Well the Sleep + buffs crap sucks. It's a horrible way for BRD to solo. BRD/WHM and even BRD/RDM suck.

Actually the way a BRD solos is BRD/NIN. There are a lot of things that allow us to solo pretty well and live forever which basically skirts the issue that WHMs have. We have no MP so Ballad isn't an issue. If we get hit (which we shouldn't) we can always do 2xPaeon for pretty nice regen with zero cost.

For actual fighting I prefer not using Paeons. If it's a DCish mob I'll use Evasion+Haste songs in addition to Elegy (Slow on steroids) and I can easily keep shadows up. Depending on the type of mob (like a MNK mob) I just play different songs to help me either melee harder or keep shadows up better.

Keep in mind that BRD has no inherent MP and that songs cost nothing so I can never run out of songs the way a WHM can run out of MP for cures and regen. We have many songs that facilitate soloing like Finale (Dispel) and Requiem makes for a little extra DoT though nothing substantial. Worst case scenario we can sleep mobs if we have to but usually it's not an issue.

The other huge plus that makes us slightly more powerful that RDM/NIN in certain situations is the fact that song are not interuptable. We could sleep 20 links and when they wake up we don't have to worry about our sleep being interupted before we resleep them.

NIN/RDM is a phenominal soloer but there's the issue of MP so NINs cannot take links.

RDM/NIN can stay up for quite a while and pretty much take anything with well timed converts and such but they can still have their MP outlasted by a mob. RDM is the good soloer they are because they can kill at a decent pace.

However, when it comes to endurace BRD/NIN is probably at the top being only limited by Shihei as to how long they can stay up. A second close might be RDM/SMN and so long as they take it slow, safe, and easy (no high cost Bloodpacts) they can time their Converts out long enough to basically never run out of MP in a really long fight with just Carby whackin' away.

The downside to both of these is the fairly limited damage potential and while I could potentially tank an IT mob all freakin' day... it'll take me quite a while to actually kill it even if I am spamming Evisceration. Same with a RDM/SMN. As soon as they start putting out damage with a stronger avatar or decen Carby BPs they are running out of the MP it takes to keep them alive faster than they can convert.