EverQuest Legends Wiki - User contributions [en]

User:Boisterous/Bard Guide by Boisterous

2026-08-02T22:42:46Z

Boisterous:

''Information is pulled from discord conversations, in game activity, and EQLwiki.''

In short, as a bard you want to be upgrading and using your symphonic aura (SA). As you get into your 30s, you’ll bring in a /melody macro for your Tuyen’s Chant line. Since there are so many class combinations, take everything with a grain of salt - don’t upgrade bard songs if you’ve got a better option from another class, e.g. Charm if you’re playing BRD/ENC.

Most things are reversible, choosing classes isn’t permanent, so don’t be discourage. Min/Max is fun for some, not for others. Choose your own path to fun!

== Symphonic Aura and Melody ==
'''Symphonic Aura''' (SA) is an always-on set of songs. These songs do not get interrupted and are essentially active all the time. They will still “tick” as normal for effects like runes and regeneration.

These songs are still placed on your spell bar, starting with the highest-numbered gem and working backwards.

You can purchase more spell gems with AAs, and you can purchase a stronger aura — meaning more songs — with AAs. At max level, SA lets you play 5 songs as auras. Be aware that if two songs do not stack normally, they will not stack with SA either.I assume the same stacking information carries over from live to EQL. If so, you can check against this app [https://bard-pro.vercel.app/ Bard Melody Selector] to see what overwrites what.

If you have SA on, you '''cannot''' play any other songs that meet the SA requirements without turning SA off. SA does not work while sitting. It does not turn off, but it does not pulse. It is unclear whether this is a bug or intended.

=== Melody and Queue Melody ===
'''Melody''' allows you to autocast songs — note that they still actually need to cast — in an order you specify.

In EQL, you cannot melody a song that would be applicable to SA while SA is active, even if that song is not one of your 5 active SA songs. With the correct AAs and song levels, you can easily melody 5 or more songs at once on top of the up to 5 songs from SA.

Because of the SA restriction, your melody is mostly used for single-target DoTs — you will get 5 by level 50 in EQL — and a few other specific songs.

'''Queue Melody''' is similar, except any song that is currently “on” will be skipped in your order in favor of songs that are not currently active. This has benefits and drawbacks, especially with resisted songs and NPCs with high resists. “On” means the song is currently active on you or on the target.

Bard will require heavy investment into spell gems if you want to take advantage of everything. Depending on your composition, that can be prohibitive.

Melody is not required to utilize most of what bard has to offer. Compositions with limited combat casting, such as WAR / CLR / BRD, can fully take advantage of using 10 spell slots for bard.

=== Symphonic Aura Songs ===
In order for a song to be eligible, it must have no mana cost, have no cooldown, and be a non-targeted area of effect song. This ability chooses the first eligible song, starting from the final spell gem, and working backwards. Any song that meets these criteria cannot be played manually while the ability is turned on.

==== Songs that fall under Symphonic Aura ====
Instead of listing every song that can be used under SA, this section lists some that might not be obvious. Feel free to suggest more.
''Group buffs, self buffs, or detrimental PBAoE — point blank area of effect — songs.''

* Level 20 Snare: [https://eqlwiki.com/Largo%27s_Melodic_Binding Largo’s Melodic Binding]
* Level 26 Fear: [https://eqlwiki.com/Angstlich%27s_Appalling_Screech Angstlich's Appalling Screech]

==== Songs that do not fall under Symphonic Aura ====
''Any non-AoE, non-self songs.''

* Tuyen's Chant line — consider using Melody for these alongside Fufil's
* Level 23 Snare/Slow: [https://eqlwiki.com/Selo%27s_Consonant_Chain Selo's Consonant Chain]

If you are using Melody and SA, consider using a <code>/stop</code> macro for life-saving songs:

* Mez
* Charm

== Macros and Setup ==
There are some common '''macro''' commands you will want to use regularly. Macros are custom commands that you can set up on your hotbar. [https://eqlwiki.com/User:Mazirian/Macro_Guide_by_Mazirian Mazirian has a great guide] on how to make macros.

=== Melody Macro ===
<nowiki>/melody 1 2 3 4 5</nowiki>
This will play the five songs in the order they are placed in your spell gems. Every time you click the macro, it will start from gem 1 and try to play them all in order.

'''Reminder:''' if you are swapping songs on the fly, make sure your gem slots match the numbers in the melody.

=== Queue Melody Macro ===
/queuemelody 1 2 3 4 5
This will attempt to play the five songs in priority order. If song 1 is currently active on you or your target, it will skip it and move to song 2. My understanding is that it will prioritize keeping song 1 up over song 2. This means that until song 1 lands, it may not move on to song 2. In a battle with high resists, it may never attempt to play song 2, so I recommend having a macro for each situation.

=== Stop Macro ===
/stop
There are variations of stop, such as <code>/stopcast</code> and <code>/stopsong</code>, but <code>/stop</code> will stop both spell casting and song casting. I recommend using that.

In general, you will only need a stop command for urgent songs or spells, such as:

* Mez
* Charm
* Feign Death
* Heal

''IDK, I’m a bard. What do other classes do?''

=== Example Interrupt Macro ===
Here is a macro you could use as a baseline to interrupt a melody and cast a spell:
/stop
/cast 1
/pause 30
/queuemelody 3 4 5 6
Explanation:

* <code>/stop</code> stops song and spell casting.
* <code>/cast 1</code> casts whatever is on gem 1.
* <code>/pause 30</code> waits for the cast to finish.
* <code>/queuemelody 3 4 5 6</code> plays gems 3, 4, 5, and 6 on repeat.

== AAs ==
[https://eqltools.com/aa EQL AA Tool] The AA tool above has excellent descriptions.

'''Symphonic Aura''' is an essential tool to level up. It will likely require the archetype AA '''Mnemonic Retention'''.

'''Jam Fest''' works as if you are casting songs as a higher level. Jam Fest 3 is reportedly +5 levels. This is unconfirmed and came from Discord, but if accurate, it makes it easier to land songs on higher-level mobs. It also means your scaling songs are doing more at +5 levels.

'''Instrument Mastery 3''' increases the damage of your damage-over-time songs.

It has been recommended not to take '''Singing Mastery 3''' until you have a large enough mana pool to cast DDDirge 3–4 times with Empower Invocation.

== Itemization ==
'''Spell Haste II''' affects your single-target DoT songs, such as Tuyen's Fire, Tuyen's Disease, and Fufil's.

You can get Spell Haste II easily enough from Efreeti Lord Djarn's ring, which you want for the HP anyway.

While using Symphonic Aura, you can <code>/melody</code> all 4 Tuyen's Chants plus Fufil's for single-target damage.

You will need to upgrade those songs so they cast fast enough to melody 5 songs.

=== Mote Upgrades ===
'''DDDirge''' is worth every mote upgrade. At Rank 10, with Amplification, Empower Invocation, Jam Fest 3, and Singing Mastery 3, it does 3k non-crit damage. It feels great to pull 5 mobs and blow through your mana bar to Dirge them down.

=== Song Scaling ===
More to come, but it currently seems like songs scale differently — and better — than on live. For information on song scaling and upgrades, see the [https://eqlwiki.com/Spell_Upgrade_System Spell Upgrade Guide on EQLwiki].

For example, '''Chant of Battle''' is giving around 40 STR / DEX at level 45.It might be worth using if you are playing a melee build in EQL, whereas it was off most people’s bars by level 20 in live.

== Tips and Tricks ==
Ion Blaze made a great tips and tricks video for getting started, and he always plays a bard. I recommend watching it, especially the section on moving your instrument focus to other items: [https://youtu.be/HqO8uwFcI6k?si=pvP2MtmFsm74CERB Ion Blaze Bard Tips and Tricks Video]

A r[https://www.reddit.com/r/EQLegends/comments/1umpr02/some_tips_about_playing_bard/?solution=399d769b2ff95891399d769b2ff95891&js_challenge=1&token=7afd7253fec22262ff1c52b1703fe9ec1bc6b2a373c81b2ab73e24f948e477ba&jsc_orig_r= eddit user made a great guide] about Melody and SA, using the Tuyen's line. Give them some love.
----If you are looking for more bard info, this Bard guide is a wealth of knowledge from Project Quarm and will have some relevance here:

[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-yPCNHXvYib0oaxHVXl1wtmu88g9MW4Sc-72UyK5QYg/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.bbgas5a723om Bard Guide]

A tool for selecting melody's that don't conflict: [https://bard-pro.vercel.app/ Bard Melody Selector]

Reddit Post with the basics, framed another way:

User:Boisterous/Bard Guide by Boisterous

2026-08-02T22:40:28Z

Boisterous: Fo

''Information is pulled from discord conversations, in game activity, and EQLwiki.''

In short, as a bard you want to be upgrading and using your symphonic aura (SA). As you get into your 30s, you’ll bring in a /melody macro for your Tuyen’s Chant line. Since there are so many class combinations, take everything with a grain of salt - don’t upgrade bard songs if you’ve got a better option from another class, e.g. Charm if you’re playing BRD/ENC.

Most things are reversible, choosing classes isn’t permanent, so don’t be discourage. Min/Max is fun for some, not for others. Choose your own path to fun!

== Symphonic Aura and Melody ==
'''Symphonic Aura''' (SA) is an always-on set of songs. These songs do not get interrupted and are essentially active all the time. They will still “tick” as normal for effects like runes and regeneration.

These songs are still placed on your spell bar, starting with the highest-numbered gem and working backwards.

You can purchase more spell gems with AAs, and you can purchase a stronger aura — meaning more songs — with AAs. At max level, SA lets you play 5 songs as auras. Be aware that if two songs do not stack normally, they will not stack with SA either.I assume the same stacking information carries over from live to EQL. If so, you can check against this app [https://bard-pro.vercel.app/ Bard Melody Selector] to see what overwrites what.

If you have SA on, you '''cannot''' play any other songs that meet the SA requirements without turning SA off. SA does not work while sitting. It does not turn off, but it does not pulse. It is unclear whether this is a bug or intended.

=== Melody and Queue Melody ===
'''Melody''' allows you to autocast songs — note that they still actually need to cast — in an order you specify.

In EQL, you cannot melody a song that would be applicable to SA while SA is active, even if that song is not one of your 5 active SA songs. With the correct AAs and song levels, you can easily melody 5 or more songs at once on top of the up to 5 songs from SA.

Because of the SA restriction, your melody is mostly used for single-target DoTs — you will get 5 by level 50 in EQL — and a few other specific songs.

'''Queue Melody''' is similar, except any song that is currently “on” will be skipped in your order in favor of songs that are not currently active. This has benefits and drawbacks, especially with resisted songs and NPCs with high resists. “On” means the song is currently active on you or on the target.

Bard will require heavy investment into spell gems if you want to take advantage of everything. Depending on your composition, that can be prohibitive.

Melody is not required to utilize most of what bard has to offer. Compositions with limited combat casting, such as WAR / CLR / BRD, can fully take advantage of using 10 spell slots for bard.

=== Symphonic Aura Songs ===
In order for a song to be eligible, it must have no mana cost, have no cooldown, and be a non-targeted area of effect song. This ability chooses the first eligible song, starting from the final spell gem, and working backwards. Any song that meets these criteria cannot be played manually while the ability is turned on.

==== Songs that fall under Symphonic Aura ====
Instead of listing every song that can be used under SA, this section lists some that might not be obvious. Feel free to suggest more.
''Group buffs, self buffs, or detrimental PBAoE — point blank area of effect — songs.''

* Level 20 Snare: [https://eqlwiki.com/Largo%27s_Melodic_Binding Largo’s Melodic Binding]
* Level 26 Fear: [https://eqlwiki.com/Angstlich%27s_Appalling_Screech Angstlich's Appalling Screech]

==== Songs that do not fall under Symphonic Aura ====
''Any non-AoE, non-self songs.''

* Tuyen's Chant line — consider using Melody for these alongside Fufil's
* Level 23 Snare/Slow: [https://eqlwiki.com/Selo%27s_Consonant_Chain Selo's Consonant Chain]

If you are using Melody and SA, consider using a <code>/stop</code> macro for life-saving songs:

* Mez
* Charm

== Macros and Setup ==
There are some common '''macro''' commands you will want to use regularly. Macros are custom commands that you can set up on your hotbar. [https://eqlwiki.com/User:Mazirian/Macro_Guide_by_Mazirian Mazirian has a great guide] on how to make macros.

=== Melody Macro ===
<nowiki>/melody 1 2 3 4 5</nowiki>
This will play the five songs in the order they are placed in your spell gems. Every time you click the macro, it will start from gem 1 and try to play them all in order.

'''Reminder:''' if you are swapping songs on the fly, make sure your gem slots match the numbers in the melody.

=== Queue Melody Macro ===
/queuemelody 1 2 3 4 5
This will attempt to play the five songs in priority order. If song 1 is currently active on you or your target, it will skip it and move to song 2. My understanding is that it will prioritize keeping song 1 up over song 2. This means that until song 1 lands, it may not move on to song 2. In a battle with high resists, it may never attempt to play song 2, so I recommend having a macro for each situation.

=== Stop Macro ===
/stop
There are variations of stop, such as <code>/stopcast</code> and <code>/stopsong</code>, but <code>/stop</code> will stop both spell casting and song casting. I recommend using that.

In general, you will only need a stop command for urgent songs or spells, such as:

* Mez
* Charm
* Feign Death
* Heal

''IDK, I’m a bard. What do other classes do?''

=== Example Interrupt Macro ===
Here is a macro you could use as a baseline to interrupt a melody and cast a spell:
/stop
/cast 1
/pause 30
/queuemelody 3 4 5 6
Explanation:

* <code>/stop</code> stops song and spell casting.
* <code>/cast 1</code> casts whatever is on gem 1.
* <code>/pause 30</code> waits for the cast to finish.
* <code>/queuemelody 3 4 5 6</code> plays gems 3, 4, 5, and 6 on repeat.

== AAs ==
[https://eqltools.com/aa EQL AA Tool] The AA tool above has excellent descriptions.

'''Symphonic Aura''' is an essential tool to level up. It will likely require the archetype AA '''Mnemonic Retention'''.

'''Jam Fest''' works as if you are casting songs as a higher level. Jam Fest 3 is reportedly +5 levels. This is unconfirmed and came from Discord, but if accurate, it makes it easier to land songs on higher-level mobs. It also means your scaling songs are doing more at +5 levels.

'''Instrument Mastery 3''' increases the damage of your damage-over-time songs.

It has been recommended not to take '''Singing Mastery 3''' until you have a large enough mana pool to cast DDDirge 3–4 times with Empower Invocation.

== Itemization ==
'''Spell Haste II''' affects your single-target DoT songs, such as Tuyen's Fire, Tuyen's Disease, and Fufil's.

You can get Spell Haste II easily enough from Efreeti Lord Djarn's ring, which you want for the HP anyway.

While using Symphonic Aura, you can <code>/melody</code> all 4 Tuyen's Chants plus Fufil's for single-target damage.

You will need to upgrade those songs so they cast fast enough to melody 5 songs.

=== Mote Upgrades ===
'''DDDirge''' is worth every mote upgrade. At Rank 10, with Amplification, Empower Invocation, Jam Fest 3, and Singing Mastery 3, it does 3k non-crit damage. It feels great to pull 5 mobs and blow through your mana bar to Dirge them down.

=== Song Scaling ===
More to come, but it currently seems like songs scale differently — and better — than on live. For information on song scaling and upgrades, see the [https://eqlwiki.com/Spell_Upgrade_System Spell Upgrade Guide on EQLwiki].

For example, '''Chant of Battle''' is giving around 40 STR / DEX at level 45.It might be worth using if you are playing a melee build in EQL, whereas it was off most people’s bars by level 20 in live.

== Tips and Tricks ==
Ion Blaze made a great tips and tricks video for getting started, and he always plays a bard. I recommend watching it, especially the section on moving your instrument focus to other items: [https://youtu.be/HqO8uwFcI6k?si=pvP2MtmFsm74CERB Ion Blaze Bard Tips and Tricks Video]
----If you are looking for more bard info, this Bard guide is a wealth of knowledge from Project Quarm and will have some relevance here:

[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-yPCNHXvYib0oaxHVXl1wtmu88g9MW4Sc-72UyK5QYg/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.bbgas5a723om Bard Guide]

A tool for selecting melody's that don't conflict: [https://bard-pro.vercel.app/ Bard Melody Selector]

Reddit Post with the basics, framed another way: https://www.reddit.com/r/EQLegends/comments/1umpr02/some_tips_about_playing_bard/?solution=399d769b2ff95891399d769b2ff95891&js_challenge=1&token=7afd7253fec22262ff1c52b1703fe9ec1bc6b2a373c81b2ab73e24f948e477ba&jsc_orig_r=

User:Boisterous/Bard Guide by Boisterous

2026-08-02T22:38:06Z

Boisterous: Formatting

''Information is pulled from discord conversations, in game activity, and EQLwiki.''

In short, as a bard you want to be upgrading and using your symphonic aura (SA). As you get into your 30s, you’ll bring in a /melody macro for your Tuyen’s Chant line. Since there are so many class combinations, take everything with a grain of salt - don’t upgrade bard songs if you’ve got a better option from another class, e.g. Charm if you’re playing BRD/ENC.

Most things are reversible, choosing classes isn’t permanent, so don’t be discourage. Min/Max is fun for some, not for others. Choose your own path to fun!

== Symphonic Aura and Melody ==
'''Symphonic Aura''' (SA) is an always-on set of songs. These songs do not get interrupted and are essentially active all the time. They will still “tick” as normal for effects like runes and regeneration.

These songs are still placed on your spell bar, starting with the highest-numbered gem and working backwards.

You can purchase more spell gems with AAs, and you can purchase a stronger aura — meaning more songs — with AAs. At max level, SA lets you play 5 songs as auras. Be aware that if two songs do not stack normally, they will not stack with SA either.I assume the same stacking information carries over from live to EQL. If so, you can check against this app [https://bard-pro.vercel.app/ Bard Melody Selector] to see what overwrites what.

If you have SA on, you '''cannot''' play any other songs that meet the SA requirements without turning SA off. SA does not work while sitting. It does not turn off, but it does not pulse. It is unclear whether this is a bug or intended.

=== Melody and Queue Melody ===
'''Melody''' allows you to autocast songs — note that they still actually need to cast — in an order you specify.

In EQL, you cannot melody a song that would be applicable to SA while SA is active, even if that song is not one of your 5 active SA songs. With the correct AAs and song levels, you can easily melody 5 or more songs at once on top of the up to 5 songs from SA.

Because of the SA restriction, your melody is mostly used for single-target DoTs — you will get 5 by level 50 in EQL — and a few other specific songs.

'''Queue Melody''' is similar, except any song that is currently “on” will be skipped in your order in favor of songs that are not currently active. This has benefits and drawbacks, especially with resisted songs and NPCs with high resists. “On” means the song is currently active on you or on the target.

Bard will require heavy investment into spell gems if you want to take advantage of everything. Depending on your composition, that can be prohibitive.

Melody is not required to utilize most of what bard has to offer. Compositions with limited combat casting, such as WAR / CLR / BRD, can fully take advantage of using 10 spell slots for bard.

=== Symphonic Aura Songs ===
In order for a song to be eligible, it must have no mana cost, have no cooldown, and be a non-targeted area of effect song. This ability chooses the first eligible song, starting from the final spell gem, and working backwards. Any song that meets these criteria cannot be played manually while the ability is turned on.

==== Songs that fall under Symphonic Aura ====
Instead of listing every song that can be used under SA, this section lists some that might not be obvious. Feel free to suggest more.
''Group buffs, self buffs, or detrimental PBAoE — point blank area of effect — songs.''

* Level 20 Snare: [https://eqlwiki.com/Largo%27s_Melodic_Binding Largo’s Melodic Binding]
* Level 26 Fear: [https://eqlwiki.com/Angstlich%27s_Appalling_Screech Angstlich's Appalling Screech]

==== Songs that do not fall under Symphonic Aura ====
''Any non-AoE, non-self songs.''

* Tuyen's Chant line — consider using Melody for these alongside Fufil's
* Level 23 Snare/Slow: [https://eqlwiki.com/Selo%27s_Consonant_Chain Selo's Consonant Chain]

If you are using Melody and SA, consider using a <code>/stop</code> macro for life-saving songs:

* Mez
* Charm

== Macros and Setup ==
There are some common '''macro''' commands you will want to use regularly. Macros are custom commands that you can set up on your hotbar. [https://eqlwiki.com/User:Mazirian/Macro_Guide_by_Mazirian Mazirian has a great guide] on how to make macros.

=== Melody Macro ===
<nowiki>/melody 1 2 3 4 5</nowiki>
This will play the five songs in the order they are placed in your spell gems. Every time you click the macro, it will start from gem 1 and try to play them all in order.

'''Reminder:''' if you are swapping songs on the fly, make sure your gem slots match the numbers in the melody.

=== Queue Melody Macro ===
/queuemelody 1 2 3 4 5
This will attempt to play the five songs in priority order. If song 1 is currently active on you or your target, it will skip it and move to song 2. My understanding is that it will prioritize keeping song 1 up over song 2. This means that until song 1 lands, it may not move on to song 2. In a battle with high resists, it may never attempt to play song 2, so I recommend having a macro for each situation.

=== Stop Macro ===
/stop
There are variations of stop, such as <code>/stopcast</code> and <code>/stopsong</code>, but <code>/stop</code> will stop both spell casting and song casting. I recommend using that.

In general, you will only need a stop command for urgent songs or spells, such as:

* Mez
* Charm
* Feign Death
* Heal

''IDK, I’m a bard. What do other classes do?''

=== Example Interrupt Macro ===
Here is a macro you could use as a baseline to interrupt a melody and cast a spell:
/stop
/cast 1
/pause 30
/queuemelody 3 4 5 6
Explanation:

* <code>/stop</code> stops song and spell casting.
* <code>/cast 1</code> casts whatever is on gem 1.
* <code>/pause 30</code> waits for the cast to finish.
* <code>/queuemelody 3 4 5 6</code> plays gems 3, 4, 5, and 6 on repeat.

== AAs ==
[https://eqltools.com/aa EQL AA Tool] The AA tool above has excellent descriptions.

'''Symphonic Aura''' is an essential tool to level up. It will likely require the archetype AA '''Mnemonic Retention'''.

'''Jam Fest''' works as if you are casting songs as a higher level. Jam Fest 3 is reportedly +5 levels. This is unconfirmed and came from Discord, but if accurate, it makes it easier to land songs on higher-level mobs. It also means your scaling songs are doing more at +5 levels.

'''Instrument Mastery 3''' increases the damage of your damage-over-time songs.

It has been recommended not to take '''Singing Mastery 3''' until you have a large enough mana pool to cast DDDirge 3–4 times with Empower Invocation.

== Itemization ==
'''Spell Haste II''' affects your single-target DoT songs, such as Tuyen's Fire, Tuyen's Disease, and Fufil's.

You can get Spell Haste II easily enough from Efreeti Lord Djarn's ring, which you want for the HP anyway.

While using Symphonic Aura, you can <code>/melody</code> all 4 Tuyen's Chants plus Fufil's for single-target damage.

You will need to upgrade those songs so they cast fast enough to melody 5 songs.

=== Mote Upgrades ===
'''DDDirge''' is worth every mote upgrade. At Rank 10, with Amplification, Empower Invocation, Jam Fest 3, and Singing Mastery 3, it does 3k non-crit damage. It feels great to pull 5 mobs and blow through your mana bar to Dirge them down.

=== Song Scaling ===
More to come, but it currently seems like songs scale differently — and better — than on live. For information on song scaling and upgrades, see the [https://eqlwiki.com/Spell_Upgrade_System Spell Upgrade Guide on EQLwiki].

For example, '''Chant of Battle''' is giving around 40 STR / DEX at level 45.It might be worth using if you are playing a melee build in EQL, whereas it was off most people’s bars by level 20 in live.

== Tips and Tricks ==
Ion Blaze made a great tips and tricks video for getting started, and he always plays a bard. I recommend watching it, especially the section on moving your instrument focus to other items: [https://youtu.be/HqO8uwFcI6k?si=pvP2MtmFsm74CERB Ion Blaze Bard Tips and Tricks Video]
----If you are looking for more bard info, this Bard guide is a wealth of knowledge from Project Quarm and will have some relevance here:

[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-yPCNHXvYib0oaxHVXl1wtmu88g9MW4Sc-72UyK5QYg/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.bbgas5a723om Bard Guide]

A tool for selecting melody's that don't conflict: [https://bard-pro.vercel.app/ Bard Melody Selector]

User:Boisterous/Bard Guide by Boisterous

2026-08-02T22:37:22Z

Boisterous: /* Melody and Queue Melody */

== Symphonic Aura and Melody ==
'''Symphonic Aura''' (SA) is an always-on set of songs. These songs do not get interrupted and are essentially active all the time. They will still “tick” as normal for effects like runes and regeneration.

These songs are still placed on your spell bar, starting with the highest-numbered gem and working backwards.

You can purchase more spell gems with AAs, and you can purchase a stronger aura — meaning more songs — with AAs. At max level, SA lets you play 5 songs as auras. Be aware that if two songs do not stack normally, they will not stack with SA either.I assume the same stacking information carries over from live to EQL. If so, you can check against this app [https://bard-pro.vercel.app/ Bard Melody Selector] to see what overwrites what.

If you have SA on, you '''cannot''' play any other songs that meet the SA requirements without turning SA off. SA does not work while sitting. It does not turn off, but it does not pulse. It is unclear whether this is a bug or intended.

=== Melody and Queue Melody ===
'''Melody''' allows you to autocast songs — note that they still actually need to cast — in an order you specify.

In EQL, you cannot melody a song that would be applicable to SA while SA is active, even if that song is not one of your 5 active SA songs. With the correct AAs and song levels, you can easily melody 5 or more songs at once on top of the up to 5 songs from SA.

Because of the SA restriction, your melody is mostly used for single-target DoTs — you will get 5 by level 50 in EQL — and a few other specific songs.

'''Queue Melody''' is similar, except any song that is currently “on” will be skipped in your order in favor of songs that are not currently active. This has benefits and drawbacks, especially with resisted songs and NPCs with high resists. “On” means the song is currently active on you or on the target.

Bard will require heavy investment into spell gems if you want to take advantage of everything. Depending on your composition, that can be prohibitive.

Melody is not required to utilize most of what bard has to offer. Compositions with limited combat casting, such as WAR / CLR / BRD, can fully take advantage of using 10 spell slots for bard.

=== Symphonic Aura Songs ===
In order for a song to be eligible, it must have no mana cost, have no cooldown, and be a non-targeted area of effect song. This ability chooses the first eligible song, starting from the final spell gem, and working backwards. Any song that meets these criteria cannot be played manually while the ability is turned on.

==== Songs that fall under Symphonic Aura ====
Instead of listing every song that can be used under SA, this section lists some that might not be obvious. Feel free to suggest more.
''Group buffs, self buffs, or detrimental PBAoE — point blank area of effect — songs.''

* Level 20 Snare: [https://eqlwiki.com/Largo%27s_Melodic_Binding Largo’s Melodic Binding]
* Level 26 Fear: [https://eqlwiki.com/Angstlich%27s_Appalling_Screech Angstlich's Appalling Screech]

==== Songs that do not fall under Symphonic Aura ====
''Any non-AoE, non-self songs.''

* Tuyen's Chant line — consider using Melody for these alongside Fufil's
* Level 23 Snare/Slow: [https://eqlwiki.com/Selo%27s_Consonant_Chain Selo's Consonant Chain]

If you are using Melody and SA, consider using a <code>/stop</code> macro for life-saving songs:

* Mez
* Charm

== Macros and Setup ==
There are some common '''macro''' commands you will want to use regularly. Macros are custom commands that you can set up on your hotbar. [https://eqlwiki.com/User:Mazirian/Macro_Guide_by_Mazirian Mazirian has a great guide] on how to make macros.

=== Melody Macro ===
<nowiki>/melody 1 2 3 4 5</nowiki>
This will play the five songs in the order they are placed in your spell gems. Every time you click the macro, it will start from gem 1 and try to play them all in order.

'''Reminder:''' if you are swapping songs on the fly, make sure your gem slots match the numbers in the melody.

=== Queue Melody Macro ===
/queuemelody 1 2 3 4 5
This will attempt to play the five songs in priority order. If song 1 is currently active on you or your target, it will skip it and move to song 2. My understanding is that it will prioritize keeping song 1 up over song 2. This means that until song 1 lands, it may not move on to song 2. In a battle with high resists, it may never attempt to play song 2, so I recommend having a macro for each situation.

=== Stop Macro ===
/stop
There are variations of stop, such as <code>/stopcast</code> and <code>/stopsong</code>, but <code>/stop</code> will stop both spell casting and song casting. I recommend using that.

In general, you will only need a stop command for urgent songs or spells, such as:

* Mez
* Charm
* Feign Death
* Heal

''IDK, I’m a bard. What do other classes do?''

=== Example Interrupt Macro ===
Here is a macro you could use as a baseline to interrupt a melody and cast a spell:
/stop
/cast 1
/pause 30
/queuemelody 3 4 5 6
Explanation:

* <code>/stop</code> stops song and spell casting.
* <code>/cast 1</code> casts whatever is on gem 1.
* <code>/pause 30</code> waits for the cast to finish.
* <code>/queuemelody 3 4 5 6</code> plays gems 3, 4, 5, and 6 on repeat.

== AAs ==
[https://eqltools.com/aa EQL AA Tool] The AA tool above has excellent descriptions.

'''Symphonic Aura''' is an essential tool to level up. It will likely require the archetype AA '''Mnemonic Retention'''.

'''Jam Fest''' works as if you are casting songs as a higher level. Jam Fest 3 is reportedly +5 levels. This is unconfirmed and came from Discord, but if accurate, it makes it easier to land songs on higher-level mobs. It also means your scaling songs are doing more at +5 levels.

'''Instrument Mastery 3''' increases the damage of your damage-over-time songs.

It has been recommended not to take '''Singing Mastery 3''' until you have a large enough mana pool to cast DDDirge 3–4 times with Empower Invocation.

== Itemization ==
'''Spell Haste II''' affects your single-target DoT songs, such as Tuyen's Fire, Tuyen's Disease, and Fufil's.

You can get Spell Haste II easily enough from Efreeti Lord Djarn's ring, which you want for the HP anyway.

While using Symphonic Aura, you can <code>/melody</code> all 4 Tuyen's Chants plus Fufil's for single-target damage.

You will need to upgrade those songs so they cast fast enough to melody 5 songs.

=== Mote Upgrades ===
'''DDDirge''' is worth every mote upgrade. At Rank 10, with Amplification, Empower Invocation, Jam Fest 3, and Singing Mastery 3, it does 3k non-crit damage. It feels great to pull 5 mobs and blow through your mana bar to Dirge them down.

=== Song Scaling ===
More to come, but it currently seems like songs scale differently — and better — than on live. For information on song scaling and upgrades, see the [https://eqlwiki.com/Spell_Upgrade_System Spell Upgrade Guide on EQLwiki].

For example, '''Chant of Battle''' is giving around 40 STR / DEX at level 45.It might be worth using if you are playing a melee build in EQL, whereas it was off most people’s bars by level 20 in live.

== Tips and Tricks ==
Ion Blaze made a great tips and tricks video for getting started, and he always plays a bard. I recommend watching it, especially the section on moving your instrument focus to other items: [https://youtu.be/HqO8uwFcI6k?si=pvP2MtmFsm74CERB Ion Blaze Bard Tips and Tricks Video]
----If you are looking for more bard info, this Bard guide is a wealth of knowledge from Project Quarm and will have some relevance here:

[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-yPCNHXvYib0oaxHVXl1wtmu88g9MW4Sc-72UyK5QYg/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.bbgas5a723om Bard Guide]

A tool for selecting melody's that don't conflict: [https://bard-pro.vercel.app/ Bard Melody Selector]

User:Boisterous/Bard Guide by Boisterous

2026-08-02T22:36:49Z

Boisterous: /* Symphonic Aura Songs */

== Symphonic Aura and Melody ==
'''Symphonic Aura''' (SA) is an always-on set of songs. These songs do not get interrupted and are essentially active all the time. They will still “tick” as normal for effects like runes and regeneration.

These songs are still placed on your spell bar, starting with the highest-numbered gem and working backwards.

You can purchase more spell gems with AAs, and you can purchase a stronger aura — meaning more songs — with AAs. At max level, SA lets you play 5 songs as auras. Be aware that if two songs do not stack normally, they will not stack with SA either.I assume the same stacking information carries over from live to EQL. If so, you can check against this app [https://bard-pro.vercel.app/ Bard Melody Selector] to see what overwrites what.

If you have SA on, you '''cannot''' play any other songs that meet the SA requirements without turning SA off. SA does not work while sitting. It does not turn off, but it does not pulse. It is unclear whether this is a bug or intended.

=== Melody and Queue Melody ===
'''Melody''' allows you to autocast songs — note that they still actually need to cast — in an order you specify.

In EQL, you cannot melody a song that would be applicable to SA while SA is active, even if that song is not one of your 5 active SA songs.

With the correct AAs and song levels, you can easily melody 5 or more songs at once on top of the up to 5 songs from SA.

Because of the SA restriction, your melody is mostly used for single-target DoTs — you will get 5 by level 50 in EQL — and a few other specific songs.

'''Queue Melody''' is similar, except any song that is currently “on” will be skipped in your order in favor of songs that are not currently active. This has benefits and drawbacks, especially with resisted songs and NPCs with high resists. “On” means the song is currently active on you or on the target.

Bard will require heavy investment into spell gems if you want to take advantage of everything. Depending on your composition, that can be prohibitive.

Melody is not required to utilize most of what bard has to offer. Compositions with limited combat casting, such as WAR / CLR / BRD, can fully take advantage of using 10 spell slots for bard.

=== Symphonic Aura Songs ===
In order for a song to be eligible, it must have no mana cost, have no cooldown, and be a non-targeted area of effect song. This ability chooses the first eligible song, starting from the final spell gem, and working backwards. Any song that meets these criteria cannot be played manually while the ability is turned on.

==== Songs that fall under Symphonic Aura ====
Instead of listing every song that can be used under SA, this section lists some that might not be obvious. Feel free to suggest more.
''Group buffs, self buffs, or detrimental PBAoE — point blank area of effect — songs.''

* Level 20 Snare: [https://eqlwiki.com/Largo%27s_Melodic_Binding Largo’s Melodic Binding]
* Level 26 Fear: [https://eqlwiki.com/Angstlich%27s_Appalling_Screech Angstlich's Appalling Screech]

==== Songs that do not fall under Symphonic Aura ====
''Any non-AoE, non-self songs.''

* Tuyen's Chant line — consider using Melody for these alongside Fufil's
* Level 23 Snare/Slow: [https://eqlwiki.com/Selo%27s_Consonant_Chain Selo's Consonant Chain]

If you are using Melody and SA, consider using a <code>/stop</code> macro for life-saving songs:

* Mez
* Charm

== Macros and Setup ==
There are some common '''macro''' commands you will want to use regularly. Macros are custom commands that you can set up on your hotbar. [https://eqlwiki.com/User:Mazirian/Macro_Guide_by_Mazirian Mazirian has a great guide] on how to make macros.

=== Melody Macro ===
<nowiki>/melody 1 2 3 4 5</nowiki>
This will play the five songs in the order they are placed in your spell gems. Every time you click the macro, it will start from gem 1 and try to play them all in order.

'''Reminder:''' if you are swapping songs on the fly, make sure your gem slots match the numbers in the melody.

=== Queue Melody Macro ===
/queuemelody 1 2 3 4 5
This will attempt to play the five songs in priority order. If song 1 is currently active on you or your target, it will skip it and move to song 2. My understanding is that it will prioritize keeping song 1 up over song 2. This means that until song 1 lands, it may not move on to song 2. In a battle with high resists, it may never attempt to play song 2, so I recommend having a macro for each situation.

=== Stop Macro ===
/stop
There are variations of stop, such as <code>/stopcast</code> and <code>/stopsong</code>, but <code>/stop</code> will stop both spell casting and song casting. I recommend using that.

In general, you will only need a stop command for urgent songs or spells, such as:

* Mez
* Charm
* Feign Death
* Heal

''IDK, I’m a bard. What do other classes do?''

=== Example Interrupt Macro ===
Here is a macro you could use as a baseline to interrupt a melody and cast a spell:
/stop
/cast 1
/pause 30
/queuemelody 3 4 5 6
Explanation:

* <code>/stop</code> stops song and spell casting.
* <code>/cast 1</code> casts whatever is on gem 1.
* <code>/pause 30</code> waits for the cast to finish.
* <code>/queuemelody 3 4 5 6</code> plays gems 3, 4, 5, and 6 on repeat.

== AAs ==
[https://eqltools.com/aa EQL AA Tool] The AA tool above has excellent descriptions.

'''Symphonic Aura''' is an essential tool to level up. It will likely require the archetype AA '''Mnemonic Retention'''.

'''Jam Fest''' works as if you are casting songs as a higher level. Jam Fest 3 is reportedly +5 levels. This is unconfirmed and came from Discord, but if accurate, it makes it easier to land songs on higher-level mobs. It also means your scaling songs are doing more at +5 levels.

'''Instrument Mastery 3''' increases the damage of your damage-over-time songs.

It has been recommended not to take '''Singing Mastery 3''' until you have a large enough mana pool to cast DDDirge 3–4 times with Empower Invocation.

== Itemization ==
'''Spell Haste II''' affects your single-target DoT songs, such as Tuyen's Fire, Tuyen's Disease, and Fufil's.

You can get Spell Haste II easily enough from Efreeti Lord Djarn's ring, which you want for the HP anyway.

While using Symphonic Aura, you can <code>/melody</code> all 4 Tuyen's Chants plus Fufil's for single-target damage.

You will need to upgrade those songs so they cast fast enough to melody 5 songs.

=== Mote Upgrades ===
'''DDDirge''' is worth every mote upgrade. At Rank 10, with Amplification, Empower Invocation, Jam Fest 3, and Singing Mastery 3, it does 3k non-crit damage. It feels great to pull 5 mobs and blow through your mana bar to Dirge them down.

=== Song Scaling ===
More to come, but it currently seems like songs scale differently — and better — than on live. For information on song scaling and upgrades, see the [https://eqlwiki.com/Spell_Upgrade_System Spell Upgrade Guide on EQLwiki].

For example, '''Chant of Battle''' is giving around 40 STR / DEX at level 45.It might be worth using if you are playing a melee build in EQL, whereas it was off most people’s bars by level 20 in live.

== Tips and Tricks ==
Ion Blaze made a great tips and tricks video for getting started, and he always plays a bard. I recommend watching it, especially the section on moving your instrument focus to other items: [https://youtu.be/HqO8uwFcI6k?si=pvP2MtmFsm74CERB Ion Blaze Bard Tips and Tricks Video]
----If you are looking for more bard info, this Bard guide is a wealth of knowledge from Project Quarm and will have some relevance here:

[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-yPCNHXvYib0oaxHVXl1wtmu88g9MW4Sc-72UyK5QYg/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.bbgas5a723om Bard Guide]

A tool for selecting melody's that don't conflict: [https://bard-pro.vercel.app/ Bard Melody Selector]

User:Boisterous/Bard Guide by Boisterous

2026-08-02T22:36:35Z

Boisterous: /* Symphonic Aura Songs */

== Symphonic Aura and Melody ==
'''Symphonic Aura''' (SA) is an always-on set of songs. These songs do not get interrupted and are essentially active all the time. They will still “tick” as normal for effects like runes and regeneration.

These songs are still placed on your spell bar, starting with the highest-numbered gem and working backwards.

You can purchase more spell gems with AAs, and you can purchase a stronger aura — meaning more songs — with AAs. At max level, SA lets you play 5 songs as auras. Be aware that if two songs do not stack normally, they will not stack with SA either.I assume the same stacking information carries over from live to EQL. If so, you can check against this app [https://bard-pro.vercel.app/ Bard Melody Selector] to see what overwrites what.

If you have SA on, you '''cannot''' play any other songs that meet the SA requirements without turning SA off. SA does not work while sitting. It does not turn off, but it does not pulse. It is unclear whether this is a bug or intended.

=== Melody and Queue Melody ===
'''Melody''' allows you to autocast songs — note that they still actually need to cast — in an order you specify.

In EQL, you cannot melody a song that would be applicable to SA while SA is active, even if that song is not one of your 5 active SA songs.

With the correct AAs and song levels, you can easily melody 5 or more songs at once on top of the up to 5 songs from SA.

Because of the SA restriction, your melody is mostly used for single-target DoTs — you will get 5 by level 50 in EQL — and a few other specific songs.

'''Queue Melody''' is similar, except any song that is currently “on” will be skipped in your order in favor of songs that are not currently active. This has benefits and drawbacks, especially with resisted songs and NPCs with high resists. “On” means the song is currently active on you or on the target.

Bard will require heavy investment into spell gems if you want to take advantage of everything. Depending on your composition, that can be prohibitive.

Melody is not required to utilize most of what bard has to offer. Compositions with limited combat casting, such as WAR / CLR / BRD, can fully take advantage of using 10 spell slots for bard.

=== Symphonic Aura Songs ===
In order for a song to be eligible, it must have no mana cost, have no cooldown, and be a non-targeted area of effect song. This ability chooses the first eligible song, starting from the final spell gem, and working backwards.

*Any song that meets these criteria cannot be played manually while the ability is turned on.*

==== Songs that fall under Symphonic Aura ====
Instead of listing every song that can be used under SA, this section lists some that might not be obvious. Feel free to suggest more.
''Group buffs, self buffs, or detrimental PBAoE — point blank area of effect — songs.''

* Level 20 Snare: [https://eqlwiki.com/Largo%27s_Melodic_Binding Largo’s Melodic Binding]
* Level 26 Fear: [https://eqlwiki.com/Angstlich%27s_Appalling_Screech Angstlich's Appalling Screech]

==== Songs that do not fall under Symphonic Aura ====
''Any non-AoE, non-self songs.''

* Tuyen's Chant line — consider using Melody for these alongside Fufil's
* Level 23 Snare/Slow: [https://eqlwiki.com/Selo%27s_Consonant_Chain Selo's Consonant Chain]

If you are using Melody and SA, consider using a <code>/stop</code> macro for life-saving songs:

* Mez
* Charm

== Macros and Setup ==
There are some common '''macro''' commands you will want to use regularly. Macros are custom commands that you can set up on your hotbar. [https://eqlwiki.com/User:Mazirian/Macro_Guide_by_Mazirian Mazirian has a great guide] on how to make macros.

=== Melody Macro ===
<nowiki>/melody 1 2 3 4 5</nowiki>
This will play the five songs in the order they are placed in your spell gems. Every time you click the macro, it will start from gem 1 and try to play them all in order.

'''Reminder:''' if you are swapping songs on the fly, make sure your gem slots match the numbers in the melody.

=== Queue Melody Macro ===
/queuemelody 1 2 3 4 5
This will attempt to play the five songs in priority order. If song 1 is currently active on you or your target, it will skip it and move to song 2. My understanding is that it will prioritize keeping song 1 up over song 2. This means that until song 1 lands, it may not move on to song 2. In a battle with high resists, it may never attempt to play song 2, so I recommend having a macro for each situation.

=== Stop Macro ===
/stop
There are variations of stop, such as <code>/stopcast</code> and <code>/stopsong</code>, but <code>/stop</code> will stop both spell casting and song casting. I recommend using that.

In general, you will only need a stop command for urgent songs or spells, such as:

* Mez
* Charm
* Feign Death
* Heal

''IDK, I’m a bard. What do other classes do?''

=== Example Interrupt Macro ===
Here is a macro you could use as a baseline to interrupt a melody and cast a spell:
/stop
/cast 1
/pause 30
/queuemelody 3 4 5 6
Explanation:

* <code>/stop</code> stops song and spell casting.
* <code>/cast 1</code> casts whatever is on gem 1.
* <code>/pause 30</code> waits for the cast to finish.
* <code>/queuemelody 3 4 5 6</code> plays gems 3, 4, 5, and 6 on repeat.

== AAs ==
[https://eqltools.com/aa EQL AA Tool] The AA tool above has excellent descriptions.

'''Symphonic Aura''' is an essential tool to level up. It will likely require the archetype AA '''Mnemonic Retention'''.

'''Jam Fest''' works as if you are casting songs as a higher level. Jam Fest 3 is reportedly +5 levels. This is unconfirmed and came from Discord, but if accurate, it makes it easier to land songs on higher-level mobs. It also means your scaling songs are doing more at +5 levels.

'''Instrument Mastery 3''' increases the damage of your damage-over-time songs.

It has been recommended not to take '''Singing Mastery 3''' until you have a large enough mana pool to cast DDDirge 3–4 times with Empower Invocation.

== Itemization ==
'''Spell Haste II''' affects your single-target DoT songs, such as Tuyen's Fire, Tuyen's Disease, and Fufil's.

You can get Spell Haste II easily enough from Efreeti Lord Djarn's ring, which you want for the HP anyway.

While using Symphonic Aura, you can <code>/melody</code> all 4 Tuyen's Chants plus Fufil's for single-target damage.

You will need to upgrade those songs so they cast fast enough to melody 5 songs.

=== Mote Upgrades ===
'''DDDirge''' is worth every mote upgrade. At Rank 10, with Amplification, Empower Invocation, Jam Fest 3, and Singing Mastery 3, it does 3k non-crit damage. It feels great to pull 5 mobs and blow through your mana bar to Dirge them down.

=== Song Scaling ===
More to come, but it currently seems like songs scale differently — and better — than on live. For information on song scaling and upgrades, see the [https://eqlwiki.com/Spell_Upgrade_System Spell Upgrade Guide on EQLwiki].

For example, '''Chant of Battle''' is giving around 40 STR / DEX at level 45.It might be worth using if you are playing a melee build in EQL, whereas it was off most people’s bars by level 20 in live.

== Tips and Tricks ==
Ion Blaze made a great tips and tricks video for getting started, and he always plays a bard. I recommend watching it, especially the section on moving your instrument focus to other items: [https://youtu.be/HqO8uwFcI6k?si=pvP2MtmFsm74CERB Ion Blaze Bard Tips and Tricks Video]
----If you are looking for more bard info, this Bard guide is a wealth of knowledge from Project Quarm and will have some relevance here:

[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-yPCNHXvYib0oaxHVXl1wtmu88g9MW4Sc-72UyK5QYg/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.bbgas5a723om Bard Guide]

A tool for selecting melody's that don't conflict: [https://bard-pro.vercel.app/ Bard Melody Selector]

User:Boisterous/Bard Guide by Boisterous

2026-08-02T22:35:37Z

Boisterous: /* Macros and Setup */

== Symphonic Aura and Melody ==
'''Symphonic Aura''' (SA) is an always-on set of songs. These songs do not get interrupted and are essentially active all the time. They will still “tick” as normal for effects like runes and regeneration.

These songs are still placed on your spell bar, starting with the highest-numbered gem and working backwards.

You can purchase more spell gems with AAs, and you can purchase a stronger aura — meaning more songs — with AAs. At max level, SA lets you play 5 songs as auras. Be aware that if two songs do not stack normally, they will not stack with SA either.I assume the same stacking information carries over from live to EQL. If so, you can check against this app [https://bard-pro.vercel.app/ Bard Melody Selector] to see what overwrites what.

If you have SA on, you '''cannot''' play any other songs that meet the SA requirements without turning SA off. SA does not work while sitting. It does not turn off, but it does not pulse. It is unclear whether this is a bug or intended.

=== Melody and Queue Melody ===
'''Melody''' allows you to autocast songs — note that they still actually need to cast — in an order you specify.

In EQL, you cannot melody a song that would be applicable to SA while SA is active, even if that song is not one of your 5 active SA songs.

With the correct AAs and song levels, you can easily melody 5 or more songs at once on top of the up to 5 songs from SA.

Because of the SA restriction, your melody is mostly used for single-target DoTs — you will get 5 by level 50 in EQL — and a few other specific songs.

'''Queue Melody''' is similar, except any song that is currently “on” will be skipped in your order in favor of songs that are not currently active. This has benefits and drawbacks, especially with resisted songs and NPCs with high resists. “On” means the song is currently active on you or on the target.

Bard will require heavy investment into spell gems if you want to take advantage of everything. Depending on your composition, that can be prohibitive.

Melody is not required to utilize most of what bard has to offer. Compositions with limited combat casting, such as WAR / CLR / BRD, can fully take advantage of using 10 spell slots for bard.

=== Symphonic Aura Songs ===
In order for a song to be eligible, it must have no mana cost, have no cooldown, and be a non-targeted area of effect song.

Any song that meets these criteria cannot be played manually while the ability is turned on.

This ability chooses the first eligible song, starting from the final spell gem, and working backwards.

Instead of listing every song that can be used under SA, this section lists some that might not be obvious. Feel free to suggest more.

==== Songs that fall under Symphonic Aura ====
''Group buffs, self buffs, or detrimental PBAoE — point blank area of effect — songs.''

* Level 20 Snare: [https://eqlwiki.com/Largo%27s_Melodic_Binding Largo’s Melodic Binding]
* Level 26 Fear: [https://eqlwiki.com/Angstlich%27s_Appalling_Screech Angstlich's Appalling Screech]

==== Songs that do not fall under Symphonic Aura ====
''Any non-AoE, non-self songs.''

* Tuyen's Chant line — consider using Melody for these alongside Fufil's
* Level 23 Snare/Slow: [https://eqlwiki.com/Selo%27s_Consonant_Chain Selo's Consonant Chain]

If you are using Melody and SA, consider using a <code>/stop</code> macro for life-saving songs:

* Mez
* Charm

== Macros and Setup ==
There are some common '''macro''' commands you will want to use regularly. Macros are custom commands that you can set up on your hotbar. [https://eqlwiki.com/User:Mazirian/Macro_Guide_by_Mazirian Mazirian has a great guide] on how to make macros.

=== Melody Macro ===
<nowiki>/melody 1 2 3 4 5</nowiki>
This will play the five songs in the order they are placed in your spell gems. Every time you click the macro, it will start from gem 1 and try to play them all in order.

'''Reminder:''' if you are swapping songs on the fly, make sure your gem slots match the numbers in the melody.

=== Queue Melody Macro ===
/queuemelody 1 2 3 4 5
This will attempt to play the five songs in priority order. If song 1 is currently active on you or your target, it will skip it and move to song 2. My understanding is that it will prioritize keeping song 1 up over song 2. This means that until song 1 lands, it may not move on to song 2. In a battle with high resists, it may never attempt to play song 2, so I recommend having a macro for each situation.

=== Stop Macro ===
/stop
There are variations of stop, such as <code>/stopcast</code> and <code>/stopsong</code>, but <code>/stop</code> will stop both spell casting and song casting. I recommend using that.

In general, you will only need a stop command for urgent songs or spells, such as:

* Mez
* Charm
* Feign Death
* Heal

''IDK, I’m a bard. What do other classes do?''

=== Example Interrupt Macro ===
Here is a macro you could use as a baseline to interrupt a melody and cast a spell:
/stop
/cast 1
/pause 30
/queuemelody 3 4 5 6
Explanation:

* <code>/stop</code> stops song and spell casting.
* <code>/cast 1</code> casts whatever is on gem 1.
* <code>/pause 30</code> waits for the cast to finish.
* <code>/queuemelody 3 4 5 6</code> plays gems 3, 4, 5, and 6 on repeat.

== AAs ==
[https://eqltools.com/aa EQL AA Tool] The AA tool above has excellent descriptions.

'''Symphonic Aura''' is an essential tool to level up. It will likely require the archetype AA '''Mnemonic Retention'''.

'''Jam Fest''' works as if you are casting songs as a higher level. Jam Fest 3 is reportedly +5 levels. This is unconfirmed and came from Discord, but if accurate, it makes it easier to land songs on higher-level mobs. It also means your scaling songs are doing more at +5 levels.

'''Instrument Mastery 3''' increases the damage of your damage-over-time songs.

It has been recommended not to take '''Singing Mastery 3''' until you have a large enough mana pool to cast DDDirge 3–4 times with Empower Invocation.

== Itemization ==
'''Spell Haste II''' affects your single-target DoT songs, such as Tuyen's Fire, Tuyen's Disease, and Fufil's.

You can get Spell Haste II easily enough from Efreeti Lord Djarn's ring, which you want for the HP anyway.

While using Symphonic Aura, you can <code>/melody</code> all 4 Tuyen's Chants plus Fufil's for single-target damage.

You will need to upgrade those songs so they cast fast enough to melody 5 songs.

=== Mote Upgrades ===
'''DDDirge''' is worth every mote upgrade. At Rank 10, with Amplification, Empower Invocation, Jam Fest 3, and Singing Mastery 3, it does 3k non-crit damage. It feels great to pull 5 mobs and blow through your mana bar to Dirge them down.

=== Song Scaling ===
More to come, but it currently seems like songs scale differently — and better — than on live. For information on song scaling and upgrades, see the [https://eqlwiki.com/Spell_Upgrade_System Spell Upgrade Guide on EQLwiki].

For example, '''Chant of Battle''' is giving around 40 STR / DEX at level 45.It might be worth using if you are playing a melee build in EQL, whereas it was off most people’s bars by level 20 in live.

== Tips and Tricks ==
Ion Blaze made a great tips and tricks video for getting started, and he always plays a bard. I recommend watching it, especially the section on moving your instrument focus to other items: [https://youtu.be/HqO8uwFcI6k?si=pvP2MtmFsm74CERB Ion Blaze Bard Tips and Tricks Video]
----If you are looking for more bard info, this Bard guide is a wealth of knowledge from Project Quarm and will have some relevance here:

[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-yPCNHXvYib0oaxHVXl1wtmu88g9MW4Sc-72UyK5QYg/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.bbgas5a723om Bard Guide]

A tool for selecting melody's that don't conflict: [https://bard-pro.vercel.app/ Bard Melody Selector]

User:Boisterous/Bard Guide by Boisterous

2026-08-02T22:35:13Z

Boisterous: /* Melody Macro */

== Symphonic Aura and Melody ==
'''Symphonic Aura''' (SA) is an always-on set of songs. These songs do not get interrupted and are essentially active all the time. They will still “tick” as normal for effects like runes and regeneration.

These songs are still placed on your spell bar, starting with the highest-numbered gem and working backwards.

You can purchase more spell gems with AAs, and you can purchase a stronger aura — meaning more songs — with AAs. At max level, SA lets you play 5 songs as auras. Be aware that if two songs do not stack normally, they will not stack with SA either.I assume the same stacking information carries over from live to EQL. If so, you can check against this app [https://bard-pro.vercel.app/ Bard Melody Selector] to see what overwrites what.

If you have SA on, you '''cannot''' play any other songs that meet the SA requirements without turning SA off. SA does not work while sitting. It does not turn off, but it does not pulse. It is unclear whether this is a bug or intended.

=== Melody and Queue Melody ===
'''Melody''' allows you to autocast songs — note that they still actually need to cast — in an order you specify.

In EQL, you cannot melody a song that would be applicable to SA while SA is active, even if that song is not one of your 5 active SA songs.

With the correct AAs and song levels, you can easily melody 5 or more songs at once on top of the up to 5 songs from SA.

Because of the SA restriction, your melody is mostly used for single-target DoTs — you will get 5 by level 50 in EQL — and a few other specific songs.

'''Queue Melody''' is similar, except any song that is currently “on” will be skipped in your order in favor of songs that are not currently active. This has benefits and drawbacks, especially with resisted songs and NPCs with high resists. “On” means the song is currently active on you or on the target.

Bard will require heavy investment into spell gems if you want to take advantage of everything. Depending on your composition, that can be prohibitive.

Melody is not required to utilize most of what bard has to offer. Compositions with limited combat casting, such as WAR / CLR / BRD, can fully take advantage of using 10 spell slots for bard.

=== Symphonic Aura Songs ===
In order for a song to be eligible, it must have no mana cost, have no cooldown, and be a non-targeted area of effect song.

Any song that meets these criteria cannot be played manually while the ability is turned on.

This ability chooses the first eligible song, starting from the final spell gem, and working backwards.

Instead of listing every song that can be used under SA, this section lists some that might not be obvious. Feel free to suggest more.

==== Songs that fall under Symphonic Aura ====
''Group buffs, self buffs, or detrimental PBAoE — point blank area of effect — songs.''

* Level 20 Snare: [https://eqlwiki.com/Largo%27s_Melodic_Binding Largo’s Melodic Binding]
* Level 26 Fear: [https://eqlwiki.com/Angstlich%27s_Appalling_Screech Angstlich's Appalling Screech]

==== Songs that do not fall under Symphonic Aura ====
''Any non-AoE, non-self songs.''

* Tuyen's Chant line — consider using Melody for these alongside Fufil's
* Level 23 Snare/Slow: [https://eqlwiki.com/Selo%27s_Consonant_Chain Selo's Consonant Chain]

If you are using Melody and SA, consider using a <code>/stop</code> macro for life-saving songs:

* Mez
* Charm

== Macros and Setup ==
There are some common '''macro''' commands you will want to use regularly. Macros are custom commands that you can set up on your hotbar.

[https://eqlwiki.com/User:Mazirian/Macro_Guide_by_Mazirian Mazirian has a great guide] on how to make macros.

=== Melody Macro ===
<nowiki>/melody 1 2 3 4 5</nowiki>
This will play the five songs in the order they are placed in your spell gems. Every time you click the macro, it will start from gem 1 and try to play them all in order.

'''Reminder:''' if you are swapping songs on the fly, make sure your gem slots match the numbers in the melody.

=== Queue Melody Macro ===
/queuemelody 1 2 3 4 5
This will attempt to play the five songs in priority order. If song 1 is currently active on you or your target, it will skip it and move to song 2. My understanding is that it will prioritize keeping song 1 up over song 2. This means that until song 1 lands, it may not move on to song 2. In a battle with high resists, it may never attempt to play song 2, so I recommend having a macro for each situation.

=== Stop Macro ===
/stop
There are variations of stop, such as <code>/stopcast</code> and <code>/stopsong</code>, but <code>/stop</code> will stop both spell casting and song casting. I recommend using that.

In general, you will only need a stop command for urgent songs or spells, such as:

* Mez
* Charm
* Feign Death
* Heal

''IDK, I’m a bard. What do other classes do?''

=== Example Interrupt Macro ===
Here is a macro you could use as a baseline to interrupt a melody and cast a spell:
/stop
/cast 1
/pause 30
/queuemelody 3 4 5 6
Explanation:

* <code>/stop</code> stops song and spell casting.
* <code>/cast 1</code> casts whatever is on gem 1.
* <code>/pause 30</code> waits for the cast to finish.
* <code>/queuemelody 3 4 5 6</code> plays gems 3, 4, 5, and 6 on repeat.

== AAs ==
[https://eqltools.com/aa EQL AA Tool] The AA tool above has excellent descriptions.

'''Symphonic Aura''' is an essential tool to level up. It will likely require the archetype AA '''Mnemonic Retention'''.

'''Jam Fest''' works as if you are casting songs as a higher level. Jam Fest 3 is reportedly +5 levels. This is unconfirmed and came from Discord, but if accurate, it makes it easier to land songs on higher-level mobs. It also means your scaling songs are doing more at +5 levels.

'''Instrument Mastery 3''' increases the damage of your damage-over-time songs.

It has been recommended not to take '''Singing Mastery 3''' until you have a large enough mana pool to cast DDDirge 3–4 times with Empower Invocation.

== Itemization ==
'''Spell Haste II''' affects your single-target DoT songs, such as Tuyen's Fire, Tuyen's Disease, and Fufil's.

You can get Spell Haste II easily enough from Efreeti Lord Djarn's ring, which you want for the HP anyway.

While using Symphonic Aura, you can <code>/melody</code> all 4 Tuyen's Chants plus Fufil's for single-target damage.

You will need to upgrade those songs so they cast fast enough to melody 5 songs.

=== Mote Upgrades ===
'''DDDirge''' is worth every mote upgrade. At Rank 10, with Amplification, Empower Invocation, Jam Fest 3, and Singing Mastery 3, it does 3k non-crit damage. It feels great to pull 5 mobs and blow through your mana bar to Dirge them down.

=== Song Scaling ===
More to come, but it currently seems like songs scale differently — and better — than on live. For information on song scaling and upgrades, see the [https://eqlwiki.com/Spell_Upgrade_System Spell Upgrade Guide on EQLwiki].

For example, '''Chant of Battle''' is giving around 40 STR / DEX at level 45.It might be worth using if you are playing a melee build in EQL, whereas it was off most people’s bars by level 20 in live.

== Tips and Tricks ==
Ion Blaze made a great tips and tricks video for getting started, and he always plays a bard. I recommend watching it, especially the section on moving your instrument focus to other items: [https://youtu.be/HqO8uwFcI6k?si=pvP2MtmFsm74CERB Ion Blaze Bard Tips and Tricks Video]
----If you are looking for more bard info, this Bard guide is a wealth of knowledge from Project Quarm and will have some relevance here:

[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-yPCNHXvYib0oaxHVXl1wtmu88g9MW4Sc-72UyK5QYg/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.bbgas5a723om Bard Guide]

A tool for selecting melody's that don't conflict: [https://bard-pro.vercel.app/ Bard Melody Selector]

User:Boisterous/Bard Guide by Boisterous

2026-08-02T22:35:04Z

Boisterous: /* Queue Melody Macro */

== Symphonic Aura and Melody ==
'''Symphonic Aura''' (SA) is an always-on set of songs. These songs do not get interrupted and are essentially active all the time. They will still “tick” as normal for effects like runes and regeneration.

These songs are still placed on your spell bar, starting with the highest-numbered gem and working backwards.

You can purchase more spell gems with AAs, and you can purchase a stronger aura — meaning more songs — with AAs. At max level, SA lets you play 5 songs as auras. Be aware that if two songs do not stack normally, they will not stack with SA either.I assume the same stacking information carries over from live to EQL. If so, you can check against this app [https://bard-pro.vercel.app/ Bard Melody Selector] to see what overwrites what.

If you have SA on, you '''cannot''' play any other songs that meet the SA requirements without turning SA off. SA does not work while sitting. It does not turn off, but it does not pulse. It is unclear whether this is a bug or intended.

=== Melody and Queue Melody ===
'''Melody''' allows you to autocast songs — note that they still actually need to cast — in an order you specify.

In EQL, you cannot melody a song that would be applicable to SA while SA is active, even if that song is not one of your 5 active SA songs.

With the correct AAs and song levels, you can easily melody 5 or more songs at once on top of the up to 5 songs from SA.

Because of the SA restriction, your melody is mostly used for single-target DoTs — you will get 5 by level 50 in EQL — and a few other specific songs.

'''Queue Melody''' is similar, except any song that is currently “on” will be skipped in your order in favor of songs that are not currently active. This has benefits and drawbacks, especially with resisted songs and NPCs with high resists. “On” means the song is currently active on you or on the target.

Bard will require heavy investment into spell gems if you want to take advantage of everything. Depending on your composition, that can be prohibitive.

Melody is not required to utilize most of what bard has to offer. Compositions with limited combat casting, such as WAR / CLR / BRD, can fully take advantage of using 10 spell slots for bard.

=== Symphonic Aura Songs ===
In order for a song to be eligible, it must have no mana cost, have no cooldown, and be a non-targeted area of effect song.

Any song that meets these criteria cannot be played manually while the ability is turned on.

This ability chooses the first eligible song, starting from the final spell gem, and working backwards.

Instead of listing every song that can be used under SA, this section lists some that might not be obvious. Feel free to suggest more.

==== Songs that fall under Symphonic Aura ====
''Group buffs, self buffs, or detrimental PBAoE — point blank area of effect — songs.''

* Level 20 Snare: [https://eqlwiki.com/Largo%27s_Melodic_Binding Largo’s Melodic Binding]
* Level 26 Fear: [https://eqlwiki.com/Angstlich%27s_Appalling_Screech Angstlich's Appalling Screech]

==== Songs that do not fall under Symphonic Aura ====
''Any non-AoE, non-self songs.''

* Tuyen's Chant line — consider using Melody for these alongside Fufil's
* Level 23 Snare/Slow: [https://eqlwiki.com/Selo%27s_Consonant_Chain Selo's Consonant Chain]

If you are using Melody and SA, consider using a <code>/stop</code> macro for life-saving songs:

* Mez
* Charm

== Macros and Setup ==
There are some common '''macro''' commands you will want to use regularly. Macros are custom commands that you can set up on your hotbar.

[https://eqlwiki.com/User:Mazirian/Macro_Guide_by_Mazirian Mazirian has a great guide] on how to make macros.

=== Melody Macro ===
<nowiki>/melody 1 2 3 4 5</nowiki>
This will play the five songs in the order they are placed in your spell gems.

Every time you click the macro, it will start from gem 1 and try to play them all in order.

'''Reminder:''' if you are swapping songs on the fly, make sure your gem slots match the numbers in the melody.

=== Queue Melody Macro ===
/queuemelody 1 2 3 4 5
This will attempt to play the five songs in priority order. If song 1 is currently active on you or your target, it will skip it and move to song 2. My understanding is that it will prioritize keeping song 1 up over song 2. This means that until song 1 lands, it may not move on to song 2. In a battle with high resists, it may never attempt to play song 2, so I recommend having a macro for each situation.

=== Stop Macro ===
/stop
There are variations of stop, such as <code>/stopcast</code> and <code>/stopsong</code>, but <code>/stop</code> will stop both spell casting and song casting. I recommend using that.

In general, you will only need a stop command for urgent songs or spells, such as:

* Mez
* Charm
* Feign Death
* Heal

''IDK, I’m a bard. What do other classes do?''

=== Example Interrupt Macro ===
Here is a macro you could use as a baseline to interrupt a melody and cast a spell:
/stop
/cast 1
/pause 30
/queuemelody 3 4 5 6
Explanation:

* <code>/stop</code> stops song and spell casting.
* <code>/cast 1</code> casts whatever is on gem 1.
* <code>/pause 30</code> waits for the cast to finish.
* <code>/queuemelody 3 4 5 6</code> plays gems 3, 4, 5, and 6 on repeat.

== AAs ==
[https://eqltools.com/aa EQL AA Tool] The AA tool above has excellent descriptions.

'''Symphonic Aura''' is an essential tool to level up. It will likely require the archetype AA '''Mnemonic Retention'''.

'''Jam Fest''' works as if you are casting songs as a higher level. Jam Fest 3 is reportedly +5 levels. This is unconfirmed and came from Discord, but if accurate, it makes it easier to land songs on higher-level mobs. It also means your scaling songs are doing more at +5 levels.

'''Instrument Mastery 3''' increases the damage of your damage-over-time songs.

It has been recommended not to take '''Singing Mastery 3''' until you have a large enough mana pool to cast DDDirge 3–4 times with Empower Invocation.

== Itemization ==
'''Spell Haste II''' affects your single-target DoT songs, such as Tuyen's Fire, Tuyen's Disease, and Fufil's.

You can get Spell Haste II easily enough from Efreeti Lord Djarn's ring, which you want for the HP anyway.

While using Symphonic Aura, you can <code>/melody</code> all 4 Tuyen's Chants plus Fufil's for single-target damage.

You will need to upgrade those songs so they cast fast enough to melody 5 songs.

=== Mote Upgrades ===
'''DDDirge''' is worth every mote upgrade. At Rank 10, with Amplification, Empower Invocation, Jam Fest 3, and Singing Mastery 3, it does 3k non-crit damage. It feels great to pull 5 mobs and blow through your mana bar to Dirge them down.

=== Song Scaling ===
More to come, but it currently seems like songs scale differently — and better — than on live. For information on song scaling and upgrades, see the [https://eqlwiki.com/Spell_Upgrade_System Spell Upgrade Guide on EQLwiki].

For example, '''Chant of Battle''' is giving around 40 STR / DEX at level 45.It might be worth using if you are playing a melee build in EQL, whereas it was off most people’s bars by level 20 in live.

== Tips and Tricks ==
Ion Blaze made a great tips and tricks video for getting started, and he always plays a bard. I recommend watching it, especially the section on moving your instrument focus to other items: [https://youtu.be/HqO8uwFcI6k?si=pvP2MtmFsm74CERB Ion Blaze Bard Tips and Tricks Video]
----If you are looking for more bard info, this Bard guide is a wealth of knowledge from Project Quarm and will have some relevance here:

[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-yPCNHXvYib0oaxHVXl1wtmu88g9MW4Sc-72UyK5QYg/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.bbgas5a723om Bard Guide]

A tool for selecting melody's that don't conflict: [https://bard-pro.vercel.app/ Bard Melody Selector]

User:Boisterous/Bard Guide by Boisterous

2026-08-02T22:34:20Z

Boisterous: /* AAs */

== Symphonic Aura and Melody ==
'''Symphonic Aura''' (SA) is an always-on set of songs. These songs do not get interrupted and are essentially active all the time. They will still “tick” as normal for effects like runes and regeneration.

These songs are still placed on your spell bar, starting with the highest-numbered gem and working backwards.

You can purchase more spell gems with AAs, and you can purchase a stronger aura — meaning more songs — with AAs. At max level, SA lets you play 5 songs as auras. Be aware that if two songs do not stack normally, they will not stack with SA either.I assume the same stacking information carries over from live to EQL. If so, you can check against this app [https://bard-pro.vercel.app/ Bard Melody Selector] to see what overwrites what.

If you have SA on, you '''cannot''' play any other songs that meet the SA requirements without turning SA off. SA does not work while sitting. It does not turn off, but it does not pulse. It is unclear whether this is a bug or intended.

=== Melody and Queue Melody ===
'''Melody''' allows you to autocast songs — note that they still actually need to cast — in an order you specify.

In EQL, you cannot melody a song that would be applicable to SA while SA is active, even if that song is not one of your 5 active SA songs.

With the correct AAs and song levels, you can easily melody 5 or more songs at once on top of the up to 5 songs from SA.

Because of the SA restriction, your melody is mostly used for single-target DoTs — you will get 5 by level 50 in EQL — and a few other specific songs.

'''Queue Melody''' is similar, except any song that is currently “on” will be skipped in your order in favor of songs that are not currently active. This has benefits and drawbacks, especially with resisted songs and NPCs with high resists. “On” means the song is currently active on you or on the target.

Bard will require heavy investment into spell gems if you want to take advantage of everything. Depending on your composition, that can be prohibitive.

Melody is not required to utilize most of what bard has to offer. Compositions with limited combat casting, such as WAR / CLR / BRD, can fully take advantage of using 10 spell slots for bard.

=== Symphonic Aura Songs ===
In order for a song to be eligible, it must have no mana cost, have no cooldown, and be a non-targeted area of effect song.

Any song that meets these criteria cannot be played manually while the ability is turned on.

This ability chooses the first eligible song, starting from the final spell gem, and working backwards.

Instead of listing every song that can be used under SA, this section lists some that might not be obvious. Feel free to suggest more.

==== Songs that fall under Symphonic Aura ====
''Group buffs, self buffs, or detrimental PBAoE — point blank area of effect — songs.''

* Level 20 Snare: [https://eqlwiki.com/Largo%27s_Melodic_Binding Largo’s Melodic Binding]
* Level 26 Fear: [https://eqlwiki.com/Angstlich%27s_Appalling_Screech Angstlich's Appalling Screech]

==== Songs that do not fall under Symphonic Aura ====
''Any non-AoE, non-self songs.''

* Tuyen's Chant line — consider using Melody for these alongside Fufil's
* Level 23 Snare/Slow: [https://eqlwiki.com/Selo%27s_Consonant_Chain Selo's Consonant Chain]

If you are using Melody and SA, consider using a <code>/stop</code> macro for life-saving songs:

* Mez
* Charm

== Macros and Setup ==
There are some common '''macro''' commands you will want to use regularly. Macros are custom commands that you can set up on your hotbar.

[https://eqlwiki.com/User:Mazirian/Macro_Guide_by_Mazirian Mazirian has a great guide] on how to make macros.

=== Melody Macro ===
<nowiki>/melody 1 2 3 4 5</nowiki>
This will play the five songs in the order they are placed in your spell gems.

Every time you click the macro, it will start from gem 1 and try to play them all in order.

'''Reminder:''' if you are swapping songs on the fly, make sure your gem slots match the numbers in the melody.

=== Queue Melody Macro ===
/queuemelody 1 2 3 4 5
This will attempt to play the five songs in priority order.

If song 1 is currently active on you or your target, it will skip it and move to song 2.

My understanding is that it will prioritize keeping song 1 up over song 2. This means that until song 1 lands, it may not move on to song 2.

In a battle with high resists, it may never attempt to play song 2, so I recommend having a macro for each situation.

=== Stop Macro ===
/stop
There are variations of stop, such as <code>/stopcast</code> and <code>/stopsong</code>, but <code>/stop</code> will stop both spell casting and song casting. I recommend using that.

In general, you will only need a stop command for urgent songs or spells, such as:

* Mez
* Charm
* Feign Death
* Heal

''IDK, I’m a bard. What do other classes do?''

=== Example Interrupt Macro ===
Here is a macro you could use as a baseline to interrupt a melody and cast a spell:
/stop
/cast 1
/pause 30
/queuemelody 3 4 5 6
Explanation:

* <code>/stop</code> stops song and spell casting.
* <code>/cast 1</code> casts whatever is on gem 1.
* <code>/pause 30</code> waits for the cast to finish.
* <code>/queuemelody 3 4 5 6</code> plays gems 3, 4, 5, and 6 on repeat.

== AAs ==
[https://eqltools.com/aa EQL AA Tool] The AA tool above has excellent descriptions.

'''Symphonic Aura''' is an essential tool to level up. It will likely require the archetype AA '''Mnemonic Retention'''.

'''Jam Fest''' works as if you are casting songs as a higher level. Jam Fest 3 is reportedly +5 levels. This is unconfirmed and came from Discord, but if accurate, it makes it easier to land songs on higher-level mobs. It also means your scaling songs are doing more at +5 levels.

'''Instrument Mastery 3''' increases the damage of your damage-over-time songs.

It has been recommended not to take '''Singing Mastery 3''' until you have a large enough mana pool to cast DDDirge 3–4 times with Empower Invocation.

== Itemization ==
'''Spell Haste II''' affects your single-target DoT songs, such as Tuyen's Fire, Tuyen's Disease, and Fufil's.

You can get Spell Haste II easily enough from Efreeti Lord Djarn's ring, which you want for the HP anyway.

While using Symphonic Aura, you can <code>/melody</code> all 4 Tuyen's Chants plus Fufil's for single-target damage.

You will need to upgrade those songs so they cast fast enough to melody 5 songs.

=== Mote Upgrades ===
'''DDDirge''' is worth every mote upgrade. At Rank 10, with Amplification, Empower Invocation, Jam Fest 3, and Singing Mastery 3, it does 3k non-crit damage. It feels great to pull 5 mobs and blow through your mana bar to Dirge them down.

=== Song Scaling ===
More to come, but it currently seems like songs scale differently — and better — than on live. For information on song scaling and upgrades, see the [https://eqlwiki.com/Spell_Upgrade_System Spell Upgrade Guide on EQLwiki].

For example, '''Chant of Battle''' is giving around 40 STR / DEX at level 45.It might be worth using if you are playing a melee build in EQL, whereas it was off most people’s bars by level 20 in live.

== Tips and Tricks ==
Ion Blaze made a great tips and tricks video for getting started, and he always plays a bard. I recommend watching it, especially the section on moving your instrument focus to other items: [https://youtu.be/HqO8uwFcI6k?si=pvP2MtmFsm74CERB Ion Blaze Bard Tips and Tricks Video]
----If you are looking for more bard info, this Bard guide is a wealth of knowledge from Project Quarm and will have some relevance here:

[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-yPCNHXvYib0oaxHVXl1wtmu88g9MW4Sc-72UyK5QYg/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.bbgas5a723om Bard Guide]

A tool for selecting melody's that don't conflict: [https://bard-pro.vercel.app/ Bard Melody Selector]

User:Boisterous/Bard Guide by Boisterous

2026-08-02T22:33:52Z

Boisterous: /* Mote Upgrades */

== Symphonic Aura and Melody ==
'''Symphonic Aura''' (SA) is an always-on set of songs. These songs do not get interrupted and are essentially active all the time. They will still “tick” as normal for effects like runes and regeneration.

These songs are still placed on your spell bar, starting with the highest-numbered gem and working backwards.

You can purchase more spell gems with AAs, and you can purchase a stronger aura — meaning more songs — with AAs. At max level, SA lets you play 5 songs as auras. Be aware that if two songs do not stack normally, they will not stack with SA either.I assume the same stacking information carries over from live to EQL. If so, you can check against this app [https://bard-pro.vercel.app/ Bard Melody Selector] to see what overwrites what.

If you have SA on, you '''cannot''' play any other songs that meet the SA requirements without turning SA off. SA does not work while sitting. It does not turn off, but it does not pulse. It is unclear whether this is a bug or intended.

=== Melody and Queue Melody ===
'''Melody''' allows you to autocast songs — note that they still actually need to cast — in an order you specify.

In EQL, you cannot melody a song that would be applicable to SA while SA is active, even if that song is not one of your 5 active SA songs.

With the correct AAs and song levels, you can easily melody 5 or more songs at once on top of the up to 5 songs from SA.

Because of the SA restriction, your melody is mostly used for single-target DoTs — you will get 5 by level 50 in EQL — and a few other specific songs.

'''Queue Melody''' is similar, except any song that is currently “on” will be skipped in your order in favor of songs that are not currently active. This has benefits and drawbacks, especially with resisted songs and NPCs with high resists. “On” means the song is currently active on you or on the target.

Bard will require heavy investment into spell gems if you want to take advantage of everything. Depending on your composition, that can be prohibitive.

Melody is not required to utilize most of what bard has to offer. Compositions with limited combat casting, such as WAR / CLR / BRD, can fully take advantage of using 10 spell slots for bard.

=== Symphonic Aura Songs ===
In order for a song to be eligible, it must have no mana cost, have no cooldown, and be a non-targeted area of effect song.

Any song that meets these criteria cannot be played manually while the ability is turned on.

This ability chooses the first eligible song, starting from the final spell gem, and working backwards.

Instead of listing every song that can be used under SA, this section lists some that might not be obvious. Feel free to suggest more.

==== Songs that fall under Symphonic Aura ====
''Group buffs, self buffs, or detrimental PBAoE — point blank area of effect — songs.''

* Level 20 Snare: [https://eqlwiki.com/Largo%27s_Melodic_Binding Largo’s Melodic Binding]
* Level 26 Fear: [https://eqlwiki.com/Angstlich%27s_Appalling_Screech Angstlich's Appalling Screech]

==== Songs that do not fall under Symphonic Aura ====
''Any non-AoE, non-self songs.''

* Tuyen's Chant line — consider using Melody for these alongside Fufil's
* Level 23 Snare/Slow: [https://eqlwiki.com/Selo%27s_Consonant_Chain Selo's Consonant Chain]

If you are using Melody and SA, consider using a <code>/stop</code> macro for life-saving songs:

* Mez
* Charm

== Macros and Setup ==
There are some common '''macro''' commands you will want to use regularly. Macros are custom commands that you can set up on your hotbar.

[https://eqlwiki.com/User:Mazirian/Macro_Guide_by_Mazirian Mazirian has a great guide] on how to make macros.

=== Melody Macro ===
<nowiki>/melody 1 2 3 4 5</nowiki>
This will play the five songs in the order they are placed in your spell gems.

Every time you click the macro, it will start from gem 1 and try to play them all in order.

'''Reminder:''' if you are swapping songs on the fly, make sure your gem slots match the numbers in the melody.

=== Queue Melody Macro ===
/queuemelody 1 2 3 4 5
This will attempt to play the five songs in priority order.

If song 1 is currently active on you or your target, it will skip it and move to song 2.

My understanding is that it will prioritize keeping song 1 up over song 2. This means that until song 1 lands, it may not move on to song 2.

In a battle with high resists, it may never attempt to play song 2, so I recommend having a macro for each situation.

=== Stop Macro ===
/stop
There are variations of stop, such as <code>/stopcast</code> and <code>/stopsong</code>, but <code>/stop</code> will stop both spell casting and song casting. I recommend using that.

In general, you will only need a stop command for urgent songs or spells, such as:

* Mez
* Charm
* Feign Death
* Heal

''IDK, I’m a bard. What do other classes do?''

=== Example Interrupt Macro ===
Here is a macro you could use as a baseline to interrupt a melody and cast a spell:
/stop
/cast 1
/pause 30
/queuemelody 3 4 5 6
Explanation:

* <code>/stop</code> stops song and spell casting.
* <code>/cast 1</code> casts whatever is on gem 1.
* <code>/pause 30</code> waits for the cast to finish.
* <code>/queuemelody 3 4 5 6</code> plays gems 3, 4, 5, and 6 on repeat.

== AAs ==
[https://eqltools.com/aa EQL AA Tool]

The AA tool above has excellent descriptions.

'''Symphonic Aura''' is an essential tool to level up. It will likely require the archetype AA '''Mnemonic Retention'''.

'''Jam Fest''' works as if you are casting songs as a higher level.

Jam Fest 3 is reportedly +5 levels. This is unconfirmed and came from Discord, but if accurate, it makes it easier to land songs on higher-level mobs. It also means your scaling songs are doing more at +5 levels.

'''Instrument Mastery 3''' increases the damage of your damage-over-time songs.

It has been recommended not to take '''Singing Mastery 3''' until you have a large enough mana pool to cast DDDirge 3–4 times with Empower Invocation.

== Itemization ==
'''Spell Haste II''' affects your single-target DoT songs, such as Tuyen's Fire, Tuyen's Disease, and Fufil's.

You can get Spell Haste II easily enough from Efreeti Lord Djarn's ring, which you want for the HP anyway.

While using Symphonic Aura, you can <code>/melody</code> all 4 Tuyen's Chants plus Fufil's for single-target damage.

You will need to upgrade those songs so they cast fast enough to melody 5 songs.

=== Mote Upgrades ===
'''DDDirge''' is worth every mote upgrade. At Rank 10, with Amplification, Empower Invocation, Jam Fest 3, and Singing Mastery 3, it does 3k non-crit damage. It feels great to pull 5 mobs and blow through your mana bar to Dirge them down.

=== Song Scaling ===
More to come, but it currently seems like songs scale differently — and better — than on live. For information on song scaling and upgrades, see the [https://eqlwiki.com/Spell_Upgrade_System Spell Upgrade Guide on EQLwiki].

For example, '''Chant of Battle''' is giving around 40 STR / DEX at level 45.It might be worth using if you are playing a melee build in EQL, whereas it was off most people’s bars by level 20 in live.

== Tips and Tricks ==
Ion Blaze made a great tips and tricks video for getting started, and he always plays a bard. I recommend watching it, especially the section on moving your instrument focus to other items: [https://youtu.be/HqO8uwFcI6k?si=pvP2MtmFsm74CERB Ion Blaze Bard Tips and Tricks Video]
----If you are looking for more bard info, this Bard guide is a wealth of knowledge from Project Quarm and will have some relevance here:

[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-yPCNHXvYib0oaxHVXl1wtmu88g9MW4Sc-72UyK5QYg/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.bbgas5a723om Bard Guide]

A tool for selecting melody's that don't conflict: [https://bard-pro.vercel.app/ Bard Melody Selector]

User:Boisterous/Bard Guide by Boisterous

2026-08-02T22:33:40Z

Boisterous: /* Song Scaling */

== Symphonic Aura and Melody ==
'''Symphonic Aura''' (SA) is an always-on set of songs. These songs do not get interrupted and are essentially active all the time. They will still “tick” as normal for effects like runes and regeneration.

These songs are still placed on your spell bar, starting with the highest-numbered gem and working backwards.

You can purchase more spell gems with AAs, and you can purchase a stronger aura — meaning more songs — with AAs. At max level, SA lets you play 5 songs as auras. Be aware that if two songs do not stack normally, they will not stack with SA either.I assume the same stacking information carries over from live to EQL. If so, you can check against this app [https://bard-pro.vercel.app/ Bard Melody Selector] to see what overwrites what.

If you have SA on, you '''cannot''' play any other songs that meet the SA requirements without turning SA off. SA does not work while sitting. It does not turn off, but it does not pulse. It is unclear whether this is a bug or intended.

=== Melody and Queue Melody ===
'''Melody''' allows you to autocast songs — note that they still actually need to cast — in an order you specify.

In EQL, you cannot melody a song that would be applicable to SA while SA is active, even if that song is not one of your 5 active SA songs.

With the correct AAs and song levels, you can easily melody 5 or more songs at once on top of the up to 5 songs from SA.

Because of the SA restriction, your melody is mostly used for single-target DoTs — you will get 5 by level 50 in EQL — and a few other specific songs.

'''Queue Melody''' is similar, except any song that is currently “on” will be skipped in your order in favor of songs that are not currently active. This has benefits and drawbacks, especially with resisted songs and NPCs with high resists. “On” means the song is currently active on you or on the target.

Bard will require heavy investment into spell gems if you want to take advantage of everything. Depending on your composition, that can be prohibitive.

Melody is not required to utilize most of what bard has to offer. Compositions with limited combat casting, such as WAR / CLR / BRD, can fully take advantage of using 10 spell slots for bard.

=== Symphonic Aura Songs ===
In order for a song to be eligible, it must have no mana cost, have no cooldown, and be a non-targeted area of effect song.

Any song that meets these criteria cannot be played manually while the ability is turned on.

This ability chooses the first eligible song, starting from the final spell gem, and working backwards.

Instead of listing every song that can be used under SA, this section lists some that might not be obvious. Feel free to suggest more.

==== Songs that fall under Symphonic Aura ====
''Group buffs, self buffs, or detrimental PBAoE — point blank area of effect — songs.''

* Level 20 Snare: [https://eqlwiki.com/Largo%27s_Melodic_Binding Largo’s Melodic Binding]
* Level 26 Fear: [https://eqlwiki.com/Angstlich%27s_Appalling_Screech Angstlich's Appalling Screech]

==== Songs that do not fall under Symphonic Aura ====
''Any non-AoE, non-self songs.''

* Tuyen's Chant line — consider using Melody for these alongside Fufil's
* Level 23 Snare/Slow: [https://eqlwiki.com/Selo%27s_Consonant_Chain Selo's Consonant Chain]

If you are using Melody and SA, consider using a <code>/stop</code> macro for life-saving songs:

* Mez
* Charm

== Macros and Setup ==
There are some common '''macro''' commands you will want to use regularly. Macros are custom commands that you can set up on your hotbar.

[https://eqlwiki.com/User:Mazirian/Macro_Guide_by_Mazirian Mazirian has a great guide] on how to make macros.

=== Melody Macro ===
<nowiki>/melody 1 2 3 4 5</nowiki>
This will play the five songs in the order they are placed in your spell gems.

Every time you click the macro, it will start from gem 1 and try to play them all in order.

'''Reminder:''' if you are swapping songs on the fly, make sure your gem slots match the numbers in the melody.

=== Queue Melody Macro ===
/queuemelody 1 2 3 4 5
This will attempt to play the five songs in priority order.

If song 1 is currently active on you or your target, it will skip it and move to song 2.

My understanding is that it will prioritize keeping song 1 up over song 2. This means that until song 1 lands, it may not move on to song 2.

In a battle with high resists, it may never attempt to play song 2, so I recommend having a macro for each situation.

=== Stop Macro ===
/stop
There are variations of stop, such as <code>/stopcast</code> and <code>/stopsong</code>, but <code>/stop</code> will stop both spell casting and song casting. I recommend using that.

In general, you will only need a stop command for urgent songs or spells, such as:

* Mez
* Charm
* Feign Death
* Heal

''IDK, I’m a bard. What do other classes do?''

=== Example Interrupt Macro ===
Here is a macro you could use as a baseline to interrupt a melody and cast a spell:
/stop
/cast 1
/pause 30
/queuemelody 3 4 5 6
Explanation:

* <code>/stop</code> stops song and spell casting.
* <code>/cast 1</code> casts whatever is on gem 1.
* <code>/pause 30</code> waits for the cast to finish.
* <code>/queuemelody 3 4 5 6</code> plays gems 3, 4, 5, and 6 on repeat.

== AAs ==
[https://eqltools.com/aa EQL AA Tool]

The AA tool above has excellent descriptions.

'''Symphonic Aura''' is an essential tool to level up. It will likely require the archetype AA '''Mnemonic Retention'''.

'''Jam Fest''' works as if you are casting songs as a higher level.

Jam Fest 3 is reportedly +5 levels. This is unconfirmed and came from Discord, but if accurate, it makes it easier to land songs on higher-level mobs. It also means your scaling songs are doing more at +5 levels.

'''Instrument Mastery 3''' increases the damage of your damage-over-time songs.

It has been recommended not to take '''Singing Mastery 3''' until you have a large enough mana pool to cast DDDirge 3–4 times with Empower Invocation.

== Itemization ==
'''Spell Haste II''' affects your single-target DoT songs, such as Tuyen's Fire, Tuyen's Disease, and Fufil's.

You can get Spell Haste II easily enough from Efreeti Lord Djarn's ring, which you want for the HP anyway.

While using Symphonic Aura, you can <code>/melody</code> all 4 Tuyen's Chants plus Fufil's for single-target damage.

You will need to upgrade those songs so they cast fast enough to melody 5 songs.

=== Mote Upgrades ===
'''DDDirge''' is worth every mote upgrade.

At Rank 10, with Amplification, Empower Invocation, Jam Fest 3, and Singing Mastery 3, it does 3k non-crit damage.

It feels great to pull 5 mobs and blow through your mana bar to Dirge them down.

=== Song Scaling ===
More to come, but it currently seems like songs scale differently — and better — than on live. For information on song scaling and upgrades, see the [https://eqlwiki.com/Spell_Upgrade_System Spell Upgrade Guide on EQLwiki].

For example, '''Chant of Battle''' is giving around 40 STR / DEX at level 45.It might be worth using if you are playing a melee build in EQL, whereas it was off most people’s bars by level 20 in live.

== Tips and Tricks ==
Ion Blaze made a great tips and tricks video for getting started, and he always plays a bard. I recommend watching it, especially the section on moving your instrument focus to other items: [https://youtu.be/HqO8uwFcI6k?si=pvP2MtmFsm74CERB Ion Blaze Bard Tips and Tricks Video]
----If you are looking for more bard info, this Bard guide is a wealth of knowledge from Project Quarm and will have some relevance here:

[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-yPCNHXvYib0oaxHVXl1wtmu88g9MW4Sc-72UyK5QYg/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.bbgas5a723om Bard Guide]

A tool for selecting melody's that don't conflict: [https://bard-pro.vercel.app/ Bard Melody Selector]

User:Boisterous/Bard Guide by Boisterous

2026-08-02T22:33:24Z

Boisterous: /* Tips and Tricks */

== Symphonic Aura and Melody ==
'''Symphonic Aura''' (SA) is an always-on set of songs. These songs do not get interrupted and are essentially active all the time. They will still “tick” as normal for effects like runes and regeneration.

These songs are still placed on your spell bar, starting with the highest-numbered gem and working backwards.

You can purchase more spell gems with AAs, and you can purchase a stronger aura — meaning more songs — with AAs. At max level, SA lets you play 5 songs as auras. Be aware that if two songs do not stack normally, they will not stack with SA either.I assume the same stacking information carries over from live to EQL. If so, you can check against this app [https://bard-pro.vercel.app/ Bard Melody Selector] to see what overwrites what.

If you have SA on, you '''cannot''' play any other songs that meet the SA requirements without turning SA off. SA does not work while sitting. It does not turn off, but it does not pulse. It is unclear whether this is a bug or intended.

=== Melody and Queue Melody ===
'''Melody''' allows you to autocast songs — note that they still actually need to cast — in an order you specify.

In EQL, you cannot melody a song that would be applicable to SA while SA is active, even if that song is not one of your 5 active SA songs.

With the correct AAs and song levels, you can easily melody 5 or more songs at once on top of the up to 5 songs from SA.

Because of the SA restriction, your melody is mostly used for single-target DoTs — you will get 5 by level 50 in EQL — and a few other specific songs.

'''Queue Melody''' is similar, except any song that is currently “on” will be skipped in your order in favor of songs that are not currently active. This has benefits and drawbacks, especially with resisted songs and NPCs with high resists. “On” means the song is currently active on you or on the target.

Bard will require heavy investment into spell gems if you want to take advantage of everything. Depending on your composition, that can be prohibitive.

Melody is not required to utilize most of what bard has to offer. Compositions with limited combat casting, such as WAR / CLR / BRD, can fully take advantage of using 10 spell slots for bard.

=== Symphonic Aura Songs ===
In order for a song to be eligible, it must have no mana cost, have no cooldown, and be a non-targeted area of effect song.

Any song that meets these criteria cannot be played manually while the ability is turned on.

This ability chooses the first eligible song, starting from the final spell gem, and working backwards.

Instead of listing every song that can be used under SA, this section lists some that might not be obvious. Feel free to suggest more.

==== Songs that fall under Symphonic Aura ====
''Group buffs, self buffs, or detrimental PBAoE — point blank area of effect — songs.''

* Level 20 Snare: [https://eqlwiki.com/Largo%27s_Melodic_Binding Largo’s Melodic Binding]
* Level 26 Fear: [https://eqlwiki.com/Angstlich%27s_Appalling_Screech Angstlich's Appalling Screech]

==== Songs that do not fall under Symphonic Aura ====
''Any non-AoE, non-self songs.''

* Tuyen's Chant line — consider using Melody for these alongside Fufil's
* Level 23 Snare/Slow: [https://eqlwiki.com/Selo%27s_Consonant_Chain Selo's Consonant Chain]

If you are using Melody and SA, consider using a <code>/stop</code> macro for life-saving songs:

* Mez
* Charm

== Macros and Setup ==
There are some common '''macro''' commands you will want to use regularly. Macros are custom commands that you can set up on your hotbar.

[https://eqlwiki.com/User:Mazirian/Macro_Guide_by_Mazirian Mazirian has a great guide] on how to make macros.

=== Melody Macro ===
<nowiki>/melody 1 2 3 4 5</nowiki>
This will play the five songs in the order they are placed in your spell gems.

Every time you click the macro, it will start from gem 1 and try to play them all in order.

'''Reminder:''' if you are swapping songs on the fly, make sure your gem slots match the numbers in the melody.

=== Queue Melody Macro ===
/queuemelody 1 2 3 4 5
This will attempt to play the five songs in priority order.

If song 1 is currently active on you or your target, it will skip it and move to song 2.

My understanding is that it will prioritize keeping song 1 up over song 2. This means that until song 1 lands, it may not move on to song 2.

In a battle with high resists, it may never attempt to play song 2, so I recommend having a macro for each situation.

=== Stop Macro ===
/stop
There are variations of stop, such as <code>/stopcast</code> and <code>/stopsong</code>, but <code>/stop</code> will stop both spell casting and song casting. I recommend using that.

In general, you will only need a stop command for urgent songs or spells, such as:

* Mez
* Charm
* Feign Death
* Heal

''IDK, I’m a bard. What do other classes do?''

=== Example Interrupt Macro ===
Here is a macro you could use as a baseline to interrupt a melody and cast a spell:
/stop
/cast 1
/pause 30
/queuemelody 3 4 5 6
Explanation:

* <code>/stop</code> stops song and spell casting.
* <code>/cast 1</code> casts whatever is on gem 1.
* <code>/pause 30</code> waits for the cast to finish.
* <code>/queuemelody 3 4 5 6</code> plays gems 3, 4, 5, and 6 on repeat.

== AAs ==
[https://eqltools.com/aa EQL AA Tool]

The AA tool above has excellent descriptions.

'''Symphonic Aura''' is an essential tool to level up. It will likely require the archetype AA '''Mnemonic Retention'''.

'''Jam Fest''' works as if you are casting songs as a higher level.

Jam Fest 3 is reportedly +5 levels. This is unconfirmed and came from Discord, but if accurate, it makes it easier to land songs on higher-level mobs. It also means your scaling songs are doing more at +5 levels.

'''Instrument Mastery 3''' increases the damage of your damage-over-time songs.

It has been recommended not to take '''Singing Mastery 3''' until you have a large enough mana pool to cast DDDirge 3–4 times with Empower Invocation.

== Itemization ==
'''Spell Haste II''' affects your single-target DoT songs, such as Tuyen's Fire, Tuyen's Disease, and Fufil's.

You can get Spell Haste II easily enough from Efreeti Lord Djarn's ring, which you want for the HP anyway.

While using Symphonic Aura, you can <code>/melody</code> all 4 Tuyen's Chants plus Fufil's for single-target damage.

You will need to upgrade those songs so they cast fast enough to melody 5 songs.

=== Mote Upgrades ===
'''DDDirge''' is worth every mote upgrade.

At Rank 10, with Amplification, Empower Invocation, Jam Fest 3, and Singing Mastery 3, it does 3k non-crit damage.

It feels great to pull 5 mobs and blow through your mana bar to Dirge them down.

=== Song Scaling ===
More to come, but it currently seems like songs scale differently — and better — than on live.

For information on song scaling and upgrades, see the [https://eqlwiki.com/Spell_Upgrade_System Spell Upgrade Guide on EQLwiki].

For example, '''Chant of Battle''' is giving around 40 STR / DEX at level 45.

It might be worth using if you are playing a melee build in EQL, whereas it was off most people’s bars by level 20 in live.

== Tips and Tricks ==
Ion Blaze made a great tips and tricks video for getting started, and he always plays a bard. I recommend watching it, especially the section on moving your instrument focus to other items: [https://youtu.be/HqO8uwFcI6k?si=pvP2MtmFsm74CERB Ion Blaze Bard Tips and Tricks Video]
----If you are looking for more bard info, this Bard guide is a wealth of knowledge from Project Quarm and will have some relevance here:

[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-yPCNHXvYib0oaxHVXl1wtmu88g9MW4Sc-72UyK5QYg/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.bbgas5a723om Bard Guide]

A tool for selecting melody's that don't conflict: [https://bard-pro.vercel.app/ Bard Melody Selector]

User:Boisterous/Bard Guide by Boisterous

2026-08-02T22:28:19Z

Boisterous: Added all the info

== Symphonic Aura and Melody ==
'''Symphonic Aura''' (SA) is an always-on set of songs. These songs do not get interrupted and are essentially active all the time. They will still “tick” as normal for effects like runes and regeneration.

These songs are still placed on your spell bar, starting with the highest-numbered gem and working backwards.

You can purchase more spell gems with AAs, and you can purchase a stronger aura — meaning more songs — with AAs. At max level, SA lets you play 5 songs as auras. Be aware that if two songs do not stack normally, they will not stack with SA either.I assume the same stacking information carries over from live to EQL. If so, you can check against this app [https://bard-pro.vercel.app/ Bard Melody Selector] to see what overwrites what.

If you have SA on, you '''cannot''' play any other songs that meet the SA requirements without turning SA off. SA does not work while sitting. It does not turn off, but it does not pulse. It is unclear whether this is a bug or intended.

=== Melody and Queue Melody ===
'''Melody''' allows you to autocast songs — note that they still actually need to cast — in an order you specify.

In EQL, you cannot melody a song that would be applicable to SA while SA is active, even if that song is not one of your 5 active SA songs.

With the correct AAs and song levels, you can easily melody 5 or more songs at once on top of the up to 5 songs from SA.

Because of the SA restriction, your melody is mostly used for single-target DoTs — you will get 5 by level 50 in EQL — and a few other specific songs.

'''Queue Melody''' is similar, except any song that is currently “on” will be skipped in your order in favor of songs that are not currently active. This has benefits and drawbacks, especially with resisted songs and NPCs with high resists. “On” means the song is currently active on you or on the target.

Bard will require heavy investment into spell gems if you want to take advantage of everything. Depending on your composition, that can be prohibitive.

Melody is not required to utilize most of what bard has to offer. Compositions with limited combat casting, such as WAR / CLR / BRD, can fully take advantage of using 10 spell slots for bard.

=== Symphonic Aura Songs ===
In order for a song to be eligible, it must have no mana cost, have no cooldown, and be a non-targeted area of effect song.

Any song that meets these criteria cannot be played manually while the ability is turned on.

This ability chooses the first eligible song, starting from the final spell gem, and working backwards.

Instead of listing every song that can be used under SA, this section lists some that might not be obvious. Feel free to suggest more.

==== Songs that fall under Symphonic Aura ====
''Group buffs, self buffs, or detrimental PBAoE — point blank area of effect — songs.''

* Level 20 Snare: [https://eqlwiki.com/Largo%27s_Melodic_Binding Largo’s Melodic Binding]
* Level 26 Fear: [https://eqlwiki.com/Angstlich%27s_Appalling_Screech Angstlich's Appalling Screech]

==== Songs that do not fall under Symphonic Aura ====
''Any non-AoE, non-self songs.''

* Tuyen's Chant line — consider using Melody for these alongside Fufil's
* Level 23 Snare/Slow: [https://eqlwiki.com/Selo%27s_Consonant_Chain Selo's Consonant Chain]

If you are using Melody and SA, consider using a <code>/stop</code> macro for life-saving songs:

* Mez
* Charm

== Macros and Setup ==
There are some common '''macro''' commands you will want to use regularly. Macros are custom commands that you can set up on your hotbar.

[https://eqlwiki.com/User:Mazirian/Macro_Guide_by_Mazirian Mazirian has a great guide] on how to make macros.

=== Melody Macro ===
<nowiki>/melody 1 2 3 4 5</nowiki>
This will play the five songs in the order they are placed in your spell gems.

Every time you click the macro, it will start from gem 1 and try to play them all in order.

'''Reminder:''' if you are swapping songs on the fly, make sure your gem slots match the numbers in the melody.

=== Queue Melody Macro ===
/queuemelody 1 2 3 4 5
This will attempt to play the five songs in priority order.

If song 1 is currently active on you or your target, it will skip it and move to song 2.

My understanding is that it will prioritize keeping song 1 up over song 2. This means that until song 1 lands, it may not move on to song 2.

In a battle with high resists, it may never attempt to play song 2, so I recommend having a macro for each situation.

=== Stop Macro ===
/stop
There are variations of stop, such as <code>/stopcast</code> and <code>/stopsong</code>, but <code>/stop</code> will stop both spell casting and song casting. I recommend using that.

In general, you will only need a stop command for urgent songs or spells, such as:

* Mez
* Charm
* Feign Death
* Heal

''IDK, I’m a bard. What do other classes do?''

=== Example Interrupt Macro ===
Here is a macro you could use as a baseline to interrupt a melody and cast a spell:
/stop
/cast 1
/pause 30
/queuemelody 3 4 5 6
Explanation:

* <code>/stop</code> stops song and spell casting.
* <code>/cast 1</code> casts whatever is on gem 1.
* <code>/pause 30</code> waits for the cast to finish.
* <code>/queuemelody 3 4 5 6</code> plays gems 3, 4, 5, and 6 on repeat.

== AAs ==
[https://eqltools.com/aa EQL AA Tool]

The AA tool above has excellent descriptions.

'''Symphonic Aura''' is an essential tool to level up. It will likely require the archetype AA '''Mnemonic Retention'''.

'''Jam Fest''' works as if you are casting songs as a higher level.

Jam Fest 3 is reportedly +5 levels. This is unconfirmed and came from Discord, but if accurate, it makes it easier to land songs on higher-level mobs. It also means your scaling songs are doing more at +5 levels.

'''Instrument Mastery 3''' increases the damage of your damage-over-time songs.

It has been recommended not to take '''Singing Mastery 3''' until you have a large enough mana pool to cast DDDirge 3–4 times with Empower Invocation.

== Itemization ==
'''Spell Haste II''' affects your single-target DoT songs, such as Tuyen's Fire, Tuyen's Disease, and Fufil's.

You can get Spell Haste II easily enough from Efreeti Lord Djarn's ring, which you want for the HP anyway.

While using Symphonic Aura, you can <code>/melody</code> all 4 Tuyen's Chants plus Fufil's for single-target damage.

You will need to upgrade those songs so they cast fast enough to melody 5 songs.

=== Mote Upgrades ===
'''DDDirge''' is worth every mote upgrade.

At Rank 10, with Amplification, Empower Invocation, Jam Fest 3, and Singing Mastery 3, it does 3k non-crit damage.

It feels great to pull 5 mobs and blow through your mana bar to Dirge them down.

=== Song Scaling ===
More to come, but it currently seems like songs scale differently — and better — than on live.

For information on song scaling and upgrades, see the [https://eqlwiki.com/Spell_Upgrade_System Spell Upgrade Guide on EQLwiki].

For example, '''Chant of Battle''' is giving around 40 STR / DEX at level 45.

It might be worth using if you are playing a melee build in EQL, whereas it was off most people’s bars by level 20 in live.

== Tips and Tricks ==
Ion Blaze made a great tips and tricks video for getting started, and he always plays a bard.

I recommend watching it, especially the section on moving your instrument focus to other items:

[https://youtu.be/HqO8uwFcI6k?si=pvP2MtmFsm74CERB Ion Blaze Bard Tips and Tricks Video]
----If you are looking for more bard info, this Bard guide is a wealth of knowledge from Project Quarm and will have some relevance here:

[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-yPCNHXvYib0oaxHVXl1wtmu88g9MW4Sc-72UyK5QYg/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.bbgas5a723om Bard Guide]

A tool for selecting melody's that don't conflict: [https://bard-pro.vercel.app/ Bard Melody Selector]

VerifiedPages

2026-08-02T22:24:32Z

Boisterous: Adding page to verified list

Main_Page
Lady_Shae
Special:ZoneViewer
Category:Spells
User:Todlo/A_Young_Troll's_Guide_to_Race_Relations
Character_Classes
Screaming_Mace_Quest
User:Alanna/Alanna's_Race_Unlock_Guide
Bag_of_Sewn_Evil-Eye
Slow
Elementalkin:_Air_Summon
Elementalkin:_Earth_Summon
Elementalkin:_Fire_Summon
Elementalkin:_Water_Summon
Elementaling:_Air_Summon
Elementaling:_Earth_Summon
Elementaling:_Fire_Summon
Elementaling:_Water_Summon
Elemental:_Air_Summon
Elemental:_Earth_Summon
Elemental:_Fire_Summon
Elemental:_Water_Summon
Minor_Summoning:_Fire_Summon
Minor_Summoning:_Water_Summon
Elementalkin:_Water
Elementalkin:_Fire
Elementalkin:_Earth
Elementalkin:_Air
Coin_of_Tash_(Tashania)
Minor_Summoning:_Earth_Summon
Special:ConfirmEmail
Silver_Plated_War_Sword
Craftkeepers
Lord_Gimblox
Kerran_Fishingpole
User:Boisterous/Bard_Guide_by_Boisterous

Category:Guides

2026-08-02T22:08:46Z

Boisterous: /* Newbie guides */

EverQuest is an enormous game, with many aspects not completely explained in-game. Here are player-written guides which may help to bridge the gaps.

== Newbie guides ==
* [[User:Cald/Cald%27s_Newbie_Guide|Cald's Newbie Guide]]
* [[Newbie Guide]]
* [[User:Alanna/Alanna's Race Unlock Guide|Alanna's Race Unlock Guide]]
* [[Languages]]
* [[User Interface Guide]]
* [[User:Mazirian/Macro Guide by Mazirian|Macro Guide by Mazirian]]
* [[Spell Sets]]
* [[User:Boisterous/Bard Guide by Boisterous|Bard Guide by Boisterous]]

== Mechanics ==
* [[Game Mechanics]]
* [[Statistics]]
* [[Skills]]
* [[Buff Lines]]
* [[Faction]]
* [[Haste Guide]]
* [[Clickies]]

== Build guides ==
* [[Build Guides#Available Classes|Available Build guides]]

== Travel ==
* [[Travel Guide]]
* [[The Worldly Path]] Custom Quest

== Miscellaneous ==
* [[Commands|Chat Commands]]
* [[Get a Super-Early Trueshot Longbow]]