Bard is the latest mage champion to join the ever-increasing League of Legends: Wild Rift champion roster. Bard’s unique ability kit provides extra utility with healing shrines and portals that create endless outplay opportunities. In this Wild Rift Bard guide, we will take a detailed look at his skills, best builds, tips, and tricks to have the game in your favor while using him.
Wild Rift Bard Guide: Skill Analysis
Passive: Traveler’s Call
Bard attracts and collects Chimes, granting him XP, Mana, and out-of-combat Move Speed. Every collected Chime buffs Bard’s Meeps. Bard summons Meeps regularly, assisting with his basic attacks and dealing extra magic damage. When Bard has collected enough Chimes, his meeps will also deal damage in an area and slow enemies hit.
Skill 1: Cosmic Binding
Bard fires a missile that will damage and slow the first enemy struck, and continue onward. If it strikes a wall, it will stun the initial target; if it strikes another enemy, it will stun them both.
Skill 2: Caretaker’s Shrine
Bard conjures a Health shrine at a target location, granting the first ally champion to enter Move Speed, AP, and Health. The shrine continues growing for a short while, powering up its healing value.
Skill 3: Magical Portal
Bard opens a portal in nearby terrain. Ally and enemy champions alike can take a one-way trip through that terrain by moving into the portal.
Ultimate ability: Tempered Fate
Bard sends spirit energy arcing to a location, putting all champions, minions, monsters, and turrets hit into stasis for a brief time, as well as stunning them. Enemies hit are revealed for the duration.
Skill-up method for Bard
Prioritize upgrading Skill 1 as it allows for easy laning and poke, follow up with upgrading Skill 2, then Skill 3. Unlock and upgrade the ultimate ability whenever available.
Best Runes and Spells for Bard in Wild Rift
Based on his skill set and ability potential, Bard can be played as a Support or Mage, as he can easily rotate across lanes to assist allies.
Best Rune Setup for Bard
Bard’s Rune Setup is geared at increasing his damage output and healing potential on the Rift. Below are some of the Best runes to use to boost Bard’s overall performance on the Rift:
- Electrocute: Adds burst damage when hitting with 3 attacks or abilities. It’s great for triggering bonus damage using Meeps.
- Nullifying Orb: Shields Bard when his HP drops, helping him survive bursts from assassins or AP mages during teamfights.
- Bone plating: Reduces incoming damage after Bard takes a hit from enemies.
- Revitalize:- Increases healing and shields, directly buffing Bard’s Caretaker’s Shrine and improving his team utility in clutch moments.
- Transcendence: Gives cooldown reduction as Bard levels up, letting him use Cosmic Binding, Shrines, and Portals more often.
Battle Spells
The best battle items for Bard on the Rift include:
- Flash: For safety purposes, it is advised to pick up Flash. Bard could maximize this spell to increase his mobility on the battlefield, as it helps with easy repositioning.
- Barrier: This spell is quite useful as it provides extra Shield sustain for Bard.
Best Builds for Bard in Wild Rift
Bard’s best item build focuses on enhancing his roaming potential, utility, and survivability. His recommended build is highlighted below:
- Plated Steel caps: Provides armor and reduces incoming basic attack damage. Very useful against ADC-heavy comps, making Bard less squishy when roaming.
- Spectral Sickle: Gives attack damage and mana regen, plus bonus gold when you poke enemies with Meeps and Cosmic Binding.
- Dead Man’s Plate: Boosts Bard’s roaming power with extra movement speed and bonus damage on first attack. Great synergy with Meeps for quick engages and faster Chime collection.
- Wit’s End: Adds attack speed, magic resist, and on-hit magic damage. Therefore, this item boosts the overall damage output of Bard.
- Yordle Liandry’s Torment: Provides bonus ability power, health, and burn damage for Bard, making it exceptionally useful in teamfights.
- Frozen Heart: Reduces enemy attack speed, adds mana, and armor. It also helps Bard survive dangerous dives and engages while crippling enemy ADCs.
Wild Rift Bard Guide: Gameplay Tips
Bard is a Mage/Support champion who presents damage, healing sustain, and mobility to the Rift. Unlike most supports, Bard thrives on moving across the map, collecting Chimes to empower his Meeps and control fights across the Rift. In this guide, we’ll be breaking down Bard’s gameplay into the Early, Mid, and Late gameplay phases for a better understanding of the champion.
Early Game
Bard’s early game revolves around balancing lane presence and roaming for Chimes from his passive. Whole laning, focus on poking with Cosmic Binding, ensure to aim your shots near walls to guarantee stuns, creating opportunities for your allies to secure trades.
Place Caretaker’s Shrines (Skill 2) in safe spots behind your ADC; let them charge up for stronger heals rather than placing them reactively. Bard isn’t the strongest early support in direct 2v2 fights, but his strength lies in mobility and utility.
When your ADC can farm safely, look for roaming opportunities. Always ensure to use your Magic Portal to quickly move through terrain and surprise mid or assist your jungler.
Prioritize coordinating with your allied midlaner and Jungler to make strategic engagements and ganks across objectives. A few early-game rotations would benefit your team, just in time for Rift Herald to spawn. To easily perform in the early game, the following skill combo will help:
Skill 3 + Skill 2 + Skill 1
Mid Game
On unlocking your ultimate ability, Tempered Fate, Bard’s mid-game potential skyrockets. His ultimate ability can change the flow of teamfights to your team’s favour in an instant. Therefore, use it strategically to catch key targets, stop enemy divers, or freeze epic jungle objectives to your team’s advantage.
In the mid game, ensure to rotate across lanes, providing vision while placing wards around neutral objectives, and support your jungler’s ganks using Magic Portal to create unpredictable engages. Your Meeps become stronger with collected Chimes, allowing your autos to deal meaningful AoE damage in teamfights.
It’s also useful to note that it is best to use Cosmic Binding when faced with multiple enemies, as it will chain-stun all of them in the area. The best combo to use with Bard in the mid/late game is as follows:
Skill 3 + Skill 2 + Skill 1 + Ultimate ability
Late Game
In the late game, Bard transforms into a true teamfight playmaker. By now, his Meeps deal AoE damage and apply slows, making even his basic attacks disruptive. In extended fights, weave in autos alongside Cosmic Binding to maximize utility.
Magic Portal becomes crucial for positioning, as it can help create a flank path for assassins, a safe escape for your team, or surprise enemies with creative rotations. In short, position wisely, engage decisively, and assist your carries to deal damage and win fights. Let’s check out some of Bard’s best counters, strengths, and weaknesses.
| Champions that counter Bard | Champions that Bard is strong against |
|---|---|
| Karma | Seraphine |
| Morgana | Corki |
| Nautilus | Jayce |
Final Thoughts
Bard is certainly a promising new addition to the League of Legends: Wild Rift’s roster. Whether it’s creating healing shines for allies or creating exciting outplays using his stasis-inducing ultimate, Bard can efficiently do all these while leading your team to victory in Wild Rift.
That’s all for today’s Bard guide. Do you prefer to use Bard in any other way? Let us know in the comment section below!
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