A Challenger Jungler (NA) and Youtuber

Hello, I'm KingStix. I'm a challenger jungle main and I play a variety of jungle champions- sometimes including ones that aren't seen as meta such as Brand and Teemo. If you interested in more educational League of Legends content from a challenger jungle main, you can find it on my YouTube channel .

About Brand Jungle

Brand has just recently received a buff (10.22) that allows his E to spread automatically even if minions/monsters/champs aren't already set abalze. His ult is also now able to bounce to himself which gives him more options when fighting 1v1- you no longer need a camp or minion wave! The best time to pick Brand jungle is versus an enemy comp that doesn't have much range.

Brand Pros

Brand offers a lot of AOE damage and CC with his stun and Rylai's slow.
He scales very well and has a lot of power spikes.
He can 1v1 many junglers.
He has good gank potential at level 3+.

Brand Cons

Teammates could think you are trolling with the pick and react poorly.
He can't gank before level 3.
His damage is only AP so he can't play with a full AP team comp.
He has low mobility.

Early Game Brand

With off meta junglers, a lot of people worry about their clear speed because it's a vital part of being a jungler. Thankfully, because of Hunter's Talisman Brand can actually remain nearly full health in the jungle and can clear quickly.

Blue Side Clear- If Blue Sentinel is on the bottom side of the map, you start with your blue buff and receive a leash from your bot lane. Then you go to gromp & use smite. After these 2 camps, you make your way to your red buff then you will be level 3 and ready to gank!

Red Side Clear- If Red Brambleback is on the bottom side of the map, you start with your red buff and receive a leash from your bot lane. Then you go to your blue buff and finally your gromp & use smite. You are now level 3 and ready to gank!

IMPORTANT- Many people think that Brand is highly likely to get invaded because he isn't a meta jungler. You will be fine as long as you remain full health in your jungle- you will win the trade. To do this, when you walk past wolves and raptors use your W and walk away. It will provide A LOT of healing and you will take no damage from the camp. It doesn't really add time to your clear speed either because the ability will be back up in time.

After your level 3 gank, back if needed and continue to clear the rest of your jungle while ganking when you see the opportunity. If you don't need to back, you can head to mid for another gank if the option is available or clear another camp before the scuttle spawns.

It is important to gank a lot on Brand because this sets up his Dark Harvest stacks and gets him snowballing. Try to get as close as possible to the enemy when ganking before throwing out your Q stun to avoid missing the ability. The safest combo is auto with red buff for slow > E > walk close & Q > W last because you can't miss it if they're already stunned.

If you'd like to see how the early game is played with Brand Jungle, you can check it out in this video. Play Video

Mid Game Brand

At this point in the game, yous hould have your jungle item and boots along with a Rylai's Crystal Scepter. This is a nice power spike for Brand because the slow from Rylai's offers a ton of utility and also allows him to easily land his stun. When you ult, it will also take the enemies longer to run away from each other which will likely lead to the ult bouncing max times.

What you build after this is situational. You can read more about the item choices at the top of the page by hovering over the "notes" section. In the mid game, you will want to be grouping as Brand because his team fighting is very strong. Ideally, you'd want your team to force a team fight every time your ultimate is up. Brand still does really well in the late game, but he could still get outscaled depending on comps and what the enemies are building. Plus, when games go really late- they generally become a lot more risky. You wouldn't want to die before getting your ult off!

If you'd like to see how the mid game is played with Brand Jungle, you can check it out in this video. Play Video

Late Game Brand

Itemization, positioning, and objectives will be the most important things at this point in the game.

Itemization Tips
If there is 1 or more tanks, it is important to go Liandry's Anguish.
If there are no tanks, but the enemies are building magic resist items, you should go for a Void Staff.
If the enemies aren't building much magic resist, you should go for Rabadon's Deathcap.
If the enemies have a lot of healing, you should go for Morellonomicon.

Positioning Tips
If your stun and hourglass are up, you can play more aggressive to step up and poke.
When your stun is on cool down, walk back and keep your distance until it's up.

Objective Tips
Brand is great at stopping the enemies on objectives because they will all be grouped up and get destroyed by your AOE damage.
After winning team fights, use assistance pings on turrets to make sure your teammates help you break turrets instead of going into the jungle to farm.


If you'd like to see how the late game is played with Brand Jungle, you can check it out in this video. Play Video