Overview
This is largely anecdotal, but let me tell you that for some reason it’s always weird people who become Bard mains. Not weird in a bad way but just weird. Bard players love to run around the map collecting their chimes and doing funny stuff with their portals, and in team fights, their ultimate is one of the few abilities in the game that can hurt your team more than it can help. Click here for the latest data on his best builds, including Runes, Items, Summoner Spells, and more.
Keys to Remember About Bard
Your Tempered Fate [R] works on your allies! This can be both very good or very bad, so make sure you're careful about using it in the thick of a fight (but do it anyway -- it's just a game, after all).
Cosmic Binding is easiest to hit against a wall, but you can sometimes catch opponents in lane off guard by using it on a minion first -- you can, for example, time it with enemies trying to last hit a cannon minion.
Strengths
Bard is one of the most mobile supports in the game thanks to the fittingly named Traveler’s Call [P] and his Magical Journey [E]. There are a lot of unique angles for Magical Journey that Bard mains have discovered over the years, and the more of them you are able to learn, the better you are. You can also be sure that if your teammates see you put up a portal, they will click on it (for better or for worse). Bard’s ultimate also greatly rewards creative players, as you can place even towers and neutral minions into stasis. It can also be cast from very far away, so it’s an ability that can greatly warp the outcome of a game.
Weaknesses
Bard is a difficult champion to master -- even a simple ability like Cosmic Binding [Q] has a level of difficulty to it thanks to its interaction being different if you hit one versus two enemies. The aforementioned creativity with his other abilities means you can also easily mess them up, and you will definitely have times where your ultimate hurts your team more than it helps. Even in cases where it can only help your team (the enemy is very far away), it’s not particularly easy to hit. And all of this is on top of you being very squishy on this champion, so a slight err may lead to a quick death.
Game Plan
Early Game: You have decent lane prowess as you have some sustain and are a ranged champion with the ability to stun the enemy -- if you land a multihit with your Q, you can look for a fight. Otherwise you just want to poke and then look for opportunities to roam.
Mid Game: You can use your speed to dart all over the map to support your team in fights and in escapes. You can sneak behind enemies with your jungler thanks to your E, and your R can be comfortably used to start a fight from fog of war.
Late Game: If you’re able to put key enemy champions into stasis with your ultimate, you can encircle them and pounce once they’re out. Or if you’re already in the thick of a fight, you can stasis the tanks so that your team has a free runway straight to the enemy backline. Your late game is as strong as you are good at Bard.
