Bard is the first and only Physical Ranged DPS that players can start with upon entering the world of Eorzea in Final Fantasy XIV. Players will first start out as an Archer, before finally becoming a Bard at level 30.

As a Bard, their main objective in an instance is to deal damage to the enemies as a DPS. However, Bards are also known for their party utility and the amount of buffs and defenses they can supply for their teammates, making it an interesting DPS with a lot of support skill.

Because of this reason, this article wants to showcase ten of the best Bard's skills for a different variety of reasons, be it because it can deal high DPS, provide powerful buffs for the party, and so on.

10. Iron Jaws

A video describing how to play a Bard as a beginner. See Iron Jaws in action at 0:55.

Iron Jaws is the first skill to be featured in this article. It is an essential skill that needs to be used to replenish DoTs.

Why Iron Jaws is Great:

• In Final Fantasy XIV, bards have a total of two skills that can apply Damage Over Time to the enemies, which are Caustic Bite and Stormbite. Both of them will apply a DoT that will last for 45 seconds.
• In order to replenish these DoTs, Bards can instead use Iron Jaws before the DoTs expire, instead of using Caustic Bite and Stormbite again. Iron Jaws will replenish the duration of both DoTs back to 45 seconds.
• This will allow the Bard to be able to replenish two DoTs with one skill instead of two, saving them one extra GCD that they instead can use on other, more powerful skill to be able to deal more damage to the enemies.

Iron Jaws details. 

9. Pitch Perfect

A video describing Bard’s skills. See Pitch Perfect in action at 20:00.

Pitch Perfect is the second skill to be featured in this article. It is an important skill that can help spend Repertoire stacks to deal damage to the enemies.

Why Pitch Perfect is Great:

• Pitch Perfect is a level 52 ability skill that can deal damage to the enemies, and its potency depends on how many Repertoire stacks that the Bard has. In addition, this skill can only be activated when The Wanderer Minuet’s song is active.
• One stack of repertoire will deal damage with a potency of 100, 2 stacks of repertoire will deal damage with a potency of 220, and lastly, having 3 stacks of repertoire when executing Pitch Perfect will deal a 360 damage potency attack.
• In this case, Bards must try to use Pitch Perfect only when 3 repertoire stacks are collected to deal the most damage to the enemies. The only exception would be if The Wanderer’s Minuet time is about to run out, then Bards should use the remaining repertoire stacks instead of letting them go to waste.

Pitch Perfect details. 

8. Apex Arrow

A video demonstrating the Apex Arrow skill.

Apex Arrow is the third offensive skill to be featured in this article. It is a level 80 skill that can deal a lot of damage to the enemies when used right.

Why Apex Arrow is Great:

• Apex Arrow is a great offensive skill that will use the Soul Voice Gauge in order to execute it. It is a line attack that will deal damage with a potency of 100, and it will cost 20 Soul Voice Gauge.
• However, the small potency of 100 can be increased up to a whopping 500 the more Soul Voice Gauge the Bard has, increasing its use exponentially and is able to deal much more damage when used after Soul Voice Gauge has been filled up.
• In addition, using Apex Arrow will also grant Blast Arrow Ready when the Bard executes Apex Arrow at 80 Soul Voice Gauge or above. This will enable the Bard access to an even more powerful skill.

Apex Arrow details. 

7. Barrage

A video describing Bard’s skills. See Barrage in action at 13:18.

Barrage is the fourth ability skill to be featured in this article. Unlike the previous three, however, Barrage acts more as a skill that can help boost the damage that Bard can deal instead of a direct offensive attack skill.

Why Barrage is Great:

• Barrage is an ability that will triple the number of strikes for a single-target weapon skill, and this effect will only happen once. 
• It is a great ability that can be used with powerful single-target skills like  Refulgent Arrow in order to deal even more damage with the skill. This is because Barrage will also grant Straight Shot Ready, which will instantly allow the Bard to use Refulgent Arrow without having to wait for a proc.
• Additionally, Barrage will also increase the potency of Shadowbite to 270, allowing the Bard to deal even more damage to the skill.

Barrage details. 

6. Raging Strikes

A video describing how to play a Bard as a beginner. See Raging Strikes in action at 4:30.

Raging Strikes is the next skill to be introduced in this article. Like Barrage, it is also another support skill that can increase the damage dealt by Bard instead of an outright offensive skill.

Why Raging Strikes is Great:

• Raging Strikes will give the Bard a buff that will increase their damage dealt by 15% for 20 seconds. 
• This buff will automatically allow a Bard to be able to deal more damage to their enemies for the period of time. It is also suitable to be used during the opener, with potions, and when the party buff is up. 
• Additionally, Raging Strikes can also be weaved in between the Bard’s other GCD attacks. This means that Bards can easily activate this buff without having to interrupt their GCD attacks towards the enemies.

Raging Strikes details. 

5. Battle Voice

A video describing Bard’s skills. See Battle Voice in action at 16:15.

Battle Voice is the next ability skill to be introduced in this article. Similar to Raging Strikes, Battle Voice is also another ability skill that can provide buff.

Why Battle Voice is Great:

• Battle Voice is an ability skill that is important not only for the Bard, but also for their party members. 
• This is because executing Battle Voice will grant a buff for the Bard and their party members that will increase their direct hit rate by 20% for 15 seconds.
• This will allow the Bard and their party members to be able to deal more damage through dealing more direct hits to the enemies, being able to clear the dungeon even more faster.

Battle Voice details. 

4. Troubadour

A video describing the basics of Bard. See Troubadour in action at 9:20.

Troubadour is the next ability to be featured in this article. Similar to some of the other abilities and skills in this article, Troubadour is another support ability skill.

Why Troubadour is Great:

• Troubadour, when activated, will give a buff to the Bard and their party members that will reduce their damage taken by 10% for 15 seconds.
• This buff will allow the Bard and their party members to survive for longer as they will take less damage from mobs and bosses both. It is an incredibly useful skill when used before a painful raidwide.
• Additionally, Troubadour can also be weaved in between the Bard’s usual GCD attacks, allowing the Bard to be able to easily activate Troubadour between their usual attack rotation and combos.

Troubadour details. 

3. The Wanderer’s Minuet

A video describing Bard’s skills. See The Wanderer’s Minuet in action at 20:00.

The Wanderer’s Minuet is one of the three of Bard’s songs, and it is the only one to be featured here primarily because of the many uses it brings.

Why The Wanderer’s Minuet is Great:

• The Wanderer’s Minuet, first of all, is one of the Bard’s songs, which, when activated, will give a buff to the Bard and their party members that will increase their critical hit rate by 2% for 45 seconds.
• This buff will allow the Bard and their party members to deal more damage to the enemies by being able to have more critical damage through the buff of increasing the critical hit rate.
• Additionally, during the period of time of The Wanderer’s Minuet, it will also grant a 80% chance to gain Repertoire, which can be stacked up to three Repertoires. These Repertoires can be used to execute Pitch Perfect.

The Wanderer’s Minuet details. 

2. Blast Arrow

A video describing Bard’s rotation. See Blast Arrow in action at 6:25.

Blast Arrow is the next offensive skill to be featured in this article after a few support skills following them. 

Why Blast Arrow is Great:

• Blast Arrow can only be activated when the Bard is under the buff of Blast Arrow ready. This buff is provided through executing Apex Arrow at 80 Soul Voice Gauge or above.
• Blast Arrow is a really powerful AoE attack that will deal a straight line attack with a whopping 600 damage potency for the first enemy and 60% less for the remaining enemies.
• Because of the large damage potency of Blast Arrow, it makes this skill an incredibly powerful skill that can be used both in dungeons against a party of mobs or even against one boss in a raid setting scenario.

Blast Arrow details. 

1. Radiant Finale

A video describing what a Bard can do. See Radiant Finale in action at 5:05.

Radiant Finale is the last skill to be featured in this article and is also the last skill that a Bard can learn in FFXIV, as it is a level 90 skill.

Why Radiant Finale is Great:

• Radiant Finale, as a level 90 skill, definitely has its merit why it deserves the last spot as the long-awaited last skill to be learnt by the Bard. 
• Radiant Finale acts as a support buff ability skill that has the power to give a buff to the Bard and their party members that will increase their damage dealt for 15 seconds. The amount that will be increased depends on the Bard’s different Coda active in the song gauge when activating Radiant Finale.
• 1 Coda will grant a 2% increase, 2 Coda will grant a 4% increase, and lastly, 3 different Coda will grant a 6% increase of damage dealt for the Bard and their party members, allowing them to be able to kill the enemies even faster.

Radiant Finale details. 

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