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Bard Build Guide by

Bard - Meep-in' the Jungle

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4 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author Prate_k

Bard Build Guide By Updated on

Guide Discussion (4) More Bard Guides

Runes:

Sorcery

Summon Aery

Nullifying Orb

Absolute Focus

Gathering Storm

Precision

Legend: Alacrity

Coup de Grace

Spells:

Smite

Flash

Items

Starting items

First back

Core items

Defensive

Ability Order

Bard Passive Ability

More Bard Counters

Introduction

Hello, LoL-ers ^^, starting on a very honest note here: this is merely a build to have fun with, perhaps in normal queues. I would definitely not recommend using in the jungle for a ranked game. He is a much, much better support and has a greater impact in that role.

This was me just trying to see if it was possible and yes it is fun to play. So I hope you have a quick read, try it and have fun.

Bard - The wandering caretaker

When I first read the name The Wandering Caretaker the first thing I thought was OMG a jungler :D Then I read his passive and I was more amped - he collects chimes throughout the entire map to gather his own little Meepin' army. Then I saw the rest of his kit... No impactable damage, utilities that make him sit in a lane and be a support. Summarising his kit below (Which were taken from the league of legends fandom page - Bard).

Traveler's Call (passive), Makes bard exciting just chiming and flying around. The chimes he collects and the meeps he gathers enhance his basic attacks by +30% AP.
Cosmic Binding (Q) Damage + 65% AP. Also slows target and stuns if the binding lands on a target and another enitity (champion, minion or obstructions).
Caretaker's Shrine (W) heals for 30-150 + 30% AP (skill level 1 to 5).
Magical Journey (E) Playmaking / escaping utility.
Tempered Fate (R) Another playmaking / escaping utility.

There are three possible ways of building him to play in the jungle role.

You either go tanky and buy support items as well.
you go the attack speed + on-hit route (AP or AD or hybrid), squishy as hell but much more fun.
Bruiser type, in my opinion, will still be squishy and end up not having damage either.

I have tried the second build path and will be basing this guide on that for now, because who doesn't like smashing tiny meeps into other stuff as fast as you can right? I will try the tanky build and maybe add it later to this guide.

Runes

Primary Style:

Summon Aery - additional damage to escaping targets for a better chance to secure kills.
Nullifying Orb - getting to that attack speed optimal point will take a while and trying to heal up against those sticky mages is tough. This can allow you to live through those burst damages.
Absolute Focus - additional damage before the start of a fight can give you an advantage early.
Gathering Storm - gradual AP increase, helps in closing the gaps. If one is going for the AD on-hit build, this item can provide few AP damage stats to go with the AP scaling of his kit.

Secondary Style: - additional offensive stats

Legend: Alacrity - attack speed boost for the on-hit procs.
Coup de Grace - bard cannot out damage most carries on his own, so when the rest of your team has them pinned down to low health, you can increase your damage output and ensure that it is secured, by you or anyone who deserved it of course.

Changes:

Items

Item Sequence

Mostly focusing on the on-hit build, what would be required is a whole stash of attack speed items, that can either dish out physical on-hit damages with items such as or magical on-hit damages such as . One essential item would definitely be the most popular on-hit item in the store - . This item has the ability to proc your on-hit damages twice. Hooray!.

If you are going to go down an AP focused on-hit build, at least one hard-hitting AD item is recommended, such as the . This will go well with the basic attacks without the need for spells to be used first. OH, and it also kills tanks.
Why Tracker's Knife - Bloodrazor?

Since you are already filling a makeshift support role you might as well play along and get those wards. There is no harm in choosing to do true damage as you do buy items with damage stats. Or for more slows and true damage. I would actually select the tracker's knife because you need to roam the enemy jungle to collect the meeps and this will allow you to, and perhaps force you to place deep wards in there for your safety as well as to provide more vision for your team.

Item focus

The focus of this build would be to proc as many on-hit damages as possible by increasing your dps (damage per second). So hinting towards items with attack speed stats and on-hit stats. You can build an ap on-hit path or the more preferred ad on-hit. As you can get more damage out of your basic attacks rather than the AP damages from your abilities (due to their low AP scaling).

Tracker's Knife - Bloodrazor to increase dps and for deep warding while collecting meeps.
Guinsoo's Rageblade - to proc on-hit twice after getting the 6 stacks on it. This item also provides AP and AD stats for Bard's passive and basic attacks.
Trinity Force - (if you are building AD) On-hit damage plus average all round AD + AS stats with some much-needed cooldown reduction.
Nashor's Tooth and Lich Bane (if you are building AP)
Nashor's Tooth for more AP while being able to do 15% additional magic damage on basic attacks, 30% if rageblade is fully stacked. Also provides cooldown reduction for spamming Q Cosmic Binding more regularly.
Lich Bane is the AP on-hit version of Trinity Force as it also has a spell-blade passive. (P.s Trinity Force and Lich Bane do not stack).
With a more hybrid path - (both AP and AD item build) - build Trinity Force instead of Lich Bane as it provides more stats and also attack speed, allowing you to delay the build of Nashor's Tooth for another AP or AD item.
Since, the spell-blade passive from both Trinity Force and Lich Bane, scale off from base attack damage, for a slightly tanky build you have the option of building Sterak's Gage to increase this damage output from the on-hit passive and hence the ragebalde double stack passive.

Changes:

Jungle path

Bard is a rather weak champion in terms of attack damage and ability power ratio. His passive and his Q are the only damage dealers in his kit. So his jungle path would be to clear single creep camps first to keep a fairly high HP early on.

Level 1 > Blue Sentinel for Mana regen and cooldown reduction
Level 2 > Red brambleback for health regen but most importantly you need to get your buff before your enemy manages to steal it from you.
Level 2 > wolves > level 3 and gromp if possible.
Gank or get a rift scuttler on the side you are on.