Nuggetty Goodness

Latest update: 5 September 2013

Note: This is primarily a PvE Healer build for less geared toons. It is a Gentle Sway hybrid precisely because it is for the less-geared. Logic suggests that going pure light, and taking 3/3 Healing Melody will scale better in end-game gear, with enough Crit Heal %. However, I suspect (if anyone knows for sure, please do comment) that the point at which Crit Heal % starts to consistently return more than 4/4 Gentle Sway is at a total of about 20-25%. That's a lot of Crit Heal % gear when it comes to bards, and is definitely not going to come cheap. 

This build will allow you to solo heal every gear instance *at level* with a reasonable party. 10-13k HP at 70+ is NOT reasonable. I'm not saying you won't sometimes be able to carry these people, but especially once you hit FP, if your whole party is like that, things can be... interesting.

Gear is also very important for this and *any* Light bard healer build. You NEED NEED NEED Healing Effect - HE. Light bards get amazing returns from HE because of so many bonuses to Healing %, but if you do not gear for HE, then you are simply a crap DPS who can't heal. Unlike priests, the healing power of light is not INHERENT in light, but is in the gear, then hugely hugely magnified by the Light tree itself. 

I'm not even joking here. I've seen a L78 Light with wings, NOT PvP eva build, heal for LESS with baptism than a L70 glacial with Angelic Harmony, no Sympathy. (My glacial.) So pleeeease. If you choose to be a light bard, YOU NEED TO GEAR FOR IT.

I would also recommend AFKing (get to 10, Dragon-Order leech / AFK train) to 57, because before then, Lights are crap healers and crap DPS. ._. Srsly. 

This is what my planned build looks like. I am building primarily for PvE, and of course, I'm not an expert. =) This is just what I've found works for me.

This Dyos build uses 19 rune talents total, that's the maximum number of runes you can socket. The maximum number of *yellows* you can socket is 9, but that's only important in that you need at least 7 yellows with 35 wisdom in total between them to gain the 35 Wisdom bonus from the Dyos Trew. At 35 Wisdom, and you do Max Heals per Second rotation, you should be able to bubble your whole party every rotation (with luck) rather than every other rotation (innate, guaranteed with just 1 wisdom rune). Bubbles appear after you get 6 stacks of the buff from Sonata of Life, and you cannot build up stacks while the 10s bubblebuff (not to be confused with the bubble itself) is active. The 70 bonus is great - but it'll take a lot of money - and this guide is for the lower geared.

The talent tree I've shown here is base, without runes. I will indicate how many points should be filled in by runes. Obviously, the +s from runes will come at a slower pace depending on time and money. Note that you CANNOT get a +1 from runes in a talent that has pre-req talents, without first having the requisite points in the prereq talent.

Rune List, courtesy of Aely from Illyfue, FW forums.

That being said, here we go. =)

http://www.aesica.net/fw/?race=1&profession=1&level=80&talent=144010004||50003334333023020011222302

Why choose this stuff? Here we go...

Light Tree [47 Points]
TIER 1:
Advanced Harmony of Light 5/5
This Light build is NOT DPS. In fact, it's so not DPS that it is utterly pathetic. You'll make a Divine Priest look like DPS, and I'm not even joking. So why 5/5? Because unless you intend to have a DPS alt account run around kill everything for you (as opposed to just Dragon Orders), this will help things be a tiny little bit less painful.

Blessings of Light 0/5 
This is a crap talent because it doesn't scale. 200HP per E chord, whoop de whoop. HE doesn't affect it. E-chords from Melody of Healing do, but... ._. It's stupid. Consider that by Level 50 you should have 10k HP, and 15k HP at 70... 200HP. Erm. Yeah.

 

TIER 2:
Shine 0/2
This is a PvP and DPS talent. This build is PvE and healing.

Tuneless Light 0/3
This is a PvP and DPS talent. This build is PvE and healing.

Divine Music of Light 3/3
This is situational, but I find it's important when I do use it. Obviously it has a PvP usage, but I'll just explain the PvE usage here. When AoEing things down, someone commonly gathers the mobs, and then the AoEr(s) AoE them down. What this talent does is buys you time, and helps the AoE kill things faster. Usage goes something like this: 1) Gatherer gathers mobs, 2) You follow, when mobs are gathered, cast Divine Comedy, this gives you breathing room to... 3) Set up Baptism powered by Solo of Light before the mobs wake up, 4) AoEers toast the debuffed mobs and everything dies. Of course, this is the ideal scenario but... ;)

Sustained Melody 3/3
You heal and protect via your Hymns. Longer is better, gives you more breathing room.

 

TIER 3:
Stare 3/3
In higher level dungeons, interrupts are common. It's a filler talent, but a useful one.

Solo of Light 4/4
You'll end up AoE tanking a LOT if you PUG. Seriously. A lot. ._. This helps.

Halo 3/3 [4/3 with runes]
Some higher level dungeons will require players to spread out. Especially if you are the only healer, and you need to be a little further from the tank - this will help immensely.

 

TIER 4:
Divine Shower 3/3
Defence is great in PvE, not so much in PvP - this is a PvE healing and defensive build.

Light of Life 3/3
Dispel every icky thing EXCEPT those that only wind can dispel (or can't be dispelled at all). And since you'll be spamming Sonata of Life - assuming Max Heals Per Second... Take it.

Melody of Light 0/4
This is a PvP and DPS talent. This build is PvE and healing.

 

TIER 5:
Angelic Chorus 2/2 [3/2 after Runes]
Key talent - take it. You'll be spamming Sonata of Life every CD at higher levels, because of the mana reduction you gain by doing that, and the buffs from Dyos. This build is a main-healer. Baptism ticks every 4 seconds, you fill the seconds between those seconds with Sonata of Life, and it means that you have heals going out every 2 seconds. You have no single-target heals (other than on yourself), so you HAVE to keep heals high and constant. Additionally max HP/S after 70 will spend LESS mana than any other rotation. It'll spend so little mana, in fact, that you'll be able to easily counter it by drinking L50 mana pots on CD. More on this rotation in the questions section below.

Advanced Solo of Light 3/3 
Max this. It won't just protect you - you're also going to be using Solo of Light at every opportunity to make sure your heals ALWAYS have at least a 20% increase in healing via Soothing Beat.

Melody of Healing 0/3 [3/3 After Runes]
Defensive skill, but unlike Blessings of Light, this scales with everything you have. Not worth spending points on, but runes make it nice.

 

TIER 6:
Notes of Light 2/2
Defensive skill, situational. Best used after you've used Divine Comedy, and set up Baptism and Majesty in an AoE damage situation. This will help you live if your AoErs are fail.

Halo Resist 0/4
PvP defensive talent, Light Attack isn't a huge factor in other situations.

 

TIER 7:
Improved Chord of Light 0/3
This is a PvP and DPS talent. This build is PvE and healing.

Hymn: Song of Life 1/2 
This is a filler talent. I rarely use it - and when I do, I use it to counter specific things, such as boss HP debuffs on the tank. You CAN work it into a max HP/S rotation this way: Baptism, Majesty, Courage, Song of Life, Baptism, Majesty, Courage, Baptism, Majesty, Courage, Song of Life. But you cannot spam it... because of the CD on note of rest. Generally in PvE, except in boss debuff situations, I don't bother using it.

Song of Saints: 1/2
Evasion buff is meaningless unless your entire party is eva, speed buff is too short. You're left with the extra healing done - which is a 'may as well' since you took the Song of Life as a filler anyway.

 

TIER 8:
Bath of Light 2/2
Baptism is your main healer. Nuff said.

Chant of Revival 2/2
1/2 at first, only max this AFTER you've gotten Gentle Sway to 4/4. If your party is reasonable and you're healing  properly, you shouldn't need to cast this very often. If your party is unreasonable (or a few members are), you can cast this, and even if they don't immediately die on being rezzed due to being at 15% HP, half the time at least, their HP are so low the next AoE will kill them outright, from max health to 0 anyway. ;) Max it in the end, because mistakes DO happen in smart parties, and in those instances, it helps.

Softening Melody 2/2
Helps your healy things heal better, AND (I believe) doubles the amount of healing done to you, personally, when you have surge up. (I don't always.)

 

TIER 9:
Life Awaken 3/3
This skill is the reason you AFK to 57. At 55, you get Baptism, but it just doesn't have enough sheer power, and you don't have enough Es to be able to keep up max heals per second. Once you get this, you will. =)

Lightblade Switch 0/3
This is not an Evasion build. Evasion is useless if you don't dedicate yourself to it totally. You need at least 350 eva unbuffed at 80 in order for Evasion to even BEGIN to work. This means, if you have 345, you may as well have 100.

 

TIER 10:
Advanced Chant of Revival 2/2
All the things said in Chant of Revival apply, including waiting until you 4/4 Gentle Sway.

Glory 0/3
This is a PvP and DPS talent. This build is PvE and healing.

 

***NO FURTHER POINTS IN LIGHT***

Wind Tree [14 points]
TIER 1:
Zephyr 1/5
To open up the C-chord CD in Wind Melody Knowledge

Infuriate 4/5 [5/5 After Runes]
You will never match Inspire, and do NOT cast Courage when there is a decent Wind Bard in the party with you. But if you're the only bard, this talent shines.

 

TIER 2:
Wind Melody Knowledge 4/4
This makes your C-chords faster and therefore more versatile, which I prefer. However, it's also viable to 0/4 this, and put the points into 3/3 Acoustic Stretch and 1/2 Art of Music instead.

Tuneless Wind 0/3
This is a PvP and DPS talent. This build is PvE and healing.

Art of Music 1/2
Adds on top of Halo, for same reasons given as for Halo

Acoustic Stretch 0/3 [3/3 After Runes]
IMO Light Bard courage is pretty unimportant, and you can drop if if forced to, so why put talents into it? That being said, if you disagree, feel free to put points into it. Just remember that the aim is to get 10 points in the first 2 tiers, so you can get Gentle Sway.

 

TIER 3:
Wind Shadow 0/3
This is a PvP and DPS talent. This build is PvE and healing.

Rapid Melody 0/3
This really isn't why you're in the wind tree for this build.

Gentle Sway 4/4
YAY! 20% more Healing from Baptism, 20% more Defence from Majesty, on top of the stuff you already get as mainly Light. Oh and 20% more from your laughable Courage. XD

Dyos Rune Talents (17 points, not including advanced rune slots)
Light Talent Runes
3 - Melody of Healing
1 - Angelic Chorus
1 - Halo

Wind Talent Runes
3 - Acoustic Stretch
2 - Ferocity of wind
1 - Infuriate
3 - Windblade Shield

Water Talent Runes
3 - Inspired Appearance

Bot Setup
This setup is for HEALING. It'll let you botheal ToK, ASNM, ASHM, and anything below. It'll let you botheal any WB. It is useless at killing. However, you can still use it to get (mostly) full rewards in GT2 if you slot Melody Mastery (0sec) in the first slot.

My gem priority in an IDEAL situation, my gem priority would be...
Bloodstones, Solareflare, Crit Dodge%, Crit Reduction %

Gear IDs
Life (formerly Renewing) or Rousing Stout all the way, with HE or HP IDs.

Max Heals per Second Rotation *Doesn't require Light Sonata, but you can use that once you get it. DOES require at least L57.
Baptism > Majesty
Baptism: D > E > Solo of Light > Sonata of Life (boosts both Sonata and Baptism via Soothing Beat)
Majesty: D > Solo of Light > Sonata of Life > D

I used to include Courage in this rotation for the additional boost to healing Light gets from putting up a movement. After testing, I've found that not casting Courage greatly increases Sonata of Life spam, and the healing from that outweighs the healing bonus from having a movement up. However, depending on how much HE you have, YMMV.

Max Heals per Second Rotation WITH Song of Life, and DOES require Light Sonata
Baptism > Majesty > Courage > Song of Life
Baptism: D > E > Solo of Light > Sonata of Life (boosts both Sonata and Baptism via Soothing Beat)
Majesty: D > Solo of Light > Sonata of Life > D
Courage: [Your Sonata of Life is now reset by Majesty...] Sonata of Life > C > C
 Song of Life: Light Sonata > Chord of Light > Solo of Light > Sonata of Life > Note of Rest

You cannot spam this every rotation, it's every alternate rotation at best. The reason is the CD on Note of Rest - it's too long.

If you have a good wind bard in your party...
DO NOT cast Courage, replace it with Fantasy. If you cast Courage with a good wind in the party, you're basically negating their attack power bonus, which is huge, and overwriting it with your own, which is puny, every other tick. And if they're good, they're probably annoyed at it, even if they don't mention it.  ;)

Where I'm Currently At
Non-crit baptism ticks for 6.5k-7k. HP over 30k.

Is 850ish base HE really enough at 70-74?
It is, if you play smart, and always go max Heals per Second. Of course, more is better and sexier, but what I've done is balance HE with HP, so I'm fairly survivable.

Does Light mastery increase my healing?
No.

Is the 25.17% more healing to Sonata of Life additive to the 20% from Solo of Light, for a total of 45.17% more healing on Sonata of Life? Or is one applied to the other, and in that case, which first?
I have no idea. From observation, I doubt that it's additive, but if you know more / for sure, please share.

Is the AS set any good for Light? 
No, it can't surpass building up Renewing Stout and Rousing Stout.

ZOMG! How much did you spend on this one?!
Nothing. Zero. Zilch.

Hay, if you don't CS for gems and don't sell mercs for moneh, how did you get those HP pre-75 (I was 18k pre 75)?
Part of the reason my HP are so decent is - arena neck. 50-59 bracket, ?66? HE, ?360?HP with a 150HP+ ID. Arena jewelry - especially necklaces - is something you should aim for. It's REALLY easy to get, and even a noob can game the system. No, really.

Game the system? Lil 'ole meeeee?
Yup. You see, you have to do at least 10 arena matches per week to qualify for points, and in order to buy gear, you need at least 1000 ranking (the absolute beginner's ranking if you don't lose), in order to buy the low end green items like the necklace mentioned above. Which is far and away better than ANY necklace you'll find in the AH, short of an epic one that costs a couple of D.

So - just play ONLY 3v3 or ONLY 6v6. That way, it doesn't matter if you lose (though of course, winning gets you more arena points per week.) Even if you lose, you'll still get points based on your 1000 rating from the arena you didn't touch. You can then use your points to buy gear that has a minimum 1000 req for that arena. So all you need to do, really, is go over and over till you have the rep level you want. It took me two weeks to get to L3 rep, which got me the 50-59 slot green necklace. L4 if you want 60, L5, etc. It's worth it. Of course, once you start winning, you switch over to the one you haven't won in yet, to rake in more points. I'm just putting it out there that even if you ALWAYS LOSE NONSTOP... you can still benefit.

It's too hard to get all that gear and all those gems. :(
DO NOT RUN GEAR INSTANCES FOR GEAR.

I know it's counterintuitive, but it's true, and this applies for all classes, starting latest level 50 - buy your gear TEN LEVELS before you need it. Trust me. At least 10, maybe 15. You'll get to make a lot better choices this way, and save a lot of money. If you level slowly, and you do this, you'll have a very, very decent set of gear by the time you hit the level to wear it all. I do this for every character I have, but my wind bard is the first one to benefit from closely following that rule. My vamp and rebel (both over 60 as well) have a mix of 65+ and 65- gear. My bard is the only one with all 65+, and I strongly recommend ONLY 65+ gear until you get to 75. It's really just that much better. If my vamp had all 65+ gear, she'd probably have 18k hp at 67, rather than her 16.2k.

All chars over 60 now get 2 gem boxes a day from GL, so if you have massive altitis like me, this may help you. I have 3 over 60 atm, and may have 5 in a few more weeks. We'll see.

And if you think this is expensive, just go play a vampire, a priest, or a warrior. XD Perspective. It halps. 

 ***

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 Latest update: 7 June 2014

Note 1
Build has changed slightly due to the +1 to skills from runes giving greater flexibility. It's still primarily a PvE build, but runes have given more options for PvP too. It's detailed where relevant below. I chose Nyos to boost Wind's AoE power at 35 nature. Nyos 55 is another AMAZING one. Because you can spam Requiem like there's no tomorrow, and each Requiem can give up to 30% chance to reduce the target's Attack Power by 55%, at 55 Nyos, Requiem becomes and offensive, AoE-based bubble, not just on you, but on your whole party.

Note 2
Expansion, new talents, level 90. Take them all. Take it all after requiem. That is all. XD

This is what my build looks like. I am building primarily for PvE, and of course, I'm not an expert. =) This is just what I've found works for me so far and what I think will work in the future.

This build has changed and changed again in the course of learning more, and updating this guide, so please take it as exactly that - a guide! It's not set in stone, and it's not something you *have* to follow. Hopefully it's something that lets you understand stuff better, and then make your own decisions.

It's rather long (haha), and some bits attempt to show my evolving concerns, because every class plays differently at different levels, and even if your chosen class doesn't seem much different, changes in other classes as they level up affects you, unless you never intend to group at all.

This build uses 17 rune talents total, that's the maximum number of runes you can socket. The maximum number of *blues* you can socket is 7, but that's only important in that you need at least 7 blues with 35 nature in total between them to gain the AoE bonus from the Nyos tree. Update: There were more rune things unlocked since I wrote this, so you get a few more talent points.

The talent tree I've shown here is base, without runes. I will indicate how many points should be filled in by runes. Obviously, the +s from runes will come at a slower pace depending on time and money. Note that you CANNOT get a +1 from runes in a talent that has pre-req talents.

You can see if a talent has runes by maxxing it, then mousing-over it in the in-game talent tree. If it still shows a 'Next level' after it's maxxed, it has a rune. Of course, this means you have to max the talent to know, so... either make a lot of alts, or use a lot of talent compasses. ;)

All 3 solos have runes (Solo of Wind, Light, Water). All are incredibly rare. And yes, they will give you the skill outright, though without the boosters to improve the skills, the value is arguable.

I've left 2 spare talent points free, put them wherever you like.

Rune List, courtesy of Aely from Illyfue, FW forums.

That being said, here we go. =)

http://www.aesica.net/fw/?race=1&profession=1&level=80&talent=554300404304012203102202123231||

Why choose this stuff? Here we go...

TIER 1:
Zephyr 5/5
Because wind is buffs AND DPS.

Infuriate 5/5 [6/5 with runes]
Because wind is DPS AND buffs.

 

TIER 2:
Wind Melody Knowledge 2/2
For moar pewpew.

Tuneless Wind 3/3
I used to think of this talent as 'It's nice, but it's a filler. Not worth it for me to talent a filler, though I've read reports of it doing nice big numbers if you do take it.' My views have since changed.

The thing to understand here is that you're not taking it for the damage it does, you're taking it for the wind resistance it lowers and how that in turn increases your damage, and the damage of your wind-attack based party members. That being said, I'd only advise taking this once you're in your 70s, because before then, other talents will be more important.

I considered taking Waving Ripple 5/5 in the Water tree, but after further consideration, I believe that Tuneless Wind gives a higher DPS increase, simply because it scales. Basically 10 points of resistance = 1% less damage done. So -10 to resistance means that 1% more damage is done to the target. This in turn scales with the damage being dealt, vs a static 150 more Attack on your Surge (and 15ish more Attack total on your courage later on.) Tuneless Wind, if taken after 70, should boost your Wind damage (you'll be spamming C chords to DPS) and your Wind group members' damage by at least 6%.

Art of Music 0/2
You can take this when you're under or averagely geared, especially pre-70, as you'll be doing a lot of baptising. After 70, other talents start to return more, and I'd retalent to take it out, or not take it at all. 

Acoustic Stretch 0/3 [3/3 with Rune Talents]
Get (3/3) from runes. Results in a small end-game increase in DPS, if you factor in the amount of time it lets you continue spamming Cs rather than renewing buffs. Note that Acoustic Stretch runes are rare and expensive.

 

TIER 3:
Solo of Wind 4/4 [5/4 with Rune Talents]
This got buffed majorly. Take it, take it all. At 4/4 it's 160 (180 at 5/4) free mastery that you can keep up ALL THE TIME, together with 12% damage reduction. That's 16% when combined with a runed 4/3 Windblade Shield. Take it. Take it. TAKE IT.

Rapid Melody 0/3
Great for PvP, for PvE, I don't tend to kite all that much.

*Even in Hell Road, I kite fine without this.

Gentle Sway 4/4
A must - this makes all your buffs buffier. And many people think Buffy is seksy. Frankly, I think Baptism is more seksy than Buffy!

 

TIER 4:
Wind Shadow 3/3
Pew and help your party pew!

Divine Music of Wind 0/3
I originally put points in this, took em out again with a talent compass. Reason is - this is a PvE build. I do not gem for evasion, and I barely PvP (all I did was get my green necklace). You won't be able to evade bosses with only the evasion from this, and if you don't gem and gear hardcore for evasion, this really won't help you much in PvE.

Melody of Wind 4/4
Pew pew pew.

 

TIER 5:
Sandstorm 0/2
Take this if... you pvp a little:
it's nice in PvP and nice on some self-healing WBs. But only take it after L60. Preferably after L70. The reason is that you're using 'spare' points from runing up Advanced Solo of Wind and Windblade Shield to have enough points to put in here, and still have 3/3 in both Advanced Solo and Windblade Shield. Before 60, leave this at 0/2 - after that, it's your choice.

Do NOT take this if... you never pvp:
...at ALL except to earn green necklace/rings.

Advanced Solo of Wind 1/3 [4/3 after Runes]
Many will say this is useless - 12% of 1000 is only 120 etc. This is true on the one hand. On the other though... with Windblade Shield 4/3 (another talent folks think is useless), you take 16% less damage every 10s. It's not huge, by any means (lolwut, only 160/1000?) but it is there and consistent all the time. Put it another way, it's the equivalent of having 160 in each and every single resistance so...

This is at 1/3 because the other 3 points will come from runes.

Wind Maneuver 2/2
CHAAAAAAARGE!

 

TIER 6:
Wind Rhythm 2/2
It's a really nice DPS talent, but the only time I use Note of Rest to spam DPS is when the boss is so easy I don't need to do anything but surge and courage. Which is uh... other than low level farming (and even sometimes then with baby squishy teammates)... really not all that often. -_- Maybe after I'm geared out the wazoo (if ever), it will be good. Before that, nah.

Note: My perspective on this changed a bit at 65 with Light Sonata. Now I can and do spam C chords when I only maintain surge/courage/baptism. However - that being said - I still don't use Note of Rest on my C Chord spam unless it's a very safe boss fight in a small instance where we won't move much. !Hello fissure bosses! This is very much a personal preference thing though, and if you're comfy whipping out Note of Rest at every opportunity, go for it.

Note2: Perspective changes again at 70-75 (depending on the groups you get). At 75+ especially, I'd say go for it! The reason is that by 75 almost all the priests you group with should have AH by hook or by crook. This usually means you'll be baptising a lot less, and DPSing a lot more, particularly when you get Requiem and Frost Storm both (AoE pewpew). By this point, you should also be comfortable enough to spam Cs when you want to, and still be able to weave your baptism if you have to. Additionally, by 70+ you'll start getting your scaling talents, so your damage output will be appreciably higher than before - this makes it even better.

Just one thing though - DO NOT TAKE THIS BEFORE 70.

Wind Resist 0/4
With 3 in Advanced Solo of Wind and 3 in Windblade shield (3/3 for both is achieved with runes), sure it'd be nice to have this on TOP, but really, I get more 'resistance' out of those two skills combined than wind resist. And this is PvE build so... nah.

 

TIER 7:
Improved Chord of Wind 3/3
PEWPEWPEW! LAZORZ!

Movement: Song of Wind 1/2 [2/2 after Runes]
Run, Spot, run! (I don't find the 2% more on something I can only cast (with this build) every 90s to be worth it.)

Ferocity of Wind 0/2 [2/2 after Runes]
Doesn't really matter in PvE, but it's a nice PvP talent. As with Sandstorm, only take it after L60. Preferably after L70. The reason is that you're using 'spare' points from runing up Advanced Solo of Wind and Windblade Shield to have enough points to put in here, and still have 3/3 in both Advanced Solo and Windblade Shield. Of course, if you love PvP, you may choose to take this (and Sandstorm) earlier. Note that you'll get 2/2 from runes.

 

TIER 8:
Advanced Rhapsody of Wind 2/2
LAZORZ!

Voice of Freedom 2/2
The definitive wind bard skill. -_- Get out of jail free card. I have this at 2/2 because I don't like WONDERING if it will be up in time. If you can live with that uncertainty, make it 1/2.

Wind Speed 0/2
It's nice, but I preferred to use it on other things. If you aren't convinced by my argument about Advanced Solo of Wind + Windblade Shield, this is a good place to put things. Note that you COULD take the 2/5 points from Waving Ripple and put them in here... But Waving Ripple runes that I have seen (or not seen) are really rare, and really expensive. So that would mean you'd need 5 WR runes instead of 3. Your preference.

 

TIER 9:
Windstorm Movement 2/2
Crit chance, crit dodge, mana regen, oh my!

Note that the description on the TALENT TREE is WRONG for the mana restore portion. What it really does is, "Has a 25% chance to restore 1% of YOUR max mana to party members every 4s." Yes, it's a bit pathetic on the mana-restore front from normal movement. However, the crit chance and dodge is still nice. Movement: Song of Wind has a 20% chance to restore 1% of YOUR max mana to party members every 1s. -_- This is on top of the chance given above, at least as far as I've seen from personally testing. Additionally, the chance for proc is every 4s.

That means, every 4s, it rolls a 25% chance to see if it will proc and restore 1% mana. The description isn't QUITE as clear as that, but it's how it works. It also means that in a 'best case' scenario for Movement: Song of Wind will proc 1% of your max mana restore 10 times. In a worst case scenario uh... nothing happens.

Also, it means that the restore may be a much higher percentage of a party member's mana, relative to yours. If it procs on a Protector, and it is restoring 1% of your max mana - as a bard - that's way more than his max mana as a prot.

One more thing to note is that it rolls each time for each party member, separately. So some people may have little blue numbers, while others have none.

Windblade Shield 1/3 [4/3 with Runes]
See the above stuff mentioned in Advanced Solo of Wind. Note that it's 1/3 on your talent tree, it should be 4/3 with runes.

 

TIER 10:
Advanced Voice of Freedom 2/2
Advanced Get Out of Jail Free. ^_^

Inspire 3/3 
Because you will have a LOT of AP even if you just use buffs. If you gem for damage, among other things, like I do...

 

TIER 11:
Notes of Wind 2/2
PEW PEW LAZORZ

Wind Inspiration 3/3
PEWPEW FASTER LAZORZ!

 

TIER 12:
Requiem 1/1
PEW PEW LAZOR CANNON TURRETZORZ!

 

!!WATER TREE!! Important if you are considering...
Waving Ripple 2/5 [5/5 After 3 Waving Ripple Runes]
[Note: This entire bit has been rewritten after much discussion and testetestesting.]

5/5 in this talent will give you 150AP, but how much is that 150AP worth to your party? Well, here goes!

At the time I ran this test, I had 2/3 Inspire, so it was a theoretical 6% increase (rather than 9%).

Test 1: Remove 150 ap (3 rage IIs, gear without AP), test with party member watching her AP from my courage.

Test 2: Put on 150 ap, test again

 6% of 150 should be 9. What we got was 12. That is MORE than 6%. O.o

Gentle sway doesn't factor in this +150 test, since it is present in both tests, and can therefore be ignored.

So now we have the very reasonable statement, 'yes dear but it's still piddly to your party'. And to that I must agree. It IS piddly!

But 150 to me is not piddly - yet anyway - and it's constant, the party piddles are on top of it.

Conclusion, Inspire returns more than it should. However you must consider whether it's worth it to take Waving Ripple, when Inspire's AP returns, though higher than they should be, still aren't anything amazing to the party.

I used to think I'd rather have that straight 150 extra over any of the other stuff (including Wind Rhythm), because in the case of Wind Rhythm especially - I don't like to gamble. I like consistency and steadiness.

However, as detailed in the beginning (yes waaaaay up there) of this post, I had a fresh look at the scaling damage derived from Tuneless Wind's wind resistance debuff, and have since changed my mind. However, all the stuff said above still applies, so if you still want it and you aren't convinced by Tuneless Wind and Wind Rhythm, go ahead! =)

Rune Tree Update: No reason not to take this now - with 3 points via runes. Not a priority though, fill up easy runes first. Waving Ripple runes seem RARE.

Nyos Rune Talents (17 points)
Wind Talent Runes

Total rune points used for wind	Rune Talent Name
3	Acoustic Stretch x 3 (nice to have)
6	Advanced Solo of Wind x 3 (key skill - max it)
7	Movement: Song of Wind x 1 (nice to have) OR Inspire x 1 (VERY nice if you can get it)
9	Ferocity of Wind x 2 (PvE nice to have, PvP max it)
10	Infuriate x 1 (Very nice if you can get it)
13	Windblade Shield x 3 (key skill - max it)

Water Talent Runes

Total rune points used for water	Rune Talent Name
3	Waving Ripple x 3 (very nice if you can get it)

Light Talent Runes

Total rune points used for light	Rune Talent Name
1	Solo of Light x 1 (If you can get it, why not.)

 

Bot setup
Note that you NEED 35 Nyos nature (or more) to use this setup optimally. I have no idea if it's any good if you have less than 35 Nyos nature.

My gem priority in an IDEAL situation, my gem priority would be...
Bloodstones, Ragefire, Crit %, Crit Damage %, Crit Dodge%, Crit Reduction %

Goldsparks and shattershards - where previously I viewed wind bards as steady DPS rather than a high-crit class, I had a philosophical change of heart. While our crit is not as good as a water bard or a rebel priest, and our crit is only on our wind damage skills - still, I've found that in decent groups I can C-spam quite a bit. And so, to Hell with survivability! ;) Gimmeh NUMBARZ! But more seriously, I'm still gemming full bloods and rages before sparks and shatters, and my gear is ALL something-stout, so I have, and will continue to have decent survivability. If you don't want to go kamikaze this way, crystallines and twilights are definitely a good thing. ;) And for the other slots, anything but azures. Mana is of no use, pot through it.

60-75 Gear IDs
Any stout gear, forget the set gear, it's not really good for Winds. Re-IDs in order of importance: HE / HP / Crit heal / Mastery / Attack (NOT Wind Attack)

Reason is from 60-75, you'll be covering the bulk of the aoe-healing where it's needed, and stacking HE in these level ranges lets you do that beautifully without appreciably gimping you. After 75, as stated earlier, your priests should all have Angelic Harmony, and you shouldn't need to baptise so much anymore.

75+ Gear IDs
Mighty stout gear (if you can get it, it's very very rare to see it on Storm for bards). Re-IDs in order of importance: Attack / Mastery / HP / Crit Damage / Crit Chance / HE / Crit Heal.

General Tips / Observations
Most priests I PUGged with from my mid-50s to late 60s thought I was light, and were surprised to find out I wasn't. Honestly, wind isn't that much of a pushover as a healer *if the group is playing reasonably*, from 55-69. Just a few pieces of HE gear net appreciable returns with Gentle Sway. Just don't be lazy, and don't be stingy with pots. That being said they are NOTHING compared with a well-played decently-geared Light. The thing about PUGs is your chances of encountering a well-played, decently-geared Light at these levels seems somewhat low. ._.

Normal fights (after 55), do Baptism/Courage/Surge.

Hairy fights when everyone is taking damage (after 55) do Baptism/Majesty/Courage/Surge (assuming you have no light bard in the party). Baptism stacks, no matter how many bards you have, you should generally cast it.

Baptism/Majesty/Courage/Surge works better for hairy fights (imo) where you have to hold Sonata of Life for the AoE, because the rotation just fits together better. If I'm careful, I can almost always counter the boss AoE immediately with Sonata of Life. Don't feel bad if you drop surge now and then, just put it back up fast as you can.

I find Fantasy to be mostly useless in PvE, unless your group is full of evasion-whores.

Your rotation will get easier once you have Light Sonata (65).

After 60, with Rhapsody of water - normal fights (if you feel like it) and hairy fights:
Baptism, Courage, Surge, Baptism, Majesty, Courage, Surge (use solo of wind), repeat.
This rotation (barring lag, having to move a lot, etc) will let you keep up all 4 comfortably.

It is easier after 65, with Light Sonata. With Light Sonata you can usually hit Sonata of Life exactly when you want to. Pre-65, you may not be able to to so.

If you do not yet have Sonata of Light, then in hairy fights, I would fall back on dropping surge from the rotation in favour of being able to time Sonata of Life. Do note that this is a non-issue after 65 and Light Sonata =)

Also, after 65 and Light Sonata, even without taking Acoustic Stretch, you should be able to spam Cs if you're doing only Surge/Courage/Baptism. It may take a bit of adjusting if you're used to only keeping your buffs up, and not focusing on DPS, but it's worth it once you get used to it. About 65% of the time, if I'm PUGging and I do this, I can take and keep aggro if if I want to - especially if I use Note of Rest as well.

After 70-74, and DEFINITELY after 75+ (depending on your parties)
Keep up Surge/Courage, spam Cs, use note of rest when you can, if you've specced into tuneless wind by now, use it. DON'T baptise unless your party obviously needs it. After 75 wind bards should have all their defining talents, and are better off DPSing than healing *unless the party obviously needs it*.

Where I'm Currently At Equipment-Wise
I stopped updating this 'where I'm at'  at 78. It's not that I won't be chugging along slowly getting upgrades and levelling to 80. It's that there's a point in FW where you can do all PvE content without being in any danger of dying if you know your class unless you a) do something really really stupid, b) get really really unlucky, c) try to solo something you really shouldn't (Koubo! haha), d) let your cat play your toon. That point comes much sooner than the general community (imo) likes to acknowledge.

I think my wind bard has reached that point - well I know, actually. XD So here's the last 'Where I'm At' that I'm going to put up. =)

Why is your HE so high *dated question to do with 60s-74 gear, 450ish HE? Are you going for the AS set?
Well... first off, it's NOT that high, and it's only going to drop further as I move into high 70s gear. It's average/decent for a wind bard, but only pathetic for a light. Pre-75 gear, I had my HE at 440ish, and it was good enough to offheal with. But post-75, I'm dropping it to under 100 (without Nyos). Wind bards come into their own after 70, and after 75, you REALLY start seeing it. So after 75, have much better things (yay AP, Crit, mastery) to spend my gear stats on vs HE.

Is the AS set any good for wind?
No, it's crap. I have all my 75+ gear waiting. The stats it does have that are directly beneficial to wind are easily surpassed by patiently building up non-set blues. My 65-74 set already surpassed the AS 75 set bonuses in HP and HE, and if I treat my 75+ gear the same way, it will MORE than surpass the AS 75 set in HP and HE no longer matter after 75, for wind. Nice as Crit Heal % is, it's not a priority for wind bards, imo. If I get my ideal which is Mighty / Deadly / Ruinous Stout on every piece, I'll surpass the attack bonus from the AS set as well.  Bear in mind that while Mighty is always amplified by Wind Bard Talents (hi inspire!), as you go up in mastery and gear pwnage, Ruinous will begin to return more. But don't neglect AP - because of Inspire. Come 75+ I'm now re-IDing for Attack/HP/Mastery/Crit%. Say goodbye to HE.

What about the ToK set vs Champion or Wargod? (Props to Dragonland on Storm for convincing me of this.)
ToK is very very good for alts, or if you don't want to spend a lot of time / money on your bard. Warning though, ToK is all-or-nothing. If you wear it ALL, the set bonuses make it competitive with (and possibly better than, depending on your choices) a mix-n-match set that can take a large combination of time and money to put together. If you can only wear a few pieces of ToK, don't bother. The set bonuses from just a few pieces won't make up for what you lose from getting attack/hp and crit/hp from mix-n-match. However, ToK is incredibly cheap these days, so if it's an alt, and if you use the full set, go right ahead.

If you're poor / cheap / it's an alt, hey? - then I advise going for 9/12 one piece at a time, rather than going for 6/12 on all, then trying to slowly get them all up. 9/12 first on strategic pieces (boots, weapon, shoulders, gloves, belt) will give you back more than 6/12 on everything. Yes, people may look at you funny, but I've tested this. XD

Champion and Wargod are better than ToK, but the same all-or-nothing applies, especially since a lot of both sets seem to love def/mana. ._. All-or-nothing is much harder with Champion and Wargod though, unless you GoS / Tok / ASHM or PvP nonstop, so if you take champ, you're likely seeing a long road before you see the +65 and +35 mastery from the full sets. The base stats are better than ToK, but the bonuses are much more all-or-nothing than ToK.

Summary: If you're going to be playing enough to really farm the heck out of PvE (and spend quite a bit of cash on crafting the materials) or PvP a lot, then go Champion (PvE) or Wargod (PvP). If not, go ToK.

ZOMG! How much did you spend on this game?!
I've played FW for slightly over 24 months now, and have purchased about US$200 in Zen. I've yet to SPEND it all.

Economy has changed in terms of what people will pay for from gathering professions, now that you can fly around and pick herbs/mine without aggroing. Metal still seems to sell, but herbs have been hard hit.

Hay, if you don't CS for gems and don't sell mercs for moneh, how did you get those HP pre-75 (I was 18k pre 75)?
Part of the reason my HP are so decent is - arena neck. 50-59 bracket, ?66? HE, ?360?HP with a 150HP+ ID. Arena jewelry - especially necklaces - is something you should aim for. It's REALLY easy to get, and even a noob can game the system. No, really.

Game the system? Lil 'ole meeeee?
Yup. You see, you have to do at least 10 arena matches per week to qualify for points, and in order to buy gear, you need at least 1000 ranking (the absolute beginner's ranking if you don't lose), in order to buy the low end green items like the necklace mentioned above. Which is far and away better than ANY necklace you'll find in the AH, short of an epic one that costs a couple of D.

So - just play ONLY 3v3 or ONLY 6v6. That way, it doesn't matter if you lose (though of course, winning gets you more arena points per week.) Even if you lose, you'll still get points based on your 1000 rating from the arena you didn't touch. You can then use your points to buy gear that has a minimum 1000 req for that arena. So all you need to do, really, is go over and over till you have the rep level you want. It took me two weeks to get to L3 rep, which got me the 50-59 slot green necklace. L4 if you want 60, L5, etc. It's worth it. Of course, once you start winning, you switch over to the one you haven't won in yet, to rake in more points. I'm just putting it out there that even if you ALWAYS LOSE NONSTOP... you can still benefit.

I've heard wind is hella squishy. Are you squishy like a leftover sashimi slice?
Despite my utterly ignoring defence and accuracy gems (I'll basically woreANYTHING stout pre-75, so my def and acc comes from there) in favour of purely bloodstones and ragefires, I'm pretty hardy. I credit that in part to maxxed Advanced Solo of Wind and Windblade Shield. If I find I start missing, I'll gem a single eagle II or III, but as of now, with the way I pick my gear, I see no need. 

Let's put it this way - when and if I die in a dungeon, it's usually due to my own stupidity, and not because of Teh Squishy.

It's too hard to get all that gear and all those gems. :(
DO NOT RUN GEAR INSTANCES FOR GEAR.

I know it's counterintuitive, but it's true, and this applies for all classes, starting latest level 50 - buy your gear TEN LEVELS before you need it. Trust me. At least 10, maybe 15. You'll get to make a lot better choices this way, and save a lot of money. If you level slowly, and you do this, you'll have a very, very decent set of gear by the time you hit the level to wear it all. I do this for every character I have, but my wind bard is the first one to benefit from closely following that rule. My vamp and rebel (both over 60 as well) have a mix of 65+ and 65- gear. My bard is the only one with all 65+, and I strongly recommend ONLY 65+ gear until you get to 75. It's really just that much better. If my vamp had all 65+ gear, she'd probably have 18k hp at 67, rather than her 16.2k.

All chars over 60 now get 2 gem boxes a day from GL, so if you have massive altitis like me, this may help you. I have 3 over 60 atm, and may have 5 in a few more weeks. We'll see.

And if you think this is expensive, just go play a vampire, a priest, or a warrior. XD Perspective. It halps.

Hey, didn't you use to say what your DPS was like?
Yeah, I did, but that was from back when noone believed wind bards were worth bringing. XD I don't think I need to say what it's like anymore, at least not on that account. ._. Look at Hell Road. The top ranks are ALL wind.

***
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One of the questions I get sometimes is - Nuggeet! For a monk main, why do you share so few monk buildz?

Weeeeelll...

Like every monk in Guild Wars, I have builds for each of these four elites:
Healer's Boon
Zealous Benediction
Word of Healing
Unyielding Aura

...but to be honest, while these are 'safe' staples, at least two of them are overrated (UA and HB), and for the other two (ZB, WoH), well, it gets BORING playing them all the time. WoH bars, especially IMO, whether hybrid or otherwise, lack a certain synergy and utility.

As a result, I play around a lot with monk bars - I tend to rope in Alliance/Guild members as guineapigs, or test in FA/JQ.

Now, the problem with testing in FA/JQ is that the damage patterns are very different in PvE and PvP. PvP bars do tend to be easier to adapt to PvE than the other way around. However, you need to remember one basic difference between PvP & PvE (yes, there are masses of differences, but I find while running a heal, prot, or hybrid bar, that this is the greatest one): PvE tends to have way more party-wide damage than PvP.

This particular Protection bar was something I wrote more as a joke than anything, but when I went out and tested it, I found that it absolutely kicked ass. I have tested this extensively in Hard Mode - vqs, missions, whatever. Disclaimer though, it only works in Hard Mode - Normal Mode mobs don't hit hard enough to trigger Spirit Bond.

It is my favourite Protection Prayers build for PvE now. It has the most amazing spike reversal I have ever seen. It can save someone with 5% hp remaining - basically as long as you reach them in time to cast just two spells - Spirit Bond and Aura of Faith - their HP will leap back to full. And due to the nature of the build, it even works in areas with enchant removal (yes, even against mountains of Roaring Ethers with added boss ether]. It is fully meant to be used in conjunction with another healer - monk, rit, dervish, it doesn't matter - but it does depend on someone else to be the redbar provider.

On the down-side, this is not a faceroll bar. It takes a little while to learn and get used to, and if you prefer 'redbar spam' instead of judicious application, this is not the bar for you - you will run out of energy incredibly quickly. Arguably, if you prefer redbar spam, Protection Prayers is not the line for you, but I've written one Protection Prayers build that maximises on that, so, who knows?

Aura of Faith Single-Target Spike Reversal Protter - PvE Only

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Skills
Spirit Bond
Aura of Faith {Elite}
Guardian
Seed of Life
Aegis
Cure Hex
Dismiss Condition
Selfless Spirit

Stats
Protection Prayers [12] + [4]
Divine Favour [12] + [1]
Healing Prayers [3]

Gear

• Superior Protection Prayers Rune
• Survivor or Radiant Insignia (I prefer Survivors on monks, but this is totally a personal preference)
• Major or Superior vigor rune
• Vitae or Attunement runes to finish off (I prefer Vitae, but again, personal preference rules here)
• Any staff / wand / spear / melee weapon + shield combo with hct/hsr Protection Prayers, and +20% Enchanting. I prefer a staff for this (Kephket's Refuge is a good one), but as long as you have the +20% Enchanting, anything goes.

Campaigns Needed
Prophecies, Factions, Nightfall

How to Use

• Judiciously. No, really. XD
• Precast Aegis - well-timed Aegis precasting reduces party-wide damage from all physical attacks by more than 50%. The best time to precast Aegis is when the mob of mobs is just a little bit outside of the your party's aggro bubble (that white circle on your radar), and moving towards you. Of course, Aegis should be recast (against physical attackers) whenever it's available, but precasting it always saves everyone pain against physical attackers.
• Seed of Life on anyone taking consistent, consecutive damage packets - helps to even out party HP as a whole, taking a little pressure off your healing partner
• Cure Hex and Dismiss Conditions to... cure hexes and dismiss conditions. -_- Who'da thunk. Hex removal - be circumspect about it. Remove it if they call it, it's something on you you need to remove, or if you're bored. Don't spam hex removal. Especially in PvE, it's just not worth it. All it does is eat your energy, and do you really care if a caster has Empathy?
• Selfless Spirit - Whenever you think the shit is about to hit the fan.
• Guardian - Mini prot, use it on anyone taking consistent physical damage
• Spirit Bond - this is your big prot, toss it on anyone taking consistent damage that redbarring obviously isn't able to keep up with
• Spirit Bond THEN Aura of Faith - this is your 'big gun', and the entire basis of this build. One thing you must remember when using Aura of Faith is that unlike Protective Spirit and the like, Aura of Faith cares when you cast it. To get the full bang for your buck out of Aura of Faith, you must cast Spirit Bond BEFORE you cast Aura of Faith. If you cast Spirit Bond, then Aura of Faith, and your target is hit, Spirit Bond will heal them for 200+ hp per hit, assuming the initial base damage of 60hp is met. If you cast Aura of Faith, then Spirit Bond, Spirit Bond will only heal for 104hp per hit, assuming base damage is met (which in turn is very difficult, because Spirit Bond doesn't count the damage that would have been done before Aura of Faith reduces it by 50%). Because Aura of Faith decreases all damage taken by the target by 50%, while increasing all healing done to the target by 103%, it synergises amazingly with a fellow healer. Not only do you cut spike damage in half with Aura of Faith, and provide a buffer with Spirit Bond, you make all THEIR spells heal for twice the amount as well. Not only that, it affects the Divine Favour healing bonus as well, so if your partner healer is another monk... yippee! It does, however, mean that you have to anticipate spikes, to get the full use out of this build. Please note that Spirit Light Weapon does not benefit from this Aura of Faith, though. :(

Variants

• Deny Hexes instead of Cure Hex Deny Hexes removes at least 2 hexes, as it counts itself as a recharging Divine Favour skill. While it doesn't have the healing power of Cure Hex (which wasn't very much, anyway, for 3 points), removing more hexes can be better than just removing one,a nd getting an extra heal.
• Other than that... there's nothing on this bar I would drop or change. When things get hairy, you will need Selfless Spirit. If you're running with a group that absolutely insists that you bring a rez, then you shouldn't be running a build like this anyway. Bring rez scrolls, or run something conventional to make them feel safe, even if it is less powerful. Failing that, leave the group altogether.

Counters

• General Caster Hate
• Injudicious facerolling - you'll run out of e and be useless

Additional notes

Where have you tested this?
Just about everywhere. Vanquishes, HM missions, Elite areas, you name it. Do not use this in normal mode though. If the damage requirement for Spirit Bond isn't met, your protted target will die. It's also weak against mountains of minions. Minions don't hit hard enough in general to trigger Spirit Bond, so it'll be Death By a Thousand Cuts for your protted target.

Can heroes use this?
No. Heroes think Aura of Faith is Reversal of Fortune.

OMG! A Prot build without Protective Spirit? NOOB!
You don't Protective Spirit with this build. No, really. NO ONE in your party needs Protective Spirit, if you use this build right.