Ezreal + Bard = Instant Loss at Low Elo

WitchQueen Annie·Sep 17, 2016·1 votes·1,238 views

When your team locks in these 2 in a Ranked game in Bronze or Silver, I'd say you've lost the game about 80% of the time. These champs are just too terrible and together on one team... oh boy...

thoughts?

19 Comments

Horse GrenadesSep 17, 20166 votes

Wait.. are you serious? I mean ezreal isn't in a agreat spot right now, but still Bard is amazing

WitchQueen AnnieSep 18, 20161 votes

No one knows how to use his tunnels (also, the enemy can use it too) so most of the times its useless. He provides only moderate heals (compared to Sona or Soraka).

In battle he has one damaging ability and its a skill shot; that's it.

His Ult ends up trolling the team more often than not.

Like there's no reason to pick him. He's not even a great jack-of-all-trades. Tell me ONE situation you would rather have him then Sona . Sona is just one example of a champ that is overall just superior.

If your team is so noob they needed Bard tunnels to save them because they consistently mis-position, then Bard isn't going to make a difference.

People in low elo aren't going to set up a coordinated strategy around Bard's gimmicks and so that's what they become, just gimmicks. You're just better off picking a more consistent and logical support. If you want to single target eliminate then pick a hook champ with a better rounded kit (ex Nautilus or Thresh); if you want to provide overall utility and damage than Sona etc

Horse GrenadesSep 18, 20161 votes

From reading your post I feel like you don't have a good understanding of bards mechanics and that any length response would be wasted. However Sona is pretty strong right now but I would still prefer a bard. he has cc outside of his ult and does nice poke dmg in lane (similar to Sona) great engage and disengage and can stun multiple enemies, multiple times in team fights

DrCyanideSep 18, 20161 votes

{quoted}

No one knows how to use his tunnels (also, the enemy can use it too) so most of the times its useless. [...] If you want to single target eliminate then pick a hook champ with a better rounded kit (ex Nautilus or Thresh);

Sorry, you don't get too say that teammates don't know how to use Bard Tunnels but know how to use Thresh Lanterns. They know how to use both or they don't know how to use either.

In battle he has one damaging ability and its a skill shot; that's it.

His passive makes his Auto Attacks basically a damaging spell.

His Ult ends up trolling the team more often than not.

Inexperienced players with the Ult will have problems, yes, but even low elo Bards can use it smartly once they get the hang of it.

Like there's no reason to pick him. He's not even a great jack-of-all-trades. Tell me ONE situation you would rather have him then . Sona is just one example of a champ that is overall just superior.

I'd rather have a Bard when I need enemies CCed. He's got a stun on a basic ability, not on his Ult, so it'll be up sooner.

People in low elo aren't going to set up a coordinated strategy around Bard's gimmicks and so that's what they become, just gimmicks.

Them being gimmicks or not is completely dependent on Bard.

I recall one Bard game where the enemy started Baron / Dragon, I Ult the objective to stop them taking it, and my feed Master Yi was able to get there in time to steal it. This happened twice in the game, where any other support would have been useless.

A more common example is Bard being able to help the Junglers early clear by setting up health shrines on their path.

His tunnel doesn't have to be a strategy either, it can be a reaction that teammates read. When stuck in the Dragon pit and Bard opens a tunnel out the back, it doesn't take Diamond level game knowledge to know that's your way out.

Big LincolnSep 17, 20163 votes

wat?

these champs make for an absurdly strong poke lane

WitchQueen AnnieSep 18, 20161 votes

How?

Ezreal has no poke in lane so long as you stand behind minions. And half the time he can't afford to poke because he needs his abilities to control the wave.

Bard has ONE poking ability. If you were really interested in a poking support, you would have gone with Lulu or Sona. And BOTH of them are more consistent and useful come late game.

Big LincolnSep 18, 20161 votes

Bard has Q and his passive for poking which he should be using liberally in lane and proc'ing Thunderlords easier than anyone. He has one of the strongest level 1s in the game.

Ezreal can easily combo off any stun or slow Bard lands

it's a good lane

WitchQueen AnnieSep 18, 20161 votes

Ezreal can't combo off anything without making sure there is a clear line of vision between him and his opponents (no minions in between). His auto-attack damage is fairly bad.

Why pick him to combo off Bard? Why not have MF or Jinx instead?

Bard has a strong level 1 but lanes are not decided at level 1 (at least they shouldn't be). And if you're going to aggro the other laner from Level 1 as Bard and Ez, so many things can go wrong because they are both skill shot based.

Its not just about the lane either. Come mid to late game, you really want these two clowns on the team? There's a gigantic damage output gap.

DrCyanideSep 18, 20162 votes

How about I just give you every Silver ranked game I've played with a Bard and Ezreal on the same team, rather than play the hyperboly game?

http://matchhistory.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/#match-details/NA1/2136506227/42592968?tab=overview

http://matchhistory.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/#match-details/NA1/2152376728/42592968?tab=overview

2/2 games, Bard Ezreal won, with Ezreal doing more damage to champions than anyone on the other team.

Janna mìdSep 17, 20161 votes

If there is Galio, the champ that no one ever followed during his ult in those elos, that would be like 90%

Handy Sandy Sep 17, 20161 votes

they r kinda good together

NiyumiSep 17, 20161 votes

Uh, no. Both of those champs are absurd in the right hands.

ThugWalrusSep 17, 20161 votes

The champs aren't weak, and Bard is probably my favorite support to pair with Ezreal when I play.

I'd say if you feel they're weak at low elos is because it's a lane that relies 100% on skillshots, which could be problematic for people with poor mechanics.

oSEXYPLATYPUSoSep 17, 20161 votes

my thoughts would be that you are https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrjwaqZfjIY

YOU LOST LMAOSep 17, 20161 votes

in my hands, bard is freelo. just look at my match history, big win streak and I just got him on the 16th from hextech box, fact.

I'd say ezreal is good on the right hands too, both these champs you mentioned can be bad or good depending on the player.

in low elo, yeah these champ would be trash bc they have high skill floor or skill cap idk what's it called.

just like blitz, a blitz that can land hooks is op, but a blitz that cant land hooks, is underpowered

WitchQueen AnnieSep 17, 20161 votes

you lose out too much in damage come mid and late game

Ezreal can't shred tanks compared to other ADCs and because he's skill shot reliant and his skills can be minion blocked, he's going to screw up at some point no matter how ahead (and probably later on when one screw up costs a whole minute of respawn)

Bard has only ONE attack and its a skill shot, that's it. Everything else is too gimmicky for uncoordinated gameplay.

I'd say they are both Challenge characters (characters you pick to say "I've got the mechanics not to embarrass myself with him" but not characters you pick to Win). At low elo anyways...

DemainaNyxSep 18, 20161 votes

Not really, it just depends on the people playing them.

Bard is never going to top the damage charts even if he builds full damage simply because he only has one damage ability outside of his meeps. Still, he offers insane utility and can almost stun lock people in fights if you are good at aiming his binding. Plus if your team is getting caught he can transport everyone over a wall, which only few other champions can do.

Ezreal is a poke champion. Let him launch Q's at the enemy and when they start to get low, then engage. Or, if you don't want to do that, have someone split push and let Ezreal poke people from under tower while the enemy team has to decide to either dive the tower or deal with the split pusher.

Assuming I'm looking at the match that you were referring to when you made this post, the biggest problem with the enemies team comp was that they have no way to get through 3 tanks. Depending on the order that champions were chosen in, that's not really the ADC's fault. If Ezreal had gone item 3153 he would've done much better over getting item 3072 at shredding tanks and staying at a distance. Additionally, the whole enemy team was squishy AP assasins (though Ekko when trinity into tank), and with Ezreal being a sorta 40% AP 60% AD champ, all your team had to do was build MR and it pretty much game over for them.

Now, if Ezreal was replaced with a Jinx, would it have gone better? Maybe. Depends on if your Sion and Nocturne just focused the Jinx out every fight. The Ezreal player probably wanted an escape to get out of the dive since most of your teams damage is melee ranged and getting caught would've meant death for him. The fact he didn't get a item 3033 vs a team with Vladimir Darius with item 3153 item 3065 Nocturne and item 3139 Ashe seems more odd to me, but perhaps he was hoping that the extra damage from item 3036 would help for the tank shred. Then again, not a single AP champ build Morello's (looking at you item 3027 Leblanc ) so your lifesteal comp was bound to win without someone cutting that healing.

WitchQueen AnnieSep 18, 20161 votes

Your analysis is spot on. As the Vladimir in the game, I told the rest of my team to rush MR and I told them to play safe until late game because I knew we would out-scale everyone on their team. Their Ezreal started out strong but couldn't stay relevant into the late game.

Ezreal could have done better with alternate itemisation but he'll never be able to shred tanks as well as his competitors. And the problem is that he's a skill-shot based sustained damage dealer. Which I find to be conceptually unviable.

Skill shots (since you can miss) should either be high damage or high utility (like a Lux Q or a Nidalee spear). Having to CONTINUOUSLY land skill shots that only have moderate to low utility and damage output is just bad design. The high risk high reward paradigm simply isn't there. Ezreal simply can't compete with his competitors because come late game he's having to aim again and again... and for less damage and only comparable utility to Ashe. The perma-slow from Gauntlet isn't going to do much, truth be told.

More often than not, late game Ezreal stands way back (cause he can't afford to be close), lobbing Qs that never deal enough damage and can only hit at the tanks. If he goes in and tries to actually hit the backline, he'll just die. Under the pressure of a ranked game, its just very hard to ever do well with him.

I've also noticed that even really good players who play Ezreal tend to fall off later in the game. It is my opinion that anyone who can "carry" with an Ezreal could have carried way harder with another ADC.

I really don't see the usefulness of Bard. Yes, he can create tunnels to help the team escape but its too situational and you should NEVER be caught out of position anyways. If you are, its unclear how creating a tunnel is going to play out because the enemy could follow you through it too (at most its just a crap shoot). In coordinated play there may be ways to use his Ult and the tunnels well but in Solo Q (and with relatively untrained Dynamic Parties) in ranked? It's just not worth it.

Heck I'd take ANY other support over Bard.