Hi, I'm currently a Gold I Bard main, and honestly, I just want other people to have as much fun as me. As far as how I play and why I play, I play for fun. I could be much higher in rank if I wanted to by playing jungle and doing proper things (this has been tested on other accounts), but that's not why I main bard. I main Bard because he is fun, and I want to see my rank if I just have fun. One thing to keep in mind is that my mans is dummy powerful, like he is STRONG at every stage of the game, it's just different types of strong. Early game, he has high damage but lacks range, mid game he's a roaming playmaker and will outplay the entire enemy team, and late game he is a massive threat for a shotcaller who can put out good damage.

This is my first guide, and I could go over more stuff in detail, but I'm lazy and slow, so it'll take some time. As far as what this guide is good for, it's for having fun and some actually being good. I know you can listen to higher ranked people like lathy and get what's going on there, but they won't know the secret skills to tilt the heck out of lower ranked players.

THIS GUIDE IS NOT FOR HIGH ELO. I plan on playing how I do as I climb the ranks, but I cannot recommend how I play to players who are above me, as that would be conceited and dumb.

Because, it's strong. By nature, the rune is overtuned. Bard has the ability to effectively make use of every rune (except aftershock), so the versatility and low cooldown on runes give a ton of use. Omnistone has a smart system for determining an optimal rune for the situation. There are a ton of rules to it, but basically you have enhanced rune luck depending on the state of the game.

Also it's really fun. That's the main reason.

Your basic goal in this guide is to forcefully carry your team in the lower ranks of LoL. Bard as a champion shines in two situations: When you have a competent team, and when the enemy team isn't competent. This means he's good in every elo, but you have to play differently. This guide is targeted towards the lower ranks, so we're going to bank on an incompetent enemy team. This guides us towards a few targets when playing:

Firstly, shut down the enemy carry.

Secondly, shut down the enemy's mental state.

Thirdly, win.


Seems pretty simple, but how do we do that? I'll get to it later, so for now let's cover what Bard can do and how it works.

Passive - Traveler's Call

So, basically he grabs thingies and goes places. These restore mana, so wait till you're low on mana early game, and later on you can use them. Mid and late game, use them to craft the fastest paths through the jungle for roams and vision control.

Q - Cosmic Binding

This gets a little funky, but try and poke with it. I don't have any magic tips to fix it, so take what you can from it. You need practice for landing those stuns, although I will say if you can meep auto first, do it. Slows them so it's harder to hit ya know?

W - Caretaker's Shrine

Leave these around lane when you leave, other than that save it in teamfights to speed up an ally in a tense situation or give a little bit of healing.

E - Magical Journey

Use this to help your jungler to gank, and escape from a sticky situation in jungles and lanes. You can go into the alcove and tunnel from the alcove to your tower, so practice that too.

Tempered Fate

Okay real quick, let's appreciate the name of this ability because it's SO COOL. Okay, now that that's done, there are two ways to use it. If you trust your team, try and manipulate stuff for them. Take towers down, set up drag for steal, zone enemies, even save them. If you don't, catch enemies and cause their end. That simple.

I'm not a pro player, and more importantly I'm not Lathyrus or Aphromoo. I'm not king of bards, teacher to the masses. What I recommend as general ideas are:

1. Use your q for poke in lane, and hitting minions near the end of it's range extends it. Catch opponents out and get your money with it.

2. Leave Ws all around different lanes when possible. The healing isn't a ton, but it can help make a difference.

3. Roam when your adc is safe, and don't leave them out to dry. If you need to go top to contest rift or make a big play, communicate that you won't be there for a little bit. This helps with tilt bigtime.

4. Have fun. Bard is a fun champ and League is a game, so enjoy your time. If you're too stressed, go into norms and go bard top or somethin idk. Just don't put yourself under too much pressure.

After leashing, go mid. See if you can give your midlane a level 1 gank. That's the first technique.

When a melee champion is close to you and about to auto you, create a portal and immediately get in. It forces them to follow you and you can get a kill with it. It's great.