THIS GUIDE NEEDS AN UPDATE AFTER PATCH 8.23, BUT I DON'T HAVE MUCH TIME TO EDIT THIS, SO THIS UPDATE IS GOING TO COME SLOW.

Hi, I'm Synk1904, and I'm doing this guide to help MAINLY the new players out there that want to try Bard for the first time, and later main him.

+ PROS +

• Really FUN - One of the funniest champions to play with;
• High Mobility - He is fast and has his E that is a tunnel that can transport him trough walls;
• High Damage for a support - You can get kills if your adc's is unable to get them;
• Can Slow or stun 2 enemies at the same time and can freeze your enemies when they are running away, so your team can kill them.

- CONS -

• Has some hard skill shots - The difference between a good and a bad Bard is mostly in the Q. R can be very rewarding but if you use them on the middle of a team fight you will most of the time disturb your team (You need a lot of pratice to use R in these situations).
• Low HP, armor and magic resist - You can build some tankiness during the game but he isn't very tanky, generally easy to kill
• Bard needs to farm his passive - Bard chimes recover mana and give some other bonus you will see later in this guide. W consumes a lot of mana for little HP and speed, so bard is forced to farm his passive Traveler's Call often in early and mid game or to return to the base, which makes the adc vulnerable.

Later, I will update this chapter with more detailed info about each rune. Some runes were changed, but they are still being used. As soon as I can, I will update this chapter.
If you are new to Bard, or if you started playing League of Legends not long ago you should start playing Bard with the Sorcery Runes. Depending on your playstyle you may prefer this runes even if you already play Bard for a long time. This runes seem better for poking.

SORCERY
SUMMON AERY
Your attacks and abilities send Aery to a target, damaging enemies or shielding allies.


MANAFLOW BAND
Hitting enemy champions with a spell grants 25 maximum mana, up to 250 mana. Upon earning 250 mana, Manaflow Band restores 1% of your missing mana every 5 seconds.


CELERITY
Gain 3% extra MS. Gain extra AP or AD (Adaptive) based on your bonus MS.


SCORCH
Your first ability hit every 20s burns champions.



PRECISION
+14 ability power or +8 attack damage, adaptive and +5.5% attack speed

LEGEND: ALACRITY
Takedowns on enemies grant permanent Attack Speed.


COUP DE GRACE
Deal more damage to low health enemy champions.

If you already play Bard for a long time, and if you are confident in yourself, you should use this runes:

DOMINATION
ELECTROCUTE
Hitting a champion with 3 separate attacks or abilities in 3s deals bonus adaptive damage.


CHEAP SHOT
Deal bonus true damage to enemies with impaired movement or actions.


ZOMBIE WARD
After killing an enemy ward, a friendly Zombie Ward is raised in its place. When your wards expire, they also reanimate as Zombie Wards.


RELENTLESS HUNTER
Unique champion takedowns grant permanent out of combat MS.



SORCERY
+11 attack damage or +18 ability power, adaptive

SCORCH
Your first ability hit every 20s burns champions.


CELERITY
Gain 3% extra MS. Gain extra AP or AD (Adaptive) based on your bonus MS.

Your team should know how Bard works if you are in ranked and in higher ranks, but if this is not the case, tell your team(principally your ADC) that they should get your W to recover health or when running away from the enemies or chasing them. NEVER USE IT when you're almost full hp and you don't need the little speed it gives.

Bard should have a good communication with his team, so he can open tunnels in different situations, for example to help the jungler to gank or to chase enemies.

A good communication is VERY HELPFUL when using Bard's Ultimate, you can tell your team mates to fall back before you use your ult in a team fight so you can freeze them and then attack them in a advantage situation and in better positions.

PASSIVE - Traveler's Call
Q - Cosmic Binding
W - Caretaker's Shrine
E - Magical Journey
R - Tempered Fate

Tips:

• Use R to protect you and your allies from things like Draven, Kayn, Ezreal or Jhin ULT, or even from burns. (as Ignite for example)
• You can only have 3 healing shrines on the map, placing a fourth one destroys the first UNLESS you place the fourth one directly underneath a champion so it gets picked up instantly, this doesn't count as putting one down so you will still have 3 shrines on the map.
• If you have enough sustain/don't need 3 shrines for healing you can place them at the botlane brush entrances (the very corners of the enemy side lane brush, the top-left corner of the river brush etc.) While they don"t give vision you can see if they get destroyed by an enemy, so when the jungler steps on one of them to lane gank you, you know. This isn't as effective as a cait trap since you don't know who is in the brush/how many/they aren"t rooted, but it's something for when you're fresh out of wars and haven't seen the enemy jungler in a while.
• You can magical journey from base to your inhib, this is a tiny thing that doesn't save time if you still have to place the portal, but for your adc it might be a bit faster than walking.
• You can ult people in your portal, the person will go through the portal and be in stasis once they come out.
• You can ult people doing baron while standing in front of baron pit in a way, that doesn't hit bard, so you can easily steal it if your teammates help.
• If you have full mana and are going through the jungle to collect chimes spam your W for speedboosts
• Your Q stuns if it hits 2 people or 1 and a wall, the portal goes through a wall, everytime you use a portal you are right next to the wall you come of it, if an enemy takes the portal just throw your Q to hit him when he comes out for free CC and an easy escape.

Spells:
Flash Almost every build of every champ uses it, what can I say ? It's flash YOU NEED IT.


Ignite This is your second spell in most situations, use Ignite before they use Heal to prevent half of the healing on target, or use it to secure a kill if your adc can't and if you aren't in range; or if they are under tower and you don't want to risk much.



Exhaust can be useful if you are concerned about a jungler killing your adc easily.

Every 5 Chimes grants an additional +15 damage

5 CHIMES 25% slow
10 CHIMES +1 meep (2 max)
15 CHIMES Meeps deal damage in a cone behind the target
20 CHIMES 7-second meep respawn
25 CHIMES +10% slow (35% total)
30 CHIMES +1 meep (3 max)
35 CHIMES Damage cone size increased
40 CHIMES 6-second meep respawn
45 CHIMES +10% slow (45% total)
50 CHIMES +1 meep (4 max)
55 CHIMES 5-second meep respawn
60 CHIMES +10% slow (55% total)
65 CHIMES +1 meep (5 max)
70 CHIMES 4-second meep respawn
75 CHIMES +10% slow (65% total)
80 CHIMES +1 meep (6 max)
85 CHIMES +10% slow (75% total)
90 CHIMES +1 meep (7 max)
95 CHIMES +1 meep (8 max)
100 CHIMES 1 meep (9 max)
105+ CHIMES +15 damage