Build Guide by Saltie

Introduction

Thanks for checking out my first LoL guide. I will be sharing my build order and play style as Brand, the burning vengeance.

Here is an 8 minute video I did introducing Brand, his abilities, and my play style. Most importantly, it has footage of real games as Brand.

Pros / Cons

Pros:

- High damage
- Rewards those who aim their skill-shots
- Good amount of health for a caster
- Great harasser

Cons:

- Very dependent on all abilities
- Not a lot of defense
- Not an effective 1v1 champion

Summoner Spells

Recommended:

Ignite - Works great when combined with Brand's passive dot.

Clarity - Allows you to stay in a lane much longer, increasing your minion kill count and harass potential.

Optional:

Flash - If you are playing Brand correctly, and using care not to over extend, then your stun from Sear is usually more than enough to escape a hairy situation. If you feel you need it to survive, it's understandable.

Heal - Another (mostly)defensive summoner spell. There are simply more powerful summoner spells out there.

Teleport - A fair replacement for Clarity. It will allow you to buy items and restore mana, then quickly get back to your lane.

Cleanse - One of the few things that can stop Brand are annoying snares and stuns. Cleanse... cleanses that problem.

Clairvoyance - This isn't as bad as you think, as long as you pick up the mastery in the utility tree. It's 10 seconds of vision anywhere you need every 50 seconds. Great for checking the river when you push.

Avoid:

Exhaust - If you are close enough to use this, then you are close enough to stun them with your Sear. It's just not as useful to you as the other spells.

Ghost - Same story as flash. It's mostly a defensive tool, which you shouldn't need with the amount of damage Brand can deal to someone who is chasing.

Fortify - Leave it for the tanks. Your abilities can easily drop pushing minions.

Revive - Yeah no.

Rally - the only thing more useless than revive.

Smite - You'll have to trust me here. I tried Jungle-Brand. It just doesn't work.

Runes

This is a typical rune page for any AP nuke. You have a lot of magic penetration, mana regen, and ability power. Some prefer Fortitude quintessences but I use Potency. 15 AP is a pretty significant damage increase.

Masteries

Masteries are usually the most unique part of any build. Most people know which are important, and then bicker about the filler points. I will explain some of the smaller choices here.

Perseverence - This is mostly for the health regen. On top of Force of Nature late game, it helps you recover more health, and reduces your dependence on health potions.

Utility Mastery - Blue buff is fantastic on brand. Using this in conjunction with clarity will easily keep your mana full, meaning you can skip over expensive items like Archangel's Staff.

Quickness - 3% movement speed by itself is not a lot, but when combined with your movement speed 2 shoes and force of nature, you will be able to out maneuver most opponents.

Why skip Meditation and Expanded Mind? - With Utility Mastery and Clarity, you should have plenty of mana. Also, Brand is all about dominating lanes, so the experience gain from Awareness is going to create a snowball effect, making is easier and easier to farm minions as the game goes on.

Starting Items

Sapphire Crystal - I used to start with Ruby Crystal, but quickly realized most enemies couldn't reach me anyway. Sapphire Crystal keeps your mana high at the beginning, which increases the amount of time you have before you need to use Clarity.

Health Potion x3 - Eventually, something is going to hit you. 3 health pots are usually enough to keep you in a lane until you are ready to get your boots.

Early Items

Boots of Speed (Priority 1) - Mobility is always important. It helps both offensive and defensive capabilities as Brand.

Catalyst the ProtectorCatalyst the Protector (Priority 2) - Another excellent tool to keep you in a lane longer than normal. Later, this will build into a Rod of Ages

Sorcerer's Shoes (Priority 3) - More mobility and magic penetration. These boots are a must. Catalyst however, is still more useful in the early game.

Make sure you stay well stocked on health potions until about level 10. They allow you to harass even on turrets, which is an important part of playing Brand effectively.

Mid-Game Items

Rod of Ages - A huge boost to your health, mana pool, and ability power. This is the key ingredient of my build. Once you finish your Sorcerer's Shoes, this should be your top priority.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter - Even more health and ability power on top of your Rod of Ages. It will also slow anyone hit by your spells, making it easier to retreat and chase. The slow also makes it much easier to aim your skill-shots. By the time you have this finished, your Rod should have advanced significantly.

Once these two items are complete, you are virtually unstoppable.

Late-Game Items

Force of Nature - Another key component to my guide. Force of Nature will give you a huge amount of survivability, and increased mobility.

Will of the Ancients - More ability power, but most importantly, spell vamp. This, when combined with Force of Nature, will keep you alive through some crazy team fights.

Rabadon's Deathcap - Games rarely last long enough to build this, but if they do, Rabadon's Deathcap is an incredible buff to your spells.

Brand's Skills

Blaze(passive) - Brand's spells light his targets ablaze, dealing 2% of their maximum health in magic damage per second for 4 seconds.

Sear(Q) - Brand launches a fireball forward that deals magic damage. If the target is ablaze, the target will be stunned for 2 seconds.

Pillar of Flame (W) - 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.

Conflagration (E)- 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.

Pyroclasm (R)- 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 up to four times for a total of five hits, and can hit the same enemy up to three times.

Champion Skill Sequence

Ideally, you want to use Conflagration, Sear, Pillar of Flame. This will DoT the enemy, and then stun them, giving you an easy chance to follow up with Pillar of Flame.

More often than not, you won't get this opportunity. Players tend to stay behind their minions. In this case, you should harass with Pillar of Flame, making sure to hit minions, and if possible, champions as well. If you miss someone with your pillar, they tend to try and attack you. Use Conflagration on a minion with your DoT, and it will spread, hitting the champion. If they still insist on pushing after that, you can use Sear to stun them. This gives you time to move back, or hit them with some auto attacks.

While fighting at a tower, you want to harass with Pillar of Flame and sear. Be careful when standing in range of the turret, because your passive DoT WILL make the tower attack you if it's on a champion.

Don't be afraid to use your Ignite. Most champions around 20% health will die to a full Brand rotation plus ignite.

I suggest using Pyroclasm at the BEGINNING of a team fight. This will ignite all opponents, giving your Pillar of Flame bonus damage. Next you can stun someone with Sear, Conflagration to refresh the DoT, and finish the fight with another Pillar of Flame.

Minion Skill Sequence

Your most powerful combination is Sear, Conflagration(on the same target), Pillar of Flame. This will spread your flame DoT to nearby minions, and Pillar of Flame will hit them for additional damage.

While that may be the typical rotation, I rarely use it. Pillar of Flame followed by Conflagration does slightly less damage, but will save you a lot of mana. It also keeps you Sear off cooldown, in case your opponent tries to fight you.

Blue buff is great on Brand. Just remember that the Ancient Golem has a lot of health, and you don't. Treat him like a champion: start with Conflagration for the initial ignite, then use Sear to stun, and Pillar of Flame for heavy damage.

Pyroclasm has a fast cooldown, so if you ever need to go back, burn your ultimate, and follow up with a Pillar of Flame. By the time you come back, your Pyroclasm will be nearly ready.

Team Work

Brand can easily take mid or even solo a 2v1. In my experience, he is best when partnered with someone who has a snare.

Renekton is one of my favorite laning partners. He can dash in, stun, and do significant damage. The stun also gives me the opportunity to land my Pillar of Flame, and follow up with my own stun, Sear.

Other great Brand partners:

Soraka
Singed
Blitzcrank
Lux
Morgana
Alistar
Cho'Gath
Malphite
Taric
Kayle
Veigar

Summary

This build gives you a resilient Brand with a lot of harassment potential. With enough practice, you will be able to walk up to a turret, drop your skills, and walk out with an easy kill. Thank you for your interest in my guide. If you have any comments or suggestions, please leave them, and I will do my best to reply.