Tips to help me make Bard work?

Best Darius KR·6/14/2015, 9:36:11 AM·3 votes·831 views

Yesterday i felt like having some fun, so i bought Bard with my IP.

I kinda knew what i was getting myself into, given Bard's reputation for being a horrible champion and all. Still, i decided to try him out anyway to see if it was true or not.

So, after playing a MASSIVE total of 2 games with him, i feel like i'm doing everything wrong, and that i will need a lot of help to start winning games with him.

-What do you max on him? -What do you BUILD on him? -What is the correct use of his E? -What is the correct use of his ult? -When do you roam? -What should i have in mind when playing him? -What other facts should i know about him?

I appreciate your answers

5 Comments

LiteSprite6/14/2015, 10:35:17 AM2 votes

Hi Blueslifer!

I understand when you say that you feel like you're doing everything wrong with Bard. He is a very complex champion with a skill-set that can be on one hand, incredibly overpowered when played right, or on the other, bait your entire team when played incorrectly.

He's an amazing champion when a very very VERY high skill-cap, so while I'm going to give you some general tips, please remember to take your current situation in mind, and build off of that.

-What do you max on him?

Generally you will want to max either Q or W depending on the situation, You will 90% of the time want to start W and lay a few health packs along the jungler's route the s/he will be taking to aid in his/her clear. Finally, you will want to get your E at level 5 as your chimes should be spawning pretty close to you, and there isn't much need to roam yet.

-What do you BUILD on him?

Most often you will want to build a mix of ap utility and tank items such as, item 3222 item 3110 item 3069 item 3143 item 3105 item 3060 item 3504 . Remember that you are there more for you utility then you are for your damage.

-What is the correct use of his E?

Early, his E is more useful for roaming to get chimes, or for flanking with your jungler for a gank. As the game progresses, it has many more uses, such as baiting the enemy team into a choke point, escaping a gank, dodging AoE, and disengage. This is stuff you will learn over time as you get better with Bard, and more used to his kit.

-What is the correct use of his ult?

Start off with using it on the enemy back line in team fights, or to pick someone off who is out of position. the 2.5 sec time of his ult is great for allowing the rest of your team time to surround the poor fellow and kill him. As you get better with Bard and his ult you can move on to other things, such as, ulting the enemy tower so you can dive them safely, Ulting Baron or Dragon, giving your jungler a chance to steal, Ulting your team preventing the damage of some enemy ults. (Galio, Amumu, Sej, Fiora come to mind).

-When do you roam?

First, look at your match-up,. If your ADC is going to have problems being by themselves for any length of time, then roaming isn't going to be an option until around mid game. If your ADC is ok with playing safe and passive then you will want to roam around the lvl 4 mark, allowing your adc a change to get to lvl 6 before the enemy. That aside, when collecting chimes, always make sure you are doing something besides collecting chimes, for example... (You notice a chime near the enemy blue, and dragon side pixel bush. Go to blue, ward it so you can get a sense of where the enemy jungler is, and then go to pixel bush and ward that for your mid lane, lastly ward dragon or close to, while asking you jungler if they want to maybe set up a bot lane gank.)

Other times to leave lane and collect chimes. After your adc backs to buy. After you have gotten your tower. After getting dragon. After killing or forcing the enemy team to back. After you have spotted the enemy jungler and he is not near for a gank.

-What should i have in mind when playing him?

You should have the mind set of your team, and not just your adc when you play bard, and that clever use of your ult, and roaming, will help your team. That being said, if you feel that landing your ult is getting you into trouble then for go using it until you are comfortable. Remember that you can throw the game very hard if you ult incorrectly.

-What other facts should i know about him?

Your Q can travel through small walls, and hit other players, but will not stun them unless it chains to another player or wall AFTER.

ALL towers can be ulted. Useful for dives.

Fiora and brand's ults will continue to bounce and go through their animations even while in stasis.

Bard's ult acts exactly like item 3157 So abilities like Swain's ult will still continue.

Hope this helps! If you have any questions I'll check back every so often and try to answer them.

Good luck! and have fun!

-LiteSprite

R1106/14/2015, 10:26:34 AM1 votes

I start Q as it's really strong if you stun someone at lvl 1, they take a good chunk of damage if you stun them + meep AA and a skill + AA from your adc. Also max Q for the extra stun duration. At lvl 4 you can choose to put a second point in W if you don't think you will need the portal anytime soon. Edit: I have heard to max E second because the speedboost for your team can make a big difference in escaping but I haven't tried it myself yet because I haven't had the chance to play lately. Source: http://www.solomid.net/guide/view/133672-bard-build-guide-support-by-varph Varph's guides are pretty good.

You can use E to collect chimes in your own jungle, go ham on unsuspecting enemies with your team, gtfo from danger while stunning any who follows you (just don't do it towards your own team that is also running away and then 5 enemies follow through, RIP ;_;)

The ult is very good for random picks or to create a teamfight where the opponents team has no adc and apc for 2.5 seconds. In general you want to avoid hitting your own teammates unless they would die from a Zed/Vladimir ult or something similar. Note that max range ults take a very long time to travel so aim far enough ahead of the enemies movement and try to cut off escape paths.

About when to roam, just don't roam if the only goal is to pick up chimes unless you're oom. Place a ward, being greedy and place deeper wards than normal because of chimes is very fun and can pay off if you have a good jungler. If there are a lot of chimes lined up in the river you can try to gank mid by ulting the opponent, E to close the gap and stun them when your opponent comes out of stasis.

For my build, I start with spellthiefs, upgrade when you see fit, sightstone, mobility boots then tank. Depending on the enemy team comp you can build Randuins, Locket, FH, Twin Shadows can be fun, Rightious glory, Mikaels can be good if they got Ashe or something similar, Banshees.

The last fact you should know, Ctrl-5 will make your meeps dance behind you! Have fun with Bard!

DrNova6/15/2015, 5:56:17 AM1 votes

For a more satirical but slightly honest answer, you need

-A team with mic's so you can communicate your intentions so you team doesnt help waste your skills -Any one of the other supports that does parts of what Bard does significantly better then he kinda does several things

Teachan6/15/2015, 3:56:59 PM1 votes

-What do you max on him?

r>q>e>w R and Q are pretty self explanatory, the reason you max e before w is it allows your team to move faster through journey. I max W last as I honestly only use it as a speed boost vs the heal portion.

-What do you BUILD on him?

Start item 3303 but transition into item 3069 later on. Rush item 2049 and item 3117 of course, then look at their team. If you're facing a strong ap champ, item 3028 or item 3105 are good options. If it's a snowbally adc, item 3082 . Sometimes, just building a item 1029 and item 1033 will make you tanky enough.

Final build would be item 3069 , item 2045 , item 3117 , item 3060 (assuming no one has built item 3190 ), item 3143 , and 2 item 2043 . If it gets super hyper mega late game and pinks aren't worth it, item 3102 wouldn't be a bad last item, or item 3800 . Also, if you need a targetable item 3140 because your adc is a dingus and refuses to build one, item 3222 vs strong cc or suppression. I'M LOOKING AT YOU Malzahar & Warwick

I might have been really excited about linking a ton of items, so sorry for the rainbow of items. :|

-What is the correct use of his E?

Roaming to get chimes, helping to get people around. I...am a little hesitant on using an E to initiate but it is a good follow up for the jungler. Sometimes you can just use it if you're pushed up to make it appear as though your jungler is coming and some enemy bot laners might run away giving you a few seconds of less pressure. Mostly I use it to follow up on any ults I can land and to get my chimes faster.

-What is the correct use of his ult?

Obviously to create pics, if you have enough people around you and your q stuns a champ, immediately ult, no hesitation. Or say your team is chasing a jinx and she just flashed, ult in the area she or any immobile character is going once their escape is gone.

-When do you roam?

That's a loaded question. I usually stay bot most of the time. If i'm running low on mana I only go for a chime or two in the immediate vicinity. If we ever get a kill in bot or take a turret that's a good time to clean up chimes. Should I not be ridiculously low you can roam mid if their pushed in, but your main focus is controlling bot lane and the dragon river area. Roaming mid should be a bonus if you do really well in bot.

-What should i have in mind when playing him?

Expect to make a lot of mistakes, Bard in my eyes has the highest skill cap of supports because that ult is so finky when used defensively. I strongly recommend focusing on using it for initiation or disabling a turret while diving. Also, your meeps are amazing, use them whenever you get the chance too.

-What other facts should i know about him?

The last fact you should know, Ctrl-5 will make your meeps dance behind you!

This is extremely important. Easily the biggest mechanic to utilize. Also I mimic as many sound effects as I can just to have fun. Bard is really fun, make sure you have fun your self.

Bard noises intensify ^_^

I'm...sorry for the length of my post. I didn't think I'd go this in depth. :/

edits: my are English and grammar was atrocious.