Build Guide by MagnusHawk

Introduction

= Pimp of Fire
Brand became a favorite of a lot of players soon after his introduction for good reasons. He's a well-rounded champion with base abilities that can be used in many different ways. The AD/AS build that is here on Mobafire is good, the pure AP builds are good. Brand is just good.

Personally, I play Brand a couple of different ways but this one is a favorite and it consistently delivers so I'm putting up here for you all to make use of and so to build the cult of fire on LoL.

This is wholly an AP build with serious cool-down reduction that you can follow to the letter for good results right from level 1. You can use this when you mid or partner in a lane on bottom or top. This is also about speed. In this guide, Brand seeks out teamfights and pummels his opponents. 1v1 is no problem because you can use your skills faster than you can think. Brand's exceptionally short cool-downs is one of the first things an operator notices about him for good reason. Heighten this native strength and boost his damage output for a natural fit and you can't go wrong.

One thing to note about Brand is that the only thing hotter than his attacks is the focused hatred and rage you get from your opponents after they go up against him. He's a favorite target in any lane match-up because he's a tad squishy and he annoys the hell out of people with his fire and brimstone attacks and seemingly cheap kills (for which you work quite hard actually).

Items

I've put the order above, and I recommend buying them in that order for proper use.

The final build visual is: > > Shurelya's Reverie > > > and if you want a one slot item to polish it off

Optional:
Replacing the Shurelya's Reverie Shurelya's Reverie with a Zeal is the best way to go to change things up. If you know your game will be on the short side or if you just need speed, the Shurelya's is the most debatable thing here. The Zeal is tremendously useful for movement and attack speed increases and it's cheap.

The point of these items choices are to stay in the fight longer and us your skills as often as possible with as much damage as possible. It's a solid concept. Nothing fancy is getting done here, I'll admit. The biggest thing I anticipate people arguing about is the Tome and the Shurelya's Shurelya's Reverie. The latter is great for more mana boost and to boost your health and mana regen and of course speed when you need it.

On the Tome : It's relatively cheap, it's quick, it gives a nice early AP boost (which means damage) and 20% cooldown reduction. Between the Ionion Boots and the Tome it's all you need to get going. NOTE: For the snapperheads who think having an additional cooldown item on the Ionian Boots won't stack, get your learning on before you downvote my guide. See the facts on CR at: the LOL Wiki
And At the LOL Official Site

Masteries

If you can't tell, I'm not much of a defensive guy. I think the best defense is a good offense and a fleet foot. The masteries are built towards damage, cooldown, and attack speed. Deliver the most damage to the target as quickly as possible and use your skills well to keep people off of their game. I choose the Insight skill on Utility because for laning with other mana hungry partners. A stronger partner means more kills for both of you so I truly recommend it.

Other than all that, enough said, I doubt anyone would argue too much with this Mastery selection.

Skill Sequence

Right off the bat, no matter what, you want to start with Pillar of Fire Pillar of Fire. The area damage can be used to farm minions or harass your enemy champions. If you hit your opponent a few times with this, by the time you hit Level 2 he'll be at half health. Then you grab Conflagration and do some more damage, lighting him on fire, and punch the Pillar again for a damage increase because he's burning. It's likely to be the first kill of the game against an unwary opponent.

At level 3 it's a no-brainer to get Sear . As most Brand players already know and now, so do you, this is combo is winning situation that just enrages your opponents. Say it with me, "E,Q,W" FTW! E,Q, W FTW! Say it 6 times fast and you still won't say it as fast as your fingers should get used to punching this in.

After that pump the Pillar until you get your ult and focus on Conflagration and eventually Sear . Conflagration is an easy skill to overlook at first but when leveled and with extra AP, it's a damage producing machine with great range. No minions or unintended targets can get in the way of Conflagration . You pursue a low-health character, hit them with it, and they may just go right down. Use it as often as you can for this reason and you'll get plenty of kills.

A note on Sear . You'll notice I don't level it quickly. I don't think there's a reason to do so. It immobilizes targets and that's what it's for. It does do damage but compared to Conflagration it's a slow, cumbersome dumb-firing skill that does adequate but not impressive damage. Don't focus on Sear when you can be pumping Pillar and Conflag .

Unique Skills - 3x Fire

Triple Play

Seriously. If you can't punch this in and target in under 1.5 seconds, choose another character. This is Brand's biggest qualification to operate and it takes more getting used to than it gets credit for. Conflagration lights them on fire and does damage, Sear immobilizes them because they are one fire and sets up Pillar of Flame which does more damage since they are on fire. After they run away they still burn for 4 seconds* thanks to the other part of Brand's static ability.

*The Brand Burnout

Champions must burn. That's Brand's motto. "Everything is better when it's on fire" might also be said to be his motto. Everything changes for Brand's skills when people are burning. Due to his fantastic Static Ability, Blaze: ...They burn for four seconds and take damage of 2% of their max health when one of his skills lights them on fire (all affected by a skill start burning). This can spread the flame, do more damage, and win the day. It's a great static ability.

Brand can really take on high health characters because of this static ability and it's one of his biggest advantages as a harasser. The more health you have the more damage that the 4 second burnout does on an opponent. If your melee opponent only has a sliver of health left after he runs, you don't need to pursue, just let the fire do it's work. You'll get used to knowing when to pursue and when not.

Another note on Brand Vs. Melee: Certain melee characters pose a bigger problem in one on one, but using the EQW combo, followed by his ult, you can turn the tide on anyone except for Tryndamere who is a motherless dog with his invincibility skill. Most others will not pose a huge problem after you get your AP up with the Deathcap. After you hit them with the Triple Play and your Ult they may be dead but if they are high-health melee maybe not, so what do you do? You run. For about 2 seconds while your cooldowns fly back to zero. Once you have at least the Pillar and Sear again... hit them again and use Conflagration on him as he now finally starts running for his life. Match over, Brand wins again, and incurs more wrath and blood boiling hatred from your opponents.

The WTF Maker

Short note for Brand newbs. Pyroclasm is an amazing ultimate. It's not a one shot kill, but it is a fire and forget rage-inducing machine. Its ability to seek out and murder a single player leads me to call it the "WTF-Maker".

Pyroclasm is great in teamfights to mess with people and spread damage around. That's not what the WTF-Maker is. This note is about its other abilities. Use it 1v1 on a fleeing opponent as a final hit and you will get your kill. Once you target someone and the bright orange fire comes out, you can go on to other things. If you see the Pyroclasm come out, it is going to hit no matter how fast or smart your opponent is.

Walls don't stop it. Speed can't outrun it. And for the ultimate insult, it goes around corners. That's right. It.goes.around.corners. Never be afraid to fire this off on a fleeing low health character. You'll earn your /all WTF!! and nobody makes mistakes faster than an angry human opponent! ;)

Team Work

There are two important things to note about Team Work and Brand. Well, there are three, but the first is so obvious. That is that Pillar of Fire is an awesome Area of Effect and when the pile-up in the mid starts you should be firing this off as often as you can.

In a team-fight, after you light people on fire with Pillar you can use your Conflagration and Pyroclasm to great effect. Once people are on fire these two skills work great in team fights. So instead of doing the standard EQW triple-play in a team fight, try W,E,R for a good time. That's Pillar of Flame , Conflagration , and Pyroclasm for any Band-newbs reading this.

The best situation is that there are three opponent champions clumped up and your teammates are pummeling away. Brand ideally comes flying down the lane or out of the bushes and bursts as many opponents into Pillar of Flame as possible. They catch fire. Choose the opponent with the least health, hit them with Conflagration, they take damage AND Conflagration shoots small fireballs off to anyone else who is not on fire in the vicinity and deals damage. Hit Pyroclasm and smile. Pyroclasm will now move faster because everything is on fire. Instead of slowly arcing towards its target, Pyroclasm rockets in and bounces around like a rubber volcano. Now Sear and stun anyone who tries to run. Your teammates will thank you for all of this spreading of damage.

Also don't underestimate the confusion and intimidation that Brand can cause. His Pillar is just as bright and opaque on your opponent's screen as it is on yours. It's blinding. Same thing for Pyroclasm and Conflagration when it spreads. It's incredible confusing for anyone in the middle getting hit or outside trying to target your melee teammates in the mess of fire.

Brand is great 1v1 but if damage can be a "support skill" he's practically a support character in team fights. He's very useful to have around.