Reducing aggro during combat on bard (besides Fade)

Discussion in 'Hybrid' started by Cicelee, Dec 30, 2020.

  1. Cicelee Augur

    The problem-

    Run mage/bard combo. Same laptop, no support software, I use alt-tab. Pull on bard, tab to mage for pet attack, tab to bard for auto attack and melody and possible short or long burn hotkey. Bard sings Aria, War March, the four dots, the melee DD proc that reduces aggro (which is blocked on the earth pet with taunt on and using two aggro swords). Once bard is auto attack and melody and any disc hotkeys, I tab to mage where I spend the remaining 98% of mob life doing mage stuff until mob death.

    However, I find myself having to tab over anywhere from 1-3 times during battle to Fade on the bard to bring aggro to zero then tab back to mage. What I would like to do is not worry about the bard during a fight and not have bard reach 100 aggro.

    As I mentioned, earth pet has taunt on and two aggro swords. Nothing else really I can do on pet. I have the melee DD proc aggro reducer going, but am not sure how often it fires on bard. Bard is mostly TOV raid geared but has terrible augs and type 5- in other words, heroic dex is much lower than other bard magelos I have seen.

    What else can I do for the bard during a battle to not pull aggro over the pet? Bard does not have the Anger mask, just the other one. Is it a hdex issue where if I improve hdex then it will be using the three or four melee de aggro procs because maybe it is not firing all the time for bard? Is there a de aggro augment I can put in a weapon to help? Is there another de aggro song I can sing for bard?

    I prefer not to have to remove a dot if I can avoid it since that is a significant amount of DPS nowadays (and my bard I believe is only 30/50 improved chants so the DPS will continue to rise as I improve that). Just trying to see what changes I can make or need to do gear wise so that I don't have to tab to bard during a battle.

    As always, thanks for taking the time to read this and respond!
  2. Dythan Ban Lev in Plane of Fire guy

    Not at my computer to look up name, but you have the toggled hate reduction AA, and turned on?
    Cicelee likes this.
  3. Petalonyx Augur

    Are you using mage dicho?

    Why not use air pet and toss on some bonus hp gear?

    Pet aggro can be trashed when fighting in a crowded & laggy base zone (esp GD and WW).

    I can't comment on the bard, but thought I'd mention the other big things that might give u issues with bard aggro.
    Cicelee likes this.
  4. Cicelee Augur

    99% sure it is turned on. Will double check next time in game.
  5. Cicelee Augur

    Not using mage dicho.

    Interesting thought. I am so used to earth when I duo because I never worry about earth dying unless to a named. If I go to air and I find that it is stressing me out because of too many close calls with the hit point bar, then air may not be the right option. I could always have an earth pet pocketed for a named (I doubt air vs COV named), so could use air for basic trash. I would have to get some merc gear from the bazaar but that is an interesting thought.
  6. Svann2 The Magnificent

    Combat Subtlety under archetype
    If you have the points in it its almost certainly on. I noticed that when I relog it toggles back on by itself.
  7. Wulfhere Augur

    My bard has max Combat Subtlety AA and she cannot hold aggro at all when that is enabled.

    When boxing with a mage, I sing +hate melee proc song, e.g. Omorden's Spiteful Lyric, and the pet gets even more hate from that. I don't even need to block it on the bard (I have in the past tho). I bet if you sing that song that you''ll have a more relaxed time of it.
    Cicelee likes this.
  8. Cicelee Augur

    I will try the hate song, another good suggestion. Would you recommend replacing the de aggro song (IIRC Ommoden Suffering?) with the Spiteful Lyric, or adding it to the melody?
  9. Wulfhere Augur

    I would experiment a bit. Since Suffering is not helping you're bard enough, try replacing it with Spiteful (and block it on the bard) to help the pet. It's a good tank song anyways and it might add enough AC that you're okay using air pet too.

    I often sing Suffering and Spiteful to have both melee procs going, especially with tank/melee (mercs) in the group. My bard procs both and never steals aggro (with CSub AA on). Since you are focusing on bard personal DPS with chants, you probably want to use only one proc to control aggro (unless you need both to be comfortable), whichever does that best.
    Cicelee likes this.
  10. Svann2 The Magnificent

    Is your bard wearing a tank mask? That could theoretically do it.
    Elyssanda and Wulfhere like this.
  11. Wulfhere Augur

    Good call Svann. My bard's not, adding to my feedback.
  12. Cicelee Augur

    No tank mask.

    I thank you all for the tips. Going to log in tonight for first time in two weeks and try some things out.

    I did see some namss mob in Grounds, Grigorikn or something, drops some calming strike 2 augment that fits in range. I wonder if I can pop that in the range slot and that would also help as well. Or should that be a last resort if the other stuff doesn't work?
  13. Szilent Augur

    type 4, only fits bows. when it's slotted there, only procs on archery.
    Cicelee and Thunderkiks like this.
  14. Elyssanda Bardbrain

    so years ago, I suddenly started having aggro issues on Ely.. like I was pulling aggro from SKs kinda problem.. (before I was raiding).. turned out I had accidentally put a stun /Hate aug in my weapon without knowing it.
    code-zero and Skuz like this.
  15. Waldagar Augur

    Tell us about the procs on the Bard's weapons. Switching to slower weapons that hit harder will also help reduce the aggro. 19 delay daggers with the Snap proc on them with certainly get you noticed.
    -Z-
  16. Cicelee Augur

    I am using Malifecence in primary with the ice DD proc augment, and Axe of Carnage (whatever the TOV raid 1hs is) with IIRC just a damage aug.
  17. Svann2 The Magnificent

    I almost never have agro problems except with newb tanks that have not learned their tricks yet. I really suspect the pet isnt pushing all his buttons :p , but you could also take a dot or 2 out of your melody.
  18. smash Augur

    Considered this with pet:
    https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq/index.php?threads/bst-pet-taunt-broken.272076/#post-3988982

    Now it seems every pet owner apparently they cannot keep aggro, Never heard about magicians having problems prior to this post.

    beastlords I can unstand with the neg 10500....

    For the record I got beast with max focus, magician with max focus, bard and such. I dont have problems with my magician pet.

    With beastlord, I have to use the level 107 proc and protection, I seems to have problems when I use Dots as DD during a burn.
  19. ptah Augur

    OP support your Air or water pet more.
    Supportive songs to merc heals, AC, slow, 12k rune etc.

    Dps difference with pet vs maybe 1 less dot prob leads to even dps result without agro issues.

    Insult damage is still solid in COV 135k per target per proc is great.

    Really a turd pet thing, Air and water should be fine. Maybe think of conflag armor for jesse james cicelee super pet.
  20. ptah Augur

    Forgot add I dou mage/bard. My bard in raid geared and not in Hdex fanboy club atm.