So you want to play Bard?

It’s a real shame how bad Bard’s rep is these days, especially when he has so much play potential AND is fun to play. With so much utility, though, it’s not surprising that the majority of Bard players either make critical mistakes or just don’t know how to play him. Even I was pretty awful when I first started, but after practicing since he came out, I think I finally have some good tips nailed down to help get him back into the game.

Roaming; when and why?

As a bard, you need to roam to stay effective, but don’t take that the wrong way. This doesn’t mean it takes priority over your lane partner’s life. You need to get used to looking at the map and judging when it’s a good time to roam. Generally, if your partner is backing and the lane’s pushed out, feel free to leave. That being said, another important tip is to always have a goal outside of collecting those yummy chimes. Ward Dragon, shrine in mid lane, gank for them or help out the jungler, anything is better than coming back with two more shrines and nothing to show for it. If you see a chime in the tri bush and nothing’s happening, sure, just go snag it and run back but otherwise, stay with your lane partner.

Some item suggestions: [http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/s5-patch-5-7-bard-roaming-support-pseudo-jungler-414151] I've provided the link to the build page I use on bard. I cover most of it below but if you want a more detailed, better presented guide, I suggest you click up there.

Tank and move speed: Bard only has one damaging ability and his shrines already heal enough to be useful through the whole game, so ap isn’t what I prioritize. It’s still viable, I’m sure, but not as effective as tank and move speed, in my opinion. He’s not very tanky all on his own so you’ll die pretty easily if you’re not careful and having plenty of health to work with will work wonders when the enemy team realizes how annoying you can be.

Spellthief’s, coin, or targon? Targons is probably the least helpful item here, but I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt and go over the positives. We are indeed building tanky, so it would make sense in the short term and our passive means it won’t be hard to last-hit. However, spell thief’s and coin give us more gold and more utility than targons ever could. But which to buy? I personally get Edge first and save up until I can buy Talisman. Simply speaking, Edge gives you a lot more gold because not only do your auto attacks proc it but your passive does as well. That’s ten gold every hit. And as bard, you want to be poking in the early game anyways with your passive, but in the late game you want that talisman for the speed it gives you.

tl;dr: Buy spellthiefs, then sell it for Talisman.

Sightstone: Duh

Mobility boots: Also duh, they make you faster, faster is better.

Zz’rot’s portal: Now, I know what you’re thinking, but hear me out. This item is wildly underrated. It’s stats aren’t game changing but on Bard it works, and that’s thanks to point-runner and the extra minions. Even if they’re weak, those voidlings still provide lane pressure, and on top of a minion wave, just gives your opponents even more of a headache. As long as you place it far enough back, the enemy won’t find it until it’s dumped at least 10 of the things out, and even then it’s worth because it’s other passive, point runner, makes you EVEN FASTER when running down lane. It’s a crime that more people don’t pick this up and I challenge you to give it a shot. It’s not essential to the build but it’s a damn good item.

Mikael’s crucible: The often forgotten but nevertheless holy grail of support items. A targeted cleanse, mana regen to spare and mr for our tanky build, this is an all around great thing to have.

Frozen Heart: Pretty obvious choice, tanky, mana, cdr, all around a great item on most supports

Iceborn Gauntlet: Just because we’re not building ap doesn’t mean this isn’t a great choice. Sheen proc+passive will equal quite a bit of damage and the extra slow is always a good time. Generally, just buy this if you're ahead.

General tips

Right at the start of the game, start with shrine, throw it down once in mid lane and one in the jungle. Trust me, your team will love you for it.

Load up on shrines. Once the mid and jungle shrines are used, don’t be afraid to throw down three by your own tower. You never know what could happen.

Mana won’t be a problem for you. Chimes restore mana upon collection, so even if you blow it all on shrines, you can wait for a chime to spawn and get a lot of it back.

Your Q’s hitbox is deceptive. Just grazing something with it will still hit, even if it doesn’t look like it should, so try and thread the needly with one of your opponent’s melee minions to catch them off guard.

Look for walls to bind people to. This will take practice but just think of it like a vayne condemn and no one sees it coming until it’s too late.

Magical Journey makes an excellent shortcut. For only 30 mana, this is a cheap and effective way to get to lane faster. Use it.

ULTIMATE TIPS: So, this is bard’s most important and difficult ability. It’s what makes him so strong in team fights. What it basically does is take anything hit, friend or foe, out of the fight for a few seconds. It’s like your own personal penalty box. Use this to your advantage. Say you’re having a team fight and their adc is recking your team. Ult that pesky vayne and suddenly half of their damage is gone and you can win the fight. Then, when her team is dead, she’ll be out of stasis, and you can teach her a lesson about respect. This is by far my favorite way to use it, because it reduces the other team's effectiveness without having to focus anyone down.

Alternatively, this can be used to save a dying player from ignite. I’d only recommend this when they’re otherwise safe because it’s only a temporary stasis. If there are enemies nearby, they’ll just finish them off after you conveniently stunned them. It’s ok to try and save people liker his, but it’s not likely to work and I generally don’t advise it.

Another useful feature is delaying baron or dragon until your team can arrive. Pretty obvious what the benefits are here and you can save the objective if you’re quick enough.

And of course, you can always just use it as a stun to catch out a fleeing enemy. This one's obvious enough that I only include it for completeness's sake.

One thing his ult doesn’t tell you is that the projectile speed depends on the distance it travels. So, at close range, it will come down almost instantly, but at max range, it will take a couple seconds for it to lane. This means you’ll have to lead far away targets and be wary when ulting close range. It’s essential you learn how to use it effectively at all ranges, so really all I can say is practice.

That’s really all there is to it. :) Please let me know if this guide was useful to you, I sincerely hope it helped you out. Hopefully, I’ll be seeing more Bards out and about and maybe his good will can still be saved. Thank you for reading :D