This is a bit of a collaboration, only RedMercy has no idea who I am or that I made this. However, as a casual fan and viewer, I compiled his Mid Lane AP Bard Build. I'm just a casual, who enjoys a Full AP Bard.

6.10 Mage Update

Still based off of RedMercy, but I have personally updated it, to get similar effects. Tags will stay, because it's still an inspired piece. 6.10 didn't change much for us since 6.9, to be honest.

6.22

Okay, things are messy right now, and this build is very out of meta, however still fun and still somehow viable, if played right. Good luck to ya.

Yes, I am crazy; moving on. Bard is a 'good' AP mage Champion. And by that I mean he is out of meta in mid lane, and takes special care to play.

His Q scales with his AP by 60% and has a decent cooldown, it slows and can stun, and brings the pain when leveled to the max.

His Ult has an unlimited range of uses. Escape, chase, engage, disengage, screw over Miss Fortune or Lucian's ultimates... the possibilites are endless!

His E takes you and your team on a Magical freaking Journey. Chase, escape, gank, get into lane quicker, chime quicker, ignore walls like a lesser Aurelion Sol!

His W heals himself or allies (granting him sustain at the cost of Mana... he is mana hungry early game). It also can stop you from face checking bushes, and act as makeshift wards (when stepped on by enemies, you get a hollow cymbal-hit-with-cotton-tipped-drumstick sound.)

Bard is like a Bard from D&D, no he doesn't carry his group of 5 alone, but without him, they'd miss out on SO much of their own potential. Worried of a gank? Stay on the side your Jungler is on, and be prepared to magical journey to them! And dare your enemies chase, Cosmic Bind (and Ult if necessary), and now your jungler can make a good meal from your pursuers. A good binding, ult, journey, and set of healing shrines can easily keep your team on top for each engagement. And engagements make marriage happen.

Glad you read that. I'm a cheap person, who won't shell out money for RP for IP for Runes and Rune Pages. I refuse, you are a free to play game, League, act like it. Now, RedMercy (the reason why I had a structure for this build) used the runes you found up above. I did not have those runes (still don't!!!). So,

I improvised

with: Ability Power Quintessences, 6 Marks of Attack Damage, all Seals of Scaling Health, and all Glyphs of Scaling Ability Power. You'll live until you can purchase his set.

BIG TIP. Rune pages go on 2 for 1 sale. I got 6 rune pages on the 27th of May, 2016 for 18900 IP, typical cost for 6 would be 37800 IP. It happens every 6 months or so (NOVEMBER-DECEMBER & MAY-JUNE)

People have FINALLY realized that Thunderlord's got nerfed in season 6, and is no longer the #1 League mastery. However, because of it's 'high' AP scaling and base(d on level) damage, and Bard's ability to Q and Meep auto attack to proc Thunderlord's as often as possible, it works well with him. Deathfire Touch with Piercing Thoughts can also work quite well, but I (needs testing) don't believe Meeps activate Deathfire Touch, so Thunderlord's is the safe bet.

Well, then you should practice that before you run these builds. However, Bard is still a lot of fun, so while you practice your Q's and Ultimates, move Nashor's tooth in before Luden's Echo. Yes, you'll miss those 20 points of ability power and that passive that makes Q part AoE, but you'll be able to fire off more Q's and you can AutoAttack twice as quick to make up for it while your team yells at you for not stunning the freaking target. If you run up enough gold after Nashor's Tooth and aren't improving, go Trinity Force and pretend an AutoAttacking Heal Bard was what you were going for all along. Aahhh, clever... Also, Bot games. Play freaking Bot games until you land 9/10 skill shots, or at the very least practice as a support.

Well, you inquisitive soul, by analyzing my own play - it makes me better understand what I do, while I am not training. And, more importantly, Bard and Tristana are fun freaking characters! That's why I have a Tristana guide, that's why I write guides, and I like to share the fun. If you don't have fun, tell me and I'll tell you how to rectify it, or how to uninstall League of Legends. Because if you're not having fun playing video games, and not making money off of them... why are you playing again!?

Why not?! (Don't answer that) This build, though, also goes pretty well with a Poke-y Support, much like Sona. Bard heals, Bard stuns, Bard moves, Bard has a stasis skill. Need health? Bard. Need Slow/Stun? Bard. Need to chase? Bard. Need the opponent or their prey frozen in time for 2.5 seconds? Ping your request. Bard can put Dragons, Barons, Enemies, Friendlies, Towers, Minions, Jungle Creeps, literally everything besides a freaking Nexus into Stasis. Stasis can only NOT affect a few abilities: spell shields (Banshee's Veil and Morgana's Black Shield), Olaf's Ragnarok and Riven's Assault, and a Nexus or inhibitor. Everything else is fair game. Lux about to steal dragon with her Ult? Ult the dragon, or Lux, first and that's that. Bard can pretty much go anywhere, then Ult his target, and then stun them, and then auto attack them to tears.

Before this Video I mentioned, I liked Bard because his name was Bard, because he is a Bard like me, and because I really like Bardic stuff. Then my girlfriend (who introduced me to League of Legends and Tristana, the Yordel Gunner) showed me a Full AP Bard build YouTube Video by RedMercy. RedMercy (an Awesome League of Legends player) took Bard out of the support role Riot pigeonholed him in and brought him Full AP to Mid Lane. By the Ravens of Odin, did that look fun! So, I played about a dozen straight games to buy Bard, the Wandering Caretaker. And now I'm writing this guide.

The Video Can be Found here!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVqbA23-YQU

Yes, F for Flash Gordon. D is the key I use for everything else, F is always my Flash Key. I also hold my hands as if playing CS:GO or Dirty Bomb, thumb on ALT, Pinky on Shift, Ring finger on A, Middle on W, Index finger on D. Better players lay their hands across QWER, which is probably much better than what I do. Either way, F is for Flash, and nobody can convince me otherwise.

Along with the mage update, Bard got even better. Now, I had played against an Anivia support yesterday (as Caitlyn) who got me to 1/4 health with two abilities, and an auto attack... at level 1. Straight AP runes, (Marks, Glyphs, Seals, Quints) ALL Flat AP. That Anivia was annoying early game, certainly. Then the Jungler or Mid would come down, take advantage of her defensive stats of nothing, and wreck her and her Lucian ADC. Without Armor or Magic Resist, you will die in this game. Never go all runes of the same kind (unless you're Master Yi going Attack Speed) because you'll die. Don't die. The only reason to die is if you had a LEGITIMATE chance at a double kill. Be smart, play safe, wait for a slip up from your enemy (They're bound to), and then kill them to the point of surrendering.