Instruments & Bard Skills¶
How instruments work and how Peacemaking, Provocation and Discordance are calculated.
Note
The Battle Lute counts as an instrument while you wield it. Bard masteries and Spellsongs are on the Spellsongs page.
Playing an instrument¶
You use the instrument you last played. A wielded Battle Lute is always used first.
Musicianship effectiveness¶
Every bard skill first checks your Musicianship effectiveness:
effectiveness = Musicianship + (Peacemaking + Provocation + Discordance) / 3 (max 120)
Your chance to play well is effectiveness / 100. If you play badly, the bard skill fails and the instrument loses a use.
Range¶
range = 8 + skill / 15 tiles
At 120 skill that's 16 tiles.
Uses¶
Each attempt, success or failure, uses one charge. Exceptional instruments have twice the uses.
Difficulty¶
Every creature has a bard difficulty based on its tier:
| Creature tier | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| New | 60 |
| Easy | 80 |
| Medium | 100 |
| Hard | 120 |
| Elite | 130 |
| Legendary / Abomination | 145 |
| Mini-boss and Expeditions | 150 |
| Dungeon boss and above | 160 |
What lowers difficulty¶
| Source | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Exceptional instrument | −5 |
| Wood: Oak −2.5, Ash −5, Yew −6, Heartwood −7.5, Bloodwood −8, Frostwood −8.5 | |
| Slayer instrument against the matching type | −10 |
| Musicianship effectiveness above 100 | −0.5 per point |
| Each extra bard skill at 60+ (beyond the first) | −10 |
| Each spellsong charge you're carrying | −2 |
| Injured target | up to −10 (1 per 10% HP missing) |
| Perfectionism | −25 |
| Lyrical mastery | −0.25 per level |
| Effective Barding runes (PvM) | −1 per point, max −50 |
Each skill also has its own built-in adjustment (see below).
Success chance¶
chance = (skill − difficulty + 25) / 50
You see your approximate chance every time you try.
Example: 120 Peacemaking against a Hard monster (120), exceptional instrument, all three bard skills at 60+: difficulty = 120 − 5 − 10 (peace bonus) − 20 (two extra skills) = 85, so chance = (120 − 85 + 25) / 50 = 100%.
Slayer instruments
Runic carpentry tools have a 25% + 0.1% per Carpentry point chance to give an instrument a random slayer.
Cooldowns¶
After any bard action, all bard skills are locked for 1.5 seconds. Then each skill has its own cooldown:
| Result | Cooldown |
|---|---|
| Failure | 2 s |
| Success (single target) | 10 s |
| Peacemaking area | 8 s |
| Provocation self-taunt | 7.5 s |
Lyrical mastery shortens cooldowns by 0.033 s per level (minimum 3 s on success, 1 s on failure).
Peacemaking¶
Single target¶
- Difficulty: creature difficulty −10.
- Duration: 100 − difficulty / 1.5 seconds, between 10 and 20 s.
- Legendary and stronger monsters are calmed for 10 s and then immune for 25 s.
- Pets (PvP): 1 s per 10 Peacemaking, max 12 s.
- Players: clears their target and interrupts their spell.
Breaking peace: each time a calmed monster is hit, it has a 1% chance per attacker, +1% per hit so far, to break free.
Area (target yourself)¶
- Calms up to 1 monster per 10 Peacemaking, closest first.
- Only stops their attack. It doesn't hold them like a targeted peace.
- Doesn't affect players or pets.
Provocation¶
Monster vs monster¶
- Difficulty: average of both creatures' difficulty −5, +15 for each one that is Legendary or stronger.
- You can't provoke creatures with more HP than the Legendary tier, or pets.
- Both creatures must be within your bard range of each other.
- A provoked monster has a 5% chance per hit taken to get confused and stop.
- Provoked monsters deal +25% damage to the monster they were sent at.
Taunt (target yourself)¶
- Up to 1 monster per 20 Provocation in range and line of sight is taunted onto you.
- Taunted monsters deal 15% less damage to you for 15 s.
Discordance¶
Single target¶
- Difficulty: creature difficulty −10.
- Can't be used on pets.
Effect strength:
effect = (Discordance + Musicianship effectiveness) / 240 × 17.5% (+0.5% per Lyrical level)
At 120/120 the effect is 17.5%. It's 25% weaker against Abomination-tier and stronger monsters.
A discorded monster takes that much more melee damage and deals that much less.
Duration:
| Creature tier | Duration |
|---|---|
| Below Elite | 15 s |
| Elite | 12.5 s |
| Legendary | 10 s |
| Mini-boss and Expeditions | 7.5 s |
| Dungeon boss and above | 5 s |
Barding Duration runes add up to +50% in PvM.
Area (target yourself)¶
- Up to 1 monster per 20 Discordance, closest first.
- Difficulty −10. Durations are halved.
Spellsong charges¶
When your Musicianship effectiveness is 50+, each successful targeted bard skill gives 1 spellsong charge. You have a Musicianship/500 chance to get a second one (+1% per Lyrical level).
- Every charge makes your next bard skill 2 difficulty easier.
- At 6 charges a Spellsong fires. If the target is Mini-boss tier or weaker, that peace or discord lasts twice as long.