Oki, 2 bard skills + taming can be a squeeze but it's certainly feasible
Template:
As a general thing I only use skill items on the least important supporting skill in my template. So in my case it's magery and a wee bit on vet. That way you never need to equip items before you control a pet or bard something. It gives you more flexibility in changing your suit too if your boosted skill isn't used all that often - you can go without the item on all the time and use an EC macro to switch jewels quickly when you do need them. For example boosting magery to resurrect someone. Also, if you want to use the bard masteries, real bard skill is best.
Taming skills first. I tend to put real skill in taming and lore to the level I'll need most of the time. In other words, try to set yourself up so you always have enough skill to control the pets you use regularly. So, if I planned to use a bane or dread a lot, then I'd try for 115 taming/110 lore or 112 in both skills. Otherwise, I'd check the skill requirements for the pets I wanted to use
here and in my case 110 in taming and lore gives me 99% control. You can still eat a 120 scroll and use skill items to help you tame new pets more easily.
I find my bard gets along ok with just 100 real vet skill. She can boost up if necessary, but being able to disco and provo spawn really reduces the need for vetting.
Bard skills, well I'm trying to get finished to 120 through normal play, but the aim is to pop to 120 in music and my bard skills. I've tried shuffling between disco and provo jewels before masteries arrived, but in honesty it gets a bit fiddly after a while.
I've gone with disco instead of peace, tbh I wouldn't flush peace away if I had trained it, but I just find disco is better for a tamer. If it were me I'd probably try having peace and disco available on soulstones so I could take one or the other depending what I wanted to do.
Provo is a good supporting skill for crowd control. I find it good around a pet like a cu sidhe where the pet can tank a group of spawn while I set about provoking the spawn onto itself.
Equipment:
Equipment wise I restrict myself to gear I've hunted for myself or crafted. My imbuer is training so I still use old horned runic gear I made ages ago. I don't like the look of most arties so um, usually I carry swords of prosperity and a boomstick and I've been known to use a ring of the elements for luck and topping up any resists I have below their max. I tend to share things like luck suits between a few of my girls, but I do have too many chars
But yeah, basic high resist gear is my only must when it comes to armour. If you can add more things in, great, but I certainly wouldn't pay some of the prices folk charge for "high end" gear. If you want imbued stuff, you might find a crafter willing to do the crafting if you supply ingredients.
Pets:
I use a range of pets, actually GDs, dreads and banes are the least used in my stables. I probably use kitsune most, rune beetles, hiryu, my nightmare, even old school unicorns, normal dragons and WWs. Oh and I have a pack of large and small hellcats. Not for any "power" reasons, I just like cats. Oh and one of my younger girls has frenzies. I'm also dabbling in playing with some of the SA pets for a bit of fun.
Basically I'd recommend you have a range of pets that appeal to you out of fun rather than just power. You'll find several combinations are more powerful than a single GD, though I'd recommend you start with just 2 pets to vet and control then work up to a full pack of 5. Having macros for vetting and controlling individuals is really advisable. Then take out the pet(s) that are strongest vs your target monster (resistant to the damage it does if possible and hitting the target on it's weakest resists).
Wenchy
