Brand Build Guide by FeatJuventus

Introduction

Im just gonna go through every AP caster in the game and explain how to counter them. Not that champions that can be played both AP and AD like Twisted Fate or Master Yi won't be here.

Ahri is one pain in mid. She deals tons of damage right at level 1 and can stay in lane forever. I would recommend you to get Boots of Speed and some Health Potion. Just keep dodging her skillshot and do a Conflagration + Sear whenever she is trying to nuke you down.

Annie can be a tough enemy, but just avoid her. Check when she got her stun up and make her waste them on minions. After level 6, you have to be VERY careful. If you're low on health, just recall, it isn't worth the risk. Most importantly, harass with Sear to keep her away from last hitting whith disengritate.

Brand

Just burn him and you'll win. Just kidding, but seriously mirror laning is fine. Most mirror laners tends to overharass, just let them get manastarved and do your combo when he/she can't defend themselves.

Cassiopeia

She have to play aggressive in the laning phase in order to be good later on. Counter her annoying poison spam with your combo when she is going to aggressive. She is way more mana hungry than you, so you should be fine as long as you farm up and harass.

Fiddlesticks

Sometimes, he is a gift from heaven. But sometimes he is an annoying bastard that keeps using fear on you. But he got one true weakness: CC. And he is really squishy so a combo will HURT. And I mean really, freaking hurt. And beware when he is SS/MIA, he might just waiting in a brush to Crowstorm you.

Karthus[/color}

Pretty easy to counter. His Lay Waste deals almost no damage at early damage and he is superduper squishy. If he is going way to aggressive, just answer with your nuke combo. Also, he will almost always farm up more than you, prevent it from happening. And of course, watch out for Requiem.

Kassadin

Man, I LOVE going against him. So many good memories. His laning phase is awful while your's is great. He can't farm well and harassing will take a lot of mana for him. One of your combo early on will drop him about half health. Just keep him away from last hits and possibly experience. But after level 6 it all changes. He can just Riftwalk right up your face, throw a Null Sphere and finsihing with a Force Pulse. When he does this, he got no escape mechanism because Riftwalk is on cooldown. Take that oppurtunity to revenge.

Kennen

This guy is a true painbringer for Brand. It's really about who can finish the combo fastest, and it's mostly about 50% you finish before. But why is he a pain then, you might ask. His harass. It's insane and so is his farm. Plus he got no mana, so that's even worse! Just stay behind your minions and deny him the oppurtunity to get a nice combo at you.

LeBlanc]

I've seen both insane LeBlancs and shameful ones. If you're dealing with an insane LeBlanc, just get your combo at her as early as you can. If she get's low, she will think twice before trying any funny buisness again. Just don't let her fill that mejais soulstealer, you

Pros / Cons

spaaaaaaaaaaaaaace

Pros + Extreme nuker + Can do some heavy damage + His ulti can turn any teamfight into your favor + Awesome passive + Very fun to play as!

space

space

Cons - Kind of squishy early game - Worthless with spells on cooldown - Hard to master - Pillar of flame is a little tricky to land

Why Brand?

Because

• Got some extreme nuke
• Deals TONS of damage
• Great early laning phase
• One of the champion that can punish enemies the hardest for being out of position
• Can counter a lot of AP caster
• Great counter for brusiers and short ranged champs
• An amazing passive
• He is on fire people! How cool isn't that!?
• Extremly fun to play as!

What do you need when playing as Brand

• Common sense
• Able to manage your cooldowns
• Knowing how to nuke effectevily
• Knowing how to position yourself in teamfights
• Quick fingers
• Having fun!

Masteries

Masteries
4/4	4/4	1/1	3/2	4/1	4/3	1/4	1/1	3/3	3/3	1/3	1/1

Mental Force

Sorcery

Arcane Knowledge

Havoc

Blast

Archmage

Executioner

Summoner's Insight

Flash

Expanded Mind

Brand

Meditation

Runic Affinity

Runes

Runes
Greater Mark of Magic Penetration 9	Greater Seal of Cooldown Reduction 9	Greater Glyph of Magic Resist 9	Greater Quintessence of Ability Power 3

Summoner Spells

Flash

Brand

Blaze

Brand

Conflagration

Sear

Flash

Flash

Brand

Brand

Brand

Ability Explenation

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

Blaze

This is Brands passive. It gives all of your basic abilities and ultimate a special effect. It also places a DoT on the enemy.

Sear

Brands Q is a skillshot nuke that damages the first enemy hit. It deals some decent damage, but it doesn't deal as much damage as Pillar of Flame and Conflagration.

The ablazed version stunns the first enemy hit, that's going to be one of the most important parts of your combo, since it's your only CC ability.

Tips and Tricks

• Use the ablazed version of this spell to get a perfect Pillar of Flame
• In teamfights, or right before a teamfight, do a Conflagration + Sear combo to punish enemies who are out of position.
• Remember that the blaze DoT wears of by time, so if you plan to throw sear for the stun, do it quickly after you first spell.

Pillar of Flame

This is your main source of damage even though it can be tricky to land. But just practice a bit, and you will make it.

The ablazed version deals 25% more damage. This isn't the most important part of your combo, but it's a great way of doing that last bit of damage that you normally wouldn't be able to do.

Tips and Tricks

• Remember, positioning is the key. Cast this ability where the enemy is running.
• The mana cost is very high, therefore be careful when using it.
• Harass with this when your mana allows you too.
• If possible, try to get more than a single enemy in the circle, you will do more damage.

Conflagration

Brand's E sets a single target on fire, dealing damage. If the target is ablazed, it will spread to nearby enemies. A great farming tool too.

Now, some may ask, why don't you max this one over Pillar of Flame? Conflagration will always hit, while pillar of flame needs practice to hit. First of all, it deals more damage. The second reason is: If you can't properly land pillar of flame, even after long practicing, you won't do well with Brand.

Tips and Tricks

• Use it to harass but do no not, I repeat, DO NOT use it whenever the cooldown is up.
• You know the middle dot in the aiming circle that appears once you press w? Only the dot in the middle needs to be in range, not the whole circle. This makes it easier to outrange almost anyone. There will be a pic if this later
• Try to use ablazed version to either deal more damage or do that last bit of damage.
  
  
  
  

  Pyroclasm

  
  Brands ultimate is a fireball that bounces on enemies. Note that it doesn't prioritize champions, it will bounce randomly on minions and champions.
  
  
  
  Tips and Tricks
  • The best way to use this ability is when 2 enemy champions are next to each other. I have scored almost a billion double kills that way.
  • Using it against 5 enemies in the enemy team sounds tempting, but don't. Wait until they are around 3 left.
  • The true potential of this skill comes when it bounces on a single target twice. Otherwise, it's just a sear clone.
  • You can use it when Maplhite is failing his ult like this:
    

Ability Sequence

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

Pillar of Flame

Sear

Conflagration

spaaaaaaaaaaaaaace

Damage: 80/120/160/200/240 AP scaling: +0.65 per Ability Power Cooldown: 8/7.5/7/6.5/6 Mana Cost: 50 Mana Range: 900

space spaaaaaaaaaaaaaace Damage: 70/105/140/175/210 AP scaling: +0.55 per Ability Power Cooldown: 12/11/10/9/8 Mana Cost: 60/65/70/75/80 Range: 625 I would recommend you to max it first but you don't have to do it. I made this guide to give you some ideas of how to build Brand, not to make you follow it to the letter. Pyroclasm -> Pillar of Flame -> Sear -> Conflagration

Items

This is the prefered starting item, as it gives you some early AP, Health and Mana regen. It gives you some nice sustain as well as some more damage. But if you are new to Brand, try out some other starting items instead.

Doran's Ring

Boots of Speed Catalyst the Protector

Blasting Wand


Make sure to have about 1500-2000 gold when you recall for the first time (IF possible). Grab boots of speed for the mobility and Catalyst the Protector for the lain sustain and survivability it provides. Prioritize Blasting Wand last in this situation. If oyu have some extra gold, grab a ward or health pots.

Preparing your core build

These are items you can't replace in this build. These are:

Rod of Ages

60 Ability Power, 450 Health, 525 Mana. Passive: Your Champion gains 18 Health, 20 Mana, and 2 Ability Power every 1 min. Bonuses cap at +180 Health, +200 Mana and +20 Ability Power. (Not included in stats) UNIQUE Passive: Upon leveling up, restores 250 health and 200 mana over 8 seconds.

This item got all you need! Great mix of damage and sustain. This should be your first big item. Grabbing this item early is very important because it prevents you from being a glass cannon so early in the game.

Rabadon's Deathcap

140 Ability Power. UNIQUE Passive: Increased ability power by 30%.

A core item on just about every AP caster. Not only does it give 140 AP, it also increases your AP with 30%. Not much more to say really.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter

80 Ability Power, 500 Health. UNIQUE Passive: Your spell damage will slow the target's movement speed by 35% for 1.5 seconds (15% for multi-target spells and damage-over-time spells and spells with a cooldown time below 3 seconds.

Once you got this item you should have no worries at all about your health. Great AP, but the real deal is the passive. And you know what? Your passive works with Rylais.

It is replacable, but in very rare situations.

Finishing your build

Morello's Evil Tome

75 Ability Power, 12 Mana Regeneration. UNIQUE Passive: +20% cooldown reduction.

This is a very underestimated item, especially on Brand. By now you should have a lot of damage and health. There is only one thing that stops you, your cooldowns. Get this item and it will be far less of a problem combined with blue buff. And a piece of AP doesn't hurt?

Void Staff

70 Ability Power. UNIQUE Passive: +40% Magic Penetration.

If you'r enemies are samrt enough, they will start to stack some annoying magic resist. Buy this item to counter that. Plus, it got some nice AP.

Elixir of Brilliance

Click: Grants 20-40 Ability Power, based on your champion's level, and reduces cooldowns by 10% for 4 minutes. Stacks 3 per item slot.

Once you've finished your item build, it's time to get one of these babies for some AP and CDR.

Situational Items

Just a quick note, these items should replace Morello's Evil Tome, unless the enemies aren't stacking any Magic resist at all. If they aren't, you can also replace Void staff.

A great counter against AP caster that are doing well, great passive and a good chunk of magic resist.

Adding some extra nuke to your arsenal is always satisfying, it's like a weaker version of morellos evil tome but with a nuke active.

Another great way of countering AP casters. You get more magic resist, some health regen and movement speed, but you loose a great passive.

If you're focused and need some great armor and magic resist, look no further than Guardian Angel.

I guess these work, not too recommended though. You loose a lot early damage.

If you're doing amazing and is getting a lot of kills and assissts, get it. Otherwise forget it. Snowballing is very unreliable most of the times.

If you need some Tenacity and early magic resist, go ahead. Since you will be laning against another AP caster almost always, these are a great choice.

The best way to deal with those pesky AD carries that takes about a quarter of your health with each hit. Get it if the enemy team is filled with AD.

I love this item. Very cheap, AP, spellvamp and a great Aura. If you're team is mostly AP casters and nobody else got it, then take it!

Most of you might be thinkng, Y U NO HAVE THIS IN MAIN BUILD!? Well, after getting my rod and rylais, I got enough sustain and firepower. Of course this item is freaking awesome, and I get it a lot of times. But it's more of a defensive AP item, and I really don't need those.

Blaze and combo

Knowing how to use your passive and what combo to use and when, is the most important thing to know while playing as Brand. Let us just see what his passive really is.


Brand's spells light his targets ablaze, dealing 2% of their maximum Health in magic damage per second for 4 seconds.

So it's a DoT. But it also grants a special effect on the next spell on the target. Let us see what special effect his abiltites got when ablazed.


If the target is ablaze, the target will be stunned for 2 seconds.

This is your only CC, and a very important part of your combo. Having the enemy stunned, will make you hit Pillar of Flame every time.


Units that are ablaze take an additional 25% damage.

It deals a lot more damage, therefore you should use this spell last in your combo.


If the target is ablaze the conflagration will damage nearby enemies as well and set them ablaze.

This is your main farming tool, throw a pillar of flame and follow up with this and you can clear a minion wave in a second.


If a target is ablaze, Pyroclasm's missile speed increases.

You won't be using this so often and isn't very important. But having in mind is a good thing


Here are you standard combos:


Single target nuke

Conflagration -> Sear -> Pillar of Flame -> Ignite

Double target nuke

Pillar of Flame -> Pyroclasm -> Conflagration -> Sear

Harassing

Pillar of Flame -> Sear

Single target nuke (when you're not in range for Conflagration)

Pillar of Flame -> Sear -> Conflagration

Early game

From the 1 minute to about the 20 minute mark.

Once you've spawned, grab your things and get in mid, since your the AP carry. Don't try to go for a first blood right away, you need your full spell combo. Once the minion have spawned, just last hit. And only last hits! If you autoattack the creeps, you will overpush and the chances are greater for you being ganked.

Once you've reached level 3, you can start some serious harass, but focus on last hitting. If your laning opponent is out of position and in range, throw your single target nuke combo, without ignite unless you're sure you will get the kill. Remember to zone your enemy and do your combo if their trying to farm or harass you. But beware of ganks! Ward your lane!

Around level 8-10, you should have got the enemy turret and around 80 - 100 creep kills (if you focused on last hitting that is). Be careful though, the enemy might start grouping in mid and start some heavy pushing. The mid game... have begun!

Mid game

A couple of turret have been destroyed and you hopefully got a couple of kills. You should have a Rod of Ages and a Rabadon's Deathcap by now so you got a great mix of sustain and damage. Just make sure to get Rod of Ages before Rabadon's Deathcap.

You can now start to huehuehueheu the enemy team your combo. Just do the combo at enemies that are out position whenever you got the chance. Not much more to say except for get dragon as often as you can, and make sure to show up for teamfights!

Late game

Now this is where you shine! Your spell combo can drop an enemy from almost full health. You should be building into your last item by now. Get baron often and do what you need to do in teamfights and push a lot. You farming combo is a great pushing tool.

Make sure to take down the enemy carries often and deny them the oppurtunity to farm, get kills and just become a wrecking machine, because that's your role!

If you did what you should, the enemy nexus is exploding while the announcers voice is saying: Victory!

Teamfights

In teamfights you're the damage dealer. That's why it's VERY important how to position yourself in teamfights. I will write some typical teamfight situations and tell what to do.

Typical situation: Your team adn the enemy team are tower hugging at mid, waiting for someone to iniate. Don't do anything yet, just stay calm and watch if your tank is going to do a move soon. Remember to ALWAYS stay behind your tank. Then, your Amumu is using a Bandage Toss on the enemy player and all of a sudden, hell brakes loose. Don't randomly cast a Pillar of Flame just because you paniced, take a deep breath and start your combo.

Keep staying behind your team, so that you won't get focused or catched that easily.

In this situation, find the enemy AP and AD carry and see if they are out of position. A Conflagration + Sear + Pillar of Flame combo is highly preffered in these situations, since it will kill the target in a single combo. That's what you need to do, do the combo at the AD or AP carry and watch her/him melt like butter. But, oh no! Your spells are on cooldown! Don't worry, juke around and STAY AWAY from the enemy tank/carry. This is a perfect time to throw a Pyroclasm while waiting.

Once that's done, your spells should be off cooldown. Now do the combo at the enemy support. If they don't have one, do it on the enemy that deals the most damage. Doesn't really matter if it's and offtank or a carry, just do it.

Now, the biggest threats are eliminated. So, let's check what you need to do in teamfights.

• Prioritize the enemy AD or AP carry first, maul them down with your combo.
• Stay out of enemy fire. Stand behind your team and juke.
• Don't waste your Pyroclasm right away, wait until you've done your first combo.
• DON'T FOCUS THE TANK

Countering other AP casters

Im just gonna go through every AP caster in the game and explain how to counter them. Not that champions that can be played both AP and AD like Twisted Fate or Master Yi won't be here.

Ahri is one pain in mid. She deals tons of damage right at level 1 and can stay in lane forever. I would recommend you to get Boots of Speed and some Health Potion. Just keep dodging her skillshot and do a Conflagration + Sear whenever she is trying to nuke you down.

Any champion with a stun can shut down this annoying scarecrow. He will try to do a fear + Drain combo but in this case you need to do a Pillar of Flame + Sear combo before he get the chance to fear you. Conflagration got a too short range and he could get too close if you start with it. Dark Wind isn't a problem, he is a horrible pusher, so you can return to your base more than you normally would.

He is supersquishy, his Lay Waste deals almost no damage if it hits more than 1 target at level 1. That means that you will have a lot of fun laning against him. Just a single nuke combo can drop him below half health right at about level 4. Very itemreliant champ too. The only problem is that he is great at farming, so keep denying him minions.

Holy **** i love laning against this guy. Mana hungry, horrible farm and can't nuke that well as his Force Pulse needs to charge up. He can't do much, just watch out for Null Sphere and farm like HELL. This is a great chance to get a huge advantage in gold from farming so just do it.

But after level 6 it all changes. All of a sudden he can nuke you harder than Hiroshima once he got his Riftwalk as you won't see it coming. Ask your teammates to gank him often if he becomes a problem after level 6.

Kennen is one hard bastard. He got an insane harass and farm, and theres no mana problems that are stopping him from doing those things. You need him ganked before he starts to become a serious problem. If he is trying to Lightning Rush you, do a qucik stun before he stuns you. And yes, his passive stuns just like your's. Remember to farm a lot to keep up with his farming capabilities

She can start harassing you right at level 2 and it hurts like hell. The big problem is that dam Distortion. There's no problem that she is blinked to you, but the problem is that she can blink back in a millisecond without you even noticing it, giving you no time stun. Another champ that really needs an early gank as she can become a nightmare once she got a stacked mejais soulstealer.

The only thing you should worry about is that Light Binding. She can just use it if you're trying to start your standard singeö target nuke combo. I recommend you to start with Pillar of Flame instead. You loose 25% damage, but if you do it a couple of times, it will be worth the sacrifice.

He is an insane pusher with his annoying Malefic Visions. Just stay away from minions that are affected by it and you will be fine. Call of the Void is easy to dodge and Null Zone doesn't deal any heavy damage early on. But be super careful once he reaches level 6. I recommend you to get Quicksilver Sash if it becomes a constant problem. Otherwise you must harass while still farming up good. Laning against him is going to be a tough thing so grab a Catalyst the Protector early.

She isn't a problem. Tormented Soil is easy to get away from before is deals any heavy damage. Stay behind her minions to dodge Dark Binding. She can stay in lane for a long time because of her passive, but here comes the real deal. It's that dam Black Shield. It's one sht annoying shield that will block, absorb and prevent disables. If she got it up, wait until it's down before mauling her down, as your stun won't work. Not much of a problem.

I can't belive im bringing her in here since her nerf killed her. She isn't a problem to make a long story short. He damage isn't anything near your's so just melt her down whenever you please (not really EXACTLY when you please, because only mundo can do that). The only thing to watch out for is her Command: Attack.

He isn't really an enormous problem but he should never be ignored. The good thing is that his Rune Prison is only a snare. He will be in range for your combo, so his combo will hurt himself really. Not much more to say, as he is a quite normal AP caster to be laned against as Brand.

He is kind of like Ryze, an ok laning opponent. He also got a snare but it is **** easy to avoid. He got a DoT and a slow but not much of a nuke. If he tries to combo you, make him regret it. But after level 6 you will probably not even be able to force him out of lane so theres no need to harass. Just focus on farming after that.

This little yordle is fun to lane against. His combo costs **** load of mana and so does his Q farming. Your objectives are very simple. Nuke him early to force him to stay away from farming with his Q. Bringing an early Banshee's Veil is a smart thing or maybe a mercurys treads. In short, he isn't a problem most of the time.

If you're facing Xerath, buy Boots of Speed and some Health Potion's. He is very skillshot dependant so dodging his skillshots will break him down. Just nuke when he overchases you when trying to stun you. Not hard at all

Insane early damage, great nuke and poke. Watch out for this little fella! You should consider buying a pair of Boots of Speed. Dodge his bouncing bombe as the rest of his abilities are easy to avoid. But I warn you, don't you dare getting low on health when he is around. Mega Inferno Bomb is like a short range Requiem that deals some impressive damage.

F.A.Q

I will answer any questions you got here.

Conclusion and credits

I hope you enjoyed my guide as much as I enjoyed writing it! I took a lot of time to make it as good as possible. If you have ANY suggestions, questions or statements, please write a comment or a PM and I will be more than happy to answer!

I got a lot of time to do that anyways :)


Special tanks to jhoihjhoi for her great guide of making a guide, and those line seperators i used!

Her guide can be found
here

Patch and updates

I will write any bigger updates here and also write if brand get's effected by any future patches.

7/2/2012 - Guide released on MOBAfire