In Hellfire, the bard is in my opinion the strongest and most devastating character class. She combines powerful melee capability with an above-average magical prowess and is capable of crushing anything before her. However, it takes some specific equipment in order to reach that level of invincibility.

Life:    23 + Vit(character) + 1.5 x Vit(items) + 2 x clvl

Mana: 13 + Mag(character) + 1.75 x Vit(items) + 2 x clvl

Dmg with bows:                      (Str+Dex) x clvl / 500

Dmg with at least 1 sword:    (Str+Dex) x clvl / 150

Dmg with other weapons:      Str x clvl / 100

Bards are ambidextrous, able to wield two weapons at the same time.

1. With two swords, the bard is able to hit up to three adjacent enemies with one blow.
2. With a sword/club combo, the bard is treated as using a club (ie x1.5 vs undead etc).
3. The faster weapon speed is considered when a bard uses two weapons.
4. If damage prefixes occur on both weapons, they are added together and applied to total weapon damage.

Equipment

Equipment is one of the most important concepts to grasp when playing the bard. Whether a bard becomes successful or flops depends greatly on how the bard is equipped.

HELM - opinions certainly varies here, depending on style as the helm is not a crucial part of a bard's equipment.

#1: Helm of Sprits (or Undead Crown) Stats: 4 to 6 AC; steals 5% life
Provides pathetic AC but the 5% life-steal is extremely helpful, considering the huge amounts of damage the bard is capable of dealing.

#2: Royal Circlet Stats: 40 AC; +10 to all attributes; +40 mana; +10% light radius
A good all-round helm for all classes, the RC provides excellent AC and adds to stats and mana.

#3: Thinking Cap: 2 to 4 AC; +20% resist all; +30 mana; +2 spell levels
Again provides pathetic AC but the additions to spell level and mana will certainly benefit a magic-intensive bard.

ARMOUR - without blocking, the bard will definitely need high armour class in order to survive against the mobs of hell/hell.

#1: Awesome Full Plate Stats: 60 to 75 AC; +131-150% armour; suffix pending
Even the awesome plate provides a maximum of 187 AC (or 191 if suffix is of Precision), which may not be enough for a bard which does not use high AC helms. Suffixes are hard to come by but of Stars and of Sorcery/Precision are perhaps the best for bards.

#2: Holy (or Godly) Full Plate Stats: 60 to 75 AC; +151-170% (or +171-200%) armour
These provides massive AC, up to 225 in fact but what is lacking would probably a suffix. No good suffix comes on these armours and they are rare enough as it is already as they can only be purchased at Wirt at VERY high prices.

WEAPONS - this is where the most important part of the bard's equipment. In my opinion, three types of weapons stand out most. Jester's Swords of anything, King's Swords of anything and the Civerb's Cudgel. You might be thinking now, why am i suggesting Jester's and Civerb's Cudgel? The reason is that they are weapons which multiplies TOTAL damage.

#1: King's Sword (+71-100% to-hit; +151-175% damage)
The King's prefix is by far the most coveted prefix that comes on a weapon as it provides great to-hit as well as good damage. Good suffixes such as of Haste, of Vamps, of Blood, of Heavens and of Slaughter can also come on a King's Sword. For a bard, of Haste, of Vamps and of Blood are the most valuable due to the faster hit rate (and thus far more damage) or the life/mana-steal (due to high damage).

#2: Crystalline Sword (+200-280% damage; low durability)
The highest damage prefix that is possible, a crystalline sword in the setup of bards will greatly increase the damage potential of bards. The downside is that very little good suffixes can appear on crystalline swords. Perhaps the best would be of the Bat, of the Leech and of Swiftness. These swords can only be purchased at lower levels (below character level 15)

#3: Jester's Sword (multiples the total damage by a random factor from 0 to 6, with average 2)
At higher levels, these are among the best swords as the bard's character damage would have been significantly large. What lacks would be to-hit and good suffixes since jester's has around the same item level as crystalline. A problem is the lack of stability of the damage and thus the wielder may not be able to stun the enemies all the time.

#4: Civerb's Cudgel (-2 magic, -5 dexterity; +200% damage vs demons)
For the other classes, Civerb's Cudgel is a valuable weapon; for a bard, this is even more so. Although it is not a sword and using it will cause the bard to lose the"hit-3-enemies" ability, the tripling effect of the CC is too much to leave it out.

WEAPON COMBOS - combining the weapons is just as important as choosing the weapons itself. It is very important to have at least one sword in the setups as using two clubs will mean that the bard will do less character damage (see top). Also, using two swords give the bard the "hit-3-enemies" ability which is very useful to keep enemies at bay.

#1: King's Sword / King's Sword
Pros: This combination pairing is the most commonly thought to be the 'best' as it provides excellent to-hit and offers a whole range of suffixes to choose from. A bard can hit multiple enemies using this combination too.
Cons: However, there will be an excessive of to-hit and the damage of this combination is the lowest among those mentioned. Also, King's Swords are very hard to find, let alone King's swords with good suffixes.
Notes: For this category, the better combination of suffixes would be Haste/Vamps or Blood/Vamps as the stealing of mana really helps a bard who would likely have use for mana (either as manashield or offensive magic).

#2: King's Sword / Crystalline Sword
Pros: This combination yields very high (usually autohit) to-hit, as well as good damage potential. Also, the better-suffixed crystalline swords are quite readily available at low levels (under level 15). The bard can still hit three enemies with this combination.
Cons: Again, low damage compared to #3, #4, #5 and #6, and the Crystalline Sword can no longer be bought at higher levels (you may not have enough money to buy at lower levels). King's Swords are hard to find too. Another loss here would be that of a good suffix since only lower-level suffixes such as of the Bat, of the Leech and of Swiftness can occur on crystalline swords.
Notes: For this category, the better combination of suffixes would be Haste/Bat or Vamps/Swiftness as they combine speed with mana-steal.

#3: King's Sword / Jester's Sword
Pros: No lack of to-hit here due to King's prefix and has the potential to deal 800+ damage with one swing. A very high average damage too (compared to the above combinations) at around high 200's. Another plus point is that a decently-suffixed Jester's Sword can be bought easily at low levels. You can hit multiple enemies as well.
Cons: An unstable source of damage, so you might not stun all the time due to the Jester's multiplicative effect. Like crystalline, the best suffixes don't come on Jester's Swords and Jester's Swords can only be bought at lower levels. King's Swords are hard to find.
Notes: For this category, the better combination of suffixes are Haste/Bat or Vamps/Swiftness as you will be doing heavy damage and mana-steal will be very effective. To fully utilize the high damage, a double steal (Vamps or Blood with Bat or Leech) can be fun too.

#4: Civerb's Cudgel / King's Sword
Pros: Once again no lack in to-hit, this combination yields fantastic damage (potentially 400+ per blow)at a constant rate.
Cons: The loss of the "hit-3-enemies" ability weakens the bard somewhat and king's swords are hard to find.
Notes: The best suffix for King's sword would be Vamps or Haste depending if you are going for steal or speed.

#5: Civerb's Cudgel / Jester's Sword
Pros: Insanely high damage, the highest potential damage you can have (up to 18 times the damage shown on screen). This can yield something like 2000+ (with 700+ average) damage in one blow. No need to say more. Jester's Sword with decent suffixes are easily available too.
Cons: To-hit is lacking here but with some dex or to-hit jewels, this should not be a problem. Second would be the unstable damage of the Jester's and the loss of the "hit-3-enemies" ability.
Notes: Good suffixes for Jester's would be Leech and Swiftness.

#6: Civerb's Cudgel / Sword of Peril
Pros: Again, insanely high damage (6 times that shown on screen) that is STABLE and constant. The available of a prefix means you can have to-hit adders to help boost your lower to-hit. Swords of Peril are also easily available with good prefixes at low levels.
Cons: Life loss (but this can be negated using a Helm of Sprits or Undead Crown) from Peril hurts. To-hit is lacking but can be solved as above and there is a loss of the "hit-3-enemies" ability.
Notes: The best prefix would probably be Silver here (you will NOT want damage prefix as you will deal further damage to yourself that way).

JEWELS - usually, this is where you will have to make do with what you have, but jewels is where you WILL need resistance (in particular magic and fire resist). The remaining prefixes (if any left) should be left to +mana. For suffixes, +all would be the best for bards followed by +magic in my opinion.

DREAM SETUPS - it does not hurt to dream, so here is the dream setup for my bards, something i will always dream but almost never reach.

In either setup, the armour class value is around 270, max resist, insane damage potential, life-steal (and sometimes mana-steal as well) and excellent magical prowess. Manashield will be used in the second setup though. In either case, the bard is an invincible warrior that regenerates...

Character Development

A beginning rogue starts off with an excellent combination of weapon, two swords. However, this combination of weapons is not that effective in the church with so much undead around. My recommendation will be to spend your starting money purchasing a blunt weapon (even a club or a spiked club will do). This is to enable you to deal x1.5 damage against the undead.

The early years...
The first few levels should pass quickly without much mishap. During this time, do not buy anything as you will be needing some large amounts of cash soon. Make do with what you can find in the dungeon, looking out for some good damage swords. During this period, the bulk of your points should go into dexterity to ensure you can hit properly.

Planning for the future...
By character level 5-6, your character should be doing some pretty decent damage. If two good swords are available, switch to a double-sword setup for the multiple-enemy attacks. If no good swords have been found yet, stick to the club-sword setup for one or two more levels. Levels 7 to 15 will be a crucial period of a bard's career as it is only time you can purchase some of the best equipment for bards in the game. Look out for Crystalline Swords (preferably of Swiftness, Bat or Leech), Jester's Swords (preferably of Swiftness, Bat or Leech) and Swords of Peril (preferably Silver but NO damage prefixes). These will make up some of the best setups in the future but their uses are rather restricted at the moment (except for crystalline swords).

The middle years...
After level 15, it would be more of a concentration on improving your magical prowess, money obtained from the church should go into pumping up spell levels as the better armours and King's weapons are not yet available. In particular look out for the manashield spell which will benefit a bard greatly in the future especially if she has a sword of vampires or bat.

By about level 20, the bard should be doing 30-40 character damage. Using a CC combined with a Jester's weapon, the bard would be doing 0 to 720 damage per blow (with an average of 240) against demons, which makes up the main bulk of hell. This is because CC multiplies total damage by a factor of 3 against demons, while jesters multiplies that number by 0-6 times (2 being the average). This means that the damage you will see on the screen will be multiplied by 0 to 36 times. Would any other combination of weapon yield that kind of damage? I do not think so. Furthermore, the suffixes of Bat and of Leech can occur on a jester's weapon, making the bard a powerful stealing machine.

Hell beckons...
At higher difficulty settings, though damage of the CC/Jester combination is very high, there may not be sufficient to-hit. **However, it is still possible with some +dex items or even +to-hit items.** An alternative would be to use a King's sword (preferably of Haste, of Vamps, or of Blood). This usually yields an average damage of 300-400 per blow, meaning that even the toughest monsters in hell/hell cannot survive more than three hits. In this way, i could fend off the strongest mob due to the effective rate i am destroying the enemy.

Thus, by around level 27 onwards, you should start to look for King's Swords (preferably of Haste/Speed, of Vamps or of Blood). At the same time, begin your search for a good piece of heavy armour. By then, you should be pretty much strong and capable of dealing with any sort of opposition that comes up.

Tips and Tactics

(1) Surviving the Financial Strains of Early Years

At the lower levels, there may be very attractive pieces of armour and weapons for sale, books too. But do not get tempted as you need to save up for the 'best' - Jester's, Crystalline and of Peril. To provide the cash for these limited-time-only weapons, you need good control of your finances.

Deal with potions carefully, 1-2 half potions often have equal or greater effects than a full potions and costs less. Also, note when you get close to rising in levels and try to use the full healing effects of levelups, avoiding potion usage at those times.

Pick up everything you can, selling everything too, including magical items (except maybe good damage swords). Also, for magical rags, bucklers or clubs, don't identify them but just sell them as identification usually ends up up with less money than if you sell straight off.

(2) Telekill

When faced with a ranged attacker that will certainly retreat back to where more enemies are, don't chase. Instead, you should try out Telekill... Activate your hotkeyed Teleport spell, and cast it when your cursor is highlighting your target. After you right click on the target, left-click so that as soon as you arrive, you'll swing your sword at the target.

(3) Use Corners and Walls

A bard using two swords can hit three adjacent enemies. When faced with a mob, don't be dumb and charge straight in. Instead, seek out the closest corner and move there so that at most three enemies can hit you at the same time. Now, since you can hit (and stun too) three enemies at the same time, they will not be able to hit back, so you will have no one attacking you!!!

If you are in the middle of a LONG corridor, make use of walls. Sticking close to the walls will bring the number of possible enemies down to five, with at most two hitting you since you will be stunning three of them.

Chain Lightning also becomes a useful tool in these cases since you will get a good high-density fan of lightning which does devastating damage.

(4) "Shift" Clicking

Though many people shun this style of attacking, it has proved invaluable to me. At a corner, shift-clicking at the square diagonally adjacent will ensure that all three squares next to you will be covered and any enemies that step into these squares will be hit immediately.

"Shift-clicking" also gives you sort of first strike against the enemies and is useful against foes such as black deaths (if you insists on meleeing them) since you will have a chance to hit them before they can even start their attack.

Conclusion

With the high damage potentials of the above-mentioned combination, there is no fear of mobs at all. In fact that level 41 lightly armoured bard frequently charges into MOBS of knights, drakes and survive to tell the tale (usually without losing a single drop of blood). Thus the need for knockback or blocking is not there at all. Who needs knockback when the enemies are going to die in the next blow? The high-damage setups provides a much better and faster revenue to kill monsters than most other setups i have found. Of course, the use of CC means the loss of the ability to hit three enemies but a jester's sword or a sword of peril will function almost equally well.

In summary, some of the best weapon combinations are the CC/jesters, CC/kings and kings/jesters. Afterall, what can beat a bard who regularly hits for over 500 points of damage in one swing. I have even seen my bard gained over 100 life from helm of sprits with one hit, indicating that i have dealt over 2000 damage with that hit.

Ice(BNR)

Return to Caverns of Ice
Return to Character Strategy Guide