Bard Update Patch Update '.'

Please up-vote, take the poll, and leave a comment to tell "us" what you think.

Ah, Bard; that most soulful fellow. Relatively new to the league and yet he has had to endure more than his share of criticisms and nay-sayings. A few last-minute tweaks to his kit are aimed at making him feel safer and more purposeful in his wanderings, and less like a leaf in a storm. Firstly, please accept our assurance that we are hard at work improvising that Epic Sax Man Brad skin you're all clamoring for.

Two major complaints have practically hung in the air since release: "Bard's damage is far too low." and "His heal is even lower." Basically, these thoughts boil down to the same point which is this: Bard does not scale so well with most stats, but with HP, CDR, and chimes. We're raising ratio on his W - Caretaker's Shrine (arguable the weakest and least integrated part of his overall kit) in order to touch up his ability to, you know, support... but this instantly felt like a Band-Aid (Bard-Aid?) on an open wound; we need Meep-o-sporin.

Sacred Sights - Enemies who destroy Bard's shrines are now revealed to Bard's team for a few seconds. (This should help Bard feel safer on the roam, or even to "ward" that river bush, or the tri-. With choice shrine placement this could also help to steer the casting of his E - Magical Journey and/or R - Tempered Fate abilities towards key play making.)

While we like the idea of Bard having a greater impact in skirmishes and games of chicken we also didn't want to raise his damage too much (he is after all the Wandering Caretaker, not the Wandering Ragesmasher), so we looked for small ways to nudge his overall utility towards the spotlight and touch up his damage if we could. Luckily we found a post on our message boards detailing some compelling changes. ;)

When Meeps Attack! - In addition to being revealed, enemies who destroy shrines will also suffer the momentary wrath of the Meeps! Meep-empowered attacks against these defilers gain increased projectile speed, area, slow, and Meep bonus damage. Q - Cosmic Binding will also pass through from a revealed champion twice the usual distance. When a fully charged shrine is consumed by another nearby ally, Bard will spawn one Meep if his posse can roll that deep. (This allows Bard to feel like he can claim and protect an area rather than constantly surrendering it at great cost to his mana, especially in the early laning phase.)

In summary, though these changes are in fact quite small in regards to numbers, they open up opportunities for both play and counter-play while giving the wanderer a little more assurance over the ground he is expected to cover, on top of giving Bard some of that all-in-one kit cohesion that has been our hallmark ever since the release of Rek'Sai.

We hope you enjoy, Sincerely,

Until next time, toodaloo-awoodleweeeeeeee-weoawaddooododadidedlidoh