Does "Battle Chant" allow the Bard to use Battle Cries as melee basic attacks?

Question

I'm very confused because I really have no idea have to use Battle Chant's effect with the Battle Cry flexible attack rules.

The power effect is:

Special: When you use battle chant, you can choose any battle cry effect you know as if you were making a basic melee attack, with the battle chant attack roll taking the place of the basic melee attack roll.

My question is, with this at-will ranged spell's special effect, can a bard use the battle cries every time he wants as melee attacks without worrying about the flexible attack rules?

Answer 1

No, Battle Chant allows you to make attacks at range and still trigger Battle Cries.

Battle Cries:

Battle cries are triggered by flexible melee attacks.

So, normally a Bard can only trigger his Battle Cries while making melee attacks, which is similar to the way most flexible attacks work. Sometimes, though, making a melee attack isn't possible for the bard. Whether he simply can't reach his foes, doesn't have a weapon, is low on hit points, or has focused on charisma over strength/dexterity, it's possible that he'll want to make a ranged attack instead of melee. Battle Chant gives the Bard a chance to still use his Battle Cries in this situation, albeit at the cost of almost definitely reduced damage.