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Bard ... the roaming support

Knight SoIaire ··3 votes·1,736 views

who feels to be crippled by the fact that he has to leave his laner

roaming as a support in the lane phase is a "high risk high reward" maneuwer for supports

but then there is bard who takes this stuff to a completly new level a)bard doesnt roam to other lanes or to help his teammates ... he roams to .. roam
the entire theme of bard is a mechanic made for the sake of a mechanic

what i meant is that bard doesnt roam because he is made to be good at it and function that way .. he roams because he gets random bonuses for doing so while not realy being good at it

leona can roam and im 90% sure your midlaner gets a kill of that nami or sona can do the same ... succes rate might be a little lower

those are succesfull and good roams made by supports who can support that playstyle of bashing into your lane and serwing you kills

but bard ... he goes to your lane places you a heal that needs to charge for an age and if he is lucky he will stunn your enemy ... but compared to other supports thats little even in terms of utility

his roaming mechanic doesnt support the role it was meant to support owerall score as a roaming support is 0/10

b) bard isnt that good at roaming i already mentioned that but roaming the map as bard does it ... requires loads of movement speed with the current ms boost bard gets which is ballanced around collecting chimes often dont count on being a good roamer ... chimes wont just swarm one place ... so you will lose the ms boost most of the time

a good roamer might be udyr ... he has no dashes but his ms is astonishing when he casts bear couple times ... so he starts roaming from one spot of interests to another ... and he can become be present on the map at every point he is needed

thats what bard is meant to do ... thats his main theme ... but bard isnt realy good at that

owerall ganking score i would say is 3/10 up to 5/10 if enemy is squish and bard stunns him

c)bard isnt compensated for leaving the lane propertly

while this is subjective to opinion for most people there is one thing that i would like to mention again bard is forced to roam for the sake of roaming

probably many of you noticed that his mana pool is like ... barely existant early but hey ... collecting chimes gives you mana back

this is meant to shape bard as a guy who goes out of lane ... and comes back to lane just to leave heals for you and continue roaming

in game .. sucks due to the fact that bard's roaming sucks too

experience wise not worth your laner might die due to 2v1 burst you arent that good at ganking so map presence sucks too your chimes wont just line up for a gank so even if opportunity arises you might just not be able to capitalize

and your lone adc cant hope for you to come back anytime soon when it gets hot

owerall score of adc safety when bard leaves 3 maybe 4 /10

i like playing bard ... irealy enjoy how he takes some skill to play effectively and when you play him good ... you know that you play him good toss a good ult ... you will see the teamifghs reshaped by it toss some good q's and you feel like aoe leona use magical journey to line your stuff up ... or to get your teammates to some good spots ... or to bait your enemies ... and you get to see the effects of your work

but bard is the worst case of champion identity being implemented into gameplay

his core identity basicaly kills him in all areas you dont gain much by roaming for chimes and you cant realy use that roaming to do anything usefull besides placing some heals in the jungle (but you used 3 on lane to keep your adc safe so fk you)

and you are forced to roam by stuff like crappy mana pool and your pasive power

riot please fix bard ... i think that this is one of the most enjoyable supports if not champions ... if we exclude the fact that his core identity got fked up during implementation into the gameplay and makes playing him feel more like a torture than a magical journey

14 Comments

Greenette2 votes

[{quoted}](name=Hagane No Arashi,realm=EUNE,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=RYluEjA4,comment-id=,timestamp=2015-08-04T11:46:53.199+0000)

who feels to be crippled by the fact that he has to leave his laner

Out of all the supports who frequently leave lane to gank and scout Bard is the only one who is rewarded and empowered.

roaming as a support in the lane phase is a "high risk high reward" maneuver for supports

Not at all. Unless you're already operating at a deficit in the bot lane due to bad trades it's never a bad idea for the support to put their efforts elsewhere. Most ADC's have spells they can safely farm with from great range while you're gone as well. Not to mention any time you leave lane - you also return, which is a prime time to collapse with your jungler as the enemies attempt a 2v1 that you can turn into your advantage, if that does indeed happen.

but bard ... he goes to your lane places you a heal that needs to charge for an age and if he is lucky he will stun your enemy ... but compared to other supports that's little even in terms of utility

Bard ticks every box in terms of what a good support champion needs in order to excel. My first impression of him is that his kit is nearly perfect in terms of what it offers to his team mates, the only thing it's missing is a shield. Move speed, repositioning tool, heal, stun, slow, and selective invulnerability - not even Thresh has this much in terms of raw utility. Bard's utility is not so cut and dry as Thresh's but properly utilized it is amazing.

b) bard isn't that good at roaming

A lot of supports whose goal is to land high value crowd control, such as Annie and Alistair, use move speed quints. Bard should be no different.

overall ganking score i would say is 3/10 up to 5/10 if enemy is squish and bard stuns him

In many cases landing the slow is enough. If it were so debilitating using a slow as your primary tool that leads into more crowd control, how do Janna players ever get by? Understanding how to gank is imperative to playing Bard as well - you don't always just walking into the lane and try to land the stun all willy nilly. As well, if you're ganking alone without your jungler at your side be aware that scoring a kill isn't going to be very easy unless the opponent has low hp or is pushed very far. You can expect the same from a lot of supports who solo gank as well, it's not just Bard.

c)bard isn't compensated for leaving the lane properly

The mana you earn is essential to sustained harass. Not to mention his passive becomes very, very strong as you collect chimes and you would do well to never underestimate a Bard who has been vigilant in collective the chimes.

bard is forced to roam for the sake of roaming

When bot lane gets stale and it's just farm, farm, farm every support should roam for the sake of roaming. You never know when you'll catch the enemy jungler trying to solo dragon and keeping your ward line fresh and active is a job that never stops.

your laner might die due to 2v1 burst

That is a case by case assessment. Announce to your ADC that you will actively be moving in and out of the lane and that they must adjust their playstyle to accommodate this but understand that sometimes yes, you will not be able to utilize this aspect of Bard. Sometimes you will meet players who need more care and attention than others and that they will require to roam quickly, to gather close chimes and to ward.

you arent that good at ganking so map presence sucks too

That's a matter of opinion.

your chimes wont just line up for a gank so even if opportunity arises you might just not be able to capitalize

As you ward more deeply into the enemy jungle, your chimes will often appear in very helpful places. Also knowing that chimes spawn at time intervals is very helpful meaning that you go out to ward at the times your chimes will spawn so that they appear in places you can later take advantage of.

overall score of adc safety when bard leaves 3 maybe 4 /10

The ADC's in favor right now all have the ability to dash/blink/etc. and those who do not all have excellent spells to farm at range with.

but bard is the worst case of champion identity being implemented into gameplay

That's simply not true. There are so many champions whose lore to gameplay just do not make sense. One that is often cited is Shen being the leader of a ninja organization yet being a tank.

All in all, I personally see nothing wrong with Bard. His ganks are not A+ but making it so that Bard has all this utility plus the ganking power of Leona would just be nonsense. People would complain quite a bit and when not complaining they would feel bad dealing with Bard in game until he was nerfed in order to tone down his strengths. Like any champion he cannot be strong in every aspect and he cannot even be "on par" with others because he offers so much utility that adding anything more just tips the barrel.

Knight SoIaire 1 votes

That's simply not true. There are so many champions whose lore to gameplay just do not make sense. One that is often cited is Shen being the leader of a ninja organization yet being a tank.

i dont mean lore i mean bard the roaming support ... being more of a normal support who is just forced to wander around ... instead of a roaming support

All in all, I personally see nothing wrong with Bard. His ganks are not A+ but making it so that Bard has all this utility plus the ganking power of Leona would just be nonsense. People would complain quite a bit and when not complaining they would feel bad dealing with Bard in game until he was nerfed in order to tone down his strengths. Like any champion he cannot be strong in every aspect and he cannot even be "on par" with others because he offers so much utility that adding anything more just tips the barrel.

the inly thing that i dont like about bard is that he is meant to e the roaming support

but he just isnt ... he is a normal support who is forced to walk around in random places by his passive there is nothing deeper to bards roaming than that

ballance wise ... you are all right ... he doesnt need a buff but his roaming which is meant to be kinda the core of his gameplay ... feels kinda unexistant ... you gather chimes for the sake of chimes

its just a bad conversion from bards intended identity to gameplay just like aatrox's ultimate ... a war demon who inspires people to commit acts of great brutality ... the pinnacle of his power is creating a medicore damage blast and making his sword longer ... that just doesnt fit

also the warding arguments ... while fair ... support isnt meant to be the "ward bitch" of a team and i think that riot dislikes when suports are treated like ones

thats why i wont speak about bard's synergy with the role of a "ward bitch" of his team

Greenette2 votes

But that is what supports are meant for. Why the community thinks it's a negative that support champions do the lions share of warding is something I do not understand. This is not to imply that other people cannot ward a whole bunch - by all means do this - but it is a given that supports place the most wards and tend to the vision more vigilantly than anyone else.

To address what I feel is the main point - that Bard is forced to roam - I'd just like to say that every support will roam at some point in every game. That's a fact, whether they're going out to ward or sweep, or to gank it doesn't matter but they're going to leave bot lane. No other support becomes empowered from roaming the map like he does which is why Bards passive is excellent for a support. It rewards behaviors that will happen anyway and teaches you to recognize when you should utilize these mechanics and when you should not.

As for the Aatrox/Bard statement - some things just cannot be translated into League of Legends. It's not a movie which is why abilities have visual ques but are not super distracting and flashy.

Rito Staff1 votes

Collected enought precursor orbs and he gets pretty strong with AP.

But ye not much for him when roaming. (I love it, but I feel pressured by the toddler ADC who starts pinging)

kJs1 votes

I don't know. His ult is relatively long ranged if they made it like Ekko's W where you can't see it unless you see Ekko casting the W he would be used much more. When you land your ult you can follow up with a well timed Q for a stun. Into an autattack for a slow and then another Q if it's maxed.

Erockandroll1 votes

I disagree in many aspects, Though it's true that his some what unreliable CC does make it hard to gank and get a kill. He just roams for other reason. And don't always think that roaming should mean ganking. For example, in your entire wall of text shpeal about roaming. I don't believe I even hear the word "Ward" or "Vision" even once in that post. And that is as good as a reason as any to roam. You also neglect the power of his magical Journey. He may not be the best Ganker, but he can set up ganks.

And because of His healing cookies, he can give his ADC a lifeline even if he's away. And it's not fair to chastise his roaming Just because the ADC is perpetually stupid. Though it is fair to say he's more reliant on a self sufficient ADC. Perhaps someone like Caitlynn, who out ranges most of her opponents.

And besides, he has Seen play in the LCS. If they tried to buff him just because YoloQer are perpetually stupid, he would become oppressive and stale in the LCS. And get nerfed right back to where he is now.

Jbels1 votes

{quoted}

And besides, he has Seen play in the LCS. If they tried to buff him just because YoloQer are perpetually stupid, he would become oppressive and stale in the LCS. And get nerfed right back to where he is now.

Alistar

Erockandroll1 votes

{quoted}

Alistar

Not sure if he's oppressive though, just stale. Sivir became stale yet it took time to see nerfs. But at this point Riot probably thinks that it's too close to worlds to mess with any staple pick.

Knight SoIaire 1 votes

He just roams for other reason.

yeah .. collecting chimes and wasting time ... he doesnt roam for a reason ... he roams because his kit makes him roam

if he wouldnt have to collect those chimes he would sit on a lane and never thought of leaving it

You also neglect the power of his magical Journey. He may not be the best Ganker, but he can set up ganks.

didnt neglect it

i focused on his roaming aspect ... magical journey no matter how awesome it is ... doesnt contribute much here besides some organized plays but in 3v1 ... i dont expect it to be a game changer

I don't believe I even hear the word "Ward" or "Vision" even once in that post. And that is as good as a reason as any to roam

roam ? to the dragon pit or enemy buff ... not to stroll jungle for over a minute while your adc gets a knife to his throat

he can give his ADC a lifeline even if he's away

mentioned it ... doesnt do much when your adc gets stunned and bursted where he stands ... and that tends to happen when your adc is alone on a lane

And besides, he has Seen play in the LCS. If they tried to buff him just because YoloQer are perpetually stupid, he would become oppressive and stale in the LCS. And get nerfed right back to where he is now.

im not speaking some simple buffs here im speaking about fixing his roaming to have the intended depht of gamepla for him instead of being an annoying mechanic that just cripples him

Gordo San1 votes

im speaking about fixing his roaming to have the intended depht of gamepla for him instead of being an annoying mechanic that just cripples him

Other than the obvious grammatical errors this is not make any sense.

You keep pointing out problems without offering any solution.

It's a whole lot of "He sucks, change him".

Knight SoIaire 1 votes

im not a game designer to know what will work without creating more problems

Gordo San1 votes

So this is more of a rant, then it is about gameplay balance.

You should read this before making posts:

http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/jLGvQ3Wk-before-you-make-a-post-about-balance

Knight SoIaire 1 votes

So this is more of a rant, then it is about gameplay balance.

And you blame my grammar ...

Also you sent me a thread that says nothing about me being obligated to give any sort of suggestion to fix this.

Next thing. Since you read so carefully my posts to point out the grammar ... you should also know what i do write in them.

You probably didnt even read half of the thing and you are jumping to conclusions (since your conclusions are contrary to what i wrote).

Go and read it ... or stay silent ... anything else wont make sence. Simply coming to a random thread and disagreeing with something that isnt in that thread cant lead to any productive discussion.

Gordo San2 votes

lol wat?

Other than the obvious grammatical errors this is not make any sense.

It says "other than".

I think you may just have had your jimmies rustled.

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