@Riot Gharris - look what you did

Drackolus·Dec 15, 2015·3 votes·3,328 views

Rito Gharris is an inspiration

You've inspired me. These games were subsequent.

14 Comments

RiotGharrisDec 15, 20153 votes

Glad to see it!

I truly do think that there's still a lot left to be explored with Bard.

You're gonna need a tough hide for this journey. You'll lose a good amount of games, land some misplaced ults that lose you some RL friends, or die to a jungle creep or five (should you take the jungle path), but it'll all be worth it when you land the perfect blob of Zhonya's on three people on the enemy team and Q the other two together - enabling your roommates to gobble up their foes without a scratch.

... Or when a Shaco tries to 1v1 you in the jungle and you Q him to his own box - then proceed to melt his face with mountains of meeps.

... Or when two people on their team follow you through your portal and you bind them together with a merry Q, while you dance away like the Pied Piper - little meepies in tow.

... Or when you're about to die and you ult yourself while entering a portal - rendering yourself invincible while still running away.

... Or when you make that first perfect jungle clear, and are able to pull off a gank, then return to the jungle to farm straight to a huge item without refueling.

Welcome to the fold! Bard

DrackolusDec 15, 20152 votes

I actually was super excited about Bard when he first came out, as a support main. I was going through a rough time this year, but had a ton of time on my hands, so I played him pretty much exclusively for two months. I lost a huge number of games. I started playing other champs again, but I still picked him up over time, and now I've gotten quite snazzy with him (if I do say so myself). He's still definitely my favorite champ to come out this year, and one of my favorite champions in general. I was surprised when you built crit on him - I'm gonna try that soon! I never would have thought of that.

RiotGharrisDec 15, 20151 votes

There's a ton of different ways to build him if you go jungle. My favorite two have been this crit build (Essence Reaver is key), or a hybrid AP/AD build.

For fun, I've tried out Muramana + Sated Devourer with varying degrees of success. You start hitting like an absolute monster later in the game, but it takes some careful play to get there without feeding, etc.

Paging fellow Bard obsessee, Dizzyka, to this thread :)

RiotGharrisDec 15, 20151 votes

Also, I hope things are going well for you now. Sometimes it can be tough to keep on keeping on, but it's all worth it when you come out the other side a stronger human being :).

DrackolusDec 15, 20151 votes

Yeah. The more you tough through, the more you know you can take. Also, a stronger Bard player ;P

RiotDizzyKaDec 15, 20153 votes

New Bard main! It looks as though the cosmos has reached out to you to say : Its your time to chime. Welcome :D

I too started playing Bard support. I needed some time to relax and Bard seemed like the ticket. When he first launched it was common wisdom that you were supposed to roam all the time and abandon your ADC. My friends really disliked being 2v1 and I thought - If he's supposed to roam... Why isn't he a jungler? After a number of hilarious games later I actually found a build that worked and I started to be a terror in the jungle. Now ( with Gharris ) I'm a Bard Jungle main - the rarest of beasts.

Tipperinos for maximum chiming:

General

If you spam ctrl-3 correctly you can slap your chest for maximum Jollyness.
Visit Reddit /r/BardMains for maximum ~~ootay~~.

Jungle:

I do AP / Devourer in the Jungle ( I am the yang to Gharris's AD Jungle Bard ). Start W and place three health shrines before neutral monsters spawn. Two at wolves, one at blue. If you get invaded at this point things get really rough so make sure to entertain your teammates with Ctrl-1 so they stay nearby. Start blue and run through gromp / wolves until level three and then gank immediately. Top lane / Mid are usually really pushed and you can E from within blue jungle to top or from mid brush behind enemy midlaner. Its usually really unexpected to gank so early. Land a Q and you win! For me, Jungle Bard is a support jungler who is about getting the rest of the lanes snowballing ( Especially in Snowdown ).
3 pots -> and -> -> -> / situational -> Let the universe guide you.

Support:

I usually actually buy AP items after sightstone. If you're really good about positioning you can stay out of teamfights and throw tons of Q's from the peripheral and if you're doing that you might as well have some bite!
n Pots -> and -> / -> Let the meeps take the wheel.

elon wątrobaDec 15, 20151 votes

Deadman's plate is funny on him too, movespeed and burst on first auto :D

Photos of GhostsDec 16, 20151 votes

No burst on ranged champs unfortunately.

elon wątrobaDec 16, 20151 votes

Ohh, lol didn't know that.

Photos of GhostsDec 17, 20152 votes

Ikr, I don't know why they wouldn't just halve it or make it based on resistances.

DrackolusDec 16, 20151 votes

I really like the idea of ap jungle bard. I was trying to do a supporty jungle Nami, because I really wanted to jungle with windspeaker's. Especially with runic armor, I can keep myself clearing camps with my w self-healing. Going item 1402 item 1332 item 3092 item 2045 item 3222 item 3089 . However, I keep running into the problem where I clear camps too slow to really rely on farming, and if all my lanes are pushed up I can only gank so well. I've had people tell me I don't tax enough and that's why I get behind on level. I imagine Bard runs into the same issues, since he only has his passive and his q to help him clear camps. How do you deal with that issue?

RiotDizzyKaDec 16, 20151 votes

{quoted}

I really like the idea of ap jungle bard. I was trying to do a supporty jungle Nami, because I really wanted to jungle with windspeaker's. Especially with runic armor, I can keep myself clearing camps with my w self-healing. Going . However, I keep running into the problem where I clear camps too slow to really rely on farming, and if all my lanes are pushed up I can only gank so well. I've had people tell me I don't tax enough and that's why I get behind on level. I imagine Bard runs into the same issues, since he only has his passive and his q to help him clear camps. How do you deal with that issue?

Ooh nice! I know for a fact Nami is the prettiest princess NA, however, I did not know she could make it as a jungler. To clear camps I do a lot of dancing, attacking and moving away from the camp so it misses some autos and landing the Q on CD. I would guess Nami would need to do the same - kiting and using the bubble to get range / free autos. That's why Gromp start was so rough in the pre-season jungle for me because his ranged attack couldn't be kited. I had to start Blue instead. I think Bard has an advantage here ( not being a super effective farmer ) as his chimes give XP and eventually AP damage / other effects so even if he's not actively farming a lot he's still gaining levels and keeping up a bit in damage and utility. Since he also runs devourer when you gank / get the odd jungle camp your on hit damage is also slowly scaling up ( especially since devourer stacks on champ assist not just kill ).

DrackolusDec 16, 20151 votes

Mm, I forgot about chime xp. I was even considering xp quints, but I suspect the lower clear time would counterract the increased experience, especially early. But, maybe not. Perhaps I should make the switch to Devourer, maybe even a nasher's and/or rageblade for a "splash" of damage. Attack speed can synergize alright with Nami's e too, though it's somewhat limited by the 3 hits. The bubble gives more auto time too, so it's not terrible.

More experimentation is required!

DerpiniaDec 16, 20151 votes

I love to play stange junglers my donger jungler got me my third penta Ive found the most succ ss playing Nami jungle Ad/AP whcih also a great success in adc role and too some bard on the side and my main queen Syndra with that stun and cc lock makes getting a kill per gank easy if your good ofcourse Syndra Nami Bard