Welcome to your in depth guide to playing bot lane Braum support both early and throughout game. In game I like to play tanky supports, they fit my playstyle best in late game team fights so I find I have the most success on them. My gamer name is Coonmeat (look me up, you may not be impressed haha). I've been playing the game for close to 4 years now and I really just like the strategy and mindset that goes behind winning a game. See anything in this guide that you disagree with, are confused about or would like to add? Feel free to comment, always open to constructive criticism and growing as a player. Thanks guys.

Braum is a powerful support and an asset to the team if played well. Instead of providing health regen to his carry, Braum protects them by offering good peel, a buff to their defensive stats and a shield that literally blocks anything thrown at them.

Pros:

-Good amount of CC
-The CC he provides is easy to chain with teammates
-Very good at blocking skill shots
-Fairly sticky melee (which translates to good peel for support)
-Use Unbreakable to stop the majority of damage from reaching carries, especially in tunneled areas
-Has a gap closer (just needs an ally nearby)
-Move speed buff provided by Unbreakable can come in handy while escaping
-Can buff with defensive stats
-Has AoE knock up and slow zone from Glacial Fissure


Cons:

-Stun from Concussive Blows takes four autos to proc, which can take a while if you need immediate cc
- Concussive Blows relies on allies to help proc, so if teammates are pinheads then its hard to be a valuable support
-No form of sustain or heal in lane (besides Relic Shield and potions)
-The hit box on Glacial Fissure sometimes seems bigger than it really is

Greater Mark of Armor

Braum's a tank support so we want tank stats. Because you will be bot lane and assuredly going against a physical damage carry, you will want to have as much flat armor early to win any pre level 6 fights that will probably occur.


Greater Seal of Health

Most know this, but the seals are the defensive runes in the game. This means that they provide more armor and health than other runes. So even though they provide more armor than the marks, it is only 0.9 more per rune (very minimal, almost inconsequential). However, they provide more than 4 health per rune (still small, but definitely more of a margin there). For this reason I run health seals and armor marks to attain maximum tankiness from my runes.


Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist

I always find it hard to stack magic resist late game as a support, there arent too many quality items for Braum that have it. Pair that with the fact that the only magic damage Braum will see before level 8 (the level at whioh the scaling and flat runes provide roughly the same stats) will be from a possible mage support. I prefer to simply dodge the mage supports skill shots rather than sacrific late game magic resist. Either way, just make sure you take some sort of magic resist glyph.


Greater Quintessence of Armor

Again, Braum will be facing off against a physical damage carry in bot lane so the more armor he has the more of an early advantage he will have. WIth these runes you will find yourself soaking a LOT of damage bot lane in engagements.

RESOLVE

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Braum is a tank support so here I opt for more tanky stats. Regen is good if you think you'll get poked a lot in lane but typically I go with the percentages of def stats.

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For most supports I take Explorer for the roaming and overall move speed for placing deep wards. However, as Braum I like to stay with my ADC as much as possible, since most of my moves revolve around having someone there to protect. So Explorer becomes a little less valuable, while Tough Skin provides even more benefits to my damage soaking abiities? I'll take that one.

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This choice seems pretty clear. Braum will have little to no regen effects on himself (unless you buy Warmog's Armor, in which case you still don't need Runic Armor ). Go with Veteran's Scars for the extra health.

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This one could go either way for me, I typically like to reduce the CDs on my summoner spells because I feel those are two very valuable CDs to have up. However, as mentioned earlier Braum has no way of regening health in lane, plus the way I play him late game demands more health regen while low on health. I take Perseverance but if you don't see yourself getting poked in lane Insight is always good to have. (I am aware that I linked Garen's passive's icon. See the linked mastery in previous sentence for details on it).

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Tenacity is a good skill to have, but typically people arent focusing their CC towards the support (if they are, so be it. this typically means your carries are NOT being CCed which is great). And you're telling me that I can get even MORE tanky stats? I think I'll go with that option please.

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This one is a little trickier and I'm sure there's plenty of people that disagree with the choice I've made. I'll go through my logic. Strength of the Ages doesn't really appeal to me too much as a tank support for the most part anymore, it usually takes a LONG time to get stacks on it, and if you get denied a cannon minion in lane it's not great. Plus it only gives health which I can buy in spades from a multitude of items. Bond of Stone is a good mastery to take, and should probably be taken when playing in more competitive ranks, but the way I see it, braum's Unbreakable already directs all incoming damage to him anyway (if done right) so why shield your carry from damage that isn't even getting to them (thinking moreso in the laning phase here). However, this mastery is more useful late as your ADC should be the champion closest to you thus receiving damage mitigation. Grasp of the Undying gives Braum more damage and a little more sustain in fights in the laning phase. I believe this gives him a boost, since in the laning phase you will typically have your Unbreakable up as you proceed to smack the enemy carry or support over and over while they try to focus your carry. With Grasp of the Undying you can regen a small amount of the damage PLUS dish out more damage to them as they won't expect you to have it. You can probably only get away with this mastery choice in the lower tiers of ranked however, otherwise go Bond of Stone .

CUNNING

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We opted out of movement speed earlier in the mastery tree, and now we end up getting some anyway. It makes no sense to run Savagery on a support so we take the roaming buff to place wards quicker.

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Again, having prolonged jungle buffs or a buff to damage when alone in lane makes no sense on a support character (you will not get jungle buffs and you will almost always be with someone in lane). The buff to potions allows you to poke a little better and regen enough before the next bot lane skirmish. In game, remember that your potions have a micro heal attached and use that to your advantage when you want a quick turn of the tides of an encounter.

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Personally i never have too much trouble with Braum's mana pool. Some people do, and taking Meditation is viable. It may seem silly to take Merciless on a support but the way I see it is it might give me a small advantage in an early lane skirmish on some low enemies rather than mana regen that gives me no in combat advantages.

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This one is a no brainer as a support. If you've ever played support you know the struggle to accrue money. Bandit gives you a boost to gold income which will help you scale quicker into later game. Dangerous Game is more of a jungle mastery.

**I've dabbled in putting the last 12 points into the Ferocity tree, for a little extra attack speed on passive proccing, some life regen from Feast (will just heal you more when you execute minions) or even Expose Weakness can be helpful as support (especially on Braum who should be damaging everyone in team fights), and a little extra damage from Oppressor . However it feels like 5 points wasted between Natural Talent and Vampirism . Plus the Bandit mastery received from the Cunning tree is very valuable to a support.

x3
These are your starting items, plus your trinket (yellow). Pretty self explanatory, you'll want a gold income item and Relic Shield is the only one that makes sense on Braum. Take potions because Braum has no way to regen health in lane otherwise

targon's brace
These are the options for buying on your first back. I typically try to wait for 1300 gold so I can get Sightstone and targon's brace, and ideally a pink ward (these should be bought on every possible back). Typically I opt for targon's brace first because I want my gold income to maximize as early as possible so that I can scale into late game quickly. Plus targon's brace provides an extra charge of minion execution which means a little more healing you can provide. Sightstone is a recommended item to get because you will need to ward all game (if you are in lower ranks odds are your team will not help with this at all) and this is easily the cheapest way to do so. I typically pick up Boots early so I'm not that much slower than everyone else. After that though I opt for tanky stats to be able to soak as much damage as possible in early team fights. I threw Cloth Armor into this as well because a lot of what Braum builds uses this so you will definitely need it later and it's always a plus to have a little more armor against the enemy carry. If you find yourself with 300g (after buying Vision Ward) purchase this as well.


These are items I consider to be truly "core" on Braum. Depending on how your game is looking (are you up against a lot of physical damage?, is someone on their team getting fed? if so what kind of damage are they dealing?, how well is your ADC doing?, is team grouping up? etc) you'll want to buy one or two of these items. Typically you want to finish items when possible, but if you back and are 300g short of doing so, feel free to upgrade a Cloth Armor into something better. I personally like to get Aegis of the Legion early unless there isnt a decent amount of enemy magic damage. I also prefer CD reduction as a priority stat so I will typically rush Glacial Shroud or Kindlegem depending on the game.

eye of the equinox or face of the mountain
At first look, the face of the mountain provides 50 less health than eye of the equinox and 10% more to CDs. face of the mountain provides the big shield (based upon YOUR health) to any of your allies, making it a good tool for baiting, winning lane fights, save teammates from damage over time abiities, or just helping a carry who is just getting focused. Very good item, however it does not provide a Sightstone aspect and you will need to use another item slot for that. Unfortunately this leaves you with 2 item slots dedicated to only health statted items. eye of the equinox provides no CDR but Braum can get that from other sources. I typically opt for eye of the equinox because I feel it rounds out my build better in most scenarios. If I get an early lead and can buy face of the mountain around level 8-9 or earlier, I grab it for the early advantage in lane battles and early team fights. I will also build face of the mountain against teams of heavy assassins, or with an adc who seems to get themselves into trouble a lot. Bear in mind the shield can be used on anyone, including yourself, which can also come in handy when trying to bait fights.


I LOVE health items. Don't get me wrong, I back them up with necessary armor and MR (which you also get from Stand Behind Me btw) but with so much health I typically feel damn near invincible. This is actually a positive thing for Braum, you want to go gung ho and take as much focus as possible. If you have 1/5 of your bar left enemies will think you're low when really you have near 1000 heath and will probably take longer to kill than your carries still. So feel invincible and play like you are because you want their champions to focus you and not your carries. Warmog's Armor provides an insane amount of health and a great amount of regen that Braum otherwise doesn't have. I like to buy this fifth or sixth. Banshee's Veil provides a large amount of MR and a decent amount of health, plus more health regen, I usually purchase this as a build finisher if I need a little more magic resist against AP champs doing well. Locket of the Iron Solari is a staple to all of my support builds, i typically try to buy third or fourth to have throughout game. The team shield it gives is very good in teamfights. Randuin's Omen is another great tool in Braum's peel kit. If you have more than one enemy coming after your carries during fights try buying this to help slow them down.


These are what I consider to be situational items. Frozen Heart I typically try to buy every game to help max CDR, but it is especially effective if going up against multiple attack speed reliant champs (ie Jax jungler, Irelia top, Diana mid, Vayne bot to name a few). Spirit Visage is a little weird to get on braum because the boost to healing doesnt do much for him. I will usually only buy this against heavy AP damage, and pair it with a Banshee's Veil and/or a Warmog's Armor. Zz'Rot Portal is good to buy only if you see yourself needing the stats later (a little more magic resist than usual, but not while sacrificing a huge amount of armor). However, I do not typically buy this unless I can finish it early as the void gates are more valuable the longer you can use them in the game. Thornmail is an item I buy only if they have 1 or more physical damage carries that are just ripping through me. Dead Man's Plate is an aggressive buy, sometimes I'll get this with an early lead so that I can have a decent amount of burst in bot lane skirmishes. It's not particularly good on Braum in late game team fights however so I tend to stay away from it.

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These are not Braum's only two boots options but in my opinion they are his best options. If you need help defending against heavy physical damage Ninja Tabi help a lot, and if you're up against more than one magic damage champion, I typically go Mercury's Treads as magic resist is a hard stat to stack on support items.


I buy this if my adc is getting focused and blasted down very quick or if there is a heavy amount of CC on the enemy team. It provides some magic resist and some CDR so i typically try to replace items from the core build that have similar stats so I don't get too lopsided of a build.


This item is actually an excellent purchase if you know how to use it. It gives Braum armor (so I typically replace Randuin's Omen or Frozen Heart with it), and it buffs his ADC. Only buy this if your ADC (or someone else on your team) has proved themselves to be more than competent, then throw them this buff, provide them with buffs from Stand Behind Me and throw Unbreakable up and watch them proc stuns and melt the enemy team as you block all damage for them.

Max Winter's Bite first as more damage will help land more kills. The longer shield doesn't do as much early as there usually isn't that much damage to block and the greater stats from Stand Behind Me aren't that necessary early either (plus they scale from your armor and MR which you won't have much of before level 10 anyway). Max Stand Behind Me second because the shield only gains a quarter second per level up and reduces the damage a little bit more.

This is Braum's biggest threat, both in team fights and in lane. It gives a damage burst on fourth hit and a stun and then provides Braum with extra damage on that target from autos. It can be procced with allies auto attacks but only after Braum applies first stack, so make sure you are spreading your autos around so every enemy gets a little concussive love. It is incredibly underappreciated by enemies typically, as they will often think they can slip by it and attack a low health teammate. Think again. With a teammate focusing a target they will get stunned fairly quickly, allowing Braum to reposition between that enemy and his ally.


A long range skill shot that provides a big slow and a stack of concussive blows. Keep in mind this is the only way from Braum to stack concussive blows from a distance, so you should not be using this until targets are out of range of your auto attacks (unless you used it to initiate combat). It's damage scales with Braum's health making it a decent damage source early in lane when poking. If you can get near enough to a champion, who does not have a built in escape,to land one auto, you alone can proc passive. You just have to AA, then if still in range again AA, use Winter's Bite as they try to flee and then catch up to AA again. with this strategy you can engage before a jungle gank arrives or as your adc is getting back into lane, to lock people into the fight early.


Braum leaps to a targetted allied champion or minion (cannot use on wards). This move can be used as both an engage and an escape, though you need coordination from team typically. If you're running away down your lane you can Stand Behind Me to a minion approaching you for extra distance. You can Stand Behind Me to a minion or champion that is closer to a priority target than you in order to land a good Winter's Bite or auto attack. More often than not you want to use it on your squishy carries as it will give them flat defensive stats plus some of your stats. It also will position Braum between the ally he jumps to and the closest enemy to that ally, making him ready to eat any skill shot coming their way (or if you're leaping towards an enemy it makes it a very aggressive leap).


I constantly find myself humming "unbreakable, she's alive damnit, it's a miracle" as I fly in to save teammates (go watch Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt on Netflix and thank me later). You can activate this move BEFORE using Stand Behind Me and often times should, so that you immediately intercept a key auto attack or skill shot from killing your ally. Bear in mind that it also gives a speed boost, so it'll help you close the gap that much faster. Basically when you have this up you just want to make sure you keep yourself positioned between incoming damage to your carries and the carry so every projectile hits your shield leaving your carry safe and sound.


Braum's ult has a very long CD early I'll point that out. That doesnt mean hesitate to use it, it's long because it's powerful. Pause. I typically try to use it in lane after I've landed one stack of Concussive Blows and the enemy is running away from my fight. The knock up keeps them in place and so does the slow. You want to position it so that it knocks them up and maximizes the slow area they have to walk through. Keep in mind that it pops everyone up around Braum as well as along the linear skill shot. So in team fights you only have to be adjacent to champions to get the effect, and then you decide if you want to leave the slow field for your carry to kite over, or use it to help your front liners stick to priority targets. Keep in mind that champions that have gap closers can get off of the slow easier than others, so keep that in mind when deciding which way to throw it. If your adc is doing well you typically want to always throw all your peel towards them (unless your front liners are getting kited very hard). For the most part I've found that as Braum, if I have a good adc backing me up we can typically 2v3 or in some instances 2v4.

Let's talk wards people. You may think wards are a waste of money, you may think wards aren't worth it, you may even think that wards are solely the support's job. You're wrong. Wards ARE important, wards CAN win games, and wards are NOT only the support's job. As this is a support guide though I am going to teach you how to ward (in depth, as usual). Each ward placement has a logic that goes behind it, and seeing as you can only have 3 sight wards down and 1 vision, you need to place them relatively carefully.

Yellow Dots
These dots on the map signify where you should be placing your first trinket wards. Keep in mind the enemy jungler, will they be ganking early or do they have to wait for first back before ganking? Do they typically wait for ult before ganking? Don't know? Ask a teammate, odds are someone will. Basically you shouldn't need to worry TOO much about getting a ward in deep river, or river at all until you think the jungler will be around. A ward that reveals nothing for the first 3min of laning has little worth, when you already knew that no one was going to come. Your ADC will be helping you with their own yellow wards, so make sure you two aren't double warding anything (this means pay attention, if they are walking up to a bush, wait to see if they drop a ward). You will have very minimal vision early, but if you keep vision in the lane bushes, it will give you an advantage in the lane fights (and Vayne will thank you) and it will make it easier to dodge poke and deliver poke to the enemies.

Green Dots
These represent the Sightstone wards you will have. You can also put trinket wards at these locations (I tyically try to use all trinket wards available before spending a Sightstone ward, because the trinkets refresh slowly constantly, but Sightstone only refreshes when you go back). I like to keep these two locations warded at all times, no matter which side I'm playing on. You may think tri bush is safe if you're playing for blue/bottom team, but what if enemy jungler steals your red and comes in behind you to cut you off? Tribush ward warns of that and you can possibly escape up river. A ward by dragon pit alerts you of a mid roam (if they take river route. If they trek through jungle then tri bush ward will alert you) and it will alert you earlier than a river brush ward. Sometimes a river brush ward is not enough notice to allow you and your carry to escape quickly enough. If you want some advanced tactics (and this takes some getting used to), dont back off as soon as they pass through a ward. If you stay just a little bit longer, the mid roamer or would be ganker will think they haven't been detected. If you back off as they pass dragon pit they will turn back, thus missing less from their lane minions. If you can bait a jungler or mid laner to stay longer in your lane, it hurts the enemy team as those players are not off earning gold or xp from other sources. DO NOT die by using this method or it all goes to **** and you end up giving them an advantage. Also keep in mind that your wards are typically what your top laner will Teleport to so the deeper you have them in lane (tri bush wards typically hide TPs fairly well from enemy team) the more quality of a teleport your top laner will get.

Pink Dots
These are your vision wards. You'll want to get one on your first back. If you're on blue/bottom side, place it in your tri brush. If there's one there already, place it in the brush behind the Red Buff or in the River Bushes around mid lane. If you are on Top/Red(or is it purple?) side I typically will place it in the river bushes close to mid lane, or sometimes (if I can get there safely) I will place it deep into their jungle, at the spot above the bottom team bot lane inner turret. The spot on the map is marked by a pink and purple dot together. If you place it here, try to catch it on the edge of the brush so you'll be able to see their jungler doing red buff. **If you are in lane against a Twitch or a Vayne you may want to hold onto an estra Vision Ward for the sole purpose of dropping it when they stealth (this is a VERY good idea, at low elos they rarely expect it and will often give you the advantage you need to win). If you do this it is suggested you still try to get it into a lane bush if possible, but the immediate goal is to just get it where you can see the stealthed enemy and kill them.** If you have advantage in lane and are winning fights and will continue to win fights, try placing a pink ward in a spot where it will get found (ie tri bush if you are top side team, river brush, lane brushes) because the enemy team will instinctively want to get rid of that ward. As they go in to attack it initiate on them. You want to drop pinks in priority vision spots, because they not only provide vision for you but deny it for the enemy team, so you normally want to place them along the turret line (I define this as an imginary line drawn that connects your surviving turrets if you're losing, or connects the enemy's surviving turrets if you're winning. The turret line will either advance or retreat as you win or lose, and thus give you or the enemy more of the map to control). This means, if you haven't taken any turrets yet and neither have the enemy, The river and a bit of the jungle on both sides is the turret line. The logic behind this is that typically the enemy team won't have dropped vision all that deep into your jungle yet and if you put a pink ward deep into theirs, your team won't be able to capitalize on it and it will probably just get wiped out. If you have taken or lost turrets the turret line will move. If you lose turrets, the enemy will feel more comfortable to advance into your jungle near those fallen turrets. You will want to have vision wards a bit deeper into your jungle at these times (as you begin to lose it will become harder to keep wards alive, don't give up hope). If you have taken turrets, your team will feel more comfortable pushing into the jungle around those fallen turrets and you can place vision wards deeper into enemy jungle. I typically don't place vision wards deep into enemy jungle until we have taken at least one inner turret, because the enemy recall pad is closer to their jungle so they will have an easier time reaching and killing your vision ward. It will take you longer to run back to that location after recalling. For this reason I will typically place vision wards in or along river if game is even or if my team is winning, and will place them in my jungle if my team is losing. Check out all the pink dots on the map to get ideas on where good placement is, I have labelled only the bot side as this is where the majority of your pinks will go through the beginning of the game. Keep in mind vision around Baron is key later in the game so feel free to drop a pink in the river or jungle around there to clear some vision. Do not be afraid to place a vision ward if you have one still active, if you feel you need to place one in a higher priority location. You need to remember that the vision ward does not only let you see your map but it allows you to see a part of the enemies map--you KNOW that at the location of your vision ward, there is just fog of war on the enemies map.

Blue Dots
These represent aggressive ward placements for members of the blue/bottom team. If you are on this team and it starts getting a lead, these are good spots to place wards. You will typically start by placing them in bottom jungle, then as you begin to roam mid you can place them in top side too if you'd like. Try not to die while warding. If your team says "ward for dragon" this means drop at least two wards into the enemy jungle (we're still assuming you're on blue/bottom team). Your first ward goes in or around the brush by the enemy blue buff (there is a pink and blue dot on the map, place ward at either location). The second ward will go in the brush leading out of the river (pink dot on map) or the brush behind the blue buff and wolves (blue dot here). These are two priority locations and will alert you to enemy movements that would threaten your dragon. They also will be the spots you will most likely fight at if a dragon fight erupts. If you ward for Baron, you want to drop a ward behind red buff and one in the brush by the bird camp.

Purple Dots
These are aggressive ward placements for the purple (or red?)/top side team. Again, you will typically be warding the bottom half of the jungle since you are in bot lane, but I have put suggestions up for all over the map. If you start to win lane, ward up the enemies red jungle. This can help in getting picks on the enemy jungle (you may even make them tilt). If your team asks you to ward for dragon, you will want to have at least a ward in the brush behind red buff. It also helps to ward the tri bush adjacent to dragon pit and the brush by the bird camp, but only ward these if you know it is safe. If they ask you to ward for baron, you want a ward by their blue buff, a ward in the river bush, and a ward in the brush behind wolves and blue buff (it's a lot like warding for dragon on the blue/bottom side team).

You don't have to wait for your wards to expire before placing new wards. If your team is rotating around map and you have more wards, your old placements might become "stale" as they aren't revealing much and you have a good idea that the enemy is not near them. Place wards in spots where you think fights will probably occur (if you have a lead it will probably be closer to their base so place deep wards, if you are losing it will probably be closer to your base so ward defensively). If your teammates are chasing into a jungle or section of a map that you don't have wards in, ping them to back off (assuming that you haven't seen some enemies in at least 30s). They will probably get ambushed and just don't realize the danger they're in. If you have taken down turrets, feel free to ward inside the lane (with sight wards) just don't put them in range of turrets as they can see them.

A oool trick when sieging a turret is to drop a ward that you know the turret can see. If youve placed it in a spot where the enemy team can feel safe while attacking it, and your team has good engage ( Glacial Fissure Unstoppable Force Glacial Prison the list goes on) you can oftentimes catch an enemy sleeping as they try to get 3 autos on your ward. Only do this if you can get a good pick or if you know your team will survive a turret dive. If you have an Ohmwrecker this becomes even more effective. This method makes it very easy to land Death Sentence if your playing Thresh (especially if you throw your hook from fog of war).

If you're reading this and find yourself not playing support, that does not mean you should not ward. At MINIMUM you should always have a pink ward out. 5 vision wards is a lot of map vision to control, at low elos most people do not do this. It will give your team a HUGE advantage. Even if you are the only one dropping vision wards (your teammates suck and I'm sorry) that in itself is actually a huge piece of map real estate. One vision ward gives a lot of map advantage throughout the game. Mid laners should try to vision ward either river brush, or the brushes behind red camps. Top laners should try to get pink wards into the enemy jungle, either in the brush closest to krugs, the brush by bird camp, the brush by blue buff or the river brush or their tri brush. Junglers can put pinks wherever they feel they will get the most use from them in that game. Try buying a couple wards for your team and placing them anywhere on the map your team is lacking in vision at that moment. Even if you don't know how to ward well, as you start warding more you'll start to understand which spots work well and which don't. Lack of map vision will lose you a game and can definitely cause you to throw, if you have great map vision (which can only happen if everyone is warding) then you have a good chance to come back or press a victory. It is not a bad idea to get the Tracker's Knife or Sightstone as jungler in low elos because the vision will help you get picks on the enemy. If your carries get fed then you can easily win the game.

Pay attention to all this warding logic when using Sweeping Lens as well, try to use it on priority locations where you think the enemy will logically be warding. Also use that trinket to clear priority areas that you know a fight will occur in (ie setting up for baron/dragon).

As a support, stay warding all game, it's one of your main jobs and your team needs you to do it. If you don't people will get toxic, just smile and wave. Toxic teams lose game. Try to keep 3 Sightstone wards and 1 Vision Ward out all game and you'll be golden.

Early Game

(levels 1-6, basically until team fights become more common)

Proc Relic Shield on cannon minions or melee minions or if you or carry needs a little health. Never sit on two charges on that item, and if you see a minion your carry might otherwise miss, get it for them. Use Winter's Bite as poke whenever you can, unless you're up against a support with a heal. Try to use lane bushes to sneak close to carries and get auto attacks and/or Winter's Bite in, but do so only if your carry can quickly proc the passive for a quick exchange of damage. If you're up against a tanky support who gets in range of autos, feel free to auto attack them for passive. Once you put a point into Stand Behind Me pay attention to where your minions are. If a priority target gets close to a minion, jump to it and engage with autos. If you get level 2 first try to do this immediately, you will more than likely get a flash for it. Once you have Unbreakable throw it up only if they have decided to turn and start exchanging damage (your mana pool isnt that huge). For the most part in lane you want to land Winter's Bite and let your ADC proc the stun if they can. use Stand Behind Me on them in skirmishes if it is available to give stats. Once you have ult you've hit a decent power spike. Depending on who the champions are you are laning against, you will more than likely have an advantage. Typically you want to chain the CC with your Concussive Blows, so if you start stacking them and their champion is running, save the Glacial Fissure for after the stun wears off. You can also use it to lock down a fleeing enemy after theyve flashed or used an escape. If you get jungle ganked, throw it behind you (especially if the jungler is behind you and on your ADC, pop them up). This will force the would be gankers to walk over the entire slow.

Early Fights

You and your carry/other team mates have a lot of hidden power in Concussive Blows. Your peel sometimes consists of simply autoing an enemy as they come at your carry, watching them be stunned, then using Winter's Bite AFTER the stun to keep them slowed and kiteable. Spam Winter's Bite in fights on different targets so that you can proc stuns on as many enemies as possible while staying near your carry. Use Glacial Fissure in chokepoints or on as many enemies as possible. Try to position the slow field so that your ADC has ground to kite over with it. Get Unbreakable up to defend against heavy damage to your adc or to block off big ults. You should be warding throughout the game, and depending on whether your team has lead or not will decide where they go. If you are ahead, place aggressive wards in enemy jungle to find picks and know the enemy's positioning when its time to grab dragons or turrets. If you're behind then place secure wards in your jungle to hopefully find picks on overextending enemies or at least have a warning system there for when enemies are rotating through lanes. If the game is more or less even place wards in river areas and try to control vision around priority areas (ie dragon). If you think a team fight is eminent, place as many wards as you can in bushes nearby that you think enemies will try to utilize during the fight so they cannot do so.

Late Game

Your job is still to babysit the carry, you handle late game team fights the same way you handled mid game team fights. Personally I like to go a little aggressive or find some way to get myself low and then bait enemies to chase me. It's like being a Singed but on Braum. If I'm at a tenth of my health, every enemy who has the option of going for me or for my carry will focus me (more typical in lower ranks). Let them. For one thing, you have a great slow in Winter's Bite, a skill shot which becomes increasingly easier to hit as enemies chase you. This makes kiting very easy. You can always Stand Behind Me to get out of danger or even on yourself for more stats. Locket of the Iron Solari and face of the mountain provide great, moderately low CD, shields that can make you tankier in a pinch. Basically my strategy late game is to be a low health target to make people want to attack me which makes it easy for my carry to sit around and get pot shots in. Now this strategy works for lower tier ranks (and I'm assuming most people reading this are trying to climb), but I'd like to think higher ranked players are a little more intelligent than ever focusing the tank. This playstyle is why I like to have Perseverance and Warmog's Armor so that I can regen health as I take damage. Basically the point I'm trying to make is even if you're low, do not back. You should either die in a close team fight or get the ace. Only back off to wait out some good cooldowns, but don't leave if you still have a teammate up to support. Your life as Braum means quite a bit less than theirs (no offense).

Hopefully this helped. Again my name is Coonmeat, find me in game if you would like me to showcase my support skills for you.