Hello everyone, my summoner name is Coonmeat, I ended season 6 in silver 2. You may think you're better than me and you might be right, who am I to judge. I've been a support main for the past 4 years, which makes it fairly hard to climb. I'm not here to prove my credibility to you though, and odds are if you're looking at Bard guides then I know more about this champ than you do since I've been playing almost entirely Bard for the last couple months. Either way, hopefully you find this guide entertaining and engaging and I hope you can learn a couple things from it.

I started playing Bard a little while back because he seemed like an underrated support and I've always liked an underdog, especially since not many people seemed to be playing Bard at low ranks. People have told me that Bard is underpowered at low ranks simply because people tend to not know how to play with him on their team. I disagree, a good support should be able to make plays well enough so that it is clear to his or her team exactly what they should be doing. This is why I like Bard. In my opinion he has the capacity to make plays that I haven't seen on other supports that I play, you just have to be pretty skilled with him (which takes practice).

Bard's incredibly fun to play and landing his Q stun is one of the greatest feelings in the world in my opinion. Collecting chimes is somehow calming and therapeutic and I find myself smiling whenever I get the chance to surf around the map and pick them up.

I apologize for the wordiness and simplicity of this guide, but I wanted to go in depth on how each of his moves can be used. I didn't talk as much about his items, runes and masteries, because I feel as though Bard can be very adaptable and effective in many different builds. Hopefully you find it helpful.

COOLDOWN REDUCTION.

Hands down this needs to be at max 45% every game and you can be the most annoying support in the game. This puts his Cosmic Binding on around a 4sec cooldown and it stuns for 1.8s at max rank. So basically you can have single target (or two if you're a god) stunned for the same duration as they are unstunned (2s stunned; 2s to wait for the cooldown to come back up). Of course this is only after you have around 4 or 5 items completed, but this is why in my opinion Bard is one of the strongest late game supports.

You can get your cooldown reduction from a multitude of sources. I prefer to make Bard tanky, I've seen the most success on him whilst doing so. I've considered the idea of an "on hit" Bard, if the team needs extra damage, which would theoretically lock people down with stuns and slows and widdle them down from afar. I've concluded that this wouldn't work to well as Bard simply functions best while helping his ADC kite (as most supports do). For this reason I like to make Bard a beefy frontliner style build, with little to no offensive stats, just someone to body block and distract from an ADC. This comes in handy when kiting people around yourself, as you can Magical Journey away from people and typically get enemies at lower rankings to chase you instead of a priority target. While doing this though they are bound to land at least a little damage on you and if you build mostly tank I've found that you end up being more or less unkillable.

ABILITY POWER
If you find yourself comfortable playing Bard and can land a majority of your cosmic bindings then ability can be helpful. For one thing it powers his meeps up, making your autos late game actually deal heavy damage, but with the decent CC peel from your Cosmic Binding you can actually go toe to toe with enemies 1v1 in the game and hold your own. I don't recommend AP if you are new to Bard, or if your team is already really squishy.

PROS

Huge, nearly constant amount of end game CC
Magical journey has an insane amount of utility (get yourself and/or a teammate out of a sticky situation, bait enemies, decrease roam time, and more)
Can stun more than one enemy during team fights
Ultimate can literally win a close game for your team
Ultimate can also singlehandedly win a team fight
Ultimate can ALSO stall objectives for crucial seconds so team can get in position
Damn near impossible to rage on Bard
Constantly being underestimated by his enemies
Can make some pretty gnarly ganks happen with his magical journey
Between chimes granting him mana and shrines granting him health, has potential to stay in lane longer than most
Has good early game poke and pressure against enemy ADC if played correctly
Can even help a mid lane snowball with an adequate roam
Can help you and your ADC get back to lane much faster with a well placed journey

CONS

Unfortunately, a misplaced ult can even lose a teamfight, a game, or simply get a teammate killed and make them rage
His heals don't really do much for early game sustain against heavy poke
Heals don't do much healing at all and are used more for a speed boost typically
Bard's magical journey can accidentally be placed to aid an enemy gank if not focusing correctly
Due to his roaming nature Bard can sometimes leave an unfocused ADC out to dry (and die)
Bard's Q cosmic binding is positioning reliant and can be hard to land in lane, and can be countered a bit if enemy positions themselves intelligently
Playing against a comp with a lot of dashes {yasuo, riven, vayne, etc) can make it VERY hard to land a cosmic binding

I take magic resist scaling glyphs unless going against a mage support (karma, brand, zyra, lux, etc). If I think I will get poked hard and heavy early I typically go flat MR glyphs to mitigate that early damage. I take scaling health seals because as the game progresses I don't typically buy health items {besides Sightstone) until around my 4th finished item. The scaling runes help to give me that health I need as the game progresses as I build mainly resistances. I take hybrid penetration marks because Bards empowered auto attacks deal both physical and magical damage and the 9 runes of hybrid pen gives him a remarkable amount of damage early. To round out the runes I take flat armor quints to give myself the early boost against the autos of the enemy bot laners.

Before I talk about my mastery path I have chosen, I will say that I have always played Bard with Thunderlord's Decree as it gives him good burst early (one empowered auto and a Cosmic Binding will proc it). This gives him a good amount of trading potential in early lane. However since the change Courage of the Colossus has seemed decent on Bard. If you can consistently land stuns, you can get yourself some nice shields as the game goes on. If your team comp is rather squishy and might need you to be tanky I would recommend going for that mastery, the big con to that being that you would not be able to put points in Intelligence and receive the extra CDR.

The masteries I've taken in Cunning are all fairly self explanatory, as most tiers of this tree only have one mastery that would be even remotely effective on Bard. The tree provides him with a buff to roaming speed (very good on Bard as you'll come to realise), a buff to potions (good for lane trades), a buff to mana regen (which I have found incredibly helpful on Bard as it allows him to stay in lane almost indefinitely), a boost to CDR and a burst capability in Thunderlord's Decree (which can be procced with a meep auto and a Q landing, doesn't even have to stun) that really improves Bard's trades in lane. The one skill that I am a tad on the fence about is whether to take Greenfather's Gift or Bandit . It really depends on how aggressive you think you'll be allowed to get in lane. If you have an ADC who prefers to play passive and farm or will be at a disadvantage early, then taking Bandit to help you get into late game that much faster is preferable. If you think you'll be allowed to control the bushes and your ADC might play a bit aggressive then Greenfather's Gift will give you even MORE poke in lane trades. I also wouldn't recommend Greenfather's Gift if going against a lane with good sustain (soraka, alistar, sona, etc).

I finish the unspent points off in resolve to help give Bard a little extra beefiness and a very valuable cooldown reduction of summoner spells (especially helpful if you choose to run Exhaust over Ignite)

In my opinion this is a must take for almost any champion in the game. It can come in handy in a variety of situations, flashing defensively to get away from ganks alone is enough reason to take this spell. However, you can also use it to line up a Cosmic Binding that otherwise wouldn't have a correct angle to land or to Flash a wall so that you can Magical Journey yourself and a stranded teammate to safety.


I find myself taking this more often than not. It's very effective for shutting down a fed enemy, which seems to be a commonplace thing in lower ranks. It also helps win lane skirmishes and makes it easy to land a critical Cosmic Binding. It scales better into late game than its counterpart Ignite.


This spell is taken by most Bards to give them that early advantage as it brings a huge punch to any champion's early game. It also helps to shut down an enemy AD carry's Heal. As I mentioned previously Bard is very strong in late game utility so this spell helps him to get that lead (and a Bard with a lead, in my opinion, is overpowered). However if you can't get a lead with it this spell makes him less effective late game than the Exhaust does. Try both and let me know what you think.

There are a lot of different ways you can build Bard and still be effective. I've seen people take him into an "on hit" route, I've seen full Ability Power, but I prefer to make him tanky. Recently I've been building Locket of the Iron Solari and Redemption as my earliest items after Sightstone. I then upgrade to Ruby Sightstone quickly to get a cooldown reduction on my two active items. I really like Redemption on Bard because it has a similar range as his ultimate and I just like being able to affect things from across the map. Again, I like to max CDR, so I try to buld items like Frozen Heart Warmog's Armor and Ionian Boots of Lucidity depending on what stats I need. There are a lot of items with CDR on them so I keep the build flexible depending on what I need that game. The only item I build every game these days is Redemption which gives 10% CDR, so pay attention to how much more you need and try not to go over 45% as that is a bit of a wasted stat at that point. If you have trouble determining what you need to build, a couple things I think about as the game progresses are:

Am I getting a lead (ie getting kills in lane as support, are me and my ADC stomping our lane opponents, is my team taking early towers/playing aggressively)?

If this is happening then you can build aggressive stats, save tankiness for later and rush for some damage, Frost Queen's Claim helps to scout out and lock down more kills, upgraded Sightstone provides more vision control and more picks. If I'm feeling crazy I might try to build an Abyssal Mask to help my heavy AP teams, a Morellonomicon against high regen champiions or champions with good lifesteal (swain, dr mundo, illaoi all come to mind) and an item like Zhonya's Hourglass can have some fun plays with Bard's ult (the ult won't affect you if you're in the Hourglass when it hits). These last three items I wouldn't recommend building as your team wants you to be a utility player and not a damage mage for the most part. Items like Turbo Chemtank also help give your team engage potential, though they aren't as effective on Bard as his Magical Journey does a good job of that.

Am I behind?

Is the enemy team winning? Are you getting pushed under your own tower? In this instance you want to build tanky stats and you want to build against the opponents who are doing well (Armor against a fed physical damage, MR against a fed mage)

How aggressive is my team?

If your team seems to like turret diving, chasing into enemy jungle for kills, etc, you may want an item like Ohmwrecker for extra tower shut downs,and you will want as many wards as possible to keep good vision out for counter ganking.

Does my team like to split push or group a lot?

What I've found in lower ranks is that the team doesn't typically want to group up. Sometimes the best way to get this to happen is to buy a Banner of Command and a Zz'Rot Portal (or just one of these) and have the lane push without a teammate there so your team will group up. Don't build this every game, especially if the enemy team has a better team fight than your team does (perhaps they have a lot of Area of Effect damage or their champions work very well together). However, if you build side push items this forces the enemy to focus on a side lane for a bit which opens them up to being engaged upon. These items can work out well for a roamer like Bard but they usually do not work unless the game is going in Bard's favor or at least even.

Is my team very squishy or is my team very tanky?

Typically I think it is best for a team to have around 2 beefy champions to soak damage. These champions are usually found in the jungle and top lanes and can be supports as well (that is you). If you have a full tank and an off tank bruiser in your top lane/jungler, then you shouldn't have to build Bard as tanky as possible. You can look at Mikael's Blessing or Ardent Censer as viable item options. If your team has an assassin in the jungle and/or top lane, this means they are probably squishy and you should look to build very tanky, and maybe even try to build a Knight's Vow and Locket of the Iron Solari to help with damage reduction of your team.

Is there one person on my team with the majority of the kills?

Maybe 2 of your lanes fed and one of them is 10-1 and keeping your team in the game. This will generally mean that, if the enemy is smart, they will focus this fed player and eliminate them before fights. You should focus on not letting that happen. Build items that boost this character even more (bear in mind that this player is probably good and can be counted on, you typically don't get "legendary" by accident). Zeke's Harbinger and Knight's Vow will specifically target this person passively and make them stronger without you doing much except being near them. Mikael's Blessing helps them if you are up against heavy CC lockdown, Ardent Censer gives them a little lifesteal and more attack speed, and items that give shields also can help them stay alive for a critical second.

You want to max your Cosmic Binding asap since it increases the damage and stun duration. I max Magical Journey second because the shrines don't really get much more powerful, and I find myself using them more for speed boosts than as heals. The extra speed on the journeys actually comes in handy. If you are getting poked a lot in lane it may be pertinent to take a second point in Caretaker's Shrine

To collect chimes you have to leave lane which means you lose experience from minions, your lane mate is now at a disadvantage and you lose some of your gold production. However, you pick up minimal experience from the chimes, gain mana back, get the opportunity to put deeper than usual wards down, get bonuses to your auto attacks and give you a chance to create map pressure. You want to minimize the cons in this trade off.

If the enemy has a huge wave of minions slow pushing to your tower, don't leave to collect 5 chimes in your jungle. Wait for the minions to get mowed down by your turret, collect all that experience and then leave. WHile you are waiting, try to put shrines down near your turret in case your lane mate will need them when you're gone (keep in mind you will be getting a good portion of mana back when you pick up a chime).

Try to give a warning ping to your lane mate and let them know you are leaving. Some people don't pay attention to what you do and will definitely get angry at you when they die even if they were playing too far forward. If you can push a wave to tower, this will give you the minimal enemy minion deaths missed while you are away.

Before you leave, try to get at least 2 autos or spells onto an enemy champion so that your Spellthief's Edge can be recharging while you are away and you can maximize gold income.

If your jungler isn't on your side of the map, or either your lane mate or mid laner went back to base, be cautious as you will have minimal backup if you get found by an enemy. Save your Magical Journey for an escape tool in these situations.

If you are in a safe spot, you have deep wards out or your team is nearby, or you are deep within your territory, scope out the best places for a [[magical journey}}. Typically the longer the journey the better, but you should map out a path for yourself, try to find a journey that will cut off a long walk around a wall or will cut the distance between two chimes that are far apart.

I typically try to grab chimes on the way back to lane that are pretty close to lane so that I can get the speed boost and get back faster, I'll grab the ones in deep jungle when I need mana in lane, this allows me to pressure around the map at these moments.

Make sure to maximize chime collecting by placing wards in quality locations or at the very least showing your face and using a Cosmic Binding in another lane to keep the enemy on their heels. Try not to use a Magical Journey directly out of lane as this will alert the enemy that you are gone and they will probably immediately engage on your carry.

MIND GAMES

You are playing against other people, not computers. They are strategizing against you just as your are plotting against them. They know that Bard's weakness is his desire to leave his carry and go roam. It is a great idea to fake a lane leave. Maybe put a journey out of lane and then hide, maybe go just out of lane but be in a spot to journey back into lane quickly (especially effective when portaling multiple people into lane). If the enemy thinks you are gone they will play aggressive, probably burn a lot of cooldowns and then you can surprise them. Typically this makes it very easy to line up a quality cosmis binding (always try to stun the carry, the ideal situation is to hit both opponents) and even if they have gotten an upper hand, this will make typically them hesitate. Make sure your carry is on the same page with this play. Often if you are out of lane, you can throw a Tempered Fate onto the enemy from out of lane to negate their power spike in a skirmish (stops people from capitalizing on Leona ult/engage, wastes a Taric ult, stops a Zyra ult dead in it's tracks, etc etc). This stall will allow you to portal in as the enemy can simply watch you line a Cosmic Binding up. If you are pro you will have the Flash timed and know if they will be flashing right after the ult is up.

Typically in my guides I have a section for spells, but with Bard's capability to make plays in such a variety of ways I'm giving each spell it's own section to go in depth. Hopefully one day I can link videos in this to help illustrate the points I'm making.



From here on out I will refer to this spell with a capital Q, as it is Bard's Q bound ability. I have this on smart cast, as I do most spells, but I've found that often there is a small small window of opportunity for a lot of stuns and I don't have time to left click.

Know the mechanics of your Q. It's hitbox on the original contact has a little wiggle room, which means if you throw it slightly to the left, then the secondary binding will then seek a target slightly to the left and behind your target. Same goes for if you throw it to the right. This can make all the difference. If the enemy is hugging a wall and you are hugging the same wall, often if you can clip them with a Q along the wall side, the binding has a good chance of tethering them to that wall. If two enemies are running at you or away and they have staggered themselves so that they are not in a straight line away from you, you can aim the Q slightly between them (make sure you hit the leader) and it will tether them together. You'd be surprised what Qs actually land, and realistically it takes a couple games of practicing before you will figure out exactly what you're capable of.

In lane you can be a nuisance. Qs are easy to land on melee supports as you have range on them and they will usually be standing among minions. This is all well and good for early poke and proccing your Spellthief's Edge but you really want quality poke on the enemy carry. Keep in mind, you can tether this carry to a wall or minion. And you can use the minion as the primary or secondary tether (basically, you can stun carries either in front of or behind minions). This makes it very hard to dodge Bard, since you can dodge Blitz and Thresh hooks by simply getting behind a minion, or dodge Miss Fortunes double up by getting in front of a minion, when playing against Bard there are even fewer safe spots. Focus on your friendly minions health, and see them from the POV of the enemy carry. They will want to come in to auto the low health ones to get last hits right? Well you know generally where they want to walk to hit that minion, so you can lead them by throwing a Q so that it will land as they step up. The Q moves slow so you almost have to see the future in these situations in order to get your stun into that small window.

If you are out chiming or you are pressuring the enemy jungler or just in the jungle, keep in mind that a quality Q stun is MUCH more effective than a Q slow. So if you get ganked, or surprised from a bad face check into a blind bush, hold the Q until you can stick it to something. Don't panic and throw it immediately because this will typically not help you. Comboing it with a Magical Journey is nice because you they will always come out against a wall and once you get the timing of it down, it's basically a guaranteed stun.

In late game team fights try to chain the CC, so if someone gets snared or stunned by an ally that's basically a free stun, get yourself in a position to make a quality stun and then fire it off. If it is a teamfight in a chokepoint, this makes it easier to hit a stun, just know what your role needs to be in team fights. More often than not your AD carry needs someone to "peel" for them, so try to stun the enemies that are bumrushing them so that they can kite them. At this point in the game it is often easier to auto first if you are in range as this provides a slow which makes it almost impossible to dodge a Q. If your AD carry is playing poorly and you don't think they can carry, peel for another good carry, or if in the odd circumstance where your top laner and jungler are doing amazing, it can help to lock enemies down for them (I wouldn't recommend this as the Magical Journey can often be enough to get them in a position to obliterate the enemy back line).

Your Q is probably Bard's most important ability, you want to stun with the majority of Qs you throw, and with more and more CDR you can be throwing a Q as often as every 4 sec or so. As you start Bard you might think he is underpowered but this is because you are not capitalizing on all the opportunities to get a stun off.

Honestly, and I've played Bard a lot, this move is quite underwhelming. There isn't much cool stuff you can do with it. You can have 3 shrines at once so try to have those out in lane. You want to put them slightly behind where you and your lane partner happen to be but not too far away to reach when a jungler ganks. Having them in bushes is always a good idea as you will be able to run away from a jungle gank to get them and the enemy won't see them to destroy them. I also like to have one along the wall that is close to the river since my ADC usually likes to hug that wall and I want them to have a quick path to it. You can actually target an ally with it and Bard will put one on them (even if they move) so that they immediately get the primary bonuses. This is a tiny heal and more of a move speed boost, I usually give this to a jungler who needs a little extra engage power or an ADC who needs help running from a deadly situation.

These shrines also help Bard to help his teammate as he goes roaming, or you can leave one for another lane after you've roamed to help in places even after you leave. You can leave them in your jungle to help a jungler with regen or just moving quicker between camps. It doesn't do much, but hey it's always nice to be a friendly player and this honestly might make that teammate more prone to helping you later.

I keep my E spell with its indicator so that I can make sure the journey will end up going all the way where I want it to go.

This spell seems underwhelming but it is actually amazing. Once you get used to having it you will miss it most other champions. One big rule is do not journey into fog of war, if you can bait enemies into doing so you can often hand feed your team kills (you'll need to portal enemies to your teammates to do this).

Below I have created a rudimentary map to help illustrate the journeys I will be talking about. Bear in mind that there are infinite possibilities in the game and in very specific instances you will want to make a journey somewhere around you to escape an enemy. In these situations, try to find the most quality journey quickly by looking to where your allies are and by making sure to create the journey where it will go all the through to where you want it to go.

The white line leading out of base is a journey that some people don't know about. When you recall you will be positioned in the middle of the pad, simply walk bard down/right, it will take some practice but simply hold E and move your mouse slowly until you see the journey you want (It will only ever get long enough to get you like halfway out of base; approx to the second "joint" of the base wall). Practice it a bit and you will quickly find a reference point where you need to hold your mouse for this. Create this journey (or the opposite one towards top lane later in the game) to help you and maybe even some teammates get back to farming faster.

**Now, there are a couple different journeys that are only beneficial to you if you are on a particular team. I will refer to the "southwest" or blue team as SW, and the "northeast" or what used to be purple but is now red team as NE. In early game, the NE Bard has more opportunities to portal himself and junglers in for ganks whereas the SW Bard has better portals to bring his bot lane into a skirmish in his jungle or his mid lane. Keep in mind that all portals exist to all Bards obviously but due to where your team is at any given moment, some aren't as beneficial.

Red
The red lines are for Bards on the NE team. The two lines labelled with a one are effective portals to make when ganking your own lane or when portaling a jungler in. You make the origin at the end labelled by the 1 and portal behind an enemy pushing to your tower. The portal labelled by 2 is a good one to make, this portal can be made anywhere in that corner wall right there, you just want the end point to put you under turret and safely get you out of jungle ganks. Sometimes an enemy will even follow you through, and if you've put the portal under turret you can stun them as they come out and they will take turret aggro and probably die.

Blue
The blue lines are those portals that are effective for the SW Bard in the early game. I labelled them in no particular order, but the 1 portal is a tough on to create, but if you can get it along that whole wall it is a good way to quickly get back to lane. I will usually recall, then portal out of base, quickly run into my jungle to collect a few chimes and throw that portal as I walk by then take it as I come back to get back to lane as quickly as possible. The 2 portal is SW Bards best jungler portal (with its entry point being in the tri bush), if you have a Control Ward in that tri bush then that guarantees the enemy will not see you or your ally coming with this one. The 3 portal can be thrown in either direction, if an enemy jungler is trying to invade at the birds, you can join the fight quickly by throwing the entry point in your tri bush and coming out behind red. If you roamed mid through river or were collecting chimes up that way you can throw a long portal along dragon wall to get back to lane quickly. A 4 portal is one I like to throw to quickly get my team into a dragon fight; I might throw it and walk around myself, so that teamates coming later than me will actually arrive at the same as I do to the fight (or to scare the enemy as though teammates are coming when none are). Or if my team just did dragon I would throw it the opposite way so that it spits me out in tri so that I can quickly recall under turret. A 5 portal isn't one I commonly throw but if I'm there at red I might help give my jungler a quicker path to gank mid, this portal is purely circumstantial and the circumstances that call for it are rarely there.

Green
The two green portals are for if I collected chimes up river and find myself near mid, do not go near the river bush as mid laners commonly ward here. Instead sneak around behind these walls and portal along them to sneak into lane if you would like to gank. Be careful of certain mid laners who may have spells that are especially potent against knowing where the enemy will be (ie Viktor stun field, Cassiopeia miasma, etc).

Pink
The pink portal is a quality portal for either Bard in lane. It helps the SW Bard escape a jungle gank, or go on the aggressive from under his own turret if thrown the opposite direction. The NE Bard can use it after diving or if he is over extended, or can use it aggressively if they want to stick to the enemy after a lane skirmish. This portal is good to use for repositioning after landing a quality Tempered Fate

Typically from where you are you want to try to get the longest portals possible since you move faster through them than the enemy and this will grant you more distance. Understandably, as you get caught in jungles you may panic and throw the nearest portal to you. This can still work if you manage to stun after you go through it.

Orange
I have drawn in a couple various portals that are possible and beneficial in mid game for different reasons. These can be used by either team's Bard to escape or engage, and you should bear in mind if your team is ahead and around before taking these portals. Again you don't want to dive deep into enemy fog of war unless you know where all enemies are.

There are countless portals you can throw around the map and after lane phase they become very circumstantial depending on if your team is out of base, grouped, and either winning or losing. A good Bard can go roaming around in enemy territory and know where his team is, when he gets jumped on by and enemy, portal yourself out so you land near at least one ally and this will usually net you a kill if the enemy follows (do not do this if the enemy is extremely fed). I look at it as fishing for kills, and you're the bait on the hook.

MIND GAMES
Keep in mind that enemies can see your portal, and if you place one they will typically assume you are coming through it. Even if you are behind, you can throw an aggressively placed portal as a scare tactic with no intention of going through it just to put them on their heels. Advanced tactics would be to do this knowing a jungler is coming, then walk around so the enemy thinks they are safe since no one came through, get them to engage on you then, THEN the jungler comes through the portal and gets a double kill.

Another mind game is if you are in trouble and portal to leave, the enemy will sometimes go click on it to follow you, but if you can click right and move Bard to the portal but not have him take it, they can take your portal and leave you behind in safety on accident.

WARNING
Typically it is a bad idea to portal out from under your tower if you are being dove as this gives the enemy an escape. You also don't want to portal to an ally if you are being chased by more enemies than you have allies waiting for you.

There's a lot to be said about this ultimate. It has some incredible potential but also some devastating side effects. You WILL throw bad ults, some miss and some just completely screw your team over. Each battle has "power spikes" where either team gets the most out of their abilities or spells, and when moves are on cooldown. An effective Bard ult can do a lot of things, it can stall a fight so your teammates CDs can come up, it can keep a carry alive for precious seconds through an assassins burst, it can essentially stun enemies, it can stall out precios enemy cooldowns or negate their effects entirely, or it can make picks at long range by locking down opponents that are otherwise too far away to catch.

Theres pretty much too much to talk about with this ability and I'm sure you've already gotten tired of my droning. For the most part you want to hit as many enemies with it as possible if they are not engaged in a teamfight. Here is a bulleted list of some good ults.

Ults will be effective if landed on these targets

Enemy carries that are proving too hard for your assassins to get to, this will keep them from putting out damage and moving, giving your team a chance to either be there when they come out of ult or to kill the non ulted enemies
Enemy frontliners; this gives your team the opportunity to skip their CC and meatshielding and get right on the carries (do not abandon your ADC if this happens)
A teammate who has gotten caught out or heavily CCed by the enemy and is outnumbered
A cluster of enemies who are running away or trying to engage.
A baron or dragon, or the cluster of enemies fighting it.
An ally with a Damage over Time or killing blow effect on them (zed ult/zilean bomb/etc)
A team fight if the enemy is dumping a bunch of their ults (a good Bard ult can shut down even the best of Wombo Combos)
Single enemy targets that are out of position and your team can make a pick on them
Use it as an engagement tool, locking down multiple enemies at long distance can set up some very good wombo combos for your team if teammates time correctly

There are numerous effective ults but you will have to figure those out as you play Bard.

Try to avoid ulting if...

YOUR team is dumping a lot of ult CDs into a fight
Your team is going to get a kill on a target but you ult them
Your team has the upper hand in the fight
The enemy team has already gotten quality abilities off and are now waiting on cooldowns to come up

If I haven't used my ult to start a teamfight I typically hold it until my teammates have used their cooldowns and then I ult to allow time for their moves to come up, or a pick an area of the fight that I think needs to be shut down for a brief window. One of the worst things you can do is to accidentally ult on top of a teammates ult, it will more than likely tilt your teammate and cost you a fight. To avoid this I typically hold my ult until I see my teammates have ulted.

Try hard to get the timing of the ult down so you can have the Q stun hit them as they come out of the ult to lock them down even longer.

You need to have map awareness on Bard that's all there is to it. If you aren't paying attention to the map then you won't reach Bard's full potential as a roaming support. You'll need to know when you are able to leave lane to help across the map, and also when you are needed across the map. This takes map awareness. Bard's strengths lie mainly in his ability to move quickly across a map and his ability to quickly arrive to teammates in need. He also is one of the few champions who can consistently gank his own lane as that is his playstyle.

Early Game

Try not to leave lane too much if you and your lane mate are behind. Try to get early pressure so the ADC can get comfortable farm and once they have gotten a foothold you can roam a bit more freely. If you do roam, get good wards down in your jungle and river so that the ADC can be notified of incoming dangers while you aren't there.

As Bard you can harass mid lanes and enemy junglers and help with counterjungling, you just need to pay attention.

In lane you want to always look for Qs to hit and to proc Thunderlord's Decree with an empowered auto and a Cosmic Binding. Typically want to land this poke on the enemy carry. Have your shrines out for a quick escape from a jungle, and play a bit more forward than your carry so they can farm rather comfortably. As is with all supports, don't get too far away from your teammate as this puts you at risk of getting picked by the enemies. Try to proc your Spellthief's Edge frequently to get your gold up early.

Mid Game

Once team fights start getting a little more crazy the enemy will pay attention less and less to avoiding your Qs, so make sure you get 2 people stunned almost every time. Hang near your carries and keep people from reaching them until you've managed to kill off an enemy or two then go aggressive with a Magical Journey and cut off escaping enemies. If you happen to lose a skirmish, portal away so you and your team can escape. You can also portal your team across a map to make a quick rotation on an enemy pushing a turret. Once your ADC is comfortable with you leaving lane you can accompany your jungler on their ganks and give them a huge boost. With this pressure you should look to take turrets or dragon/rift herald upon killing or sending enemies back.

End Game

With max CDR you can keep an enemy CCed by yourself basically at all times. Autos will slow and your stun will last for almost 2seconds while the Cooldown is not even 5 seconds. Look for quality ults and try hard not to throw fights with them. Keep in mind that you can throw a portal on a wall from far away if an ally needs to get out of a situation but you aren't as close to them as you'd like, you can throw a portal for them to escape.

My favorite thing to do as Bard is to bait enemies. This comes in handy if your team gets killed, or if your team is taking a Baron, or even if you can get a couple people to focus you during a teamfight. Let them get you to around half health, so they think they have the kill (unfortunately they might end up getting it), then portal away. You're playing mind games, so make them think they can get it, let them stay close. As they follow you through the portal you can stun them and kite easily until you can portal again and stun again etc etc. It is very hard to catch a Bard who can do this, as he can chime and shrine to speed up and constantly stay ahead of you. If you can pull multiple enemies from a fight like this then this opens your team up to a numbers advantage. Baiting like this can also distract the enemy from quality objectives if your team is preoccupied or dead.