Bard
Hardest matchups for Bard in Support (Emerald, patch 16.20): 
Thresh, 
Leona, 
Braum. Easiest: 
Ezreal, 
Twitch, 
Mel.
Try it in a draftCountersPower curvesIn the tier listWho wins into BardOn the pro tier list
Bard on patch 16.22
- Support49.5%#32 of 77B10,159 games
- steady since 16.21
Bard’s main role on patch 16.22 is Support: a 49.5% win rate across 10,159 Emerald games, #32 of 77 Support champions on the tier list (grade B), picked in 4.2% of games. Since patch 16.21, Bard Support has not moved by more than chance explains: 0.5 points across 50,108 games in 8 ranks.
Emerald games from every region, as of Nov 9, 2026. The tables below load current numbers. Patch 16.22 tier list
Solo queue
Open in the tier listPatch 16.20, the current one
| Lane | Grade | Win rate | Games | Picked | Mains |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Support100% of its games | C | 48.9%48.9% raw ±0.5 | 32,198 | 4.7%1.7% banned | 49.6%47.6% first time |
| Top0% of its games | too few games | 49.6%40.0% raw ±16.6 | 35 | 0.0%1.7% banned | 51.5%47.1% first time |
| Mid0% of its games | too few games | 49.7%38.1% raw ±21.4 | 21 | 0.0%1.6% banned | 51.3%47.2% first time |
| Bot0% of its games | too few games | 49.6%23.1% raw ±27.2 | 13 | 0.0%1.7% banned | 51.5%47.0% first time |
| Jungle0% of its games | too few games | 49.8%30.0% raw ±31.0 | 10 | 0.0%1.7% banned | 51.4%46.9% first time |
Matchups
Every matchupHow to read this
Bard’s win rate against each champion picked into it in the lane opposite: its hardest matchups, then its easiest. The small number is the matchup’s own effect on Bard, the part not explained by either champion’s strength.
Hardest for Bard
Lane leads and team bans
What Bard’s team bans
Champions a team bans more often when it has Bard than the other team does in the same games (170,418 games). The other team banned before Bard was picked, so the gap is the ban spent because Bard was coming — a sign players see these as counters. Riot does not say which player cast a ban, so this is the team’s choice.
Builds
Every buildHow to read this
How Bard is built in this lane, most common first, with the items those builds finish and how they win.
- Tank
52.0%21,838 games - AP sustained
50.7%4,069 games - Enchanter
52.2%1,967 games - AP burst
53.7%322 games - Crit
52.2%98 games
Runes and summoner spells
How to read this
How Bard does with each summoner-spell pair, keystone and minor rune in this lane, at the rank and region above. These are the win rates of the players who made each choice, not the choice’s own effect: a page is recommended only when a real share of players runs it.
35,037 games · patches 16.20, 16.21 · Sep 10 – Oct 21
Flash + Heal50.0% · 10,332 games
ElectrocuteDomination + Inspiration · 49.7%
Cheap Shot · Deep Ward · Treasure Hunter · Magical Footwear · Cosmic InsightShards: Attack Speed · Move Speed · Health
Support item: Solstice Sleigh · 50.2%
Key items: Dead Man's Plate → Locket of the Iron Solari · 50.3%
Boots: Boots of Swiftness · 52.0%Every option, with its numbers
Summoner spells
- Flash + Heal50.0%10,332 games · 29% pick rate · same players: +1.8 pts vs the usualRecommended
Exhaust + Flash48.4%3,171 games · 9.1% pick rate · same players: +0.5 pts vs the usualRare: not recommended
Flash + Ignite48.5%21,407 games · 61% pick rate · the usual choice
Keystones
- Electrocute + Inspiration49.7%18,329 games · 52% pick rate · the usual choiceRecommended
Electrocute + Sorcery48.5%10,420 games · 30% pick rate · same players: −0.5 pts vs the usual
Deathfire Touch + Inspiration44.9%1,391 games · 4.0% pick rate · same players: −1.0 pts vs the usualRare: not recommended
Electrocute + Resolve47.9%3,254 games · 9.3% pick rate · same players: −2.6 pts vs the usualRare: not recommended
Minor runes with Electrocute
- Cheap Shot49.1%97% take it
Taste of Blood50.4%2.7% take it
- Deep Ward49.2%96% take it
Grisly Mementos47.4%2.2% take it
- Treasure Hunter49.3%49% take it
Relentless Hunter49.1%48% take it
Ultimate Hunter47.0%3.0% take it
- Magical Footwear49.8%96% take it
- Cosmic Insight50.0%47% take it
Jack Of All Trades49.5%50% take it
Biscuit Delivery48.4%4.1% take it
- Attack Speed48.9%93% take it
- Adaptive Force47.0%4.5% take it
- Ability Haste50.6%2.5% take it
- Move Speed49.1%69% take it
- Adaptive Force48.4%28% take it
- Health Scaling49.3%3.0% take it
- Health49.5%46% take it
- Health Scaling48.4%51% take it
- Tenacity and Slow Resist47.5%2.4% take it
These numbers describe, they do not prove. Each rate is Bard’s record when its player chose that option, pulled toward Bard’s own rate by 100 games of prior so a small sample cannot look like a discovery. An uncommon page often wins more because experts run it, and they would win on any page, so only a choice taken in at least 10% of games can be recommended, and spells and keystones are ranked by how the SAME players do with them against the usual choice, not by the raw rate; rarer ones are listed with their numbers and labeled. The build line (opening buy, the two key items in the order they are finished, boots or the support upgrade) is advice in the same sense: how Bard does when built that way.
Champions like Bard
The champion map
Two different questions: which champions share its toolkit, and which ones the players who play it also play.
The learning curve
Champion pool
On a first game Bard wins 46.4%; in the hands of players with the most mastery on it, 50.1%. That gap ranks it 131 of 173 for how much practice pays. It crosses 50% at about 410K mastery points.
Pro play
On the pro tier list
Bard in the major leagues and international events this season, across 3,434 games: its record, how often it is picked or banned, whether it is taken blind or saved as a counter, its lane at 15 minutes, and the best pro on it.
| Lane | Win rate | Priority | Blind / counter | Lane @15 | Best pro |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Support | 51.3%345W 319L | 46%46% in any lane | 42% counter | −2 gold | — |
How much knowing Bard pays
Players on their Mastery band win 3.7 points more on Bard than first-timers do: #131 of 173 champions for how much mastery pays.
At 300k+ mastery points, Bard players win 50.1%: #169 of 173 champions for where mastery ends up. The fitted curve levels off at about 50.0%, and is half-way up by ~32K points.
BardDots are the six mastery bands, placed at their mastery points. The line is the best-fitting curve that rises and levels off.
This is not a promise about your next game. Players do not reach a mastery band in a random order, and a champion someone loses on tends to get dropped before it reaches the high bands — so the right-hand side of every curve is partly survivors, not only practice.
Text summary of this page as it stood on Nov 9, 2026. The live tables on this page are current.
Bard ranked-play summary
Most similar champions: Blitzcrank, Braum, Sona.
Anonymous public figures recorded on Nov 9, 2026, when this page was built. The interactive tables on this page load current data.