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"We even have Bard Buffs."

MrwiOzV6pB·9/4/2015, 1:24:20 PM·5 votes·1,410 views

Bard

So as a lot of people know some champions got buffs/debuffs in the latest patch. When I went to see Bard got a "buff" I screamed like a little girl in a candy shop. When I went to his patch notes to see he only got -2 secs CD on his "Magical Journey" skill (which is just kind of laughable) and 90 flat mana cost on "Caretaker's Shrine" (which isn't bad, but he needs MORE).

The problem with Bard is he just lacks in SO much and if you haven't played him please don't comment because he's a really hard champion to play.

I'll list some problems here why he needs a master rework and why just cutting mana or CD isn't going to help much:

  1. His heals are incredibly weak. Yes, I know he has multiple totems to set down to heal others (up to 3), but they're still too weak and almost become irrelevant mid to late game. They take a 10 sec cooldown to get the full heal out of them which is incredibly long mid to late game and I believe they still heal a lot weaker than Taric's instant heal when fully charged. At late game your team isn't going to survive for 40 sec to get 3 full heal totems in 1 place. His heals just don't scale well for mid/late game for the fast pace style LoL is and by doing instant heal you're still healing 1/2 as much than most heal champions with still a really long CD.

  2. His slow is hard to use. Now this wouldn't be a big issue if he had a secondary skill to rely on, but he doesn't. I think the biggest issue with Bard's stun is that I believe it's shorter range than his default attack. It's really short range and it's also VERY slow. Any skilled player can dodge it or even be out of range of it. Since it's not a lock on skill its harder to use too.

  3. He only has 2 damaging attacks to rely on. Auto attack and his slow. His Ultimate is a dice roll, I'll get to that later.

  4. Magical Journey just doesn't deserve to be a skill. It doesn't really help the team like I thought it would. I thought you would at least be able to put down a portal and have it last 60 secs - 5 mins for your team to actually use, but no it just disappears in like 5 secs for a 1 time use. Bard is already weak, why would you give him a 5 sec use portal skill? The other thing about it is ENEMIES can use it! The main reason you would use it is to gank or run away and you can't even run away most of the time using it!

  5. Bard's default attack, def, ap is just too low. Honestly, I think Bard should be a tank. He's just too squishy for the skills he's given. I would like it a lot better if his AP was turned down a notch or 2 and made into a tank. He's definitely no Sona. Sona

  6. The last thing to address is his ultimate. I like his ultimate, but it just isn't strong enough with the skills he's given. It can either destroy your team or end the other team. Half the time your team will probably cuss you out because they aren't fast enough on the ball when his ultimate ends. It's really a coin toss and probably comes down to which team has better ping. I honestly would rather his Magical Journey be replaced with a different helpful support skill, maybe something along the lines of Anivia's Crystallize that alters the earth around players to make offensive or defensive decisions instead of Magical Journey where you're VERY limited to physical walls. Maybe even have it do damage over time.

  7. "Riot doesn't want to create healer roles". This is referring to the fact they said they didn't want healing mains. What is Bard? I don't even know anymore, but I know he's incredibly weak and mains in heals, portals, and turning enemies into gold for 2 secs.

Edit:

I don't understand how people can say he's balanced and down vote this when he's clearly not. It's not that he's difficult to play, it's that he has skills that really aren't needed most of the time. How can someone compare Bard against Taric when Taric has:

  1. An Auto lock on stun
  2. Gives Def bonus passively to teammates
  3. Is nearly a tank and does decent damage
  4. Has one of the most powerful heals in the game with decent CD for the power
  5. Debuffs an enemies def
  6. Has an ult that can give your entire team in close quarters attack, def, and ability power for a team fight.

15 Comments

Dr Poro9/4/2015, 1:36:52 PM2 votes

Bard is a really good champion, actually. He just needs experience and skill to play. (125+ games players with Bard have above 55% winrate. Which is not amazing, but it's good. Oh and this is before the buffs.)

azrolator9/4/2015, 3:17:15 PM1 votes

He is a slow starter for sure, he lacks great damage. He gets more later game by picking up chimes, but that isn't something that he can snowball into. With a crappy heal, 1 mediocre damage cc ability, I think his r could use a change to make it something more useful. I don't use it often as there are not that many clear cut opportunities where it will only hamper the enemy and not your own team. I mostly play aram though. I feel like I can use him much better there than on the rift. He is a jack of all trades, he can do different things, just none of them well.

Tengrichan9/4/2015, 3:23:13 PM1 votes

Only his heal needs a little touch up see my suggestion: http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/jfIUlncc-bards-wcaretakers-shrine-change-suggestion?comment=0001

The latest buffs are noticeable.

68636949_DEL9/4/2015, 9:29:08 PM1 votes

[deleted]

Crossette9/4/2015, 9:35:43 PM1 votes

I'll tell you what's wrong with your statements. One by one. If they're wrong, I'll explain.

  1. I agree completely.

  2. Bard's stun increases in range after hitting one enemy and if you aren't absolute shit then you can land it. The slow alone on his Q is good, and his passive has a scaling slow (from chimes) as you continue the game.

  3. He's a support. He doesn't need damage to carry a game. If you want him to have damage, play him AD top lane (I actually did that and it works if you get good at mechanics)

  4. Magical journey lasting for 5 minutes would be fucking stupid. Why? That means you could have a portal on EVERY WALL OF THE MAP. Even with a limit, that would be stupid. Also, enemies using it means there is counterplay. They move slower through it, and you can be prepared with a Q or an ambush on the other side.

  5. If you want a damage-based support, then play one. Don't be a fuckboy and ask for insane ratios on every champion you want to play.

  6. All you do is ask for damage. If you can't use the ability (ult is amazing btw) then there's something wrong. Sure we mess up from time to time, but if you fail every time then you need to pick a different champion.

  7. "heals, portals, and turning enemies into gold for 2 secs"

THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I MEAN. THIS IS THE ENTIRE REASON WHY HE'S USEFUL, AND YOU'RE A PESSIMIST. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

bronze trash ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

=Bard main=

BroLane9/5/2015, 1:09:30 AM1 votes

Wait Taric is good? I always pick him when i want to fight an uphill battle.

Tahyana9/4/2015, 1:31:27 PM1 votes

Yeah, I feel yeah. I am still trying to master him. It's hard balancing all his aspects, and collecting the chimes can be a pain, especially when you need to be somewhere to help a champ and the chimes are in the opposite direction.

Lyless9/5/2015, 3:52:40 AM1 votes

Bard is one of the most useless champs of all time!