From the moment I downloaded the game I glanced through the list of champions and immediately knew I wanted to play Brand. Brand is extremely fragile and defensless. Early game is quite slow even though he has plenty of ways to dispose of multiple mobs at once, the slow build-up is mainly due to the mana costs of his abilities which will have you OOM (Out of Mana) really often while farming with anything other than auto attack. Brand is a combo-based nuker which is simulatnously the great thing about him and the worst. If you're farming and have even one spell on cooldown then your chain is broken and therefore aren't in the best position when it comes to suddenly defending yourself. Once unleashed though his combo is capable of flattening almost any champion you come to 1v1 and in late game team fights with a Brand up their sleeve are going to be an unstoppable force.


Brand's has the following spells.

There are actually two primary routes you can go with Brand. Either Pillar of Flame > Sear > Conflagration > Pyroclasm or Pillar of Flame > Conflagration > Sear > Pyroclasm.

The difference between the two is the first allows you to stun which is great for both offensive moments and as your vital escape mechanism: Conflagration > Sear > Flash.

The second build order is more suited for making the most of your early AoE potential in order to farm that gold just that little bit faster. In terms of harassment and survivability I recommend the first route.

Our goal simple. To survive as long as possible, gain as many stacks as we can from Mejai's and take the quick and easy path to high AP and 15% less Cd's early game in order to take advantage of the enemies low resistances to score as many kills as we can until late game team skirmishes where you happiyl sit behind your team flattening 4 enemies at a time with your combos and pyro.

Early Game

Early game, Tome, Potion and learn Pillar. You should adopt a very cautious but not cowardly mindset. STAY ALIVE, don't give them any free kills, even if it means foregoing first blood. It's not important, just stay alive and slowly carry out your build order. Brand only shines late-game when his AP is through the roof. While laning stay behind the mobs to shield you from skillshots and KEEP MOVING, never stand still, dodge all the attacks you can then follow through with a pillar/combo to counter.

You should be very cautous and save your first pillar until you see who you're up against. Keep using pillar due to its excellent range to harass and scare them away, aim behind them or at least aim predictively don't expect any other than the first pillar to hit them while they're still. They'll learn to dodge it really quickly. Use pillar and the dots from it and they will slowly wear them down along with the auto attack until they have to heal. Harass them, your goal is to put them on the defensive while also avoiding uneccesary risks, if you have to - restrat to your tower. Don't be caught off-guard and have your flash ready to jump back top safety - never use it to attack.

Once you have Mejai's you can start unleashing your combo on a more regular basis, I normally wait until I have the boots before I switch lanes but if the opportunity presents itself, go rack up some assists or kills.

Rules of Survival: Don't die! That's all! Manage this and the game will be extremely difficult for the opposing team, thanks to Mejai's you'll start gaining AP, kills and concurrently gold to add fuel to the flame for even more ap so quickly you'll be a force to be reckoned with.

How?

Don't push alone, don't attack towers!
(Leave that to melee/tanks when you push/kill your enemy laner there will always be reenforcements coming to defend the tower and it mostly leads to getting ganked)

Don't attack without 70% mana and health or more
(No mana, no combos, no health no chance to execute them/no chance of escape after you do)

Don't go for double kills if you're low and he's low let him go! Don't waste your Mejai stacks.

Stay in the back row during conflicts
Don't roam without your cooldowns, if sear/pyro are on cooldown then I generally retreat
back to a tower until they're back.
Until late-game Don't engage 1v1 without all of your cooldowns, teamfights excluded where pillar or pyro here and there can still do some good.
Keep flash for escaping!
Be the first to run when the tide starts to turn!
Generally don't chase people down and if you must then not alone.