I’m not a famous streamer, nor korean playing LA since a long time. I’m just a normal person who enjoy theory craft a lot (sometimes too much 
) And I’m not thinking that my build is perfect, it just suit my will and I’m open to criticism if it is follow with argument
This build has gotten me to valtan HM so far with great return from my teammate and I think it will be good for vikas, since it’s not release yet I can’t be 100% sure
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Build Link
My actual build : Bard #14400 - Skill Builds - Lost Ark Codex
I haven’t unlock all runes that I want (ex : legendary conviction and judgment) nor I’ll go over special rune for certain encounter (ex : cleanse on P1 valtan)
Link with less skill point at the end of the post -
Stat
As you can see I have more spec than swift, this allow me 2 things :
- First, it gives me more identity bubble, I’ve tried with full spec I need 1 less prelude of storm to get 1 bubble (47% increase vs 20% with full swift)
- Second, my identity heal and damage buff for more. Right now, it gives 33% more heal from serenade of salvation primary tick (vs 14% full swift = ≈ +1k per tick), 60% increase of serenade of courage (vs 25% with full swift)
engraving heal are not affected by specialization % - Finally, I only have 18% cdr vs 33% with full swift
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Engraving
Nothing original here apart from the 3rd one
Magick stream allow me (if i’m not hit) to gain mana regen and 10% cdr, that compensate for the lack of swiftness in my stat to get all the group damage buff as frequent as possible
Unless you are more confident with heavy armor engraving, you don’t need it has a bard (for the content we got right now), there is a skill that reduce damage receive for you AND your party member, I’ll go over it below
In order of importance : Desperate salvation, Expert, Awakening, Drop of Ether, Magick Stream -
In depth skill choice, tripod and runes
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Prelude of storm
This skill is a must have for bard, since the last balance patch it also counter, it gives ton of identity meter and is easy to hit. For almost all content use it on uptime
1 - Quick prep to get more uptime
2- Melody increase to get more identity meter
3- Powerful prelude to get even more identity meter with the electric field
4- Wealth rune to get more identity meter -
Dissonance
Quick cast, and easy to maintain, it gives a bit of identity meter but it’s mostly use for the second tripod
1- Melody increase to get more identity meter
2- Lethargic harmony to debuff boss up to -35% damage inflicted. This debuff affect your whole party (not raid) teammate can get hit more often before they need a heal and it allows to get rid of heavy armor engraving
3- Living harmony, it helps getting the maximum amount of stack
4- Quick recharge, since it’s a short cooldown it give chance to reduce cooldown of all skill -
Harp of rhythm
This is your only way to get your party the 10% increase damage from note brand, it has a huge area of effect (24m as big as paladin aura) and after you place it you don’t need to care about keeping the uptime for the debuff = this is great for my lazyness
1- Summoning will, this to reach 100% uptime
2- Melody increase, it regen 1% identity meter / second passively. even if nothing is hit, but it is not affected by specialization nor relic set gear % increase
3- Not brand, nothing more to say apart from the quick intro
4- Bleed, great uptime for bleed, applied every hit. usually my main source of damage -
Rhapsody of Light
My panic skill, for me or for my teammate. Usually not use unless I need damage reduction and/or push immunity
You don’t need to be in the area of effect to get the damage reduction
1- Quick prep to get more uptime
2- stabilized light, did I say panic button ?
3- Shining protection, for a bit of shield and above all damage reduction
4- Protection, me too I want a shield -
Sonic vibration
The difficult group damage buff skill, if you get a party with range only it’s a pain to get everyone in
This group buff and the one below can’t be stack, but the identity one (serenade of salvation) can
1- Protective vibration, because I don’t know what else to put, maybe “Tenacity”
2- Brilliant wave, this tripod gives the party buff
3- Wide-angle attack, this allow to get back attacker and front attacker the buff if cast on the boss
4- Overwhelm, your only stagger and destruction skill. Viva the bomb -
Heavenly tune
The easy group damage buff and also gives mana recovery for everyone (and you will need it)
This group buff and the one above can’t be stack, but the identity one (serenade of salvation) can
1- Quick prep to get more uptime
2- Tough tune to also give attack speed buff
3- Intense tune for the group damage buff
4- Rage, for the moment I don’t have better, maybe quick prep might be good too -
Guardian tune
The easy group shield buff, also before getting the shield give a damage reduction
1- Agile cast, it’s always a pain to get cancelled during the cast. It give easier chance succeed the cast. Mind enhancement can be a good alternative too, for hard content I never run out of mana (unless it is easy descaluda)
2- Endless protection, to give a shield to your teammate at the end of the protection buff
3- Agile defense, more uptime at the cost of duration effect. you get 15sec less cooldown for 4sec less duration of your shield, I think it is an easy bargain
Moreover I never seen a use for debuff attack block from “shield of protection” tripod. If anyone know, I would gladly have an example
4- Quick recharge, because of the last tripod it became a spamable skill -
Wind of music
The harder group shield and also a nice identity meter generator. cast it at close range most of the time
1- Quick prep to get more uptime
2- Melody increase to get more identity meter
3- Wind of protection, to get a nice shield around you ← harder if all your teammate are range
4- Wealth to get more identity meter per cast
- Skill that I don’t use and why
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Soundholic
-I don’t like to be anim lock with the bard. I believe that with harder content coming, getting lock in place for 1.5s is something that I will regret at least 50% of the time that I use this skill
-Boss and guardian are getting more and more mobile and because you take the tripod that remove the ability to change direction you might not hit the boss for the full duration, that mean less identity meter generation too
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Sound shock
I already have almost 100% uptime of sound shock debuff with the harp but it might be good for conviction-judgement rune combo as maxroll do
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Rune that I still need
Legendary conviction
and judgement 
: I need to test it but I was thinking of replace the rune of harp of rythm , rhapsody of light or sonic vibration -
Identity usage
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Serenade of salvation : as much as needed for your teammate but use 1 bubble only. The most important (and easy) heal is the one coming from your engraving 24% of your max health for a bigger aoe than the circle that is on the ground. if my teammate need just a small heal I wait to get as close as getting a second one to drop it
They will love that you save them their pot -
Serenade of Courage : 1 bubble = 5% increase damage for 8s
2 bubbles = 10% increase damage for 12s
3 bubbles = 15% increase damage for 16s
Always cast it at 3 bubbles, because at 1 you get 33% of the max buff for 50% less time. At 2, 66% only for 25% less time. That way it will cover most of the burst damage dps phase and also stack this buff with your normal skill one
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Gear
If people are really interested I can develop this part, but as of right now I haven’t test anything -
Skill rotation
- Always start a fight with a group shield (people are not yet focus to evade attack or they can’t see attack coming) with guardian tune
- place the harp on skill uptime
- debuff boss on skill uptime with dissonnance
- generate identity meter on skill uptime with prelude of storm
- Rotate your damage buff
- Rotate your shield buff
- Example of Awakening
I will give example on valtan phase as of when I’m using awakening. Because for me it is more important to give the strong shield than the bubble gain while using it
- On first hammer phase, place is full of wall and people don’t want to loose health as early. Bonus : if timed right, it can also tank the red aoe
- On every hammer phase after the first use of balthor. Same as above, and also if they are far from the landing point no damage received
- On every portal charge, it can tank most of the hit
- On memory phase, it helps relax people as we, most of the time, are too surprised to think quick
- Build link with less skill point
- 384 : Bard #14400 - Skill Builds - Lost Ark Codex
- 356 : get dissonance to lvl 7
- 328 : get prelude of storm to lvl 7
- 300 : get guardian tune to lvl 7
- less than 300 : replace rhapsody of light by whatever you like
I think I have done all the explanation that I wanted to share, try it and tell me what you (and your teammate) think of it !
Enjoy !
