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Message: <blockquote data-quote="mneme" data-source="post: 5558863" data-attributes="member: 59248">Most of the better bards I've seen use implement powers (there's a lot of goodness there), but any bard can do that, as above.The big differences between the bard styles are their kickers and at wills.  Cunning bards hand out mad numbers of slides, but you do need to remember to give them out.  (otoh, with the right feats, you can be sliding opponents, too).  Precient bards can operate at a longer range than other bards and can cancel attacks, but need Wisdom (which means their defenses are below average; doubling up on Cha/Wis will do that).  And Valorous bards hand out great temp hps, particularly to a strikerish party, but do tend to need to get in close.The other obvious differentiator is at-wills -- melee has War Song Strike (temp hp piniata) and the excellent Guiding Strike (-2 to a defense of your choice); Precient has Jinx Shot (which works well if you can make enemies miss), and any bard can take the implement powers; Staggering Note can be good, although two attack rolls is a bear; Misdirected Mark is best paired with a defender without differentiated marks (so the fighter marks whoever he can mark; you mark another enemy on behalf of the fighter); and Vicious Mockery is a good debuff.What really sets bards apart, IMEX, is their dailies.  They've got a lot of crazy effects they can put out there.  Also, they can be -very- good at setting up crit-optimized allies for going off, between things like Arrow of Ill Omen and the -encounter- effect Focused Sound (which is certainly effective at focusing your allies, as they are drawn like moths to the flame of a *4 crit range).</blockquote>

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