Hi, my name is Bizzleberry and I am a longtime League of Legends player, playing since before Season 1. Over the years I have achieved high ranking in solo queue, from Platinum in Season 1 (the highest at the time) to Challenger multiple times throughout the years. I used to stream in season 4-5 and stopped playing League for a year during season 6. I have now returned and am currently in Diamond 1 on EUW as a support main. You can catch me on my stream or my Youtube channel. I try to explain what I am doing in most situations; feel free to ask any questions on stream or leave a comment on the guide!

Play Video Play Video Play Video Play Video Play Video

Bard is a really fun, high mobility champion that can conjure tunnels through terrain. If you are good with skill shots, Bard can be very rewarding (or punishing!). Collecting Chimes increases his passive damage and utility (more so since patch 7.7). Here is the run down:

Bards's Advantages are that he provides three forms of disengage and engage, depending on how you use your abilities - Cosmic Binding, Magical Journey and Tempered Fate.

With patch 7.7 he is now provided much earlier wave clear with extra Meeps and an earlier AoE cone with Traveler's Call, which should mean you can clear 5 minions with 3 auto attacks and a Cosmic Binding in the early stages of Mid-game.

Caretaker's Shrine is nothing to brag about, but the extra heals in lane can help.

Bards's Disadvantages are that he has a few skill shots the require a good aim. His laning phase can be rough, as mana regeneration is very poor ( Traveler's Call provides Bard with mana). This requires him to move out of lane a little to gather chimes for his passive and to gather mana which puts your ADC at risk to getting caught.

DOMINATION

Electrocute provides Bard with very high early burst damage, and can easily be proc'd with auto attack with meep and a Cosmic Binding. Does more damage than Summon Aery. However if you are new to Bard I would recommend going a build with Summon Aery + Manaflow Band.

Domination provides extra mobility with Relentless Hunter and Cheap Shot works well in the laning phase and the increased damage in 8.10 makes it even better throughout the game Cosmic Binding.

Zombie Ward provides you with extra vision when clearing wards and will give you a small, but strong, damage burst on your next hit on an enemy champion. Perfect as Bard roaming around and ganking other lanes.

SORCERY

If you decide to go Sorcery main runes due to being a newer bard then Summon Aery is better than Arcane Comet as it can be dodged and in emergency situations Caretaker's Shrine will provide a decent shield that can actually make instant cast Caretaker's Shrine useful.


Manaflow Band has been changed to only give you mana on spell casts landed on enemies OR with your meeps. Try to ensure you have the stack ready when you go in to auto attack as it will help give you 25mana during laning phase.

Take Absolute Focus as it will give you a decent damage increase during the laning phase.

You could also consider Scorch damage is pretty nice early to mid game however scales badly as the game goes on.

PRECISION, DOMINATION or INSPIRATION

Precision is very nice to have, primarily for the extra attack speed from Legend: Alacrity as this will help you take down wards faster and offload your Meep charges.

Presence of Mind Is a great rune to help with Mana regeneration from early laning phase throughout to teamfights.


If you prefer utility then Inspiration is a perfectly fine option to take as well.

Biscuit Delivery gives some laning sustain and will increase maximum mana by 40 every use.

Magical Footwear will provide you with a net saving of 300g and will also provide you with an extra +10 Movement speed. Future's Market feels too weak right now.

Cosmic Insight provides max CDR across the board and will help with item active slows & will allow you to get to that 45% CDR mark as you approach the late game.

&

Bread and butter, use Ignite before they use Heal to prevent half of the healing on target. Exhaust's attack speed slow was removed in 7.5, making it not as strong in the laning phase. It could be useful if you care about an assassin such as Rengar one shotting your ADC.

Traveler's Call

This is one of the things unique to Bard at several intervals chimes will spawn around the map, choosing to spawn closer to Bard if no charms are nearby to collect. If you are unable to collect charms, you risk them spawning in more dangerous places, such as the enemy jungle.

While roaming you could get some unlucky spawns in the mid lane, but you will just have to pick those up later in the game. Since patch 7.7 Bard is able to wave clear a lot easier than before, getting the AoE Cone and more Meeps earlier means that in 3 auto hits and a Cosmic Binding allows you to push a wave. (Useful if your ADC is dead as reseting the wave can be helpful instead of your adc having to fight for minions nearer the enemy tower).



Cosmic Binding


Cosmic Binding determines if you are a good Bard or not. In the laning phase if the enemy is standing behind a creep, try and hit the creep first so that it passes through and stuns them. If they are standing close to wall or temporary terrain such as Jarvin Cataclysm or Crystallize they will also be stunned.

The best possible Cosmic Binding is landing a double stun on two champions that are fairly squishy in a teamfight. You can use Tempered Fate on two targets standing close together and if you time it right, a pre-casted Cosmic Binding will stun them both.

Caretaker's Shrine


Caretaker's Shrine is quite possibly one of the worst support abilities in the game. The shrine needs time to power up, its mana cost is terrible, and even then the heal is nothing to brag about. Take this level 2 and leave a couple of shrines if you extra mana in lane for a quick refreshment. Refrain from leveling it, until you have both Cosmic Binding and Magical Journey maxed out at level 13. The movement speed it provides is its only use in teamfights (and even then its lacklustre). Lets hope Riot changes this ability in someway.


Magical Journey


One of the most efficient ways to get a kill against a pushing bot lane is using Magical Journey for you and your jungle to slide through terrain and say hello at the end! Just make sure you and your jungler are healthy enough to do this is usually an all or nothing situation.

Magical Journey enables Bard and his allies, to get around the map quicker. You can use it at spawn to clip the wall and go from Fountain to your inhibitor in about 2 seconds, shaving off that precious running time!

Magical Journey can be also useful to bait enemies in to situations that they think they are at an advantage in, where in reality you are easily able to Cosmic Binding them against the wall and your allies are there to pick them off.Example here, Warning: Swearing


Tempered Fate


This is by far, imo, the hardest of skillshots to land, but if done correctly the most rewarding in the game. Lets go over the ideal situation:

A teamfight breaks out 5v5 and you land Tempered Fate on multiple squishy targets and your team is nearby to follow up and kill them with AoE. You basically solo engaged and won the teamfight by yourself. On the complete opposite side of that, you can accidentally troll your own teammates, by doing a really bad Tempered Fate on to your teammates before an engage, giving the enemy time to retreat or follow up and AoE your team.

Both scenarios are completely possible in the same situation, especially when team fights get messy and you hold on to your ult.

Other uses for Tempered Fate include: Negating massive damage incoming, such as Requiem and setting up kills on overextended enemies for a quick engage.

If the enemy has high movement speed, it might be best to use Tempered Fate in their escape path, forcing them to stop for a second before they can proceed to their path (meaning they have to run into your ult, flashing away or risk getting caught by other cc).

Spellthief's Edge

---

Spellthief's Edge has now changed to auto-upgrade to Frostfang (500 gold collected) and Shard of True Ice (1000g collected) from the Tribute gold quest. You are now allowed to receive gold from hits on enemies / turrets without an ally nearby. You can also 'accidentally' get cs from throwing out skillshots in lane without being punished (Until you meet the Support Rule CS Limit which won't kick in until around 30-40 Creeps Taken, depending on what time it is in the game). Meeps will also trigger Tribute Gold, so get auto-attacking!

Shard of True Ice

---

The final Support Quest upgrade. You will no longer generate tribute gold, but the stats on this item for 'free' are very good for mid-game and also supply you with 4-ward charges that can be refreshed when you go back to the fountain.

Boots of Mobility

---

Provides Bard with extra mobility to gather chimes easily and to roam with the use of Magical Journey. Getting this early can provide immense pressure to mid if your lane is ahead as getting there only takes a few seconds! Ionian Boots of Lucidity provides decent cooldown reduction, only buy these if your team is already behind and roaming isn't much of an option.

Redemption

---

Redemption is currently one of the best support items in the game. It is a soft counter to poke comps, but is usually purchased first because of the versatility of the item. Provides a massive heal AoE heal, at a very long distance and can be used while dead. It can be a massive game changer when used in the centre of a teamfight, or can actually be used to kill off a straggler that is running away on 2% hp as it does do a tiny amount of damage! Needs to be purchased first, unless against a very heavy magic comp, then Locket of the Iron Solari could be better as you will be able to survive some burst.

Locket of the Iron Solari

---

Locket of the Iron Solari is usually purchased after Redemption. Provides a massive shield but decays quickly over time, so needs to be used the second before massive damage, or to save someone about to die. The 60 Magic resist works very nicely against AP heavy comps.

AFTER THIS POINT BARD CHOICES FOR ITEMS ARE VERY LACKLUSTRE!

Mikael's Crucible

---

Mikael's Blessing is an OK item. It no longer heals and provides the target with a cleanse. If you are quick it can disable Death Sentence but would likely be used to stop basic annoying cc such as Wither, Frenzying Taunt, stuns and fears. I only recommend this for experienced players due to the fact that having to pay attention to so many things already (double stun placement, ult placement etc) that keeping an eye for CC also can be a bit too much.

Frozen Heart

---

Frozen Heart decent in the late game against any auto attack heavy champions. Provides a huge chunk of cooldown reduction and requires nothing of the user, so takes something off your mind. It does, however, require you to be in relatively close range to the enemy for the attack speed reduction to kick in so it is defiantly best against AD Melee champions.

Randuin's Omen

---

Randuin's Omen Provides more self protection than Frozen Heart, but not as good for this reason. Can stack will with Frozen Heart against full attack damage teams. The on use AoE solo is OK, but requires you to be quite close for the area to hit them.

Play Video Play Video
Try and land Cosmic Bindings with the use of the enemy caster minions to land stuns on the enemy carry. Try and ensure that you and your ADC get level 2 before they do, especially against mage supports as they usually will gain some type of CC and burst you down if you are still level 1. If you realise you wont get level 2 first, back off and wait for the minions to come to you.

At level 2 leave Caretaker's Shrine in escape paths in lane or under tower. Don't plant to many as they cost a lot of mana.

Pick up charms for your Traveler's Call stacks. The first tier (25% Slow) is very valuable in both poking the enemy and helping your team to reach the target.

Use Magical Journey with your jungler behind the tower to help take off pressure against pushing lanes, such as Caitlyn, Tristana and most AP mages. Try and have a Control Ward see they can't see it being setup.

If they have something 'soft' such as Janna or Soraka support, and you feel comfortable leaving your ADC for a minute, roam mid with the use of charms for movement speed and try and make a play. Roaming is still possible against harder engage supports as long as your jungler is in the bottom half of the map, to assist your ADC if required.

If you do destroy your bot tower first, try and pick up herald for your team as the tower pushing power of herald is immense. If used in a lane with no enemy champions, expect to kill the Tier 1 tower and quite possibly a Tier 2.

With the use of Magical Journey gain map vision and control by roaming around the rivers, killing off any Control Wards and placing your own.

Tempered Fate will come into play in how you wish to proceed each fight. The enemy starting objectives such as dragon and baron become dangerous 50/50 steals if you manage to Tempered Fate below 1000hp as it will be a panic smite battle, which can help, if your team is slightly out of place for it and needs a couple more seconds. Also, everyone knows how a baron steal can swing the game in your favour suddenly, and this make it a greater possibility.

Prioritise using Cosmic Binding on assassins as when stunned they usually die quite fast. Going for their range carries gets tricky as they can run away easier as Cosmic Binding has a short range. Don't forget to use Redemption and Locket of the Iron Solari to keep your team healthy.

Bard isn't the best at peeling for your carry, but if they have multiple assassins like Rengar and Kha'Zix gambling on using Tempered Fate as they are diving in, can pay off massively and will allow your team to get ready with their CC & damage.

I hope this guide helped you. If you want a quick reply to a question I could be streaming at www.twitch.tv/bizzleberry and I usually reply instantly if I see it in chat. Otherwise Youtube comments I respond to within a day usually.

Good luck on the Rift!