Riot Games has pulled back the curtain on the newest League of Legends Champion: Bard, the Wandering Caretaker, a mightily bearded "celestial vagabond" tasked with maintaining the cosmic equilibrium of Runeterra. Hey, nice work if you can get it.
Bard is unique, in that he's the first support who gains advantages simply by moving around. His presence causes sacred chimes to appear on the playing field, and collecting them gives him a brief burst of speed, experience, and mana. He also attracts Meeps, small spirits who travel at his side and throw themselves at his targets when he attacks, dealing extra damage; the more chimes he collects, the more Meeps that join him, and the more dangerous they become.
Mobility is obviously Bard's game, but he "fires out solid poke whenever he's in lane thanks to Cosmic Binding," Riot wrote in the new Champion's description. "Though it deals meaningful damage on its own, the slow (and if procced, stun) give Bard surprising ganking potential, particularly when used in conjunction with Magical Journey. Enemies will have to think twice about escaping through the bottom and top lane brush when Bard can pin them to the nearby wall with a well-placed Q."
Bard works particularly well with Caitlyn, Udyr, and Amumu, but he has trouble with Rek'Sai, Draven, and Leona. "Bard roams to empower both himself and his allies. Each chime he collects soups up his Meeps passive, and as he travels, he’s incentivized to help out his other lanes and jungler with Caretaker’s Shrine. Crucially, they don’t require him to hang around, so Bard can pop into mid, drop off a shrine, then carry on towards top on the hunt for more chimes," Riot's Rabid Llama explained in the Champion Insights section of the Bard page.
"Each chime gives him a short movement boost (so he can jet around at a decent pace), experience (so he doesn’t miss out on too much minion xp), and mana. All this means he’s rewarded for roaming, and can (hopefully) leave his marksman during laning without handing them a big fat death sentence."
Catch all the details on the Wandering Caretaker at LeagueOfLegends.com.
