Boards›Gameplay

Help Me Carry as Bard (MASSIVE losing streak)

Caretaker Jack··3 votes·1,832 views

So, I've been on a MASSIVE losing streak playing my main, Bard.

As a result, I'm seeking tips from Bard players all over as far as what to build and what runes to take because I feel like I don't even understand my own pick anymore. When does he roam? when does he not roam? What runes should he take? What does he build? Etc.

I've tried going AP, I've tried full support, I've tried pings, waring allies of things (xin's lvl 2.) At the end of the day, nothing seems to work.

I used to have 55+ win rate on him and now it's plummeted to 43%... I've even dropped into Silver from Gold. I've checked my stats and it's saying that my farm is pretty damn low, but my map presence and vision is decent. It seems like I can make plays, but I can't ever get the ADC involved, so I end up sitting back and gambling on plays... this is especially hard if I get paired with a scaling champ who just wants to sit back and farm. So what do I do? How do I carry as my Bard?

4 Comments

Diamond Senpai2 votes

Gardian Bard. Bard

Done251 votes

Link us your stats from a site?

Caretaker Jack1 votes

idk how

Dangerous Man1 votes

I found a lot of things are really good on Bard:

  1. Dark harvest > comet/electrocute. The flat damage increase and the ability to just spam autos until people are almost dead makes lane really easy in any squishy matchup, and some tanks. Flat damage is better if you don't want to stack AP and go a gold-efficient route like you should.

  2. Sorcerer's shoes in lane is more useful than being halfway finished most items, do not recommend if you're in a lane you're not confident in.

  3. Rushing Liandry's can be absurdly good. If you rush Liandry's and don't want sorc boots, double ruby crystal (one for guise, one for support item) is often better than AP or other stats for still having decent damage. When you got the full Liandry's you want 35 chimes for the larger cone. The combo of Liandry's passive and large meep cone in teamfights is too much damage to pass up. This is my preferred route for draft pick (non-ranked).

  4. A safer option than Liandry's is Athene's for mid-late game it's way better. You get the CDR, 60 AP, 30 MR, but best thing is the passive. Your heals don't scale well when tossed on somebody by default, so Athene's early for a 150+ addon to healing is very strong for your carry. I always buy this in ranked it's far too good imo.

  5. Actual full-support items aren't very useful to him, cheap, semi-support items are. Athene's, Redemption, etc... instead buy Twin Shadows, Shurelya's, Frozen Guantlet is good I've heard but having too much mana as a stat seems like a waste of early gold to me, and your autos already have a slow so idk. Though I've heard very good things of Frozen Guantlet being the god-tier item on him.

  6. I roam mid after first back, make it very clear I'm going to do something. Coming from behind and not through river bush gives me a high chance of busting flash if the mid laner has solid CC.

  7. Zombie ward's damage is not to be messed with in lane. To kill a ward and immediately trade, it's almost worth buying oracle lens immediately (also I keep warding totem until quest is at least 80% complete, idk if that's normal but it saves a lot of risk with the high ward cooldowns early). Zombie ward early is about 30 damage on top of your single auto, if you get a dark harvest on top of that you can get nearly 200 damage out of one auto attack.

  8. I personally take manaflow band in secondary tree so I never have to worry about spamming heals too much. I get to stay in lane longer and deal more damage, no visible downsides. However resolve with Font/Conditioning is solid, Revitalize often doesn't prove to be useful aside from extremely rare occasions where your adc is dueling at 100 hp in a 2v2 the extra 10-30 hp or whatever may help, but early it's too miniscule to notice.

  9. Your E is what prevents you from dying ever. I still need to get used to this, but standing directly at a large wall while doing anything like warding can basically make you immune to death for a solid 5 seconds.

  10. I just remembered this thing I heard. I don't listen to it but you could try it. Max your E second so every time you go through a portal you'll be able to hit a Q on the way out. I'd rather have the +30 you get per level from healing, it's more consistently useful than the rare occasion an enemy insta-clicks your portal. I never max E second and it only seems to matter <1 time per game so idk.

  11. I learned that his best ability is his meep, he's not like Morgana where missing a Q ruins a trade, and you don't even need to Q if you out-range their bot (stun is just for security anyway, hesitating on Q is more useful similar to Blitz/Morg running at you without using their Q, you can spook them into dodging an ability you aren't throwing). Every time you get a meep you should auto the adc when they go to CS (with the exception of Caitlyn/Ezreal, you will get outdamaged if you try). If the support is melee you can easily take them down to 1/4 hp pre-level 3, if you are surprising and you and your ADC know your damage well, you can get a kill and make the ADC waste heal. If you can speedrun 5 chimes then you should be golden for trading. If you get 15 chimes (small cone) it's kinda useful if they're dumb, but not really.

I'm only a silver Bard player, but I haven't played ranked in a bit I could probably peak at silver 1 if it wasn't so toxic. Most my knowledge comes from being in a Bard club (CBard) where builds are discussed, pros/cons of ability routes, builds, items, runes, etc... that's why I have a lot of tips that I said I don't follow. A lot of the people in this club average around Gold elo, a few plat players and a few diamonds.

That's about all my knowledge of Bard. Your full build should look like item 3031 item 3087 item 3094 item 3006 item 3085 item 3124 and you finish buying all this ~at the 80 minute mark, 100 minutes if you lose lane.

More from Gameplay

3 Refunds per season, upvote if you want 3 refunds per season.
Gameplay764 comments
7,167
votes
3 Refunds per season, upvote if you want 3 refunds per season.
Gameplay156 comments
3,510
votes
UPVOTE FOR URF
Gameplay606 comments
2,440
votes
Yes plz.
Gameplay456 comments
1,721
votes
3 Refunds per season, up vote if you want 3 refunds per season.
Gameplay114 comments
1,716
votes
When is ANYONE at riot going to address the awful new player experience?
Gameplay634 comments
1,383
votes

More by Caretaker Jack

Does Anybody Actually Like Demacia?
Story, Art, & Sound145 comments
48
votes
What if "Conditioning" Worked Like "Gathering Storm"
Gameplay71 comments
34
votes
Why I'm Toxic
Player Behavior93 comments
30
votes
Bard Wants A Skin
Story, Art, & Sound25 comments
22
votes
Where Is Bard Mountain?? Where is Bard??
Story, Art, & Sound25 comments
20
votes
Volibear VS Zilean Interaction Should Continue in the Volibear Update.
Concepts & Creations5 comments
19
votes