Beautiful Bard Buffs?
So despite Bard's
recent buffs toward viability, he's still extremely underwhelming in both damage, and tankyness. His utility exists fairly bountifully but still very situational and underwhelming, especially Magical Journey and Fate's Call.
I've come up with the following possible buffs to bring him further toward viability and becoming a popular support in the leagues of Thresh
, Blitzcrank
, and Braum
.
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Give Bard more damage sources ----Enemies who pass through Magical Journey (E) receive a mark that lasts for 3 seconds after leaving the portal, if Bard or allies near Bard deal damage to enemies marked by Bard, the enemy takes damage equal to Caretaker's Shrine's heal. ---This would allow Bard to lend more damage to his allies, allowing him to have more presence in fights beyond initiating with R, landing q, then waiting with an extra w or e to escape (even meep buffed, his basic attacks are rather wimpy without serious AP investment).
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Instead of Giving allies who pass through Magical Journey an movespeed buff-- -Enemies who pass through Magical Journey are slowed by up to 50% for four seconds upon entering the portal ---This would give Magical Journey more usability to escape over narrow walls. If Bard throws his portal through a thin wall like Dragon's or Baron's wall the movespeed buff is negligible and does nothing to help him escape, and more attentive players can use abilities to avoid Bard's follow up Q. Making his portal have a slow more directly incentivizes enemies to choose between taking Bard's portal or using their own means to follow him through terrain. Making the Portal slow enemies still keeps intact the factor of Bard's team travelling through the portal faster.
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Give Bard ways to give more continued support of his allies throughout a fight- -Enemies who pass through Magical Journey have their Armor and Magic Resist lowered by up to 35% for their trip and for 3 seconds after exiting the Portal -This would again give enemies more thought on whether or not to use Bard's portal, but it would also lend a more sustained way of capitalizing on Bard's actions. -Ihs could be applied to Caretaker's Shrine or Fate's Call to change up the mode of application
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Give Fate's Call an Indicator for Allies -Casting Fate's Call instantly places an indicator of exactly where the ability will land and affect-visible only to Bard's allies -Even Ekko's w gives a cute little circle to allies so they know where to be to capitalize, Bard's ult often surprises his allies as much as his enemies, and while there is an indicator in place, it is only truly helpful at max range. Only at the greatest range possible does it provide the shortest window of necessary action. Even if Bard pings, pings do not/cannot fully convey crucial information to those who need it most, even with a 3rd party voice chat it cant fully be conveyed exactly where allies can be/shouldn't be to fully take advantage of the stasis.
Tl:Dr give allies more choice on whether they get hit by Bard's ult. **Even If Every other change is Ignored, implement this one -
Make Bard's Magical Journey give more consistent benefits -Magical Journey sustains movespeed boosts from meeps or homeguard or other 'out of combat' buffs -I just tried Bard and turns out, he moves slower with 5 meeps through his portal than he does walking. The 50% movespeed boost seems to only base of Bard's flat movespeed and not Any other boosts. You could also refresh out of combat buffs like Mobility Boots when exiting the portal.
TL"DR Buff Bard's Portal and Ult
