A warrior who uses his voice as a weapon. May use Bardsong to support his allies in battle.
Description
Bard is a job from Final Fantasy Tactics. It is a male-exclusive job, obtained by training a male unit in magickal jobs. The Bard boosts all allied units' stats (including the caster) via Bardsong from anywhere on the field. It costs 3,850 JP to master in the original version and 7,900 JP in The War of the Lions.
Stats[]
Prerequisite | Weapons | Helmet | Armor | Equip Shields? |
---|---|---|---|---|
WotL: Lv. 5 War of the LionsSummoner, Lv. 5 Orator PlayStation: Lv. 4 Summoner, Lv. 4 Mediator |
Musical Instruments | Hats | Clothes | No |
Move Rate | Jump Rate | Speed | Physical Evasion Rate | Base Attack | Base Magic | Base HP | Base MP |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
3 | 3 | 8 | 5% | Low | High | Low | Average |
Abilities[]
Bardsong[]
Bard job command. Sing melodies in an exquisite voice to cause various mysterious effects.
Description
Name | Range | Effect | Speed | JP Needed |
---|---|---|---|---|
Seraph Song (Angel Song) |
1 | All allies | 17 | 100 |
A song pleading for angelic protection. Restores MP. Restore MP: 20 + Magic Attack | ||||
Life's Anthem (Life Song) |
1 | All allies | 17 | 100 |
A song praising the vibrance of life. Restores HP. Restore HP: 10 + Magic Attack | ||||
Rousing Melody (Cheer Song) |
1 | All allies | 13 | 100 |
A song of encouragement and inspiration. Increases Speed. Amount: +1 Speed Success Rate: 50% Accuracy Per Target | ||||
Battle Chant (Battle Song) |
1 | All allies | 13 | 100 |
A gallant song of battles fought and won. Increases physical attack power. Amount: +1 Physical Attack Success Rate: 50% Accuracy Per Target | ||||
Magickal Refrain (Magic Song) |
1 | All allies | 10 | 100 |
A song of the laws of sorcery and of the source of magick. Increases magickal attack power. Amount: +1 Magic Attack Success Rate: 50% Accuracy Per Target | ||||
Nameless Song | 1 | All allies | 10 | 100 |
A thoroughly mysterious song passed down through many an age. Bestows various types of protection. Effect: Reraise, Regen, Protect, Shell, Haste. Success Rate: 50% Accuracy Per Target | ||||
Finale (Last Song) |
1 | All allies | 5 | 100 |
The ultimate song. Increases allies' CT to 100. Success Rate: 50% Accuracy Per Target |
Reaction abilities[]
Name | Description | Trigger | JP Needed |
---|---|---|---|
Magick Boost (MA Save) |
Increase magickal attack power. | HP Loss | 450/500 |
Faith Boost (Face Up) |
Increase Faith. | Magick | 500/700 |
Movement abilities[]
Name | Description | JP Needed |
---|---|---|
Move +3 | Increase Move by 3. | 1000 |
Fly | Fly over enemies as well as any other obstacles. | 1200/5000 |
Overview[]
The Bard is a support-oriented job that can buff its allies with global abilities, meaning it will affect all allies regardless of range. The job's attribute-enhancing songs are particularly useful in long fights, though these songs have lower accuracy the more allies there are on screen. The Bard has high magickal stats, but almost no defensive capabilities.
Bards are useful for JP-grinding, because once selected, the ability will repeat, earning the same amount of EXP and JP. For example, if the player has selected Seraph Song and the CT is 10 turns, it will repeat after 10 turns provided the player has not selected another ability to be performed. Magickal Refrain can effectively buff difficult magick attack based builds, from the success rate of Orator to only needing the Skyseer or Netherseer to randomly hit once or twice to defeat an enemy, and possibly Ultima.
Overall, while providing powerful effects to the entire party regardless of range, the Bard lacks a proper fight presence, and being forced to focus on singing means he cannot do anything else, therefore the player essentially fights with one less party member, especially if the buffs mainly target the Bard. Because of this, his effectiveness mainly manifests in extended fights on large maps. In situations where the Bard is demanded to attack, he can deal damage with instruments that can debuff or drain life at exactly 3 panels.
Other appearances[]
Final Fantasy Brave Exvius[]
Final Fantasy Trading Card Game[]
Bard appears in Final Fantasy Trading Card Game as an Ice-elemental Backup card.
Non-Final Fantasy guest appearances[]
Knights of the Crystals[]
Bard appears as a card in the Ivalice Special Arena has a limited-time special arena with eighteen floors.
Gallery[]
Etymology[]
bard was a professional poet, employed by a patron, such as a monarch or nobleman, to commemorate the patron's ancestors and to praise the patron's own activities. Originally a specific class of poet, with the decline of living bardic tradition in the modern period the term "bard" acquired generic meaning of an epic author/singer/narrator, or any poets, especially famous ones. For example, William Shakespeare is known as the Bard or the Bard of Avon.
In medieval Gaelic and British culture, a