!WARNING!

All the charapters below are still pertaining to season 13. I will not be updating the sections below for a few months until the item situation stabilizes (otherwise I would have to rewrite everything every week). If you have any questions about builds, especially those that have received major changes, please post in the comments section!

Thanks for understanding!

Hello everyone, I'm Bardjo.
In real life I am an Italian trumpeter who loves to travel, so it is quite logical that I fell in love with our long-beard cosmic musician shortly after my landing on the Summoner's Rift. I started playing LoL in the second half of S6 and I've climbed from S4 to D2 one-tricking Bard and, even though I've almost stopped ranking, I still play solo/duo queue only with him. In 7 years of LoL I've collected almost 1.8M points on Bard and I've tested dozens of creative builds.

HOW TO READ THIS GUIDE

This guide was NOT created to help you improve your Bard, but to have fun with him once you are confident with his kit. Bard is one of the best champions to test with creative builds because his kit is based on utility (stun, slow, heal, MS, portal) and his infinite stacking passive grants him damage regardless.
The first four builds are of the most common type of "off-meta" build changing role to the champion. Bard has very limited base offensive stats, so champion categories that rely heavily on them (bruiser and assassin), struggle to work. In contrast, champion categories that depend on items damage (marksman and mage) are ideal for him. Bard's defensive stats are good and allow for a quite tanky build without a relevant presence of damage.
The other six builds are creative approaches to gameplay, focusing on a gameplay aspect that synergizes well with Bard's versatile kit: AH, out-of-fight MS, in-fight MS, survivability items (shields, CC remove, stasis, etc.), offensive redemption usage, and AoE/DoT ability effects. The latter builds are statistically unstable and require a lot of training to master them.

Press here to download all builds or download them individually in the dedicated sections.

Playing Bard in lane is like playing Kayle: generally you have to ignore the early game trading to wait for items and meeps to come out.
In top lane, you can abuse of range vs melee matchup, especially when playing with Hail of Blades, Phase Rush, Electrocute and Grasp of the Undying but remember to never extend trades when meeps are on CD: make the most of runes and back to farm safely. The same concept should be applied to mid lane but be aware of your positioning because in mid lane, unlike the side lanes, there are no good walls in order to escape with Magical Journey. Bot lane is really variable, the main goal remains to farm up for the mid and late game but, with a good support, you could get some kills in early game and start snowballing. Support is obviously the main role for Bard, you don't have to care about farming but you don't earn much gold for expensive builds. Build a poke support item (AP or AD based on the kind of build you have chosen) and try to balance roams and laning. The mid and late game playstyle is dependent on the current state of the game, the type of build you are doing and the team comps; it's difficult to give advice on such a situational thing but remember to:

• never stop farming and collecting chimes
• avoid greedy fights when building for late game
• play smartly around objectives

CHIMES WARNING: If laning mid or top, remember that, if you don't move from base in the first 35 seconds, the first group of chimes will automatically spawn bot jungle or lane and the third one will spawn in an uncomfortable position too.

After several tests in the jungle, I've resigned myself to the fact that you lose too much resources in the first 10 minutes to make it worth it: it takes too long clearing camps and some camps can't be cleared without damage items so, after a couple of minutes, you'll inevitably end up at least 2 levels below your opponent with a relevant gold difference. The only way for you to work is by perma ganking, taking XP from kills and a couple of minions in lane but it's a coinflip: counter jungling you is easy, counter ganking you is easy and if you don't gank perfectly, you fall behind. Even if you find a kill, you'll probably get assists because you prefer to gank early game champions and strongsides that have more damage than you in early game and, although you get kills and fed, you don't have the same impact of a laning Bard with the same score.

Always pick Flash, it's by far the best summoner spell in the game, pair it with Mark/Dash in the Howling Abyss. Consider training the umpredictable Flash + Magical Journey escape combo and the Cosmic Binding + Flash direction reset combo in practice tool.

My advice for top lane is to play with Teleport. You can use it to gank a lane, to get back top after a gank, to ensure pressure in sidelane and to look for some unexpected side map plays. Ignite is good if you need an extra damage source or if you need antiheal.

Ignite is very solid in mid lane. Unlike top lane, you have more map presence thanks to Magical Journey but consider going for Teleport if you don't have a decent waveclear and you need to counter gank a roaming midlaner.

If you are playing bot lane, Heal is the best option. Go for Exhaust if the enemy team has a lot of burst damage and your support picked Ignite and consider picking Cleanse to counter certain kits.

In the support role, Exhaust is the best choice since it works against every kind of team comp, consider to select Ignite if you need an extra damage source or antiheal; go for Heal is avaible when the carry picked Exhaust, Cleanse or Teleport.

Ghost is the most fun spell, you could use it everywhere but there are more valid choices. Never pick Barrier ( Cleanse has the same Ignite counter ability but it's also good to face CCs), Clarity ( Traveler's Call restores your mana) and Smite (check Laning Phase - Jungle chapter). Exceptions to these considerations are Ghost in builds focused on MS, offensive spells in combo with Nimbus Cloak, and defensive spells in the survivability build.

Start almost every game with a point on Cosmic Binding: it's the only ability you have to deal damage and set-up CCs in early game; go for Magical Journey if you are going to invade with a good CCs set-up. If you are in duo lane and you want to force level 2 trade, you could to walk close to a wall, unlock Magical Journey and use it to reach the enemy duo from the side; this could also be applied if you are in top with a jungler that is going to gank you early. In all other situations, go for Caretaker's Shrine and begin to place altars. If you are positioned in the middle of the lane, most of the times you should have all of your abilities unlocked; if you are under their turret you need to have 2 points on your Cosmic Binding for extra damage and 1 on your Magical Journey that's going to be used to disengage; if that's not the case and you're forced under your turret you don't need Magical Journey and you should level up your Cosmic Binding and Caretaker's Shrine according to the situation. In these extreme situations you'll end up unlocking the last ability at level 4. The first ability you have to max is always Cosmic Binding, while the second one is dependent on the kind of Bard you are playing: with support, AP and MS builds you have to max Caretaker's Shrine while Magical Journey is good with damage and AH focused builds. Obviously put points in Tempered Fate at level 6, 11 and 16.

In this section I share you my personal thoughts about starting items and elixirs. I've ordered starting items in a sort of tier list so at the top you can see items that I particularly recommend. I've also associated every item to the builds in which I advise you to use it.

Cull: It's by far my favorite starter; your power spike is mid-late game due to meeps' scaling and this item helps you reach it faster. It synergizes well with Future's Market and Treasure Hunter. I didn't insert it in my builds because it's a personal approach to the game but consider that you can pick it as starter in all of my builds.

Doran's Blade: It really helps your laning phase; with this item you are able to trade more champions than you should and allows you to safely farm in untradeable matchups. It's really good in ranged vs melee matchup and works well with runes like Grasp of the Undying and Hail of Blades. I advise you to pick this item in the following builds: Celestial Artillerist - Explosive Warden - Gentle Giant - Hide & Seek Master - Immortal God - Drunk Meeps Tamer.

Dark seal: it's the best item if you are going AP or if you are going to buy Mejai's Soulstealer; it doesn't give you many stats but it allows you to work on the build from minute 0 to reach mid-late game faster. It's a risky item because you are fragile and it doesn't help you farming but it's still better than his competitor. I advise you to pick this item in the following builds: Cosmic Wizard - Marathon King - Divine Vigilante.

Spellthief's Edge / Spectral Sickle: It's an aggressive support item; since Bard is a ranged roaming champion with empowered basic-attacks (you get 2 stacks with 1 basic-attack), I particularly recommend this item if you are going support; if your playstyle is passive or if the enemy duo / team comp is particularly problematic for you, consider going for the alternative passive item. I advise you to pick this item in the following builds: Cosmic Wizard - Timeless Traveler.

Corrupting Potion: It's an evergreen item; I pick this item in passive and problematic laning phases. If your enemy is a lane bully or counters you, this item helps you to survive and farm the early game but never forget to modify your play style too. I advise you to pick this item in the following builds: Gentle Giant.

Relic Shield / Steel Shoulderguards: It's a passive support item; since Bard is a ranged roaming champion with empowered basic-attacks, I don't recommend this item if you are going support; if your playstyle is passive or if the enemy duo / team comp is particularly problematic for you, you could consider going for this item. Currently, I don't advise you to pick this item in any of my builds.

Doran's Ring: It's the standard starter item for AP champions; it gives good offensive and defensive stats but its passive is useless for you because you gain mana from chimes. I don't recommend this item at all because spending 400 gold doesn't get you an effective trade or a farming advantage compared to his competitor (you won't kill the enemy thanks to +30 HP and you survive better with 1 more potion). Currently, I don't advise you to pick this item in any of my builds.

Doran's Shield: It's an uncomfortable item; sadly, this item is not viable for you because your solo laning phase is extremely dependent from the starter you choose: Doran's Blade is the perfect item for aggressive and standard lanes while Corrupting Potion helps in impossible matchups, there's no space for our brother. Currently, I don't advise you to pick this item in any of my builds.

Tear of the Goddess: collecting chimes gives you mana... that's all.

Celestial Artillerist is the on-hit build: it offers you huge amounts of DPS (it synergizes extremely well with Traveler's Call) and focuses on AS. Once you get 1-2 items, if played correctly, you can win 1vs1 against a lot of solo laners. You are good in every situation of the game: farming, split pushing, fighting and taking objectives. You can play it mindlessly in top, mid and bot: just patiently wait for your 2 items power spike and it’s GG.

Lucky Synergies: keep in mind that Crest of Cinders, Hextech Drake, Infernal Drake, Chemtech Soul, Hextech Soul, Infernal Soul, Elder Dragon, Baron Nashor, Ardent Censer, Evenshroud, Imperial Mandate, Zeke's Convergence, Brushmaker, Eye of the Storm, Demacian Standard, Pix, Faerie Companion, Whimsy, Cozy Campfire, Tidecaller's Blessing, Primal Surge, Call of the Freljord, Living Forge, Leverage, Bailout, Hymn of Valor, Prowling Projectile and Zoomies significantly increase the power of this build.

Lethal Tempo is the best rune for basic-attacks based builds since it allows to get unbelievable amounts of AS --- Triumph is better than his competitors --- Legend: Alacrity gives a good amount of AS --- Coup de Grace is an evergreen rune, consider picking Cut Down if the enemy team has a lot of tanks and juggernauts. Cheap Shot is really easy to proc because it stacks with both meeps and Cosmic Binding, if the enemy team is entirely composed of fragile champions, consider picking Eyeball Collection --- Treasure Hunter helps building items faster. - - is the best shard combination.

Rush Berserker's Greaves as soon as possible, you need attack speed to farm efficiently and it gives you more time to react, reposition and dodge skillshots --- Kraken Slayer is essential, it scales with both AP and AD and guarantees significant damage output (which increases with each item purchased) --- Guinsoo's Rageblade has returned to its former glory and is undoubtedly the most important element of the build --- Wit's End is the fourth item, which significantly increases the damage output --- to fill the last two slots you have to choose based on the type of damage or effect you need: Nashor's Tooth provides AP and AS, Blade of the Ruined King offers AD and lifesteal, while Phantom Dancer provides AS (which buffs both AD and AP) and MS.

Explosive Warden is the critical strike build: it offers you huge amounts of DPS and focuses on critical strike damage. Bard wasn't born to be an ADC, but he can certainly become one by buying the best damage-dealing items. Hail of Blades is very strong on this build, but if the enemy team has a lot of tanky champions, consider picking Lethal Tempo. Obviously, the best lane to play it is bot lane, but top and mid lane are fine too.

Lucky Synergies: keep in mind that Crest of Cinders, Hextech Drake, Infernal Drake, Chemtech Soul, Hextech Soul, Infernal Soul, Elder Dragon, Baron Nashor, Ardent Censer, Evenshroud, Eye of the Storm, Demacian Standard, Whimsy, Cozy Campfire, Primal Surge, Call of the Freljord, Living Forge, Bailout, and Zoomies significantly increase the power of this build.

Hail of Blades allows to deal huge amounts of damage in a really short time --- Cheap Shot is really easy to proc because it stacks with both meeps and Cosmic Binding --- Eyeball Collection is the only rune that gives damage in this slot --- Treasure Hunter helps building items faster. Legend: Bloodline gives a good amount of lifesteal --- Coup de Grace is an evergreen rune, consider picking Cut Down if the enemy team has a lot of tanks and juggernauts. - - is the best shard combination.

Rush Berserker's Greaves as soon as possible, AS helps farming efficiently and it gives more time to react, reposition and dodge skillshots --- Infinity Edge is the only mythic way for you to deal tons of damage --- Stormrazor grants tons of MS as Energyzed passive, enabling to kite more efficiently --- Statikk Shiv is finally back, my favorite item, free wave clear --- last two items are flexible: Lord Dominik's Regards is good against tanks and juggernauts, Phantom Dancer provides MS and ghost effect, Mortal Reminder works against team comps full of sustain, Mercurial Scimitar against suppressions, Rapid Firecannon helps increasing Bard's low attack range and Bloodthirster gives tons of sustain and AD.

Cosmic Wizard is the mage build: depending on the build path, it offers you burst damage or utility effects and focuses on AP. My advice is to play burst items vs squishy team comps or when ahead and utility items vs tanky team comps or when behind. You can play it in both mid lane and support role: in mid lane you can farm safely, but you have zero impact on the map because your waveclear is terrible and there's no way to fast push to roam; as a support you are forced to build cheaper items but you can be active on the map.

Lucky Synergies: keep in mind that Infernal Drake, Chemtech Soul, Hextech Soul, Infernal Soul, Elder Dragon, Baron Nashor, Abyssal Mask, Evenshroud, Imperial Mandate, Staff of Flowing Water, Zeke's Convergence, Sunlight, Tidecaller's Blessing, Living Forge, Leverage and You and Me! significantly increase the power of this build.

Meeps count like singular spells so 1 basic-attack gives 2 stacks of Electrocute, combine it with Cosmic Binding to make it almost unmissable --- Cheap Shot is really easy to proc because it stacks with both meeps and Cosmic Binding --- Eyeball Collection is the only rune that gives damage in this slot --- Treasure Hunter helps building items faster. Transcendence is the most unbalanced Sorcery rune giving free AH --- Gathering Storm is always good for late game champions. - - is the best shard combination.

Nashor's Tooth is the first item, AS helps farming efficiently and it gives more time to react, reposition and dodge skillshots --- Sorcerer's Shoes gives magic penetration and helps taking chimes, roam and dodge skillshots --- Luden's Tempest significantly increases meeps and Cosmic Binding's damage --- fourth slot is flexible: offensive items are Shadowflame with tons of AP, HP and anti shield, Mejai's Soulstealer for hard snowballing games and Cosmic Drive for in-fight MS and AH, while defensive items are Rylai's Crystal Scepter for the good synergy with meeps and Cosmic Binding's slow, Zhonya's Hourglass to face AD champions and Morellonomicon against sustain focused champions --- fifth item must be Rabadon's Deathcap because it significantly increases Bard's output damage --- Void Staff to complete the build with magic penetration, consider picking it earlier when facing tanky team comps.
When building support, Rabadon's Deathcap should be replaced by Shard of True Ice and all slots will shift by one.

Gentle Giant is the tanky build: depending on the build path, it offers you teamfight survivability and utility or tanky split push power and focuses on defensive stats (HP, armor and magic resist). Unlike the previous build, there is no situation where one build is better than the other since tanky Bard is always quite useless in any phase of the game with any build so it depends on what you want to do. I advise you to play it in the top lane because in mid lane there are lots of ranged champions to deal with and problems clearing waves while in a duo lane you don't have enough damage or utility.

Lucky Synergies: keep in mind that Chemtech drake, Cloud Drake, Mountain Drake, Chemtech Soul, Mountain Soul, Guardian, Summon Aery, Knight's Vow, Locket of the Iron Solari, Mikael's Blessing, Molten Shield, Stand Behind Me, Hero's Entrance, Triggerseed, Footwork, Inspire/ Defiance, Footwork, Safeguard, Help, Pix!, Wild Growth, Prismatic Barrier, Warm Hugs, Breath of Life, Black Shield, Jubilant Veil, Command: Protect, Living Forge, Battle Dance, Full Tilt, Loyalty Program, Dawning Shadow, Surround Sound, Stand United, Aria of Perseverance, Bastion, Dark Passage
and Final Chapter significantly increase the power of this build.

Grasp of the Undying is extremely easy to stack in solo lane during the early game, it gives sustain and passive HP --- Demolish is a fun rune and it's useful in both laning phase and mid and late game, consider picking Shield Bash if your team has a lot of shields --- Second Wind to face ranged champions in laning phase and Bone Plating to face melee champions --- Overgrowth is the most consistent rune of its tree, consider picking Revitalize in combo with Shield Bash and Unflinching against team comps full of CCs (not all CCs are reduced by tenacity). Legend: Tenacity is a standard secondary rune for tanks, tenacity is one of the most important stats and there are only few ways to get it --- Last Stand is the most useful rune of it's slot for tanks, consider picking Triumph to get gold and heal instead of damage buff. - - is the best shard combination.

Build Plated Steelcaps vs AD laners, Boots of Swiftness vs team comps with a lot of slows and Mercury's Treads against AP laners or team comps full of CCs (not every CC is reduced by tenacity) --- Iceborn Gauntlet has good synergy with meeps' slow, consider picking Jak'Sho, The Protean when there are no other frontlines in the team or Heartsteel if you wanna have fun with infinite stacking passive --- Dead Man's Plate's passive has a very strong synergy with chimes' MS buff and with Iceborn Gauntlet's passive --- the fourth item must give huge amounts of HP: Warmog's Armor allows to buy items that do not give HP, Anathema's Chains is a cheap option, particularly performing against unbalanced team comps (like 3AD/1AP, allowing to build only one kind of damage reduction, armor in this case), Titanic Hydra synergizes well with meeps and Iceborn Gauntlet and Hullbreaker to split push more efficiently --- last two slots could be filled with situational items, depending on enemy team comp and the chosen playstyle: Frozen Heart reduces AS and basic-attacks damage received from enemy champions, Randuin's Omen reduces basic-attacks and crit damage received, Abyssal Mask is the best MR tanky item for Bard and Gargoyle Stoneplate has a useful stacking passive and a good shield, consider replacing fifth or sixth item slot with a fourth item to itemize a full split push build.

Timeless Traveler is the AH build: it offers you huge amounts of AH and it enables you to reach at least 190 AH thanks to runes and items. Your core runes for this build are Transcendence and , all the other runes I've chosen could not be the best choice but with a fun build, you need a fun rune page, consider going Hail of Blades to get ultimate haste with Ultimate Hunter. The build path is extremely subjective depending on your play style, the enemy comp and the current state of the game. You can play it only in the support role because, to build Vigilant Wardstone, the support item's mission has to be completed. Once full build, sell Shard of True Ice to buy the last item and reach 183 AH. Fun fact: you get enough AH to open two portals at once.

Lucky Synergies: keep in mind that Crest of Insight, Hextech Drake, Cloud Soul, Anathema's Chains, Staff of Flowing Water and Living Forge significantly increase the power of this build.

Unsealed Spellbook is an extremely fun and useful rune page (nobody expect Bard ganking top with Teleport at minute 6 or stealing drakes with Smite) --- Perfect Timing is a free Zhonya's Hourglass that could help with a free outplay during early game --- Future's Market helps reaching the late game faster than normal and gives more game timing options --- Cosmic Insight gives other kinds of CD reductions and it synergizes well with Unsealed Spellbook and Ionian Boots of Lucidity. Transcendence is the only rune really needed for this build --- Gathering Storm is always good for late game champions. - - is the best shard combination.

Start with Ionian Boots of Lucidity, mobility is essential in support role and Bard is a roaming champion so, once boots are closed, his map presence significantly rises --- my mythic advice is Shurelya's Battlesong as its active is always good, gives 20 AH and provides AH in the mythical's passive --- Anathema's Chains is a good cheap choice giving 20 AH and HP --- Cosmic Drive gives 30 AH and in-fight MS --- Vigilant Wardstone is the Rabadon's Deathcap of this build providing 15 AH and a passive that percentually increases total AH --- Imperial Mandate is the sixth item when you wanna bring more utility to teamfights, consider picking Frozen Heart if you wanna be a bit more tanky; remember to sell Shard of True Ice to build the sixth item.

Marathon King is the out-of-fight MS build: it offers you huge amounts of out-of-combat MS and it enables you to reach at least 611 out-of-fight MS thanks to runes and items. Despite the fact that this build is focussed on consistent MS, active buffs like Ghost, Predator and Youmuu's Ghostblade are accepted because they have excellent related out-of-combat runes and items. The build path is extremely subjective depending on your play style, the enemy comp and the current state of the game. I suggest you to build flat MS before percentage MS. I advise you to pretend to be a top laner because the top lane is useless and you can reach other lanes in a few seconds while the enemy Nasus is stacking.

Lucky Synergies: keep in mind that spawn homeguard, Scuttler, Chemtech Rift, Cloud Rift, Cloud Drake, Cloud Soul, Heal, Shurelya's Battlesong, Molten Shield, Cannon Barrage, Tailwind, Acceleration Gate, Inspire/ Defiance, Celestial Blessing, Chaaaaaaaarge!!!, Whimsy, Warm Hugs, Surging Tides, Jubilant Veil, Call of the Freljord, Command: Dissonance, Full Tilt, Bailout, Curse of the Black Mist, Surround Sound, On The Hunt, Song of Celerity, Starcall, Zoomies and Time Warp significantly increase the power of this build.

At the current state of the game, there isn't a key rune that gives passive out-of-combat MS, having said that, Predator is the only MS key rune that could be activated out-of-fight --- Cheap Shot is really easy to proc because it stacks with both meeps and Cosmic Binding --- Eyeball Collection is the only rune that gives damage in this slot, more damage helps completing the build asap --- Relentless Hunter provides flat bonus MS. Celerity boosts MS effectiveness by 7% and provides 1% bonus MS --- Waterwalking gives flat bonus MS in the river. - - is the best shard combination.