Bard

Bard is one of the twelve classes in Elder Tale, and one of the Weapon Attack-type classes. This class specializes in using magical songs to increase the stats of the other members of an attack party.

There are two localized variants of this class: Skald on the Scandinavian server, and Tribal on the Oceanic server.

Overview
A Bard can only wear leather armor and is limited to using short swords, bows and other light weapons or instruments. However, unlike other weapon-based classes, Bards have the unique ability to use Song Magic, which allows them to tremendously increase their allies' combat prowess. In particular, the Bard has support songs that grant continuous buffs until cancelled and are ranked substantially above those cast by an Enchanter. On top of that, these support songs can be toggled on and off at will. There is a great variety of songs in the skill set, each of which are very powerful.

However, the Bard's own combat prowess is quite low, and few players choose this class. High-level bards can learn up to 15 songs and can activate two songs simultaneously. Since each song requires a very long casting time, having a long-term battle strategy is crucial. Therefore, this class is very challenging to master.

Average HP and MP Chart
The calculations for this table are based on level and the average gear for that level. However, HP and MP are also affected by the Adventurer's race and sometimes by subclass.

Show/Hide table

Sample Builds
There are three main builds for this class: the Concertmaster (Continuous Support Song specialization), the Prima Actor (special attack specialization), and the Virtuoso (Spell Song specialization).

Concertmaster
Supporting parties in large-scale battles, a Concertmaster uses skills such as Battle Conduct, War Conductor, Curtain Drops, and other such skills to increase his or her allies' attack ability. A Concertmaster is not expected to fight on the front lines, although they can use their auto-attack sometimes.

Henrietta uses this build.

Prima Actor
Using attack spells like Duet, Grande Finale, and Prelude Onslaught in conjunction with movement hindrance spells like Ballad of the Gullible Snail, a Prima Actor can increase the number or strength of either their own or their allies' attacks. The main weakness of this build is that it is more effective against multiple enemies, and its effectiveness drops considerably against solo enemies.

Takayama Misa uses this build.

Virtuoso
Focuses on aiding allies using their Spell Songs to weaken opponents. However, this build is rather unpopular due to the relatively short range of Bard attacks compared to Assassins and Swashbucklers, as well as the lower damage it deals.

Enkaatanto uses this build, and Isuzu begins focusing on this build in volume 8.

Known Skills

 * Note: This section will be heavily revised in the future.

For general information on how skills work in Elder Tale, see Skills.

Known Instruments
From the Log Horizon TRPG Supplement: Into the Theldesia [Testing New Builds (1)].