Brand Build Guide by Zyv0x
| Health | 1908 |
| Health Regen | 14.4 |
| Mana | 2314 |
| Mana Regen | 44.49 |
| Armor | 75 |
| Magic Resist | 30 |
| Dodge | 0 |
| Tenacity | 0 |
| Movement Speed | 410 |
| Gold Bonus | 0 |
| Attack Damage | 105.66 |
| Attack Speed | 0.77 |
| Crit Chance | 0%S |
| Crit Damage | 0% |
| Ability Power | 300.85 |
| Life Steal | 0% |
| Spell Vamp | 0 |
| Armor Penetration | 0 |
| Magic Penetration | 25.35 |
| Cooldown Reduction | 0% |
Recommended Runes
Ability Sequence





Mastery Tree Is Outdated
WARNING: These masteries are still using the old tree and have not been updated to the new tree by the guide author. As such, they will be different than the masteries you see in-game.
Masteries
Introduction \/ Please read!
PLEASE READ
- Before voting or commenting, please read and review the whole guide.
- The cheat sheets are just my personal preference, and it does not tell you that that is the best setup for this character.
- Do not down-vote or say anything negative just because of the items in the cheat sheet. As I already stated, it's all about personal opinions. Please take a look at the items section of the guide.
- This guide was written all by myself, and all eventual pictures or videos are made by myself if nothing else is said.
- Please come with constructive criticism as there is always room to improve.
First up, some info about the cheat sheet and runes/masteries you want to pick. Afterwards, we'll take on the items section where I will be explain what and why to buy.
Pros / Cons
- Four nukes
- Pretty low cooldowns, able to keep harassing
- A very useful passive, awesome harass
- Stun
- Ultimate can do huge damage if aimed right
Cons:
- Often focused
- Squishy without surviability items
- Two and a half skillshot (ultimate is a half - needs aim and luck in some cases)
- "Noob op char": /laughAtDemAndIgnoreDem
The Builds
Build 1: Pretty much pure AP, with just maybe one surviability item late-game (it's up to you). This mostly focuses on maximizing your damage output, making your fire burn extra hard.
Build 2: This build doesn't have
Tear of the Goddess as build one, however this has more surviability in it. It's a kind of mix between build one and three. You might have some mana problems here if you find yourself in a few fights rapidly (after each other).
Build 3: Build three focuses more on surviability, a bit more of passive playing style. It's probably the best to new
Brand players, as you have a much better surviability and sustain in lane. Not only might it be best for new
Brand players, but it might be the best over all. That's up to you to decide.
For maximum damage output, choose build one.
For some good surviability and still good damage, choose build three.
If you want a mix between the two, build two is for you.
Runes
Here I will explain my choices of runes.
| Runes | |||||||||||||||
Greater Mark of Magic Penetration 9 |
Greater Seal of Mana Regeneration 9 |
Greater Glyph of Magic Penetration 5 |
Greater Quintessence of Ability Power 3 |
||||||||||||
9x
9x Greater Seal of Replenishment
4x
5x
3x
Why:
The Greater Seal of Replenishment runes are great to have, due to that you will be using spells to harass. Therefore you'll need mana over a longer time, where the mana regen runes are shining.
For the rest of the runes, there's just basic Ability Power. If you feel like you need more mana regen for example, feel free to swap out some of them.
9x
9x Greater Seal of Replenishment
9x
3x
| Runes | |||||||||||||||
Greater Mark of Magic Penetration 9 |
Greater Seal of Mana Regeneration 9 |
Greater Glyph of Ability Power 9 |
Greater Quintessence of Ability Power 3 |
||||||||||||
Why: For this, there's a lot equal to build one. However instead of passing that 30 Magic Penetration mark, leaving your foes with zero Magic Resistance, we'll put in AP instead. Some flat Ability Power. These are great to start out with. But yes,
Greater Seal of Replenishment is as already stated in build one, great to have as you will be harassing over a longer time, making mana regen just terrific to have.
9x
9x Greater Seal of Replenishment
9x
3x
| Runes | |||||||||||||||
Greater Mark of Magic Penetration 9 |
Greater Seal of Mana Regeneration 9 |
Greater Glyph of Ability Power 9 |
Greater Quintessence of Ability Power 3 |
||||||||||||
Why: Even though this build is more focused on surviability, the runes are pretty much the same. They can be replaced my Magic Resistance or Armor runes, however, here it's basically the same as the two other builds.
Cooldown Reduction Runes
I find these unnecessary for
Isn't mana per 5 seconds per level better?
Ok, so the "by-level" mp5 seals passes the effects of the flat ones at the level of 7. Within level 7, you should have aquired
Remember that Magic Penetration runes helps your passive. If you can get it to zero, your passive will do full damage. Yes, 8% of their hp in addition to the spell damage is now gone. How awesome...
Optional Runes
There's always different runes to use, which works as well:
-
-
-
-
- Any other utility Quintessence. While reviewing them, some seems very interesting and underesitmated. E.g.
Remember that it's up to you and your personal preference!
If you have any questions regarding this part, please look in the FAQ first. If you can't find the answer to your question there, leave a comment and I will on daily basis (well every two days anyway) check this guide for comments to try to help you out as best as I can.
Masteries

As for the masteries, it's pretty much basic caster build. All of those caster masteries really varies from user to user, and so does it here. I understand that yourself you like to put a few points in the
Utility Mastery
instead of e.g. maxing
Expanded Mind
, but in
Brand's case I think that it's best to have a good amount of mana combined with your later-on
Archangel's Staff.
There you basically have a draft of it. So,
I don't feel like wasting time in explaining the rest of the points, which is pretty self-explanatory after all. Of course there might be a few points that you'd like to have somewhere else - and no one tells you not to do that. At least I don't.
Optional Masteries
It's up to you, and here is some more tips.
-
-
If you have any questions regarding this part, please look in the FAQ first. If you can't find the answer to your question there, leave a comment and I will on daily basis (well every two days anyway) check this guide for comments to try to help you out as best as I can.
Skill Sequence
As you can see,
Now, your ultimate,
But yes, the point of this is that if you use your ultimate right, it can do tons of damage. Of course they can run apart, but it isn't too easy when they're ablaze and the missile speed is quite fast.
Note that this damage also varies a lot on how fed your are, and which items you built, of course. It isn't 100% accurate, but it can give you an overview.
Items
Recommended items
Build 1
-
Doran's Ring
Even though it's nerfed... It's still useful. If you don't like this, you can start you with a
Meki Pendant and a few
Health Potions instead.
-
Tear of the Goddess
Going to build into the most giving Ability Power item later in game. I think this is necessary. If you don't like this item, build #2 here is for you.
-
Sorcerer's Shoes
Not much to say. These are a casters shoes.
-
Rabadon's Deathcap
An absolutely necessary item. It gives a damn + 30 % boost to your Ability Power. Such a great boost. Any caster should have this item, and
Brand is no exception.
-
Archangel's Staff
This is the most rewarding Ability Power rewarding item in the game. It builds from the Tear of Goddess that we got earlier on. A caster like
Brand relies on much Ability Power, therefore stacking one or multiple of these is great.
-
Void Staff
A nice boost of Magic Penetration to get late game, to tear down those Magic Resistance stacking tanks easier. Along with 15% from masteries, it's a good boost. Also gives some Ability Power.
-
Elixir of Brilliance
Be sure to get those while playing, whenever you are in shop and have 250 spare gold. It gives a good boost for four minutes. Make sure that if you have a spot, don't activate it before you're on the battlefield for the maximum length and use of it.
You probably noticed that it's missing two final items. Those are up to you to choose. Look below for some suggestions, in the "optional items" section.
I actually recommend getting
Void Staff after at least one of your optional items, maybe even as the last one. Tanks won't get a very high Magic Resistance until late-game, as most tend to stack up Armor first.
Build 2
-
Doran's Ring
Even though it's nerfed... It's still useful. Ability Power, mana regen and some health. Sweet.
-
Sorcerer's Shoes
Not much to say. These are a casters shoes.
-
Rabadon's Deathcap
An absolutely necessary item. It gives a damn + 30 % boost to your Ability Power. Such a great boost. Any caster should have this item, and
Brand is no exception.
-
Rylai's Crystal Scepter
For good surviability mid-/late-game, Ability Power and a slow to your spells. Explained better in the section below: "Optional items section"
-
Morello's Evil Tome
Has a good Ability Power boost, along with some mana regen. It also gives a bunch of Cooldown Reduction - whole 20%! It'll drastically reduce the cooldown of your
Pyroclasm.
-
Void Staff
A nice boost of Magic Penetration to get late game, to tear down those Magic Resistance stacking tanks easier. Along with 15% from masteries, it's a good boost. Also gives some Ability Power. But yeah, needs to be gotten late game for a good effect really.
The last item is up to you to decide. See the bellow for suggestions and tips.
Build 3
-
Doran's Ring
Even though it's nerfed... It's still useful. Ability Power, mana regen and some health. Sweet.
-
Catalyst the Protector has a good boost for Health and Mana, and will in addition help you very much to sustain in lane with its passive. It's later going to be evolved to another item aswell.
-
Fiendish Codex is a great item with Ability Power, Mana Regeneration and Cooldown Reduction. The main reason we get this so early is its Mana Regeneration. Also this item will become a better one later on aswell.
-
Sorcerer's Shoes is a must for any caster. It's needed, and along with your Magic Penetration runes it'll bring the enemy close to zero.
-
Rabadon's Deathcap is another must for any caster. +30%!?!?!? Lolwut. So basically, it's a great item, which increases your damage A-LOT!
-
Rod of Ages will help you with both surviability and a decent amount of Ability Power. Your
Catalyst the Protector will become this. It's good to get it mid-game due to that after 10 minutes its passive is in fully effect.
-
Rylai's Crystal Scepter gives you a damn +500 Health bonus! How terrific! In addition it gives Ability Power and a SLOW to your spells. So basically you have both a stun and slow now. Sweet.
-
Void Staff should be bought when the enemy start stacking up Magic Resistance, usually late-mid- or late game. 40% Magic Penetration and 70 Ability Power. Great.
-
Morello's Evil Tome OR
Zhonya's Hourglass.
Morello's Evil Tome is an upgrade from your
Fiendish Codex. It's a great item, with 75 Ability Power and 12 Mana Regeneration - and gives you a whole 20% reduction in your cooldowns! This item is optional, as I know several people dislike it.
Therefore, another option is
Zhonya's Hourglass. With a bonus of 50 Armor and 100 Ability Power [!], it's a very strong item.
Optional/Useful Items
-
Archangel's Staff
Do you like power!?!? If you want to maximize your damage output and get the most damage probably possible with
Brand, ever* I think, build another two of these. Get them to 1000 mana, and it's gold.
* I don't know if it's the most damage, but I think so. Of course 1 Rabadon and 5 Archangels are the most AP, but hey, you need some MP too.
-
Morello's Evil Tome
This is a very interesting item. I mean, it gives a huge Cooldown Reduction, Ability Power AND Mana Regeneration. How awesome. It might be good to get this earlier on though, and be the last item to sell before you get your final item. The mana regen supplised from this ain't to much use late game, and there are stronger Ability Power items. It also gives no surviability whatsoever.
-
Rylai's Crystal Scepter
+500 HP is a giant boost to your surviability, and can be put to good use as you are focused a lot of times. It won't help you too much, but of course it will help you good. Along with an Ability Power boost of 80 and a slow to your spells it's good. You do have a stun though, so I don't know about a slow. It's goof for aiming your stun better at running enemies, but you should be able to read and predict where he goes anyway, therefore hit him.
-
Will of the Ancients is another interesting item. A spell vamp to help you sustain in lane, along with bonuses of Ability Power to both you and your allies.
-
Banshee's Veil is a good surviability item if the opponent team has some strong caster damage. It provides your with a cool ring around you, protecting you against crowd control abilities, and a Magic Resistance boost. Also gives you some hp and mana.
-
Abyssal Scepter is another good choice if the opponents has a fed caster or two. It gives you Magic Penetration, which is great, in addition to Ability Power and Magic Resistance. So yes, this can be a very good item combined with
Sorcerer's Shoes and
Greater Mark of Magic Penetration for those who DON'T stack Magic Resistance. -20?
Other items
There's always other items that ain't so good to use. Others are awkward, but OK.
-
Lich Bane
This is an item I think is useless for brand. You are a combo-freak, you barely use your auto attack against other champions. Of course it has a bit of surviability in it, along with Ability Power, but I think that inventory slot can be used to something else.
This item can be used, but I don't recommend it if you don't use it a lot. It can be hard to "aim" with
Brand if you're new to the item.
- Items like
Warmog's Armor
Completely useless. I mean, what the hell would you need this for? Sure, buy it if you're 0-20-0. If not, stay away. :)
- AD items like
Infinity Edge
Not here. You can play
Brand as an AD champion, but this is not what this guide is about. Therefore a no from me.
Playing Brand: Basic Gameplay
As
Brand you should always grab the mid lane. You're an AP carry - it's basically what mid was made for. Therefore, try to grab mid.
Going after build #1 here,
Starting out with
Doran's Ring on your way to the empty middle lane. Battle, last hit like you should with auto-attack. While doing it, make sure to use
Pillar of Flame or another skill to harass your opponent, making them lose hp and distract them from last-hitting. If you see a group of low-hp mobs, don't be afraid to use your
Pillar of Flame to secure them all. Do not spam you skills too much. You have mana regen runes for a reason - to keep your mana at a good amount if you manage to control it and not spam them like a pyromaniac.
Remember zoning. If you can get them down to 40% or less hp, stay offensive in the lane, denying them experience as they have to hug the tower for not to die.
Try to pick up a kill or two, as people often tend to underestimate the power of
Brand. Try to often active your
Blaze on an enemy by using any spell to do it. It is great for harassing them for sure. A good way is to use
Pillar of Flame on mobs - they will think that you can't do anything to them now as long as they stay behind creeps on a decent range. Well they are wrong. If they actually think such, and stick close to his creeps, pull
Conflagration on one of them spreading the
Blaze to the opponent.
When needed, go back to base. If you end up there with an amount over 475 gold, but less to buy your next item, stack up with another
Doran's Ring and head back to lane asap. If you even can't afford a
Doran's Ring, an
Elixir of Brilliance might do aswell. However it has more effect mid/late-game.
You will get
Tear of the Goddess asap due to that you need to fill it up for it to be effective. After that, you need
Sorcerer's Shoes. If you followed my rune build, you will now get your enemies to zero Magic Resistance except if they stack Magic Resistance early game. Well that's their loss anyway. At this point
Blaze is at its best. It will do major harassing if you can keep activating it at your enemy.
After this, we'll go to
Rabadon's Deathcap. It's a huge boost of Ability Power and you know you need it. Afterwards we'll jump to
Archangel's Staff which should have been filled a bit now. Along with
Rabadon's Deathcap it'll rise your Ability Power quite a lot. Afterwards it's pretty much your choice.
I like to go for
Void Staff late game, and sometimes I even don't build it if they don't stack up much Magic Resist. But people will usually do that, and it's a really useful item for sure. A 40% Magic Penetration along with your 15% from masteries. Awesome. It also gives you an Ability Power boost aswell.
Now, if you want to build surviability or maximize your damage output is all your choice. I will now further on explain different items that can be swapped/replaced or used.
The last two items is up to you to choose. Please see the items section if you need tips or are in doubt.
Playing Brand: Farming
So there is one combo that is very basic for farming, and it yields as follows:
![]()
You wanna use the
Pillar of Flame to harass and ablaze the mobs, followed by
Conflagration which will spread and do damage to every of them because they're ablaze.
This is great for farming mid-game and out.
Late game, all you need is a
Pillar of Flame and they should instantly die.
Playing Brand: Ganking
So the ganking part is really the combo part here... I suggest you read on to the combos, as that is how you gank. You pull a combo.
Early game: You can one-combo them when they have around 40% of their health without your ulti. With your
Pyroclasm, it's 50-60&.
Mid game: If you've farmed well and picked up a decent amount of kills, you can usually one-combo people at 60-70% health with your
Pyroclasm
Late game: This really depends on you and who you're comboing. Are you fed? 80-85%. Are you more fed? 95-100%. Do you suck? 40%.
The usual combo is the following (this is for a 1v1 situation):
![]()
![]()
![]()
So basically, you'd like to stun your opponent first. After they're ablaze, use
Pillar of Flame for a great damagae output with an extra 25%. Afterwards, quickly pull
Ignite ONLY if you see that your opponent might survive with 5-10% hp. This, combined with
Blaze, will take them down. Afterwards, use
Pyroclasm to finish them off if they didn't die yet.
Note that if they have like minor health left, you can wait for your cooldowns while you run after them instead, to spare your ultimate. Your
Pyroclasm's range ain't too bad either, so IF they were to escape while you wait up cooldowns, throw it at them.
Playing Brand: Combos:
Following up there are combos for
Brand. This is a new system I have in my new guides, which will help people that are new to
Brand with knowing how and why to do those combos; which does the most damage, which one is the one with lowest mana cost but still does some good damage etc. Enjoy.
Here's a little video I just did you you guys. It's just a quick show-off to what your combos can do, and how you do them. Enjoy :)
Can be watched in HDahere.
- Combo: EQW(F)(R)
![]()
![]()
![]()
Damage output: Excellent
Mana cost: |6: 200(300) |18: 240(440)
Level 6: Medium | Level 18: High with ulti
This is
Brand's highest damaging combo here. With using
Conflagration and
Sear to stun, they are ablaze which will make
Pillar of Flame to do a 25% additional damage, which is great. In addition,
Pyroclasm's missible speed is much better, making it harded to run away from while it bounces through its targets.
Main combo. Bread and butter.
- Combo: WQE(R)
![]()
![]()
![]()
Damage output: Good
Mana cost: |6: 200(300) |18: 240(440)
Level 6: Medium | Level 18: High with ulti
Another combo with quite some damage, however not as much as the one above due to that the target is not ablaze when you pull your
Pillar of Flame. However,
Pillar of Flame has a much longer range (and aoe) than
Conflagration, making you able to stun at a longer range.
- B-Combo: WR
![]()
![]()
Damage output: Bad
Mana cost: |6: 190 |18: 310
Level 6: Low | Level 18: Medium
A combo you can use on escapers who tend to dodge your
Sear, making you unable to stun.
Pyroclasm's range isn't too bad, so you can throe
Pillar of Flame at them and shoot your
Pyroclasm. Works better if there is several fleeing enemies.
Tip: If possible, wait for
Pillar of Flame to deal ablaze the targets before throwing
Pyroclasm. Much better missible speed, harder to run apart and dodge it.
Not too good damage due to only two spells.
- B-Combo: EW
![]()
![]()
Damage output: OK
Mana cost: |6: 150 |18: 190
Level 6: Very Low | Level 18: Low
A good damaging combo with low mana cost. This is what you use to finish off some low-hp enemy in range.
Not too good damage due to only using two skills.
- B-Combo: EQ
![]()
![]()
Damage output: Bad
Mana cost: |6: 110 |18: 130
Level 6: Very very very very very low | Level 18: Very very very low
A quick stun combo. Can be used for a variety of things, but if it's a 1v1 battle you should pull out your other two skills too.
Also great for stunning a chasing enemy to escape from him.
Bad damage due to only two skills. Lowest mana cost combo.
- B-Combo: WQ
![]()
![]()
Damage output: OK
Mana cost: |6: 140 |18: 160
Level 6: Very Low | Level 18: Low
This isn't so much used, but if used, it's mainly for a longer range stun.
Playing Brand: Tips&Tricks
- Learning to aim your
Sear right will grant you significant benefits compared to if you keep missing it. Setting the stun is important. - By leaving your enemies with zero Magic Resistance, your passive,
Blaze, will do full damage. 8% of their HP. - Try to keep a
Blaze on your lane opponent(s) all the time, as it is great for harassing. Pull a
Pillar of Flame whenever you feel like it will hit him for a great harass.
I will add more if I come up with anything. If you have anything, please comment.
FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why don't you use cooldown reduction runes?
A: I already explained it. Brand doesn't have too high cooldowns, and I think Ability Power will help you more.
Q: Why do you stack Archangel's Staffs?
A: Myself I like to stay back and deal that damage. I also use to have a little bit of surviability, but when playing Brand I put damage as first priority.
This is ALL personal opinions. I'm not gonna demand you stack Archangel's. It's up to yourself. If you're in doubt look at the optional items -section.
Q: I don't like Tear of the Goddess.
A: Then don't use it. I'm not here to tell you exactly what items or build to use, it's up to you. The cheat sheet is my personal opinion, and the item section is for items that I think can be considered/should not be used.
Q: Stacking Dorans isn't smart.
A: Yes, I think it is. If you don't then don't do it. Simple as that. But really, if you come to base with 475 gold and it isn't enough for your next item... It'll help you.
Q: I have a question that isn't in the FAQ.
A: Comment, and I'll answer you and eventually add it to here. :)
Patch Changes
Here I will make a list over patches that have changed Brand forwards. I will not apply the ones from the past, as the guide is 100% fully updates towards that.
xth of yth Z
The change(s) that was applied.
Change Log
[28/9/11] - Published guide.
[30/9/11] - Fixed a few typos and updated runes / masteries a little.
[30/9/11] - Strongly updated the runes section.
[1/10/11] - Small update to runes and masteries with optionals.
[2/10/11] - Just noticed it's 6 days left for my birthday. Anyway, I updated the ganking section, also added some stuff on several of the chapters/sections. Fixed some minor mistakes. Also made the size of all combos to 32 instead of 64.
[3/10/11] - Corrected a major mistake, thanks to the guys in comments.
Abyssal Scepter was also added to the optional items section. Few minor mistakes was corrected.
[3/10/11] - Added a video to the combo section.
[3/10/11] - Build 3 was added. More surviability. This was a strong day for updates. o.O.
[9/10/11] - I'm another year older (yesterday :3), and there was a minor update to the Runes section at build #3.
[13/10/11] - Announced the end of this guide. I'm sick of most of you people on here, you're so rude. I'm sorry to everyone who is nice out there and such, but really, most people just trollvotes or votes without reading the guide or checking the alternate builds. It just annoys me too much, I'm sorry. Good bye.
[14/10/11] - Hi again. I just raged a bit yesterday, sorry about that. My guide went from 84% > 73%, so I kind kind of mad because for that. I'm so sorry. I decided to try to complete the expansion, and I will do so now. It might take some time, but it will eventually be here. :)
Summary
So that was my
Brand guide. I love
Brand like many others. Other people hate him, but I please ask you not do flame, hate, harass or down-vote this guide just because of that. I put effort in it to help other players play a character they like, not promote a hated character and make this a flamers' home.
If you have any questions, look in the FAQ. If it isn't there, feel free to comment and I'll answer as good as I can on a daily basis.
If there's anything to complain about in the cheat sheet, don't blame me. It's my personal opinions and everyone has different opinions. Look in the damn items section or find your own items.
Thanks for reading!

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