Historically as well as currently, Bard has been one of the worst ARAM champs in terms of win rate. Despite being a really interesting team pick, his kit is just not that well optimized for ARAM. However, we will still try to do our best, and make him as viable as possible with our highest win rate build.
Bard Best ARAM Build
Luden’s Companion
The best first item for our ARAM Bard build will be the Luden’s Companion. We will primarily want to build this item due to the huge mana reserves it will give us in the early game. The item is quite great in other areas too, and it will significantly increase our damage through its AP stats and bonus damage passives.
Lich Bane
Another strong item for our Aram Bard build will be the Lich Bane. Lich Bane will grant us some cool base stats as well as a passive that will increase our damage following our abilities casting. The bonus will synergize pretty well with the common Bard poke patterns such as AA > Q > AA.
Nashor’s Tooth
Nashor’s Tooth is particularly strong on Bard, and it slightly changes the champion’s playstyle. The attack speed will allow us to poke enemies more rapidly, and will synergize well with our meep passive, since it will allow us to proc it faster. The bonus AP ratios from this item will also increase our Q damage, as well as our W heals.
Rabadon’s Deathcap
The fourth great pick for the build is the Rabadon’s Deathcap. This well known item will give us the greatest flat AP ratios out of all items in the game, as well as the fabulous 30% increase on our total AP. Since our items are really AP heavy, the item will provide very great value relative to its cost.
Shadowflame
To finish off our build, we can generally be comfortable with Shadowflame purchase. The item is second to Rabadon when it comes to flat AP, and it has a host of other benefits. The most notable benefit is it’s passive that grants 20% bonus damage on enemies below 40% AP.
Boots
The best boots for our ARAM Bard build will be none other than Sorcerer’s Shoes. These will be a great addition to the items we are building, as they will provide us with a pretty great amount of magic penetration for the buck we are paying.
Runes for Bard ARAM Build
- Electrocute
- Cheap Shot
- Eyeball Collection
- Treasure Hunter
- Triumph
- Coup de Grace
The keystone that works pretty well with Bard in ARAM is the Electrocute. It can be swapped with Dark Harvest, depending on how aggressively you want to play. The best followup rune is usually the Cheap Shot, which will increase our damage after we have impaired an enemy.
Next up, we will want to take the Eyeball Collection and Treasure Hunter. Both of these will stack each time we score a unique takedown. Finally, we will also want to take Triumph for extra healing following kills, and Coup de Grace for extra damage on low HP enemies.
Final Thoughts
Bard is close to the last position on the ARAM tierlist, however, a good build can make up for a lot. The build I propose is a highest win rate one, composed of high AP ratio items. The build is best combined with highly aggressive runes such as Electrocute, Eyeball Collection and similar.