Why Does Bard Ult Not Give An Assist?

Dev Dog·May 27, 2015·95 votes·4,132 views

Okay so the title pretty much sums it up, but I have been playing a lot of lately, and it seems reaaaaallly off that he gets no assist gold from ulting a teammate or an enemy during a fight. I really don't get it. Shouldn't you get an assist for saving/stunning someone in a teamfight or other situation?

On another note, if there is some concern that it is abuse=able, I think there are plenty of other ults that are much easier to use to get assists like ult, ult, ult, etc

Overall, as a support player, you really need all of the assists you can get, especially as a roaming support like . I think it would help him a lot throughout the game to gain assists in this way. Anyways, discuss below.

EDIT: trying to keep this thread alive and maybe we can get a RITO comment? I'm just curious whether this was intended or not

39 Comments

GavranMay 28, 201510 votes

Because Bard ults never assist your team at all! 8D

Not really though it should give assists. Dude's E already can't give assists, no reason for his ult not to at all.

R2D20May 28, 20153 votes

wait his E doesn't either? THE ASSIST-LESS GOD!

GavranMay 29, 20151 votes

Well to be completely honest I can't say for sure, but I believe it doesn't.

FastAsHeckMay 28, 20156 votes

they should make it deal 1 dmg to enemies and 1 hp heal to allies right before the freeze. easy!

GavranMay 29, 20151 votes

Or even in a bigger radius, so tower disables and such count too. Definitely not too hard and they've done similar things in the past.

AudiomancyMay 28, 20153 votes

Magical Journey doesn't give assists when enemies use it (and later die) either. I had a Braum tell me that it dealt 1 true damage too. Still no assist. :c

Aeolian MelodiesMay 28, 20151 votes

And it shouldn't. This is like saying you should be getting an assist for baiting/tanking and neither buffing/healing/shielding a teammate or damaging/debuffing/CCing an ally.

We should focus on actual assist-less BS, like Sona's Q buff and Crucible's heal.

Clown ApocalypseMay 28, 20152 votes

yeah only 2 of his skills give assists. Unless that wall walk thru does and I never noticed. That's half the kit on a support that wont get them an assist. Kinda wack I was genuinely upset when I figured that out. Don't think I've played bard since. He's already awkward to play because it almost never seems like a good time to ult, so if you do manage to use it in a decent situation you should benefit off of that.

Dev DogMay 28, 20151 votes

This is exactly what I mean. If he only had 2 abilities and autos to help him get assists, that sets him so far behind, despite his insane play-making potential and team fighting presence. And when he can't get gold from assists, how can he compete with supports like Janna who get like 3+ assists every team fight just from ulting next to the teams?

Jungle Lux GodMay 28, 20152 votes

Bard should really get assists for ulting, although it probably would be understandable that it doesn't give assists because it could potentially assist either team. It's understandable why it wouldn't give an assist, but it's not enough of an excuse to not let him get an assist.

Truly PridefulMay 28, 20152 votes

Something I've been wondering since Day 1. It's probably just coded exactly like Zhonya's so it's not counted as a debuff against enemies like it should be. I can't imagine it would be a hard fix at all.

To the people saying Bard ults screw his team so often or any garbage like that. If you play him with any frequency, bad ults become extremely rare. I've had less bad ults than I've seen bad Lee Sin kicks on my teams lately that save enemies. A majority of my ults save teammates or create picks / split the enemy for a good fight. Sorry if you guys get bad Bards, but don't throw the people that actually play him well under the bus for it.

TheI3igDaddyMay 28, 20152 votes

They should make it do 1 true damage to every hit enemy.

NebuulMay 28, 20152 votes

Why Does Bard Ult Not Give An Assist?

Because he does enough for the enemy team already -- Riot does not want to encourage more griefing by giving assists for teamkills.

/cymbal crash/

I'll be here all week. Don't forget to tip the wait staff.

Ariel the CruelMay 28, 20152 votes

Too much exposition. And you're punch line is the explanation of the joke. Try something more blunt.

". . . Because he's on the enemy team."

I'll be here all week. And don't forget to tip the critics!

BlueGuyMay 28, 20152 votes

It's because they hate bard

DeusVultMay 28, 20152 votes

Honestly its because Bard's ult isn't really something that the game can quantify.

You are chasing the enemy laner who is at low health back to his tower. Bard ults the tower. You get the kill and escape alive because the tower wasn't shooting at you. Yet bard gets no assist.

His whole kit is basically this way

Dev DogMay 29, 20151 votes

That situation is understandable because he is removing turret aggro, not directly freexing someone on your team or the other team. If he freezes someone and they kill someone (your team) or get killed (other team) shortly awfterward, he should definitely get an assist.

EternitySoulMay 29, 20151 votes

[{quoted}](name=Dev Dog,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=eB69J0H9,comment-id=000f0000,timestamp=2015-05-29T02:06:58.429+0000)

That situation is understandable because he is removing turret aggro, not directly freexing someone on your team or the other team. If he freezes someone and they kill someone (your team) or get killed (other team) shortly awfterward, he should definitely get an assist.

My bad. Was about to go into a game, so I didn't explain clearly. I was playing bard and the enemy yasuo attempted to towerdive me at our base turrets. He ulted me and I proceeded to q stun him against the turret. He ended up dying to the turret, but was executed instead of being a kill given to me. I didn't realize it, but my friend noticed as well as the yasuo

B1naryB0tMay 28, 20152 votes

This argument assumes that when you use his ult that you are actually assisting the team. Everyone knows bard never assists the team.

Dev DogMay 29, 20152 votes

Well when you're considering the balancing of a champion I would generally assume someone who is playing is competent enough not to flub everything.

hgjkdlsaf jeldvbMay 28, 20152 votes

When I read the title, all I could think was "because you don't get assists for getting your team killed"

Spacesuit SpiffMay 28, 20151 votes

I'm gonna be honest, giving him ANOTHER reason to do dumb things with his ult seems like a bad idea.

"Bard why did you block my kill from across the map?" "Sorry wanted an assist"

Dev DogMay 28, 201517 votes

That doesn't make any sense though. Plenty of other ultimates in the game, even the ones I listed, can get you assists if used improperly or with bad timing.

Aeolian MelodiesMay 28, 20153 votes

[{quoted}](name=Dev Dog,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=eB69J0H9,comment-id=00000000,timestamp=2015-05-28T00:58:37.607+0000)

That doesn't make any sense though. Plenty of other ultimates in the game, even the ones I listed, can get you assists if used improperly or with bad timing.

Shen/Soraka don't have the potential to actively throw you under the bus.

Auz the RipperMay 28, 201513 votes

Shen does if he has really low health and he goes in against a Katarina/Akali/[insert reset based champion here]

Aeolian MelodiesMay 28, 20155 votes

What are the odds or a player doing that?

ChaoticPineconeMay 28, 20153 votes

but even at the very least, the ult gives you a shield. The player might feed, but it doesnt directly stop you as a player.

thats different from "oops. i tried to ult the enemy for an assist, but you got stuck in stasis instead". or "the drain/proc/channel WOULD have killed them...but..."

RaivicaMay 30, 20151 votes

I was playing an aram against a Bard and Ziggs and Bard ulted at the same time as Ziggs. Was really funny.

bradMay 28, 20153 votes

{quoted}

I'm gonna be honest, giving him ANOTHER reason to do dumb things with his ult seems like a bad idea.

"Bard why did you block my kill from across the map?" "Sorry wanted an assist"

that doesnt happen with shen or soraka, why would it with bard?

if you assist in a kill, you should get an assist + the assist gold period

Meep ManMay 28, 20152 votes

{quoted}

I'm gonna be honest, giving him ANOTHER reason to do dumb things with his ult seems like a bad idea.

"Bard why did you block my kill from across the map?" "Sorry wanted an assist"

Yeah, ok... let me just... pretend I didn't hear that. NOT ALL PEOPLE ARE BAD! Ok, now I'm moving on...

NsquiMay 28, 20151 votes

{quoted}

I'm gonna be honest, giving him ANOTHER reason to do dumb things with his ult seems like a bad idea.

"Bard why did you block my kill from across the map?" "Sorry wanted an assist"

If a Bard wanted, he would cock block you like that regardless. The point of this thread is to get Bards ASSISTS for the ults that allow their teams to set up the perfect wombo. I can't believe he doesn't already. I suppose it's because he doesn't heal the team or deal damage with the ult. Regardless, it should award him an assist.

AerothalMay 28, 20151 votes

is that really true?

ABlueQuakerMay 28, 20151 votes

Because the idea is to ult the people that you DON'T want to kill (i.e. the enemy frontline) so that you can focus priority targets.

Ale non è maleMay 28, 20151 votes

The problem is that is it very hard to recognize when Bard ult has a true effect on giving an assist in a fight, given that it doesn't heal or do dmg and is not easy to verify if his ulti has really contributed to save an ally from damage or to stop enemies from running away I don't know how this could be fixed though, give the 1 dmg 1 heal to do the easyfix would warrant him unearned assist when he should have not gotten that, and I can't figure it out a way to give him any kind of buffs/debuff that could be recognized by the system to rewarding him properly with the assist Maybe slightly reduce stasis duration and give a small speed buff to allies and debuff to enemies to make it trigger the assists? i'm not sure this would necessarily be in the interest of Bard team, though

Mikal PikalMay 28, 20152 votes

A lot of assists are unearned though. For example how do you know that the soraka ult heal was even needed or Leona's FOTM shield, etc? I would say if you hit an enemy who subsequently dies, you should get an assist for that.

Ale non è maleMay 28, 20151 votes

I'm not talking about what my eyes see, but from a system point of view. The system has no way to recognize if bard ult was useful. Are you talking about uneearned assists? Of course they exist and are a problem. But the system at least know that your Soraka ult or WW Hunter's Call or any else had an a positive effect on yourmates or a negative effect on enemies On bard situation not only the ulti does not necessarily help, but there isn't even a way for the system to recognize it. And it IS in Bard's ulti purpose to not give buffs/debuffs but just to put an ally/enemy in stasis being affected by no effect, so it is a problem of Bard's ulti natue in itself, not something that can be quickly hotfiexd as the effects would be even more weird than the assists for Soraka ulti heals that were headed mainly for other champs (and honestly, who waste Soraka ulti awith his long CD to just get a random assist from the other side of the map? It is more likely a side effect or healing someone who need it, and incidentally helping another person too)

FowstMay 28, 20151 votes

I never noticed that before until i saw this post, granted i haven't played much bard. seems a little unfair.

taleofsonataMay 28, 20151 votes

The thing about why Bard ult doesnt give an assist is because the system doesnt know if Bard ult was beneficial for his team or beneficial for the enemie team. When you use Soraka ult, the purpose of that abilities in the 1st place is to heal and not harm your teamates.

EternitySoulMay 29, 20151 votes

If you stun someone with bard's q against the tower, and they die to it by just your q, you don't get the kill. They just get executed. Just had a match that this incident happened.