Bard Lost Ark Class Guide

Our Bard Lost Ark class guide covers everything you need to know about this Mage subclass, including its overall role in the team, its strengths and weaknesses, some tips, and more. Lost Ark allows you to control a number of classes, who all come with different benefits in PvE and PvP content. So if you want a breakdown of the Bard Lost Ark class, we’ve got you covered below.

Bard Class Guide Overview

The Bard in Lost Ark is a Mage type that wields a Magical Harp. Their musical instrument is a Pan Flute. The Bard is mostly a Ranged Support class that focuses on shielding and buffing party members. On a lesser note, they also can do some healing. If you are the type of player that excels at having knowledge of difficult encounters and gets satisfaction out of saving your friends lives and preventing damage, the Bard is the right choice for you.

Their Identity Gauge, the Serenade Meter, fills up to 3 bars when using skills and dealing damage to enemies. The more bars that are full, the more powerful the effect of the Identity Skill that is used. Once a bar is full, the player can choose to use one of two Identity Skills: Serenade of Courage or Serenade of Salvation. The Serenade of Courage increases damage of the bard themselves and also their party members. Serenade of Salvation is an Area of Effect that heals party members standing within it.

Role of a Bard

Bards are one of two support classes. They focus on attacking enemies at a distant range while providing an Increased Damage Taken Debuff as well as an Attack Power Buff to the Party, and coming into melee range to shield and mitigate damage to party members. While they can complete a lot of content on their own, it is much harder and slower to do.

It is not advisable to be a DPS Bard unless you already have a Support Bard in your Group.

Strengths

• Provides Shields to self and party members
• Provides Aura Buff to increase attack power
• Provides Aura Buff to reduce damage taken
• Provides Debuff on target that increases damage taken
• Provides Heals to self and party members

Weaknesses

• Lower overall damage
• Difficulty levelling alone

Skills

The following table is a list of all Lost Ark Bard Skills that you will unlock and at which level you will do so.

Bard Levelling Guide

We recommend you to just try out all the skills and play for whatever is the most fun for you. However, if you just want to speed up the process (maybe that’s the most fun for you) or you’re tying to power through with levelling an alt, follow this level by level breakdown of what skills to use and level up and which tripods to activate.

You can swap between saved skill tree slots whenever for free (even in combat as long as no skills are on cooldown). It’s recommended to use both your skillbook slots, choose abilities based on this: one for AoE (packs of normal enemies) and one for Single Target (Boss/Elites).

Skill Progression

Below is a chart that shows progression of placement of skill points and their Tripods.

Combat

For Normal packs of enemies, the Bard rotation is generally Stigma>Dissonance. This combo will clear pretty much everything, however, if there are any leftovers use Sound Shock for a quick clean up.

Since Stigma has a longer cooldown than Dissonance, alternate between Stigma>Dissonance and Sonic Vibration>Dissonance

For Bosses you’ll use Serenade of Courage(if ready)>Stigma>Dissonance>Heavenly Tune>Soundholic

You’ll want to use Attack Buffs before Soundholic as it is the Bards highest Single Target damaging ability. Wait for a clear opportunity to use it and better yet: hit the boss from behind with it for extra damage potential.

Gear

Just equip the highest Item Lv. item you find. Focus on Agility for increased movement speed, reduced casting time, and faster skill cooldowns. Secondly, your next best stat is Specialization.

Bard Solo PvE Build

Here’s the general strategy for DPS Bards Chaos Dungeons, Tower Event, and solo Quests. Focus on grouping up enemies and using AoE abilities. First cast Heavenly Tune for the Attack Speed and Damage Buff. Stigma and Dissonance are the main skills that clear most enemies on their own. Sonic Vibration is another good choice for AoE. An important note here is that Prelude of Death can be an incredible ability with Tripod 3: Area of Death; it will cause insane chain reaction explosions if an enemy dies from it.

The rest of the abilities is up to you. Sound Shock is an option for a quick skill while others are on cooldown. If you find yourself taking too many hits and are low on health, Guardian Tune is another good option for some damage reduction.

Also, it would be wise to pick up the second Awakening Skill: Oratorio for a very powerful boss killer.

Bard Solo Stat Priority

As a DPS Bard in Solo a content setting you should have a separate set of accessories that has Crit as a primary stat; then Swiftness as a secondary stat. A general ratio of roughly 70/30 is optimal.

Bard Skills Solo PvE Build

Below is a solo build that focuses on clearing trash quickly.

This build requires 296 Skill Points which will require the collecting all the available Points in Shushire or if you have Rohendel unlocked, then you can grab some from there.

Icon	Name	Level	Tripods	Notes
	Heavenly Tune	10	1 1 1	Attack Speed and Power Buff
	Stigma	10	3 2 1	AoE
	Dissonance	10	2 1 2	AoE
	Sonic Vibration	10	1 2 1	Damage and Attack Power Buff
	Prelude of Death	10	1 1 1	AoE
	Soundholic	10	1 1 2	Line up enemies and Laser Beam them down
	Sound Shock	4	1	For use between cooldowns. (Can pick up Tripod 2: Sacred Shock for Increased Damage Taken Debuff)
	Guardian Tune	4	1	Reduce Damage Taken
	Oratorio	Awakening	N/A	Can often kill bosses in one hit.

Bard Group PvE Guide

Bard PvE Party Build Stat Priority

As a Support Bard in Group setting you should have a separate set of accessories that has Swiftness as a primary stat; then Specialization as a secondary stat. A general ratio of roughly 70/30 is optimal.

Bard Skills Party PvE Build

This build requires 328 Skill Points which will require the collecting all the available Points in Shushire or if you have Rohendel unlocked, then you can grab some from there.

Icon	Skill Name	Skill Level	Tripods	Notes
	Wind of Music	10	2 1 2	Shield
	Sonic Vibration	10	3 2 1	Attack Power Buff
	Guardian Tune	10	1 1 2	Damage Reduction; Tripod 2: Endless Protection for a Shield or Tripod 2: Powerful Protection for even more Damage Reduction
	Heavenly Tune	10	1 1 1	AoE Attack Speed Buff; Tripod 3: Intense Performance for Attack Power Buff.
	Harp of Rhythm	10	1 3 1	Tripod 3: Note Brand for Increased Damage Taken Debuff on Target Tripod 2: For Identity Gauge generation
	Sound Shock	7	1 1	Tripod 2: Sacred Shock for Increased Damage Taken Debuff on Target
	Prelude of Storm	7	1 2	Tripod 1: Mind Concentration for Mana Regen. Tripod 2: Melody Increase for Identity Gauge Generation
	Soundholic	10	1 1 2	High Damage
	Symphonia	Awakening	N/A	Powerful Shield

Bard PvP Guide

In Player versus Player Arenas, Bards are a valuable asset to the team. They provide great utility with attack buffs, shields, and minor healing through their identity skill. They also have some pretty decent CC with a slow, stun, and a 4 second fear.

PvP Stats

• 1000 Agility
• 249 Endurance
• 1 Crit

Bard Skills PvP Build

Feel free to change whatever skills you like depending on your playstyle and how you see fit.

The one change below, especially if you play in 3v3’s, is including Rhapsody of Light with the Tripod 3: Shining Protection for a very strong damage taken reduction buff. You will definitely also want Tripod 2: Stabilized Light for Knockback Immunity.

The Best Bard PvP Awakening Skill is Symphonia due to it’s very high Shielding. However, if your team finds it would be more helpful to have more damage use Oratorio.

Below is a general PvP build that is a great foundation to build upon.

Icon	Skill Name	Skill Level	Tripods	Notes
	Heavenly Tune	10	2 1 2	Precast for buff
	Guardian Tune	10	1 1 2	Precast for buff
	Sonic Vibration	10	3 3	Knock up enemy
	Prelude of Storm	10	2 1 2	CC: Stun Tripod 3: Lightning Concentration for Longer ranged stun
	Prelude of Death	10	3 2 2	CC: Fear Tripod 3: Howling of Pain for the fear effect
	Soundholic	10	2 1 2	Once CC’d, free burst damage.
	March	7	3 3	Useful to run away and slow enemies
	Rhythm Buckshot	7	2 2	Quick Knock Down to Peel

Here’s Youtuber Pum with some extraordinary 1v1 PVP.

For further pvp reading check out gFeverTV’s PvP Guide here.

Engravings

Mandatory

The Awakening engraving allows for more usages and more frequent usage. It also fills up the Identity Gauge very quickly so that you can use your Identity Skill more often. Desperate Salvation is also a no brainer as you will now heal more when using the Identity Skill Serenade of Salvation. Heavy Armor Equipment is up here in the Mandatory section as Bards are one of the most susceptible to damage. Having 150% increased defense combined with all the other abilities means it will be very hard to be killed.

Icon	Engraving	Description	Source
	Awakening	Lv. 1: Awakening Skill Cooldown -10%. +1 maximum use. Lv. 2: … -25% … +2 Lv. 3: … -50% … +3	Chaos Dungeons Cube
	Desperate Salvation	Lv. 1: When the recovery effect ends, an additional recovery effect is activated, recovering 8% of your Max HP. Lv. 2: … 16% … Lv. 3: … 24% …	Guardian Raid Abyss Dungeon
	Heavy Armor Equipment	Lv. 1: All Defense +30%. The amount of Defense increased by Heavy Armor Equipment is not affected by effects that cause Defense reduction. Lv. 2: …+75%. Lv. 3: …+150%.	Chaos Dungeons Cube
	Specialist*	Lv. 1: Shield and HP recovery effects used on yourself and party members are increased by 6%, and when the target’s HP is below 50%, this effect is increased by an additional 3% Lv. 2: … 14% … 7% Lv. 3: … 24% … 12%	*May not be available on launch

Optional

True Courage will further improve party damage .

Spirit Absorption is a great option to reduce cooldowns on skills. In particular, if going for a high Specialization stat build, this makes up for the loss of Agility. Increased Max MP is great option for high Agility builds, as you use more abilities you use more Mana and can run into Out of Mana problems.

Icon	Engraving	Description	Source
	Spirit Absorption	Lv. 1: Atk./Move Speed +3%. Lv. 2: …+8%. Lv. 3: …+15%	Chaos Dungeons Cube
	True Courage	Lv. 1: Serenade of Courage makes outgoing Damage +10% and Crit Rate +10%. Lv. 2: … Damage +15% … Lv. 3: … Damage +20% …	Guardian Raid Abyss Dungeon
	Increased Max MP	Lv. 1: Max MP +5%. Lv. 2: Max MP +15%. Lv. 3: Max MP +30%.	Chaos Dungeons Cube

Gear Sets

Below is a list of all the gear sets and their bonuses that available to Tier 1 Bards. You can mix and match 2-Set bonuses using 2 or 3 different ones. Depending on your playstyle and what’s available to you, you may want to take two 2-set bonuses instead of a full 5-set Bonus. You can also have one set for Chaos Dungeons and other Solo Content, and another for Guardian Raids and other Group Content.

Item Level	Rarity	Set Bonus Name	Effects	Source
385	Relic	Dark Night	2-Set: When attacking a foe, 30% chance for +8% Atk and Move Speed for 6s. (Cooldown: 3s) 5-Set: Increases Crit Rate by 40%, but decreases Crit Damage by 40%.	Chaos Dungeons Rohendel (Welcome 3) Chaos Dungeon Rohendel (Nightmare 1-4)
385	Relic	Phantom Memory	2-Set: Attack Speed and Move Speed +5% 5-Set: Increases Damage with an Awakening Skill to Seed or lesser monsters by 60%. Increases Damage to Challenge or lesser monsters by 60% when hitting them with an Awakening Skill for 10s. (Cooldown: 60s)	Chaos Dungeons Rohendel (Welcome 3) Chaos Dungeon Rohendel (Nightmare 1-4)
385	Relic	Void Afterimage	2-Set: Decreases damage taken by 30% when HP is below 30%. +15% Atk. Speed and Move Speed, +10% Skill Cooldown. 5-Set: When hitting a foe with a normal attack, +15% Additional Damage for 3s (Cooldown: 1s)	Chaos Dungeon Rohendel (Welcome 3) Chaos Dungeon Rohendel (Nightmare 1-4)
340	Legendary	Awakened Hatred	2-Set: Combat Resource Recovery Speed: +30% 5-Set: Crit Damage +25	Abyss Dungeon (Corridor of the Twisted Lord) Abyss Dungeon (Hildebrigne, Dream Palace)
340	Legendary	Boisterous Elemental	2-Set: Increases Attack Speed and Move Speed by 4% for 6s, up to 8% when attacking monsters Boss rank or above. (Cooldown: 3s) 5-Set: Increases damage to monsters Boss ranked or above by 12%.	Abyss Dungeon (Corridor of the Twisted Lord) Abyss Dungeon (Hildebrigne, Dream Palace)
340	Legendary	Dense Confusion	2-Set: Attack Speed and Move Speed +4% 5-Set: Crit Rate +15%	Abyss Dungeon (Corridor of the Twisted Lord) Abyss Dungeon (Hildebrigne, Dream Palace)
340	Legendary	Enraged Nature	2-Set: Move Speed +8% 5-Set: Atk. Power +4% for 8s, up to 12% when attacking a monster Boss ranked or above. (Cooldown: 3s)	Abyss Dungeon (Corridor of the Twisted Lord) Abyss Dungeon (Hildebrigne, Dream Palace)
340	Legendary	Mist	2-Set: Decreases damage taken from Normal ranked monsters by 20%. 5-Set: Increases damage dealt to monsters Challenge rank or below by 15%.	Abyss Dungeon (Corridor of the Twisted Lord) Abyss Dungeon (Hildebrigne, Dream Palace)
302	Epic	Ancient	2-Set: When hit while HP is below 20%, restores 3% of Max HP for 15s each time you hit a Normal monster. (Cooldown: 60s) 5-Set: Increases damage by 17% when hitting 3 or more foes.	Abyss Dungeon (Valley of Beasts) Abyss Dungeon (Spirit of the Necromancer)
302	Epic	Rugged Valley	2-Set: Move Speed +8% 5-Set: Atk. Power +4% for 8s, up to 12% when attacking a monster Boss ranked or above. (Cooldown: 3s)	Abyss Dungeon (Valley of Beasts) Abyss Dungeon (Spirit of the Necromancer)
302	Epic	Seraphic Oath	2-Set: Attack Speed +8% 5-Set: Additional Damage +10%	Abyss Dungeon (Valley of Beasts) Abyss Dungeon (Spirit of the Necromancer)
302	Epic	Stalwart Years	2-Set: Attack Speed +8% 5-Set: Additional Damage +10%	Abyss Dungeon (Valley of Beasts) Abyss Dungeon (Spirit of the Necromancer)

Why not also check out our Lost Ark Glaivier builds, which covers everything you need to know about the class.