Which Shield?

[antony]

Have any of you got any of these new shields bards can equip?:

â—?Wizard's Shield Lv.30 DEF:2 All Jobs
Latent effect: STR+2
â—?Trimmer's Aspis Lv.30 DEF:4 All Jobs
Latent effect: MND+2
â—?Wyvern Targe Lv.30 DEF:4 All Jobs
Latent effect: Haste+1%
â—?Esquire's Mantle Lv.30 DEF:2 All Jobs
Latent effect: Enhances "Undead Killer" effect
â—?Beater's Mantle Lv.30 DEF:2 All Jobs
Latent effect: Increases "Rapid Shot" activation rate
â—?Healer's Mantle Lv.30 DEF:2 All Jobs
Latent effect: "Magic Def. Bonus"
â—?Mercenary's Mantle Lv.30 DEF:2 All Jobs
Latent effect: Enmity+1

They drop from the new BCNM30 in Balga's Dais. 6-person BCNM.

[Siven]

For soloing you should probably go with something with a bit of DEF. There's the +CHR shield that you could possibly use for PTs, in combination with the +CHR club maybe, if not using Monster Signa. Higher up there's Genbu's Shield to look forward to but being as to do a bard's job properly you need to use a staff, shields aren't terribly important.

[Miriamel]

there is a lvl40 shield that gives +1 CHR and +6MP, would probably be the best choice all around.

[Blackwar]

i, personally, am going with the +CHR shield. I don't really solo anyways and am only in parties. I dont get resists very often but i'm sure the +CHR will help . I dont have any of the shields yet but if i'm gonna get one i would say the CHR one is best.

[antony]

Actually, I knew Elegant Shield was the best for bards. The problem is, it only drops from the Qu'Bia Arena BCNM40, 3-person. Bards are not needed in this fight. So I was really asking, does anyone have any of these level 30 shields, and what their party setup was to get it?

The only chance of getting elegant shield seems to be either a. buy it or b. have another job level 40 that is needed (damage, rdm)

Also, none of these level 30 latent effect shields are on the Cerberus AH yet.

[Faranim]

Use a Signa / Elemental Staff. They're better anyway.

[Nodachi]

If i chose to use a shield for melee reasons i would get the Def:4 +2 MND shield in that i want what a shield is made for. .. defense. the level 40 shield on our server is a rediculous price for 1 chr and 1 def, and then it's frustraiting to look at level 5 shields knowing they sport more def than this level 40 one. So yeah my vote would be on that level 30 one i spose.

[Rekiem]

Dont buy the shield. Its 100% useless for Bard. Its only a toy. I bought that shield and sold it almost imidiately after because its totally pointless. If you need CHR, use a Monster Signa.

[Sabin97124]

Good to hear this. But being a semi-noob bard, I wasn't sure if I can think of all possible reason's for ever needing this shield. But coming from a 75 brd, I think i'll spend my 500K else where.

Right now, my weapons of choice are:

Meele: Paper knife, and Shellbuster

Songs: Signa and Light Staff

If I ever need to rest for MP in between chains, I use the dark staff, to recover MP quickly, so I can help cure Meeles in between fights while the mages are still resting and enjoying ballad 1 and 2.

edit: O'man, I know most people think/ tells me that the darkstaff is way over kill for brd, but I have to say, with ballads, and the staff, I can recover most of my MP in 2,3 ticks (about 200mp).