Why I already like Bard

We've already seen his skills, his fluffy looks, his overall tranquility in his animations and some of us might have already heard the sounds he produces when given orders by the player.

But I would like to go a step further and congratulate Riot on this one. I feel like Bard is a lot different from any champion that has been released last year. He looks like a breeze of fresh air when it comes to designs. And I think we aren't giving him his rightful value asides from a trollgasm (someone else created this expression) of a support.

I will tell you why:

• Bard isn't hypermobile. He won't become nearly untargetable and force you to waste a ton of skillshots just to make him burn that mobility. The one skill he has related to hyper-mobility is his E (MS boosts aren't really an annoying type of super mobility), and it is given to everyone on the map.

• He has no knock-ups. About time, am I right? A champion that can be countered by tenacity and won't synergize with the old Yasuo-Malph-Wukong combo.

• Bard can stack infinitely, as far as I am aware. I am particularly fond of Sion and Veigar, and both of them were already in my favorite list of champions before their reworks. Getting one that isn't likely to get a rework so soon is definitely a fresh change. Anyway, this one is just a reason of mine, probably not really much for anyone else.

• None of his skills have a passive attached to them. He might have a double passive, but taking in account the other champions recently released, to me, his kit feels less overloaded.

• He isn't anti-melee. With Gnar and Kalista having recently been released, the worst can be expected for the top-lane. Luckily, Bard's skillset isn't by any means, a pack of tools to render a class of champions nearly worthless.

• Bard can give mobility to ANYONE. That's right. Any champion in the game can have mobility. For the first time, a champion's mobility does not jeopardize the viability of his immobile, older brothers.

• He re-introduces roaming to the game. Meta changing once again, hopefully without him turning into a jungler and forcing him into a full-time support.

• He is able to protect his friends, even if the hyper-mobile enemies dodge his CC. I've been in that situation when I am a skill-shot reliant support and a mobile assassin jumps on my carry. I fire my stuff at him, and he dodges, all while dealing a lot of damage to the guy I am supposed to protect. In this case, you can actually save your carry without needing to pray that Zed accidentally blinks into your CC, but actually thanks to your skill.

• Second support in the game that can use an ability on turrets. Just awesome.

• Vi's ult. This is again just personal issues. I hate it when an enemy Vi locks down one of my squishies without us being able to do much about it. Now you can give your carry an item he is forbidden to build, just for counterplay purposes.

• Yes! A Heal! A heal on a new support! Its been a while!

So, you guys at Riot HQ. Lay down your nerf hammers for a few seconds and rejoice with your creation. I really think you did a good job here. I do not like everything Bard does though, but most of his kit seems very very fresh.