Let's have a serious discussion about Bard

Since his release, Bard has consistently shown low win ratios. Riot gave him a few consolitory buffs the first patch afterwards, and despite marginally low pick rates and win rates, and despite the common conception that he's weak, he has since been ignored. Bard is resting at an average of 45% win ratio, which, considering that there are 9 other players, is abysmal. This win rate extends to platinum, diamond and master; it's not a matter of people not having skill with bard, it's a matter of bard having inherent weaknesses that simply need to be adressed.

The first problem is, Most of Bard's power is niche and hard to access. His Q is only really powerful if used in the proper circumstances; the enemy has to be standing next to a wall or another enemy. His W is only powerful if you place the shrines and allow them to strengthen over time, which requires foresight that is often simply impossible. His E is highly situational, and, while conceptually sound, often feels difficult to capitolize on. And his R is the most situational of them all; it has an unreasonably long delay for a very small area that does exactly the same to allies and enemies. The best potential is being able to lock enemies out of the fight, but even then, it is nowhere near as powerful as, say, a lulu ult or a sona ult that is devastating on teamfights.

The idea is that his power is shifting and requires great skill to use. That idea is really cool in my opinion, but when compared with supports who have blatent, obvious and overwhelming power, Bard doesn't stand up. Bard does not have the hard engage of Thresh, or the tankiness of Alistar, or Poke of Sona, or the CC of lulu. In fact, he is one of the lowest damaging supports in the league; In lane, his damage is quite literally negligable, and even afterwards, he only has his passive and his Q with any damage, neither of which deal a whole lot. His sustain is good in lane, but problematic, because that's really the only thing he does in lane.

Another issue is his team must know how to play around him for him to even remotely work. His shrines are a unique mechanic that several players don't really understand. His Ult requires extreme capitolization to be even remotely worth it, and his Q is only cc, and very short duration, which requires his team to play around him. He is probably the most team-dependent support in existence; other supports can do their job almost regardless of team play, but he is completely innert if his lane partner doesn't know what to do with him. The same happens in teamfights, in other instances, in basically the whole game. When compared with a champ like blitz or annie who make it easy for the team to be effective, bard is extremely difficult to play around.

But the main problem is this; For all of the difficulty there is to play Bard well, and all of the difficulty to play around him well, there is not a reasonable reward for doing so. If you play bard effectively, it's about the equivalent of playing any other support normally. The problem is not that he's challenging to play; the problem is that he is extremely difficult, and when he's played well, it's barely noticeable. You should be rewarded for picking and playing a hard champion well, but you're not. Instead you can faceroll as annie and, in all likelihood, do better.

There are more problems than this. His passive gameplay, his lack of fallback gameplay when his team is behind, his squishiness that's mixed with low range, his high lane mana costs that necessitate roaming and leave his adc vulnerable, his lack of lockdown cc to protect his teamates... But it all boils down to this: Bard is not rewarding enough as a champion, and that needs to be fixed.

Please upvote and bump if you agree. Bard needs help.