Hello, My name is xXDarkFoxOx & Welcome to my guide to Bard the Wandering Caretaker & My first guide ever on Mobafire. I'm Currently in Bronze IV on NA Servers. While I am in Bronze, I mainly play League of Legends for Fun's Sake. I first started playing League in the Winter of 2013, around the time of Vel'koz's Release. I played as a Midlaner for the Duration of Season 4 until Deathfire Grasp's Removal & changes were made to accomadate champions that I enjoyed like Veigar & Ahri. I decided to branch out into the Supporting Role & the Occasional Jungler Role throughout Season 5.

I believe Bard has the potential to be one of the best Supports in-game, if played right. A lot of the people I played with have said that "Bard was a terrible support" & I should focus on other supports like Thresh. From those comments, stemmed my goal of making Bard one of my Go-To supports.
As for Bard himself, Bard was Marketed as a "Roaming Support with Lot's of Utility". Meaning Bard can Roam to other lanes & leave his Team mates Health packs so that they can stay in lane longer. His Usefulness comes from his Cosmic Binding (Q), Caretakers Shrine (W) & his Tempered Fate (R).

Spellthiefs Edge - This is Bards main source of Income. Auto attacking, landing a Q or damaging a turret will award a Gold Bonus to bard. Another thing bard can do is wait for one of his Meeps to be available due to a "Meep" Auto counting as both an Auto Attack & a spell.
Once you have atleast 800 or more Gold, you can recall & pick up your Sightstone. It's recommended you switch out your trinket & get a Pink ward for Dragon Pit.
After these purchases have been made, you want to start working on Catalyst the Protector.

*Frozen Heart - While the 5.16 patch has dropped the armor to 90 from 100, This is a staple Item if the enemy team has strong AD. The Mana & Armor this Item gives allows Bard to soak up a bit of Damage.
*Banshee's Veil - Nothing like Health Regen, Magic Resist and a Spell Shield that blocks ONE enemy ability. This helps Bard avoid certain abilities that would like wise, kill him instantaneously.
*Righteous Glory - While it has been nerfed, along with the other AP Items in the game, This can still be of use to Bard. Since it gives him Health, Mana & a Movement speed buff when activated (Similar to Talisman of Ascension). It also doesn't have the "Valor's Reward" Passive, so this is another thing to consider when Buying it.

While it does sound like a selfish Item to build on a support. Where as your supposed to buy items that benefits the team rather than yourself (As some people Believe), Rod of Ages gives Bard Stats that he can use to not just benefir himself, but his team as well.
- Health: Gives him a form of Pseudo Tankiness, so long as Bard has Defensive items to back it up.
- Mana: Gives Bard more mana to use his abilities. Sure, you can pick up Chimes to restore mana, but this will give Bard a bigger mana pool to use his shrines in the even he can't leave his Carry or if the Chimes spawn out of reach.
- Ability Power: While Bard's abilities have low AP Scaling, this will empower his Shrines & Cosmic Binding a little bit. Being able to heal your ADC for more health is usually a good thing, y'know?
- Valor's Reward: As of Patch 5.16, Righteous Glory no longer gives Bard this unique Passive. The Health/Mana Regen will help Bard stay in lane for a considerable amount of time, thus being able to stay around much longer than the opposing team.

- Banner of Command: I had a lot of fun buying this towards the end of the game. While it doesn't give your team Passive Health Regen (Thanks to Patch 5.16), It does however give Bard more AP for his Abilities & allows him to Spawn a Empowered Minion.
- Locket of the Iron Solari: As with Banner of Command, this no longer gives your team Health Regen. The only other reason I see in building this item is to give your team a small shield, Still not a bad buy.
- Mikaels Crucible: I actually have never had to buy this Item, but from what it's description says. Bard can Cleanse Status Ailments (Stuns, Snares, Slows, Ect.) & Heals the allied Champion it was used on. Also gives Bard a nice mana font & +40 MR. An Exceptional item worth noting.

- Spirit Visage: This MR Item is one I don't normally buy (Rather buy a Banshee's), but if you wanna go it alone & be able to heal more from your own shrines, then this item is worth noting as it gives your shrines a 20% healing bonus for yourself, Sorry Team.
- Randuin's Omen: Being that it builds out of Wardens Mail, it would only be fitting to give it the "Cold Steel" Passive. This item gives Bard +60 & +400 HP & as of Patch 5.16, you take -10% Critical Damage from enemies. This means ADC's & certain CHampions who like building Crit (Gangplank & Yasuo, I'm looking at you) will do slightly less damage to you. Definitely an Item worthy on this list if not on the Late Game Items list.
- Righteous Glory - While it has been nerfed, along with the other AP Items in the game, This can still be of use to Bard. Since it gives him Health, Mana & a Movement speed buff when activated (Similar to Talisman of Ascension). It also doesn't have the "Valor's Reward" Passive, so this is another thing to consider when Buying it.
- Rylai's Crystal Scepter: This is an Item that allows Bard to Slow you down significantly thorugh his Cosmic Binding & His Meeps. It will allow his team to catch up to a fleeing enemy if they are caught out away from their team.
- Zekes's Harbringer: Now that Zeke's Herald has become Zeke's Harbringer, we are definitely seeing new stuff in the bot lane. This Item gives Bard Armor, Ability Power & the ability to latch onto a allied champion & give them more Crit Chance & Ability Power. A Definite Item worth Considering.

In the Early levels of the game, you want to stick with your ADC throughout. You can pocket a few extra gold coins by poking the opponents with your auto attacks. Should be worth noting that because Bard doesn't exactly have any escapes in the event that a gank happens pre-6, there will be times where you will have to use your exhaust or flash to avoid dying. You can grab Chimes that Spawn near the River Bush, Tri-Bush & anywhere closest to you in the bot lane. Once you & Your Carry Drop their Turret, your Mid Game Begins.

**This is where Bard becomes most active.**
By this Point, you should have your sightstone & possibly your RoA if you did well enough. While you can stick with Your ADC for a little while longer, you two will part ways after the first 2-3 Team fights. Your goal at this point is to you guessed it.... WANDER!!! Bard will have to get his chimes scattered throughout Summoners Rift. This does NOT mean wander towards the enemy team's base looking for a fight.If you happen to come across the enemy Jungler at his Camps or what not. Drop a Ward nearby, Ping his location & get out of there fast. Junglers like Udyr, Skarner or Elise will look at you licking their chops & the last thing you want to do is die to them. If they do chase you, Magical Journey through a wall & see if they take the portal. You can follow up with Cosmic Binding & run away while they are stunned.

If the enemy is looking for Dragon or Baron, you can Temper Fate the Dragon to buy your team a few seconds to get to the objective. Your goal in teamfights is to Slow people down & heal the most important person on your team. This can go one or two ways;
1.) Winning Fight- You can try to tag fleeing enemies with Cosmic Binding in an effort for your team to catch them or if you didn't use your Ultimate, try tagging them with that.
2.) Losing- Magical Journey a wall & have your team retreat using your portal. some enemies may try to follow, but you can always stun them with Cosmic Binding for doing so. Just bear in mind that your binding can only stun 1 or 2 enemy champions & they all might take your portal depending on who's alive after the fight.

This is where Bard is either at or almost at his full power. Depending on how the game went for your team will decide who wins the match. Bard can go & collect chimes to boost his power & regenerate mana or stay with his team & push down the Nexus. The choice is yours at this point, unless your team direly needs you.

This concludes my Guide to Bard, the Wandering Caretaker. I will try to update this regulary & experiment with other builds for him. I hope you enjoyed & thank you for taking the time to read my guide. Good luck to you guys out there!