Rogue Legacy 2: Bard class guide — Weapon, ability, and passive

The Bard is one of the two final classes unlocked in Rogue Legacy 2. It is a classic choice for any D&D player looking to take a supporting role for their team. However Rogue Legacy 2‘s Bard throws away the support lifestyle and retunes its lute into an offensive weapon. This class has some unique quirks that can take some getting used to. Thankfully, we’ve got you covered with this guide on the Bard class’ Weapon, Ability, and Passive in Rogue Legacy 2.

Unlocking the Bard requires your castle to be at level 48. This and the Ronin are the final classes that players can unlock in Rogue Legacy 2. They are also the first classes that can be unlocked after level 42. Assuming you have unlocked the Barbarian, a further two Castle Upgrades are required to access the Bard. These are Screw Distillery and Drill Store. Any extra Castle Upgrades required to reach level 42 should be spent on upgrades that improve Intelligence, as the majority of the Bard’s damage is calculated using the Intelligence stat.

Lute

The Lute is among Rogue Legacy 2‘s most distinctive weapons. While most weapons deal damage with projectiles or a fierce swing, the lute instead enables other attacks. It can shoot out up to three Musical Notes that deal small amounts of damage to any enemies they hit. These notes then stay in place for three seconds. After two seconds, they change into Golden Notes, which always deal critical damage.

On their own, the notes are weak. But when a Spin Kick is used on a placed note, they become lethal. Spin Kicking a note causes it to explode, sending out a soundwave that deals huge amounts of damage. The strategy to get the most out of this is to place down three notes close to one another and then continuously Spin Kick them to deal damage to nearby enemies. The lute isn’t as easy to use as most other weapons, but a successful setup can deal exceptional amounts of damage. The Bard class’ ability to deal huge amounts of burst damage with its Lute makes it fantastic for taking down Rogue Legacy 2‘s bosses.

Crescendo

Keeping with the theme of area of effect damage, the Bard gets access to the Crescendo talent. When used, this emits a huge soundwave that hits all enemies in the same room as you. It also converts any projectiles on-screen into Roses. Roses act exactly the same as the notes produced by the Lute but without the limit of there only being up to three at a time. Once used, Crescendo goes on a 12-second cooldown.

The Crescendo talent is a good example of defense turned into offense. Whenever you approach a room with enemies that fire multiple projectiles, you can use Crescendo to turn those projectiles into Roses. From there you simply Spin Kick them the same way you would with the Lute’s Musical Notes. This makes Crescendo a great talent for both canceling out dangerous incoming projectiles and dealing huge amounts of damage to multiple enemies at once.

Performer

Performer is the passive ability of the Bard in Rogue Legacy 2. It makes it so that any Spin Kick that hits an enemy applies one stack of Dance. Dance is a unique buff to the Bard class that increases all damage dealt by 15% per stack. Stacks are represented by the two feet that show up above your heir. The Dance buff can stack up to five times, but all stacks are immediately lost if you touch the floor.

This ability is the essence of what makes up the Bard class. Both Crescendo and the Lute can create platforms that deal damage when they are Spin Kicked. The Performer passive ability increases all damage dealt while mid-air by up to 75%. So, to get the most out of this combination, you want to Spin Kick an enemy five times to get the maximum damage, and then use your other abilities to create platforms to stay in the air. It isn’t easy by any means to use this combo effectively, but when it is mastered almost nothing in Rogue Legacy 2 can out-damage it.