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Bard first impressions, very underwhelmed.

SIayton··4 votes·2,701 views

So I've had a few games on PBE with Bard now, even got to try him jungle (don' lolt), and figured I'd give some early feedback on him.

First impression is that honestly, he's a really really really weak support for laning but adds.... a little utility to team fighting / roaming phases. Damage wise he's non-existent. Only Q does damage and its fairly weak, and your Meeped autos add a marginal amount of AP damage, but are fairly unimpressive. Heals as well don't do too much actively, you have to set them aside and have your teammates come back to them to get noticeably healed.

Portals are really cool but I dislike that the enemy team can use your portals as well, considering how weak Bard is in other aspects, it would be nice if he had that disengage through portals strength going for him. Also the portals are one way, so no using it to steal dragon or baron and then escaping via the same portal.

His Q stun was very underwhelming for being his only way to actively participate in fights. The cooldown is fairly long, the travel distance is pretty short, and the projectile speed is slowish. I think all of those things should be looked at in order to up its usability, as right you really have to position to make it stun or just get lucky, and positioning for the stun often puts you in harms way.

His ultimate is interesting but using it is going to take a lot of practice and good judgement. You can essentially stun your teammates with it for almost 3 seconds, so if you hit your ADC or a tank in a team fight, well, you're probably going to lose that team fight. With good placement of the ult though, you can separate a lone enemy while the others are in stasis, but that's somewhat difficult to do reliably in practice because of the delay before his ult activates. The ult does have long range, about the same as Ziggs bombs, but it would be nice if it cast much faster closer to bard to make it easier to use effectively in team fights.

His passive is fun but due to the random placement of the chimes, sometimes you have to go really out of your way to get to them. I know they wanted to encourage roaming with the movement speed increase when you pick chimes up, but other supports that roam can get to their destination much faster just by going straight to where they want to be vs having to run through your own jungle to pick up a stray chime. I also wish the effect of the chimes was a little stronger, as right now, other than getting an AOE and a slow occasionally on his autos, it really doesn't do a whole lot. I would love to see the rate of summoning meeps increased as you get more chimes, as meeped autos are your main contribution to fights.

Also for being encouraged to roam, his ganks are pretty pathetic. You more than likely won't get your Q stun on a laner, so he only really provides a ranged slow and stasis from his ult if you want to use it for a gank.

All in all, I think Bard is pretty weak, possibly the weakest champion released in a long time. In organized competitive play he may have some pretty cool tricks and strategies with coordination but I don't see him being used in solo queue and at lower levels effectively at all. /opinion

Things I would like to see:

Passive - Meeps summon much faster at higher chime counts. Q - Travel distance and speed increased, shorter cooldown. E- Enemy champions can't use the portal, make portal 2 way. Ult - Faster travel time when used close to Bard

25 Comments

AtheosisX3 votes

He looks terrible to me, and also has some rather nasty potential for trolling or just bad plays that hose teammates with his ult. I can just see it now. Running away? Nope, now you're Zhonya'd while the enemy catches up. Chasing a nearly dead opponent? Well now they got away. Team fight going well but the Bard player is dumb? Well now they got away. Yeah, this does not look like a well thought out champ to me.

DisasterSola1 votes

{quoted}

He looks terrible to me, and also has some rather nasty potential for trolling or just bad plays that hose teammates with his ult. I can just see it now. Running away? Nope, now you're Zhonya'd while the enemy catches up. Chasing a nearly dead opponent? Well now they got away. Team fight going well but the Bard player is dumb? Well now they got away. Yeah, this does not look like a well thought out champ to me.

And then you play a few games with him and realize that theres 1~2 seconds of lag between clicking and warping, and that bard can W as soon as he gets out to escape.

His ult also has crazy range. Since most people never play camera locked, you should never be clicking close enough to actually troll.

AtheosisX2 votes

I'm sorry, but none of what you just said made any sense.

DisasterSola3 votes

{quoted}

I'm sorry, but none of what you just said made any sense.

... Do you even play this game? Most supports are "hang back and CC enemies if my ADC engages". the common ones are able to buff their ADCs, or hold them in place if the ADC engages.

Passive. Most supports are very passive. Then theres offensive supports like karma and ashe, whose job is to provide strong harass and secure kills. Support bard is, i feel, meant to provide strong harass and secure kills rather than babysit the ADC.

SIayton2 votes

His harass is really weak though, and as far as kill securing, I'm not sure how he's going to do that when his bot lane duo is probably going to lose any 2v2 straight up fight they may get into. Maybe if he had longer auto attack range his harass would be annoying but right now he has to get fairly close to auto them. Think Gnar-ish range.

AtheosisX1 votes

Has nothing to do with whether or not I play the game. You're just really bad at English, and your posts are incoherent gibberish.

Also nothing about Bard looks particularly aggressive. And whatever you were saying about not clicking close enough to troll? WTF does that even mean?

DisasterSola1 votes

{quoted}

Has nothing to do with whether or not I play the game. You're just really bad at English, and your posts are incoherent gibberish.

Also nothing about Bard looks particularly aggressive. And whatever you were saying about not clicking close enough to troll? WTF does that even mean?

... Maybe you should stop flaming others, brohan. Your arrogance is showing.

  1. Bards kit promotes actively harassing the enemy via use of skill shots, and placing heals on the back line. His heals stay forever, so he can put them at the back and focus on harassing. Bard will always be active, and wouldnt hang back and just healbot/buffbot like nami, sona, or raka.

  2. Through use of his E, he can be EXTREMELY aggressive by securing kills that otherwise would be impossible; if youre sieging a tower and you push them out to heal, bard can open up a portal and cut you off AT the jungle entrance if hes fast enough. Ive done it before; it was fun.

  3. Most people dont play with camera locked, theyre always looking at the battle at hand and trying to keep a visual. Bards ult range is SO large, that unless youre playing camera locked, you would never ult a runner unless they were about to escape. In team fights you could stall the fight for a moment, like if zed just ulted your carry, or nunu just popped his five-man 700AP ult.

People thought anivia was trolly. People thought jarvan was trolly. People thought kalista was trolly. People thought alistar was trolly. They have potentially trollish mechanics, but on the whole theyre not used to troll. Its like guilty until proven innocent. Bard isnt even on live, and on PBE ive played a bunch of matches. Only one bard tried to troll, and thats because we had a duo bot and the bard didnt want to top.

AtheosisX1 votes

Do you understand what trolling is? It's an intentional thing. The range on his ult only means he can troll even better. Do you seriously not see the trolling potential of an ability that freezes your teammates?

DisasterSola1 votes

{quoted}

Do you understand what trolling is? It's an intentional thing. The range on his ult only means he can troll even better. Do you seriously not see the trolling potential of an ability that freezes your teammates?

You clearly dont understand that most people WONT troll. If most people did, we would have more anivias and jarvans "helping". If you want to believe that the world is out to get you, go off the grid and be as paranoid as you want. But please dont bring it where potential is only limited by a pessimists crying.

AtheosisX1 votes

There's also the potential to get screwed by a bad play where he chooses to use it at the wrong time or aims it poorly, aside from intentional situations. And the LoL community is what makes me a pessimist.

Leti the Yeti2 votes

wooh, I'm not the only one

DisasterSola2 votes

I feel that he would make a better AP-bruiser like graggy. Or a jungler.

Playing him as a support seems to just be... inefficient compared to other supports. However, bard is excellent as an OFFENSIVE support; not something like sona or soraka that just sits behind the ADC forever...

SIayton1 votes

Yeah I thought so too but he just doesn't have enough offensive stuff to even be a bruiser. If you build AP on him you get about 50% of your AP, and there's a small ratio on his meeped autos, but thats it. If he's by himself top lane, you can't use 3 of your abilities offensively really so all you have are short-ish ranged autos, a somewhat slow Q that doesn't even do that much damage and.... well, that's it pretty much. I just can't see him being played anywhere other than support honestly.

Kouga2 votes

While I'm not discounting your opinions or feedback, just pointing out that First Impressions are rarely accurate of the Champion's future.

Remember when people thought Yasuo was garbage because of their early games with them? Like anyone, it will take time and practice.

Furthermore, I think Bard will fall into the category of Situational Pick, which is something I think the community has a difficult time with. For one, Situationals tend to be more difficult to Solo Q with, but moreso it requires a degree of coordination and teamwork that is hard to find outside of premades.

Bard's strength is in poke and sieges (he favors Sustain over burst Heal, he likes to roam, etc) so I feel like there are some comps he just won't be as strong. Particularly matches with lots of assassins and 1v1, 2v2s. Sustain doesn't protect you vs an assassin, and if Zed comes down to lane to murder you, freezing him for a few seconds won't stop him, he'll just chase you down and still murder you. But in focused teams with good engages I think he can have a really good spot.

AtheosisX2 votes

He actually looks like a bit of a counter to Zed actually since his ult in an aoe Zhonya's.

Kouga1 votes

Alright, Zed was actually a poor example and you are right in that regard.

I meant more in the fact that I don't think, overall, his kit will have the same strength against a mobile, skirmish comp as well as a team-oriented one.

edit; not sure why you got downvoted for a valid opinion. Tried to help you out there.

AtheosisX1 votes

Yeah in general I agree with you. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out but he looks pretty weak to me. And I don't care about meaningless votes on a message board but thanks. :)

SIayton1 votes

I agree with you, it is a first impression but at the same time, I think his strengths (or lack there of) are pretty apparent once you get in some games with him fairly quickly. I generally think I have pretty good judgment of champions, I thought Yasuo was great day 1, I thought Kalista would be amazing and sure enough she was, I asked myself for almost a year why Gnar wasn't dominating top lane, and sure enough he eventually did, it just took people a while to figure it out. I even recognized the strength of support Velkoz long before it caught on in Korea and to this day its still not being played as much as I think it should considering how strong the champion is. The league community is stubborn to accept new things.

But my point is, I just can't reason to see why people would play bard, and I love thinking outside the box. Other supports just offer so much more offensively, and even in the utility department. Bard has very little lane presence and his sustain IMO is weaker than Nami or Soraka while having LESS offensive power than either of those champions. Yes, I'm serious, Soraka has better harass than Bard. So really the main points you would pick him for are A) map mobility your whole team can use (mostly only applicable late mid to late game), and B) his AOE Zhonyas ult, which is on a fairly long cooldown and is pretty inconsistent because of the delay between activation and effect.

Overall I just feel like I don't have much effect on fights playing bard. His damage is not noticeable. He has pretty weak combat utility, and his cooldowns are really long. Most of the time you're just walking around literally doing nothing in team fights after you've used your ult and your Q. And even if you do some crazy stuff late game with his ult and the wall portals, will it really justify picking him in lane when he does almost nothing for the lane other than weak sustain and minor harass? I just don't see it personally.

Kouga1 votes

Don't discount that he is meant to be a Roamer. Not a jungler and not just a support. So in addition the jungler ganking, Bard is providing sustain not just in bot lane but across the map as he drops off health kits. I think he will find his nitch in the early-mid game. He will be able to roam around and sustain other lanes, allowing his bot to gain additional XP to gain a Level advantage (the right bot lane hitting 6 first can make a big difference) and meanwhile he can help the jungler gank. Since his portal can take allies, that means both he and the jungler could potentially pop out of a wall behind, say, the Top laner, and in top/bot I think he will have an easy time hitting a wall with his Q since you tend to flee through the brush.

This may also open up the meta to different bot picks, since you'll want champs who can either succeed (or even flourish) in a partial-1v2 lane.

So I don't think his strength is so much in his stats and kit as much as his role and how it will change the potential for team compositions. While there have been non-jungle roamers before (primarily the stealthers) his set up is designed to reward this.

SIayton1 votes

I feel like he might fall behind in level roaming unless they buff the chimes EXP given or something. Like make chimes a viable leveling path for him vs laning and you might be on to something. Instead of a bot lane support he could be like.... an every lane support that occasionally helps the jungler gank.

If that's really the niche he's meant to fill though, good luck getting solo queuers to agree to having a "roamer" slot and h aving to go bot lane alone. If you see the enemy team pick him, you could pick a hard engage bot lane like leona draven, or deny them the safe cait pick and deny them that strat. It'll be fun to see pros try it though, if he ends up being competitively viable.

Occams Raiser1 votes

I think playing with Bard is like playing with Teemo on your team. No one wants to synergize with what Teemo has to offer. They want to rollin loke a boss, either the supp or the top engages, we all pop ults and see what happens. If you have ever seen the graphs on skill distribution you know that all most the entire LOL community sucks. No elo hell, no bronze logic..... everyone below PLAT is virtually in the same skill class in the grand scheme. Dog pile mentality is the most standard attack formation in this game. If your ult doesn't directly contribute to a team fight barrage, that champ is shit for 99% of the community. But that is because of the community.

Scuttler Slayer2 votes

Lol was obvious he wouldn't be good...

His ult should be instant, imo. Even if you have to reduce its range some.

His E should not allow Enemies through, but it should only be one-way. You can still use it to steal drag/baron and escape; right now, you pretty much have to burn a spell and then flash to steal drag/baron (with smite) and escape. With Bard's E, you don't even have to use a flash (if you have a leap/ etc. Or, you can still escape with flash if you don't. Allowing enemies through makes E borderline useless though - only good for surprise engages and getting around the map a bit quicker; not that awesome tbh.

Like someone else pointed out, possibly useful in a good premade. But even then there are better options...

So bummed he's lame... I think he's THE coolest looking champ in the game.

LoLKiru1 votes

"E- Enemy champions can't use the portal, make portal 2 way."

I have a feeling this would nearly pretty much break Bard, what keeps it from becoming a really absurd skill imo, is that you CAN'T use it to escape

AtheosisX1 votes

It should definitely not be two way, but to me the fact that enemies can use makes it a very situational ability that has very limited value outside of map presence.

Occams Raiser1 votes

His tunnel doesn't go both ways or just work for your team: for the same reason Reksai has to wait to use her tunnels. They would be gods. With one line of code you would turn a situational pick into a 100% ban champ. That ult Is the nicest Utility ever but its not for team fights. Imagine if you were on a team that never team fought. They laid down vision and stasis engaged every fight. They roamed and caught people out so hard the opposing team was afraid to leave base. This is something you will never see in normals and low level because a typical game: lane, gank\roam, and team fight to victory. I have seen teams do great on catching people out of position, killing in little skirmished, throw a game by switching over to 5 v 5 team fighting. Why switch strats when one was working so good? "Well this is the part when we team fight."

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