Bard Jungle? No...Yes??? | Weird Pick #142 | Runes Items Build Guide

Guide to Playing Bard Jungle - 

Been seeing some traction with Bard jungle lately, and it might mostly be just everyone getting stir crazy from being cooped up for so long. There are a variety of builds floating around including some wacky full damage ones, but the classic speed bard is still the way to go.

This build plays a bit like a River build or a Twitch jungle, but you do get some great added perks...check out how to play him below!

Guide to Playing Bard Jungle

Been seeing some traction with Bard jungle lately, and it might mostly be just everyone getting stir crazy from being cooped up for so long. There are a variety of builds floating around including some wacky full damage ones, but the classic speed bard is still the way to go.

This build plays a bit like a River build or a Twitch jungle, but you do get some great added perks...check out how to play him below!

How to Play Bard Jungle

Abilities: Q, W, E then prioritize R > Q > E > W

Summoner Spells:    

Starting Items: Hailblade, Refillable Potion

Strategy: Run around and gank as much as possible, early camps are going to be take forever to kill without meeps, so focus more on ganking and getting as many meeps as possible.

Core Items: Hailblade, Boots of Mobility, Rapid Firecannon, Deadman's Plate, Force of Nature

Bard Jungle Runes Setup

Primary: Fleet Footwork, Presence of Mind, Legend: Alacrity, Coup De Grace

Secondary: Celerity, Waterwalking

How It Works

Massive Movement Speed and Gap Closing Power

When you combine Bard's chimes with his Magical Journey, you already get a nearly inescapable ganker. However, after getting Deadman's Plate and Rapidfire he becomes truly terrifying. As a jungler, you'll also find that he's much more present on the map than as a support and the ganks keep flying non-stop.

Bard Passive Sustain and EXP

Overall, Bard may fall behind in camp clearing, but he can still maintain a healthy amount of levels simply because his chimes grant him bursts of EXP and also gives him the ability to maintain his mana levels even without actively jungling. 

Expert Level Objective Stealing

Bard's Magical Journey [E] functions largely the same as Zac's Elastic Slingshot [E], and he can cast Smite during the animation. This allows him to perform expert-level snipes of dragon and baron if you can find the right angle to do so.

Potential Pitfalls

Slow Camp Clearing

As you'd probably expect from Bard jungle, his ability to clear camps without Smite is a bit lacking in power. Once he picks up enough chimes his clear speed does increase a bit, but don't expect to be full clearing jungle. You'll have a better chance invading and taking a few nearly dead camps from the enemy jungler instead. Make sure get as many meeps as possible to make up for the EXP difference.

Difficulty 1v1

As long as Bard is the aggressor he can usually dance around and kite very well. However, if he does end up getting into a 1v1 situation or invaded, his ability to stay alive from short range is limited, especially against the majority of jungle champions in the current meta.

Unable to Solo Dragon

Pretty much as the title says, you're not gonna be soloing dragon any time soon with this build no matter how hard you try...

Countering Bard Jungle

Play strong early game laners that can avoid his ganks.

Conclusions

Bard Jungle is a very fun pick that can snowball much like other roam picks. He doesn't fall behind quite as hard as a result of his passive, and his mobility is one of the highest of any champion in the game.

Later in the game, you may struggle if your team comp is lacking damage.

Suggested Tier: Low Tier 3

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