Hello everyone. I am playing Brand since the first minutes he was released last week.
I played almost every AP champion so far and I feel that Brand is the most interesting one.
It is a Champion with that you have to think about what, when and how you get into fights.
As he is a Champion that uses skill combinations, it makes him much more interesting and it makes much more fun to me than playing Karthus or Vladimir for example.

So in this guide I will try to eyplain everything in detail to make sure that you can follow up my intentions and learn a little bit about the new Champion - Brand.

Greater Mark of Insight: We take the Magic Penetration runes. They are common for any Mage / AP Champion because they give you the little damage boost in early game which we need. Also it penetrates a good amount of Magic resistance during the whole match.

Greater Seal of ReplenishmentGreater Seal of Replenishment: Brand is a champion that starts with a low amount of Mana. With these seals we will be able to compensate the low mana amount with a good Mana regeneration. With the help of Doran's Ring we can cast our spells without too much truble in the early game. I take the flat seals because in the late game we will normally have no mana problems trough the Golem Buff.

Greater Glyph of Potency: We take the AP glyphs for ealry game boost. With Doran's Ring we will have above 30 AP directly from the beginning of the match. In combination with our MP runes this will hurt very much.

/ Greater Quintessence of Insight / Greater Quintessence of Potency: I take a mix of AP and MP. Just to get some more MP and a good boost on AP.

Now lets take a look at the Masteries. I am using a 9/0/21 spec. It is a standard spec for AP Champions.
As Brand is low on mana especially in the early game, we will be able to push our mana reg and + mana through our Utility tree. Please note that I only spent 1 point into Expanded Mind. Thats because it increases our Mana according to the base mana amount. As Brand has very low base mana, this doesn't make much difference for Brand. So I put the points into Awareness.

The rest is standard I think.

There are a few ways to combo with Brand. I will explain which combo is useful in which situation.

AOE COMBO
You got two possibilities that worth it.

1. Sear --> Conflagration --> Pillar of Flame :
The most devasting AOE combo. You can also top this by adding your ult Pyroclasm at the end. This combo should be used in massive team fights. Adding the Pyroclasm in team fights you will be a hated enemy. This combo will provide you with many kills or at least assists.

How does this work? Let's see...

You will start your combo with your Sear. This deals damage to the target and also activates the passive on it. The passive has the effect, that your next cast Conflagration will jump on all near by enemies. This again activates the passive on all enemies which have been hit by Conflagration. Now let's see what our Pillar of flames does. Oh it deals additional 25% damage on all ablazed enemies. --> Maximum AOE damage.

2. Pillar of Flame --> Conflagration:
This is used to farm minions or creeps. These two spells are enough to kill them. Save your mana for important things. it works like you ablaze all enemies within the AOE range of Pillar of Flame. Then cast your Conflagration and all ablazed minions/creeps explode. This make Brand to one of the best farmers ingame.


Single Target COMBO
Conflagration --> Sear --> Pillar of Flame
Well if you are facing one enemy, then it is mostly the best way to stun your enemy and so bring him into a position where you can cast your Pillar of Flame and be sure to hit. Then he should already be damaged a lot. If he then tries to attack you just run a little bit until your spells are ready again. Same procedure again --> enemy dead.

In 1vs1 situations I felt best with this combo because normally you can control your enemy with your stun and place him where you want him. You can run then or chase your enemy without any danger because when it comes to the second attack, your combo is up and ready again.

I will try to be as detailed as possible, so that you all see how I am playing and why.
Here we go...


Early Game (Level 1 - 6)
Normally I will ask for mid lane. But often you got Vladi or Karthus or even Lux in your team, so I will let them go mid. I think Brand is pretty good in mid. But he also is a great top or bot laner. You can push directly from the beginning of a match using Pillar of Flame.
I would recommend to stay behind your Minions and last hit their minions. As soon as your enemies are close enough to be in range of your pillar, cast it. And then directly attack them with your auto hit. Brand is very much effective if you play him aggressive. Do not let your enemies push, you are the pain bringer!

After you have reached level 3 you have all spells available except your ult. Cast them wise. Do not waste your mana. Means try to know where your enemy is moving to before catsing pillar or Sear.
You have low amount of mana, so time your attack right to deal as much damage as possible.

You will just keep on pushing until you are level 6. After ~ 12-15 Minutes, if all went fine so far, you should be able to destroy the enemy turret. Also you should now have placed 1 -2 kills/assists. You can permanently weaken your enemies. Remember that your spells will be also a DoT. It is only 2% of max Hp for 4 seconds, but nevertheless it is additional damage. And I often killed peaople with the passive after they were out of range.

If you play in mid lane you can also start ganking top or bot lanes. Brand is an awesome ganker. You are using combos to kill peaople. And right timed, the combos are devasting as hell.

Just try not to die, and do not become to greedy. Do not play stupid, means no tower diving or jump in into brushes without scouting it with Sear or Pillar of Flame.



Mid Game (Level 7 - 11)
Now it is time to start ganking with your teammates. The most powerful way to play Brand is to stay in the background. Let your melee DDs jump in and you stay back. You have to have the complete overview of a fight to be able to time you combos right. Nothing is more annoying then wrong placed spells with Brand. Your complete damage output depends on right timed combos. I have explained the combos in a seperate section above.
So, stay back and then cast your combos on the enemies. You will be getting a lot of kills or at least assists. Normally there will be one in your team that have more assists and kills than you. So most important thing is to keep the overview, stay alive and time your combos right.

!!! Get the golem buff !!! Really get that buff! With the golem buff you will be a pain bringer in the most devasting way.



Late Game (Level 12 - 18)
Remeber to get the golem buff! In the late game you are alraedy fed. You should have placed a lot of kills and assists. NOW with the golem buff you are able to win 3vs1 situations without getting problems. They will stay away from you after you have placed a tripple kill. Because nothing is more devasting than staying in a group against Brand. if you are doing everything correct as I told you, you stay away from the clash. You stay behind your mates to have the overview. So now you start your AOE combo and everything inside the clash will be dead. No chance to get out for them.... NO CHANCE!

You just keep on buffing yourself with golum buff and baron if available. Remember to stay in background during team fights.


In summary

- stay in background during team fights
- use your comnbos
- keep the overview in fights
- always get golem buff

Now we come to the most important chapter.

When I was first playing Brand I was asking myself a few questions.

- Do I need more AP in the early game?
- Is the low amount of mana really enough? Or do I have to push it with items?
- Meki Pendant or Sapphire Crystal?
- ...

So I really spent some time in thinking of what fits best to Brand. Now I will explain you how to build Brand in the most powerful way.

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The match starts, and the first item we take with us is

This item is the most useful item for Brand at the beginning. Why? Quite simple. What do we need as a low mana Champion which uses Mana for each spell? Correct, Mana or Mana reg. As we would loose +100 Health and +15 AP if we would take Meki Pendant or Sapphire Crystal these two items are no alternative. Do not pick them!

Our first shopping tour leads us to these items

We will get the better movement plus the AP boost for the early game. At this point we will have about 60 AP, or even more. Quite good for early game. Normally you should be able to get these items after you have reached level 6 or 7. Depending on which lane you play and how many last hits you get.
--> Summary:


Now we start boosting our AP with

With Brand you will really like that snowball item. You will get a lot of kills and even more assists. So even if you should die, your stacks will be kept up during the complete match. Normally I reach 15 stacks after 20-25 minutes of a match. 20 stacks in the late game. I am not always able to stay alive with 0 deaths. But as said before, you will do a lot of kills and more assists to compensate a death.
The second Amplifying Tome we later build into a better item. But you will take it now.
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We will now stay in lane until we can afford

With these items we will gain more survivability and also another AP boost. If you are doing really well you can also now buy Rylai's Crystal Scepter. If you have not yet enough gold get it later with our next shopping tour.(I mostly do it so)
--> Summary: (or directly go for Rylai's Crystal Scepter)


Now with the items above we are prepared to stay in lane and join team fights without much trouble. You should have placed some kills / assist already and your snowball should already is rolling. Feel free to decide yourself when you think it is the best time to go shop again. I normally go it after I can afford both

Rylai's is a very good item for Brand in two points.
- Slowing your enemies with your spells (as you will always hit more than one enemy it is a great item for teamfights
- Good amount of Hp and AP
I also pick the pre item for Rabadon DC. It boost our Ap pretty good.
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You may return a few times now for Hp regeneration. But I advise to not buy any useless things like Health potions or else. You need to collect gold to be able to buy the following items asap

I think everybody knows Rabadon's. It is a must have for any mage IMO. It boost the Ap like no other item. If you are feeling that you need more AP but you have not yet enough gold to buy both items in one shooping tour, then just buy the Blasting Wand when you go back for HP reg before. But please try to go straight to Rabadon's. It is really a big boost!
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Now it is time to make a decission between survavability and MP. If you feel like you could need some more HP/Mana and MR more than the MP, then first gor for Banshee's Veil. I normally go like this

As described you will be casting and fightig from the second line. So normally you do not really need the nashee's Veil more than the Void Staff. As said before, I first go with these two items above.
Also we are now selling Doran's Ring. We do not need it anymore and we need the slot for a better item.
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Please note that matches will often be over before this step. Usually matches are over after 30-35 minutes because the enemy team is surrendering. But if you are play ing really long matches then now it is time for

I always pick the Void Staff. i do not really care if they stack MR or not. If they do you got the MP from it to negate their armor. But if they do not use any MR items, you will be facing "paper enemies". Think about it, they got only the standard MR. You will have that much MP after V. S. that you can almost completely ignore their MR. Can you imagine what horrible damage that means? Definately get this item!
To be a littlebit more resistent we now start building or Banshee's Veil. And we start with the cloak.
--> Summary:


Now we arrived at the last shopping tour. Now it time to finish the build with the

It provides us with Health, Mana and MR. Also its passive is great. Note, I never had this scenario but yes..., if you are facing a team with ONLY Attack damage Champions NO AP Champions, then you could use the Zhonya's Hourglass instead of Banshee's Veil. But in any other case I go for BV.

So the final summary looks like this

: I like this one more than Blitzcrank. Thats simply why I am using it. it is my chasing and/or fleeing spell.

: This is pretty useful for Brand, because you can focus two Champions. How? Simple.. Your Spells will attack more than one champion. Focus one and your spells will also attack the neighbor of your target. you can then finish one with ignite, while you still cast your spells on the other one = Double kill. You can believe me, I do this almost each match. Right timed it is awesome.

Thisi my guide/build for Brand. i hope I was able to show a very good way to play Brand and I would be glad to get a vote and a comment from you. It took me some time to writes this and I would like to please you to read it and especially play it and test it ingame before you give a negative vote.

Thanks you very much.
Happy fragging!

exec85

In this section I upload some scoreboards and also videos. I used exactly this build and I played as explained above. Hope this aproves that this is working pretty good. Even if games are lost, with this guide you will never be the cause of a loss.

If you are using my guide and would like to have some scorboards oir youtube links added, please just PM me. I will add them here in this section asap.
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