Shattering Stars/Bard

=Bard=
The fight takes place in Qu'Bia Arena. If this is not your first Maat fight, you must walk to the BC; Maat will not teleport you. 
==Obtain==
A Bard's Testimony from one of the following:
* Abyss Sahagin (Level: 72 - 74) (Sea Serpent Grotto) 
* Coastal Sahagin (Level: 62 - 69) (Sea Serpent Grotto) 
* Denn the Orcavoiced (Level: 64 - 65) (Sea Serpent Grotto) 
* Yagudo Conductor (Level: 63 - 67) (Castle Oztroja)
=Guides=
==A Maat Fight Strategy==
Max out your sword level for this as Spirits Within will be your best friend here. Bring along the usual melee stuff, Opo-opo Necklace, Sleeping Potions, Hi-Potions along with def food and a stack of Selbina Milk. When you enter the arena, watch Maat and see what he's buffing himself with. Eat your food, sleep yourself to 100% Tp and then use your Icarus Wing which should bring you up to 200% (yeah, little different set up this time). Now, drink your Selbina Milk. This is your "finale blocker." If Maat finales you, it will remove the milk effect instead of your songs. Drink another milk if Maat finales you. Use Soul Voice along with your best songs. Now, use finale on Maat if he has any potentially threatening buffs on (that's why I said to watch what he does when you enter.) and debuff him. Now, hit him with Spirits Within for a strong early hit. Now it's just a matter of fighting him, using WS as they come up. Finale any buffs Maat puts up and drink milk if he finales you.
==Hi-Potions are the Key to Success!==
Hi-Potions are the number 1 most important thing you can bring to this fight as BRD. A 300 TP Spirits Within from a Hume with 100% HP will deal around 450 damage (25%) to Maat, but because of the amount of time it takes to sleep 300% TP, an Icarus Wing and 8 Sleeping Potions are the only way to achieve this, and Icarus Wings leave you medicated and unable to use Hi-Potions. Instead, go the route of 4-8 Sleeping Potions for 100-200 TP, which should deal 10-20% damage on Maat. 
Some suggest that entering the BCNM clothed will give Maat the same +stats that your armor gives you. If you buy this bit of rumor, and decide to enter naked, as soon as you zone in and move up close enough to see Maat, equip Opo-Opo Necklace and use your first sleep potion. While sleeping TP, equip the rest of your gear and be sure to watch Maat, so that you know which songs he has up when you begin to fight, and can decide whether to Finale or not.
Put on all of your gear and eat your food (Tavnazian Taco suggested) before you use all of your sleep potions, this way you can put Paeon V up and heal any +HP you received from your gear while also sleeping TP, therefore saving you time from resting. Be sure to put your real neck piece back on after you're done sleeping TP.
Once you're ready to begin, use a Selbina Milk, Soul Voice double Paeon, engage, Elegy Maat to pull him and then Requiem V him immediately. In my opinion, Elegy is the only way to pull Maat, because he hits like a truck and this fight is all about staying alive long enough to see him die. Also, some recommend Minne x2, however Minne x2 only reduced the damage for me by about 30 per hit. With Soul Voice Elegy on, you will get 2-3 ticks of healing in for every one of his swings, which is about 60-90 HP, depending on your String skill, Singing skill, and which instrument you're using. Time your Hi-Potions just after he swings, to avoid having them interrupted. TP when you have 100%, Fast Blade did ~5% for me (elemental WS can be resisted, so stay away from those here, and Spirits Within is useless unless you have near full HP). Make sure to keep Elegy and Requiem up (Requiem deals the majority of the damage for this fight), and be sure to Finale him when necessary. Also, don't forget about keeping your Paeons up. It can be easy to forget about re-singing your songs under this stress, but doing so can quickly turn the tides of this fight in Maat's favor.
Suggestions for this fight include: Selbina Milk x12 (prevents his Finale from taking your important buffs), Tavnazian Taco, Hi-Potion x10+, +Def/-Dmg%taken gear over +Eva gear. A sword skill of 175 is a must for Spirits Within, but capped Sword is recommended if possible (with 176 skill and a Scorpion Harness, I missed fairly often). Lastly, a RR Earring also isn't a bad idea, as one would suppose if you died and RR'd out of aggro range, you might be able to just watch him die from Requiem. I haven't tested this, or heard anything about it either way, but it couldn't hurt to try.
==Easy Maat as 66BRD Tarutaru 0 Elixirs, 0 Icarus Wing==
Capped Sword skill is ideal because this strategy doesn't rely on accuracy bonuses from spells or food. Stack as much HP, Defense, Attack, and Accuracy as you can. This strategy worked with nothing more than a Tavnazian taco, 6 Hi-Potion +2, and a couple drinks to serve as buffers for his Finale.
Take more high potions, especially if you don't have capped skills such as evasion, and sword (which will make the first last longer). I'd suggest a dozen unless you have a lot of faith in your gear. There's no good model for gear so I'll just type out what I wore. The hands and feet are Tarutaru only, so if you are another race, consider some sort of equivelent.
Equipment: Spark Rapier +1, Scorpion Harness +1, Creek F Clomps, Creek F Mitts, Peacock Charm, Diabolos Earring, Heim's Earring, Rajas Ring, Unyielding Ring, Potent Belt, Behemoth Mantle +1, Empress Hairpin, Horn +1, Akinji Salvars.
You'll eat a Tavnazian taco, and sleep 100% TP with the opo-opo necklace. Don't bother with 200%, that's 4 minutes of sleeping, and the fight will took me 8 minutes and 34 seconds with only sleeping 100%. 200% TP would have been a loss because it takes 2 minutes to sleep each 100% and that would have put my prep time at 4 minutes and the entire battle at 10 minutes and 34 seconds (which is impossible because it has a 10 minute restriction). Use a Blink Band, Stoneskin Torque, Reraise Hairpin, and your pear drink which can help block his Finale. The stoneskin and blink ensures you get your Spirits Within off with 100% HP.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: Don't use your typical Bard macros, because you don't want to be equipping staves or changing instruments as this will reset your TP to 0. Make seperate macros for Minne4, Minne3, Elegy, Requiem, and Finale. Consider a macro that feeds you hi-potions as well.
:*Quick update, Switching Instruments will not reset your TP.
Start the fight off with Soul Voice, double Minne, and pull him with Elegy followed by Foe Requiem V. When he's in range, hit him immediately with Spirit's Within and begin meleeing him. Don't worry about Finale unless he uses Paeon, Minuet, or Minne. If your gear is decent his critical hits will do a mere 50ish damage to you and his regular attacks are around the 20s and some cases in the teens. Keep Minne up at all times, and use hi-potions whenever you hit yellow. Try to time your hi-potion usage to follow a melee swing. Keep your HP up and use Fast Blade at every 100% TP. I'd suggest not using the ones that inflict elemental damage because it can be resisted, and Spirits Within without full HP is going to be complete garbage. If your HP is full, feel free to use it because it can't miss. You'll hit Maat pretty hard with a decent weapon with criticals around 70, and the delay of sword isn't too bad. Don't forget to put Elegy back on him if it wears off. Howling Fist and Combo can do about 150-200 points of damage and Asuran fists can do about 350, so be prepared. The fight will only last long enough for him to WS you twice, unless you came in underskilled, so it is possible for him to get off a third WS.
He gives up at about 20%. Congratulations on an easy win. I think I could have went AFK for a drink while he made sub par attempts to damage my Tarutaru.
==Maat Fight, Tarutaru Bard level 70 w/Joytoy==
After reading this wiki, I decided I wanted to try something different. As many players who attempt Monk Maat fight know very well, a Kraken Club is suicide. But what about a Joytoy? I decided to wait for BRD70 before doing this Maat fight so I could find out. These are my findings.
My notable equipment was Joyeuse, an elegant shield (which I don't recommend anyone brings. useless because Bard has no shield skill. DEF & CHR shouldn't be an issue at level 70), an Optical hat, a Scorpion Harness, Amemet Mantle +1, Potent Belt, Unyielding and Garrulous rings, Minuet/Cassie earring and Velocity earring. Minuet earring isn't going to help much unless you actually use Minuet, which I didn't. I also brought a Chivalrous Torque. The rest of my equipment was artifact gear (hands, legs & feet). Note, none of this gear was actually needed. Substitute in more Hi-Potions if you are lacking in good gear. As always, a capped sword skill is recommended for maximum effect of Joyeuse. 
Recommended Macros for Hi-Potions, Selbina Milk, Elegy, Requiem, Finale, Soul Voice, and whichever two songs you plan on using. Paeon x2 seems like a surefire win.
Strategy: enter fight, go for record. This ain't my first rodeo. Took Elvaan 75's advice (near the bottom of these testimonials) and brought Carbonara food, mostly for Store TP and because I happened to have one on me. Decided to bring extra Hi-Potion +3 (no +2 in stock) to make up for the lack of defense food. Also decided on Paeon x2 instead of Minne, due to the fact that Minne won't help much vs. Maat's DoT, but possibly cut some damage off from his WS (same applies for food. I geared for a fast kill, knowing that Maat would mess me up if I took it slow with a Joyeuse). Because I have experience with the Joyeuse, and because my sword skill was capped, I decided I didn't really need Icarus wings, or sleeping potions. I didn't bother bringing my Opo-opo necklace either. I did however bring Reraise earrings and Blink band, which I used two Blink charges throughout the fight. I was hesitant when I first took Optical hat off to use the second blink charge, but I saw how often he was casting spells that I figured I wouldn't be hurt much. I immediately reequipped O hat afterward.
As you can see, I had plenty of accuracy and attack bonuses, as well as evasion and some Store TP. I had it in for Maat from the start. Sadly, the fight went so fast that Maat and I only got to WS one time. I used 3 Hi-potions to keep my Taru HP up, and had to use 2 Selbina Milks. He spammed Requiem and Finale on me, and I did the same right back to him, the entire fight. Toward the end, I also decided to Requiem one last time in case I died and my Requiem wore off, I thought possibly I could take him out too after I reraised. Easy and quick fight. Soul Voice was still active after I completed the BCNM.
Notes: Double attack activated 9 times during the fight. DD-geared Taru hit Maat for between 38 and 56 damage, with criticals of around 80. Maat normally hit between 70 and 112, with zero criticals on me. Combo did 358. Blink band helped a lot, and could possibly absorb Maat's WS damage, if the band is never removed and used often. If you have one, it definitely cuts down on the use of medicine during this fight.
My personal suggestions to players who do not have merits but would like to try this, bring more than the three Hi-Potions I needed. Bring like 4 or 5. I would recommend bringing at least 8 if you decide not to use a blink band. Also, if you feel your equipment isn't as solid as mine, I would stick to tavnazian tacos for the defense bonus instead of carbonara. Because I knew I had very little to worry about, being 4 and 0 on Maat Mashing, I decided I would gear more toward a fast kill. Joyeuse isn't recommended for below-average players because it does feed Maat a ton of TP. The only time my HP dropped to yellow was during Maat's WS. Also, even though I came over-prepared for the fight, I was not being very liberal with my Hi-Potions and left the BCNM with a ton of meds remaining. I honestly think with the use of a blink band, a Bard of my caliber or better can beat Maat at level 70 with no medicine. 
--Overgryph 12:14, 16 August 2009 (UTC)
==Maat WIN without Opo-Opo and Sword. Easy==
Easy win with a Staff (No,that is not a typo). Let's start with my char's gear so you can see how "Non-pimp" I had to be to do this with relative ease. 
EQUIPMENT: Lvl.70 Elv BRD w/ Earth Staff, Iron Ram Horn (Instr is your choice), Crow Berret, Chiv.Chain, Melody Earring x2, Scorp.Harness, AF Hands, Woodsman Ring, Venrer Ring, Jesters Cape+1, Gleemans Belt, AF Pants, and AF boots. 
NOTE: The Body, Necklace, and both Rings were borrowed from a friend. Staff Skill at 200 for Full Swing. Items: Hi-Potion+3 x9, Selbina milk x12, Tavnazian taco x1, and an Icarus Wing.
Let's begin. Enter BC and run up till you can see Maat. Eat your Taco and drink a Selbina Milk(this is your Finale buffer), then pop your 2hr "Soul Voice". Cast Peaon V & IV then hit Maat with Carnage Elegy and Foe Requim VI. Finale anything you deem potentially dangerous such as Minuet or Mambo etc.
NOTE: With the Taco and Earth Staff Maat hit for 50-70 Dmg. Elegy Slows his DoT rate down quite well especially with the Earth Staff bonus.
Now here's the fun part BARD SELF-SKILLCHAIN!!! Once you build 100% Tp use "Full Swing" and imediatly use the Icarus Wing and do Full Swing again which will create "Fusion".(NOTE: The Skillchain step isn't needed but Fusion does a lil extra dmg and it's good for a frap vid). 
Continue the fight as normal using potion at own discretion but keep Hp in the Yellow as best as possibly cause he should be using Weapon Skill soon (Hit me for 272 from "Dragon Kick"). Once that's done he wont have enough time to WS again so just use potions and WS's till he is defeated. Easy Win 6min 17sec was my record and total cost for items was 24k.
Hope this helps some people out and shows that Sword is over rated for this fight and so is the Opo-Opo Necklace. 
==Maat Win with dagger/shield (set record)==
Okay, well, hard to say much about this strategy, but I beat the record with it. 7 Mins 18Seconds to my 5 Minutes 8Seconds.
Anyways, my equip is as follows, Behemoth Knife, Elegant Shield, Nobles Ribbon, Chiv Chain, Two Melody Earrings, Scrop Harness, Jaridah hands, 2x woodsman, amement+1, potent belt, af pants/feet. Yeah, I used most of my thief gear and sam.
I did not beat this the first time because I did not know what to expect, was my first Maat fight afterall. I was doing fine and got him down about 20% till he did Howling Fist and killed me at about 600hp, so my fault for getting that low. I learned and found out it was easier than I was making it out to be.
Second time around.....I had about 13-16 potions (1k/2k each -totally easy to buy). I went in with both mambos using the +, my evasion is capped and so is my dagger. Yes, I used a dagger. I used a shield as well and cyclone WS (which did 86 damage, first fight it did 135). I did not have -any- Icarus Wings, I actually went in with these medicine effect still on from the last Maat fight.
He hit me for around 70-90 when he did and I used a potion basically every time he hit me to stay on top in case he one shot WS me again. I did not go in with soul voice, rather, I waited till he did his then did Paeon (with instrument) on myself and it helped a ton. My damage was roughly 26-43 average and pretty constant, hardly ever missing.
Also, he used combo this time and it did 280 damage, which was a pretty big deal as I read he did more than one WS at times, so thats when I went all out on potions. One thing you have to remember is to keep ReqVI up, Elegy, and debuffing him. Before you know it, you will be done! Congrats.
Oh, when you first go in after casting two songs on yourself/food, do finale to provoke him. Then do Carnage. One more thing, use those potions like your life depended on it, the delay between using them and doing it again is nothing, use them they are cheap.
==Easy Maat Win, Nothing Fancy==
This is a pretty straight forward strategy on how to defeat Maat without anything fancy. It has worked for multiple people and is worth posting. You can, but don't need to sleep yourself to 100%tp. You should take at least a couple hi-potions just in case (especially if going to fight Maat at lvl 66 or 67). It is also helpful to have a Carapace body piece. Blink Band, Stoneskin items also help, but are not needed.
Basically upon entering the fight, you run until Maat is in view. Soul Voice, double Paeon, Requiem Maat, then Elegy him. If you've got decent defense and a decent attack, go ahead and melee him WSing whenever you can. If you're short on funds, simply kite him, resinging Requiem before Soul Voice wears off. Soul Voice + Requiem, if put on him soon after entering the fight, will pretty much kill him without any help. Just be sure to dispel any Paeons he might put on himself as well as pop a hi-pot to stay in the white HP range. When I did this strategy and used a sword, I beat him in about 5 minutes with full hp, using only one hi-potion to max my Spirits Within.
==Elvaan Maat Win==
Equips: Wing Sword, wrestler's aspis, Optical Hat(Blink Band), Scorpion Harness, Chivy chain (Opo-opo neck),Royal Knights Belt +2, Unyielding Ring, Phalanx Ring, Drone Earring x2, AF hands, AF pants, Amemet Mantle +1, Siren Flute
Food: Tavnazian Taco
Strat: Sleep with opo neck to 100% TP, Use Blink band, Drink Selbina milk, Soul Voice, Knights Minne IV, Valor Minuet IV, pull Maat with Carnage elegy follow up with foe requiem VI. Finale Maat if needed, spirits within as soon as he is within range, pop icky wing, and another spirits within, use hi-potion when needed, then just melee him, recast minuet and minne on yourself as well as elegy and requiem on maat before soulvoice wears off. Very easy fight, took less than 5 minutes, only used about 3 hi-potions +3 and finished with 900+ HP.
/Zanno Carbuncle
==Elvaan 75 Win==
Disclaimer: This strategy isn't for the 'new BRD'. It's mainly a strategy for those who are after Maat's Cap and already have some more advanced gear and skills. If you're doing this fight for G5 then this guide isn't for you. If you're after Maat's Cap then this is for you since you're going to have most of these items and skills/ws.
Despite many people's superstition, I went in wearing full gear. I have a lot of HP+ gear and didn't feel like wasting time to regen HP that would cause me to recast mid fight and get hit more.
Equip: Weapon= Jambiya; Sheild= Elegant shield; Instrument= Iron Ram Horn; Head= Genbu's Kabuto; Neck= PCC; Earrings= Brutal earring + Musical earring; Body= Kirin's Osode; Hands= Seiryu's Kote; Rings= Ulthalam's ring and Rajas ring; Back= Boxer's Mantle; Belt= Potent belt; Legs= Sha'ir seraweels; Feet= Rutter sabatons
Strategy: I went in to see what he was singing. I used 4 sleeping pots and an opo necklace to get 100 tp to open fight. I used carbonara as food instead of tacos like most. Then I put up my Paeons and drank a milk. I brought a hyper potion and an Icarus wing even though I never ended up using them. After I drank my milk, I then pulled with elegy and used Evisceration to knock a chunk of his hp down. He dispelled my milk right off the start so after WS I popped another and then dispelled him too. I tried to not spend so much time casting songs so I could tp up faster. After my second Evisceration he was under 1/2 HP, and he used his WS on me, Spinning attack that did just short of 300. After his WS I made short work of him, not even having time to build more tp and the fight was over. I had 560/1250HP when it was all said and done and that's without using a single potion. I had minimal misses due to having much more skill on BRD in dagger than sword. I did forget to switch back to PCC for fight, and still won easy with opo neck on. 
==Important Item==
This fight took me 3 times to finish, I read these guides with no luck. Due to the fact you can't use a sub job, I went out and bought a Blink Band which was pretty cheap. If you have a lot of money to blow buy a Stoneskin Torque. With the Blink Band and following these guides, I went in and took him down easily. He didn't even get me in the yellow. So I highly recommend the Blink Band to have. 
== BRD 75 ==
Equipment: Joyeuse, Genbu's Shield, Optical Hat, Wind Torque, Melody Earring X 2, Scorpion Harness, Bard's Cuffs (AF2), Nereid Ring X 2, Jester's Cape +1, Gleeman's Belt, Choral Cannions, Oracle's Pigaches.
Consummables: Scroll of Instant Reraise, Blink Band, Marinara Pizza +1, Charisma Potion, Hi-Potion X 3.
*Note: Your reraise scroll will wear off prior to entering the arena. Wait until you're inside the Burning Circle to use it.
The Fight
-Prior to trading your testimony, equip your blink band and wait for the timer.
*Note: At this time you may or may not choose to unequip your beneficial armor so that maat won't "copy" the stats.
-Trade your BRD testimony and enter the arena.
-Run to the entrance to the circular area where you will be fighting maat.
-Use consummables: Instant Reraise, Blink Band, Marinara Pizza +1 (or other food), CHR potion.
-Use Soul Voice.
-Cast Army's Paeon V, and Army's Paeon IV on yourself.
-Engage Maat and pull him with Finale, immediatly use Carnage Elegy, and finally Foe Requiem VI.
*Note: Spam Finale until is has no effect, and use it immediatly after he uses any song to buff himself.
-Use weaponskills as needed.
-Be sure you are recasting your Paeon, as he will use Finale on you as well.
-Also, watch for Requiem to wear off. This song is invaluable for this fight.
Fight took less than 5 minutes, never went under yellow HP. Used 3 Hi-Potions. My 2hour wore off and the fight ended 16seconds later.
*Damage Dealt
Melee:960
Weaponskill:Spirits Within(X1) 124
Requiem: Unknown
*Damage Taken
Melee:923
Weaponskill: Tackle(X1) 127
Requiem: Unknown
Good Luck! Tandem 05:35, 26 August 2009 (UTC)
 
Category:Guides