Charismatic Performance
Upgrades a ‘good’ performance into a ‘perfect’ performance.
Discover the best Dark and Darker Bard builds. Browse the 12 perks, 5 skills and 19 spells available to the Bard, then theorycraft your own loadout with the build calculator.
The Bard is a support skirmisher who plays songs on instruments to buff allies and sometimes debuff foes, while defending themselves with light, nimble weapons like rapiers. They bring some of the most flexible utility in the game, shaping fights through music rather than raw force. The tradeoff is exposure: performing a song takes time and roots your attention, so a Bard is only as strong as their positioning and timing.
Strengths: unmatched flexibility, with songs that can heal, hasten, embolden, or otherwise empower a group and tilt drawn-out fights. A skilled Bard reads encounters and applies the right buff at the right moment, while staying mobile with light weapons and decent movement. Weaknesses: performing leaves you vulnerable, since songs take time and you cannot fully defend while playing. Your direct damage and durability are modest compared to dedicated fighters, so a Bard caught alone or interrupted mid-song can be punished hard. You rely on allies and good spacing to convert utility into wins.
Play to tempo and positioning rather than brawling. Queue your songs from safety, just behind your frontline or around a corner, so you finish a performance before enemies can close. Pre-buff before a fight starts, then reposition and refresh as the engagement develops. Keep light weapons ready to peel, poke, and punish overextensions, but avoid trading blows you do not need to take. Always know your escape route. The worst place for a Bard is exposed in the open, mid-song, with no teammate to screen you while you commit to the performance.
Bard builds usually lean into how much you want to support versus skirmish. A few common directions: - Group support: stack gear and stats that improve your songs and survivability, sitting back to keep allies buffed in team fights. - Skirmisher Bard: favour movement and a strong light weapon so you can buff, dart in, and punish while staying slippery. - Hybrid utility: balance song power with self-sufficiency, mixing buffs, mobility, and enough damage to threaten solo targets. Gear that boosts movement, performance, and the attributes your weapon scales with tends to serve every direction. To plan attributes, weapons, and gear around your chosen role, build it out with the build calculator and compare the tradeoffs.
Prioritise perks and skills that shorten or smooth your performances, expand your song options, or improve mobility, since faster, safer buffing is the core of the class. Effects that boost your weapon scaling or let you swing light weapons more effectively reward an aggressive skirmisher style. Because the Bard lives and dies by tempo, anything that reduces your exposure while playing is worth a hard look. Loadouts shift with every patch, so treat these as guidelines, check the full up-to-date perk and skill list below, and see what the community is running before you commit.
Bard · Labum
Vigor · Dexterity · Resourcefulness
Health 150 · Move Speed 300 · Physical Healing 10 · Additional Physical Damage 5 · Physical Power Bonus 18% · Action Speed 14% · Physical Damage Reduction 35% · Magical Damage Reduction 16%
Bard · shan
Vigor · Strength · Dexterity
Health 183 · Move Speed 289 · Physical Power Bonus 37% · Action Speed 20% · Spell Casting Speed 19% · Physical Damage Reduction 53% · Magical Damage Reduction 32%
Bard · DarkFoxSlays
Strength · Vigor · Dexterity
Health 164 · Move Speed 289 · Additional Physical Damage 5 · Physical Power Bonus 38% · Action Speed 42% · Luck 104 · Cooldown Reduction Bonus 12% · Physical Damage Reduction 35% · Magical Damage Reduction 17%
Bard · riku201156379👑
Vigor · Strength · Dexterity
Health 170 · Move Speed 293 · Additional Physical Damage 5 · Physical Power Bonus 19% · Action Speed 25% · Physical Damage Reduction 48% · Magical Damage Reduction 12%
Bard · ReaL1Ze
Resourcefulness · Vigor · Dexterity
Health 168 · Move Speed 289 · Additional Physical Damage 5 · Action Speed 25% · Cooldown Reduction Bonus 58% · Magic Power Bonus 6% · Buff Duration Bonus 16% · Physical Power Bonus 6% · Spell Casting Speed 21% · Physical Damage Reduction 43% · Magical Damage Reduction 19%
Bard · Darkbuilder
Vigor · Dexterity · Agility
Health 145 · Move Speed 298 · Action Speed 35% · Physical Power Bonus 9% · Physical Damage Reduction 45% · Magical Damage Reduction 11%
Upgrades a ‘good’ performance into a ‘perfect’ performance.
While holding an instrument, gain 10 Additional Move Speed.
Music buffs applied to yourself last 1.5 times longer.
Drinking ale recovers 5 Health, and grants 5 Additional Move Speed, 5 Vigor while drunk.
Grants 30% Regular Interaction Speed and increases your Knowledge by an amount equal to 50% of your Resourcefulness.
While playing music, gain 25% Physical Damage Reduction and 25% Magical Damage Reduction.
While using a Rapier, gain 3 Weapon Damage and 5% Action Speed.
When attacking with an instrument, gain 50% Physical Damage Bonus.
Give all nearby party members around a +5 Will and +3 Knowledge buff.
50% faster switching time when switching between weapons/utility items.
Gain 100 Luck and increases the chance of finding high-quality items when opening treasure chests.
A successful performance increases nearby allies' Weapon Damage by 3 for 6 seconds.
Plays an instrument to make an unpleasant noise that silences all enemy targets for 2 seconds.
Silence: Disables skills/spells/performance abilities.
Cooldown: 24 seconds
Resets the duration of all active music buffs on nearby party members.
Cooldown: 40 seconds
Gain the ability to store up to 5 sheets of music.
Gain the ability to store up to 5 sheets of music.
Play an instrument to grant all nearby allies immunity to drunkenness for 15 seconds. While immune, drinking alcohol restores 5 Health.
Cooldown: 40 seconds
You and nearby allies gain 2/3/4 Additional Move Speed per second for 6 seconds based on your performance. Stacks up to 3 times.
You and nearby allies gain 3/4/5% Action Speed and 3/4/5% Spell Casting Speed per second for 6 seconds based on your performance. Stacks up to 3 times.
The performer gains 4/6/8% Action Speed for 60/120/240 seconds. Song does not stack on itself.
You and nearby allies gain 2/4/6 Physical Power for 240 seconds. Song does not stack on itself.
Reduces nearby enemy All Attributes by 1/2/3 for 20 seconds. Does not work on Boss or Subboss monsters.
The performer gains 4/5/6 Additional Move Speed for 60/120/240 seconds. Song does not stack on itself.
Excites nearby monsters to attack the nearest target except the performer.
Restore 2 spell memory per second to all nearby allies for 20/40/60 seconds.
Deal 1/3/5 Dark Magical Damage to all enemies in an area around the performer, based on performance.
The performer gains 3/4/5% Physical Damage Reduction and 3/4/5% Magical Damage Reduction for 60/120/240 seconds.
Reduces the Additional Move Speed by 10 of all enemy targets in the area for 6/12/18 seconds.
All nearby players and monsters temporarily lose the will to fight when enchanted by the channeling section of the song.
Deal 15/20/25 Physical Damage to a target. Causes the echo sound effect on player targets for 3 seconds.
Nearby allies gain 2/2/2 All Attributes for 60/120/240 seconds.
Nearby enemies lose 1/2/3 Physical Power, 6/8/10 Armor Rating and their Physical Damage Reduction is lowered by 9/12/15% of its current value for 4/8/12 seconds.
You and all nearby allies gain invisibility for 10/20/30 seconds. Invisibility breaks upon movement.
Interrupts all skills, spells, and songs used by nearby enemies, and prevents them from using skills, casting spells, or playing songs for 1/1.5/2 seconds. Does not work on boss or sub-boss monsters.
Restore 1 Recoverable Health of yourself and nearby allies every 5 seconds for 20/40/60 seconds.
Open all nearby doors/containers, including locked containers. It does not work for doors that require a special key.