League of Legends supports who prefer roaming to babysitting may have just found their new favorite champion.
Riot Games has just announced a brand new support champion for League of Legends: Bard, the Roaming Caretaker. Bard is quite a unique champion in the game, in that he is the first support to gain advantages solely from moving around Summoner’s Rift. For a bit more of an explanation, let’s take a look at his abilities.
Bard’s passive, Traveler’s Call, causes sacred chimes to appear around the map. Collecting a chime grants him a brief burst of movement speed, experience, and mana. Additionally, he can collect little spiritual beings known as “meeps”, which he throws at his opponents as he attacks.
His Q, Cosmic Binding, is a vanilla damage-dealing slowing skillshot with a bit of a twist – it penetrates its initial target and keeps moving forward. If it hits a wall, it stuns the initial target; if it hits a second enemy, it stuns both targets.
His W, Caretaker’s Shrine, conjures a health pack that gains power for a few seconds. Allied champions who walk over the pack gain health and a brief burst of movement speed, while enemies can stand on the pack for a moment to destroy it.
His E, Magical Journey, is a unique movement spell. Basically, he can only cast it on a wall, and it makes a “portal” that tunnels through the wall to the other side. However, both allies and enemies can use it, so you have to be careful that your foe doesn’t chase you through.
Lastly Bard’s ultimate, Tempered Fate places all enemies in an area into stasis for a short period of time, where they cannot move, attack, or be attacked.
As a support who much prefers the “roaming” playstyle – that is, moving around the map and looking for plays – as opposed to the “babysitting” playstyle – which involves sticking very close to your AD carry and helping him win his lane – Bard sounds like the perfect champion for me. What do you guys think?
Source: Riot Games