Bard

Nobody in Runeterra has managed to pin down Bard’s origins. The one thing people agree on is that he came from a place far beyond the stars and has never gone back. He acts as a kind of accidental guide, nudging events toward equilibrium whenever disorder starts to spiral. Ballads about him contradict each other on nearly every detail, but they all agree he can’t walk past an artifact humming with real magic.

Company is not really his thing. A bright swarm of spirit meeps trails him everywhere, and their cheerful presence makes his actions look kind even when his methods seem odd to onlookers. His reasoning often escapes the people he helps, yet the balance he guards usually falls back into place once he’s done.

• Traveler’s Call — meeps tag along on his attacks and grow stronger as he gathers Chimes.
• Cosmic Binding — a slowing missile that can stun when it passes between two struck targets.
• Caretaker’s Shrine — a healing point that becomes more potent the longer it waits before anyone uses it.
• Magical Journey — a one-way portal across terrain that allies and enemies can both use.
• Tempered Fate — his ultimate, which freezes whatever it reaches, friend or foe, in stasis.

Allies point out that Bard doesn’t sort targets into sides when he casts that final spell, which suits a wanderer loyal to a balance larger than any single faction, including Kindred, who also sit somewhat apart from Runeterra’s ordinary conflicts.

On the Rift he’s usually played as a support, now and then in mid, and he draws power from Mana like many of Runeterra’s odd roamers. Fiddlesticks likewise has no fixed homeland, though few wear that detachment with Bard’s easy disregard for consequences.