Talk:Bard/Strategy/@comment-26216937-20150317191726

How to Bard for Noobs:

Understanding Your Role: Bard is a roaming support. What this means is Bard supports until the situation is good enough to roam. Likely you will not start the game fiddling about in the forest unless you want fiddlesticks to find you and break you. It is important to know when is a good time to roam.

Good Times: When 1 or both bot lane champs have recently died; When 1 or both bot lane champs are in another lane; when you have your w's down in bot lane and enemies pushed under tower.

Bad Times: When your lane is pushed under tower; when your ADC is trying to get CS; when your jungler is not in the bottom half f jungle.

As Bard it is important to use wards and your W to make sure your ADC can sense/deal with danger while your gone.

Passive: 2 chimes spawn each 50 seconds and they last for 10 minutes. Therefore, you can wait 8 minutes in lane then go around and pick up 10 chimes, thereby maximizing on your time out of lane and on the speed bonus stacks given to you.

Also, as you build chimes your meeps become ALL of your damage. At the 30 minute mark you should have from 50-75 chimes in a good game. This means your meeps are doing 200-245 damage plus your auto attack damage.

Q: Your Q is your only damage ability other than your passive, hwoever it should be used sparingly. Wait for the right moments and use your q to stun and over extended ADC, or to slow an enemy champ as the jg comes in for a gank. In the mean time keep poking those enemy chamions with your meeps.

W: This is going to be where the majority of your mana goes in lane. At the start of the game you can get all 3 W's down before the minions reach lane allowing you to regen mana enough to be able to replenish each as they are used. The fact that chimes give you mana means when you get back from roaming you'll be able to set down more to replace what you lost. Early game it is CRITICAL that you keep your W's down and charged as often as possible. This lets the ADC stay in lane longer and get more CS.

E: Your E is useless in lane. Use it when collecting chimes to travel faster or when reentering lane behind the enemy making it easy for you or your jungler to get an easy gank with a well placed Q. Late game, use it to join in fights or run. I will explain in combos how it IS a great way to escape.

R: Your R is a difficult puppy to master. Having a range similar to Pantheons ult, it is all about timing. Knowing when to use your ult it key. Enemy have a karthus? Make sure your close to low heath allies after a team fight so you can pop that ult and save them. Enemy camping under thier tower? NOPE! Bard ult disables tower long enough for a good jungler like vi or rengar to get off mad damage.

Combos: Knowing how to set up combos is very important with bard. Need an escape for your team? Set up an E through a wall watch your allies go through and get movement speed then stay by the portal. The instant an enemy appears through it, Q them back into the wall they just came through. Boom instant stun. Another great one is knwoing when to auto attack. Have 60 some chimes? Get off a good stun then use your meeps to cone damage both stuned enemies.

End Notes: When you get enough chimes your MEEPS become your DAMAGE. Late game your W doesn't do much, use it on an ally directly as you run to give them a speed boost. Your Q is always usfull in a team fight and when matched with your E provides great escapes for your allies. Keep to your side of the jungle early game and save your ult for the right time and bard's across the land will sing of your valor as you save your allies time after time.