Today I'm going to take a look at the most recent champion released, and try to provide a better understanding to his kit and role in the game. When Bard was revealed, being a support main, I instantly fell in love with his kit. Having made the NACC playoffs, my plan was to jam a bunch of games with this new champ, and show the world all of his power. That plan quickly fell apart. I want to preface this with saying despite what everyone else may think, by no means do I think that Bard is a failure as a champion. While it is normal for a champion's win rate to be fairly low the week after their release, Bard currently is sitting at a sub 40% win rate across every elo, dipping as low 35%, and averaging out at a ~37% win rate. I refuse to believe that this is because of poor champion design.

When looking at Bard's abilities, it is very clear that he is a support that puts a major emphasis on roaming. The problem with this however, is that he becomes very difficult to play successfully in solo queue. Having played a handful of games with Bard, I can understand the potential strength of his kit in the laning phase, but unless played exceptionally well, I feel as though he is almost always underwhelming. The sustain that he provides with Caretaker's Shrines (his W) is minimal compared to dedicated sustain supports such as Soraka or Sona, and is priced with a high mana cost that makes it seemingly ineffective to use. The Magical Journey (his E) can be useful for for setting up ganks, or even escaping enemy ganks. Many times I have used this ability in lane and baited the enemy botlane right into the portal where our jungler/midlane were patiently waiting on the other side. Cosmic Binding (his Q) fits the role of both cc and in lane harass, by being able to poke down enemy champions even through a minion wave. Combine this with his passive that enhances his auto attacks, he is able to make good trades every so often with his opponents. Unfortunately the key to this is that he needs to be constantly roaming to collect meeps, or else his passive quickly becomes underwhelming.

In theory this should be easy enough, you have your adc play safe for a bit while you run off into the jungle collecting meeps, and potentially even providing a gank midlane! The problem here is that without assistance from a jungler, a Bard gank is not very threatening. Compare a Bard roam to that of a Thresh. Thresh is able to lock up an enemy champion, deal more damage, and assist his allies in a gank/skirmish much easier and more effectively. Taking a step back and looking at the bigger picture, what does Bard really offer to a team in the early stages of the game? He can roam the map with ease through speed ups offered by his chimes and his Caretaker's Shrines (his W). Then travel through terrain using his Magic Journey (his E) to return to safety. Who is really benefiting from this? The adc that is being zoned off the creepwave? Or the midlaner who just got baited into a countergank by the weak skirmishing power of Bard. So where do Bard's true skills shine? The most immediate answer to this is in lane swaps.

Putting Bard in a 2v1 lane allows him to roam without the pressure of having to return to lane and assist the adc. Meanwhile he can focus on collecting meeps and assisting the jungler whenever possible. This kind of play is not very consistent with the current meta, and thus is not easy for players to adapt to, especially in solo queue. More often than not you will be stuck in lane, collecting meeps whenever you back or your adc is not there, and simply going even with the enemy. Making it to mid-late game is where the real fun begins.

On a side note, even if Bard really is just incredibly weak compared to other supports, every game I play with him I find myself thoroughly enjoying myself, and legitimately laughing out loud. You zip around the map making portals for everybody and then you have the added hilarious potential of his ultimate, Tempered Fate, it really makes for an enjoyable gaming experience. Of course you'll run into the people that disagree with you, flame you, tell you how worthless you/ Bard is, and just to stop casting your ult all together, but none of that really affects you when you're playing Bard. It's a game of its own.

Back to actual gameplay, I have yet to discuss his ultimate, Tempered Fate, in a serious sense. This move can be one of the most back-breaking ultimates in the game right now. Both for the enemy team, and your team. In one of the games I played, our Diana preemptively engaged on the enemy team, going in 1v5. She managed to activate her Zhonya's however, and right afterwards I was able to land a 5 man Tempered Fate onto the enemy team, putting them all in stasis. Diana's Zhonya's ended first and by the time the enemy's were released from their stasis, our entire team was there for easy kills, picking up the ace and winning the game right there on the spot. This is just one of many interactions that makes me think that his ultimate has the potential to be one of the most game changing. At first I thought it was odd that it even placed Dragon and Baron into stasis, but then I realized how easy stealing Baron would have become otherwise. Freezing the enemy team and just casually walking into the pit and stealing a Baron probably would have been too toxic for the game.

Overall, I feel that Bard will continue to struggle in solo queue until teams learn to adapt to his playstyle. Having a kit so drastically different will take longer to get used to, but I believe Bard will find a home in competitive play. His kit offers so much potential that is just waiting to be broken, but sadly is overlooked by his seemingly trolly nature. Too often champions are "overpowered" on release, and when a new champion doesn't live up to the hype, everyone goes insane. I strongly believe that in due time Bard will become a top tier support, without needing any buffs or changes.