General Guide to Bard PvP

The biggest drawback of using a Bard in PvP is the boot up times of enchantes, which are a Bard's main set of abilities. The boot up time problem is two fold:

1) The enemy is signaled when you begin an enchante and may act on you before the enchante has time to take effect.
2) The enemy may just leave the room in order to escape its effects. When that happens, it is often times difficult to try and navigate to their room and still have the enchante pulse before they can just leave again.

My solution to these problems is invisibility. Invisibility gives a Bard the ability to start an enchante without anyone in the room knowing and also allows the Bard to maintain the enchante until it pulses without the target knowing to leave the room.

The second drawback of enchantes is that you may only use one at a time. As this is the case, I have categorized the enchantes I typically use as either a Catalyst, Enabler or Interference.

SONG - Bootup Time in Sec - Category/Effect(s)
ABAN - 5.6-5.7 - Catalyst/Discipline Debuff
CARE - 19.6-21.0 - Catalyst/Elemental Protection
DMRS - 8.9-9.1 - Enabler/RT Inflicting
AEWO - 9.9-11.0 - Enabler/RT Inflicting
DALU - 9.8 - Interference/Prone and/or Unconscious
MADM - 14.1-15.3 - Interference/Insanity
BALM - 9.5-11.0 - Interference/Calming

I have found that chaining enchantes together is the most effective way to handle the one-at-a-time problem. What I mean is, chaining Catalyst>Enabler>Interference or Enabler>Enabler>Interference. In this way, if you can manage to get even one song pulse to connect against anyone not using a magic barrier it is likely that you will do some heinous damage to the opponent.

A Bard's greatest assets to help facilitate the unique enchante system are spell scrolls, runestones and held mana. I have Sphere of Protection permanently memorized(whenever I die, I instantly re-temporarily memorize it) and I am always sure to keep at least 8 Refractive Field, 8 Frostbite and 8 Mental Blast runestones on me at all times. I also always have at least 45 mana held when dealing with PvP, as that mana will always bolster the strength of a Bard's enchantes. It is also important to be able to use Refractive Field at a moment's notice.

Lastly, Screams. Scream Defiance is hands down the most important Bard ability in the game. It allows you to break a stun, which is the single most dangerous thing to an enchante. If you get stunned while performing an enchante it is highly likely that the enchante will dissipate, unless you break that stun. It IS possible to maintain the enchante through a stun but it takes really high stats and skill. Scream Concussive can be effective, or it can not be. It's kind of hit or miss in my experience.