Bard Splitting

Played Bard to 77 (second time around, the first was from 2000 and deleted him at 71 many years ago) and then pushed upgrade to heroic, which means I'm learning a lot of new stuff, or at least trying to. Currently 86 and practicing in DH HAs while stockpiling Marks of Valor. So, some questions coming.

1. I typically use silence to pacify and pull, sometimes fading when two arrive. It's a fairly safe method of pulling, but takes some time. Should I be using just fading memories or something else to pull?

2. Why do all three spires depress when I hit First Spire key?

3. In OB dailies, I've been using our level 51 snare song to stop the mobs from running. Is it more advantageous to just use requiem of time to slow them and hope finishing blow ends it? So far, I have not used RoT (maybe mobs not hitting hard enough yet?).

4. How do I lessen probability of being stunned? Is it basically AC (augs) and dodge or some other combinations? I'm dual wielding, but should I be using a shield?

I do enjoy playing the bard and /melody has definitely saved my wrists (I remember using fingers for fights that lasted a very long time . . . back in the day).

Thanks for the help.

They all share the same timer. Your also being forced to make a choice what spire to use in the situation.

OK, going to answer my own question on further reflection. There is an excellent article on this point: http://samanna.net/wiki/index.php/Pulling_Guide

Maestro's Concentration is your stun resist AA, you combine that with stun resists on augs

Ive mostly been mezing the mob I don't want and fading after they're far enough away that I can tag them single. Most mobs seem to be set up now a days that this might get you 1 extra mob, which you can either just deal with or if you're hig enough for sonic displacement, just punt the add away.

Also worth mentioning that los is checked when you start to cast, so you can start and run away, although you need to make sure you're still in range since tghats checked on completion as well.

I'd do RoT first as it lasts ~1 min and then Largo's if it stacks or Dirge of Metala if it doesn't.. just my opinion though.

Only skimmed it, but it looks like that link covers the important stuff.

My personal recommendation:

With the way missions are set up these days, I usually just look at pulling as turning each group of mobs I come across into a CC situation and then focus on providing adps support to the group to kill them as fast as possible. Keep in mind though that this approach isn't always the best for slower paced groups.

Most of the time, I'd say don't bother with lull (I rarely load it any more). I'd recommend just using your mez songs (single and AE) and set mobs up for your group to move from one target to the next. Saves time on your part too. Get rank 2+ mez songs for better resist adjusts. After reading that link, you should be able to understand how to take advantage of assist aggro... you can often just mez one and deal with the one or two mobs that assisted. You can use A Tune Stuck in Your Head (AA) to keep a group of 6 mezzed with an AE mez. Dirge of the Sleepwalker (AA) can also be useful as an emergency mez (it has a very nice resist adjust)... or to mez another when already dealing with 6+ so that you can focus on providing beneficial songs/AAs for the group. And if you ever feel daring (or once you get better gear), you can often just run into a group of mobs and hit them with an AE mez and begin killing.

I'd also recommend setting up a keyboard key to swap between last two targets if you haven't already (through Options -> Keys -> Target). Helps tremendously.

The website for this link is no longer available. Since the information was considered valuable, I made the contents of this "Pulling Guide" available at http://everquest.wikia.com/wiki/Pulling_Guide

For fast splitting I use Silent Displacement aa quite a bit. It kicks one back and fades it, so the other one or two come.