Talk:Bard/@comment-5266525-20150314040729

Managed a 100% win rate over 4 games as him all with acceptable scores. Clearly his 33% (!) winrate is all just smoke and mirrors!

More seriously, I'm really enjoying him as someone who already tended to adopt a somewhat roam-heavy support style. It's a wonderful feeling to not actually fall too far behind even if your roaming mid doesn't result in a cheesy kill. I'm told that it's quite tricky to tell whether an ally will be safe in a lane or not, so maybe it's just my jungler instincts giving me a leg up here. :P

I tend to start W and (if applicable) give my jungler a couple of shrines to make his life easier before I head to lane. His laning is very difficult as he has no safe bullying potential, but his sustain eases the pain a bit there. Depending on how the game's going you might not even need to take E at level 3. So far, I've maxed W in all the game's I've played and it's worked out pretty well as a pseudo-on-demand haste and heal, though with how awful I am at landing Qs I may be slightly biased here.

Frostfang is my gold income item of choice but I actually don't see much of a reason to get one on Bard seeing how none of his utility really benefits from gold (aside from CDR, but that stuff's everywhere). I've been toying with the idea of starting Ruby Crystal and just rushing Sightstone outright, even. First item on him after that and Mobility Boots tends to be Righteous Glory, as usual. It makes a great stand-if you didn't get Talisman as he already has a lot of defensive power (twin stun, deployable shrines, AoE timewaster ultimate) and it's very useful in wide-open spaces where Magical Journey can't be used offensively. After that is just situational items, though I lean towards Locket and Wraith Collar as my most common buys.

I'll also echo AreYou23's complaint down below in that I really, really wish Magical Journey changed the mouse cursor when you're hovering over it. It's actually quite difficult to click on at times, especially in a heated battle where you really really need that extraction fast.