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Bard, the Wandering Caretaker, is a support and mage champion that is demanding to master. Across our 1074 analysed ranked games, Bard is mostly played as Support (100% of its games), with a 50.9% win rate in that role: tier B among Support champions (#23 of 38, ranked by win rate). Bard's damage is mostly magic (60%): magic resistance items are therefore effective against this champion. Win rate varies with game length: 52.9% in short games (under 25 min, 357 games) versus 47.7% in long games (over 35 min).
Updated Oct 10 2026 · Patch 26.21
Averages measured over 1074 Support games played with Bard, from our ranked Solo/Duo data collection.
Bard is a wandering support who collects chimes to gain experience, mana and out-of-combat movement speed. His Meeps add damage to his attacks and, with enough chimes, deal area damage and slow. Cosmic Binding slows and can stun, Magical Journey opens a portal, and his ultimate places all units and turrets in stasis.
Q
AA
AA
When: An enemy is near a wall or another enemy.
Cosmic Binding slows the first enemy hit; if it hits a wall it stuns the initial target, and a second enemy stuns both. Your Meeps add their damage to your attacks.
W
E
When: An ally is low or needs speed.
Caretaker's Shrine reveals a sanctuary that heals and speeds up the first ally to touch it. Magical Journey creates a one-way portal usable by everyone, allies and enemies.
See all 3 Bard combos: key order, when to cast them, cooldowns →
Collect chimes to stay ahead in experience and mana. Cosmic Binding stuns if it hits a wall or a second enemy: position yourself for that.
The most-played core build is Bandlepipes, Locket of the Iron Solari, and Dead Man's Plate (47 games, 57.5% win rate).
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ||||||||||
| W | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ||||||||||
| E | ● | ● | ● | ||||||||||||
 R | ● | ● |
The order shows which abilities reach rank 5 first; the grid shows the most-played level-up sequence with that order (measured over 160 games).
At 10 min: 2990 gold, 10 CS, 2576 XP. At 15 min: 4617 gold, 15 CS, 4257 XP.
Flash + Heal52.4% · 588 games
Flash + Ignite50.1% · 439 games
Exhaust + Flash40.4% · 47 games
Cheap Shot97%
Deep Ward99%
Treasure Hunter50%
Magical Footwear96%
Cosmic Insight61%
Cheap Shot96%Deep Ward96%
Relentless Hunter85%
Celerity92%
Scorch84%
Cheap Shot76%Deep Ward93%Relentless Hunter60%
Bone Plating82%
Unflinching72%For each row, the most picked rune among the games played with this page (share of games in brackets).
We sort every game by the enemy team's damage. These are Bard's completed items and their win rate in each situation; "▲" marks an item that does at least 3 points better than its usual win rate.
Locket of the Iron Solari
56.8% ▲
Dead Man's Plate
55.0% ▲
Bandlepipes
52.3%
Mikael's Blessing
58.5%
Knight's Vow
81.6% ▲
Redemption
71.9% ▲The item that stands out most is Knight's Vow: 81.6% win rate, +20 points versus its usual win rate.
Dead Man's Plate
52.3%Bandlepipes
54.9%Knight's Vow
58.7%Mikael's Blessing
62.2% ▲Redemption
58.1%The item that stands out most is Mikael's Blessing: 62.2% win rate, +5 points versus its usual win rate.
Dead Man's Plate
47.4% ▼Bandlepipes
51.0%Mikael's Blessing
53.5% ▼Knight's Vow
52.2% ▼
Hextech Rocketbelt
54.0% ▲The item that stands out most is Hextech Rocketbelt: 54.0% win rate, +5 points versus its usual win rate.
Rell
Bard: 29.4%17 games
Rell has the edge in 71% of the 17 Support duels against Bard. See the Rell guide.
Thresh
Bard: 40.4%47 games
Thresh has the edge in 60% of the 47 Support duels against Bard. See the Thresh guide.
Lulu
Bard: 42.4%33 games
Lulu has the edge in 58% of the 33 Support duels against Bard. See the Lulu guide.
Sona
Bard: 44.4%18 games
Sona has the edge in 56% of the 18 Support duels against Bard. See the Sona guide.
Leona
Bard: 45.8%24 games
Leona has the edge in 54% of the 24 Support duels against Bard. See the Leona guide.
Seraphine70.0% · 20 games
Pyke61.8% · 34 games
Janna56.2% · 32 games
Blitzcrank56.2% · 16 games
Senna55.0% · 20 gamesWin rates measured over direct same-role duels; only matchups with more than 15 games are listed. See all of Bard's matchups.
| Measure | Bard | Support average | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gold at 10 min | 2990 | 2918 | +72 |
| CS at 10 min | 10 | 14 | −4 |
| XP at 10 min | 2576 | 2711 | −135 |
| Gold at 15 min | 4617 | 4507 | +110 |
| CS at 15 min | 15 | 20 | −5 |
| XP at 15 min | 4257 | 4325 | −68 |
Measured over 160 Bard games with a timeline; the average covers 51 champions played Support in our ranked games.
Best result: short (under 25 min). Only groups of at least 30 games are shown. A gap of several points shows the phase where the champion is the most reliable.
The most-played core build is Bandlepipes, Locket of the Iron Solari, and Dead Man's Plate (47 games, 57.5% win rate).
Bard's toughest matchups as Support are Rell (29.4% win rate over 17 games), Thresh (40.4% win rate over 47 games), and Lulu (42.4% win rate over 33 games).
Bard posts its best win rates against Seraphine (70.0%), Pyke (61.8%), and Janna (56.2%).
Win rate varies with game length: 52.9% in short games (under 25 min, 357 games) versus 47.7% in long games (over 35 min).
The most-played rune page uses Electrocute with the Inspiration secondary tree (714 games, 52.0% win rate).
Full Bard page · League of Legends tier list · All champion guides
