I'm not usually one to complain but I have had such a negative experience lately with bard. He's bad like really bad. He does less damage than soraka he has less sustain and worse pre 6 utility. He's really cool but I can hardly play a game as ADC without him... Its very frustrating. I know he's new and all but plz buff him fast.
I find him to be in a fairly good spot. Of course, I've had much better experiences with him when playing in a group of people i know, but he works well enough outside that.
One of a few things would put him in a better spot though...
Faster chime spawns at the start of the game
Longer range on Q
Fast speed on Q
More exp from chimes
Outside of that, I don't build AP on him, so I'm not seeing heal or damage increases, so yes, Soraka has the potential to dish out greater damage, especially with her E, but he really isn't far behind and has much better autos.
His heals are not and should not be Soraka level, but they are quite strong, even without allowing his heal to fully charge for full strength.
Again, without AP to boost his heal, I had no problem out healing an opposing Soraka. Her health cost and good poke/positioning made her heals essentially useless while my ADC continued on effortlessly.
He's still new. Players are still going to try and figure him out, practice landing and timing his abilities just right, as well as throwing him into the fire in some odd roles. I've seen ADC Bard completely dominate a couple of games.
I'm sure Riot has an eye on him though.
Well, the early numbers back you up. His win rate is well below 40% in all levels of ranked, and at best ~41% in normals. This is a Support, mind you. I do think those numbers will come up a bit in time. However, it's hard to see it leveling out higher than maybe 44%, which I think clearly indicates the need for a buff. There is a moderate buff to Bard's Q damage on the PBE right now, which I think indicates that Riot is aware of the problem.
To be honest, I think this champion may be the hardest to balance that Riot has ever released (at least initially). His tunnel ability (E I think?) and ult don't have great parallels in existing abilities, so it's hard to gauge their power level. The upside is clearly there, and I think the downside is that they're very situational abilities. When I saw the champion for the first time, I figured there was a high chance he was either broken or unplayable. I just couldn't tell which XD
I just wanted to point out that every support outclasses him in lane pre6 and that puts him In a very bad spot. Well maybe he has a tiny bit more utility than taric...
