Itazura's Bard Puller Guide

This guide is aimed at Lv.27 and higher Bard players who with to go beyond enhancing the exp party by songs alone, but also contribute as a Puller. Not all parties benefits from using its Bard as a puller; in some, a BRD/WHM as a co-healer is more far helpful than leaving the back line manned by a lone mage. However, in many parties, the best thing a Bard can do for the groups' performance is to pull--in a controlled, steady manner, when not applying song effects.

Worship the Exp/Hour!
There is only one true measurement of an exp party's performance: Experience Points per Hour. That's not "300 Exp on that last mob!", nor "Did you see my bad ass xxxx damage on WS?" It's experience points, per hour--everything else is just a distraction.

Every Bard's role is to enhance the exp/hour. No exception.

To perform that duty, though, a Bard player must understand what are the major obstacles to getting decent exp/hour, and how to help a party overcome them.

Obstacles to Decent Exp/Hour

 * Over-hunting: This is when party hunts monsters which takes too long to kill or are too dangerous to the members. Keeping up the buff songs on melees and Ballad on BLM is about the only thing a Bard can do to compensate for this, and only so much.  Stomping feet and demand a new camp with more appropriate targets is likely a better solution.  Sometimes, not Level Sync to the lowest member, and go for a level or two above can solve this, but that's not something to count on.


 * Under-hunting: This is when party hunts monsters which do not give enough exp per kill. Pulling faster is how a Bard can help, but that's not a cure all.  Level Sync to a lower level may help, but again, not something that's always possible.


 * Death: Nothing kills exp/hour faster than a party member getting K.O.'ed, especially if it's a tank or healer. A Bard with mage support job needs to keep an eye on HP of party members, and prioritize emergency cures over buffs and pulls--otherwise, exp will drop to 0 for 5 minutes.  Once again, emergency cures first--worry about songs and pulls after.  Same goes for dangerous pulls; dead puller means lousy exp--don't link fast moving monsters, and don't bring critters 18 levels above your tank.


 * Bad Tanking: Notice it's bad tanking, not bad tank.  Even though the tank shoulders a lion's share of the burden, it's everyone's responsibility to ensure the party is function smoothly, with the monster mostly attacking the tank and not melees or mages.  Bad tanking is most noticeable when mages or Dancer is using excessive amount of MP or TP to cure, especially curing the non-tanks.


 * Unfortunately, this is not something Bard can do a lot about. Help keep the tank high in HP can encourage some players to use Provoke more often for the Bards with mage support job; switching to March song(s) can help Utsusemi based tanks with recast timers; angling for Ballad on the Paladin can help him last longer and cast more spells.  Those little things should help, but nothing a Bard does can force a reticent tank to perform or truly hold back a showoff DD sponging off the curing resources.


 * Replacements: Someone leaving the party interrupts the fights. A player is distracted and inattentive to the fights while  looking for replacement.  May cause confusion as new arrival may not know how the party has been operating.  Often need additional time to renegotiate who performs which roles.  Worse still, a replacement is like a yawn; once one person bails a party early, another would follow, then yet another--and the last replacement to arrive gets to camp about 35 seconds before the leader quits the party and disband it.


 * Simply, a Bard should help by not contributing to the problem. Refuse replacement invites.  Ask to make sure everyone joining the party at the beginning has reasonable amount of time, and do not include those "I'm 2373 TNL and I'm leaving as soon as I get my level!" people.  Do not put up seek flag unless intend to stay in party.  Do not look for a replacement--a Bard puller should be too busy to even contemplate such a thing anyway.


 * Replacement, is a stupid way to party--and usually produces a low exp/hour result.


 * Bad Pulling: Now this, a Bard is well suited to address. A "bad puller" means almost the same thing as a "slow puller" in many people's minds, though pullers who get themselves killed or keep bringing back unintended links also fit the bill.  Links often means the party has to use up resources faster to handle (or die/wipe).  A death on pull brings nothing but a five minute long, 0 exp headache to the party.  Slow pulling is... a waste of everyone's time.


 * Buff songs take a while to apply, but do not wear off all that fast. That means a Bard has time on his hands.  In the early years of FFXI, that meant helping out with bar- spells in parties without White Mage or someone with native enhancing magic and /WHM, and back-up cure.  In a modern party with sufficient curing powers and enough mages, though, those activity are still helpful, but not essential.  Instead, the best use of the free time is to pull.


 * While the buffs/Ballad songs are up, a Bard away takes nothing from the party's firepower, unlike using a DD (such as a THF or RNG) to pull. This means a Bard can have the next target ready at camp just as the previous one dies, speeding up pulling without taking a DD or mage away from the fight prematurely.


 * Further more, a Bard has two Lullaby songs to keep critters asleep. That means a Bard can pull early, and just leave the critter sleeping at camp, while the party is working on a current target--and resume reapplying buffs.  This ensures the party can quickly go from one critter to the next despite uneven damage output (BLM uses a big spell, some melee WS'ed twice or landed far bigger hits than normal, etc.), with no break in between.  This is called staged pulling, and is the goal of every Bard puller.


 * (Those same Lullabies are also good for getting out of jams from pulling links or dangerous prey, by the way.)

Staged Pulling
Staged pulling is readying the next target for battle while working on the current one; it is about reducing the down time to 0, so every second of the hour the party is working on getting exp. This helps to keep the exp chains going, too, which further ups the exp/hour. Which is good, because a good party want high exp/hour--EXP/HOUR is the performance of the party.

Now, staged pulling isn't something exclusive to Bards. Red Mage, Corsair, and White Mages have all been doing it in merit parties and earlier, if not as often as Bards. Heck, theoretically a BLM/NIN with Herald's Gaiters can beat out a Bard in both speed and safety, with two single target sleeps, two AoE sleeps, and a stun spell to boot.

The reason why Bard is the king of staged pulling isn't that it's the only job capable of staged pulling. Rather, it's because a Bard is the only job which can reasonbly perform its core duty while being away on pulls, by using the time between buff songs.

Generally, the process of staged pulling is:
 * Play X number of buff songs.
 * Run off to find preys in range.
 * Select target, and trigger the pull (with Elegy or another spell/song).
 * Run back to camp.
 * Lullaby the pulled target; this stages the next fight.
 * Repeat. (Sometimes, may have to reapply Lullaby between buff songs if the party is taking a while with current battle.)

The goal of staged pulling is to ensure the party does not have to spend time waiting between targets to fight. To achieve safe and effective staged pulling, some conditions must be met:


 * Damage Mitigation vs. Healing Power Balance: The DDs must not take more damage than the mages and/or Dancer can sustain curing resources (MP for mages, TP and Waltz timer for Dancer), and sustain with a reasonable buffer for emergencies.
 * A Bard assists with this by keeping Ballad on mages (and Paladin), and Madrigal and/or March on Dancer. Bard with White Mage, Red Mage, or Scholar support job also can directly lighten healers' load with cures.
 * DDs should use /NIN if the party doesn't have abundant healing power; /SAM is nice, but Utsusemi is stronger damage mitigation than Seigan/Third Eye.
 * A good tank save healing resource, and allows DDs to do more damage. Keep a critical eye on the tanking performance, and be prepared to switch songs if the tank needs an edge.  (Generally, this means using a March over a Minuet or Madrigal.  Minne is generally too great of a sacrifice even for a Paladin tank; consider position the party member in such a way so that PLD can receive a Ballad song instead without hitting DDs.)
 * Proper Pull Timing: Pull too late, and the party will have to wait for something to kill. Pull too early, and the critter may wake up after initial Lullaby, and damage the Bard or someone who used Provoke, needlessly wasting healing resources, as well as wasting Bard's time to reapply Lullaby.
 * A condition often overlooked is overcrowding; even the greatest puller will bring in substandard exp/hour if there are too many competitors. A more out of the way place, no exp bonus, slightly harder to kill monsters---but free from competition local--will usually bring in better exp/hour than a crowded camp with favorite targets.
 * Tailored Buff Cycle: It's great to never let buffs drop, but spending too much time buffing and the staged pulling will become spotty, and not so well staged. On the other hand, letting buffs drop for more than a few seconds means a Bard is neglecting his core duty.  A party without BRD buffs can still stage pull, but will kill slower, and result in lower exp/hour--the same result as slow pulling due to over buffing.
 * With a party which has uneven kill speed, a Bard must be vigilant of the monster's HP bar, and be flexible about the number of buff songs to play before running off to pull. The easiest way to remain flexible is to keep to a buff song order. Sounds counterintuitive, but keeping a strict order means one always know which song to play next by checking the song icons on the screen to see which song was last played.  (Well, mostly; single target buffs like Prelude isn't listed.)

To recap, staged pulling is all about bringing in the monster at the right time, so the party always have something to kill. To do this, the party must have right balance of damage mitigation vs. curing power, be at a good, clear camp that fits the party, and a Bard who's always keeping an eye on the monster and the party so he knows when to run off and get another monster.

Level
Level 27 is when a Bard can start pulling, because that's when a Bard gets Horde Lullaby. While one Lullaby can be resisted fairly often at lower levels, two should provide sufficient safety most of the time.

Trigger
Lower level Bards are usually on /WHM support job. Pull with Paralyze; it's fast casting, available from /WHM (and /RDM), fairly low MP--and seems not to lock people post spell animation as much as the Threnody songs.

Recommend against using /NIN before Lv.30 due to the lack of a decent pulling song. Post 30, /NIN15+ provides the elemental ninjutsu spells (the -ton series), which are reasonable for pulling, if a bit long in cast time. Note that to use those, must have appropriate ninja tools in inventory.

Do not pull with Dia or Requiem; slip damage spell on the monster means Lullaby will wear off the instant it lands. Same goes for Poison or Bio for those with /RDM. Staged pulling isn't possible for a Bard pulling with a slip damage (DoT) spell.

Magic Finale may be workable at Level 33 if saving MP is desired. At level 39, definitely switch to Battlefield Elegy. Switch again to Carnage Elegy at Lv.59.

Gears
Mary's Horn. This is a must. Every Bard level 14 and higher should have it, and doubly so for any puller Bard. Next up is reasonable defense (no level 1 RSE, please), especially in Body and Legs slots. CHR and skill gears to help land Lullaby are good, too.

Other than that, there's no real difference from non-puller Bard's setup for the majority of levels, with a huge exception of Minstrel's Ring for players who are willing to make the sacrifices needed. That ring and the setup needed to activate its latent is covered in its own section later.

Aside from Minstrel's Ring(Lv.50), Bards have access to Song Spellcasting Time reduction gear Sha'ir Manteel and Yigit Gomlek. While they are good for any Bard, they are especially helpful to a puller Bard. Every player should aim to obtain the Yigit Gomlek at some point if the expensive Sha'ir Manteel is out of reach.

Food
Reasonably priced Defense food will do the job nicely if able to land Lullaby (and Elegy) reliably. If not, Charisma food is the ticket. Hybrid food grants Defense and Charisma at the same time.


 * Defense: Boiled Crab, Steamed Crab, Fish Mithkabob, Shallops Tropicale.
 * Charisma: Chamomile Tea, Flint Caviar, Tuna Sushi, Pamamas (for Opo-opo Crown).
 * Hybrid Def/CHR: Tavnazian Salad, Tavnazian Taco.

Shallops Tropicale is fairly inexpensive, and convenient for lasting three hours. If both Defense and Charisma are indispensable, Tavnazian Taco is likely more cost effective than Tavnazian Salad.

For Charisma alone, it's hard to beat price and convenience of Chamomile Tea. The Opo-opo Crown users should stick to Pamamas, however given it's even cheaper and gives far more Charisma. For the crown-less insisting on 30 minute CHR food, it's a toss up between Tuna Sushi and Flint Caviar. For the price of Tuna Sushi, though, a puller Bard should seriously consider Tavnazian Taco instead.

Macros
There's no single right way to macro for a Bard puller. Some people prefer to put a chat line in the song or spell macro (usually Elegy or Paralyze) used as the pulling trigger, others do not want to spam the party when they reapply Elegy mid battle so have a separate "Pulling" macro which they can use with any spell or song. The following is the less-spam style example:

Song/spell macro usable as pulling trigger:
 *  "Battlefield Elegy"
 *  "Battlefield Elegy" 

Pull announcement macro:


 * Press the above macro after triggering the pull with any macro that uses . It's a fine idea to add to that macro commands to switch to defensive gears, but remember switch back to CHR/skill gears later with some other macro(s) if doing so.

Lullaby macros:
 *  "Foe Lullaby" 
 *  "Foe Lullaby" 


 *  "Horde Lullaby" 
 *  "Horde Lullaby" 

Aside: Keep in mind that AoE buff songs already spam the party a lot, and do not need more party lines from the Bard to fill up the chat log. No buff song macro should have any chat line.

Support Jobs
For exp party, a puller Bard can use a number of support jobs effectively: /WHM, /SCH, /RDM, /BLU, and /NIN. For the majority of targets and camps, a Bard puller can do a fine job on any of those listed; it all comes down to how much damage mitigation is needed to pull at a good pace, and which SJ brings which additional benefits the party can use.


 * /WHM: The best support job to support the party, with bar- spells, Cure, Curaga, Regen, and spells to fix status ailments. Makes available Blink and Stoneskin to a puller BRD, but not compatible with Minstrel's Ring due to Auto Regen.
 * /NIN: Post Lv.30, probably the best for pulling in general thanks to Utsusemi, but brings no support capability to the party at all.
 * /BLU: Cocoon is an impressive defensive spell available at Lv.16, but for helping with cures, a BRD/BLU won't get Healing Breeze until Lv.32 or Wild Carrot until Lv.60.
 * /RDM: Fast Cast, Blink, and Phalanx/Stoneskin if time permits, plus Cure and Regen spells.  Compared to /WHM and /SCH, though, lacking spells to fix status ailments.
 * /SCH: The alternative to /WHM when using Minstrel's Ring while retaining Cure, Regen, and spells to fix status ailments. This SJ has no defensive capability at all, however, making it dangerous to use at certain camps.

Generally speaking, having /WHM and /NIN ready would be sufficient, though there's a middle stretch where a non-/WHM mage support job would be handy for Minstrel's Ring users. For the majority of the Bard players, /WHM until Lv.70's, then switch to /NIN is a good rule of thumb to follow.

Beetle
Some Beetles are not aggressive (e.g. Nest Beetle in Crawler's Nest), while some are aggressive (e.g. Desert Beetle in Western Altepa Desert). Always take care to find out which type is at the camp. Probably all Beetles in partying levels link (by sight), though, so be sure to have a clear path back to the camp. It may be possible to pull one Beetle without linking the one next to it depending on the angle of pull and directions they are looking.

Colibri, Non-Parroting
The lower leveled Lesser Colibri and Colibri from East Ronfaure (S) do not parrot spells. This makes them easier for the party--can enfeeb and nuke without hesitation--but dangerous for a Bard puller.

All Colibris have higher movement speed than players, so these two variety will likely catch up to the Bard puller the vast majority of time. Bring damage mitigation measures to lessen the danger, either from support job or in the form of defense food. Long pull on these is a very bad idea.

Colibri, Parroting
The higher leveled Greater Colibri and Colibri from Bhaflau Thickets and Mamool are far safer for a Bard puller. Since they parrot spells and songs, a Bard puller can get a sizable running start before these birds begin their pursuit.

The Greater Colibri is unique in that it would link (by sight) with other Greater Colibris, so take care to have a clear path when pulling. Be careful of the terrain when pulling from lower section of the Nyzul Isle exit Bhaflau Thickets camp, as it can deflect the Greater Colibri's flight path unexpectedly and cause bad links.

Using /NIN as support job for these, since Utusemi can absorb the trigger song the Colibri parrots 100% of the time. Do not ever use Horde Lullaby, as it can sleep the entire party and possibly cause a wipe. Use Utsusemi to blink tank if Lullaby fails while waiting for recast, and use skill/Charisma gear, Light Staff, plus Mary's Horn to make sure Lullaby doesn't fail often.

Crawlers
All Crawlers link by hearing, and many are aggressive. Interesting to note that they track by scent, so if it runs over a puddle of water (e.g. Defoliator in Aydeewa Subterrane) a puller can lose the Crawler before reaching camp, usually an undesirable outcome.