So far i've had great success with bard and i'll continue playing him to get some good knowledge of this guy going around. As far as i've been going though I have a general idea of how bard works and if anybody has any questions on my small experience with him feel free to ask.
Ltank1292 votesInteresting choices. I could see bard being an off tank support, since his abilities are primarily utility (Slow, Stun, Speed buff, Mobility, Zhoyna's Giveaway). I have been experimenting with a racecar build, focusing entirely on getting that mobility. 
and 
or 
It actually gives him decent damage but it makes him a bit squishy, except he is so fast you can't even catch him. Of course builds will vary until someone finds the Kallista-Hurricane level of synergy for him.
Daddy Found You1 votesactually hurricane just slowing kalista´s attack speed u know....
RiotUtora1 votesNice! I just had great success in my game with a similar build - frostfang for me and the frozen heart and also locket and of course the mobis. It worked really really well. I was trying to finish my rylias but we won :) Ha
MungoGeri1 votesI get why one would get the in order to protect your teammates with the aura and shields. However, I don't understand why Bard would build a 
. He's a ranged character, so the aura wouldn't do much to protect his teammates and if the goal is to provide some tankiness for himself, there are plenty of better options.
Trash MammaI1 votesFor me the main things I work on getting for bard is CDR and MS. These are what makes his roam so good. The ability to get to a lane fast while also having his cooldowns ready when he gets there. Instead of getting there and waiting 8+ seconds. You want to apply the pressure as fast as possible.
Frozen heart gives him the cdr along with some mana and armor. His mana issues don't really go away if you play him correctly.
You could go for randuins but what would that do for you? You have a huge slow in your passive you'd be giving up so much for the hp from it if you did. Thornmail might work if you have a full ad comp you're against. Sunfire has no purpose on him at all..
I hope this helped. I'm terrible at explaining things in detail but I tried
TopGallant1 votesLuden's echo seems like a good damage optionand for move speed.
MungoGeri1 votesFrozen heart gives him the cdr along with some mana and armor. His mana issues don't really go away if you play him correctly.
It definitely helped. It gives me food for thought. Regarding his mana issues, though, I don't tend to have them, because I can refill my mana bar by picking up a few chimes after a fight. Bard's sustain is amazing.
ExecutorDill1 votesIt gives yon tankiness with cdr. What other item you know does that... Oh wait 
Trash MammaI1 votesI love your name :D Also thanks means a lot
J0HN C3N41 votesIs there a bug with his skins? I'm trying to play the regular bard in ranked and I am 100% sure im picking it but i get elderwood no matter what. (I bought the bundle).
MungoGeri1 votesNice! I just had great success in my game with a similar build - frostfang for me and the frozen heart and also locket and of course the mobis. It worked really really well. I was trying to finish my rylias but we won :) Ha
Oh! So that's how you spell what the meeps are saying. I thought they were saying "Eudora," and I was wondering who at Riot had fond memories of their old e-mail client.
MungoGeri1 votesI played Bard a bunch on the PBE as well as some just yesterday live. I had success with a build based around movement speed and burst damage on my basic attacks: 
. The idea is to auto-Q-auto, back off, and then auto-Q-auto again. (We could use more meeps, though).
Ltank1291 votesAgreed. As far as I've seen, the meeps cap at 4. Four AA's into a team fight and your damage is nullified almost completely. I would love for it to go up to 6 or even 8. He has virtually no other source of damage unless he builds Lichbane or Ludens, so I don't think it would do much to unbalance him.
We can argue that his q does damage, but when it comes right down to it, it is a cc spell, not a damage dealer.
MungoGeri1 votesAnd you don't get 4 until you get 95 chimes, which happens about 40 minutes into the game. The main issue I think is the amount of time it takes for meeps to recharge. You don't even get to 9 seconds/meep until about 43 minutes in. Riot should reduce the time it takes for meeps to respawn or have the respawn time affected by cooldown reduction like zyra's seeds and teemo's mushrooms do.
By the way, I made a nice table (if I do say so myself) showing how meeps are affected by the numbers of chimes that Bard collects with a few notes on how deep into the game different key moments occur:
http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/forum/general/bard-first-impressions-34284#comment-1014960
Trash MammaI1 votesMovement speed is definitely an awesome stat on him. I'll have to try your idea though. I don't normally go for any type of damage item.
owa93upyZG1 votesFrom a numbers perspective, I think 
works best with his playstyle because 
doesn't generate gold from minions if he is roaming, while with you can get your stacks off and wander without losing gpm.
Just 2 cents and works on paper, not sure about application.
Trash MammaI1 votesYea, I've been running coin for awhile after using frostfang to see how it changes his style up and the active/ms make bard a nightmare though the rest of it is meh compared to frostfang. Both work it's entirely up to preference though.
I'm leaning more-so toward coin primarily because of you being able to ult someone from the enemy team and speed up your entire team as well so they can all quickly get into position for it. With frostfang you basically get an AoE permaslow because of meeps + it's active. Again, it's entirely up to preference both are great on him
owa93upyZG1 votesYeah I can totally see the coin active being nuts on him: tunnel team thru wall, coin, half the map covered in no time. I just hate seeing gold go to waste :3
Siachi1 votesYou could always keep Spellthief early for the gold generation, then swap out for the fully upgraded Talisman of Ascension later when laning phase is over, and you can't as easily get off the spellthief stacks.
I guess I just don't like the idea of coin as a gold generation item for Bard because it seems designed to punish you for roaming, which Bard plans on doing at some point in the game (It's full upgrade's active is fantastic, don't get me wrong)
Anyway, that's just my unranked theory crafting.
Hupsis1 votes
+
Tanky Bard?
Aoe slow from meeps proc'ing Liandry. Lots of health to improve shield from FotM.
Later you can get aegis and upgrade it and then twin shadows for movement speed (especially if you take sorcerer shoes).
If you want you could buy and replace twin shadows with 
if you ever get the money.
Someone should test it. Though it's quite sad relic shield is so bad for ranged support champions :(
Trash MammaI1 votesCoin/fang give more use to bard so relic shield is the worse of the 3. Also if you build damage on bard twin shadows(is my choice)/ludens eco or lichbane should be the only ones you build. You aren't going to do damage so building ap/hp items won't cut it. You'll get so much more out of other tank items
Hupsis1 votesIt's not really a full tank build. Building full tank means that he's sacrificing a lot of damage. His base armor is also very high and reaches 100 easily with only runes and masteries.
Hp/ap items help him survive and deal some damage. I'm especially looking at since Bard has an aoe slow in his passive + a double stun. If you land the meeps on multiple enemies you are gonna deal some nice poking.
If Bard builds a good item to replace the speed boost from talisman would be 
. However it doesn't give passive movement speed.
Coin and spellthief's edge are good choices as well though.
MungoGeri1 votesYou definitely should get instead of . It's so much stronger.
Hupsis1 votesAlso 600 gold more expensive, offers less movement speed (though it's only 1% less), no cdr and doesn't provide vision.
Raw power isn't always the best choice for a support. You can go for it if you have enough money and vision otherwise.
MungoGeri1 votesAlso 600 gold more expensive, offers less movement speed (though it's only 1% less), no cdr and doesn't provide vision.
Raw power isn't always the best choice for a support. You can go for it if you have enough money and vision otherwise.
And gives you a stronger damaging spell than meeps or your Q. Yeah, it's huge. CDR is easy to get from lots of sources. An entire new damaging spell? Not many.
ArcaneGlyph1 votesi love bard and his kit but i've played quite a few games by now and i think he's not as strong as he should be. i really hope he will get buffed a bit. By increasing meeps or increasing some of his ap ratio. cuz he's having a pretty hard time against most other supports
