Bard Build Guides, Runes and Items

In-depth

Season 12 Builds // Patch 12.9 & Patch 12.8

Off-Meta

Off-Meta

Off-Meta

New Guide

New Guide

Build by Guest updated

Season 12 Guides // Other Patches

9.8

Off-Meta

9.5

In-depth
Off-Meta

In-depth

In-depth

Season 12 Builds // Other Patches

Off-Meta

Off-Meta

Off-Meta

6.8

Off-Meta

Craft your own guide

Get Started

Bard Build & Runes

If you're looking for the best rune build for Bard we've got you covered. Below you can find the best items and runes to build for Bard, as determined by calculations of thousands of Plat+ League of Legends games. If you are already familiar with how to play Bard this is a great resource to quickly get a good rune selection for Patch 12.9. However, if you are a new Bard player we highly recommend reading through some of the guides above to learn why this build is strong on Bard!

Patch 12.8: 513624 matches scanned * Each section of the build is rated independently of the others

Resolve

Domination

Second Best

65%

Win Rate 96 Games

Resolve

Domination

Third Best

50%

Win Rate 1408 Games

Resolve

Domination

Second Best

49%

Win Rate 3250 Games

Third Best

50%

Win Rate 66 Games

Second Best

47%

Win Rate 2488 Games

Third Best

51%

Win Rate 1048 Games

Second Best

56%

Win Rate 82 Games

Third Best

41%

Win Rate 589 Games

Don’t forget
to Buy Wards

Passive Ability

Second Best

60%

Win Rate 53 Games

Passive Ability

Patch 12.8: 513624 matches scanned * Each section of the build is rated independently of the others

Resolve

Domination

Second Best

41%

Win Rate 56 Games

Resolve

Domination

Third Best

Win Rate Games

Second Best

50%

Win Rate 242 Games

Second Best

54%

Win Rate 173 Games

Third Best

49%

Win Rate 75 Games

Second Best

38%

Win Rate 103 Games

Don’t forget
to Buy Wards

! Small Sample Size Warning * There is either not a lot of games played on this champion or the builds vary greatly, we have provided the top build but it does not have a high confidence rating so use your own discretion.

Passive Ability

Second Best

Win Rate 3 Games

Passive Ability

Third Best

100%

Win Rate 3 Games

Passive Ability

Bard Counters

Learn 's counters and discover matchups where they have an advantage! When you're starting a game of League of Legends you should always keep in mind if you'll be at an advantage or disadvantage against your opponent, so you can know whether to bully them or play safe. You can find detailed breakdowns of each matchup on CounterStats, and you can also check out some Bard guides to see how to build and play against other champions you may find yourself up against!

This counter data is for Bard Support in Plat+ games. The percent shown is the enemy champion's counter rating against Bard. Counter rating is our own statistic that factors in counter kills, overall kills, early lead ratio, comeback ratio, and win percent to give the whole picture of that champion's effectiveness as a counter pick.

Counters powered by CounterStats

CR is Counter Rating, which is a combination of multiple counter factors. Counters shown are for Bard Bard Support

More Bard Counters

Best Against Bard

Worst Against Bard

Common Matchups

Detailed popularity and counter statistics are still being gathered for this Champion

Bard Skins

Find Bard's skins and when they were last on sale. Never miss a sale for your favorite skin by using our Wish List feature! You can also find all Bard skins and chromas on Bard's skins page.

Skin Release Wishlist Popularity Cost

Cafe Cuties Bard

November 17, 2021

+ Wishlist

1350

Astronaut Bard

May 28, 2020

+ Wishlist

1350

Bard Bard

November 17, 2016

+ Wishlist

750

Snow Day Bard

Special Events

December 10, 2015

+ Wishlist

1350

Elderwood Bard

March 12, 2015

+ Wishlist

975

Classic Bard

Original

+ Wishlist

Bard's Abilities

Traveler's Call Bard's Passive

Self

Bard attracts chimes randomly around the map. When Bard moves near a chime he collects it, gaining 24% movement speed out of combat for 7 seconds, 20 experience, and restoring 12% max mana.

Bard attracts a Meep every 8 seconds (max: 1). Bard's attacks consume a Meep to deal an additional dealing 35 (+30% of ability power) plus 14 per 5 chimes as magic damage, plus additional effects based on chimes collected.

At 5 chimes, Meeps also slow by 25% - 75% (depending on the number of chimes) for 1 second.
At 15 chimes, Meeps also hit in an area around and behind the enemy.
At 35 chimes, the area is larger.

Cosmic Binding Bard's Q Ability

Self

11 / 10 / 9 / 8 / 7

Bard fires an energy bolt, dealing 80 / 125 / 170 / 215 / 260 (+65% of ability power) magic damage to the first two enemies hit. The first target hit is slowed by 60% for 1 / 1.2 / 1.4 / 1.6 / 1.8 seconds. If the bolt hits a second enemy or a wall, any enemies hit are stunned for 1 / 1.2 / 1.4 / 1.6 / 1.8 seconds.

Caretaker's Shrine Bard's W Ability

800

Bard creates a health shrine that grants 30% movement speed decaying over 1.5 seconds and restores at least 30 / 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 (+30% of ability power) health to the first ally to enter. The shrine grows to restore 60 / 105 / 150 / 195 / 240 (+60% of ability power) after existing for 10 seconds.

Bard can have up to 3 shrines at once. If an enemy champion enters a shrine, it is destroyed.

Magical Journey Bard's E Ability

900

22 / 20.5 / 19 / 17.5 / 16

Bard opens a one-way portal through Terrain for 10 seconds. Any champion can enter the portal by moving onto it while near the entrance.

Tempered Fate Bard's Ultimate (R) Ability

3400

100

110 / 95 / 80 / 80 / 80

Bard hurls magical protective energy to an area, placing all units and structures hit into Stasis for 2.5 seconds.

Questions About Bard

Latest Questions

Do ability haste affect meeps at all?

Asked by Elisboo on March 13, 2021

Will my meeps appear faster if I build, for example, cosmic driver?

View (1) Answers

Best practices in 2020 matches?

Asked by akiraha on January 7, 2020

gl hf before game? gg wp after game? Any localized idioms would be more than welcome f.ex. calling someone dog in Polish seems to be offensive.

View (3) Answers

Bard's Q into Kayn's E

Asked by Moignonsuper on August 10, 2019

Basically, when Bard's Q hit someone and have a second collision he stuns the one or two people who got hit, so, my question is. When Kayn is in a wall thanks to his E, does the Bard's Q stun him if he is hit in the wall ? And if Kayn is stun,...

Bard meeps

Asked on August 20, 2017

Hi a question about bard's meeps. when bard has 2 meeps does that mean he loses the first meep after one auto attack and the next after another auto attack? so his third auto attack wont slow or do extra magic damage? Thank you

Support Main, looking to improve.

Asked by Orange NA on July 13, 2017

So I am a support main. I don't know what to do when my ad is lacking skill. I hit most of my skill shots, but if my adc goes negative on the scoreboard I am the one that gets blamed. Give me all the tips you have

how to carry as support

Asked on March 15, 2016

i recently started playing support and im having a lot of trouble winning with support. can someone help? i play all the champions that i tagged.

View (5) Answers

bard as jungle

Asked by Cebreeze on March 14, 2016

Hey so im looking to try to play some different champs in the jungle. im just curious is bard would be viable in jungle? Personally i cant see why he wouldnt but im still kinda new to the game and would prefere to get some advice on the topic.

Bard Masteries

Asked by Scythe-Er on July 3, 2015

I've been wondering, since I received Bard for my mystery champ the other day what would be better for him Masteries wise. I know that it depends on my playstyle and since I like playing more aggressive as a support does a 0/9/21 setup make him...

Why is Bard so expensive?

Asked by Sentinel Hydra on March 15, 2015

Hello; I have 6300 IP, however I can't buy Bard because he's 7800 IP. All the champions before him have been 6300 IP. Is this intentional? Why is Bard so expensive?

View (1) Answers

Optimal Build for Bard?

Asked by jhoijhoi on March 13, 2015

Hi all! With the release of Bard (and the potentially very [i]interesting[/i] guides that will be coming out soon), I thought it'd be beneficial to hear a few opinions on how to build Bard. > What...

View (5) Answers

Bard looks so broken...

Asked by League of Mike on March 9, 2015

I haven't actually had the opportunity to play bard yet but from what I've seen he looks pretty much like the most broken champion to ever be released and that's saying something (looking at you lucian, yasuo and xin). But seriously his ult will...