PSA for bard haters/people new to bard.

Bard is a FANTASTIC support. just because you've played with people who aren't good as him (which come on he's a pretty out-there design wise champion that is ALL about positioning).

need sustain? bard can just walk to lane before the match starts, set 3 shrines, back, and then come back to lane with full mana as minion waves come. theres 210 hp in heals sitting right there for him or the adc to grab if they so need.

need cc? his q is actually a lot easier to land a stun on than most people think. here's a little bit of information on his q. say you were to throw it out, and hit someone at max range with it. if you score a hit at max range with his q, it will extend the distance it travels just a little bit more to find a wall or a minion. you can also use their wave of minions against them by hitting them THROUGH a minion.

his e? fantastic. i see a lot of bards just it poorly though. you can use it against chasing enemies so long as you have your q up and feel confident you can stun them afterwards(if you can't, you should probably stick to). it's also fantastic for denying backs later into the game. lets say you hurt sion badly, and he ults towards his nexus tower. there are some walls long enough for you to ride through all the way up to him before he's even halfway done with his back animation

his r? this is also a big problem i see with most bards. a common mistake is to think of it only as a defensive tool. there are MANY uses for his ult. im gonna run through all of them. stall dragon/baron, protect turrets/inhibs, take away enemy turrets for dives, take away enemy minions so your turret focuses champions hitting the turret, isolate carrys from their tanks and vice-versa to turn a 5v5 into a 5v2 or a 4v5 into a 4v3. i use his ult very similar to old vegar e. try to catch people in the corners of it for the best desired affect, so you don't catch your teammates or ult all 5 of the enemy team at once (essentially wasting it)

all in all, bard has the potential to be one of the best IF NOT the best support in league given time.

edit; i forgot to mention the chimes. the chimes essentially give bard limitless sustain, and stupidly strong roaming power. the only thing i would suggest about chimes is that you probably should only go and collect them when either one or both of your enemy laners has backed/is dead, or you're very confident your adc can survive AND have his/her blessing to go.