As I’ve been dusting off the cob-webs on my minstrel lately I’ve also been hearing (and reading) folks talk about how hard it is to solo as a minstrel, especially in skirmishes.  So I figured I’d write a bit about how I’ve built and set up my minstrel as well as how I play him.  My minstrel is probably my most rounded end-game character I have as I’ve done Helegrod, the Rift (including a few 1st time kills for groups), all the Moria 6-mans, the Watcher, DN (not the whole thing sadly), and it is also my highest ranked character in the Moors having reached rank 5.  I leveled up mostly in the days pre-warspeach and as such am pretty used to chaining ballads and working to maximize their utility.

One of the things about my minstrel is that I do PUG quite a bit and as such I have to be ready for and be able to take a few hits.  So I tend to built more towards a vit/morale heavy build and not the will/power build that pure healing minstrels tend to prefer.  I’m currently running with 4641 morale and 3679 power with an ICPR of 1000, but my un-buffed common mitigation is 28.4%.  Even when I’m raiding, having the extra morale is ALWAYS helpful as there are LOTS of high damage AOEs in the game that can potentially one-shot you if your morale is too low.  Even if you are not 1-shotted, you might be low enough that another hit would finish you off – or if nothing else distract you from healing someone more crucial, like the tank.  Now I certainly will re-trait depending on what I’m doing, but aside from instruments and legendary items, I rarely will swap out equipment.