Forsaken World: Bard Skill Overview, you say? Music to my ears!

The Bard... a Hybrid class without a place in the Forsaken World society to call home... Let's make them a force to be reckoned with and let's start with a guide that will suit any Bard up to level up 40, covering all of Phase 1 and Phase 2 of closed beta.

Check out my other Forsaken World previews and guides.

Now this guide is not going to tell you exactly what talent points you want to put where and how to make your Bard. It is going to show you what talents match up with what skills so that you can reap the benefits of a bit of foresight. All of this information has been gleaned from the in-game skills list plus talent tree and incorporates some information provided by websites based on the Chinese beta version (Translation provided by Google).

This guide is set out in the following way:

"Level the skill is made available:

• Skill name
• Talents that enhance this skill"

PS 1. Due to some inconsistencies and errors in the tooltips for skills and talents I cannot guarantee that this guide is 100% accurate. To the best of my knowledge these are correct and any doubts I have regarding matching a specific talent to a skill will appear in italics.

PS 2. This is particularly useful for those of you who are going to make it into Phase 2. It should put you on par with those ladies and gentlemen who were lucky enough to be drawn into Phase 1.

The Skills:

 Level 1: 

• Chord of Wind - Wind element skill. Deals 100% basic damage with bonus additional damage. Caster gains the musical note "C".
• Cruelty, Wind Melody of Knowledge, Wind Shadow, Sandstorrm
• Chord of Water - Water element skill. Deals certain amount of basic damage with bonus additional damage. Caster gains the musical note "D".
• Chord of Raindrops EX, Ripple Mastery, Ice Spike

Level 2:

• Music: Surge - Passive skill. When caster's musical score contains "CCD", the skill is activated. Increases attack.
• Art of Music, Waving Ripple, Endure

Level 10:

• Tuneless Sound - Deals 100% basic damage with bonus additional damage. Element is randomized each time of casting, it can be either Wind, Water or Light.
• Tuneless Wind, Tuneless Water, Tuneless Light

Level 15:

• Music: Ice Wind - Passive skill. Activated when caster's musical score contains the notes "CDD". This will cause caster to enter "Wind of Ice" status. Caster's Wind and Water element attacks will freeze target to the ground and will be canceled after a short time or dealing 8 strikes to him. After being unfreeze, he will suffer decreased movement.
•  Ice Seal, Art of Music, Endure

Level 20:

• Chord of Light - Light element skill. Deals certain amount of basic damage with bonus additional damage. Caster gains the musical note "E".
• Harmony of Light EX, Shine
• Epic: Solemn - Passive skill. Activated when caster's musical score contains the notes "CCE". Increases party's attack, with the caster gaining bonus attack.
• Infuriation, Gentle Sway

Level 25:

• Divine Story: Nature - Area of Effect skill. Causes enemies in a certain area to fall into "Sleep" status.
• Divine: Music of Light, Divine: Music of Wind

Level 30:

• Sonata of Life - Area of Effect skill. Heals party members' health points.
• Light of Life
• Solo of Wind (requires talent points) - Gain 2 "C" notes.
• Solo of Wind EX
• Sonata of Water (requires talent points) - Buff skill. When attacked, caster has chance to decrease damage of 3 attacks and gaining mana points at the same time. When there are more than 2 "D" notes available, 3 increases to 4.
• Solo of Fluent EX
• Solo of Light (requires talent points)
• Solo of Light EX

Level 35:

• Sacred Song: Symphony - Passive skill. Activated when caster's musical score contains the notes "DDE". Increases party's defense, with the caster gaining bonus defense.
• Divine Shower

Level 40:

• Epic: Song of Wind - Area of Effect skill. Caster and nearby party members gain the blessing of the winds, increases movement speed.
• Wind Manoeuvre, Wind Chant

Skill Descriptions taken from: http://www.mmoculture.com/2010/03/forsaken-world-features-pt-5.html

Talent Information taken from: http://fw.perfectworld.com/talentcalc

Site used for Skill Name comparisons: http://shenmo.wanmei.com/

Other Talents

• Code of Magic - Reduces Mana Point cost of all attack skills by %
• Stare - Reduces the chance of buffs and debuffs being removed
• Halo - Increases the effective radius of all multi-skills by 2 metres
• Blessing of Light - Heals the Bard when an E chord is played
• Lingering Melody - Increases the duration of a D chord
• Acoustic Stretch - Increases the duration of a C chord
• Melody of Wind - Increases Wind Mastery
• Inspired Appearance - Increases Casters Defense and Evasion for every D chord resonating
• Melody Mastery - Increases Water Mastery
• Melody of Light - Increases Light Mastery
• Figure of Archdemon - Upon using a healing skill, the Bard has a chance to enter Figure of Archdemon state which halves cooldowns for all healing skills and halves mana point cost of those skills
• Melody of Healing - Increases the self-healing effects of an E chord

I hope that everyone who reads this guide gleans some piece of useful information from it and I hope that many Bards benefit from this guide.

Comments are most welcome and encouraged. I will update this Guide with theories or additional information as and when information is provided via comments. Appropriate credit will be given to those providing assistance.

Happy hunting and musical tunes by Bard Buddies!!!

Check out my other Forsaken World previews and guides.