Troubador Methodology and Spell Progression

Table of Contents:

Chapter 3 - Songs, Spells, and Abilities (Spell List)

Chapter 4 - Methods and Techniques

Chapter 5 - Weapons Configurations (1H vs. DW)

Chapter 6 - Where to Hunt (Solo)

8.0 – Methods and Techniques

Starting Out

First, know your environs. Have an escape route ready (roads (good), zone-walls (better), and zone-outs (best)). Be especially careful when fighting waterbourne mobs (they can usually swim faster than you can, sometimes even while sprinting!) and mobs near lava, cliffs, etc. Don't be afraid to run, either. I use the 50/50 rule of thumb: if the mob's health isnt reduced to half before mine is, its time to seriously consider making a break for it. There's no shame.

We should begin with buffs, since you'll want to do this before battle. As you can see from the huge long list, Troubadors do buffing at least as well as any other class in the game.

Bows & Poisons [Thanks to Clawtia & Jimbob of Oggok for input via the TTH forums for this section!]

If you have money to invest in good player-crafted poisons, they're well worth your while. Use a poison by placing it in your activatable slot and "using" it, and note that since you have two activatable slots you can use a noxious debuff poison as well (they'll stack). Stop in Enchanted Lands to buy your arrows; you should be using the best arrows you can afford at all times (none of that tin arrow stuff past level 30 or so!).

Ideally you ought to have 2 bows. One, a heavy, hard-hitting bow for your initial shot. Use a spell (like the (30.6) Deafening Missile) on the initial shot for fire two arrows at once and deal extra damage (plus a stifle) and immediately fire a third arrow with your heavy bow. Programming a macro (see our macroing guide) assists with this. You should also have a faster short bow for when the mob closes, you can program a hotbutton or add it to your previous macro to make the switch for you. If you follow this procedure, some mobs will be dead on arrival, and tougher enemies should be at half health or less.

Kiting the mob is easy because of pathfinding; it allows you to outrun most mobs in a circular or oblong path simply if you have the space. Hit the mob with a snare spell if he starts to close, then run back a good bit and tag him with your heavy bow combo.

Meleeing

Troubadors can also serve up some powerful debuffs. Don't neglect to reduce your targets stats, and pay special attention to using the "Discante" line on hard-hitting melee mobs. The "Anthem" line works especially well on enemy healers, and is one of the few WIS debuffs in the game.

Debuffs

Debuff combos serve to reduce stats plus a little something to sweeten the deal, like snare or a health to power tap. Make as much use of these as you can; the snare effect can be key to escaping an enounter gone bad. You might be able to use these spells effectively during a Heroic Opportunity as well.

HOs

Next come the HO's, fire these off one after another in conjunction with your DD spells and scout abilities to do the most damage possible most efficiently. Remember, it's all about taking the mob down fast.

Pet Charm

Fafhrd of Najena has the following to say on using the pet charm effectively:

I pull with Sybil's Shuddering Sonnet which reduces the mobs mental
resists and snares them.  I then stun the mob using Cheap Shot (this is
a level 6 ability, and I can't remember if I get an upgrade or not) and
charm using my adept 3 Bria's Entrancing Sonnet (my jeweler "discovered"
this spell on Najena lol).  If the mob is in a group, I back away a
little and assist my "pet" which if it's a tank will get agro.  Having
my pet targeted makes it easier to recharm (or kill if it's low on
health) when it breaks.  If the mob is not grouped, I immediately pull
something else and try to kill it before charm breaks.  When charm
breaks, I redo snare/debuff, stun and charm (or kill the mob if it's
sufficiently damaged).

Currently, Bria's will charm anything up to ^^ heroic (even grey ^^^
heroic are too powerful), but I have seen a level 58 bard with a ^^^ pet
in SS using the adept 1 version of the 3 minute, level 58 charm.  I have
once charmed a ^^ heroic yellow con mob in Harclaves, and with the adept
3 charm and adept 1 debuff, the charm lasts full duration.  That
duration (2 mins, 30 seconds) was not long enough to take down a full
group of heroic yellow mobs though.

In Groups...

Grouping involves the above plus an two added considerations, switching HOs and avoiding hate. If your masterful about HOs and have a cooperative group, you can together pull off some amazing damage and grant some incredible buffs during longer battles. However, if the battles are short or the group is unwilling, you're better off crowding as many buffs, debuffs, and abilities into the fight.

You can help your enchanter, or work as a sub-enchanter, by learning to use your hate reduction spells. The "Serenade" line is especially cool, it allows you to keep mages and back line healers relatively aggro-free. Be sure to let meleeing healers, like "tanking" templars and inquisitors, know how this spell can benefit them if they step back from the fight- but only if they seem to be getting a lot of hate. Otherwise, they might just tell you to mind the music and leave 'em alone :)

Group Buffs

Single Target Buffs

Self Buffs

Debuffs

Attacks

Special

8.1 - Your U.I. Setup

Here’s a couple things I do, but figure out what’s comfortable for you. You’ll be amazed how much frustration is saved by taking a few moments to plan out your interface. Use at least two chat windows or tabs, one for combat and reward text and the other for chat. You can filter the messages you’re receiving by right clicking and choosing “Chat Options.” I put all player text, wornoff spell, and reward messages in one, and all other text in the other.

I would shy away from putting /yell or “Call for Help” in any hotbar, especially not in the primary one (primary uses keys 1-9). In a panic, stop melee, turn and hit numlock to autorun, then its easy to type /yell to break the encounter. Calling for help in a legitimate fight (especially on a quest mob) is a good way to build aggro on the part of your groupmates!

I use one hotbar for each type of ability. 

• Primary- Combat abilities, useful because each ability corresponds to "1"
  through"=" keys.  As spells go obsolete, replace them with
  spells of a similar type to keep a rhythm.
• Secondary - Self-buffs and group buffs, with the longer-duration /
  non-combat ones off to the right side.
• Tertiary - Useful spells which are not used that often, e.g. Call of the
  Overlord.

Check out target="_new">eq2interface.com for some nice ways to customize your
interface.  The Thor UI mod is a current favorite of mine- any mod
which grants mini-hotbar buttons is a must, especially if you're playing on a
lower resolution.

Table of Contents:

Chapter 3 - Songs, Spells, and Abilities (Spell List)

Chapter 4 - Methods and Techniques

Chapter 5 - Weapons Configurations (1H vs. DW)

Chapter 6 - Where to Hunt (Solo)