Bard Rotations

[Ace4573]

So I've just reached level 58, I had no idea that certain moves had to be used in certain ways since I never pay attention and this is sorta my first MMORPG. To get to the point, my question here is what is the meta for bard's rotation? If someone/anyone could tell me it would be well appreciated, thanks.

[Nico Yazawa]

Heavy shot heavy shot heavy shot heavy shot

[Acetango]

You're a long ways off from your final rotation, but...

100% uptime on songs. If you align your barrage and raging strikes with wanderers minuet, you'll have 30 seconds of WM, 30 of MB, and 20 seconds of AP (the extra 10 second window of AP can be used to line up a refulgent arrow, which you unlock as a replacement for straighter shot at level 70) before going through the cycle again.

100% uptime on straight shot. Crit buff, self explanatory.

100% uptime on DoT's. Gotta get them song procs.

Any time that you're not perpetuating your buffs/debuffs, heavy shot.

Emp arrows and bloodletter when they're off GCD.

[RiisWolf]

Single Target:
As with any DPS you must power up, apply dots and then hit them with your strongest attack, then repeat the cycle. In FF14 someone will try to mislead you into being hot garbage until the next expansions level cap. In the past it was 50, you should know something by now. Then it was 60, you should know something by now. Now it's 70, you should know something by now. Get it? The Bard's Rotation is basically the same from level 8 to 70, with things only adding to the rotation but never changing it.

+Keep Straight Shot applied at all times
+Keep Wind Shot and Vemon Shot applied at all times. Use iron jaw to refresh both.
+Use Army's Paean, Mage's Ballad, Wanderer's Minuet*, and keep the songs active at all times.
(*)When using Wanderer's Minuet, wait for all three charges if you can. If you got three charges then the attack will be stronger than if you used 1 or 2 charges repeatedly. Use up any charge if it is about the expire. Do not EVER stick to one song exclusively.
+Use Bloodletter or Rain of Death whenever available
+Use Em. Arrow whenever available. Use with Barrage when available.
+Use Heavy Shot when none of the above need doing.

AoE:
The goal of DPS is to kill all enemies as FAST as you can, not pump out XXXXX damage as slowly as possible. Some people fail to understand that and will trick bards into applying DoTs on 3 or more enemies, when that turns into a complete waste of time. Bard is one of the best AoE in the game. The rotation is very simple to remember because only two things change in an otherwise same rotation.

+Keep Straight Shot applied at all times
+Keep Wind Shot and Vemon Shot applied at all times. Use iron jaw to refresh both. 1 is enough for your needs. 2 is stretching it. 3 then you're wasting time. Do NOT make this needlessly convoluted on yourself.
+Use Mage's Ballad first and keep the songs active at all times.*
(*) Mage's Ballad will instantly recharge Rain of Death, which will a huge DPS gain when using AoEs and a TP saver. Army's Paean increases attack speed, which does increase DPS, but will drain TP fast as well. Wanderer's Minuet affects only 1 enemy, it should be used last.
+Use Rain of Death on 2 or more enemies whenever available
+Use Em. Arrow whenever available. Use with Barrage when available
+Use Quick Nock on 2 or more enemies when none of the above need doing.*
(*) Straighter shot is a randomly activated trait. Even at 70, Quick nock will always deal more damage than heavy shot + straighter shot solely because it activates 20% of the time.

Restore TP with Invigorate and Tactition. Don't worry about running out of TP, unless the party is hot garbage. Stop AoEs at 100~180 TP

[Elazul]

There is not set rotation on Bard. It's a priority system. Check this guide out it should help: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UTCG3tqgWpTNjH8l_ch0yV3y9vqC_NAiKd4KkNH817M/edit