BRD/BLU in Parties: How useful?

[Moaku Hyena]

The last thread was about /BLU in soloing, so I did this one on parties.

So I went out of my way to try out BRD/BLU early on (With permission from the party) because I got curious.

Well, since BRDs need all the CHR they can get, a BLU sub will allow you to gain an acceptable CHR bonus (+7 isn't bad considering I'm only 46), however with /WHM I had 3 more CHR. So it's a good advantage.

However, you'll be stuck with Healing Breeze and Pollen 'til you're BRD60. You also won't have Raise. You can try to throw a Feather Storm here and there...

Now I can see BRD/BLU working WONDERS in a Merit party because of Wild Carrot, Metallic Body, and Cocoon.

Discuss!

[Necropolis]

Re: BRD/BLU in Parties: How useful?

I could see the coccon being useful, but for the very little amount of damage that Metallic body absorbs (maybe 2 hits if one isn't critical) and the long cast time of it, I don't see it havn't an advantage over /nin or /whm.

Personally, I find it easier to pump in mind for stoneskin that to cast metallic body. And Utsusemi cast much quicker than both of them.

Just comparing /whm with /blu:

Whm has Stoneskin, blink, cures1,2,3, erase, -na spells and an adequate MP pool.

Blu would give you a few cures, weaker stoneskin, perhaps a few more chr depending on spell setups, and various traits that you could asserertain.

I don't see a major advantage of /blu in general, but I could see it giving more vit to take hits, more hp, possibly more mp, and even killer traits to help on pulls. I could see it working if you could set up a spell line list that would give you an extra boost to some stats, and have a few helpful traits.

Would depend largly on what spells are set, and the bard's adaptability to changes. Could see some good, but not sure if it's better than other subs. I'll have to level up my alt's blu a bit and try it out.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: BRD/BLU in Parties: How useful?

Hmm. Physical Blue Magic is based on accuracy with weapons, so Bards lose out a lot there (B- in Dagger the highest.) I'm guessing non-physical Blue Magic's accuracy is based on Blue Magic skill, so no go there, either.

Cocoon may be nice for pulling, but by the level BRD pulling is the norm BRD/WHM or BRD/RDM would have Stoneskin and Blink, and not far from access to Utusemi: Ni on BRD/NIN.

I just don't see it... Worse for backup curing, not safer for pulling ... All for small amount of CHR gain. No reason to go /BLU, as far as I can tell.

[Sabaron]

Re: BRD/BLU in Parties: How useful?

You can't -na as /BLU. Backup Healing efficiency is excellent -if- you have good MND. Elvaan BRD/BLU might be quite respectable. I don't know what the formula is, but it's uncapped and works very nicely on BLU/WHM, RDM/BLU, and WHM/BLU. High MND is the key. Elvaan get very good mileage with it--very efficient. Unfortunately, the MP pool seems rather low. I can see Cocoon as useful for pulling, making BRD/BLU a possible candidate for an alternative to BRD/NIN pulling at 60+ where the MP pool makes less difference, but I wouldn't use it prior to Wild Carrot. Healing Breeze is basically, a Curaga II for half-price--both cure roughly 180 which is very economical. They're exceptional with Divine Seal, but you don't have that.

It's not as good as WHM for most applications (lack of -na mainly), but against non-status mobs, I'd say as long as you've got a 3+/tick Refresh on you, it's probably more "bang for your buck" than WHM as long as you have good +MND gear.

Cocoon will only come into play if you're pulling.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: BRD/BLU in Parties: How useful?

/BLU's defensive spells would consume too much time casting when you could be pulling. If you know how to pull properly, you'll seldom take damage unless your tank is asleep on every pull.

If they are, please tell them: "Provoke first, then draw your weapons, you idiot!"

Or some nicer way of saying that.

/WHM and /NIN are the way to go for most of why BRD does and I'm still of the opinion /NIN isn't even needed for BRD pulling.

[Sabaron]

Re: BRD/BLU in Parties: How useful?

Cocoon is very fast, but I wouldn't bother with Metallic Body... It's terribly slow and exceptionally weak especially off sub ([Blue Magic Skill/3] + [Current level/3]).

Translating that to damage blocked at 75... (114/3) + (37/3) = 50.33333 or about 1-2 hits depending on target mob strength for a 7 second casting time. Utsusemi Ichi is 4 seconds for 3 hits.

Metallic Body is very, very bad off sub. Comparision with off-sub Stoneskins:
(Hume BRD75 has 56 base MND)

/WHM Stoneskin @ 75: (105/3)+56 = 91 * 2 - 60 = 122 damage
/RDM Stoneskin @ 75: (109/3)+56 = 92.3333 * 2 - 60 = 124.66666

There's no reason to use BLU for that. You can boost Stoneskin by stacking on +MND gear (Bard can stack on an awfully large amount of +MND including Errant/Mahatma so they can push 100+), but you cannot boost Metallic Body at all.


(( Slight Bias here. I hate Metallic Body even as BLU, I never use it. If you need SS, just go BLU/RDM or BLU/WHM and cast it. ))