Bard Skills

Learn the best Bard skills in Ragnarok Online! This guide breaks down Music Lessons, Amp, Encore, Melody Strike, and more, with tips to maximize your effectiveness.

Alright, so you've decided to become a Bard in Ragnarok Online! That's awesome. Bards are all about support and unique offensive capabilities, but they play a bit differently than other classes. When you're using your songs and dances, remember you can't attack and you move super slow. Plus, getting hit will totally interrupt whatever you're doing, so positioning is key!

Let's break down the skills you'll be looking at:

• Music Lessons (Passive): This is your bread and butter for improving your ATK with instruments and making your songs hit harder. It doesn't cost any SP and has no prerequisites, so you'll want to max this out. Each level gives you +3 ATK, going all the way up to +30 ATK at Level 10. It's also a requirement for a bunch of other skills, so just get it done!
• Amp (Active): This skill stops your singing. It costs 1 SP and has no prerequisites. It might seem weird to have a skill that stops you from doing something, but it's essential for managing your actions and it's a prerequisite for Encore.
• Encore (Active): If you've got Level 1 Amp, you can grab this. It costs 1 SP plus half the SP of the last skill you used. What it does is re-sing your last song. This is a HUGE SP saver, especially for longer buffs or songs, so definitely pick it up.
• Melody Strike (Active): Requires Level 3 Music Lessons. This is your offensive skill that lets you shoot arrows using your instruments, even while singing. It starts at 150% damage at Level 1 and goes up to 250% at Level 5. It costs 8 SP. It's a good way to contribute damage while still supporting your party.
• Unchained Serenade (Active): Needs Level 1 Music Lessons and Level 1 Amp. This skill is a bit of a mixed bag. It hits in a 9x9 area and damages every 3 seconds, ignoring defense. However, it has a pretty hefty SP cost that varies, starting at 18 SP plus 1 SP every 3 seconds for Level 1, and going up to 30 SP plus 1 SP every 3 seconds for Level 5. While it can hit multiple enemies, it's generally not worth the SP unless you're facing a large mob.
• Unbarring Octave (Active): Requires Level 1 Encore. This is a crowd control skill that has a chance to freeze enemies. At Level 1, it's a 20% chance to freeze and costs 12 SP, going up to a 40% chance and 20 SP at Level 5. It's great for controlling mobs and could be super useful in PvP. However, word on the street is that this skill can be pretty buggy and doesn't always work as intended, which is a real shame.
• Magic Strings (Active): You'll need Level 3 Unchained Serenade for this one. This skill is all about speeding things up – it reduces skill delay and casting time. At Level 1, you get 3% faster casting and 3% less skill delay, costing 40 SP plus 1 SP every 5 seconds. Maxing it out at Level 10 gives you a massive 30% faster casting and 30% less skill delay, but it'll cost you a whopping 85 SP plus 1 SP every 5 seconds. While faster casting is nice for Mages you might party with, the huge SP cost and the fact that many Mages already have decent cast times make this a skill you can probably skip unless you're really dedicated to Mage parties. Your DEX and Music Lessons affect skill delay, while INT and Music Lessons affect casting time.
• Impressive Riff (Active): Also needs Level 3 Unchained Serenade. This skill is all about boosting your attack speed. Level 1 gives you 11% faster attack speed for 38 SP plus 1 SP every 3 seconds. At Level 10, you get a full 20% faster attack speed for 65 SP plus 1 SP every 3 seconds. Since everyone loves attacking faster, this is a pretty solid choice, though keep an eye on that SP cost. Your AGI stat also boosts the attack speed increase.
• Perfect Tablature (Active): Requires Level 3 Unchained Serenade. This skill focuses on evasion, giving you Flee and Perfect Dodge. Level 1 grants +1 Flee and +1 Perfect Dodge, with a low cost of 1 SP every 5 seconds. Maxing it out at Level 10 gives you +10 Flee and +10 Perfect Dodge, still only costing 1 SP every 5 seconds. This is a great skill for survivability, especially since many Bards focus on AGI. Music Lessons and AGI boost the Flee bonus, while Music Lessons and LUK boost the Perfect Dodge bonus.