Bard (Final Fantasy XIV)

The Archer is a Disciple of War in Final Fantasy XIV. The class can be upgraded to the Bard with the Soul Crystal obtained by completing the quest A Song of Bards and Bowmen that becomes available when the Adventurer reaches Archer level 30 and Pugilist level 15; the quest is given by Luciane after clearing The One that Got Away.

Archer
Archers wield a bow and, while not possessing as much damage dealing potential as other DPS classes, Archers have the advantage of range. While their HP and defense is rather low compared to other disciplines, Archers possess a unique trait of still being able to attack while running away from aggressive enemies, a technique known in the MMORPG community as kiting.

Archers do not possess any combo actions, but they do possess abilities that deal damage, allowing them to let loose an extra attack whilst waiting for the weaponskill recast timer to expire. Archers also have access to Area-of-effect attacks early on in their development and are able to inflict several different status effects on their enemies.

Bard


Bards have access to several support abilities with a reduction on his/her damage dealing potential, but only allow the use of Pugilist and Lancer cross class skills. Bards can only keep one song up at a time, but multiple bards can use multiple songs on the party. Songs slowly drain MP for their duration.

Equipment
The Archer class is defined by wielding bows. Unlike in version 1.0, arrows are no longer equipped.

In terms of late game armor and accessories, Archers and Bards wear "Aiming" gear sets, which tend to be more flamboyant than other DPS classes. While the armor are exclusive to this class, the Aiming accessories are shared with Rogues and Ninjas.

Actions
Note: Weaponskills that have multiple class affinity will have their range reduced to 3 yalms when used in classes other than archer. Conversely, most weaponskills learned from other classes will have a range of 25 yalms when employed as an archer.

Cross-class
Bards can cross-class Pugilist and Lancer abilities.
 * Featherfoot
 * Second Wind
 * Haymaker
 * Internal Release
 * Mantra
 * Feint
 * Keen Flurry
 * Invigorate
 * Blood for Blood

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game
Bard and Archer appear in Final Fantasy Trading Card Game. Bard has an Ice-elemental card and Archer a Wind-elemental.