Ballad

From FFXIclopedia, the free Final Fantasy XI encyclopedia

Ballad is a type of Enhancing Song used by Bards. It bestows an effect similar to Refresh for party members within range, restoring a small amount of MP every tick for as long as the effect lasts.

Three songs give this effect, but only two are currently usable by players. Different tiers can be combined. They may also coexist with the Refresh status effect.

Notes

• All Ballad songs initially restore the number of their tier in MP for each tick. Unlike Paeon, the potency does not increase naturally at certain Bard levels.

• The potency of Ballad has been purposely made difficult to enhance, due to its potential power. Only one instrument is capable of enhancing it in any area in the game (any area where level 75 players are permitted, that is), which is the final stage relic horn, Gjallarhorn. The relic has very high popularity primarily due to this one family of songs, and is capable of more than doubling the 3 MP/tick Refresh effect provided by combined Ballad I and II, bringing it up to a whopping 7 MP/tick (adding +2/tick on each Ballad). With Soul Voice active, that number can be doubled to an incredible 14 MP/tick. The other item that can increase the effect of Ballad is the Storm Fife. Storm Fife is obtained by using 15,000AP from Ilrusi Atoll and is active when in Assault and Salvage giving +1 to Ballad. Giving Ballad I 2MP/tick and Ballad II 3mp/tick for a total of 5mp/tick and with Soul Voice is doubled to 10mp/tick.

• Monsters can cast Ballads, but this typically has little to no effect for them due to their greatly increased maximum MP pools compared to the ones players have. Except in isolated, prolonged instances, it is very rare that monsters run out of MP in standard party play.

Songs are learned by Bards only, at the following levels:

25: Mage's Ballad

55: Mage's Ballad II

Each +1 to Ballad on an instrument increases the number of MP recovered per tick by 1.

Instruments that Enhance this Song

Name	Lvl	Effects
Storm Fife	50	In Assault: Ballad +1
Millennium Horn	75	In Dynamis: CHR +3, All Songs +2
Gjallarhorn	75	CHR +4, All Songs +2, Singing Skill +10, Wind Instrument Skill +10