Ultimate Skin Concept: Big Band Bard
Riot Games has recently announced that they will be skipping this year's ultimate skin due to a lack of inspiration over new ideas that would seem novel enough to be seen as "Ultimate". Today, I want to look at a character who is in need of a skin who would be a prime candidate for an ultimate skin: Bard. One of Bard's major strengths as a League of Legends character has always been his design; even the developers themselves have admitted that he's one of their stronger characters in that sense. It would only make sense then to further his design through the introduction of an Ultimate skin, that being Big Band Bard (Name's a work in progress). Bard's defining quirk, in my opinion, has been how his character is intertwined with music in a sort of magical, almost universal sense. Expanding this with an ultimate skin would further define his character, such as how Udyr's ultimate skin defines his multiple stances. While some may say that another Ultimate skin being focused on music would be too much, I'd argue that League's music is one of it's many major outlets for creativity, and that a lot of it's identity as a game is owed to this. Focusing on more traditional sounds would better define it from DJ Sona, which is why a Big Band or Marching Band theming would be, in my opinion, better fitting.
As for how it'd work, my idea has always been that Bard's whole soundtrack would morph depending on what abilities he uses. His Q could temporarily add horns or some percussion, his W could add strings, his E could add woodwinds, and his ult could be a sort of musical climax of all his sounds. Visually, his weapon would change as well, transforming from a horn to a clarinet to a marching band's bass drum, depending on what ability was used most recently. His meeps could also possibly each be their own instrument as well, making sounds when thrown. The chimes scattered around the map could also be reflective of different instruments before you pick them up, temporarily adding new sounds to the music in the background that normally plays when picking them up. None of these ideas are fully set in stone, but rather basic, core ideas to consider. Another idea for his design could be that he acts as a sort of conductor for all of his meeps, but I digress.
Bard is a character with strong design that is well thought out, but he's also a character who could be taken farther if given the proper chance. An ultimate skin would not only feed desires for a new skin for him, but simultaneously expand his character in a way that makes him even more unique and strong amognst League's already diverse cast of characters.
