Bard Build Guide by x_Luminosity

Introduction

Hello fellow League of Legends players! I am Luminosity, a random player from the SEA server. This is my first guide ever, and it will be for the Champion that I absolutely love playing the most. He is none other than Bard, The Wandering Caretaker Hot Air Balloon. Here's a video to show you just how badass Bard is.

Pros / Cons

Pros

+ Versaatile champion + Strong utility + Great in teamfights + Great roaming thanks to Traveler's Call + AOE Zhonya's Hourglass ultimate + Great lane sustain + Scales well into the late game. + Super fun to play (tilting is almost close to impossible) + Awesome subreddit (BardMains) + Kawaii game strong

Cons

+ High mana cost for heals + High skill cap + Short range on Cosmic Binding(Q) makes it difficult to lane against long range champions like *cough* Caitlyn*cough* + Skillshot reliant + Needs team coordination

Runes

Greater Mark of Hybrid Penetration Greater Mark of Hybrid Penetration Greater Mark of Hybrid Penetration Greater Mark of Hybrid Penetration Greater Mark of Hybrid Penetration

I used to run these runes when I first started playing Bard. As time passed, the runes changed as well. Below is the rune page that I find suits this build the best.



Greater Mark of Attack Speed: Not only to land a few extra auto-attacks in and get that sweet Thunderlord's Decree proc, but also decreases the time spent waiting for the wind-up animation, enabling you to be mobile even when poking the opponent.

Greater Mark of Hybrid PenetrationGreater Mark of Hybrid Penetration: Helps with Cosmic Binding and makes your meeps hit harder. Your auto-attacks on the enemy will pack a punch, especially with Thunderlord's Decree .

Greater Seal of Armor: Armor reduces the amount of physical damage that you take from being attacked.

Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist: Picking this gives you 29.01 MR at level 18. Sure, it gives you 1.53 MR at Level 1 which is really low, but at Level 8, it would have scaled up to 12.24 MR. That is also around the time when teamfights start breaking out. Picking Greater Glyph of Magic Resist will give you a flat amount of 10.8 MR in total.

Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage: To give your auto-attacks more damage.

Masteries

Ferocity Tree

Sorcery - More damage from your Cosmic Binding(Q). Expose Weakness - Good if your ADC follows up after you land a stun.

Cunning Tree

Wanderer - More movement speed for better roaming. Secret Stash - Longer lasting heal effects from potions, elixirs and flasks. Merciless - More damage on low health champions. Meditation not needed as you can get 12% of your mana back when you collect one chime. Bandit - Since you are going to be harassing the enemy a lot in the lane, you might want to pick this up. Precision - Basically a mini Mark of Hybrid Penetration. Thunderlord's Decree - This keystone mastery on Bard is just too good. Your auto-attack counts as one stack, and your meep counts as another. What this means is that you just have to auto-attack an enemy champion twice for it to proc.

Resolve Tree

Unyielding - Bonus defensive stats. Explorer - More movement speed for better roaming.

Summoner Spells

Skill Order

Abilities and Tips

Traveler's Call(PASSIVE): Chimes spawn around the map, and collecting them attracts meeps to Bard, empowering his attacks. Upon picking up a chime, you will be granted 12% of your total mana, some experience and a 7 second movement speed buff that stacks up to 5 times(note: movement speed stack will be lost if in combat). Chimes spawn close to the side of the map that Bard is in. Chimes last for 10 minutes. When they are about to despawn, the indicator on the minimap will appear red. Every 5th Chime collected will grant meeps a permanent bonus. (Take a look at the list of meep effects below.) Do not try to rush to get every chime that shows up. If a chime spawns really close to you, do not pick it up when you still have a lot of mana left. Instead, try plopping down a Caretaker's Shrine first, then picking it up.

At 25 Chimes, the meeps deal damage in a cone behind their initial target. You can use this to poke by positioning yourself properly and auto-attacking the Caster Minions.


Number of Chimes spawned

Minutes	5	10	15	20	25	30	35	40	45	50	55	60	65	70
Chimes	10	22	34	46	58	70	82	94	106	118	130	142	154	166

Cosmic Binding(Q): Always always ALWAYS max this ability first. The cooldown of the spell decreases as you level it up, and you can use it to poke the enemy adc whenever they try to get CS. The duration of this ability's stun is pretty long, so be on the lookout for opportunities such as a fresh wave of enemy minions coming in and land as many stuns as possible. Use this skill to engage, disengage or harass.

There are two parts to this ability. The first part is the actual indicator itself. The second part is around 50% the length of the actual indicator, and only gets activated if you manage to land the projectile from the first part on any jungle monster, enemy minion or champion. If the projectile from the second part of the ability hits terrain or a second enemy, you stun both of them and deal the same amount of damage.

If the situation is not ideal for you to get a stun off, ask yourself: 'Can I try my best to re-position myself in a way that I are absolutely sure that I can get the stun as soon as possible, and not jeopardize the outcome of the fight?' If the answer is yes, then go for it. Otherwise just slow the enemy instead as it is a 60% slow and is better than anything.

You can use this ability to check bushes or for hidden teemos as well, because there is a difference in sound when you hit something or when you miss. Cosmic Binding is a projectile that will be blocked by Yasuo's Wind Wall and Braum's Unbreakable.





Caretaker's Shrine(W): Bard's healing ability. At rank 1, it has a minimum heal of 30+(30% AP) health, and 70+(60% AP) health after 10 seconds. Increasing the number of ranks put into this ability does not reduce cooldown but increases the amount of heal.

This ability can be cast on the ground. Do not place your shrines in the enemy's way as they can just step on them and that's just sad. You can place 3 shrines on the ground. After which, if the spell is cast directly on an ally, the oldest shrine will not be destroyed.

Caretaker's Shrine gives allies a slight boost of movement speed. You can use this to your advantage by placing shrines that allow you and your ADC to escape a gank, chase down enemies or reposition. Before roaming, be sure to leave 1 or 2 shrines in lane for your ADC. While roaming, you can help your mid-laner out by plopping a shrine down in his lane. If you're lucky, you might get a free assist!

If you are having troubles in laning phase, put another point into this ability before level 6.






Magical Journey(E): This ability is just so fun to use. It makes you look at the map in a different way. Bard creates a portal that allies and enemies can use. Allies that use the portal move at increased speed. You can use this in so many different ways, such as helping your jungler gank a lane, helping your teammates escape, or baiting the enemy. Putting ranks into this ability increases the ally bonus movement speed by 10% each rank. A handy tip for using Magical Journey is that you can use long journeys to escape, and short journeys to set up ganks.

Magical Journey makes roaming so much easier and fun with Bard. Chimes can be picked up if you are in the portal. Using the portals saves precious time, and can make you or your allies get to places quicker. You can use it to get to the side-lanes faster by casting it on the wall from the fountain to the inhibitor. However, you are not invulnerable while in the portal and will still take damage and get interrupted by spells such as Blitzcrank's Rocket Grab.

If you are getting chased by enemies, try to get the longest journey possible to put more distance between you and your pursuers. You can also use Cosmic Binding(Q) to stun enemies that follow you as soon as they exit the portal. There is almost no way that they can dodge the stun if you do it right.






Tempered Fate(R): Remember that Zhonya's Hourglass that I was talking about earlier in this guide? In my opinion, this is one of the best ultimates in the game. Though it does no damage, it puts all units AND structures that are in the area in a 2.5 second stasis, ignoring tenacity. It affects basically everything except the inhibitors and nexus. Put a point in this whenever you can.

You can use this spell to pick off enemies, dive turrets, save allies , zone enemies and make teamfights unfair for the enemy by turning it into a 5v3 or 5v2 or.... you get the idea.

Tempered Fate has a cast time of about 0.7 seconds, and a travel time that varies depending on how far it has to travel(the further the ult, the longer it takes to land, just like Ziggs' Mega Inferno Bomb).

When casting, Bard's movement gets interrupted. Lets say immediately after using a Magical Journey, or in any situation where the whole enemy team is very close behind you, you do not have time to get further away from the portal to ult. You need it to land quicky too. Positioning the indicator directly on yourself may most likely result in you getting caught by your own ult, essentially trapping yourself.





Follow up Tempered Fate with Cosmic Binding if it is off cooldown. Cosmic Binding has a projectile speed of 1500 units. with practice, you will be able to get a stun off immediately after they come out of stasis. You can also use Tempered Fate to zone enemies. It is big enough to block an entire path in the jungle.