[Community Responds!] Champion Revealed: Bard, The Wandering Caretaker

I know I'm a little late to the party, but I thought it would be fun to do a Board Series on aspects of the game, in this case, Champion Reveals. As one of my favorite comedians once said, "Everything is up for review." So without further ado, let us begin!

Teaser Impression: "Oooo, this is really neat! Whoever this guy is, he must be important!"

When "The Wonder Above" was released, I was at first very mesmerized by the constellations in the night sky. The little sneak bits of important characters like Watchers, and The Ruined King. When Bard's constellation was revealed among them, my mind went racing. I confused myself with all the possibilities: A god, a figure important to Runeterra's history, a renown storyteller, one of the celestial beings associated with Soraka; the possibilities were endless. It was just so vague, I didn't know what to think! I analyzed the different parts: Bard, Great Mountain Shrines, Caretaker, Universal Truth, The Vast Importance, but still couldn't come up with anything solid. What I did put him out as was some storyteller with a vast following/cult of sort, from the upper mountain regions of Valoran. As for role, it became clear he was an intended support, but might be some sort of jungler too, or was just suppose to be a roamer kind of like the Korean styled junglers I'd watched in games With Najin and SSW. As much as I speculated though, I kept coming back to my last four words, "...he must be important."

Reveal Impression: "What in the world is that..."

I finally got some answers whenever Bard was officially revealed, answers I so desperately wanted. My first reaction when seeing him, however, was not of instant delight. I was VERY confused with what I was looking at, but after a moment I was able to tell myself (truthfully, mind you): "Okay, that makes perfect sense. Cool!" I instantly set the guy up as my background, set a folder filled with stuff from his teasing and release, and then broke him down. "He's kind of Maokai/Fiddle-like, but he's not a jungler..." was one of my early understandings. In truth, both Maokai and Bard are nature spirits, perhaps related or friends in some ways like that, but like Fiddlesticks, Bard's body was patchwork: Gloves layered upon gloves, sleeves both sewn together and forced together by different strings and rope, old tattered cloth mixed in with nicer cloth, woodwork and metalwork, and carvings of some sort of bull horn on his head, a beard of sorts? He has some ceremonial horn with a large sphere on the end, but for what purpose? Summoning spirits near him, lifting mood? Maybe he just likes music. As for his spirit friends, the Meeps, they reminded me of wingless Pixes (like Lulu's Pix), and made me think of what Maokai's saplings would be like without the plant exterior, and also what the possibilities for Pix could be when Lulu's VU comes along. Overall, I liked what I could gather from Bard: A support champion with a truly unique appearance that is able to pool off patchwork type appearance without rehashing Fiddlesticks or some other champion is a incredible feat. If anything, he reminds me a little of Jax, but carries himself far differently. There's something far more whimsical about Bard. Though I got to wonder where he got the hair/beard (and the horn for that matter).

Gameplay wise, I was fascinated by the potential Bard's kit provided. Cosmic Binding first worried me (by name alone) that it may be too similar to Light and Dark Binding(s). And in truth, it functions similar, but stuns instead of snares, and can affect one or two targets. His shrines are reminiscent of champion concepts I've come up with, inspired by Medics and Cupid from Smite, but also able to make it incredibly unique. Anyone can make a Medic who drops first aid kits, but Riot creates a spirit who places shrines who do the same function, but have a much more unique aesthetic, and importance to the character as a whole, providing a more specialized/identifiable "med kit" type of interactive. And then comes Magical Journey. It was SO WHIMSICAL. So strange, but bold, and INCREDIBLE. It made me think of childhood stories, like Alice and Wonderland, or even Narnia, and its prequel(s). I thought of going down the rabbit hole, into an incredible new place. This made me think more on Lulu, who kind of fits the theme of the little girl who wandered into exploration. Next Stop: Anywhere. Mechanically, it inspires dedication, and helpful repositioning available to everyone. The repositioning part is obvious, but it makes you dedicated because the Magical Journey is one way. There's no going back on it. The thrill of adventure broken down to a simple essence. Bard's Ultimate has the most troll and pro potential. It can be used to force a teammate behind, saving yourself, or it could hold a enemy in place, giving your team time to come in, or give a teammate time to have the rest of the team rally in and save them, or freeze an objective, saving allies from damage (Dragon, Baron, Turrets, etc). Whatever you use it for, it ought to be a little strange, but overall satisfying :P

Of course, these are just my thoughts. I would love to hear yours! The Thread is open for plenty of discussion, from Community and Rioters alike. I would love to get a hold of those who worked on Bard conceptually, there just seems to be so much potentially going on with him. Let me hear what all of you think, and if you're interested in it, who/what do you want to break down next?