Welcome to my guide on brand! Brand if played right can easily solo carry a game. His kid is unique in the fact that he has alot of %HP Damage as a mage as well as burst and cc. He lacks in mobility and is high in burst but well cover that later in the guide. Hope you enjoy!

Runes as for most mages depends on the matchup. If you only have one aviable slot for brand then just run 9x Magic Resist blues, 9x Armor Reds, 9x Magic Pen, 3x Greater Quints of AP. The armor and MR can be subsititued based on personal prefernce. The magic pen on the other hand are 100% mandatory. They provide good synergy with brands passive.(his passive is magic damage so its %HP is reduced by magic resist, so if you stack magic pen it does more damage.)

For masteries it is a very standard page. It uses thunderlord instead of burn because brands combo consists on landing all 3 skills to begin with and I believe it gives more overall damage. I take 12 in offense to get that extra damage and i wouldn't recommend taking points in tank as two of your items already provide a nice boost of HP.

Liandry's : Gives magic pen to increase brands passive damage, provides flat hp and ap wich is great, and the passive adds 2-4% more hp% damage making him deal 10-12% max hp(before resist)

Rylias: Not only does this amplify Liandrys by making it do 4% of current hp instead of 2% but it works well with brands passive by causing it to essentially become a ~ 4 1/2 second slow making it easy to land q stuns and devastating in a team fight.

Sorc shoes: Essential on brand for the magic pen to provide more damage to his passive

Void Staff: With this and the rest of the magic pen items your passive will melt tanks and squishy's alike, get this later on in the game unless they stack MR early on.

Athens: Frankly brand needs mana regen and you can easily get the first chalice on first back and sit on that till your last item and complete athens for CDR and Mana Regen. It also provides some magic resist if its a tough lane.

Ludens: Ludens is great because it helps solve brands mobility issues but also can prock on brands passive making it very effective and in sync with his passive.

Death Cap / Zhyonas : Both of these items dont have a purpose on brand other than to give him more ap and utility.

1st W : You max w because it not only does the most damage, but at level 1 and before they back it is super easy to land on targets without boots making it very easy to trade early on. And it also does significant damage at level 9.

2nd Q : Q is your long range stun pretty much, you want to land your e then your q for that nice stun. you max is second for the reduced cool down so you can stun much more often.

3rd E : Your E is just a way to prock your passive and clear waves, that being said it doesnt provide enough damage and thats why you max it last.

Flash: Mandatory on brand, one of his greatest flaws is his lack of mobility! Not only this but it can also be effective for flashing in to get a nice ult off.

Ignite: Ignite is also essential on brand, it provides more burn damage that helps get easy first bloods!

Playing brand in rank is good, but more dangerous the higher you get in elo. In bronze - gold they will not abuse the fact you are very gankable without any escape and you can faceroll your lane. I highly recommend for plat+ that you either let it push to your tower or freeze it in the middle. In those elos jungles will abuse you and keep killing you.

Mid lane tips: Playing brand mid in ranked is amazing, you want to first force your laner out of thier lane and then roam to bot and try to pick up an easy kill. Or just keep killing your laner. If this doesnt work and you happen to fall behind you will still be usefull all throughout the game!

Support tips: While playing support constantly spam your skills to harrass the adc so they cant engage. If you hit 6 before they do hard engage with your ults massive damage. Also i recommend taking ignite for early kill pressure.

PROS: Base max hp% damage for extremly easy trade and poke
Can shred tanks late game
With rylias as support or mid you provide a massive 5 second slow
very strong long range stun
Good ult's can win a game easily.
Even if you fall behind once you get your first 3 items your still very usefull

CONS: No mobility, easily ganked
Easily countered by assassins like rengar and fizz before you get zhyonas
Very hard to land good ults.

Basic combo Against 1 or 2 Enemies: E - Q - W - R(if targets to bounce are present)
Teamfight combo: W - Q - E -R or Just W - R - Q - E(this is if you catch their team being clumped up)

To farm as brand use your autos constantly to make sure wave doesnt go under tower as you will have difficulty with that. Mid game- w and e the caster creeps to clear them quickly.