I was in Chardok when I was accused, for the second time that day, of not "doing anything" in the group. This was because I did not have weapons equipped, and because I was playing damage songs (Chants) against our enemies, and thus not twisting any party-buffing songs while doing so. We had an enchanter providing haste, a shaman providing slow, but were low on damage-dealing ability. So, I pulled out the tambourine and started chanting away. After the first couple of mobs went down, the enchanter piped up, "What, the bard doesn't have to do anything?"

I had to count to 10 to control my blood pressure before I began to explain, for the second time that day, how what I was doing was more efficient and more powerful than my melee. Given that I was not needed to haste our party or slow our enemies, and because we were lacking in raw damage-dealing ability, I had chosen to use my chant-songs and magical drum. Clearly, I was "doing something," and frankly, quite a lot, but I suppose I can't blame the enchanter too much. I mean, it didn't look like I was doing much, hanging back without weapons in my hand. I was twisting, but if you weren't looking at me, you wouldn't have seen the song animation. And there was no flashing icon or blinking lights, assuming that you had particle effects turned off (common at high levels). Ignorance, then, was the culprit.

And let's face it, there are many bards out there who still think they're tanks. Most people assume that because bards can dual wield and do melee from time to time that that must be their primary role. So, this enchanter probably had seen many bards her entire life doing nothing but meleeing away, probably unaware that there are much better things they can be doing, at times, than swinging their weapons. Note, I am not saying bards should /never/ melee. On the contrary, sometimes meleeing is the best choice for the situation. But there are two things that all bards must keep in mind when deciding whether or not they should melee in a given situation. One, Bard melee is the weakest out of all melee classes, and two, Bards' true strengths lie in their songs, not their weapons.

Verant has said on their boards that they intend for this to be so, aiming for a bard to be at about 60% melee effectiveness when compared with a warrior of equal level. How do they accomplish this? By restricting our skills.

Offensively, we do get dual wield, which is nice, and we also have access to some rather nice weapons in the game. However we lack other offensive skills such as kick, bash, and most importantly, double attack. The lack of these additional abilities severely curtails a bard's ability to deliver damage in combat.

Defensively, we have even more issues. Verant recently upped our Defense skill to cap the same as a Warrior's, which is a good thing. We're also a plate class, which is also nice, though our bard-only armors have slightly lesser AC value than comparable Warrior-only armors. But we lack many necessary defensive skills. The only defensive skill we learn is Dodge, at level 10, until we get to level 53, when we get Parry, and level 58, when we finally get Riposte. And these skills are also capped much lower, too. Compare the caps, bard's listed first, with post-level-50 values: Dodge 155/175, Parry 185/235, Riposte 75/225. And the final straw is we have significantly fewer hit points than warriors or other hybrids.

Does this mean that bards shouldn't bother meleeing? No, there are some circumstances when a bard should melee, absolutely. But all bards need to be aware that they are not designed to have good melee. They certainly shouldn't attempt tanking past their teens. A bard shouldn't automatically assume he is best serving his party by swinging weapons. Of all the melee classes, bards have the worst melee ability.

So what should they do instead?

Makes sense, doesn't it? A class who is all about singing gets true power from their songs. And not only their songs but their instruments. A bard who puts away their weapons and uses an instrument can do truly amazing things in the right circumstances.

Remember that the effectiveness of most songs doubles when the bard uses an instrument that is appropriate for that song. If the instrument is a magical one, then there is an additional percentage bonus on top of that one.

What this means is that with a magical instrument and the right songs in the right circumstances, a bard can contribute far more to a group's success than meleeing might.

Take, for example, one of my favorite defensive twists: Shield of Song, and Hymn of Restoration. Played with a lute, this combination drastically reduces the damage a party takes. The Shield of Song puts up a damage-absorption rune every time it pulses, and Hymn of Restoration provides a regeneration effect. Both songs stack with other (non-bard) runes and regeneration effects and are mana-free. At level 50, using a Gypsy Lute (5% bonus) , the bard can put up a 41 point rune and a continuous 18-point/tick regeneration effect. The Rune gets refreshed every 6 seconds or so if the bard simply alternates the songs. You may think 41 points isn't much when a mob hits for 100. But think of it over the course of a battle, getting refreshed constantly, on every group member, helping to absorb not only the damage to the main tank, but to those hit by ripostes, AE spells, and so forth. As a nice side effect, the Shield of Song actually absorbs some of the damage caused by the shaman Cannibalize spells. If you have a shaman in your group, instruct them to Cannibalize every time the Sheild gets refreshed. With regeneration going, they could actually gain life while Cannibalizing.

Bards are also wanted for their resist boots on raids. A bard with a magical drum like the Nostrolo Tambourine (23% bonus) can put a group's Magic, Fire, and Cold resists through the roof, which could save a party against nasty breath weapons, fear effects, and spells, and would be much more useful than a few points of melee.

But what about raw damage? If you want to do damage, you should melee, right? No, here our songs and instruments are once again shown to be powerhouses. The key here is to use a magical drum and our Chant songs: Fufil's Curtailing Chant, Tuyen's Chant of Flame, and Tuyen's Chant of Frost. These chants are powerful mana-free DoTs that also include a resistance debuff effect. At level 50, a bard using a Nostrolo Tambourine will be doing 167 damage per tick, assuming no resists on a stationary or fleeing target. On top of this, the Chants will lower the enemies Magic, Fire, and Cold resistance by 31 points. These debuffs mean more of the party's spells will land successfully, more snares, more slows, more nukes. 167 damage per tick works out to be almost 28 damage per second, which is an excellent amount. Of course, if you start having resists the damage is reduced, but the nice thing about these chants is that once they land, because of the resistance debuff, they're more likely to continue to land.

But does the 3-chant stack truly surpass a bard's melee? Let's do a comparison. Let's take that level 50 bard above with the tambourine as the base for the damage done by the 3-chant stack. Remember that works out to be almost 28 damage per second (27.8 to be exact).

Now, let's equip that bard with two very nice weapons: Di'Zok Wristsnapper (Damage: 10, Delay: 18) and a Centi Longsword (Damage 14, Delay 27). And let's also say that bard has a Flowing Black Silk Sash equipped, and is singing Jonthan's Provocation, which provides a total haste of 71%. Let's also assume that he's got a base STR of 150. Even then, he is likely to only be doing 16.7 damage per second.

What about even more über weapons? Let's equip the bard with his epic weapon, the Singing Steel Short Sword (Damage 16 Delay 26) in the off hand, and a Priceless Velium Warsword (Damage 13, Delay 20) in the primary. Let's say that he still has that base 150 STR, even before the two weapons give them their bonus. And let's also say he has that FBSS, and also that the Dance of the Blade proc is in effect. The result is still only 23 damage per second. Now, admittedly, the bard could also sing the chant songs on top of meleeing with the Singing Short Sword, for incredible damage, since the sword acts as an instrument. But the raw melee output is still less than that of the 3-chant stack. And the vast majority of bards will not acquire their epic weapon.

So, when should a bard melee? In a bard's younger days, meleeing is going to be more effective than instruments simply because a bard won't have as many useful songs to use. But as a bard gets older, into her 20s, for example, it suddenly becomes quite possible for a bard to become more effective using instruments than using weapons. A bard can begin instrument fighting at 18 and charm-kiting at 27, both non-melee techniques that work rather well in certain circumstances.

The basic rule of thumb a bard should look at is what songs is she going to be playing during combat. If most of the songs are Singing songs, which gain no bonus from using instruments, then it's probably a good idea for the bard to also melee. For instance, most of our haste songs are singing only, as are our slows. A nice combat twist, in the absence of a shaman and enchanter, is a haste song, a slow song, and one of our Psalms for the damage shield. All three of these songs are usually singing, so it makes sense to melee then. The cumulative effect of hasting all of the party plus meleeing is probably going to surpass the damage done by the three-chant stack. However, in the presence of an enchanter and/or shaman, whose hastes and slows a bard's haste and slow songs usually do not stack with, it is perfectly viable to switch off to Chant fighting with a magical drum. Of course, too many resists on the Chants and the huge damage tapers off. I have found resists to be low in places like Karnor's Castle and Chardok. However, if you find that you're simply getting resisted too much, then you may want to try meleeing instead. A few resists here and there is okay, though.

The bottom line here is to think about how best a bard can contribute to the effectiveness of his party. When you break it down and actually look, very often meleeing is one of the least efficient things a bard can do. It's important that bards be aware of this, and make decisions about whether to melee or not accordingly. Bards can and do melee, just remember we're not that great at it.

(Sources: Stormwind's Bardsong Calculator and Copeland's Weapon Calculator)