Greetings fellow summoners. My name is LeWrm, and this is my guide to Braum, The Heart of the Freljord. If your here, that means you want to take steps to learn about What makes Braum who he is, and how to play him effectively. In this guide I'll go over my play style as Braum, explain his itemization and skills, and his significance on the rift.

I'm just one of those casual League players that are part of the mob. I'm a Bronze 4 ranked player, however I don't want that to turn people away from this guide. I won't deny that I belong in Bronze for my skills as they are, but I strongly believe that I can and will improve over time and ryze through the ranks. My dream is to continue getting better and someday join the pros in the LCS. Enough about me anyways, let's move on.

Pros:
-High Tank Capability
-Great Peel
-Decent CC
-AOE Slow/Knock-up Ult

Cons:
-Poke collides with minions
-Once HP is low, you must back.
-Mobile champs can re-position around your shield.

I feel this is where Braums truly shine and prove their metal. During the laning phase, in my opinion, it is your job to take cannon minions with relic shield procs and harass the enemy bot laners. Logically, you don't want to burn all your mana poking the enemy then not have enough to protect your adc. However, because Braum's Q scales higher as you build more health, you can deal some serious damage to the enemy adc and possibly force him out of lane while your adc farms for days. With that in mind, I poke whenever the enemy is out of position, but dont go out of your. If you can land a Q, do it, don't pass up the chance.

Some Braum players I see will max their E first. Smart right? Only maybe. At level 1 of your E the first hit from an enemy is COMPLETELY negated. During the early parts of the game, that's the hit that makes the biggest difference. Player in my low elo, and possibly higher up (im not well acquainted with higher elo players), will open an engage with their hardest hitting ability. The damage after that is usually minuscule compared to the inital hit from the enemy adc, so you shouldn't need a max leveled E asap during the laning phase. Your Q is your game changer early, so make use of it.

This rune setup is ideal from Braum, in which even his poke scales off HP. He benefits purely from a defensive rune page; No offense needed here. Now you might find yourself saying, "Wrm, why do you take armor marks instead of armor seals which give more armor?" To be honest, you're not really missing out on much. Seals of Amor give +1 armor, while marks give +0.91. If a .09 difference isn't enough to convice you, look at the difference between hp marks and hp seals. Hp marks give +3.47 health per mark, while seals give +8 per seal. Better results for your time and IP, yes?
The rest is pretty self explanatory: MR Glyphs and Armor Quints for extra oomph.

Typical 0-16-14 tank support setup. Now I can already hear people questioning taking phasewalker and not maxing meditation or why take meditation at all. I feel that in the bot lane, every second counts, so being able to back a whole second faster means you finish shopping a whole second faster and get back to lane faster. And my second point, whether you have the higher mana regen or not

I like to think flash is overrated, but let's face it: Most of the time flash lets you make some amazing plays. So make sure to grab it on Braum.
Next, either you or your adc should have heal. If the adc has it, bring exhaust.

P.S. Wanna try Wrm's original setup where your Wrm considered Braum's W to be a good enough flash? Run heal exhaust!

In the late game, a tank support becomes a regular tank. In Braum's case, building full tank still has its' benefits. Due to his Q's massive damage because your a tanky beast, you can sometimes solo an enemy champion if you have been doing well. Other than that, your in the front line soaking up damage and using your Q, passive, and R to disrupt the enemy's efforts to take you down.

Now to talk about the most important part of League. No not counter picks, items!

The relic shield start is the only way to go on Braum. You were designed a tanky beast, and that's what you'll be if you've locked in as Braum. After you finish your 3 Core items and swapped your trinket to a sweeping lens, you should normally gravitate into a randuins omen, because of its AOE slowing active and high armor boost. However if the enemy team is AA heavy, get either a Thornmail or Frozen Heart first. After that stuff, banshee's veil is a must, because of its passive and its high boost to MR. From there everything else is situational and up to you depending on matchups.

Now above i have some items listed purely buy "aura". What does this mean? An aura effect is something that not only applies to you, but to other champions around you. Aura effects are amazing on Braum because of his W, which allows him to jump to an allied target. By directly jumping into the fray, you are now in the middle of a conflict, which is prime time for aura effects. For example, if your team builds a lot of lifesteal over the game, it would be optimal for you to build a Zeke's Herald, which grants life steal to allied champions around you. Makes everyone's day better doesn't it? Well, not the enemy team's that is. Never underestimate the difference one of your aura items can make in a team fight, whether it's comepletely noticeable or not.

This has been my guide to Braum, The Heart of the Freljord. This is my first guide , so I apologize if it's too much reading and not visual enough. Anyways I hope this guide helps some of you in future matches. Now that your done reading, hurry up and go kick some *** on the rift!