Instrument Slot Basics
All standard instruments — drums, lutes, horns, and wind instruments — are equipped in the secondary slot, and a primary weapon cannot be equipped with them. Instruments that are primary-equipable allow an item to be equipped in your secondary slot (typically a weapon, usually your epic, and occasionally a shield).
Once you obtain the Singing Short Sword (Bard Epic 1.0), the optimal strategy changes. The epic provides an 80% bonus to all instrument types simultaneously and is held in your offhand. This frees your mainhand for swapping in specific instruments for a higher modifier on the the equipped instrument (but still 80% on all others), or equip a weapon to dual wield. Use Zeal's right-click equip feature for fast mainhand swaps without interrupting your melody.
For a full walkthrough of obtaining the epic, see the Bard Epic 1.0 guide.
Bard Epic — Singing Short Sword
★ Singing Short Sword
Slot: Primary or Secondary · All Instrument Types · 80% modifier
16/26 ratio, Effect: Dance of Blades (Group Haste, Attack, and Strength buff - 2 min duration). The epic acts as an 80% modifier for all instrument types (including singing) at once.
Instrument Progression Information
🎵 Wind Instruments
Wind instruments are generally not important, as most wind songs don't have significant modifiers from the instrument itself.
📋 Table Details
The table below lists some of the easiest to obtain instruments for each modifier tier. There are more instruments available in the game outside of this table. It is strongly recommended to make a journey to Katta Castellum at some point to obtain the combine instruments, as they are cheaper than most instruments available in Bazaar.
Some instruments in the table have N/A listed — this does NOT mean there isn't an instrument available for that modifier tier, it just means it isn't worth listing.
General progression: Early Vendor Instruments → Combine Instruments → BIS Instruments
Exceptions: Lute of the Howler can be obtained as a primary-use instrument until you acquire Lyran's Mystical Lute. For brass however, there is no simple-to-obtain primary-use instrument until Denon's Horn of Disaster (from Plane of Sky — few guilds still run it). With the new bandolier change, it may be worth using an Immaculate Shell Horn for mana drain and McVax.
Instrument Progression Table
| Modifier | Percussion | Stringed | Brass |
|---|---|---|---|
| 80% | Hand Drum | N/A | N/A |
| 100% | Combine Hand Drum | Lute | Horn |
| 120% | N/A | Combine Lute (Sec) Lute of the Howler (Pri) |
Combine Horn |
| 140% | N/A | N/A | Denon's Horn of Disaster |
| 150-160% | Drums of the Beast | Lyran's Mystical Lute | N/A |
Note: Once you have your epic, you will only want Primary instruments. This is why Denon's Horn is listed in 140% instead of Immaculate Shell Horn.