Bard Build Guide

Welcome to the Bard Build Guide! Bard is one of the Support classes in Lost Ark. Your role revolves around providing your party with various damage buffs, as well as keeping them safe through Shields, Damage Reduction, and Heals. This becomes relatively easy with Bard since she has many super armor skills that allow her to effectively support no matter the situation.

Outside of that, Bard provides a bonus Counter, and Destruction, to the party. Her Stagger and Counter can be a bit lackluster but this can easily be improved with a few build changes. Your class engraving Desperate Salvation further improves your healing with Serenade of Salvation (X) making it more impactful.

Want to learn more about the other support classes? Check out our Paladin and Artist guides.

Bard excels at providing high uptime Attack Power and Brand buffs to the entire party, while also having reliable Damage Reduction, Shields, Heals and contribution to Utility checks.

Your gameplay revolves around supporting your party through various damage buffs, as well as protecting them from dangerous attacks. Here's a breakdown of how you can fulfill that role. Bard additionally can suffer from severe mana issues so make sure you are capitalizing on Max MP Increase, Focus runes, food that provides "Combat Resource Recovery" such as [Masterwork] Artisan Garlic Steak Meal, and looking at the tripods you use.

This buff consists of +8/10/12% Attack & Movement Speed, as well as increased damage, and it comes from the Yearning Gear Set. It is applied through a circle around your character that grants the buff to any party member inside it for 15 seconds. You gain the circle upon landing any attack on an enemy. The Yearning buff is one of your highest priorities, and should always be maintained from the start of the fight until the end.

This buff allows you to increase your party's Attack Power by 15% of your own Attack Power, as well as granting +6% Attack Power overall. It is applied through Heavenly Tune and Sonic Vibration. It is very important to understand that both of these skills apply the same buff, and it does not stack. You should maintain this buff as well as you can throughout the fight, by keeping an eye on your buff bar and alternating between these skills when the buff is about to expire.

This debuff causes the target to receive +10% Damage from your party. It is applied through Harp of Rhythm and Sonatina. Since Harp of Rhythm is stationary we use our second brand to fill in gaps when the boss moves to maintain more consistent uptime. You should be able to maintain Brand throughout the entire fight by keeping an eye on the enemy's debuff bar and using your Brand.

Her Identity has two different use cases and it depends on the situation. Remember your Identity will use all of your bars so you always want to be planning what to do depending on the fight. You should only be using Serenade of Salvation (X) when your team is relatively low and only using it at 1 bar due to the previously stated interaction. Serenade of Courage (Z) should be used as much as possible if your team is healthy. You generally want to use 2 bar as it is more efficient on average but there will be many situations where you can build more meter or have a great burst window lined up, this is where 3 bar can shine and should be used.

Bard's kit benefits from several ways of protecting your party.

Increasing the level of Tripods greatly enhances their effectiveness. You may only increase the level of 18 tripods at a time. Some of them cannot be leveled at all, or are left at level 1 - these tripods are omitted from the table, even if they are used. Here are the main tripods you should look out for in order to maximize this build's potential.

Tripods written in bold text are your highest priority, make sure to level them first!

Gems are another significant aspect of your build, as they directly impact the damage and cooldowns of your skills. You can equip up to 11 gems at a time, but as a support class, damage gems have no impact on your performance. Here are the ones you should focus on in order to maximize this build's potential, listed according to their priority.

This set is the only option for supports due to the powerful buffs it offers your party, as well as significantly increased meter generation for yourself.

Check out the Gear Progression Guide for step by step instructions and early game gearing.

If you are interested in Sidereal Weapons, click here for more details.

Engravings are a core part of your build. Typically, most engravings will be used at level 3, but there are some that can be used at level 1 or 2 in addition to the others, after reaching item level 1540 and unlocking Ancient Accessories.

Core Engravings

Check out the Engraving Guide for more details.

Bracelets provide beneficial effects to yourself or to your party members depending on the rolls they have.

The primary goal is to get the main stats used by this build Swiftness and Specialization. After that you should be aiming for Special Rolls to get more damage. Please note that this system is heavily reliant on RNG, and you should not expect to get much more beyond your main stats early on.

Check out the Bracelet Guide for more details.

Check out the Card Guide for more details on how to obtain cards and interact with them.

Early Game Support Card Set

Credits