This is a simple build guide for playing Bard as a bottom lane support. Bard is a champion that lacks a lot of respect in League of Legends but when played correctly can be very useful and have a lot of play making potential. I have found that playing Bard as a tank support adds the usefulness to the team. I like to do a lot of roaming after the initial lane phase, collecting chimes and assisting with ganks when possible.

For runes I stack flat armor for the most optimal lane phase, throwing in scaling magic resist glyphs for late game.

Masteries are pretty straight forward selecting mostly defense building options from the Resolve tree and a few utility options from the Cunning tree.

Again grabbing defensive items with team buffing abilities.

Build Caretaker's Shine(W) and Cosmic Binding(Q) simultaneously, taking Tempered Fate(R) when available and finishing Magical Journey(E) last.

Almost always go with Flash and Ignite, only other option would be to replace Ignite with Exhaust if no one else on the team has picked it up or is an obvious choice against enemy team composition.

Lane Phase/Early: I tend to play passively in lane, harassing when Spell Thief's gold proc and/or Meeps is up, wait to set up a gank for the Jungler to be aggressive.

Mid: Start to roam a lot more collecting Chimes and assisting with ganks when possible.

Late: Same as Mid game staying with support team members as much as possible and keeping wards up.