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Just wanted to post a bit about this combo. I've had a chance to use it now in Lufaise Meadows a couple of times, in a monk burn, and also in some limbus runs. The topic pops up frequently and there're almost always some positive stories told about personal experiences. There are times when utility spells from /blm and /whm of course are more valuable and this combo should not be considered. However, I've found myself requesting to use it more and more. Generally, as long as a WHM or /WHM are present you should be able to get away with using /brd, depending on what you're fighting of course.
/BRD advantages:
+1 mp/tick from Mage's Ballad for you and mages in your party
+1 weak song buff for melees
+ hp regen from Paeon when its time for a rest
Light-based Sleep/Sleepga
Light-based dispel
resist silence trait
buff songs only take about as long as stoneskin to sing thanks to fast cast
/BRD limitations
Less base MP
Less time to do stuff like rest
More running around
These primarily are things you lack by not subbing the more common mage subjobs:
BLM- Warp/Escape, Aspir/Drain, ES, Sleepga, Elemental Enfeebles, tier 1 -agas, Conserve MP, Wizard's Earring.
WHM- DS, Erase, status cure -nas and elemental resist -ras, Curaga 1 & 2.
I haven't often been called upon to Escape a party, and warp is just a selfish convenience. Drain is a great, cheap nuke if you pump your Dark skill. Aspir is situational and again needs that +dark skill to work well. I can barely recall the last time I fired Elemental Enfeebles or tier 1 -agas.
conserve mp and wizard's earring. Elemental Seal is great if you remember to use it every 10 minutes. I generally fire my ES on Aspirs or a free nuke in typical xp parties unless there's a need to save it for an emergency sleep vs a dark resistant mob or something.
You really can't argue about the /whm utility. Either your party has a WHM main or couple of /whm's or it doesn't. It either is fighting mobs that have nasty status effects and AOE's or it isn't. And that ultimately determines if you can/should choose to /BRD.
Busy, busy, busy:
First off, this is a busy combination, the busiest job combo in the game in fact. In a typical fight a RDM/BRD will enfeeble (if kill speed warrants it), dispel as needed, haste/refresh, sleep/kite links, Magic Burst (if mob hp warrants it), backup heal, and sing 2 buff songs. I generally sing when the puller heads out if mobs are plentiful or when he/she is en route to camp. This cuts into some rest time. In fact, I pretty much don't rest when subbing BRD.
What to sing:
The songs are all weak compared to a main Bard, but far from useless. I discuss it with the melees and ask them to tweak their gear a little if they think they can get mroe ot of it. The choice is invariably between +accuracy and +attack (prelude for RNG's and gun-toting COR's). /BRD can add extra haste, but it calculates out in the neighborhood of 3% so its generally not in demand, and Etudes only seem to give +3 stat. There are times when the party takes a breather where Paeon is useful. Ballad is unaffected by not having an instrument, except for its shorter AOE & duration. It's great when at least 2 others besides yourself can benefit from it. It's very helpful even in burn parties, because main bards often have a hard time keeping 2 ballads up when they're pulling fast chains. Taking the load off an overworked bard helps chains go more smoothly, especially in fast fights where you're not enfeebling much or nuking at all, but mostly just hasting, refreshing, and healing.
Numbers:
Minuet II with 110 singing skill = +15 atk
Madrigral with 110 singing skill = +11 acc
I use a Song Belt (singing +5) for my buff songs. I've almost got enough gil for a Chanter's Staff (singing +4) and Singing Earring (singing +3). To make the list complete for this skill, there are also the (r/ex from event) Orphic Egg (singing +1) and (r/ex 75 ancient beastcoins) Musical Earring (Singing +5). I often bug bards about finding formulas for their songs and conduct some of my own tests. I'm thinking there'll be another small increase in buff potency (like +1 for mad/min) at 120 skill since minuet showed an increase of +1 going from 105 to 110. And conversely stick rates will improve for Lullaby and Finale with more skill.
Charisma is another matter: AF Tabard has +5 on it, errant/mahatma slops have +7/+8, Hume RSE2 hands (great int/mnd/mp piece in itself) has +4, and prism/rainbow cape has +4/+3, and if you've got room in that gobbie bag, there are fairly cheap charisma rings. There are other items to stack on CHR, but most of us RDM are already overflowing in the Gobbie Bag dept. Charisma is only useful on Bard debuffs, and the only ones you're likely to use are Finale since its an mp-free dispel, and Lullaby as it can sleep things that would resist dark-based Sleep spells. HQ Light staff is a plus for song debuffs, and I'm starting to wonder if Magic Acc+ from RDM JSE might not help a bit... I generally fire Finale then Dispel if additional dispelling is needed or if Finale's resisted. Same for Lullaby then Sleep II, though I generally fire that followup sleep II even when Lullaby lands due to duration isssues. These are not that fantastic but can save a little mp now and then and are very quick casts, or buy some time vs demons/bones/etc that are hard to sleep otherwise. For completeness' sake, there are also the Threnody's whose short duration elemental resist -% effect is supposed to be unresistable, and the DOT song which seems to get resisted a lot.
MP Concerns-
I wouldn't use this combo before level 50 because it lacks ballad. It'd be ok in the dunes/quifim of course, if you've got a race with decent mp. And all of my experience with it is @75 with merits. At 75 /blm gives a Red Mage 97 mp and /whm gives 78 mp regardless of race, when subbed to a job that has native mp. /brd gives you 0 mp. What has made this job combo work well for me at endgame compared to the grind up to 75, is 5x MP merits, 3x Convert merits, auto-refresh Sanction in ToAU areas, and the Magentic Earring's Conserve MP +5 which grants a weak Conserve MP trait while equipped regardless of subjob. You will have less MP to work with. However, you'll be able to land an occaisional MP-free dispel and you will have 1/mp tick extra from your Ballad. These factors actually bring the useable mp/10 minutes very close to what you'd have with /blm, though a few successful aspirs tip that in favor of /blm. And your fellow mages will have significantly more MP to work with because of Ballad, if a main bard is not already in your party.
The more mp users in your party, the more worthwhile is this combo, even when you already have a main Bard. If you happen to be main healing an all shadow party and have a backup status curer/curaga-er, you'd be surprised how efficient 3hp/tick regen-ga can be in addition to maintaining the standard 5mp/tick regen...
This job combo really solidifies your role as a support class. Not only will you be an enfeebling master, but you'll also have the ability to enhance your party members' attack power or accuracy. When called upon to mainly haste/refresh/heal, you'll be able to refresh for 4mp/tick instead of 3mp/tick, or haste for 18% instead of 15%, or regen for 8/tick instead of 5/tick. If you burn with main bards, the melees get 3 songs, the mages have a more consistently active Ballad I, and the Bard has a little more free time to pull/support.
/BRD advantages:
+1 mp/tick from Mage's Ballad for you and mages in your party
+1 weak song buff for melees
+ hp regen from Paeon when its time for a rest
Light-based Sleep/Sleepga
Light-based dispel
resist silence trait
buff songs only take about as long as stoneskin to sing thanks to fast cast
/BRD limitations
Less base MP
Less time to do stuff like rest
More running around
These primarily are things you lack by not subbing the more common mage subjobs:
BLM- Warp/Escape, Aspir/Drain, ES, Sleepga, Elemental Enfeebles, tier 1 -agas, Conserve MP, Wizard's Earring.
WHM- DS, Erase, status cure -nas and elemental resist -ras, Curaga 1 & 2.
I haven't often been called upon to Escape a party, and warp is just a selfish convenience. Drain is a great, cheap nuke if you pump your Dark skill. Aspir is situational and again needs that +dark skill to work well. I can barely recall the last time I fired Elemental Enfeebles or tier 1 -agas.
conserve mp and wizard's earring. Elemental Seal is great if you remember to use it every 10 minutes. I generally fire my ES on Aspirs or a free nuke in typical xp parties unless there's a need to save it for an emergency sleep vs a dark resistant mob or something. You really can't argue about the /whm utility. Either your party has a WHM main or couple of /whm's or it doesn't. It either is fighting mobs that have nasty status effects and AOE's or it isn't. And that ultimately determines if you can/should choose to /BRD.
Busy, busy, busy:
First off, this is a busy combination, the busiest job combo in the game in fact. In a typical fight a RDM/BRD will enfeeble (if kill speed warrants it), dispel as needed, haste/refresh, sleep/kite links, Magic Burst (if mob hp warrants it), backup heal, and sing 2 buff songs. I generally sing when the puller heads out if mobs are plentiful or when he/she is en route to camp. This cuts into some rest time. In fact, I pretty much don't rest when subbing BRD.
What to sing:
The songs are all weak compared to a main Bard, but far from useless. I discuss it with the melees and ask them to tweak their gear a little if they think they can get mroe ot of it. The choice is invariably between +accuracy and +attack (prelude for RNG's and gun-toting COR's). /BRD can add extra haste, but it calculates out in the neighborhood of 3% so its generally not in demand, and Etudes only seem to give +3 stat. There are times when the party takes a breather where Paeon is useful. Ballad is unaffected by not having an instrument, except for its shorter AOE & duration. It's great when at least 2 others besides yourself can benefit from it. It's very helpful even in burn parties, because main bards often have a hard time keeping 2 ballads up when they're pulling fast chains. Taking the load off an overworked bard helps chains go more smoothly, especially in fast fights where you're not enfeebling much or nuking at all, but mostly just hasting, refreshing, and healing.
Numbers:
Minuet II with 110 singing skill = +15 atk
Madrigral with 110 singing skill = +11 acc
I use a Song Belt (singing +5) for my buff songs. I've almost got enough gil for a Chanter's Staff (singing +4) and Singing Earring (singing +3). To make the list complete for this skill, there are also the (r/ex from event) Orphic Egg (singing +1) and (r/ex 75 ancient beastcoins) Musical Earring (Singing +5). I often bug bards about finding formulas for their songs and conduct some of my own tests. I'm thinking there'll be another small increase in buff potency (like +1 for mad/min) at 120 skill since minuet showed an increase of +1 going from 105 to 110. And conversely stick rates will improve for Lullaby and Finale with more skill.
Charisma is another matter: AF Tabard has +5 on it, errant/mahatma slops have +7/+8, Hume RSE2 hands (great int/mnd/mp piece in itself) has +4, and prism/rainbow cape has +4/+3, and if you've got room in that gobbie bag, there are fairly cheap charisma rings. There are other items to stack on CHR, but most of us RDM are already overflowing in the Gobbie Bag dept. Charisma is only useful on Bard debuffs, and the only ones you're likely to use are Finale since its an mp-free dispel, and Lullaby as it can sleep things that would resist dark-based Sleep spells. HQ Light staff is a plus for song debuffs, and I'm starting to wonder if Magic Acc+ from RDM JSE might not help a bit... I generally fire Finale then Dispel if additional dispelling is needed or if Finale's resisted. Same for Lullaby then Sleep II, though I generally fire that followup sleep II even when Lullaby lands due to duration isssues. These are not that fantastic but can save a little mp now and then and are very quick casts, or buy some time vs demons/bones/etc that are hard to sleep otherwise. For completeness' sake, there are also the Threnody's whose short duration elemental resist -% effect is supposed to be unresistable, and the DOT song which seems to get resisted a lot.
MP Concerns-
I wouldn't use this combo before level 50 because it lacks ballad. It'd be ok in the dunes/quifim of course, if you've got a race with decent mp. And all of my experience with it is @75 with merits. At 75 /blm gives a Red Mage 97 mp and /whm gives 78 mp regardless of race, when subbed to a job that has native mp. /brd gives you 0 mp. What has made this job combo work well for me at endgame compared to the grind up to 75, is 5x MP merits, 3x Convert merits, auto-refresh Sanction in ToAU areas, and the Magentic Earring's Conserve MP +5 which grants a weak Conserve MP trait while equipped regardless of subjob. You will have less MP to work with. However, you'll be able to land an occaisional MP-free dispel and you will have 1/mp tick extra from your Ballad. These factors actually bring the useable mp/10 minutes very close to what you'd have with /blm, though a few successful aspirs tip that in favor of /blm. And your fellow mages will have significantly more MP to work with because of Ballad, if a main bard is not already in your party.
The more mp users in your party, the more worthwhile is this combo, even when you already have a main Bard. If you happen to be main healing an all shadow party and have a backup status curer/curaga-er, you'd be surprised how efficient 3hp/tick regen-ga can be in addition to maintaining the standard 5mp/tick regen...
This job combo really solidifies your role as a support class. Not only will you be an enfeebling master, but you'll also have the ability to enhance your party members' attack power or accuracy. When called upon to mainly haste/refresh/heal, you'll be able to refresh for 4mp/tick instead of 3mp/tick, or haste for 18% instead of 15%, or regen for 8/tick instead of 5/tick. If you burn with main bards, the melees get 3 songs, the mages have a more consistently active Ballad I, and the Bard has a little more free time to pull/support.
Almost 80% of my JP PTs demand me sub WHM and then forego inviting any of the 3 WHMs LFP at the time and opt for another melee. For some reason, melee burn or mana burn (partial) setups are all the rage with JPs leveling their COR/BLU/PUP jobs.
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