LoL Champion Build Guides: Bard

In-depth

9.5

In-depth
Off-Meta

Season 11 Builds // Patch 11.12 & Patch 11.11

7.6

Build by updated

Off-Meta

7.3

Build by updated

Off-Meta

Off-Meta

Season 11 Guides // Other Patches

In-depth

9.8

In-depth
Off-Meta

9.5

In-depth

In-depth

9.2

In-depth

Off-Meta

8.1

In-depth

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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 LeagueSpy's 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 11.12. 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 11.12: 517681 matches scanned * Each section of the build is rated independently of the others

Resolve

Domination

Second Best

53%

Win Rate 1536 Games

Resolve

Domination

Third Best

64%

Win Rate 70 Games

Resolve

Domination

More Bard Runes

Second Best

51%

Win Rate 5049 Games

Third Best

51%

Win Rate 199 Games

Second Best

50%

Win Rate 3912 Games

Third Best

51%

Win Rate 839 Games

Second Best

40%

Win Rate 946 Games

Third Best

44%

Win Rate 107 Games

Don’t forget
to Buy Wards

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.

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

More Bard Counters

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

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

Ancient Chimes: Bard's presence causes sacred chimes to appear at random locations and linger for up to 10 minutes. Collecting a chime grants Bard 24% bonus movement speed out of combat for 7 seconds, stacking up to 5 times, with every other chime collected beyond the first granting an additional 14% bonus movement speed, up to a total of 80% bonus movement speed, 20 + (1 per minute after 5 minutes) experience, and 12% maximum mana. Bard empowers his Meeps each time he collects 5 chimes.

Meeps: Bard's presence attracts small spirits known as Meeps to his side. Each of his basic attacks consumes a Meep, dealing 30 (+12 per 5 chimes collected) (+30% of ability power) bonus magic damage. At 5 chimes, Meeps slow enemies by 25-75% (based on Chimes) for 1 second, and at 15 chimes they splash the damage around the main target and in a cone behind them, with the cone's size increasing at 35 chimes. Meeps spawn every 8 / 7 / 6 / 5 / 4 seconds and Bard can keep up to 1-9 (based on Chimes) of them at a time.

Cosmic Binding Bard's Q Ability

Self

11 / 10 / 9 / 8 / 7

Bard fires out a burst of spirit energy in a line, dealing 80 / 125 / 170 / 215 / 260 (+65% of ability power) magic damage and slowing the first enemy struck by 60% for 1 / 1.2 / 1.4 / 1.6 / 1.8 seconds. After Cosmic Binding hits an enemy, the burst of energy continues through, searching for secondary targets. If it hits a wall, it stuns the initial target; if it hits a second enemy, it stuns both targets, dealing magic damage to the second unit as well.

Caretaker's Shrine Bard's W Ability

800

Bard conjures a health pack that builds up in power over 10 seconds. Allied champions who walk over the pack will consume it, gaining a minimum of 30 / 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 (+30% of ability power) and a maximum of 55 / 95 / 135 / 175 / 215 (+60% of ability power) health based on the shrine's power as well as 30% bonus movement speed which decays over 1.5 seconds. Enemies can stand on the pack for a moment to destroy it.

Magical Journey Bard's E Ability

900

22 / 20.5 / 19 / 17.5 / 16

Bard conjures a portal on a target wall. The portal tunnels through to the far end of the wall, granting one-way passage to all champions, friend and foe, who enter it.

While inside the portal, allies travel 33% faster than enemies.

Tempered Fate Bard's Ultimate (R) Ability

3400

100

110 / 95 / 80 / 80 / 80

After a brief delay, Bard places all units in a targeted area - friend or foe, including champions, minions, monsters and turrets - in stasis for 2.5 seconds, making them untargetable and invulnerable but also unable to perform any action.

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.

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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?

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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...

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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...