Bard the wandering caretaker is primarily played as a support champion, but is sometimes pulled out to roam the jungle. One of the biggest things you'll have to get used to when playing Bard are his Meeps, small spirit animals follow him around and aid his attacks. Meeps can be powered up to deal more damage via Chimes, small bronze items that are placed randomly around the map and grant Bard bonus movement speed and mana. Collecting 5 chimes will empower Bard's Meeps.

If all of this talk of Meeps and Chimes has you itching to play some Bard, here are some other helpful tips to up your game.

Know When to Chime

Seeing all of those sparkly chimes placed around the map can make you want to collect them all at once right off the bat. Chimes last a whipping 10 minutes and new ones will spawn to take their place, do not risk getting caught out because you just had to get that chime in the enemies jungle.

Knowing when not to chime is especially important when jungling, as any time not spent farming is experience you're lagging behind in. Having chimes ready and waiting in the bush or other areas is good to have anyways. The speed burst it provides when you first pick them up can help you get to lane to gank faster, or escape if you're being run down.

Setup Your Shrines

Shrines are like your own little health relics that you can place up to three of anywhere on the map. They charge up to their full potential and will remain where they are placed until an ally runs over them for health, or an enemy destroys them. 

Pick spots just off the beaten path to place your shrines so that they don't get constantly destroyed by enemies but are still within close reach of your allies. If you're jungling, placing them around the camps will let you boost your health right back up after clearing them. Support Bard can place them anywhere, so long as they are easily accessible by the AD Carry.

Ganking With Bard

Bard is a gank machine because of his high mobility and excellent crowd control from his Cosmic Binding and Tempered Fate ultimate. Since you'll be roaming a bit to pick up the odd Chime, keep an eye out for vulnerable enemies in lane. When you're close enough lock them down with your Cosmic Binding and then let them have It. Magical Journey can also be used to quickly pounce on enemies who are on the other side of a wall.

How to Ult with Bard

Bards ult can be confusing to use for some because it not only locks the enemy team members in stasis for 2.5 seconds, any friendlies caught in the blast will be stuck as well. You should therefore always be careful to check who's in the blast radius before firing off your ultimate.

Some situations where you will find your ultimate useful are locking down the enemy team while the rest of yours arrives to get the kills, allowing your team to escape from fights gone awry, and to stop fleeing enemies from escaping your wrath.

You can also use your ult to:

- Protect your team from Ziggs ult, or other high damage AoE attacks

- Completely stop a Baron fight.

- Stop towers from attacking you, or protect your own from being destroyed.