The Sky BRD

[Chromemage]

Hello everyone! It's me again...

I recently got sky access and somehow the word has leaked to my LS and now before i even knew what happened I'll be running Sky for the first time in t minus 8 hours!

Here's my game background real quick... I've been playing about 5 months now, have never run Dynamis, Sky, Sea, Limbus, or killed any noteworthy NMs. Nonetheless, my LS said I'd be fine. I've heard mixed reviews about BRDs in Sky... some enjoy it and other come to retiring theirs (lol). I hope I am the former...

Obviously, before I get in there I'd like to do a little preperation in form of information. Before I try to slink around the wiki's, I know there are some veteran end gamers here with a wealth of information.

My gear is your typical mediocre pre-endgame anything stuff. Full Sha'ir set, Walahra Turban, HQ Staves + Grips, Wind Torque, Gleeman's Belt, Minstrel's Ring+Nereid Ring, etc. The only "good" thing I'd say I have is a friend is letting me borrow his Ixion Cape. I assume he wants me to use it instead of Jester Cape +1... lol. I'll be going as BRD/WHM even though my MP will be about 320. Hey... I told you mediocre

Ok, enough rambling like I tend to do. If you've gotten this far, will I be able to manage ok with the above gear?

How chaotic (or not chaotic) are some of the battles as BRD? Any suggestions to keep it fun in there and not overly hectic?

Are battles more like everything else I've typically done as BRD.... Elegy -> Requiem -> Ballad for mages -> melee buffs (which?), etc... then rinse and repeat?

Any other suggestions for a first timer?

Thanks again for reading my long ass thread I tend to ramble... any information is good information!

[Malacite]

Re: The Sky BRD

Mediocre? You've actually got a pretty good set up so far.


Now, the thing with BRD is it gets rather boring (at least it did for me and many others I know) and typically most LS won't ever let you come as any other job, ever. That is, people start treating you more like a tool than a person, which is why I gave the job up for good. Hopefully this won't be the case with your shell.

My advice would be to just listen to your leaders as they likely know what they're doing and will direct you if anything goes wrong or you have any questions. Sky is not hard. It sucks because it's a massive grind much like Dynamis, not because it's difficult (sky is a joke tbh)

You're going to want to get your hands on Kirin's Osode and Byakko's Haidate ASAP as they are amazing pieces for BRD. Also make sure you have Black Mage leveled up as Elemental Seal is pretty much the only way you'll get Elegy to stick on Kirin (he's Earth element and lv 90)

Always always ALWAYS have Silent Oils and Prism Powders handy when in sky, unless you are NIN sub. Everything in sky aggros to magic and you will frequently need sneak in almost every area to get by safely with the exception of the Gardens.


As for non-sky gear to look into acquiring;

[Callisto]

Re: The Sky BRD

How chaotic (or not chaotic) are some of the battles as BRD? Any suggestions to keep it fun in there and not overly hectic?

Are battles more like everything else I've typically done as BRD.... Elegy -> Requiem -> Ballad for mages -> melee buffs (which?), etc... then rinse and repeat?

Any other suggestions for a first timer?

Thanks again for reading my long ass thread I tend to ramble... any information is good information!

For the actual fights, there's a couple of things you want to get used to. To start, if your group 2 merits are not done, I would recommend finishing them ASAP and doing 5 each of Troubadour and Nightingale.

The main thing you need to work on for large fights is positioning. Several of the high-end mobs you will fight in Sky have either AoE or front-conal TP moves. This means that you need to be a bit careful where you stand. When you are casting buffs on the frontline members, stand on the side of the mob, never next to the tanks/DDs that are directly in front or behind it. The likes of Claw Cyclone from Byakko can actually kill a mid-to-low HP BRD if Stoneskin is down and he catches you standing right in front of him.

Similarly, when you are done casting, get the hell away from it and get back by the mages to avoid getting hit by various AoE spells or TP moves. If your group does old-fashioned kited Kirin fights, you need to get used to timing spells, finding a spot to stand ahead of where your spell targets will be running so that it fires as they go by.

As far as spell selection, typically for debuffs only one of your spells matters: Elegy. If you are having trouble landing it, try to cast Earth Threnody as well. You're likely to see some resists pretty often on the actual gods, if the timer is ready, cast the spell. In large fights such as these Elegy is the single most important spell you can put on the mob, so make sure it is up and fresh as often as it can be. Don't bother with Requiem, it is going to resist a huge majority of the time, and is a pretty meek amount of DoT anyways.

Other than that, just try to be active as a support role job, moreso than just casting your BRD songs. Help with Paralynas, Silenas, and Cures when you see the chance pop up, never assume someone else is going to get it.

[Malacite]

Re: The Sky BRD

Oh I totally forgot about the merits

For Group 1, it greatly depends on what you do with your BRD. If you merit a lot, Lullaby Recast & Minuet are great, otherwise I'd probably go for Lullaby and Finale (though minuet can still help for that extra push of attack power, I find the timers on support abilities outweigh the extra 5~10 attack)

The other thing is you should get used to being rotated out of parties. Any good LS will rotate their bards for boss fights so as to maximize buffs on everyone. This is also where Troubadour, Nightingale and all that fast cast gear comes in very handy. You need to be able to buff each party as fast as possible.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: The Sky BRD

1. Bring a string instrument, in case you're tossed to the BLM party (I just use the Paeon+ one, since I usually bring it already). Harp + Ballad makes hitting all the BLMs with that song a bit easier without having to resort to bonking them on their heads.

2. Keep your Stoneskin up. Keep your Reraise up.

3. Walls are you friends when casting sneak/invis near magic aggro creatures--and Sky have plenty of those. Doorways, even ones with those meter thick doors that look like they can withstood cannon blasts, are not.

4. Get /BLM ready if you haven't already.

5. Tanks usually want March x2 or March + Ballad. If they don't answer when you ask which ones they want, can start with March x2 and watch their MP bars. I'd switch to March + Ballad when a tank drop to 1/3 MP, or earlier, as a rule of thumb.

6. Check out the tiers with Victory March; get it as high as you can.

Victory March (FFXIclopedia)

[Malacite]

Re: The Sky BRD

o.O wow I didn't know it could almost hit 12%... does that apply to advancing as well? What's the maximum cap then with both combined? (no SV)

[Callisto]

Re: The Sky BRD

20% combined is the max, most of those highest tiers for Advancing end up superfluous due to the ###/1024 nature of Haste, they won't actually bump you up to another full %. Usually anything over 533 skill is wasted.

[Malacite]

Re: The Sky BRD

Well, you can hit 20% with a Faerie Piccolo or Iron Ram Horn by 75 easily so that's why I asked. If Victory can hit nearly 12%, wouldn't that potentially bump the total to 22/23%?

I gave up on BRD ages ago so idk.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: The Sky BRD

Well, you can hit 20% with a Faerie Piccolo or Iron Ram Horn by 75 easily

You can? Easily? Advancing is capped to 9% (w/ Faerie Piccolo), and since I can't hit 11% for Victory (stuck at 10.84% right now, I think), I still can't reach 20% combined.

Edit:
Looks like there are a few relatively easy to obtain skill items I can get: Demon Helm, Echo Cape. Well, and Singing Earring, if I save up for a while and if it's ever on AH long enough for me to snatch it. Maybe soon I can hit 11%on Victory.

[Callisto]

Re: The Sky BRD

You can? Easily? Advancing is capped to 9% (w/ Faerie Piccolo), and since I can't hit 11% for Victory (stuck at 10.84% right now, I think), I still can't reach 20% combined.

Edit:
Looks like there are a few relatively easy to obtain skill items I can get: Demon Helm, Echo Cape. Well, and Singing Earring, if I save up for a while and if it's ever on AH long enough for me to snatch it. Maybe soon I can hit 11%on Victory.

Yeah, you should be able to hit the 499 mark with relatively standard Limbus/Dynamis/ZNM drops. I think I just barely ding it with Bard's Roundlet, Wind Torque, Musical Earring, Minstrel's Coat, AF+1 Hands/Legs, Nereid Ringx2, and Oracle's Pigaches. The 506-512 tier would be doable with Astute Cape and a Singing or Wind Earring.

[Chromemage]

Re: The Sky BRD

Just wanted to throw up a final post on this thread as its been about 2 months of Sky running for me.

Basically... running Sky as BRD is extremely easy, and from the pessimistics point of view I can see how many would get bored playing this job. I still like it just the same, though I do wish they would have added a "omg" ability/merit group for us. Nonetheless, you'll always get into the alliance even if you are 5 minutes late for gathering time

I saw there was a little bit of talk about knocking into the higher levels of March. Personally, it's almost negliable as far as I'm concerned. There are not many players out there who will examine you and instantly think "oh crap march x2 will only get me 20%". I'm not in a super hurry to camp the AH and drop 2mil (not sure if it goes for that much anymore...been awhile) so the PLD can get a 1-2% increase which he may or may not notice. Certainly wouldn't come close to turning the tide on any battle. Arguably if you run with multiple BRDs (we don't always have that option) and you're in a melee heavy party shouting for March, then it might matter a bit more.

For whatever reason, my end game shell as been doing the kiting approach to Kirin, so I'm almost exclusively BRD/WHM. On some gods I still get resists on Elegy and occasionally Threnody, and as always Requiem never, ever, ever sticks. Ever. Usually this doesn't matter so much either, as Elegy is the only real super important debuff and if does get resisted, rinse and repeat until it sticks. Nothing to it.

Gear wise, I don't see it having a HUGE impact either. I'm still running in full Sha'ir gear (+ W.turban) to be honest, as it seems EVERYONE has Osode and Haidate on their wish lists.

Next I'll be diving a lot more into sea...and maybe even Dynamis at some point. But thus far, sky has some beautiful places and it's been fun plugging through.