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Brand - one hot motherf**ker.

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Spells:

Flash

Ignite

Ability Order

Brand Passive Ability

First Words

Welcome to Noequal's guide to building a successful Brand.

Please understand that as of now, this guide is PURELY for a mid-lane experience. Perhaps if I have some time later on, I will add side-lane sections.

That being said, thank you for reading, and if you have any suggestions/criticisms, do not hesitate to post them!

Introduction

In a faraway place known as Lokfar there was a seafaring marauder called Kegan Rodhe. As was his people's way, Kegan sailed far and wide with his fellows, stealing treasures from those unlucky enough to catch their attention. To some, he was a monster; to others, just a man. One night, as they sailed through the arctic waters, strange lights danced over the frozen wastes. There was something hypnotic about them; it was something that drew them to it like moths to a flame. Trekking across the frozen waste, they came to a cave covered in ancient runes. The meaning of the runes long lost to them, Kegan led the way inside. There, inside a perfect cage of ice floated a dancing column of flame. There was no way such a thing should be burning, especially not in this place. However, its movement was as hypnotic as a siren's song, captivating and seductive. While the others stayed back, Kegan could not help but approach it while holding out his hand...

That is the last thing Kegan Rodhe remembers, for now his body belongs to Brand. It is a creature of olden times, perhaps even a casualty of the Rune Wars. It is known in ancient texts as the Burning Vengeance. It is a creature of pure fiery hate that exists for no other reason than to lay waste the world of men and yordles. No one is quite sure how Brand found his way to Valoran, but he began his predations at once. Overcome by Demacian forces, he was given a choice: fight within the confines of the League or die. Naturally, he chose to use his destructive powers in the League, for now...

''This place will burn, not by cinder flying or breath of wind, but by the vengeance of my hand.''
-Brand

If I had to make an allusion to another game to explain what Brand feels like the most, it would definately be World of Warcraft and destruction warlocks in seasons 6 and 7. Complete glass cannon with jack **** for an escape mechanism with absolutely ridiculously overpowered damage. If left alone, wrecks havoc among enemis. If fed, wrecks even more havoc among enemies. HELL, if there are more than 2 enemies, Brand obliterates anything.

Thus, this build will concentrate more upon being very squishy but putting out the maximum damage imaginable.

(If you're looking for a replacement for your local Alistar tank, this isn't the place for you. It's about to get f**kin' hot.)

Pros / Cons

PROS

- Fun to play
- High damage
- Excellent passive
- Excellent synergy in team fights
- Excellent farming abilities

CONS

- Mana management is an issue
- Squishy
- No escape mechanism
- Prone to ganks
- Requires at least 12 IQ to land a skillshot stun

Same as with nearly every champion, getting fed leads to you being an unstoppable killing machine with no remorse and guilt. More often than not do I find myself in the situation of having 3-4 kills by the 5th/6th minute mark because of how silly Brand's coefficients are right now.

Runes/Masteries/Summoner Spells

Runes

Self explanatory, not going into an in depth analysis. Magic penetration, mp5 and ability power runes as with every other caster.
Some may take CDR glyphs, but I don't like them, so I just take raw AP ones. Same with quints.

Masteries

Again, fairly obvious. 9/0/21 caster masteries, can be adjusted depending on summoner spells.

Summoner Spells

Flash is one of the best summoner spells available, if you know how to use it. Flashing through walls defensively has saved all of us so many times, just as flashing offensively to get that last hit on a runner has gotten us a kill. As brand has no slows and no speed boosts/teleports, Flash is an obvious choice, at least for me.

I pick ignite due to it's synergy with Brand's passive. The amount of kills I've gotten when I ignite a runner and he has Blaze debuff on him is quite substantial.

Don't like flash/ignite?

These 3 are all viable options, depending on your style of play. Ghost/exhaust can be used both defensively and offensively on Brand, and if you find yourself OOM constantly, Clarity is for you.

Skills

R>E>W>Q

PASSIVE - BLAZE

:

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

Excellent passive, great for early game harassment, poking with it does a lot of damage and hurts high-HP champions (Alistar, Cho'gath etc.) greatly. Deals magic damage rather than real damage, so magic resist is in effect. Is applied upon every one of your spells that collides with the target, and having this debuff on an enemy allows for enhanced spell effects to be used such as stun for Sear and AoE damage for Conflagration.

Q - SEAR

:
Brand launches a ball of fire forward that deals magic damage. If the target is ablaze, the target will be stunned for 2 seconds.

Cost: 50 mana.
Range: 900.
Cooldown: 8 / 7.5 / 7 / 6.5 / 6 seconds.
Magic Damage: 80 / 120 / 160 / 200 / 240 (+0.65 per ability power).

Lowest skilling priority. A skillshot fireball that does damage on impact with the first target it hits - EVEN IF IT'S A MINION. If it collides with someone who has the Blaze debuff (passive), the target will become stunned for 2 seconds.
Best used at the end of your chain to get a stun on the opponent in a 1v1 scenario.

W - PILLAR OF FLAME

:
After a short delay, Brand creates a pillar of flame at a target area, dealing magic damage to enemy units within the area. Units that are ablaze take an additional 25% damage.

Cooldown: 10 seconds.
Range: 900.
Cost: 70 / 80 / 90 / 100 / 110 mana.
Magic Damage: 80 / 125 / 170 / 215 / 260 (+0.6 per ability power).

A ranged ability that detonates a pillar of flames at the targeted area. Applies Blaze, due to which you can use Conflagration right after using PoF for maximim AoE damage.
Requires a bit of thought to utilize perfectly (i.e. predicting enemy movement) but coupled with a skillshot stun is deadly. 3rd leveling priority.

E - CONFLAGRATION

:
Brand conjures a powerful blast at his target, dealing magic damage to them. If the target is ablaze the conflagration will damage nearby enemies as well.

Range: 675.
Cost: 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80 mana.
Cooldown: 12 / 11.5 / 11 / 10.5 / 10 seconds.
Magic Damage: 70 / 105 / 140 / 175 / 210 (+0.55 per ability power).

Your bread and butter, 2nd leveling priority. 100% to hit the target (i.e. not a skill shot) within range, does damage and puts up Blaze. If Blaze is already active on the target, your Conflagration will hit all the targets surrounding the initial target AND apply Blaze to them. Excellent for teamfights; pulling off a Sear into a target - > Conflagrate into a target and thus affect all the surrounding teammates with Blaze -> Ulti/25% extra damage Pillar of Flame will quite literally cut their ****s off and stick them so far up their ***es they will be puking testicles for a week after. Err, I digress.

R - PYROCLASM

Brand unleashes a devastating torrent of fire that bounces between enemies, dealing damage each time it bounces. If a target is ablaze, Pyroclasm's missile speed increases. It will bounce five times, and can hit the same enemy up to three times.

Range: 750.
Cost: 100 / 150 / 200 mana.
Cooldown: 105 / 90 / 75 seconds.
Magic Damage: 150 / 250 / 350 (+0.5 per ability power).

Great ultimate for teamfights and for solo fights. You fire a slow ball of fire that hits your target and then bounces to the closes targets to up to 5 times - which means it can hit your initial target 3 times!
If your initial target is affected by Blaze, Pyroclasm bounces between enemies faster as well as moving faster. Absolutely devastating in team fights.

To succeed, a Brand player has to link his abilities together to form a chain of absolute cluster**** of fire and carnage. There are so many choices to a sequence when approaching a fight - you can use PoF first with a Sear right behind it to get a stun into a Conflag, or a completely different way around. You have to be creative and adapt to the situation. Oh, and don't miss skillshots. That's just terrible and it means you will remain a virgin forever.

Items

A standard caster nuker item build. The only real choice is....

MEJAIS - YES OR NO?

Personally, I despise Mejai's soulstealer because I am horribly inconsistent as a player. If you're the type of person who is innately GOOD at the game (which you just lost) and knows that he will most likely get fed, then by all means, Mejai's is an item for you. Having upwards of 600 ability power at level 13 and two shotting literally ****ing everything in your path is satisfying, but being money starved with 2 stacks of mejais isn't quite so victorious. In essence, you have to see how the game goes and if you're sure you can get at least 10+ stacks of Mejai's quickly after purchasing it, go ahead.

After those items are aquired, one can build accordingly - lack of slows? Rylais. Bursty? Hourglass. Karthas? BAAAAAAAAAAAANSHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES. And so on.

For the past couple of games, I've been skipping Mejai's and building a Fiendish Codex to get to deathfire's grasp quicker. It's personal preference.

BUT DEATHFIRE'S GRASP IS NECESSARY AS IT HAS ABSOLUTELY BALLS TO THE WALL PERFECT SYNERGY WITH YOUR HYDROGEN-BOMB EQUIVALENT DAMAGE.

Summary

This is an alternative display picture for Brand.

If you like 2 shotting people, Brand is for you. If you like being fairly squishy and having a challenging fight in terms of escaping and surviving, Brand is for you. If you enjoy seeing that dumb Maokai you just 2 shot cussing at you in a foreign language, Brand is for you.

As for me, criticise, call me a virgin/moron, and don't forget to vote!

Don't hate the playa', hate the game.
-Brand.