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Flash is generally a core spell, there's no reason to switch it out for anything. Exhaust can be a stronger pick throughout the game, as it gives you a massive damage debuff. However, Ignite gives you a stronger early game presence or can be picked up against a high sustain team or against a high sustain support like Soraka (though in the latter situation it's largely unnecessary).
Runes
This is where one should give an explanation of the rune choices. I also like to offer alternatives, but this is not a requirement.
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" Bard utilizes Summon Aery quite effectively. It both increases his poke and gives a slight boost to Caretaker's Shrine, even when used to give a movement speed boost. Manaflow Band allows Bard to much more reasonably drop Caretaker's Shrines, as you can use it to drop one without cost on occasion, which I find really improves Bard's mana sustain if he's forced to stay in lane. Celerity is a great mastery for a champion who roams frequently, but Transcendence is a perfectly good alternative. Scorch gives Bard quite a bit of damage, but Waterwalking is a decent alternative. I prefer to take Resolve as my secondary tree, taking Revitalize and one of the other options that can be picked up there, but Inspiration is also a great option."
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Pros +strong poke +good engage and teamfight potential +low item dependency +good kiting +great at roaming
Bard's Strengths
This is where one would outline the champion's strengths. For example: " Bard's damage is strong and he is very good at setting up roams and ganks. His long range engage potential with Tempered Fate and good damage scaling through Traveler's Call allows him to stay relevant throughout the game."
Bard's Limitations
This is where one would expand on the champion's shortcomings. Weaknesses can be both weak points in the champion's kit and things that may make the champion more challenging to master.
Cons -Often squishy early -Playstyle can be difficult to master -His sustain is not instant and has a high mana cost -
Pix, Faerie Companion: This makes Bard an excellent damage dealer in lane and also has a lot of utility due to the different functions based on the last ability used.
Q
Glitterlance: This skill is your primary damage ability. It is not targeted and prioritizes champions, so you just need to ensure you are in range of a target to hit them with it. It also gives you and nearby allies on hit magic damage on the next basic attack within three seconds. It makes Pix, Faerie Companion deal an additional 40% damage when it is the last ability cast, which is quite good for damage early on.
W
Whimsy: This skill gives you a decent amount of sustain and is a convenient way to apply Windspeaker's Blessing 's Armor/MR buff to your entire team later in the game due to the small shield it applies to all allies within range (for one and half seconds). It applies a damage debuff to Pix, Faerie Companion when it is the last ability cast (that stacks with Exhaust), which can be fairly useful for winning trades if necessary.
E
Help, Pix!: This makes kiting extremely easy. It also gives you the ability to slow enemies with Pix, Faerie Companion, which can be a nice follow up for ganks before you have Wild Growth.
R
Wild Growth: This skill is very effective for initiating fights. The skillshot is wide and travels rather quickly, so it can be combined with Flash for a pretty strong engage. It also includes a passive that decreases the cooldowns of all of your abilities, in addition to any CDR you have from other sources.
Currently, maxing Glitterlance first is the best option on Bard as it gives her strong poke early game. I usually prefer to max Whimsy second, though it can be maxed first if the match up is difficult. In this circumstance, I still recommend taking three points in Glitterlance before you max Whimsy, so as to not lose all ability to harass. I then max Help, Pix! last, as you really only need one point to get the slow on Pix, Faerie Companion. You can even forgo points in Help, Pix! until level 8 or level 12, if you wish, though it's not my own perBardl preference. Wild Growth should be taken whenever it's possible to take it.
Starting Items Either of these are fine starting items for Bard. I generally prefer Spellthief's Edge as it fits Bard's playstyle better, but Ancient Coin is okay if you are in a difficult match up and want some extra self-sustain.
Early game core These are fairly generic items for a mage support like Bard. Against a high magic damage support (i.e. Brand) you can get Chalice of Harmony before Sightstone. If you're struggling to maintain vision control, an earlier Sightstone and Sweeping Lens can be beneficial. It should be noted that, while Sightstone needn't always be bought on your first back, you should be buying Control Wards as soon as possible.
Core Items As some type of Sightstone upgrade is core on supports in general, mentioning it seems almost redundant. However, the health Ruby Sightstone provides is quite beneficial on a squishier support like Bard, while Eye of the Watchers gives you a bit better slot efficiency and a decent chunk of AP. Redemption is a core buy on most supports and Bard really benefits from everything about the item. Oracle's alteration is another core support item, that should be bought fairly soon after hitting level 9, as it allows you to gain vision control easier, which is important for keeping an eye on objectives such as Baron Nashor and Dragon.
Defensive Items These are the best defensive purchases for Bard currently. Mikael's Blessing is very strong against compositions with a lot of hard CC, it can save an ally from an untimely death if the active is timed properly. Locket of the Iron Solari should be purchased against teams with a lot of Magic damage, especially if it's AoE, but is strong against any high burst team compositions due to the shield active. Randuin's Omen still remains the most efficient armor item for a support, as it provides health for its armor. This means the item needs very little health within the build to be effective, while Frozen Heart requires more health within the build or the armor is largely wasted. Zz'Rot Portal is a pretty decent purchase if your team is getting pushed in or if you want to start an AFK push in one of the lanes to force the enemy team to send someone to deal with it. Banner of Command is sort of a budget Zz'Rot Portal and, while cheaper, is more situational as the promoted minion is only immune to magic damage.
Offensive Items Bard largely doesn't need to purchase offensive items. However, there are a few items that can be beneficial to purchase on her. Ardent Censer gives her a good chunk of AP, CDR, and movement speed. However, its primary appeal is the passive it applies to your healing, which gives targets healed or shielded attack speed and on hit magic damage while restoring their health on hit. This makes it useful to rush with ADCs who utilize attack speed well, especially if they would normally get Runaan's Hurricane as one of their core items. It also further increases her healing values, which is great later on in the game. Zeke's Harbinger is a strong purchase if your ADC goes with a basic crit build, as it will put them at 100% crit when it's fully charged. Athene's Unholy Grail can be a decent purchase if you're ahead and just want to take your healing to silly levels. The CDR and mana regen the item provides are also useful, though Bard doesn't particularly need large amounts of AP to deal damage. If you prefer Ruby Sightstone, want a bit more AP than Eye of the Watchers provides, or simply want the active it grants; Frost Queen's Claim is definitely not a bad purchase. I perBardlly prefer the item efficiency of Eye of the Watchers, so I rarely get this item myself.
talisman of ascension
Situational Purchases These items are extremely situational, but can be useful in or against certain team compositions. Banshee's Veil is more of a selfish purchase, which I would get against champions such as Syndra or LeBlanc to mitigate as much damage as possible. Frozen Heart can be a good purchase against attack speed dependent champions or against those who utilize attack speed as part of their damage ( Yasuo, Lucian). However, the lack of health in the item itself means you need to itemize health to make the best use of its armor, which can be tricky on a mage support like Bard. Spirit Visage is an okay purchase if you are dealing with a lot of magic damage and simply need a lot of MR to deal with the problem. Knight's Vow is an interesting item, but everything it does is reduced by half on a ranged champion like Bard, so it's definitely situational and I feel as though other items tend to be better for her. Warmog's Armor can be purchased if you keep getting burst down and simply need to have a lot of health to survive pretty much anything. It gives 10% CDR, which is nice and provides enough health regen to get all of that health back pretty quickly if you can manage to stay alive. I don't get this item very often, but it definitely has its uses. Talisman of Ascension is primarily situational because Bard utilizes Spellthief's Edge far better than Ancient Coin in lane. This does not make it a poor purchase for her overall. The active is quite good for her, but it requires you to sell items you've already purchased in most cases, which is not very efficient.
Largely Bard's function in lane is to provide poke, sustain, and engage. She also has decent disengage, which makes her pretty flexible. Mostly you want to poke enemies with Pix, Faerie Companion. Exhaust should mostly be used in conjunction with Diminuendo or Tempo to disengage or to lower an enemy's damage in a trade, though it can be used to chase targets (Tempo will usually allow you to forgo this). Wild Growth can be a powerful engage tool in lane post-six when combined with Flash. It can also be used to force enemy champions to back off or to foil a turret dive, as the width of the skill shot makes knocking up grouped targets easy.
Largely your function steers away from dealing damage and more towards buffing and sustaining allies and debuffing enemies, however you will often become a key initiator with Wild Growth. You'll want to use Diminuendo on high priority targets like their marksman or assassins and Tempo to chase targets down if necessary. You'll probably end up using your non-ultimate abilities in rapid succession to buff your allies and debuff enemies as needed. Exhaust should largely be used for peel, chasing shouldn't be a problem if you're using Help, Pix! as needed.
Remember that Pix, Faerie Companion does different things based on what ability was used last before attacking an enemy. Glitterlance will make you deal 40% extra damage with Pix, Faerie Companion, plus its on hit magic damage if you proc Pix, Faerie Companion within its duration. This will be your primary source of harass early game. Whimsy causes Pix, Faerie Companion to reduce the enemy's damage by 25% (+4% per 100 AP) for three seconds. This stacks with Exhaust (multiplicatively) and can be used in a trade to reduce an enemy's damage by a fair amount if necessary. Help, Pix! causes Pix, Faerie Companion to slow enemies by 40% (+4% per 100 AP) for two seconds. This is a pretty good option to use when you want to follow up or prepare for a gank, as the slow is fairly strong and the movement speed from Help, Pix! can help you and your carry to get in a better position.
Should I build items like Lich Bane?
In my perBardl opinion, no, Bard should not be built as some sort of budget AP carry with a few support items. She does not need items like Lich Bane to remain relevant in lane (one of her perks and why you generally don't see pros buying it on her) and it mostly just wastes gold that would be better spent on items like Redemption and Locket of the Iron Solari. Her job later on in the game is not really to deal a lot of damage, which just makes building a lot of AP a bit of a waste. Bard also needs to get fairly up close and perBardl to engage, so being squishy with a bunch of AP items is not particularly desirable. If you want to play a support like that, Zyra and Brand are far better choices than Bard.
Bard works well with most carries and team compositions, however champions such as Varus and Lucian can utilize the extra on-hit damage from Glitterlance quite well and are able to follow up her poke with poke of their own. They also have strong follow up ultimates to chain with Wild Growth and use movement speed handily. In general, Bard works well with champions who can follow up on her engage easily.
Bard is extremely squishy early, which can make dealing with strong poke champions like Brand fairly difficult. She especially struggles against champions who can poke her from outside her own range or force her under tower often. Caitlyn can easily avoid most of Bard's poke due to her superior range, which can make her an annoying champion for Bard. Bard can nearly equal Bard in poke, has a strong enough shield to block Bard's poke if she uses it properly, and has strong point and click CC abilities that can make things difficult for you.
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Build Guide By The_Nameless_Bard
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