[12.4] Challenger Bard Guide
Rank 1 Bard NA - Beefyy
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January 1st, 1 ⸱ 31 min read
Intro
Hello! My name is Beefy and I am a Bard one trick on the NA server. I reached Challenger in Season 12 playing Bard and I want to spread my knowledge and help other Bard mains reach their ranked goals!
If this guide helped you at all please consider giving it a like, it really helps me out. You can also catch my streams at https://www.twitch.tv/beefyy and ask me any questions or tell me if I missed something in this guide. You can also flame me whenever I miss my skillshots. Thanks!
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Runes
makes your trading patterns in lane much better thanks to the healing and movement speed it provides.
can make you deceptively tanking if you get a few stacks in a fight. Plus the extra gold on takedowns help to make up for your lack of income as a support.
has become extremely efficient because of the abundance of CC in the game currently. It is also especially effective in the support role because of the CC heavy engage supports such as
Leona and
Nautilus .
is the best of 3 not great rune choices. This can be swapped out for if you want, but do not take as you will be purchasing a lot of HP.
is one of the best runes in the game. It is an absolutely insane power spike at 12 minutes and makes every armor and magic resistance buy that much better.
gives more tenacity, so every thing I said about applies here as well. The slow resistance is also nice for dodging skillshots, especially if you are low.Summoner Spells
I take
in the majority of games. These days your ADC will take exhaust most of the time so ignite is the best option. It is also useful against the abundance of healing that is in the game currently.If your ADC takes heal/cleanse and the enemy has lots of burst/assassins,
is still extremely good. Pairing exhaust with your item build will make you extremely hard to kill.Take
every game.Skill Path
Passive - Traveler's Call
Chimes will spawn periodically around the map for you to collect. They give a small amount of experience and mana, so make sure to use some mana in lane before you pick one up. This is the main reason that Bard's roaming is so strong. The experience you miss from lane minions is made up by the experience gained from chimes.
One mistake I see many Bard players make is roaming JUST to get chimes. You should be picking up chimes on the way to go do something else (roam mid, go to herald, etc.). Most of the time giving up pressure and making your ADC 1v2 just to get chimes is not worth it.
The second aspect of Bard's passive are his meeps. Meeps will follow you around and empower your auto attacks. As you collect more chimes your meeps will become stronger, gaining damage, a slow, and an AOE cone behind your inital target.
Meeps are what give Bard his ability to trade in lane. You want to make sure you have at least 1 meep before you go in for any trade because without meeps your auto attacks are pretty much useless.
Q - Cosmic Binding
Bard's Q is a line skillshot that does damage and slows enemies. It will also travel through the first target, hitting a maximum of 2 targets. If you hit multiple enemies or one enemy and then a wall, your Q will stun its targets instead.
This skillshot takes a lot of practice, but once you master it can become an extremely impactful ability in any fight if you can stun multiple targets. I would recommend going into the practice tool just to get used to this ability's range and projectile speed.
Something to keep in mind when using this ability is that it will always travel a fixed distance after the first target. This means that if you hit a champion at the very edge of the ability's indicator, it will travel beyond that threshold after and can hit another target. This is extremely useful when ganking a lane and you can easily surprise your enemies with how far this ability can travel.
W - Caretaker's Shrine
Bard places a health pack on the ground that grows in strength over time, reaching it's maximum potency after 10 seconds. Allies can step on this shrine to gain health and a burst of movement speed. Enemies can also step on the shrine, destroying it. You can have a maximum of 3 shrines at a time.
Place these shrines bot lane for your ADC before you go to roam. While they don't heal for much, that small amount of health and movement speed can be the difference in them living or dying. They do cost quite a bit of mana, however, so be smart early to make sure you aren't wasting mana on shrines that you don't need.
Keep in mind that this ability can also be used directly on an ally for a quick heal and move speed buff. This is still possible if you have 3 shrines on the ground already; using another one directly on an ally will not get rid of any of the 3 on the ground.
E - Magical Journey
Bard creates a tunnel on any wall that both allies and enemies can take to travel through the wall. Allies travel faster through the portal than enemies do.
Use this ability to peel for your allies, escape when you're caught, and chase after low health enemies. If you time it right this ability can also be used to pull champions such as Master Yi and Maokai into unfavorable positions. You can also use this ability in your own fountain to get out on the map a little bit quicker.
This ability synergizes extremely well with your Q,
Cosmic Binding as you will be able to stun enemies against the wall when they reach the end of the portal. It is always important to use this ability wisely, as this is your only form of escape and if you get caught without it you will have no way out.R - Tempered Fate
A long range skill shot that will place everything in its zone into a statis, making them unable to move, attack, or take damage for 2.5 seconds. This is one of the most versatile abilities in the game and has a plethora of different uses.
You can use it to catch enemies out, forcing them to burn their flash, give an ally a free
, or stall the enemy team on an objective. Another common use that is extremely good is to ult your own tower when the enemy is using Rift Herald to deny the turret damage and plate gold if it is before 14 minutes.My best advice for this ability is to practice (a LOT), and to not be afraid to use it. You will throw amazing ults that win a teamfight, you will throw terrible ults that lose a teamfight. I have played Bard for years now and I still throw bad ults all the time. Don't be timid; learn what you can and cannot do with this ability and don't be hesitant to pull the trigger.

Bard
Items
Sorry guys, no AP Bard! Tank stats are the way to go. Your base stats are so good and the only real damage scaling you get is through collecting chimes. When you build AP on Bard, you end up actually doing less damage because you die so much faster. But, by becoming tanky you are able to survive for much longer and you will end up doing more damage with your meep empowered auto attacks and multiple Q's.
Starting Items
I start
over 100 games out of 100. While the stats for are better, you can stack so much faster. Completing the first quest and unlocking your wards as soon as possible is necessary so that you roams are much more effective and you can set up vision in the river for your team. Keep in mind that a meep empowered auto attack will proc twice, making your meep trades that much better. Remember to grab health potions as well for that early sustain.Boots
On Bard, you want to complete your tier 2 boots as soon as possible, so you can roam around the map faster with the increased movement speed.
are currently the best boot choice for Bard, as most of the time the enemy team will have at least 2 AD threats and they make you extremely tanky. If the enemy has only one AD threat, are also a good choice for the extra ability haste. They are also cheaper than which is good for supports as your income is much lower than other roles. There are some scenarios where the enemy has 2-3 AD threats but on my first base I have around 1000 gold. In that case, I will buy just to have my tier 2 boots, even though would give more value. However, if you can afford them, are the best choice 9 times out of 10.
I never buy because with those boots you are mostly paying for the tenacity. Since you are already taking and in your runes, this tenacity from will be useless due to tenacity's diminishing returns.
Mythic Item
After the nerfs to
, I believe that Locket of the Iron Solari
is the best mythic item for Bard in a majority of games. The stats that it gives you are exactly what you want: armor, magic resist, health, and ability haste. In addition, the aura it gives your allies is extremely good, blocking a few thousand damage by itself most games.
But the real benefit of Locket of the Iron Solari
is the AOE shield for your allies. If you use it correctly, it can block nearly 1,000 damage in a single teamfight alone. It's drawback of course is it's fairly long cooldown, as opposed to which has no cooldown and is available in every fight.
There are certain games where I build . If the enemy team comp has virtually no dive and I have teammates that can easily follow up my CC with damage, I opt for . In addition, has a much better mythic passive, granting you extra armor and magic resistance, making you extremely tanky. Allies that synergize well with include but are not limited to
Caitlyn ,
Orianna ,
Miss Fortune , and
Rumble .Legendary Items
In most games, I will choose between the same 4 legendary items, but the order that I build them in changes. These 4 legendary items are
, , and .
is the best armor item in the game currently, as it gives an insane amount of stats (armor and ability haste) in addition to its insanely good aura effect. While it is not optimal to purchase mana on Bard, the value of the other stats far outweighs the burden of spending gold on mana. I will build this item after Locket of the Iron Solari
if the enemy has at least 2 AD threats, which is most games.
If they enemy is magic damage heavy, I will instead build ., like , has both extremely good stats and a great passive. While it is rather expensive at 2900 gold, it is most definitely worth the purchase, especially if the enemy team has a damage over time ability that can stack it quickly, such as
Brand or
Malzahar . Once you complete it, the item passive will make you both very fast and virtually unkillable versus magic damage when combined with .
is a very unique item. If there is one player on the enemy team that is extremely fed it can be essential to help shut them down. But, the main factor that makes this item amazing is this: you can use this item to make it so you don't have to build a certain resistance. For example, if the enemy team has an AD top, jungle, and ADC with an AP mid laner, you can attach to the enemy mid laner, completely eliminating the need to buy magic resistance. This item also gives you a ton of HP, which makes all the resistances you stacked in your other items and even more valuable.
Finally, the item that I typically build the least is . It was recently buffed so it is good again, but it does not fit my playstyle as much as the other 3 legendary items. I would rather be frontlining with my team and trying to land stuns on the enemy backline than sit back and protect my ADC. But, if your ADC is extremely fed and they are the one that needs to carry, is a good item to help protect them. Just like the other items, its stats are very good as well, giving you the HP and ability haste that are so good on Bard.
The order in which I build these legendary items varies greatly from game to game. You can build first if an enemy is extremely fed early or can just stick to the more versatile options with and . While you should be building the same items every game on Bard, you should still be actively thinking about your purchases and have good reasoning as to why you are spending your gold. Because support's income is much lower than other roles, it is important to make sure you are using that money as efficiently as possible.Control Wards
If you watch my games, you'll notice that I purchase far fewer
s than other supports at my elo. As stated in the previous section, your income on support is very low. Spending 75 gold on a may not seem like much in the moment, but over the course of the game buying a lot will really add up. Obviously if a major objective is spawning, s are necessary sometimes, but for the most part I believe that it is possible to get effective vision control without breaking the bank on s.
Laning
Bard does best in short, bursty trades. If trades last too long, you will most likely come out more hurt than the enemy. This obviously differs based on the matchup and there are some lanes where you will be able to press for those extra couple auto attacks without getting punished. However, you are by no means invincible so a stray
Nautilus hook or
Nami bubble could mean you end up back in fountain.
As a reminder, if you collect your first 3 chimes before laning starts, you will hit level 2 1 minion early and can use this level advantage to press up and harass the enemy.
A good rule of thumb for trading is to only walk up when you have , a meep, and at least 2 stacks. You should be walking up with your meep auto attack, using the meep slow to help land your Q
Cosmic Binding . Versus most enchanters you will actually slightly lose this trade, but it is worth it because you got gold from your , getting you closer to your question completion, and you can sustain back up with
Caretaker's Shrine .
Versus most engage supports, you will have to avoid their counter engage. Most of the time this entails dodging an important skillshot like
Leona E or
Blitzcrank hook. For others this just means spacing properly so you don't get combo'd by champions like
Alistar or
Rell .
Remember to place down
Caretaker's Shrine periodically, incase you take a bad trade and need to heal. You should also be looking for chimes that spawn close enough to lane that you can grab without having to commit a significant amount of time.
It is important to get bush control as a ranged support. If you have a positioning advantage on your opponent, it is much easier to zone them off the wave or take a favorable trade than if your opponent has a position advantage on you. Finally, you can use your
Magical Journey in the alcove to escape to your turret if you are at risk of dying 2v2 or getting ganked. This takes some practice so I recommend you load up the practice tool to make sure you have this crucial portal on lock.Roaming
Roaming is the bread and butter of Bard's kit. If you want to climb with this champion you need to love roaming and you need to be really good at it. You need to learn when you can roam, when you can't, where to go, and most importantly of all, WHY!
So let's start with the most basic mistake I see most Bards (and support players in general) making: walking from fountain to bot lane. I know that minion wave experience looks tempting and your ADC might spam ping you, but you need to get into the habit of walking to bot river nearly every time you leave base. Getting vision in river is the most important job for the support in the early game. Having vision control in river means that your laners will see every gank attempt, your junglers can take crabs, and you can have the fastest route to and from the different lanes.
As soon as you complete your first support quest and get
, it should be your goal to have vision control of as much of the river as you can (without dying for it of course). This is extra important on Bard because it will allow you to collect more chimes as well, increasing your combat power in the process. Once you have successfully cleared and planted wards, you can head back bot lane if you need to.
Roam timings are dependent on two things: wave management and matchups. A wave in a good spot means you can roam without consequence, a wave in a bad spot means if you roam your ADC will die and you will get flamed. If the wave is slow pushing or is frozen on the enemy's side of the lane, then you cannot leave. You have to push the wave into tower so it will reset or if you need to call your jungler down to help break the freeze. If you roam on a frozen wave your ADC will get permanently zoned from gold and experience, or, in some cases, they will greed for the wave and die 1v2. But, if the wave is frozen on your side or is pushing towards you, you have a window to roam while your ADC can sit back and wait for the wave to come to them.
In these scenarios, the other thing that effects roam timings comes into play, matchups. There are certain matchups where you cannot leave your ADC to 1v2 even under their own tower as they will get zoned off the wave or just straight up dove. An example of this would be if your ADC is playing
Vayne versus
Caitlyn and
Karma . They will be able to poke
Vayne under the tower without taking damage, and
Vayne will eventually have to reset, making her lose out on the wave. Another example could be your ADC is
Twitch laning versus
Lucian
Leona . If the wave crashes under your tower and you are not there to protect
Twitch , the enemy bot lane will simply walk up and kill your ADC.
This is not always the case, though. Say your ADC is
Ezreal and the enemy locked in
Jinx
Yuumi . In this scenario, you can stay out on the map even as the wave crashes, because
Jinx
Yuumi poses no threat to dive an
Ezreal .
With all that being said, it is important that you identify the win cons in your team comp and play towards that. Just because you can roam as Bard, doesn't mean you always should. There are some games where the best play is to stay bot and play more of an enchanter role because your ADC is the one most likely to carry. You should be thinking about these things even before the game starts, in champ select and the loading screen. Play towards your team's strengths and negate any weaknesses, and you will carry with Bard in the support role.Teamfighting
Teamfighting, if done well, can be one of Bard's greatest strengths; double stuns and 3 man ults can win a teamfight singlehandedly. I often like to engage the teamfights with
Tempered Fate if my team has damage or CC that I know they can follow up with, or if an enemy is out of position.
Alternatively, if you have a fed backliner on your team that you want to protect, you can use your ultimate to give them a free . Deciding what to use your ult on in a teamfight requires lots of practice and split second decision making. For example, if
Zac is jumping onto your backline, you can use your ult on the enemy backline to prevent them from following up, making it much easier to deal with the enemies on top of your carries. Using your ultimate correctly in this way means that a fight can be 3v5 or 4v5 for 2.5 seconds. While that might not sound like long, 2.5 seconds is an eternity in teamfights.
When it comes to your other abilities, you want to use your
Cosmic Binding to look for as many stuns as possible and weave meep empowered auto attacks in to get that massive cone slow. Your
Caretaker's Shrine is not the most useful ability in teamfights, but it never hurts to top off an ally with a little bit of missing HP. Finally, you can use you
Magical Journey to reposition you or your allies in a fight, or use it to escape after you made a pick. Never stop looking for angles where you can hit multiple enemies with your
Cosmic Binding or stun them against a wall. When it comes to your Q, 1 good stun in a fight is better than 3 slows.
Finally, the last thing I want to emphasize is to use your health bar as a resource. With the recommended build, you will be extremely tanky and you should be putting that to good use. It doesn't matter if you have 200 armor if you are sitting behind your carries, waiting for them to get hit first. You should be an annoying pest in the enemies face, distracting them so that your carries can free hit while you tank the enemies' abilities. In these scenarious the combination of and has come up so clutch so many times, allowing me to walk away with a sliver of HP after tanking the enemies for as long as I needed to.
Also, remember to use Locket of the Iron Solari
active. It's really good.Matchups and Synergies
- Support Matchups
- ADC Synergies
You can bully him extremely hard level 1 before he has the ability to combo you. You also hard outscale and as long as you don't get caught by his combo in lane and die, this is one of Bard's best matchups.
Difficulty - 1/5
Annie support (and mage supports in general) are extremely bad against Bard as they are generally immobile, making them vulnerable to your ultimate, and do not have the damage to burst you once you get 1-2 items.
Difficulty - 1/5
If the enemy locks in Ashe support, hope no one dodges and take your free LP.
Difficulty - 1/5
Blitzcrank can be quite problematic for Bard if you or your ADC cannot dodge his hook. He is also very good at punishing your roams and can zone your ADC extremely effectively. However, if you are confident in your movement this matchup is not the worst.
Difficulty - 4/5
Another mage support. Learn mage player skillshot tendencies and as long as you don't eat every one of his skillshots this matchup is extremely easy. Free catches/blown flashes whenever your ultimate is up.
Difficulty - 1/5
Braum can be annoying for Bard because his shield will prevent your Q from passing through and potentially hitting a 2nd target or a wall. You can also die very easily in this lane if you get tagged with his passive and the enemy is playing an aggressive ADC (Lucian, Samira, etc.).
Difficulty - 3/5
You can very easily die to Galio in lane if you do not respect his CC. Also, once he hits 6 he can follow your roams whenever he has ult.
Difficulty - 2/5
Janna is a very skill based matchup. If the Janna is good, she is extremely slippery and provides insanely good peel for her teammates, making it hard for you to engage. However, if it is a bad Janna player, she will get one shot by your team every time you land a stun or ult. It is also very hard to trade versus Janna.
Difficulty - 4/5
Karma is an extremely tough matchup for Bard. She bullies you in lane with her mantra Q and scales just as hard in teamfights with her mantra E. Her E also makes it very difficult for you to land abilities on anyone on the enemy team (especially with Shurelya's).
Difficulty - 5/5
Even with double tenacity runes, you are still very vulnerable to dying early to Leona. But, once you escape laning phase, she becomes extremely useless compared to you. If you are in a higher elo (Diamond+), make sure your ADC is taking cleanse.
Difficulty - 2/5
Another enchanter who bullies you in lane and scales just as well. ONLY trade with her in lane if you have Fleet + a meep + 2 spellthief's stacks. Lulu's speed ups makes it hard to land ults as well.
Difficulty - 5/5
Another immobile mage. Be confident in your dodging abilities and hope your ADC is as well.
Difficulty - 1/5
Really tough matchup. It is virtually impossible to get bush control versus Maokai and his engage is super reliable with his W. Maokai ult is also great for peeling his team or counter engaging whenever you ult.
Difficulty - 4/5
Similar to Ashe. Hope no one dodges and thank the enemy support for griefing.
Difficulty - 1/5
Morgana's black shield is a counter to pretty much your entire kit. If she maxes it first, good luck. It will work on both your stun and your ult. Bard's kit revolves around getting picks and black shield is one of the best anti-pick abilities in the game. Note: if your Q does enough damage to break the spell shield, the stun will go through.
Difficulty - 5/5
While Nami will bully you quite hard in lane with her W trades, she does not scale as hard as some of the other enchanters so be patient. The same trading rule for Lulu also applies to Nami (only trade with Fleet + a meep + 2 spellthief's stacks).
Difficulty - 3/5
Very similar to Leona. As long as you don't get perma CC'd and die early, you will hard outscale. You can also use your ult to negate his, as Nautilus ult is extremely telegraphed.
Difficulty - 2/5
Terrible support pick. He is just a worse version of Leona/Nautilus, I don't know why someone would ever pick him support.
Difficulty - 1/5
Dodge his hook and you will be fine. Be careful of his level 1 or 2 E flash engage. As long as he doesn't get a lot of ult resets you will outscale.
Difficulty - 2/5
Rakan can be quite slippery and it is very rare that you will be able to catch him out. When he is paired with Xayah they have quite a potent 2v2, but with anyone else, you can bully him quite hard in lane. Dodging his W knockup becomes quite easy once you learn how to do it.
Difficulty - 3/5
You can bully Rell extremely hard in lane. Once she uses her W to go in she is pretty much a sitting duck for you and your ADC to free hit. Remember to not clump with your teammates so you can avoid giving her a free engage.
Difficulty - 1/5
Renata is squishy in the early game and immobile, but has some unique tools to outplay you. Your tankiness will make it hard for her W target to get a revive off you, and you can ult yourself as a Zhonya's while you wait for her ally to die again.
Difficulty - 2/5
Senna does quite poorly versus most ranged supports, Bard is no exception. As long as you are not feeding her free stacks in lane she just becomes another immobile ADC that you can get free ults on.
Difficulty - 1/5
Really, REALLY annoying to play against but once you hit 6 you can start to make plays. She outranges you in lane so its difficult to trade with her. Remember to not line up with your teammates when she has ult up. Don't tilt and you should be fine.
Difficulty - 3/5
Just buy sweeper.
Difficulty - 1/5
Sona outranges you in lane so it will be hard to get auto attacks in. Be patient and wait for 6. She is extremely squishy so landing any CC on her means she should die.
Difficulty - 3/5
Take ignite and don't bother with any small all ins. Either go for the kill or don't trade HP at all, as she will perma out sustain you. You should also be able to dodge most of her Q's. Be patient and get 6.
Difficulty - 2/5
Another mage support. Be careful of his E snare though because the hitbox on that ability can be very deceiving.
Difficulty - 1/5
Tahm was reworked and his eat is now his ult, taking away his main ability that made him good against Bard. His ability to prevent you from getting picks on the enemy is extremely diminished. You can also bully him fairly hard early.
Difficulty - 1/5
Taric's stun is extremely easy to dodge once you learn how to do it. As soon as he throws it, start walking perpendicular to him and as long as he doesn't flash, it will miss. You can also use your ult to offset his ult, making it useless (similar to Tryndamere).
Difficulty - 1/5
Easily one of Bard's worst matchups. His lantern makes it so you can never ult any of his teammates with Thresh around, as he will just throw the lantern on top of them. You can also die very easily in lane if you get hooked or walk up into a flay.
Difficulty - 5/5
Another immobile mage. Don't eat every skillshot and you win.
Difficulty - 1/5
Another immobile mage. Don't eat every skillshot and you win.
Difficulty - 1/5
Playing against Yuumi is a double edged sword. On one hand, she can never match your roams and she can never punish your ADC when you are gone. On the other hand, if someone on the enemy team gets fed there is nothing you can do to stop them from 2v5'ing the game. You have to get lucky and hope she dismounts right as you Q so that she stuns herself.
Difficulty - 3/5
Zilean is quite good against Bard with his speed ups and ult both being very good anti-pick tools. If you play against a Zilean you just kind of hope they aren't very good. Luckily he is rarely picked so in my opinion he is not ban worthy.
Difficulty - 4/5
See Vel'koz and Xerath
Difficulty - 1/5
As long as your ADC can play him properly, Aphelios is extremely good with Bard. He has range with green gun, can sustain when you're not there with red gun, self peel with purple, and waveclear with blue. This champion has everything.
Synergy Level - 5/5
While Ashe is not the best ADC for carrying, she can play extremely safe with her volley and hawkshot. Her ult can also deter enemy bot lanes from trying to dive her when you're gone. Her ult is also good for following up on yours.
Synergy Level - 4/5
The best ADC to pair with Bard. Caitlyn's range and waveclear make her extremely safe so you can roam often, and your ultimate is a perfect set up for her traps. You two can also bully the enemy under tower extremely well if you know you aren't going to get ganked.
Synergy Level - 5/5
Draven synergizes much better with engage supports like Nautilus and Leona, as it can be hard for Bard to follow up when Draven speeds in. In addition, Draven players usually have the biggest egos and will begin flaming/spam pinging whenever you leave lane.
Synergy Level - 2/5
Ezreal is the best weakside ADC in the game. You can pretty much abandon bot lane and make plays on the rest of the map while he farms with Q's. Just hope he doesn't E in 1v2...
Synergy Level - 5/5
Jhin is quite good with Bard because of his utility and extremely long range abilites. However, he is extremely vulnerable to dives and dying 1v2 before he finishes galeforce.
Synergy Level - 4/5
Jinx needs time to farm and scale up and can die very easily if left alone. However, once she gets items you can just frontline for her and she should wipe the enemy team. Your ult also synergizes well with her chompers.
Synergy Level - 3/5
Kai'sa is a low range ADC, so pairing her with Bard, a low range support, only makes the problem worse. You will get bullied hard in lane.
Synergy Level - 1/5
Kalista is another low range ADC who synergizes much better with engage supports. She falls off a cliff and her ult is not great for you as it will put you into melee range of the enemy where you can easily die.
Synergy Level - 1/5
FOR ALL MAGES BOTLANE: Mages are not great to pair with Bard because you will lose most matchups and they are extremely vulnerable to dying 2v2 and dives. Mages often go mid because it is much harder to dive mid tower than it is bot/top.
Synergy Level - 2/5
Bard has some tools to help peel Kog'Maw, but other enchanters are much better at it. Your 2v2 is decent but you will have to do most of the frontlining because if Kog gets touched by anything he will die.
Synergy Level - 3/5
Despite being short ranged, Lucian is strong early and can help you bully certain matchups. He is also very mobile and can work off of your CC well.
Synergy Level - 4/5
Miss Fortune Bard is ok pre-6, but once you get your ultimates, you become very strong together. She can lay her E and R on top of your ult/stun to get massive damage. I find it helpful to tell Miss Fortune players to save their R until after mine if they can.
Synergy Level - 5/5
Samira is low range meaning you will struggle in some matchups, but if you can land your stuns your 2v2 is surprisingly good. She also has some good self peel with her dash and her windwall.
Synergy Level - 2/5
The main problem with pairing Senna and Bard is that Senna is much better off when she doesn't have to farm. The champions' synergy is fine, but I don't think its worth making Senna farm to get it.
Synergy Level - 3/5
Extremely safe ADC who can just perma waveclear when you are gone. Her ult also makes it so your team's follow up on your ults is much better.
Synergy Level - 4/5
Not great, not terrible. Decent 2v2 while still scaling with her range increase. Similar to Draven, it can be hard for Bard to follow up if Tristana jumps in.
Synergy Level - 3/5
You will get bullied in lane and Twitch will most likely die if you leave him by himself. Just try to survive until he gets a few items.
Synergy Level - 1/5
Another decently safe ADC who can waveclear and has some self peel. However he dies very easily if the enemy gets on top of him. His ult can potentially set up some good stuns for you.
Synergy Level - 3/5
Similar to Twitch, Vayne needs items and you will get bullied in lane. However, there is at least a good interaction with her condemn and your Q. If one of you lands the stun the other gets a free stun as well.
Synergy Level - 1/5
Xayah without Rakan is not very good. Although she does have good waveclear so you can roam a decent amount.
Synergy Level - 2/5
Another short range ADC, you two will struggle in most matchups. Zeri needs items to do anything and doesn't really have any good follow up for your ult. In teamfights you just let Zeri do her own thing while you focus on other things.
Synergy Level - 1/5
Closing
I really hope you learned something from reading this guide. I had a lot of fun making it and I will try to keep it updated as new patches come out.
I love Bard; he is by far my favorite champion and I hope this guide helps anyone who reads it to have fun playing Bard as well. If you did enjoy it, a like here is greatly appreciated as it helps me spread the Bard love even more.
Finally, if you have any questions you want to ask I am more than happy to answer. I stream most days on Twitch, but if I'm not live you can shoot me a whisper on Twitch or a message on Discord and I will try to get back to you ASAP.
Thanks for reading and good luck in your chime collecting adventures!
Links
Links
Twitch - https://www.twitch.tv/beefyy
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzxncHWQR3xVR31s6TF5vXQ/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/beefyylol
Discord - https://discord.gg/nN96bjbzuX