League of Legends - Bard Champion Strategy and Item Build Guide

Bard

Basic Information

Champion Stats

Lore

Skills

Icon	Description
	Traveler’s Call Bard’s presence causes magical chimes to appear, which grant Bard experience, mana, and a burst of speed. Additionally, lesser spirits follow Bard and aid in his attacks – collecting chimes causes these meeps to gain power over the course of the game.
	Cosmic Binding (Target Range: 950, Effect Radius: 450, Speed: 1500, Cost: 60 Mana, Cooldown: 11/10/9/8/7)ACTIVE: Bard fires an energy bolt, dealing 80/125/170/215/260 (+65% Ability Power) magic damage to one or two enemies. The first target hit will be slowed by 60% for 1/1.2/1.4/1.6/1.8 second(s).If the bolt hits another enemy or a wall, any enemies hit are stunned for 1/1.2/1.4/1.6/1.8 second(s).
	Caretaker’s Shrine (Target Range: 800, Cost: 90, Mana Cooldown: 12)ACTIVE: Reveals a healing shrine which powers up over a short time, disappearing after healing the first ally that touches it.This character raises a health shrine that immediately offers 30/60/90/120/150 (+30% Ability Power)health, but restores up to 70/110/150/190/230 (+60% Ability Power) health as it gathers power for 10 seconds. The shrine’s effect also grants 50% decaying movement speed for 1.5 seconds. Bard can have up to 3 shrines active at once, which remain until visited by an ally champion or crushed by an enemy champion.Active Shrines: 0 / 0
	Magical Journey  (Target Range: 900, Cost: 30 Mana, Cooldown: 18/17/16/15/14)ACTIVE: Bard opens a portal in nearby terrain. Allies and enemies alike can take a one-way trip through that terrain by moving into the portal.He opens a one-way corridor through nearby terrain. Both allies and enemies can use the corridor by right-clicking on any part of it while near its entrance, with allies travelling 10/20/30/40/50% faster than enemies.The corridor disappears after 10 seconds.
	Tempered Fate (Target Range: 3400, Effect Radius: 350, Cost: 100, Mana Cooldown: 130 / 115 / 90)ACTIVE: This character sends spirit energy arcing to a location, putting all champions, minions, monsters, and turrets hit into stasis for a brief time. He sends magical energy arcing to a target location. On impact, all champions, minions, monsters, and turrets in the target area are put in stasis, becoming invincible, untargetable, and unable to act for 2.5 seconds.Epic monsters are also put into stasis, despite normally being immune to disables.

Strategy

Bard is a Support Champion. Click here to view our Support Champion Strategy Guide.

• Collect as many magical chimes that are near your lane as it empowers Bard’s auto attack to further increase his poke damage against enemy laners.
• Cast (Q) Cosmic Binding on enemy laners who are either behind or in front of their minions or lane partners to root and stun them in place. You can also disable them if you cast (Q) Cosmic Binding on enemy champions near terrain or walls.
• Place (W) Caretaker’s Shrine in safe areas during the laning phase (i.e. near the allied turrets) to have fully charged heals each time you or your lane partner touches it to regain lost health.
• You can set up ganks for your jungler from unique locations with (E) Magical Journey, as you can cast it on terrain that are not normally wared. You and your team can also use this skill to escape ganks by the enemy team.
• You can stun enemies by luring them into your (E) Magical Journey then hitting them with (Q) Cosmic Binding.
• Cast (R) Tempered Fate to disable enemy champions and either position your team for a more advantageous team fight or to disengage and regroup.
• (R) Tempered Fate can be casted on enemy turrets – use this to tower dive on low-health enemy champions.

Runes & Masteries

COMING SOON

Summoner Spells

Support
Flash	Exhaust

or

Support
Flash	Ignite

Item Builds

Support

Starter Items
Spellthief’s Edge	Total Biscuit of Rejuvenation x3	Warding Totem

Core Items
Eye of the Watchers	Redemption	Ardent Censer

Eye of the Watchers – A standard Sightstone upgrade for Ability Power-based Supports, Eye of the Watchers aids Bard by giving him bonus Ability Power, Mana Regeneration and ward placement capabilities.

Redemption – This item gives Bard another healing skill to help his teammates during clashes. Redemption also has decent boosts in health, cooldown reduction and mana regeneration.

Ardent Censer – A great synergy item for Redemption and Bard’s (W) Caretaker’s Shrine, Ardent Censer gives bonus attack speed to allied champions who were healed or shielded by Bard. This proves useful during clashes where Bard can heal either a single teammate or his whole team and give them all bonus attack speed.

Full Item Build
Eye of the Watchers	Locket of the Iron Solari	Redemption
Boots of Mobility	Ardent Censer	Knight’s Vow

Locket of the Iron Solari – This item gives Bard more utility for his team. Locket of the Iron Solari provides Bard the ability to shield his team during clashes.

Knight’s Vow – A good protective option for your team’s carries, Knight’s Vow helps Bard shoulder some damage for the carry he casts this item’s skill to. In addition to this, it also has good health and armor stats, as well as cooldown reduction.

Boots of Mobility – Since Bard is often wandering about collecting chimes to gain strength, buying Boots of Mobility will help him get chimes faster and also become a threat in multiple lanes.

Situational Items
Righteous Glory	Mikael’s Crucible	Boots of Swiftness
Ionian Boots of Lucidity	Athene’s Holy Grail	Eye of the Oasis

Righteous Glory – If your team needs an initiating tool, you can opt to get Righteous Glory. It has good armor and health stats, and gives Bard the ability to chase down enemies and start clashes apart from his (R) Tempered Fate.

Mikael’s Crucible – Getting Mikael’s Crucible is a good option to deal with enemy team compositions that rely on focusing their crowd control on carries. You can cast its active skill on your teammates who are disabled and let them recover and rally during clashes.

Boots of Swiftness – A nice alternative to Boots of Mobility, Boots of Swiftness gives more consistent movement speed bonus, as well as decreases the duration of slow effects on Bard.

Ionian Boots of Lucidity – If you feel that you need more cooldown reduction for your skills, Ionian Boots of Lucidity is a good option. It enables Bard to cast (W) Caretaker’s Shrine and (Q) Cosmic Binding frequently.

Athene’s Holy Grail – Athene’s Holy Grail bolsters Bard’s (W) Caretaker’s Shrine for healing teammates. It also synergizes well with (Q) Cosmic Binding to help him collect Blood Charges.

Eye of the Oasis – You can opt to get Eye of the Oasis if you want to play Bard predominantly in the lane with your team’s ADC. It helps Bard get his gold during the laning phase and gives good early game cooldown reduction to spam his (Q) Cosmic Binding and (W) Caretaker’s Shrine.

Playing Against

• Take note when Bard is missing from his lane. He’s either collecting chimes or setting up for a gank with his team’s jungler at a different lane.
• Place your wards in locations where you think Bard might cast his (E) Magical Journey in order to quickly disengage or catch him by surprise.
• Avoid sticking close to your lane partner during the laning phase. Bard can cast (Q) Cosmic Binding to stun both you and your teammate.
• Step on (W) Catertaker’s Shrine to prevent Bard and his teammate from replenishing their health.
• Be cautious when chasing Bard through his (E) Magical Journey. It can be a trap for you and your team.
• Do not clump together with your team during clashes. Bard can cast (R) Tempered Fate to disable multiple enemy champions, or contain the enemy tanks and leave the high priority targets open for his team to eliminate.
• Be careful when tower-hugging: Bard’s (R) Tempered Fate can be casted on turrets, disabling them for a short duration and leave you open for his team’s divers and assassins.

Hard Counter

• Morgana – Her Black Shield can render her and her teammate immune to (Q) Cosmic Binding‘s stun and damage. She can also root Bard in place with Dark Binding to assist her lane partner to kill Bard.
• Blitzcrank – Blitzcrank can hook Bard or his lane partner with Rocket Grab, and follow it up with Power Fist to further disable and potentially eliminate him from the fight. Once he gets his hands on Bard, Blitzcrank can silence him with Static Field to shut down his escape mechanisms.
• Thresh – Similar to Blitzcrank, Thresh can bring the fight to Bard and his teammate when he manages to hit his Death Sentence. He can disable Bard’s escape mechanisms with Flay and The Box while Thresh’s lane partner hits from a safe distance.

Strategy Video

COMING SOON

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