Talk:Bard/@comment-26143648-20150224235305

Really looking forward to this support. His design is great. And I have a couple of (basic) predictions; feel free to give ideas or opinions! I love a good discussion.

Bard will probably be looking to rush his Boots of Mobility early on, in order to allow him to collect his chimes faster and return to lane, or to roam farther afield in some relative security (knowing he can get back to botlane in a decent amount of time), potentially allowing him to even drop health packs off at top lane in his chime-collecting sprees. It also encourages more thorough warding than only consistently putting wards by the dragon pit, meaning a more even spread of support through the map than just for botlane. I would guess that Twin Shadows would also become a common item on him for mobility, AP, and utility.

I doubt a tanky build would be very viable on him, on account of the fact that none of his abilities are oriented for him being on the frontline; instead, I would think that his common tanky items, in an even (not losing, not winning hard) game, would be Rylai's Crystal Scepter and Zz'Rot Portal. The latter would be especially excellent on him in the sense that anything that takes advantage of his roaming would be good on him. Outside of those, I suspect the basic support items would be built along with AP to supplement his healing and his pressure from his meeps (I don't anticipate much damage pressure on his Q, as his kit appears fairly strong as is even without high, reliable damage output).

Unfortunately, I don't see him going anywhere other than support; I expect him to be too squishy to jungle, and his need to roam means he can't be part of a solo lane.

All in all, I think Bard is a well-designed champ. His kit is good, with the ability to not be broken, and every skill matches both his playstyle and his lore, with the possible exception of his ult. The main problem people may run into is the fact that in general, champions can either dish out damage, or take it, and it appears that this champion has no reliable way to do either, assuming that his meeps are his main source of damage. He has an amazing amount of utility though.