ExecutorDill here, just came from watching a Pbe gameplay of Bard and honestly, he seems to be lacking damage, even for a support. He has only 1 damage ability and his Meep passive doesn't really help that much especially with his low Atk spd. There is also way to much enemy counter potential in his kit and that makes him weak.
Rew7112 votesI'm not going to say that he is fine but the only reason he feels underpowered is that he came after Rek'Sai and Kalista who are insanely powerful for no good reason. I think it's also that no one can get a hold of him long enough to master him, yet. Everyone is trying hard to get him but only a few can. I say, we wait and see.
FHMarshy2 votesI think his underlevel in output is compensated by his utility to the team
ExecutorDill1 votesI believe that is the goal of riot, maybe adding damage bonuses on how much distance he has covered (similar to Yauo's passive shield) would be a mechanic that sticks to his theme and allow a bit more while staying relatively balanced.
EchoezOfRain1 votesI do think he's on the underpowered side. He can't harass in lane at all, so his only presence is in leaving shrines for allies. If he became viable enough to jungle, I think he'd be in a great spot. Riot advertises him as a roamer, yet he's currently forced into a lane where roaming is a bad idea. If he is able to safely roam without hurting his teammates, he becomes a much better aspect of his team
Knight SoIaire 2 votesyet he's currently forced into a lane where roaming is a bad idea.
well i think that they kinda focused on making that possible shrines give ms and can be placed preemptively for your adc on lane taking up ghosts gives ms so you roam fast owerall and the portal allows him to back faster (a little)
owerall his kit is about presence, if that is the way riot ballances him he can do it while still being a suport
ExecutorDill1 votesHe is something... can't quite place my finger on it. But does his health packs grant vision of the area?
Aeon Nightmare1 votesNo they don't
Zixcik1 votesThey grant vision for a brief moment when you place it.
ExecutorDill1 votesOh that's good to know, so it can be used as a free ward then... It's just something I though would question his viability as a support.
ExecutorDill1 votesI agree, his roam potential is impecable with all the allowed ms pickups and his E. Paired with Ghost and start with boost and he can be a force to be reckoned with.
Done251 votesHis heal is...weird. If you don't let it charge for 7~10 seconds it's SUPER weak. So it's useless in team fights. It also has VERY low scaling in comparison to the high base it has. Don't expect him to intentionally build any AP.
Knight SoIaire 1 votesyeah me neither
i personaly think that the shrines were made that way intentionaly the skill itself isnt supposed to make him a diferent wersion of soraka but allow him to be present as a support in a spot where he isnt actualy present
you can leave them for your adc to pick when he needs, for your jungler, you can go mid and give it to the midlaner, you can just put them as a failsafe for yourself
ExecutorDill1 votesWell his heal also grants movement speed and is more useful than you think when you insta use it on initiators like fighters and tanks because their high resistances will increase the effective health. If you know what I mean :P
Done251 votesWell his heal also grants movement speed and is more useful than you think when you insta use it on initiators like fighters and tanks because their high resistances will increase the effective health. If you know what I mean :P
I would argue that Kayle's Divine Blessing does the exact same thing, except it's targeted and needs no wind up time.
ExecutorDill1 votesMaybe they should add some sort of passive to his E or R like 
's R. Something to help be more of a threat and help him scale better into late game. Champs who focus on one role most often are stronger than multi-role champs at the given role (or atleast they should be)
Meep Man1 votesBard is meant to not have much damage. His utility is really high and he is really powerful as an oppressive lane bully with an early stun that scales to really high levels.
ExecutorDill1 votesIt has good early base but it's per lvl base is weak and it's scaling is mediocre. Riot made it that way because 1 good damage ability is all a support needs to contribute to a teamfight or in lane (especially when they have high utility), they realized it's too weak that why you can see the cooldown reduced per lv changes made I think on the last PBE update.
No his utility is high and strong, and that's mainly why I like him... That and the fact that he roams to improve his skills. But what good is utility if they are so many requirements to follow and so many built-in counterability for enemies to capitalize on like, his Magical Journey and the fact that stasis enemies don't take damage just gives them time to determine their next move while the stasis is off. So far the 2 single most effective ways I have seen to use his ult is:
To stasis half of the enemies in a teamfight and try and make it a 5v3 or 5v2 and kill off the un-stasised targets while you wait for the others to come off stasis.
Stasis a turret for a good tower dive to low health enemies while you stun targets then constantly analyze your ADC's health bar as you auto attack enemies, maybe open a magical journey through the wall for assured escape.
The least impactful in my eyes. Stasis a single enemy for your team to group up around him and demolish him.
The thing is his Meep passive can be wasted on the wrong target, and he gets less experience for collecting chimes than sitting in bush near enemy minions while your ADC farms.