Guide is a work in progress!! It's my first one here so bear with me! All constructive feedback will be appreciated!

Anyway... from what i can tell, most people play brand well enough, they just have no idea how to build him. He's different from most casters because of his high base and low ratios so I usually like to play him on the tanky side so I can push out more skills = more damage.

Core Items

+ x2
Since I use my spells mostly for harass and not CS until after I get a catalyst I'll have enough manna until I back at about level 6. The HP pots helps keep you laning even in a 1v2 senario

Catalyst the Protector
This item is an essential early game item for any squishy and manna heavy champ. You should be able to get it on your first trip back along with a pair of movement 1 boots. It gives mana/hp upon level up allowing you to spam your W and E skills and get those caster minions

or
On your This is really a decision on the availability of blue buff. Get the Ionian boots if someone else needs blue or if you cant get blue buff. 90% of the time I go with Sorc Boots.


This is brand's favourite item. I usually get the first because that extra tankyness really helps you in a teamfight/gank. The slow is the main reason to get this item though. Combined with your passive, this turns all your spells into ~10s slows. It's like a red buff but better. Did I mention this also gives you a little AP?


BV is a good late game item. Get it if the other team is CC/Nuke heavy

Luxury/Situational Items

This item is fantastic if you are dominating or getting a ton of assists and the other team is not building too much magic resist. Mejai's gives 8 AP/stack, capping at 20 stacks (160 AP) + the 20 AP base. And at 20 stacks, you get a godly 15% CDR as well. If you reach 20 stacks with this item, the game should definitely end in your favour. This is only worth the coin if you can get at least 10 stacks consistently (it also makes them focus you during team fights lol)!!!


Brand has horrible ratios so it's important to make hi's base damage count. The 70% magic pen on this will let you deal close to deal closer to true damag consistently. Get this if you did not get Sorc boots and The enemy has magic resists above ~65 or you did get Sorc boots and the enemy has magic resists above ~80


Get this instead of void staff if the enemy has resists below ~75. Alternatively, if the enemy has resists below 75 or you are getting hit a lot during team fights, you can get a [item=Rod of Ages]


Good all round item, gives you resists on top of your ~2.5-3.5k HP which increases your survivability a ton and helps you stay in the fight after you "die".


Get these ONLY if you're getting heavily focused in team fights.


Get this if you are NOT really getting focused, a 40 DPS AoE is nothing to scoff at. Kill-steal LIKE A BOSS! ;)


Brand is not a tank or a support champion but if you don't have any supports or if nobody else is willing to, you can get one of these. It helps a ton in team fights. Brand has a lot of AoE so that spell vamp heals for quite a bit between/during fights. A resist buff to all your allies in a team fight can be game changing too.

Summoner Spells

For summoner spells I always go with Flash because brand has no escape mechanism apart from his Q. Since that is a skill shot and requires the target to already bit hit by another spell it's unreliable.

For my second spell I pick Cleanse if the other team is CC heavy but otherwise Ghost
Clairvoyance and Fortify are also workable if nobody else is willing to take them (ideally your support/tank/roamer would take these)

Masteries

I went with a standard 9/0/21 set-up for masteries maxing CDR as well as you escape skills: Ghost Flash.
Simple enough...

Runes

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration
Gives you the magic penetration you need early game.

Greater Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration
Gives you much needed manna regen. Simple enough...

Greater Glyph of Scaling Cooldown Reduction
You need CDR late game. If you cant keep casting spells during a fight, you are useless. These runes combined with your masteries and blue buff will give you ~40% CDR

Greater Quintessence of Scaling Mana Regeneration
Again, manna regen.

Skills

Sear(Q)
1 point in this skill is enough early game as levelling it only increases damage and not stun duration. USE THIS TO CHECK BUSHES!

Pillar of Flame(W)
This should be your first skill, use it on the bushes and to get CS (creep kills). You want to max this first followed by E for the AOE damage it gives

Conflagration(E)
This is your one and only dependable skill. use it to harass and get CS.
You want to max this after W

Pyroclasm(R)
While still laning, you want to use this quite liberally. Use it on a the last minion when both your enemies are in the bush or on your enemy when there's only 1 or 2 minions left.
Mid-Late game you want to save this until you'need it to get a kill or a high damage opportunity arises

Combos

Generally you want to use a Conflagaration > Sear > Pillar of Flame combo for the stun on sear and the bonus damage on your stunned target. For maximum damage use Sear > Conflageration > Pillar of Flame, you get no stun with this but alot more damage because you get both the AoE of Conflageartion and the bonus AoE damage from Pillar of Flame. Use the latter combo when the enemy team is low on health and clumped together.

Farming

Early game you want to kill by last hitting your creeps ONLY! Brand has mana issues so it's best you don't waste your manna on creeps. The general farming combo is Sear > Conflagration > Pillar of Flame mid game on the caster minions or mid game on melee minions. Later on you should be able to kill most minions with just Pillar of Flame > Conflagration

Early Game

1v1 or 1v2

Harass with your W when they try to last hit but be careful of those OP purple caster minions ;).
Generally play safe and only last hit minions on the with your auto attack so you have manna for ganks and so the minions are pushed closer to your tower.

2v2

stay in the bush to zone your enemies to deny them CS and XP. Come out only to launch a quick W + E combo on the caster minions or last hit. Early game you want to hit all the casters a few times before you cast your combo so you can kill them with just your W skill.

Mid Game

Pretty much the same thing... generally stay in your lane until you get your Rylai's Crystal Sceptre then help with as many ganks as you can... you should be able to kill all the caster minions with a quick W + E combo so go farm the minions when they stack.
Ask your jungler if you can have blue buff and don't forget to ward the river (put the ward just behind the first brush in the river)!

Late Game

Generally in team fights you want to stay between/beside your tank and in front of your squishes. This will allow you to both protect your squishes by stunning anyone who gets close , deal considerable AoE damage to the enemy as well as absorb damage for your squishes. Positioning is key to winning a team fight. Last but not least BRAND NEEDS BLUE BUFF LATE GAME!!!!! It gives brand much needed manna regen and will push your CDR to ~40% allowing you to stunlock an enemy champ with your Q and keep pushing out combos.