hey everyone, this is my first guide so go easy on me, but with the experience i've gained playing Brand so far this build seems to be the most solid i've come up with.

if you have questions about my build please feel free to comment and i'll respond as i have time (finals week FTL)

Okay, so for runes, i'm going with three for the early game AP which i find to be pretty key with my harass and lane game which i'll go into more detail later

you'll want 9x as magic pen is awesome for AP characters (obviously)

9x and 3x to get you 30 magic pen, which will be enough to counter anyone's magic resist completely that doesn't buy any. When you get the void staff later you'll have 70 magic pen approximately which will be good enough to counter almost all normal builds on carries.

lastly i like taking x9 for mana regen. It's not a bad idea to go with straight mana, because with the masteries chosen, you'll have a very decent heath regen at level 1 because of the heath regen based on your max mana. if you buy the sapphire crystal as i have listed, the hp /5 is pretty high all game (but key early game). i dont go with the intellect glyphs however because i feel that late game the regen wont be enough to sustain you through much and the mana regen can be the difference between getting that last hit and losing a kill.

As you can see, the mastery choices here are 9/21/0. I've tried builds in 9/0/21 as well, but i'm not as big a fan of these because i just feel to squishy (brand is a very easy target mid game which makes defense a good choice).

I just find that any kind of help you can get mid game will really help.

the 9 points in offense are pretty obviously a solid choice for that extra 15% magic pen.

okay, items.

i get a and two first for two reasons. Firstly i find that the hp pots are incredibly important due to Brand's miniscule health pool. These pots can not only save you, but keep you laning much longer than mana pots will. Secondly the will be used to build your Catalyst the Protector. Catalyst should be rushed along with asap to get your magic pen up but also to keep you laning as long as possible. the Catalyst the Protector will obviously be built into your later.

the next item you'll want is going to depend heavily on how the fight seems to be going thus far as it could be nearing mid game (if your farm is slow for whatever reason) or depending on how dominant you feel currently and how well your teammates are doing. You will want to get a if you are feeling confident and are doing decently (as it turns out, i've turned losing games around entirely just by buying this item early enough and building stacks, so it could be useful even if the game isn't going amazingly, but it's still a judgement call).

If isn't looking like a smart choice then you have a couple of options. All of the rest of the items with the exception of one are fairly interchangeable in time of purchase. If the other team is really wrecking you, it's pretty safe to get yourself your or fast depending on what the team comp is. if you have a solid farm early game and want an edge AND wont need magic resist, you can go with a . it's fairly important to make this choice quickly, because it's not an item you want to be buying late game as it wont 'mature' if you will for 10 minutes after purchase.

Once this item has been decided upon, i ALWAYS get (as it turns out, you can buy this immediately after you get your boots completed if you think you'll want some higher damage quickly, which is something i do fairly often when i dont think mejai's is a good decision).

and finally, . this item is pretty sick for Brand in this build because of the amount of Magic Pen you should have from runes. this is how you will achieve the approximate 70 magic pen which is awesome to have. This item i almost always buy immediately after deathcap, which means the second defensive item is almost always bought last.

In my opinion, is your best spell until you get some items. Mostly this is due to the fact that it's not a skill shot, which makes harass incredibly easy with it, plus it allows you to deal fast damage on the run when you're in trouble and want to fend people off.

So, for build order my idea is pretty simple: max then Max then max with 1 point in at level 3.

i do this for a couple reasons. The only real use for early game is the stun utility. it's damage is okay, but it's not consistent due to the 'skill shot' nature of the ability. *side note, i've found that the pointer for the skill shot doesnt seem to line up quite right on (maybe it's just me) but i tend to use this as a sign for waiting till later to get more points in it*.

The other reason i think maxing and w is smarter is for farming. it's pretty easy to farm when you're able to pick which target you want to spread the passive burst from to by picking the right guy. This is something that's much more difficult to do when you have to skill shot it. *another side note, when farming, i tend to aim for the casters with then use on the middle one as both harass on enemies that get too close (good for zoning from range) but also to push my lane AND get last hits efficiently and quickly*. when laning, aim for the creep that rides the small gun thing and as many little creeps as possible for your and , in this way you can burst that larger, more powerful creep down faster, pushing your lane, and also get MANY last hits out of the second use of your spell. from there farming becomes pretty simple.

Brand's utility is his primary use early game due to his lacking HP. in this regard, play VERY defensive when outnumbered or when you suspect junglers in the area (pretty usual tactic).

You'll want to open most fights with your stun, which means --> then .

this not only allows your placement to be easy, but allows teammates to either catch up to or unload all they've got from range onto your target.

As far as i've found, Brand's ult has two uses in a team fight which are both very solid depending on your team comp.

first: you can open fights with an early at a nearby champion when they're clustered to spread your passive and get damage going around quickly.
second: you can save your until you can get a kill with it.

the first idea helps in two ways. one way is that it will get them worried early on because Brand's aoe capabilities are awesome. his combined with spread damage to ALL of their champions very quickly which makes stuns and more damage much easier to dish out. the second use of early on would be a scare tactic. if you early, enemies tend to get a bit more cautious with their movements and aggressiveness because you've probably already done some decent damage with it, but also because they dont know how much damage they will take from other sources yet. unlike other ults like Karthas who's best use for it comes at the end of the fight and does massive damage, Brand's ult can cause the other team to be overzealous ("oh hey, he ulted, lets get him!") and rush in premature or even unsure and back off of you, giving you ground you might want.

the second thought, using it at the end, is good as a finisher when you need slightly more range while chasing than your has, or as a way of getting the champion that's out of reach by either ulting a creep (yes, i said ult a creep) so that it chains backwards and jumps to the out of range champ, or ulting another enemy in the hopes that it will jump to him. i've successfully done both of these things, and i find that it's a very solid use of .

As far as my testing has gone, i've tried Brand with / , / and / . of these combinations i've found that i require a lot more movement and escape than i do damage.

is pretty solid early game to finish players, but i find that late game it usually has a diminished effect aside from scaring off enemy champions.

the decision between and however is a pretty subjective one. Which ever you're better at using and find more helpful you go with, at that point chose your second summoner spell based on your teammates spells or (like i do) just keep the other escape so as to ensure maximum survivability.

In the end i find that Brand is a pretty solid Champion (some would claim broken, but we all know this to be false ;D).

make sure you play defensive until you can find that good opening to unleash hell on someone. in this regard, don't split your casts to separate targets if possible, due to the combo based nature of Brand.

Since Brand's abilities are very solid AoE, try to wait for jsut the right moment when they group up and enable your e to spread your passive, and your W and Ult to hit as many as possible.

That's all for now, try it out, tell me what you think, and please have fun kicking ***!