When I talked about my last Bard glamour, I mentioned that I very nearly gave up on the Lost Allagan Composite Bow in favor of the Yoichi Bow Zeta, since the former proved so difficult to work with. While I ended up pretty happy with how I managed to put the Lost Allagan bow to work, there was another problem: I really like how Alahra looks in the Scion Liberator’s Attire (which shouldn’t be surprising, I suppose). I’ve been getting almost constant ideas for ways to use the Scion Liberator’s Jacket, and without a doubt one of the most prevalent thoughts has been that it would look great with the Yoichi Bow in red.

There’s yet to be a bow I like more than the Yoichi Bow in FFXIV (though the over the top Terpander Lux got pretty close even if I never got it), and often times I feel weird using anything else. It’s been with me for a few years now, since I picked up Bard as a secondary DPS toward the end of A Realm Reborn. Much like the Yoshimitsu Nexus and the Sasuke’s Blades Zeta for Ninja, I’ve used the Yoichi Bow Zeta for so long and so often that most other bows don’t look right—and it doesn’t hurt that the Yochi Bow dyes in a way that makes it a good fit for any number of outfits.

Since Lyse’s gear is overall pretty flexible, I was pretty confident that I could find ways to distinguish a Bard look for it from the one I put together for Red Mage, though naturally the profile was probably going to end up being very similar. The key is that despite being something of a plain set, the Liberator’s gear has a lot of very useful bits to play off of. For this look, I decided to focus on emphasizing the leather bits rather than going completely in on red as I had for the Red Mage look.

Glamour Components (Required Level: BRD 66)
Weapon: Yoichi Bow Zeta (Replica) (Dalamud Red)
Head: Augmented Choral Chapeau (Loam Brown)
Body: Scion Liberator’s Jacket
Hands: Marid Leather Gloves of Aiming (Loam Brown)
Legs: Scion Liberator’s Pantalettes
Feet: Expeditioner’s Thighboots (Loam Brown)

The Expeditioner’s Thighboots were the first thing I added on for this one (after the obligatory Liberator’s stuff, of course). The straps at the top of them work well with the similar ones on the Jacket, so they’re a really nice fit. The only thing that would make them better would be if the buckles were gold rather than silver, but they otherwise work so well that I don’t mind that minor difference in color. After settling on the boots, I made the (not at all surprising) decision to stick with the Choral Chapeau since my Machinist is a long way off from hitting level 70.

The tough part for this glamour ended up being the gloves, which is usually the case when using the Expeditioner’s Thighboots. For a while I thought about using the Aoidois’ Shoulder Gloves, but that probably would have meant using the Scion Healer’s Highboots, and I’m not yet completely sold on using them with the Jacket (and either way, the Expeditioner’s Thighboots look much better!). After scouring the Market Board and my retainers without much immediate success, I came back to the Marid Leather Gloves are a great fit for the Expeditioner’s Thighboots when properly dyed. They aren’t perfect, but they’re a much better choice than the Expeditioner’s Gloves.

The final result is a glamour that’s gotten me even more enthusiastic about Bard than I was before, and one that I’m probably going to have a hard time dismantling once something new comes along. Every time I hit Empyreal Arrow I feel a twinge of excitement because of how the whole combination looks in motion, and with my Bard actually on the cusp of overtaking my Ninja’s item level, it’s likely to be my de facto main for the rest of 4.1.