Bow supportive Bard (Chanter/Ranger)

[Andres Arigon]

Hello there,

I’m planing to build my support bard, a proper buff, debuff, crow control and with some damage on the top.  I know there is not a proper bard class but I guess the Chanter(trovador) is the most closest class and sub class to the Bard.  (Sorry I have a big passion about bards!, especially support bards)

I am thinking to give a try to the multi class POTD in a team of 5. I know rangers talent tree is boring and not optimal for a bard however I would like to build a bard with a bow or crossbow. I saw some bows that can give some support. Again, I know it is not optimal. 

Is it possible to play a bard with a bow?

how bad is the chanter/rangers in terms of support?  I know less optimal than chanter/ paladin or Druid. However, I don’t like to play OP classes. 

Any recommendation for a ranger subclass?

Any personal experience?

thanks

 

[NotDumbEnough]

Try any ranger subclass (except Stalker) multiclassed with Skald. Chanters have a very powerful chant for ranged attacks at tier 3 (Sure-Handed...) so just keep that up with Aefyllath Ues Mith Fyr, and use your high accuracy to land offensive invocations. 

[Constentin Lévine]

You can try a Chanter Priest maybe, Priest is very well as support, and in opposition to the Paladin, their spells are in AoE. Both classes have the potential to support the party, to deal some damages, to rescue uncouscious or near death ally, to debuff enemies. 

Priest of Wael can give you some solution when attacked in melee (wearing a Bow mean -10 deflections), Skaen subclass some spells to run away in this case, Eothas get some spells by default you may appreciate preserving Ability point for others stuffs, Priest of Woedica get some unique spells that can "mute" enemies however their resistances.

In the Chanter side, Skald can be good since offensive invocations cost -1 phrase, but Troubadour have +50% duration to the linger of the phrase. Bellower is not a good choice I think because of the reduced radius for the chants. And Beckoner is focused on summons.

As mentioned by NotDumbEnough, the tier 3 chant Sure-Handed is more efficient that the text suggest, Bow is not a bad option at all.

Edited March 1, 2022 by Constentin Lévine

[dgray62]

I agree with Constentin Lévine that a chanter/priest is fantastic support character. You certainly could wield a bow, but in my experience later in the you probably won't be using it much. Since priest spells take awhile to cast and troubadours gain phrases quickly with brisk recitation on, you mainly will be casting spells, more or less alternating invocations and priest spells. This being the case, you'd be better off with stat sticks in hand, such as Sasha's Singing Scimitar, Sun and Moon, etc. If you really want to go to the bow route, you'd be better office going chanter/ranger. You'd have less supportive power and AOE offense, but much better damage with the bow itself.

[thelee]

3 hours ago, Constentin Lévine said:

Skald can be good since offensive invocations cost -1 phrase, but Troubadour have +50% duration to the linger of the phrase.

it's a rough comparison. the discount is mostly useful for tier 1 and 2 offensive chants, which merely puts it on par (in terms of time) with a troubadour during brisk recitation. sure, the troubadour in this situation loses linger, but there are a whole host of other possible benefits from rapidly going through chants that it's not really a trade-off.

that means the skald can only really come out well in the comparison if you are also getting some bonus phrases from melee crits, which a bow-user would not get.

 

8 hours ago, Andres Arigon said:

how bad is the chanter/rangers in terms of support?  I know less optimal than chanter/ paladin or Druid. However, I don’t like to play OP classes. 

chanter/ranger would be fine. i'm guessing you'd want to stay in range of your pet, so that your pet also gets chants, at which point it seems like a stalker is a natural ranger subclass, which will give your pet important survivability boosts when you're at 4m or closer. you lose a bit of the benefit of the bow, but you're still avoiding melee combat, and protective companion on your companion will help keep enemies at bay. come come soft winds of death (or the dragon thrashed) chants function like DoTs, which will activate Predator's Sense for your pet, for a little bit of extra damage. like @dgray62says, if you actually want to use your bow, you'd probably stay away from priest since eventually you'll spend a lot of time just casting buffs and debuffs. with chanter/ranger you still have some buffs and debuffs but you can also invest in making your auto attack very good.

[Andres Arigon]

It is an example of my Bow Bard Support build (21 points) + weapon.

• White rectangle = Free spell chosen in the character creation
• Red rectangle = MUST
• Red dash rectangle = Maybe / Alternative
• Yellow rectangle = Duplicated MUST passive
• Yellow dash rectangle = Duplicated Maybe / Alternative passive

What do you think?
Any feedback is welcome

[Boeroer]

I would do it differently.

If you combine a reloading weapon like a firearm or a crossbow/arbalest with Gunner and Sure-Handed-Ila you'll have a shooter who is reloading VERY quickly. This can be extremely useful because the modals of crossbows/arbalests do interrupt - but they slow you down. With enough shooting speed like from gunner + SHI you can lock down a single enemy all by yourself nonetheless.

The reason why this is so fast is that Sure-Handed Ila applies both the recovery bonus AND the reload bonus to reloading weapons, making it twice as good for them in comparison to normal recovery weapons like bows and wands etc. 

Also Driving Flights allows you lock down two enemies at once.  

I like Spearcaster for a crossbow build because first of all it comes so early - and secondly with max Arcana it has insane accuracy. The lashing enchantment is great as well. Add Myth Fir chant for more lashes (for your party, too) and even get very good DPS from your shots, not only CC and interrupts. SHI + Mith Fyr is also very, very nice for companions such as Maia as Scout with the Red Hand and such builds. 

In combination with Spearcaster I always pick Arcane Archer - because I want to max Arcana anyway. The acc bonus of Arcana for Spearcaster and the one for the imbue shots do stack, giving imbue shots extremely high accuracy because they will have a bonus of 2*Arcana that stack with alle other ACC bonuses (Marksman, Stalker's Link, Marker for the Hunt and whatnot).

Even late in the game this combo is great because you can combine Imbue:Web and Imbue:Eora with the "Their Champion" invocation. Since you accuracy is so high and since you can dish out four AoEs of pulsing CC in seconds from stealth (driving flight procs the Web and Pull oE twice with each shot) you will interrupt in an AoE with the help of the energized inspiration all the time - while also disabling most enemy groups on the spot by simply immobilizing and pulling them together. 

Using Web and Eora and not Missiles and Fireball as imbue shots is not only the superior choice imo - it also makes PEN issues with the Arcane Archer non-relevant.

On top you can have summons + animal companion = multiple additional bodies on the field which is always very impactful. In the beginning to the mid game summoning Wurms and boosting them with SureHI + Mith Fyr is incredible ranged dmg imo, especially if you focus the Wurms on one enemy and just blast them to pieces one by one. Because the Wurms scale badly you might want to retrain out of them in the later game though.

So: Troubadour/Arcane Archer with maxed Arcana and Spearcaster is a top combo imo. Superb single target dmg and CC, superb AoE CC, lots of additional bodies and also nice support for the party. 

Edited March 2, 2022 by Boeroer

[Andres Arigon]

22 minutes ago, Boeroer said:

I would do it differently.

If you combine a reloading weapon like a firearm or a crossbow/arbalest with Gunner and Sure-Handed-Ila you'll have a shooter who is reloading VERY quickly. This can be extremely useful because the modals of crossbows/arbalests do interrupt - but they slow you down. With enough shooting speed like from gunner + SHI you can lock down a single enemy all by yourself nonetheless.

The reason why this is so fast is that Sure-Handed Ila applies both the recovery bonus AND the reload bonus to reloading weapons, making it twice as good for them in comparison to normal recovery weapons like bows and wands etc. 

Also Driving Flights allows you lock down two enemies at once.  

I like Spearcaster for a crossbow build because first of all it comes so early - and secondly with max Arcana it has insane accuracy. The lashing enchantment is great as well. Add Myth Fir chant for more lashes (for your party, too) and even get very good DPS from your shots, not only CC and interrupts. SHI + Mith Far is also very, very nice for companion's such ad Maia as Scout with the Red Hand and such builds. 

In combination with Spearcaster I always pick Arcane Archer - because I want to max Arcana anyway. The acc bonus of Arcana for Spearcaster and the one for the imbue shots do stack, giving imbue shots extremely high accuracy because they will have a bonus of 2*Arcana that stack with alle other ACC bonuses (Marksman, Stalker's Link, Marker for the Hunt and whatnot).

Even late in the game this combo is great because you can combine Imbue:Web and Imbue:Eora with the "Their Champion" invocation. Since you accuracy is so high and since you can dish out four AoEs of pulsing CC in seconds from stealth (driving flight procs the Web and Pull oE twice with each shot) you will interrupt in an AoE with the help of the energized inspiration all the time - while also disabling most enemy groups on the spot by simply immobilizing and pulling them together. 

Using Web and Eora and not Missiles and Fireball as imbue shots is not only the superior choice imo - it also makes PEN issues with the Arcane Archer non-relevant.

On top you can have summons + animal companion = multiple additional bodies on the field which is always very impactful. In the beginning to the mid game summoning Wurms and boosting them with SureHI + Moth Fyr is incredible ranged dmg imo. Because the Wurms scale badly you might want to retrain out of them in the later game though.

So: Troubadour/Arcane Archer with maxed Arcana and Spearcaster is a top combo imo. Superb single target dmg and CC, superb AoE CC, lots of additional bodies and also nice support for the party. 

Hey 

Thank you for your tips.

how useful is Sure-Handed-Ila in turn based ? I think the reloading speed is useless in turn based

also, I was thinking to use the war bow which heal your party if you kill an enemy + give you a spell with a ST healing 

 

 

[Boeroer]

Uh, for turn based mode my suggestions aren't that great because attack speed/recovery bonuses don't have much impact. Also I have nearly 0 experience with TB mode, so I rest my case.