Bard or Summoner

[deniz]

So im considering to buy this game few weeks later and im considering one of these 2 classes.Can anyone briefly compare these 2 classes for me?Here is few things i want to know;

1-How is their aoe and single target damage?
2-How is their mobility/survivability and attacking range? Also want to know their skill casting times.
3-Their playing difficulty (i heard summoner is hard so im kinda worried about that)
4-Which one of them is more wanted in parties/guilds and why?
5-Soloing potential of them. (I dont expect to solo harder dungeons ofc)

Also if there is a beginner friendly guide for these classes for current meta i would appreciate.I found some but appearantly they are outdated because of changes.

[Narcoleptic Marshmallow]

1- Both have pretty god AoE. Bard is more sustained while Summoner is more burst. Both have DoT reliant single target damage and weaker spammable skills to balance it. Summoner has pets to compliment their damage.

2- Attacking range is the same. Summoner has cast times, Bard doesn't. Bard has better mobility because they don't have to sit around waiting for cast bars like Summoner.

3- Both are easy to play hard to master kind of jobs. Summoner is a pure caster with strong burst and pet management, Bard is support DPS that's supposed to keep the party buffed on top of doing damage.

4- Bard, always, because of their buffs. Summoner is good, but so is every DPS and they have no buffs. Only Bard has buffs. Therefore Bard has a guaranteed spot in any raiding party.

5- Summoner, because you have pets to tank for you and a couple spells to heal your pet and yourself. You shouldn't expect to solo any group content unless you're grossly overleveled for it anyway. This is more towards solo duties, weekly solo hunts, etc.

There aren't any beginner friendly guides that have been updated for current expansion, that I know of. Especially with Summoner receiving some pretty significant changes just a month ago. I think most people don't even bother writing guides because skills are pretty straightforward and not customisable. They just gather around to discuss level cap rotations.

[c0ndu]

Bard is the most desired DPS in a party hands down.

[Elazul]

Bard main that says play a Bard. It's an amazing class and next patch we're getting the ability to play music so if you're into RP at all its going to be amazing.

[deniz]

Thanks for all the replies :D Probably gonna make a bard then

[fawkee]

don´t forgett, if u play summoner u get a sholar too. only the classquest´s are to do

[Nico Yazawa]

Originally posted by Narcoleptic Marshmallow:

1- Both have pretty god AoE. Bard is more sustained while Summoner is more burst. Both have DoT reliant single target damage and weaker spammable skills to balance it. Summoner has pets to compliment their damage.

2- Attacking range is the same. Summoner has cast times, Bard doesn't. Bard has better mobility because they don't have to sit around waiting for cast bars like Summoner.

3- Both are easy to play hard to master kind of jobs. Summoner is a pure caster with strong burst and pet management, Bard is support DPS that's supposed to keep the party buffed on top of doing damage.

4- Bard, always, because of their buffs. Summoner is good, but so is every DPS and they have no buffs. Only Bard has buffs. Therefore Bard has a guaranteed spot in any raiding party.

5- Summoner, because you have pets to tank for you and a couple spells to heal your pet and yourself. You shouldn't expect to solo any group content unless you're grossly overleveled for it anyway. This is more towards solo duties, weekly solo hunts, etc.

There aren't any beginner friendly guides that have been updated for current expansion, that I know of. Especially with Summoner receiving some pretty significant changes just a month ago. I think most people don't even bother writing guides because skills are pretty straightforward and not customisable. They just gather around to discuss level cap rotations.

Summoner has buffs that don't completely suck now, "Devotion" I think it's called? Also contagion is a debuff, but acts as a buff kind of like Trick Attack is (except not as good)

[Narcoleptic Marshmallow]

Originally posted by Koishi Komeiji:

Summoner has buffs that don't completely suck now, "Devotion" I think it's called? Also contagion is a debuff, but acts as a buff kind of like Trick Attack is (except not as good)

Devotion was utterly useless before, now it isn't. You're right it is a buff but it's their only party buff, and you only hit that button once every 2 mins.

While Bard has Battle Voice + Troubadour that has a different buff depending on which song of your 3 you're currently at, with each song giving you a different personal buff + party wide buff. As well as Paean and Minne which are more situational, plus the role actions.

Contagion Foe Requiem etc I guess since they're technically debuffs rather than party buffs I didn't think of them when I wrote that.

Edit: Summoner also has Radiant Shield from Ifrit-Egi as a debuff/sort of party buff, though it's not very useful and I'm not sure how many people actually use Ifrit-Egi these days.

[Nico Yazawa]

Originally posted by Narcoleptic Marshmallow:

Originally posted by Koishi Komeiji:

Summoner has buffs that don't completely suck now, "Devotion" I think it's called? Also contagion is a debuff, but acts as a buff kind of like Trick Attack is (except not as good)

Devotion was utterly useless before, now it isn't. You're right it is a buff but it's their only party buff, and you only hit that button once every 2 mins.

While Bard has Battle Voice + Troubadour that has a different buff depending on which song of your 3 you're currently at, with each song giving you a different personal buff + party wide buff. As well as Paean and Minne which are more situational, plus the role actions.

Contagion Foe Requiem etc I guess since they're technically debuffs rather than party buffs I didn't think of them when I wrote that.

Edit: Summoner also has Radiant Shield from Ifrit-Egi as a debuff/sort of party buff, though it's not very useful and I'm not sure how many people actually use Ifrit-Egi these days.

At this point I think Ifrit is better than Garuda. Garuda's used for opener for the contagion I believe, but after that you just keep ifrit up. As it does more damage.