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So, Bard Discussion

VentusDragoon·2/24/2015, 8:19:23 PM·4 votes·17,951 views
Bard, the Wandering Caretaker, revealed

Put a link to the reveal page in case anyone hadn't seen it yet.

Anywho, I'm honestly just curious GD, what do you all think about the newest support? What kind of questions and ideas do you have for him? I can see many things being brought up about him, and I'm honestly curious what you all think.

Some of the things I was thinking was...

  1. Will Bard's ult have any effect on Dominion Turrets/Any Mode Nexus/TT Altars?
  2. As it is-- Bard's E seems to be literally useless on Howling abyss, due to the lack of walls outside of the stage limits.
  3. A lot of people are asking, how often will the little chimes appear? They seem to be close together in the video, but I notice suddenly no more appear.
  4. What roles can this guy do? He seems like he could be an EXCELLENT jungler (free experience just for doing what you do anyways? OP.) and could work as a roaming mid as well. Another thing someone brought up is have Every lane solo-- solo top, solo mid, and marksman bot-- while having the jungler in the... jungle and bard following him around, and going where needed.

So, GD, any thoughts on any of these points/questions or any of your own?

61 Comments

Rabid Llama2/24/2015, 10:05:02 PM6 votes

Hey there! I can answer these questions!

1.a. Right now, it **does not ** hit Dominion Turrets (it's cooler to just hit the people channeling, and they serve a very different purpose than turrets on SR)

1.b. It doesn't hit Nexuses (Nexies?) or Inhibitors - there's no reason to hit the enemy Nexus besides trolling, and I like the symmetry on the spell. I'd like to keep it focused on clearer plays, too.

1.c. In general it doesn't hit untargetable things, and there's nothing to hit on the TT altars, so nope :)

2 - I'm interested to see how he plays out on Howling Abyss - he can cut the base wall corners and end up way into the lane, and can jump from brush to brush in the middle of the map. He can flank pretty hard, and might be a big force multiplier for an Udyr or similar. We'll see. Can always up his Chime spawn rate to compensate!

3 - Right now, the chimes show up two at a time about once a minute. Definitely a balance lever, though

4 - That remains to be seen. Jungle Bard is definitely possible, but I'm not sure if it's viable or not. As for double-jungle with a support, his W and E definitely synergize hugely. If that's a thing that happens, I'll be super excited.

Serevas2/24/2015, 8:42:36 PM2 votes

I'll go down your points and then throw some random stuff in on my own.

  1. I imagine there wouldn't be an effect on any of those things as it could be potentially a complete disaster on any other map. I could potentially see the Nexus, but I think that's probably unlikely.

  2. You're right this would be entirely useless, so that would be quite disappointing to get stuck with, but Riot has always had their large focus on SR, for obvious reasons, so I doubt this will change much if at all.

  3. I'm also very curious, and do they occur everywhere on the map, or exclusively through jungle and river areas. Like would you have them in lanes if you were roaming through?

  4. I could see him working as a jungler, might be difficult due to the lack of damage he's likely to have, but the whole, skillshot that stuns from hitting walls as well as other enemies/minions/monsters, could work to a pretty good advantage, plus with the extra XP from chimes and damage from meeps, he could be the fastest leveling jungler in the game with some pretty solid clear times.. Someone suggested potential for mid and top lane, though I find a hard time picturing him for that just because it's difficult for a solo laner to leave without having pushed your laner out, and Bard is lacking in damaging abilities to do that effectively.

As for my points now.

I actually really like the concept of this "Support" he's going to come out of the gate a little OP, as I'm sure we all expect, but I think he can be very healthy for the game. He'll teach supports how to start roaming and influencing other lanes properly, will force ADCs to not lean on their support like a crutch in place of their own leg, also provides a lot of opportunities for major plays. I would bet he'll walk out with a high difficulty rating, while he seems relatively simple, you have to balance your roams with helping your ADC.

Another thing is that he'll be a support that's actually capable of dealing with minion waves pushing in, with some decent base damages from what I can tell, he'll also have the meeps to make his auto attacks a bit of a pass through skillshot, meaning he'll have some manner of wave clear if his ADC died, and will be able to defend his turret rather effectively if he's been roaming and such like he should. He's going to be a heavy impact support for the entire game, in all places of the game, so it could cause a bit more interest in supporting, but I won't hold my breath on that.

Finally how exactly do the health packs work? Do they stay for Teemo shroom lengths of time? Steath ward lengths of time? Is it a Shaco Box? A Maokai sappling? It obviously says it takes a few seconds to charge, but afterwards does it just hang out forever? How many of them can you have out? Does it operate like a spell with a CD or like a stacking item with a recharge?

I'll admit it's got me curious to try supporting with him.

Dangerous Man2/24/2015, 9:04:15 PM2 votes

I think he's a support, he has a Free Zhonya's effect, heals, movement speed, with only 1 real poke.

Raptamei2/24/2015, 8:31:28 PM2 votes

Bard has 2 Dota skills.

  • Q = Windranger entangle, but a skillshot.
  • R = Void chronosphere.

Just saying.

B3ER2/24/2015, 10:11:14 PM2 votes

Broken, completely fucking broken. I mean release Thresh level broken. He's gonna come out strong, people will suck with him, get QoL buffs, people will be good with him and he'll have a 58% winrate. Then there will be lots of QQ and he'll have half of his kit nerfed over 4 patches.

Owltears2/24/2015, 10:57:09 PM1 votes

Are the little spirits around Bard like the Japanese tree spirits? The ones that reside in trees and act like fairies and curse you if you cut down or kill the tree they reside it? They look like the one's I'm thinking of.

Basil van Yhun2/24/2015, 11:03:38 PM1 votes

Is Bard's ultimate a projectile and being blocked by Yasuo Wall/Braum Shield? How does it interact with Braum's shield?

Zarxis2/24/2015, 8:28:07 PM1 votes
  1. Unless Riot gets lazy, it should affect Dominion Turrets and Nexus turrets. It shouldn't affect fountain obelisks.
  2. It might work with turrets and inhibitors... Considering its range, it might be able to link up along the line made by two turrets (or a turret+inhib, or the Nexus). Structures (destroyed or not) count as terrain for abilities like Nautilus' Q; I don't see why Riot wouldn't allow Bard to use his E on them. His E's usefulness on ARAM will depend on whether the portal ends right after the first terrain it goes through, or if the portal actually goes to the end of its range (if there is another bit of terrain to "link" with).
  3. Unknown. Wait for him to hit the PBE.
  4. He might be able to jungle, but he only has two sources of damage (meeps and Q) and doesn't seem to be focused around building auto-attack enhancement items (mainly AD). He might be capable of jungling with his W sustain and Q/meep damage, but it'll probably be very slow. Riot might do something to enhance his primary role— roaming support— if he's just used as a jungler.

I really want to see his on-release skin, and I hope Riot gives him an actual voice instead of copping out by giving him wind-chime noises or something similar.

Marinaras Trench2/26/2015, 4:21:39 AM1 votes

The most important question, can he E through things like Anivia or Azir walls?

Siachi2/24/2015, 8:30:46 PM1 votes

Although I know nothing of his stats, I'd assume if he were taken into the jungle, he'd have a pretty rough clear: He has one damaging activatable ability, and his passive, while it has an AoE damage function, may not come up often enough.

I'm not sure of the exact mechanics of his Chime passive, so I can't comment on it.

As a support, I think you'd have to be careful with him and his roaming, and if you don't have an ADC that can fend for themselves, or wants to play too agressively, you may not be able to roam at all.

His ultimate... Well, other people have already voiced their complaints on troll potential. Not that I think it's bad ability, not at all, it's potentially a very big game-changer, but the delay on it suggests it'll may be hard to use effectively (You hit R and the tank decides to go in right when you pressed it, etc.). And I'll be honest, I'd love to have a "STOP FOR TWO SECONDS AND LET ME BREATHE PLEASE!" button when things are getting a bit hectic.

Umbral Light2/24/2015, 9:17:18 PM1 votes

One thing I'd like to point out about his ult: can all "Zed is OP, nerf him rito, nerf him!" people, calm down now, cause Bards ult basically is made to counter Zed and you wouldn't really need to worry about getting Zhonyas too early to protect yourself against it. Just something I wanted to point out.

Piltover Customs2/24/2015, 10:21:59 PM1 votes

Off the top of my head here's the run-down on how to start him as a support. Start shrine Drop two shrines top Drop a shrine mid Go to lane/jungle leash.

Now your top and mid have the sustain to beat out their lane opponent (the two top since it's usually an island).

By the time one is used you will be level 2+ and after harassing bot lane be able to drop one for you or your carry.

Another way to start is starting your tunnel and tunnels enemies buff for your jungler to snag right away, in and out so to speak.

Don't see him working out top lane solo. Would be a very niche pick into very few champions.

Jungler he'd be fine jungling. Ganks wouldn't be super strong as landing a Q on enemy or enemy + terrain/minion/mulitple enemies would be hard to pull off.

As a support I would rank him mid tier. Mainly for his ability to help out his top/mid early enough. All the other supports will win out and he shouldn't see much play after first week or two. Highly doubtful he will see any competitive play at all until he is tweaked/re-worked.

Levyathyn2/24/2015, 10:28:32 PM1 votes

I've played a few games with a jungle being supported, and it worked okay. It depends on team comp like a lot of those ideas, but I think Bard would be better at it than most if not all other contenders.