Boards›Gameplay

People's Opinions on Bard?

Annunziato·6/7/2015, 5:16:46 AM·3 votes·1,113 views

Personally I think he's currently the only champion in the game where you can legitimately hurt your teammates if you're not experienced with him. Here are some of my personal pros/cons on him

##Pros

  • Gold Efficient - All you really need to make Bard usable is cooldown reduction. Personally I build him with a Frozen Heart and a Locket of the Iron Solari. With your support item you'll cap out at 40% and all of your skills will be able to be used multiple times in fights.

  • Early Level 2 - Typically before minions on both sides clash, you'll have a chance of gathering 3 chimes. Although level 2 doesn't mean much on Bard (unless you help your jungler out by starting W) it's still a nice little thing you can do with him. Note that you can lay down all 3 of your health shrines for your jungler, and the chimes will almost get you back up to full mana by the time you need to go to lane.

  • E+R Makes for Interesting Flanks & Initiations - Much like Thresh providing interesting ways for an otherwise immobile champion to get a boost with his lantern, Bard provides unique utility with his E, both allowing interesting ways into otherwise blocked areas, or kiting enemies into your team. Alternatively his ultimate is very useful if aimed properly, typically forcing the enemies to temporarly find a different route or have your team catch up to them - either way it typically plays out well for your team.

  • Roaming God - Although his actual flanks and ganks aren't the best, he can move around the map quickly and if chimes allow it - he can get all the experience that he misses along the way. His W makes a smart marksman able to stay in lane much longer without a support nearby as well. Later on in the game this also allows for him to get around the map quickly to ward some areas that would take too long/are too risky for most other supports.

##Cons

  • Team Dependent - Bard has no damage outside of his Q and empowered auto attacks, which honestly isn't that much. If your team starts falling behind, you won't be able to do much.

  • Can Kill Your Teammates - His ult is both a gift and a curse. Aim is wisely and you can do anything with it. Use it poorly and you are making the game a 4v6.

  • Conditional CC - Although Bard can stun two champions at once, doing so is incredibly difficult and positioning for it might put you in a bad spot.

  • W Can Be Underwhelming - As most people know, his W is basically a far weaker form of Kayle's W, even if you lay it down for the full 10 seconds champions might not get the opportunity to walk over it before they get bursted or alternatively they can get cc locked before that's even an option.

  • Knowledge Of Many, Master of None - Bard has literally everything you could want. Poke, sustain, buffs, mobility, gold efficiency, you name it. The problem is he isn't particularly the greatest in any category when against a champion that specializes in a particular category. You're not going to get picks like a Blitzcrank, you're not going to poke like a Sona, and you can't hard engage/peel like a Naut or Leona.

  • Bad Rep From the Community - When he was announced, people automatically didn't like him. This carried on through his release, and ultimately, some people think its a lost game when they see him in champ select.

If you guys have any points you'd like to include please leave them!

16 Comments

DrNova6/7/2015, 6:43:21 AM2 votes

I dont like bard. Im not naive enough to say he is useless, but in my opinions he is close to being there.

You need incredible teamwork to use him decently, mic's are almost a necessity, especially for smart R's and tunnels.

His roaming for chims thing feels like it hurts him and his lane more then it benefits him until 40 min in.

And there are many champs who can do some combination of most of what he does, way better and easier then he does.

Singing Lark6/7/2015, 3:26:41 PM2 votes

Build CDR and full tank, max Q. Double stun up every 4.2 seconds. Bard carries you.

He's definitely not the most easiest champs to play (probably even one of the hardest, considering how hard it is to land his Q) but if you can get good with him, he can be extremely strong. A good Bard will be practically unkillable with max Q, CDR and tank items.

tl;dr - Don't chase Bard.

Ser Garland6/7/2015, 5:38:44 AM1 votes

This post seems really old. bard is good. He requires no buffs, just skill.

I AM MUFFIN LORD6/7/2015, 5:22:24 AM1 votes

i just want his base armor to be increased cause he is quite weak early game. otherwise ive dominated late game going really tanky

Xonra6/7/2015, 7:07:34 AM1 votes

I don't think he is in a balanced place, (could use some positive tweaks) but at the same time, I don't know what they could even do to him.

I just feel they thought about "cool kit" first and "playable kit" second. His skill floor is a bit too high, so either learning him take a lot more time than almost every other champ, or people don't bother trying.

His risk versus reward just doesn't have the same reward versus the risk.

Let's say you play Morg, you are learning, and really, Morg isn't that hard to play.

If you do decent, you probably have a 60% + chance of making a positive impact compared to the negative of being less positive with her.

With Bard, you probably have more like a 70% chance to make a negative impact, even while actively attempting to make a positive one. His kit has a lot of luck built into it for starters, plus your team has to play around you, instead of most champs where YOU play around your team.

I think he just needs a lot more put into him to get out a decent amount compared to just about every other support where you can put in a minimal amount and get the same return. his high skill ceiling would be fine if his skill floor wasn't also so high, because it is a huge turn off, especially for a support. Supports don't play champs cause they are doing crazy stuff (I play support, I would know).

If you want more mechanical play, put it on a jungler or mid laner. Think of the popular supports:

Thresh: low skill floor Nautilus: Sees lots of pro play currently. Very low skill floor Sona: very low skill floor

and so on.

Then you have Bard who is easily the most difficult support to learn, let alone play after you learn, and you can still easily screw it up, especially with that ult.

Lugg6/7/2015, 7:16:25 AM1 votes

Very good analysis of Bard. I agree that his heal needs a buff, it is very weak for how much mana it costs.

I do not think that his conditional CC is a con. I have found it pretty easy to use myself.

The difference between the good and bad Bard players is definitely his ult. I have saved my teammates and gotten them killed with it. It takes LOTS of practice with it to know when and where to use it. Whether it be on your team or the enemy.

Maximum Zilean6/7/2015, 5:28:08 AM1 votes

He is in a pretty good spot. Just a terrible solo que pick because he needs coordination with his team to fully utilize his E and R.

But in the right team comp, he can be a really useful support. Just not someone you should pick blindly.