill	Levels	Type
If level 10 Impressive Riff is learned enables the use of Slow Grace for the Soul Link duration.	Slow Grace	10	Active
If level 10 Magic Strings is learned enables the use of Lady Luck for the Soul Link duration.	Lady Luck	10	Active
If level 10 Perfect Tablature is learned enables the use of Focus Ballet for the Soul Link duration.	Focus Ballet	10	Active
If level 10 Song of Lutie is learned enables the use of Gypsy's Kiss for the Soul Link duration.	Gypsy's Kiss	10	Active

Skill	Description	Levels	Type
Ragnarok	Randomly casts spells in the area of effect for 60 seconds.	Unknown	Offensive

Stat\Amount	+1	+2	+3	+4	+5	+6	+7	+8
STR	3	28
AGI	2	10	11	24	30	35	48
VIT	17	33	43
INT	5	13	21	40	47
DEX	7	15	16	19	32	38	46	50
LUK	6	9	20	41

Equip Attack Speed From Archer Bare Handed 156 0 Shield -7 +2 Dagger -13 +2 Bow -8 +2 Instrument -5 N/A

ASPD Potions Usable Concentration ✔ Awakening ✘ Berserk ✘

Bard • Minstrel • Maestro • Troubadour
2nd Class Skills	Solo Skills	Amp • Encore • Impressive Riff (Slow Grace) • Magic Strings (Lady Luck) • Melody Strike • Music Lessons • Pang Voice • Perfect Tablature (Focus Ballet) • Song of Lutie (Gypsy's Kiss) • Unbarring Octave • Unchained Serenade
	Ensemble Skills	Acoustic Rhythm • Battle Theme • Classical Pluck • Down Tempo • Harmonic Lick • Lullaby • Mental Sensing • Power Cord • Ragnarok
Transcendent Skills	Solo Skills	Arrow Vulcan • Hermode's Rod • Marionette Control • Skilled Special Singer • Tarot Card of Fate
	Ensemble Skills	Sheltering Bliss
3rd Class Skills	Solo Skills	Circle of Nature • Death Valley • Deep Sleep Lullaby • Dominion Impulse • Echo Song • Frigg's Song • Full Throttle • Gloomy Shyness • Harmonize • Improvised Song • Metallic Sound • Reverberation • Severe Rainstorm • Siren's Voice • Song of Despair • Voice Lessons • Windmill Rush
	Chorus Skills	Dances with Wargs • Great Echo • Infinite Humming • Lerad's Dew • Saturday Night Fever • Sinking Melody • Song of Destruction • Song of Mana • Warcry from Beyond
4th Class Skills	Solo Skills	Metallic Fury • Mystic Symphony • Retrospection • Rhythm Shooting • Rose Blossom • Sound Blend
	Chorus Skills	Geffenia Nocturne • Jawaii Serenade • Kvasir Sonata • Loki Capriccio  • Miner Rhapsody • Musical Interlude • Nifflheim Requiem • Prontera March • Stage Etiquette
Quests	Bard Job Change Guide • Bard Skill Quest • Rebirth Walkthrough • Fourth Class Job Change Quest Skip • Maestro Job Change Guide • Troubadour Job Change Guide
Weapons	Bow (Arrows) • Instrument • Dagger

Classes of Ragnarok Online
Novice Class	Novice • High Novice • Super Novice • Hyper Novice*
First Class / High First Class	Swordman • Mage • Merchant • Acolyte • Thief • Archer
Second Class	Knight • Crusader • Wizard • Sage • Blacksmith • Alchemist • Priest • Monk • Assassin • Rogue • Hunter • Bard • Dancer
Transcendent Second Class	Lord Knight • Paladin • High Wizard • Scholar • Mastersmith • Biochemist • High Priest • Champion • Assassin Cross • Stalker • Sniper • Minstrel • Gypsy
Third Class	Rune Knight • Royal Guard • Warlock • Sorcerer • Mechanic • Geneticist • Arch Bishop • Sura • Guillotine Cross • Shadow Chaser • Ranger • Maestro • Wanderer
Fourth Class	Dragon Knight • Imperial Guard • Arch Mage • Elemental Master • Meister • Biolo • Cardinal • Inquisitor • Shadow Cross • Abyss Chaser • Windhawk • Troubadour • Trouvere
1st Expanded Class	TaeKwon Kid • Ninja • Gunslinger
2nd Expanded Class	TaeKwon Master • Soul Linker • Kagerou • Oboro • Rebel
3rd Expanded Class	Star Emperor • Soul Reaper • Shinkiro* • Shiranui* • Night Watch*
4th Expanded Class	Sky Emperor • Soul Ascetic
Doram	Summoner • Spirit Handler*