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Is Bard Underpowered?

Vll5tQL3xS·3/13/2015, 10:11:13 PM·3 votes·3,484 views

I really love Bard. I think he is an extremely fun champion to play and he has all the elements of a unique masterpiece of a champion. I also feel he is under powered at the moment. I think the experience provided from his chimes is to low and he easily falls off in xp if he attempts to play more of a roaming style of play. I also feel his kit is lacking in damage. I understand he is more of a utility champion but their are champions that offer similar utility but much higher damage ratios. Leona being the one that comes to mind. Her ult is a lockdown that deals damage. All of her abilitys deal damage. And with the addition of Relic Shield she offers sustain as well. Bard on the other hand has one ability that deals damage and it is an extremely low number. So if Bard attempts to roam he will fall off in xp and if he stays in lane he gets bullied out. I think he should be more mobile so he can avoid damage to help him survive in lane. Maybe adding a passive movement speed buff to his portal ability to give him more ability to dodge skill shots. Also I think his ult should have a way to deal damage. Annie's Tibbers, Leona's Solar Flare, and Braum's glacial fissure to name a few support ultimates all have a damaging element to their utility. Obviously Bard's ult has a very unique feel and to add instant damage to it may tilt his kit into being over powered. But maybe adding a time delay on the damage. After the stasis is lifted any enemy champion remaining in the circle after a short delay take damage. You could make this damage ratio get higher the closer they are to the center of the circle. This would add an interesting cc element to his kit and throwing out a bad ult may not be the end of the world. Just my opinion on him but I looooove the champ. Hope you guys enjoyed reading.

Thanks a bunch Leagues Heptagon

7 Comments

tTops3/13/2015, 10:28:05 PM1 votes

I wouldn't go as far as saying he's underpowered. He has a high skill-floor. IE) he's relatively difficult to play. Keep in mind he's only been out for a few days and even though people have played him on PBE, it will take a pretty long time before the average player is proficient with him.

The exp fall-off isn't an issue since we currently see a roam-style Blitzcrank support who doesn't fall off. Also, due to minion scaling, exp catch-up is also pretty fast.

I would not try a primary roam-oriented support in solo queue, unless you are duoing with your carry, who's playing a relatively safe carry, who knows how to farm safely. If you do play someone like Bard, you would not need Expanded Mind and could take **Inspiration **to further reduce the exp fall-off.

Referring to the damage note, 1) he is new, so fully understanding his capabilities will come with more games, 2) his kit is oriented heavily around team play. So until we see how he performs at the highest level in the form of competitive premades, where everyone knows how to play together, we won't be able to accurately determine his real strength. :)

YT: /tboi3000 FB: /ifmAries

SIayton3/14/2015, 12:25:19 AM1 votes

I think he's just a crappy version of some other champions. The only really unique thing he offers is his tunnels through the walls, which are nice to set up ganks, but even then they're kind of telegraphed and slow so I'm not sure how good they are at higher levels.

But lets compare him to Nami since they have similar functionality. Nami heals better than bard at a moments notice. The heal is also a harass tool. Bards heal is pretty weak unless you set it and let it grow, but that's not really an option in team fights, so you're stuck with the weaker instant heal (which also doesn't bounce).

Nami has a stun that can hit multiple targets. So does bard. Nami's is better though because its non-contingent. Meaning if it hits them, they're stunned. No if ands or buts. Bard on the other hand requires positioning, other units, walls, has short range, is fairly slow, etc etc. Its not like you can just walk up to someone and stun them. It has to be set up. Namis can also stun more than 2 people.

Mobility wise, nami just gives your team mates mobility any time she uses an ability. Bard requires a wall. Tunnels offer situationally more options but Nami's is always useful.

Bard can slow you with his meeped autos. At most he'll usually have 2 meeps, maybe 3 if its late game, SUPER rarely he'll have 4 if he's collected a ridiculous number of chimes. Nami can slow you with her autos OR have her teammate slow you, and it always gives 3 charges. Its once again, more consistent and versatile than bards.

And lastly, bard has an AOE stun ult. Nami's is much faster to start up and allows enemies to be damaged when hit by it, as well as providing some up front damage itself. Bards is slower and harder to hit but does atleast have more range. Overall though, Nami's is useful in MANY more situations while still retaining similar functionality.

So all in all, bard is a bad nami that makes tunnels through the wall that enemies can also use.

Porcelain Bowl3/14/2015, 12:26:43 PM1 votes

If you ult their entire team, which is not ideal, you basically give everyone on your team gapclosers. That's right everyone... Think about how easy it is to kill an adc now that you have a perfect flank from behind, with enemy tanks in the backline while your tanks are in the frontline.

Now think about a more ideal situation where you can ult half the team and basically cc them for 2.5 seconds. If they fight, they fight 2.5 v 5. If they flee, now you can get free kills on ulted champions.

Now think about freezing turrets and diving the enemy team ignoring turrets. Now think about freezing baron and healing him when enemy team is trying to rush baron. Now notice his 2500 range. Now notice his ult cd. Now tell me he's underpowered.

oh btw his passive gives cc and quite a bit of magic dmg his q has a super wide hitbox his w takes some time to mature but is on par with nidalee's heal (which is probably the second best heal after soraka) his e allows your whole team to surprise engage the opponent

Dominoh3/25/2015, 6:40:26 PM1 votes

Honestly, Bard is very difficult to master. However, once I figured out a solid build and learned how to play him he was extremely useful. The only changes I would make would be change his q's hitbox (it seems a bit narrow for the animation, although i would also be content with fixing the animation to be smaller, just so long as they match up) and also either make his health shrines heal more, or make them scale better with ap or some other stat like mana because he's very mana hungry so building mana is very useful. I think Bard is a fantastic champion and if anything is only slightly under the balanced line. I applaud riot in this piece of art.

NUTTYN4/5/2015, 5:40:07 PM1 votes

hes actually trash, his only decent form of sustain is w and by decent i mean it heals a sliver of your health. And his ult is lmsot impossible to land, anybody can move aside from it.

BenParadox4/16/2015, 1:18:10 AM1 votes

Instead of Bard 's ultimate dealing damage, it should let allied units out of stasis earlier than enemy or neutral units, giving them time to flee, prepare for a fight, or kill something nearby. At later ranks, the difference could be greater, and neutral monsters could be let out a little earlier than enemies so you could steal monster camps.