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Bards W sucks and should be changed.

Boatwhistle··8 votes·5,402 views

The mana dump is horrible for a pitiful heal during the lane phase when is can actually be useful, as for most of the game you will use it as a speed booster for allies. Nobody is going to wait the ten god damned seconds in this game that is essentially a race to get advantages for to tiny ass bonus heal they would receive. Bard stuns himself placing the damn thing so he cant even use the tiny speed boost to his own benefit to any significant degree.

As a result everytime I am like "hay why dont I play bard?" i hop in and immediatly am pissed as I am reminded why. Using it... wainting for it charge, watching how little the speed up does legit just annoys the shit out of me. The worst part being that in every other regard he is a fun champ.

How about instead the ability be decent one off imediate heal or sheild. Perhaps a dedicated speed boost instead thats as nice as zileans. Personally given how easily this dude can get blown up while he moves in closer to get off a double stun maybe the ability could be dmg reduction scaling with AP and points is what i think it ought to be. Whatever though, just not this stupid gimmick the for me at least ruins enjoyment of the champ.

15 Comments

ModWulf Helhammer5 votes

It is supposed to be mainly for the speed up. The heal has a long charge up time since you aren't supposed to be a dedicated healer like Nami or Soraka, rather the shrines are a way to negate the weakness that your ADC has being solo when you roam to pick up chimes.

Boatwhistle1 votes

I knew about the reason, I figured all did so I assumed it redundant to mention after typing it... though I can see why it could be an answer to my frustration. As soon as lane is over his already meh w just becomes one of the least enjoyable abilities to use in my opinion and as I turn away from him for that reason I bet many others do as well.

Zeppelins circus1 votes

{quoted}

I knew about the reason, I figured all did so I assumed it redundant to mention after typing it... though I can see why it could be an answer to my frustration. As soon as lane is over his already meh w just becomes one of the least enjoyable abilities to use in my opinion and as I turn away from him for that reason I bet many others do as well.

Sadly it is the part of the kit that makes bard, but shackles his potential. I agree

Kai Guy5 votes

I strongly disagree. I love bards W because its fantastic for his kit. I leave them around jungle, I leave them in teammates lanes, I leave them for my adc. Im actively using it when im replenishing my MP by doing a chime run.

If your team lets them grow you save about 50% of the mp of only fast casting it on players. And you can pretty easily manage your Mp with chimes. more on map near you is more mp you can give up for lane.

Moonscourge2 votes

Bard W is perfectly fine. It's 360 health or something early on for 3 full heals, which you should have up at all times starting level 2. You can also selfcast it to speedboost yourself as you roam, giving you even more MS than you already have thanks to chimes. It's not a braindead spell and requires eyes from your ADC, that's why it's perceived as weak.

Zeromatsu1 votes

On lvl 1 it heals 70 (+60% ap) and that takes 10 seconds for the shrine to build up otherwise it only heals 30 which is nothing. So 3 Shrines take atleast 30 seconds to build up for only 210 heal (+ some little extra, which is actually neglectable atleast early).

Also enemies can just walk over them and you wasted 70 mana. This is actually the only complaint I have with the ability. It takes 10 seconds already to build up, the heal is not huge, it has to be positioned well so you can reach it in time if you need it and it takes a lot of mana. So why make it so easy to destroy? Atleast slow enemys that step on it so you can make some plays with ult/stun.

Handy Sandy 2 votes

You don't play bard to heal people, you play him to make picks with your ult, high damage, CC and magical journeys. If you give him a real heal or a stronger speedup he'd just be the best support in the game and there would be no reason to pick anyone else.

WeaselRune2 votes

I think Bards W is mostly OK.

Lets compare it with Sorakas W in terms of numbers:

Soraka; 80 / 110 / 140 / 170 / 200 (+ 60% AP)

Bard; 30 / 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 (+ 30% AP) full charge 70 / 110 / 150 / 190 / 230 (+ 60% AP)

Granted, the time you have to wait for a full charge can be a pain but the heals are very comparable. Numbers are in Bards favor at full charge. He doesnt use his health for casting, and there is a speed boost.

Part of the problem with Bard is he scales a bit (up and down) based on your team. If you have derp morons that run straight at a healing shrine as soon as you place it cause theyre down one auto attack from the level 3 enemy ADC... youre screwed. Too often people go for the healing either cause their brain goes "OH piece of candy!" or they dont know it charges to double the healing if they wait a bit.

ADCs that know to clear the middle caster minion so Bard can stun easier (less chance to have the Q hit two casters) are even fewer and farther between.

So here are some tips to help get Bards W to be useful, and efficient in laning.

Only keep ONE shrine up if they ADC thinks theyre candy. Dont try to get full set of 3. Dont put shrines down below half mana. You go out of mana, you wont be able to use Q in any trades, and an emergency W.

When we push in to hit the turret, thats when I start putting most of my shrines down. This gives healing for any poke shots, and a speed boost when its time to go.

Spread them out a bit. If it takes more than casual effort to run over all 3 shrines, theyre less likely to do it. Dont be silly about it, but once you have mana to burn consider putting one shrine at bottom turret a couple Teemos behind it, and then a second shrine in the lane bush. A third shrine could be placed in the jungle or even roam up, hit enemy mid with an AA and/or a Q, then leave a shrine for the midlaner.

If you want derps to use the healing responsibly, the best way is to put the shrines behind them, not in front of them.

Good luck.

Tedo581 votes

It's one of the best single target heals what are you on about + bard has no mana issues cuz you know chimes. + u can put 3 of them out and literally never back.

Boatwhistle3 votes

unless you level it up in lane the heal will be garbage real quick against a proper heal champs like sona or soraka that can reliably utilize builds that empower their heals. Transition to the mid game and like I said nobody will hang around the 10 seconds to get and extra 100 hp, odds are your adc with lifesteal 5 times that in the same time of a wave at that point... thus is becomes a really shit version of speed boost. Put three down and you must leave lane to get chimes anyway defeat the advantage of sustain as your adc must 1v2 or give up farm until your return from getting mana via some means

MrHaZeYo3 votes

Late game the heal isn't really relevant anyway, that's not his job. He shouldn't be picked as a heal oriented champion, it helps during lane because of how you place them, but after that most people aren't looking at bard to heal them, it's not something a lot of people expect from him. You expect the Ults to catch the other team, that his tunnel will help your engagers engage or be used to get you out of a problem, or to sneak a baron. You expect his Q to hopefully hit a stun and that he can speed someone up.

At least that's me, to me his Heal is just a added bonus, not something he needs.

LTK KoRo1 votes

Bard W is terrible just because his passive+Q take most of his power budget

KFCeytron1 votes

"Wait for it to charge" = "walk through my tether."

Tobykachu1 votes

It's actually quite a potent heal in lane. It requires forethought before you place it however, as 3 fully charged heals for around 260 damage at level 1 and against particularly poke heavy lanes I like to put a second point in the ability and then they heal for over 300 damage if you take them all in quick succession.

They are also extremely good at helping your adc escape during a gank. Placed the right distance apart from one another, not only do they give the aforementioned heal, but they can give up to 4.5 seconds of increased movement speed.

You can also leave them in your jungle and mid lane to assist your team mates in a way that no other heal in the game (outside of Soraka's ultimate) can.

The only time late game I see one of my shrines reach full charge is during baron or dragon takes. So yeah the ability really falls off, but not as much as I think you're trying to make it out to be. With a small amount of AP it's around 300 hp on a 7 second cooldown, which is more than enough to save team mates from death many times.

If you really want the heal to be more, then build an Athenes, as I firmly believe Bard is one of the top three users of the item as, unlike many of the other healers, Bard wants to be fighting as much as possible as opposed to hiding behind his team, only using his abilities when they're in danger.

Rabbi Shekelberg1 votes

W charge up takes longer than most teamfights lol

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