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Brand Build Guide by

Brand - Obey or get burned!

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Brand Build Guide By Updated on

Guide Discussion (7) More Brand Guides

Spells:

Flash

Ignite

Ability Order

Brand Passive Ability

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 or won't be here.

Ahri

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 and some . Just keep dodging her skillshot and do a + whenever she is trying to nuke you down.

Anivia

She shouldn't be a problem pre-6, but after she might get annoying. The
thing is, keep her underfed so that she won't be that big of a threat later on.
If she is trying to combo you down after level 6, introduce her to your single target nuke combo.

Annie

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 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 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 you.

Karthus[/color}

Pretty easy to counter. His 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 .

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 right up your face, throw a and finsihing with a . When he does this, he got no escape mechanism because 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

Pros / Cons

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Pros

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

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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

Offense

Tier 1

Extra ability power makes your spells do more damage.

Tier 2

Brand needs CDR, plus, spending 4 points in this perk also makes archane knowledge avaible.

Tier 3

It gives you some magic penetration, wich gives you a better late game and better damage overall.

Some extra damage is always great.

Tier 4

This perk increases per level and that gives you a greater damage output.

Tier 5

It gives you AP, I have already explained why it's good.

Tier 6

Combined with a [blaze] [pillar of flame], it will be much be much easier to get kills.

Utility

Tier 1

I take this for the upgraded

isn't extremly mana hungry, but sometimes he can be mana hungry if you aren't careful with using spells.

Tier 2

I take this for the same reason as [esxpanded mind]

Tier 3

This is the bes perk imo. 1% increased spell vamp is **** and 0.5 extra gold each second isn't even noticable.

Runes

Runes

Greater Mark of Insight

It ignores some of your targets magic resist,wich allows you to do more damage. It's very good late game.

Greater Seal of Focus

Brand is worthless while his spells are on cooldown, right? That's the reason why I take these Seals. Some CDR is wonderful on Brand.

Greater Glyph of Warding

I take these on just about every champ because of the survivability it provides. Overall great runes for Brand.

Greater Quintessence of Potency

It gives some great AP. Not really much to say here, more damage, more domination.

Summoner Spells

Good Summoner Spells

Flash

This should be a natural pick for just about every champ. It can get you out of sticky situations and also give you kills and assissts. Also a great chasing tool too.

Ignite

This is my natural pick togheter with . And this item works so amazing with . You will be amazed of how good this one works with your passive, .

Cleanse

can be shut down by CC, but with a well placed + will do a stun, but for new players, thats hard. Therefore, pick this spell if you aren't good with that combo.

Exhaust

If you prefer this over , take it. Since the last nerf of this spell, many prefer this spell instead of .

Other Viable Summoner Spells

Ghost

I don't think that this spell works good on , but I guess that you can take it.

Promote

's early laning phase is amazing and this spell can help you to get some early pushes.

Teleport

I have never really needed this spell when playing as , but sure, take it if you like it.

Avoid at all costs

The rest.

Ability Explenation

Ability Sequence Order

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 and .

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 ? 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

Always max first. It got some great AoE and deals the most damage.

You always want to get your ult whenever you can, silly.

And I like tomax second, but a lot of people like to max second. Why? I don't know. Most say that it's more reliable. Well, yea but sear is a fairly easy skillshot and plus, knowing how to land skillshot a very important thing to know when playing as brand. I have even heard that it deals more damage. Let us compare those 2 skills.

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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

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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 , not to make you follow it to the letter.

-> -> ->

Items

Starting Items

Doran's Ring

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 , try out some other starting items instead.

Boots of Speed Health Potion x3

This gives you some extra mobility and ehalth sustain. You loose damage and mana sustain from the though. If you aren't very spammy with your abilities but needs some extra health sustain, take it.

Meki Pendant Health Potion x2

This is only for those who are extremly spammy with their skills, but I really don't recommend using this.

Preparing your core build

Catalyst the protector

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 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 , 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 .

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 . 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

-> -> ->

Double target nuke

-> -> ->

Harassing

->

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

-> ->

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 and a by now so you got a great mix of sustain and damage. Just make sure to get before .

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 is using a on the enemy player and all of a sudden, hell brakes loose. Don't randomly cast a 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 + + 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 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 or won't be here.

Ahri

Anivia

Annie

She can be a huge threat if not careful. Keep watching when she got her stun up. Once she got it, keep your distance. When laning against her it's a lot about poisitioning an keep denying minion kills. If you can do that before she reaches level 6, you should have better items and be more of a threat of her. If she manages to farm up anyways, gank A LOT.

Brand

Just set the enemy brand on fire and you'll be fine, Just kidding, but seriously mirror laning is about playing passive and farm up, then do a super combo when your enemy least expects it. Mostly just focus on getting your items faster. Ganking a lot is also a great way of suceeding.

Cassiopeia

Cassiopeia have to play aggressively in order to succeed in the laning phase. But just show her that if she dares to approach, her precious snakescale will burn down. Otherwise, just be very mobile in fights and dodge her poison and then stun. You shouldn't have any problems with her.

Fiddlesticks

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

Karthus

He is supersquishy, his 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.

Kassadin

Holy **** i love laning against this guy. Mana hungry, horrible farm and can't nuke that well as his needs to charge up. He can't do much, just watch out for 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 as you won't see it coming. Ask your teammates to gank him often if he becomes a problem after level 6.

Kennen

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 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 . 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.

Lux

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

Malzahar

He is an insane pusher with his annoying . Just stay away from minions that are affected by it and you will be fine. is easy to dodge and doesn't deal any heavy damage early on. But be super careful once he reaches level 6. I recommend you to get 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.

Morgana

She isn't a problem. is easy to get away from before is deals any heavy damage. Stay behind her minions to dodge . She can stay in lane for a long time because of her passive, but here comes the real deal. It's that dam . 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.

Orianna

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 .

Ryze

He isn't really an enormous problem but he should never be ignored. The good thing is that his 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.

Swain

He is kind of like , 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.

Veigar

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 is a smart thing or maybe a mercurys treads. In short, he isn't a problem most of the time.

Viktor

He got an insane poke but it costs too much mana. If your able to dodge it or just position yourself, you're going to do fine. His shield isn't dangerous and his stun is very hard to place. It's all about positioning to not fall a victim for one of this evil mans traps.

Xerath

If you're facing , buy and some '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

Ziggs

Insane early damage, great nuke and poke. Watch out for this little fella! You should consider buying a pair of . 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. is like a short range 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 :)