To be honest, I wan't looking for a Brand guide at all.
I just wanted to help you to prevent unnecessary downvotes.
The reason why I expected a full guide is that the average player expects a full guide as well.
New players can use a guide like this for orientation, but they will never be able to understand the champion just from the build.
Let's put it like this: does it make sense to use a pro build when you have absolutely no idea how to play?

Concerning the content:

#1: here on Mobafire, the "Core items" check box determines the preview build that's shown when you search guides. However, core items are actually the 2-3 best items for a champion.
It certainly doesn't make sense to show the same purchase order twice.

#2: There is no optimal build.
It's about listing options. I haven't tried your build, I can't tell it's bad.
But you should definitely list the standard options.

#3: Like I said, Zhonya's Hourglass is a defensive item.
It's really situational to rush it (against Death Mark or Chum the Waters) and I can't see the reason why you should go for it first. What do you do against Ahri?
I agree that it's nice to buy Needlessly Large Rod first if you have the money, but believe me, Haunting Guise is nearly as strong or even stronger (too lazy to do the math), so if you don't have money (where do you get 1600 gold at your first back, that's 80 minions), it's a good option.
I can only repeat, list options and write notes.

#4: I have done the calculations myself and you saw the result. If I did something wrong, let me know.

#5: @top

Lolvo

Hey Lolvo thx for replying !

trying to answer you questions:
#1: I tough that core items were the items that would define your build, which make sense to be the "late game" items, if not, its a language mistake, sorry for that.

#2: I agree with you, there may be some champions that start with Doran's Ring and 2 Health Potions which will have good sustain and some extra AP, but now it depends on how you play... does it really worth have +60hp and +15AP without any vision to counter ganks? In my opinion it doesn't, but its a choice. In case they have that inicial items what you have to do is let them push the lane a little and call your jungler

#3: The reason i rush Zhonya's Hourglass is because its passive, pure and simple, like i said in the guide it breaks enemy's combos and gives you good AP, just an item i find most usefull. The reason i dont rush Haunting Guise is the gold wasted on it, i prefer to farm a bit more and go straight to Needlessly Large Rod wich will give you tons of AP. But its up to the player to chose between them, and i chose the rod...

#4: i saw the calculations on Lolmath some days ago and the way he explained was basicly: if a target has more than 55 MR Void Staff is the best choice with any AP, the way you put it Rabadon's Deathcap its better. I will check that further

#5: has i said, this guide was a sketch, not some MLG pro League guide, was just a build for brand that might give some other players an other perspective about him... I tough masteries and runes were self-explained, thats the reason i didn't extended much. I could go through all the items in the game saying pros & cons in brand, but once again, its about casual game not "Pro" game (because im no pro either)

I will change the intro making even more clear this is not a in-depth guide about brand with all items and all options and all situations. I wrote a quick guide about brand and was just it, i even say on conclusion that was just a sketch...

But nevertheless , i see you were expecting a more in-depth guide and obviously you would like to see more detailed info, which you didnt found. Im happy you replyed, you made me see i need to go through all details to fulfill the most demanding users of mobafire

Stay cool, GL and HF

Hi, I'm Lolvo from EUW and I'd like to comment your guide.

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First, your "core items" are the same as your "late game" items.

Second, your start items might not always be the best choice.
Five Health Potions and four Mana Potions may be nice along with two Sight Wards, but have you considered that an enemy with a Doran's Ring can simply outdamage you and still have two Health Potions for sustain?
What would happen against an enemy who just farms and sustains your damage (which is not too strong without any initial AP items)?
I would definitely list some different start options.
Your option may be good in some cases, but I wouldn't say it's usually the best choice.

Third, why rush Zhonya's Hourglass?
It provides straight AP and armor (really need to rush armor against any champion?) and a good passive.
However, Zhonya's Hourglass doesn't have any special synergy with Brand's abilities compared to other champion such as Kennen ( Slicing Maelstrom).
It would be way better to rush Haunting Guise for extra health (which is a good early game stat), AP, and flat magic penetration (which is extremely good against low magic resist -> early).
Against AD, the Seeker's Armguard rush makes sense.

Fourth, your calculations about Void Staff and Rabadon's Deathcap are completely wrong.
Assuming 250 AP, Void Staff would give you 70 more, which is 320 AP compared to the 231 more AP that Rabadon's Deathcap would give you (total 481).
Brand's combo scales with 245% in the worst case (along with 1119 base damage).
Against 100 magic resistance (which is a huge value), the multiplier for only Rabadon's Deathcap would be 63.6%, compared to 73.8% for Void Staff.
Now, 0.738*(1119+2.45*320) is 1404.
0.636*(1119+2.45*481) is 1461, which is more.
Void Staff has a huge benefit from AP, but as long as no AP is there (because you skip Rabadon's Deathcap), Void Staff is weaker.
You should buy both of those items but never remove Rabadon's Deathcap from an AP build, that's a straight downvote.

Finally, you haven't mentioned any additional options.
Are there only six good items for Brand?
I'm not a brand expert, but just a few hints: Athene's Unholy Grail, Guardian Angel, Seraph's Embrace.

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In your introduction, you're basically saying: I'll make the guide when you upvote it.
You can't just do that. First make the guide, then we will vote.

The runes section doesn't explain anything, you could delete it as well.
Actually, flat magic penetration is good against low magic resistance.

Same for the masteries section, it's just useless.

In your skillset chapter, you are just saying what your abilities do.
How to use them?
If you're really good at Brand, you can write pages about this.
Your hint that Conflagration is used to apply Blaze is the only useful information here.

Finally, why would you write a gameplay section or even a guide if you don't actually want to?
Use some coding to make the text more readable.
Your strategy is very flawed in my opinion.
Brand is not a sustain fighter.
What do you do against Vladimir, who has a lot of natural health sustain and no mana costs at all?
What do you do against all-in champions who can just delete you from the map?
Why do you think all of your enemies will get to 50% HP and just let you stun them?
Players aren't minions.
If you write a guide, you have to keep this in mind.
This is not about fighting bots who just eat your spells and eventually die.
It's about outplaying your enemy and abusing your strengths (in a matchups section, you could explain how to abuse your enemies' weaknesses). You don't wanna tell me that Brand's strenght is Health Potion stacking or Mana Potion stacking or warding your lane?
Guess what, at higher Elo, you will struggle to hit Pillar of Flame at all because people will just dodge it or stay safe.

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So that's my opinion.
I won't vote yet, because you obviously haven't created a guide yet.

Lolvo