I love bard, but his win rate is bad. What do I do?

RookPusher·Dec 21, 2016·1 votes·1,309 views

Keep in mind I need to carry myself out of bronze as support, so I'm using it in this context.

I love Bard. He's a ton of fun, but his win rate took a hit this season and I'm hesitant to play him. His skins are also garbage and I need to scream at people to either take my shrines/wait to take fully formed shrines. I've started explaining how they work at the start of the game just to fix the problem.

Having said that, can anyone let me know what the problem might be? And is it avoidable?

I build the following items with moderate success:

Admittedly, I need to scrap banner. But I've been playing a lot of Zilean since he has a higher win rate and I haven't given serious thought to Bard in some time. I'd love to go back though. I love that gd ult.

17 Comments

DracocrashDec 21, 20162 votes

I HIGHLY recommend, you dont play bard at lower ELO.

Your team mates wont be able to hand themselves when you leave lane in bronze, and you will loose more games.

I suggest sona: you can get good with her in relatively few games and she can control a lane by herself.

Once you climb to a comfortable ELO, You can start playing bard again.

statistics, he has a 44% winrate in bronze and 49% winrate in diamond. and a ~48% winrate in gold.

Darth SidioussDec 21, 20162 votes

Bard isnt good in low elo. I suggest you try Blitzcrank Morgana Zyra Lux Sona

Darth SidioussDec 21, 20161 votes

Bard is made for plays so your teammates wont be able to follow up on the little things you do.

EndlessSorcererDec 21, 20162 votes

You might have to adjust your build.

Perhaps something along the lines of: item 3158 item 2301 item 3107 item 3060 item 3190 item 3512

This seems like it would be a nice mixture of utility, durability and map pressure.

Also, Snow Day Bard is fantastic.

NevosiDec 21, 20162 votes

Ok drop item 3060 item 3512 , now I also would drop item 3092 for item 2301 because I don't find much use in the ghost. Boots I leave up to up its more of a personnel choices . Your finale build should look something like this item 3107 item 3190 ( item 3117 , item 3009 , item 3158 )boots of choice, deciding on either to build locket or redemption first kind of depends on what you think is needed but most of the time you should be building redemption first. Your forth item kind of depends on what is going on in the game . ( item 3109 , item 3222 , item 3050 ,) are my most common go toes .

For skills max q first then your e. I am still messing with a few ideas on how to set up the master page for this season. On http://champion.gg/champion/Bard the highest win rate page is 12/18/0

SGT Dingle BerryDec 21, 20161 votes

Win rates don't mean a damn thing and bard is OP in low elo.

DracocrashDec 21, 20161 votes

bard is actually quite trash in lower ELO. According to statistics.

RookPusherDec 21, 20161 votes

Yeah but you're basing that on the population, not the player. I think my build path needs work, but as I play him, I do well with Bard.

HyperiönDec 21, 20161 votes

Win rates aren't everything that defines a champion.

Look at Azir for example. to the regular people, he is bad, but when you have people who have put countless hours into learning him, he can be very oppressive, hence the massive nerfs he got.

If you enjoy the champion, you will still win with bard. Look at the win% per games played, it goes up to around 53% when you get good with bard. Knowledge is power.

RookPusherDec 21, 20161 votes

[{quoted}](name=FF Hyperion,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=izFWmoEJ,comment-id=0001,timestamp=2016-12-21T16:37:48.207+0000)

Win rates aren't everything that defines a champion.

Look at Azir for example. to the regular people, he is bad, but when you have people who have put countless hours into learning him, he can be very oppressive, hence the massive nerfs he got.

If you enjoy the champion, you will still win with bard. Look at the win% per games played, it goes up to around 53% when you get good with bard. Knowledge is power.

Thanks, man. And thanks to everyone who commented.

Any suggestions on build differences?

I generally think Bard works in low ELO if you know how to use his ult. I've given more kills to people with that stasis, getting in position, then following up with a stun than I have with almost any other champ. It's almost a guaranteed confirm kill.

HyperiönDec 21, 20161 votes

I don't play bard at all, but I would think the standard support item slots. Ghosties, locket, redemption. And maybe a little more cdr if you aren't already capped.

NoPaxtDec 21, 20161 votes

Nami Morgana Lulu Are probably a stronger choice than Bard....

Nami Carried me from bronze 5 to bronze 1 placements at the end of last season. Going to start that trek all over again, and get gold this season by maining Nami and backing her up with Morganna

Meep ManDec 21, 20161 votes

Items

This is an example Bard build: item 1001 (you choose) item 3107 item 2045 item 3092 item 3190 item 3222 (some people run Knight's Vow, but I would only do that as a replacement for Mikael's if their team is lacking CC that would threaten your ADC or as an EXTREMELY late game replacement for Boots)

As much as I love Zz'Rot Portal and find it to be an excellent item, it doesn't synergize with Bard's play style at all. Bard is a Team Fight Support champion that is there to set up fights and lock down enemies. Therefore, his items should revolve around making the most out of a team fight. Redemption is a MUST on Bard ESPECIALLY since it synergizes with his ultimate EXTREMELY well and provides a ton of AoE influence. Sightstone is Sightstone (whether you like it or not). Frost Queen's is the best starting item for him so you get it for the Active for scouting and slows in team fights. Lock of the Iron Solari also works very well with his ultimate for the rare situation where you use your Ult on allies (very rare). It also provides in general good stats and a good Active in team fights. Finally, we have Mikael's because your ADC is going to need it for when the enemy team dives onto them.

Things to Get Good at to Play Bard

Positioning This is so you can consistently land the stun on your Q since it is such a game changer early and late game due to the high stun duration, low cool down, and two target lock down capability.
Map Awareness Know when to get chimes and not to and know how to use your ultimate. Your R is very long range, so being able to look across the map to see good opportunities is incredibly important when planning a fight.
Chime Uses Let me get this straight! You DO NOT roam to get chimes JUST to get chimes. Early game, chimes are what essentially makes a good Bard manaless, so remember their stupidly good mana return for picking them up early game. Later on, they are things to fill time. If you have nothing to do, go get chimes that are near your allies. It is not the end of the world if some chimes are never collected, although getting enough chimes to make Meeps AoE should be something to get every game.
Shot Calling Bard is the ultimate champion if you are good at landing your R and knowing when and how to land the R. His R can win team fights on it's own, so if you are good or train to be good at deciding when to team fight and letting your team know, Bard is amazing. This is mainly why he is used in higher tier play.

Anyways, that should be a good intro to learn to play Bard. His win rate is mainly because he is a commonly played, yet hard champion. His play style is very fun, yet challenging since he can potentially troll his allies with bad ultimates and troll portals. Once you learn to use his E and R and then learn positioning for his Q, he becomes a ton better and becomes one of the best Supports in the game.

P.S. His W is exceptional lane sustain early on. Try to have three Ws charged at all times if you can afford to. Late game, it's basically just a small speed boost with a minor heal.

Big LincolnDec 21, 20161 votes

Why do you care about his win rate? He's still one of the top tier supports when played well.

His skins are also garbage

You have shit taste, friend.

You need to build Redemption and Locket; basically free wins. I like item 3158 and believe they are the best choice; the extra CDR lets you invest into more tank stats and the passive lets you have your summoners up more often.

warpenguin555Dec 21, 20161 votes

Keep playing him. He's an extremely rewarding champion when played well, and he's not overbearing like a Yasuo or Lee Sin so you won't feel bad about it. You should probably ditch banner(like you said). Not sure why they took the AP off of it but its not a good buy anymore. item 3107 is broken so get that instead. I wouldn't recommend ZZrot either unless your team really sucks at pushing.

RookPusherDec 21, 20161 votes

Thanks, man. I typically would build portal for the tankyness and the speed. But I'll ditch it.

BlàdedancerDec 22, 20161 votes

Winrate doesn't mean much for champs like Bard. Have you not yet realized he is balanced around skillceiling? Keep playing him and you'll get better and win.