Hello i am henky001 and Bard is my favourite champion and i want to learn people how to play with bard. This is my first serious guide so if you have some advice do not hesitate to help me ! Uhhm I have 115 000 + mastery score with him so I understand him a bit :).

I am a player who loves to play champions who no one plays and prove that they are strong. First i thought that everyone would play Bard and that he would be too strong. I was sadly mistaken, i saw no one play Bard so i decided to play him and i loved him even though everyone of my team hated him. Bard is a unique champion that is a lot of fun to play. There are so many possibilities with him and he is also in my opinion the hardest champion at this moment.

pros:

- Fun champion
- Has strong abilities if used right
- Good in all stages of the game
- Can peel well for the carries


cons:

- Hard champion to master
- Long Cooldowns
- All abilities are skillshots

Greater Quintessence of Armor : This will help you survive the early game easier. You may get caught by their support or u might get poked by their adc, this reduces the damage.

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration : You are going to poke alot so you need to increase ur damage a bit.

Greater Seal of Armor: More armor xD

Greater Glyph of Mana Regeneration : U are going to poke a lot and you are going to place alot of Caretaker's Shrine so a bit mana regeneration will help.

Greater Glyph of Magic Resist: A bit magic resist is also needed.

Why take Caretaker's Shrine first ?
- I shall explain this later.

Why upgrade Cosmic Binding first ?
- The stun will be increased by 0,2 seconds each time you upgrade it.

Why upgrade Caretaker's Shrine second ?
- This will reduce the cooldown of the ability and increase the heal, Magical Journey only reduces the cooldown of it so it ain't that important to upgrade.

Upgrading Tempered Fate at level 6,11 and 16 shouldn't be explained.

Passive

Traveler's Call is in my opinion a really good passive. It's like a little minigame where you have to collect the chimes. The extra damage/slow is nice and lets you deal some damage even though you are not building damage. It also lets you catch champions faster or lets you peel better for you adc. The extra mana you get from your chimes when you collect them is really useful in the early game because you have to place alot of Caretaker's Shrine wich cost alot of mana. Each chime gives about 50 mana back, this increases when you level.

Tips and tricks:

- When you shoot a basic attack with your meep on and have Spellthief's Edge it will consume 2 stacks of Spellthief's Edge

- basic attack with a meep will count as a spell so spellshields from Sivir or Banshee's Veil will be removed !

- Chimes are fun to collect so you need to collect them all !
- Warding and collecting chimes work well together.




[Q]

A good stun with a short cooldown at later levels. It's a rather hard stun to land so you have to practice alot to see when or how you could stun someone.

Tips and tricks:
- The more you play Bard the more you will be able to see a good opportunity to stun.


[W]

A amazing spell in the early game but a rather weak heal later in the game. I will show you in the next chapter why this is such a good early game spell. The heal isn't that great but it can make the difference between life and death.

Tips and tricks:
- You can cast a fourth Caretaker's Shrine if you cast it directly on your ally, the heal isn't that much but it's better than nothing
- The spell costs a lot of mana to cast in the early game so try to collect a chime or two to replenish your mana but beware to not leave your adc that much alone because the enemy will find a opportunity to kill your carry.

[E]

A amazing spell that can be used in many ways ! It can be used as escape,chase,bait,engage and many more ! This spell has a long cooldown and low mana cost and is in my opinion the best way to do a gank on bot with your jungler.

Tips and Tricks:
- When enemies use your portal, you can stun them easily wich leads to a easy kill.
- You can bait with this spell, use this when they are chasing you and they will follow you in your portal and on the other side are your teammates leading for a easy kill.


[R]

One of the strongest ultimates in the game if used right but one of the worst ult if used bad. This is a hard spell to know when to use it. This spell can also be easily dodged by the enemy if used from far.

When to use :
- To catch up with the enemy
- to disengage
- to start a fight
- to peel(=protect ur carries)

Don't use:
- In the middle of the fight when everyone is close to each other

Tips and tricks:
- You can use Tempered Fate on enemy turrets so you can dive the enemies hiding under it.
- You can cast it on dragon or baron when the enemy team is taking it and your team is still underway. Follow up with Magical Journey so that everyone can join the fight fast enough to steal the objective
- You can cast Cosmic Binding directly after the effect of your ultimate ends which will lead for easy kills or escape.

example 1: Your ally is getting chased by the enemy who is a lot faster than your ally, you are also too far away to help your ally with your abilities except your [[tempered fate]. Try to ult the enemy who is a bit behind your ally without hitting your ally with it. Your ally can escape now with ease and even if they are still chasing you adc you'll be there to help.

example 2: There is a teamfight going on but the enemy can clearly see that they will all die if they stay to they try to escape. Most of the time the enemy escapes in groups so this is a perfect opportunity to use your Tempered Fate to catch some of the enemies.

Exhaust: Especially in low elo people don't know why exhaust is so good. Most people use it as a slow and don't even know it reduces the enemies damage and attack speed. Use it when you see that the enemy is planning to burst your carries down. You can use exhaust for the slow to pick up a kill but don't only use it for the slow !

Ignite: Ignite on Bard can be a good pick but a rather risky one, exhaust is a more safe pick. If you take ignite you should try to get a kill at level 2(your faster level 2 than the rest). Ignite can also be used to counter soraka or sona. I prefer to take exhaust because i can protect my adc with it instead of taking the kill from my adc.

With Bard you are able to make some amazing ganks with your jungler. The only thing that you have to do is place a portal and go with your jungler in the portal. Beware of wards, If you want a succesful gank try to place a vision ward.

Go directly to bot when the game starts, place 2 Caretaker's Shrine. Collect 2 chimes that will appear on the map after a while and place your third Caretaker's Shrine. There will appear a last chime around 1:40, take it and help your jungler if needed. When you or your adc takes one of the healthpacks, place another one.

Be Careful ! Some mean people will sometimes destroy your precious healthpacks if you place them to far from the turret.

Sivir : Sivir can be annoying to play against but if you play smart it's no problem at all. In lane you'll see that Sivir will spellshield your Cosmic Binding, this happens a lot: when poking, when catching up to her, trades etc... But you can counter this, Use your basic attack with a meep to remove her spellshield and follow it up with ur Cosmic Binding or ur Tempered Fate.

Morgana: Morgana can be really annoying to play against, unlike Sivir her spellshield won't go away after a basic attack with meep. In a fight at bot try to focus the one who hasn't the spellshield on.

All champions with a dash or fast escape( Graves, Lucian, Ezreal) counter Bard a bit. When you want to start a fight with ur Tempered Fate u'll see that they will dash out of it. So try to waste their dash and follow up with ur Tempered Fate.

Vayne: Bard and Vayne are a amazing combo that shouldn't be underestimated. Why ? When vayne stuns an enemy you can follow up with your Cosmic Binding. Try to use Tempered Fate against the enemy bot lane when they are close to a wall, vayne or you will follow up with a stun(you should ask your adc who should stun first) and follow up with another stun.

- You'll be almost always the first 1 who reaches level 2 at bot lane. This is due your passive, You have a xp advantage. Try to make use of this and try to get a early kill.

- Try to poke a lot with your basic attacks to increase your gold income but don't play too aggresive otherwise you may get killed.

-Remember that Bard is not a tank in the early game!

- In a 2 vs 2 try to land your Temperered fate On the enemy support so that it is a 2 vs 1 for a short moment.

- DO not think that Bard is a 'special roam champion' because i don't think he is at all. Of course you should roam if ur adc can handle everything alone but don't leave him in the early game!

Bard can play 2 roles in teamfights, either you peel for your adc or your engaging with Tempered Fate. I wouldn't reccomend the second one if you are a beginner because your ult can screw the whole teamfight, but if your able to land a good Tempered Fate you'll probably win the teamfight. If you aren't sure what to do or are too scared to engage i would recommend you to peel for your adc(Bard has amazing peel).

Wards are extremely important, use them alot and yell at your teammates that they also have to ward, tell them to upgrade warding totem to help you ward. You can land a good Tempered Fate if they are camping in a warded bush.

Some short clips that may help u :)
Play Video Play Video Play Video

Please tell me if there should be another about something. If this guide does help people i will keep working around it.

COMING SOON :
- IDK, help me :(

Thanks for reading my guide, i hope this helped you a bit how to play with Bard. Leave a comment if you noticed something about this guide !