Minstrel

Abilities & Specialization
Common specializations

Grouping Specializations Solo Specializations
 * 1) 50 Instruments, 44 Slash/Thrust (no Stealth and thus no Climb Walls)
 * 2) 50 Instruments, 34 Slash/Thrust, 25 Stealth (for Climb Walls)
 * 1) 50 Instruments, 29 Slash/Thrust, 33 Stealth (Most common Stealth spec)
 * 2) 50 Instruments, 44 Slash/Thrust (Common spec for visible solo with pet)
 * 3) 50 Instruments, 34 Slash/Thrust, 25 Stealth (For Climb walls mostly, but can Stealth reasonably well)

PVE
Charm an OJ+ pet, buff it, and farm. :)

RVR
Just a quick run-down of basic Minstrel tactics in RvR.

Groups:
 * Primary role is Speed & Interrupts.
 * Make frequent use of your flute mezz as a 1500 range interrupt while running around looking for the best targets to interrupt. (Support and Caster classes)
 * Use your 4 instants for interrupts wisely.
 * Keep speed running at all times for your own support classes.
 * If your Sorc is mezzed or busy, demezz Sorc/others.
 * Only pull your sword out to interrupt or occasionally to peel with snare style.
 * Unless you're clearly winning a fight, your DDs are not for damage.
 * If you have nothing else to do, Champion Level Disease can be a useful thing to cast on enemies.
 * Use FZ wisely at key moments to disable a primary healer, or as a last ditch effort to peel someone off your own primary healer.

Solo w/pet:
 * See PVE section. :)
 * Stay alive
 * If in danger, kite, kite, kite...

Solo Stealth w/o pet:
 * A classic favorite "from Stealth" attack for a Stealth Minstrel is to start your mezz song on a player within ~1000 range, which takes a fixed 3s to cast. While it's still playing, and before it lands, lay your DDs down on your opponent. Then use champion debuffs to debuff your messed opponent (debuffs don't break mezz!), and break your mezz with champion disease and another set of insta DDs.
 * A modification of the above classic is to cast disease first to prevent Health Mythirians from healing all/most of the damage of the initial set of DDs. On a prepared and aware opponent this carries the risk of maybe not being able to land your mezz, but in most cases it's pretty easy to land all of them from stealth.
 * If your opponent purges your mezz, that leaves them open for the stun. If they don't purge, do NOT use your stun right away. Most often they're holding Purge for your stun, so if you stun right away then you allow your opponent to also purge the debuffs & disease on them! Make them fight debuffed for a bit, and then use your stun.
 * These are all just suggestions of course, and as anything they carry trade-offs. Some people like to stun first in anticipation of a minute-long fight, so they can stun again after a minute is up. So you can also stun right off the bat and not use mezz, and if they purge stun you can use mezz at any time to stop the fight and heal/debuff/disease. Beware though, many people won't purge a Minstrel's stun when they're at/near full health. They know a petless Minstrel can't deliver much damage in the ~6-7s that stun generally lasts.
 * If you're faced with a tough opponent whom is not purging your stun, you can try making them pay for it with a snare style and kiting them for another round of DDs. (Again works best if they have disease on them to prevent them from regenerating health.)

General Solo tactics:
 * Minstrels usually focus on their survivability more then their melee prowess. We can often outlast our opponents due to our ability to control a fight with CC, as well as our fairly strong ability to soak up melee damage.

Realm Rank 5 Ability - Calming Notes
Insta-cast spell that mesmerizes all enemies within 750 radius for 20 seconds. (Reuse timer 5 minutes.) This recently upgraded ability has become a powerful tool in the Minstrels arsenal.

Usable Artifacts
Weapons


 * Crocodile's Tooth Dagger (Slash or Thrust)


 * Battler (Slash)


 * Golden Spear (Thrust)


 * Malice's Axe (Slash)


 * Traitor's Dagger (Slash or Thrust)

Shields


 * Aten's Shield (Molvik Usable)
 * Cyclop's Eye Shield

Armor

Chest


 * Eirene's Hauberk (Melee Version)


 * Guard of Valor (Melee Version)

Arms


 * Arms of the Winds


 * Foppish Sleeves

Head


 * Crown of Zahur (Caster Version)


 * The Winged Helm

Legs


 * Alvaru's Leggings


 * Wings Dive

Hands


 * Maddening Scalars (Melee Version)

Feet
 * Enyalio's Boots

Jewelry

Belts


 * Belt of Oglidarsh


 * Belt of the Sun

Bracers Cloaks Gems
 * Orion's Belt (Molvik Usable)
 * Band of Stars
 * Ceremonial Bracers
 * Night's Shroud Bracelet
 * Snatcher
 * Harpy's Feather Cloak
 * Shade's of Mist
 * Atlantis Tablet


 * Dream Sphere


 * Eerie Darkness Stone


 * Flask

Necklaces Rings
 * Gem of Lost Memories (Molvik Usable)
 * Goddess' Necklace
 * Phoebus' Harp Necklace


 * Crocodile's Tear Ring


 * Ring of Dances


 * Ring of Unyielding Will (Molvik Usable)


 * Scorpion's Tail Ring

Other Useful Items
Weapons

Jewelry

Mythirian


 * Health
 * Blocking
 * Evading
 * Safe Fall