If you love the support role in League of Legends and want to play a difficult champion, then Bard support is for you. Let's discover the best bard runes, summoner spells, skill order, win rate, and much more in just some minutes. Discover the best build for Bard support and how many bard players are winning more games!
Best Bard Build
Bard support build is focused on protective items for the AD Carry and team, so Shurelya's Battlesong, Redemption and Chemtech Putrifier are core items for Bard. However, some bard players may also get some tank items such as dead man's plate to be able to deal damage during the team fights. Let's see more about Bard support!
Best Bard Runes
The best runes for Bard support are located in the resolve rune set. However, you can resort to runes within the Electrocute section if your interest is to apply a lot of damage to enemies during the early stages of the game. Some runes you may use are: Font of life, Bone plating, Unflinching, Zombie ward, and relentless hunter.
Best Rune Path | Resolve | Domination |
Best Keystone | Guardian | |
Best Slot 1 (Rune) | Font of Life | Zombie Ward |
Best Slot 2 (Rune) | Bone Plating | Relentless Hunter |
Best Slot 3 (Rune) | Unflinching |
Best Bard Rune Shards
Bard support rune shards are important items that will make having a much easier laning phase alongside your AD Carry, so choose them wisely. Some recommended rune shards are Offense (+10% attack speed), Offense (+9 adaptive force), and Flex (+6 armor), although you can also use a shard of true ice to get some magic resistance.
Best Rune Shards | Effect |
Offense | +10% attack speed |
Offense | +9 Adaptive Force |
Flex | +6 armor |
Best Bard Summoner's Spells
There are a couple of variations on the summoner spells you can use with Bard. The best Bard players use Flash and Ignite quite frequently, however, consider using Flash and Exhaust on certain occasions if the enemy team has too much burst damage.
Best Spells | Icon |
Flash |
|
Ignite |
|
Best Bard Abilities Order
Bard is a pretty tough champion in League of Legends, so you should practice his Cosmic Binding (Q), Caretaker's Shrine (W), and Magical Journey (E) skills very well to help your team during team fights. Therefore, Bard support's skill order is Cosmic Binding (Q) first, Caretaker's Shrine (W) as the second option and finally Magical Journey (E). Also consider reading a bit about his Tempered Fate (R) ultimate to use it correctly, as it can be an ability that can turn the game around for you or against you.
Best Bard items
Now that you know the skill order of Bard Cosmic Binding (Q) first, Caretaker's Shrine (W) as the second option, and finally Magical Journey (E), it's time to take a look at the items you're using during patch 12.16 to dominate in the bottom lane!
Remember, if you want to conquer the bottom lane with Bard support, you must correctly master his Cosmic Binding (Q), Caretaker's Shrine (W), and finally Magical Journey (E) skills and know what items to buy for the Bard build accordingly. of enemy champions and your target during the game.
Best Starter Bard Items
During the early stages of the game, you can choose between buying Spellthief's Edge or Relic Shield and some health potions. In case you choose the first item, you will be prioritizing using abilities and auto attacks to build up the item's charges that will allow you to grant vision to your team during the game. So choose your starting item based on your opponent's bot lane.
First Item | Second Item |
Spellthief's Edge | Health Potion |
Best Mid Game Bard Items
Managing league of legends supports is not an easy task, but in the mid-game, Bard's power is really good. At this point in the game, you should buy Boots of Swiftness or Mobility Boots, Shurelya's Battlesong is among the best mythic items for Bard, and Redemption. These items will help you to support your allies during the team fight.
First Item | Second Item | Third Item |
Boots of Swiftness | Shurelya's Battlesong | Redemption |
Best Final Late Game Bard Items
Shurelya's Battlesong, Redemption, Boots of Swiftness, Frozen heart, Dead man's plate, and Chemtech Putrifier are the top late-game objects you should get if you want to play Bard in the patch 12.16. They will help you to keep your allies alive in this incredible meta game that, said by the League of legends and riot games team, it's focused on long team fights.
First Item | Second Item | Third Item | Fourth Item | Fifth Item | Sixth Item |
Boots of Swiftness | Shurelya's Battlesong | Redemption | Chemtech Putrifier | Dead man's plate | Frozen heart |
Best Champions to pair Bard with
Twitch, Draven, and Tristana are the champions with the highest win rate with Bard, and the best of everything, Bard is really good at keeping these champions alive or engaging against the enemy bottom lane, but be careful, you may control your abilities perfectly and not many players know how to play with Bard.
Champion | Win Rate % | Icon |
55% | ||
54% | ||
53% |
|
Strongest Champions against Bard
On the other hand, Zilean, Nami, and Pyke are worst enemies for Bard. This support is really weak against high poke enemies or hard engage enemies, so try to ban the mentioned champions or avoid playing against them when using Bard.
Champion | Win Rate % | Icon |
46% |
| |
46% |
| |
48% |
|
Weakest Champions against Bard
Finally, Swain, Taric, and Rakan are really weak against Bard. Those champions have low range and Bard can easily abuse them during the lane phase. So, do not hesitate to choose Bard against these champions to stomp in the bottom lane!
Champion | Win Rate % | Icon |
56% |
| |
56% |
| |
55% |
|
Lastly, and if you're interested in learning more about League of Legends, you may take a look at our guide about best velkoz build league of legends or you may also take a look at our guide about best trundle build league of legends . See you at the summoner's rift!