Bard- which weapon is main hand?

Discussion in 'Hybrid' started by Cicelee, Jun 25, 2020.

  1. Cicelee Augur

    Bard finally hit 115. Currently has Jeweled Orchid Blood Katana in main (Apologies in advance if numbers or names are off, doing everything from memory) which is I think a 200/21 with 5k DD proc.

    I also now can use Translucent Velium Bloodhammer, some TOV raid 1hb that I think is 282/24 with a 4400 DD proc.

    So do I put the faster 21 delay in main, or the higher ratio in main? Any consideration to the proc as well?

    Thanks in advance. All of it will be moot when I loot another TOV raid weapon to replace katana, but for the next month or two would like the best setup between those two...
  2. Tucoh Augur

    The one in your right hand is your main hand :D



    Conventional wisdom says that the better ratio goes in your mainhand, so I'd put the TOV raid weapon there. That doesn't matter because bard's swing damage is weak AF.

    I don't remember if procs between main/offhand are normalized such that they both proc the same amount.
  3. Chopin.Xegony Augur

    Is that the damage/delay with the augs in them? Or without. Just from memory it looks like those are the unaugged based dmg/delay for weapons. You will want to include the ratios for the weapons when augged.

    The damage + proc augs are best for bards the two best ones are the velium infused gem of striking (Trade skill in ToV) and the immortal gem of stone (Dropped off Stout Stone Beaten)

    Which would give the katana 215/21 with best aug = 10.238 Ratio
    The Bloodhammer 297/24 with the best aug - 12.375 Ratio

    Bloodhammer = Primary

    The procs can matter especially with flurry of notes running however I tested the Katana a lot with flurry of notes running and it lost to the Velium Enhanced Dagger with stunning proc of 2640 during Flurry of notes. So in this instance the Katana is sadly just outdated, once you replace it put it in your bag and tie a /useitem command to the same key you use for lyre leap and use it to get around faster.

    Hope that helped sorry its so wordy.
    Cicelee and Szilent like this.
  4. svann Augur

    I think faster in main hand means that when you use flurry (proc every swing) you will get more procs out of it. Could parse it both ways and see, and you could even bandolier a switch when you use flurry.
    Tucoh likes this.
  5. Chorus Augur

    Yes, faster weapon in main hand that has a decent damage proc. If you have an applicable proc aug, you want that in the main hand over a + dam aug as well due to bards having a large innate proc rate bonus that other classes do not.

    I don't think they ever brought the offhand proc rate up to the same level as the primary, so + dam aug in the offhand tends to be the way to go for secondary weapon. Again, this is for bard only, other classes do not work this way.
  6. Caio_Xegony Lorekeeper

    personally I use Velium Enhanced Short Spear in MH and Velium Enhanced Axe in OH

    If you can't get those I would suggest similar. a dagger in MH and sword or Axe in OH
  7. Sirene_Fippy Okayest Bard

    If you really want to be sure, I would parse it.

    I would use the better ratio weapon in primary, but I haven't tested in a long time.

    The main difference between primary/secondary is your triple attack/flurry only work on primary.
    DPS from your secondary weapon is a small contribution.
    I don't think procs should be a consideration between primary/secondary, as you proc once per swing, and your secondary will swing every time (since our dual wield skill is high enough we always dual wield). Only regular melee damage. As others have said the DPS we do from pure melee is not great. If you parse different augments, you'll find the DPS added by a +13 damage aug is extremely small (< 1k). The DPS added by a proc aug isn't that great, but is a lot higher than the pure DPS ones.
    Cuuthbert likes this.
  8. Szilent Augur

    I loaded up some buffs and attacked a 5400ac Combat Dummy for 1/2hr+ each of VEShortspear with Maleficence offhand, and with Restless Axe of Carnage (borrowing the same good damage aug) offhand, with this result:

    /GU Combat Dummy Beza SpearSpear in 2000s, 203.0m @101521sdps | #1 Camraderry 203.0m@101.5k sdps
    85.2k piercing dps
    10.4k kick dps
    5.9k procs

    /GU Combat Dummy Beza SpearAxe in 2844s, 283.1m @99537sdps | #1 Camraderry 283.1m@99537sdps
    56.7k dps piercing (so, mainhand)
    27.4k dps slashing (offhand)
    9.5k kick dps
    5.9k procs

    So, real close, but in favor of the faster weapon. Entirely likely the VEaxe's touch higher ratio would put it ahead of Maleficence offhand, but the potential gain doesn't excite me.
    Cuuthbert likes this.
  9. Cuuthbert Augur

    I use Velium enchanced sword and Agatar, Griklor's Swordbreaker.
    I personally like the Vampiric Touch proc. (and no it is not the healing that I am interested it for those that are gonna say, the healing does not do enough) I like vampiric touch because it is never resisted.
    It would say get the next weapon that drops you can use and replace them later.
    Get on a test dummy fire up a parse and I would recommend no buffs, no songs and just swing away. This will tell you what the weapons are doing.
    Ezbro likes this.
  10. Cicelee Augur

    Thank you all for the advice. This week I got Maleficence in primary and Axe of Carnage (the fire proc) in off hand. I am contemplating Omen to help heal the pet, but I don't see it as necessary TBH.

    My main hand has the TOV ice proc augment (15 damage), and at some point I will camp the 15 damage aug from the Velk spider and turn that into the heal proc as well. Then I will be fine until next expansion I feel.
  11. Cuuthbert Augur

    Been doing some testing with weapons in the group game. For my rogue and my bard, I got them both Velketor's Quill and The Nugget version of that, and they both stun. I have to say 4 stun procs I see the mobs head looking down a lot. The DPS is not as great but it is not horrible. But has taken a load of the healers in the group game