There are certain champions in League of Legends that you rarely see, and one of those champions is Bard. He provides decent healing and peels, but not enough to be relevant for season 12. But when he is partnered with particular ADC’s, it won’t matter if he’s meta or not. Today I’ll tell you the best ADC’s you can partner with Bard so you can win more games even if you pick a low pick rate champion.
1. Sivir
Bard excels in heals for his champion, and when enemies get close enough, he can slow and stun them. That is pretty much it for his laning phase. But combine him with a champion that has a pretty strong wave clear, then you have yourself a duo that can quickly roam because of Bard’s Magical Journey.
Sivir can quickly dispose of the oncoming enemy wave during mid-game and proceed to roam mid with Bard. They can also work together with their jungle to counter the jungle enemy team. Doing this would put a massive lead on your team and excellent map control. Sivir relies on her Q damage most of the time, along with her movement speed. Sure, she can self-peel using her spell shield, but when her skills come on cooldown, she gets very vulnerable as she lacks dash skills except for her flash. This is where Bard comes in. Bard has great roaming potential because of his high movement speed provided by his passive, the Meeps. Bard can quickly run towards Sivir and provide her peeling and heals. Bard can also use his ultimate to either set up a fight or protect his running teammates.
Bard and Sivir can combine their skills for the best peeling technique. When Sivir gets gap closed by the enemy bruisers, Bard can cast his ultimate directly on Sivir. She can use her spell shield to make herself immune from Bard’s ult, this would turn enemies beside Sivir to Gold, and she can run unaffected and able to move.
The Best Item to Build on Bard for Sivir
Shurelya’s Reverie
This Item is excellent for initiating team fights or disengaging. This would work for a quick in-and-out pick. But most importantly, this would work with Sivir as it would extend Sivir’s much-needed movement speed. Sivir can cast her ultimate to provide her a burst of movement speed along with her allies. Bard can also follow up if they need it again to chase or run away from an enemy. The regens and cooldown reduction also work so well for Bard.
Also read: Best ADCs To Pair With Galio
2. Caitlyn
Caitlyn can dominate most ADC’s on the bot lane simply because she has a more extended range than them. Her basic attacks and skills can be cast at ranges farther than other ADC’s. Caitlyn also has her ultimate, which is basically a sniper, which you probably know so much about.
Like all ADC’s, Caitlyn also needs heals to help her survive the lane, but their synergy comes when Bard casts his crowd control abilities. Bard can stun enemies using his Q ability. Enemies caught by his Q will be slowed, and when a wall or another unit is behind them, both units will be stunned. Caitlyn can take advantage of this and cast her W ability to root them even longer. Caitlyn can deal bonus damage on enemies caught by her W, and if you play Caitlyn well, you can follow it up on a quick burst of combo.
Another thing that this duo can do is bait enemies into Bard’s magical journey. Enemies will come out of it, and Bard can stun them against the wall pinning them into location. Caitlyn can also use her trap at the end of the tunnel and follow it up with a quick burst combo. With this duo, you can have a massive impact on the entire map because of the range of their skills, along with their excellent roaming potential.
The Best Item to Build on Bard for Caitlyn
Locket of the Iron Solari
Caitlyn is susceptible to bursts from assassins or DPS from champions with poisons or burns like Brand’s. Locket counters those things with a blast of shield from its active ability. This item also has a unique passive that gives nearby allied champions 5 bonus armor and magic resist. An item that offers a very squishy champion its much-needed survivability.
Also read: Best ADCs to Pair With Braum
3. Miss Fortune
Miss Fortune depends on her allies’ crowd control abilities to help her land her skills. She can build different paths, a crit build that relies on her basic attacks for damage which doesn’t need any CC help from her allies. Another build is a lethality build that empowers her ultimate.
Bard can help set up kills for Miss Fortune. One basic combo they can do during the laning phase is for Bard to land his stun on both the enemy duo. They will be perfectly aligned for MF’s Q double shot. Follow it up with her E slow ability and back away. This is a simple but strong trading technique with this duo to win the lane early on.
Miss Fortune also excels in the late game, so she needs all the babysitting she can get during the early game. Bard provides just that with his heals and crowd controls. During the late game, whatever MF’s build is, Bard can set up kills for her. Bard can land his ult on multiple enemy team members to prepare for MF’s E + R combo. This could quickly decimate the enemy team, causing them to back off or disengage.
The Best Item to Build on Bard for Miss Fortune
Mikael’s Blessing
Miss Fortune lacks self-peeling abilities, so she badly needs her support. Mikael’s Blessing would be a great addition to Bard’s already fantastic arsenal.
4. Xayah
Xayah was once very popular as an ADC; she is commonly used on the world’s stage, and for a good reason. She has decent damage output and great range. She also has a self-peel ability which is her ultimate that makes her untargetable for a few seconds.
Xayah and Bard are powerful duos because of their abilities to peel for themselves. Bard can give her heals during the laning phase. Planting multiple ones beside the tower, Xayah can ultimately trade with the enemy ADC during the early game. As she has guaranteed heals waiting for her, just a few steps behind. One of her primary damage sources comes from pulling her passive ability towards her.
This can easily be set with Bard’s ultimate, which puts the enemy team on stasis for a few seconds. Xayah can put as many feathers as she can before bard ults the enemy team. Just as when they are about to come out of stasis, Xayah can pull her feathers towards her for an intense burst of damage. If some survive, she can surely kill them as she also has high range and damage.
With Bard, you can build on utility active items to protect your Xayah so she can prioritize building herself damaged items. They can both play aggressively in the early or late game, given that Bard lands his ult and Q at the right place and time.
Also read: Best ADCs to Pair With Alistar
5. Ezreal
Perhaps the best champion to partner with Bard can self-peel and have a long-range to stay safe as Bard roams the map. Ezreal excels just that. This type of strategy is called a weak side play which the lane doesn’t require that much assistance from his other allies.
Bard can leave his health skills besides the tower for Ezreal to use, and he can then proceed to roam the other lanes to help them. This would be highly beneficial to the team as Ezreal can farm solo with his gold and exp. Bard also puts leads on his other teammates as the game goes on. Once Ezreal builds the core items, Bard can go back to him and give him assistance to secure kills so they can both snowball into winning the game.
The Best Item to Build on Bard for Ezreal
Redemption
As Bard spends most of his time roaming the map, warding enemy jungle camps, or helping secure kills in the mid or top lane, he also needs to influence the bot lane. Redemption is perfect as this Item has a very long range that can heal allies and damage enemies caught within its range.
So those are the 5 best champions you can pick as an ADC when you have a Bard support. Remember that the best champions to partner Bard with are champions with long-range or self-peel abilities as Bard is a champion meant to roam the entire map. His passive the meeps are scattered throughout the map; picking one up gives him movement speed which would really help him roam the other lanes. So even though Bard has a low pick rate, I hope you know when is the best time to pick him. GLHF on your next game summoner, see you on the rift.
