Brand is the new fotm! I just started playing brand recently after being decimated by Axion during the dreamhack tournament, and was really surprised how great a champion he is. Brand is the strongest AP laner in the game and really can't lose to anyone soloing. Most of the time you should win your lane when playing Brand unless the opposing team has a really strong jungler like Nunu,shaco, or evelynn. Brand is a very strong aoe champion, and roaming gankers with stuns really set him up to combo his stun for kills.

Passive: Blaze

Brand's spells light his targets ablaze, dealing 2% of their maximum Health in magic damage per second for 4 seconds.

Explanation:
This passive is very strong because of his big aoe's, Brand is able to keep this dot on multiple targets in a team fight. You're usually able to put this DOT on at least 3 enemy champions. This passive is really strong against tanks because AP casters often have a hard time against them. ( Don't focus tanks though, unless they're overextended or killing you!)

Q: Sear

Brand launches a ball of fire forward that deals 80 / 120 / 160 / 200 / 240 (+65% of ability power) magic damage. If the target is ablaze, the target will be stunned for 2 seconds.

Cooldown 8 / 7.5 / 7 / 6.5 / 6 seconds

Cost 50 mana

Range 900

Explanation:
I generally don't level this skill until 4, because it's really hard to land early in lane with creeps. However when I'm playing against a strong jungler like Nunu, its a must to level this ability up either 2 or 3. This is generally used defensively during the lane phase to avoid ganks and used to kill opponents when your teammates gank for you.

W: Pillar of Flame

After a short delay, Brand creates a pillar of flame at a target area, dealing 80 / 125 / 170 / 215 / 260 (+60% of ability power) magic damage to enemy units with the area. Units that are ablaze take an additional 25% damage.

Cooldown 10 seconds

Cost 70 / 80 / 90 / 100 / 110 mana

Range 900

Explanation:
This is Brand's bread and butter skill! It's very easy to land, cast it when they're trying to last hit. What I do is , I cast pillar of flame on them when they go for last hits! Its guaranteed to hit! When you're in a close fight, and both of you're low. Try to cast E, Q, then Pillar of flame because when they're ignited with your flame - it does 25% extra damage.

E: Conflagration

Brand conjures a powerful blast at his target, dealing 70 / 105 / 140 / 175 / 210 (+55% of ability power) magic damage to them. If the target is ablaze the conflagration will damage nearby enemies as well.

Cooldown 12 / 11.5 / 11 / 10.5 / 10 seconds

Cost 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80 mana

Range 675

Explanation:
This is Brand's Combo AoE spell. When target is hit by any of brand's spells, you can press E to make Conflagration AoE. IF you're killing a single target, you want to cast Conflagration and then Sear to stun, then press Pillar of flame for the extra 25% damage. If you're trying to clear waves, just cast pillar of flame, then E. If your Pillar of flame is down, you can Q a creep, then E to clear waves. Pulling E off in a team fight will make a big difference in a team fight! The AoE is huge damage bro.

R: Pyroclasm

Brand unleashes a devastating torrent of fire that bounces between enemies, dealing 150 / 250 / 350 (+50% of ability power) magic damage each time it bounces. If a target is ablaze, Pyroclasm's missile speed increases. It will bounce five times, and can hit the same enemy up to three times.

Cooldown 105 / 90 / 75 seconds

Cost 100 / 150 / 200 mana

Range 750

Explanation:
If your opponents are really close together, it'll just go between 2 champions. That situation is very good, because focusing down targets are always ideal! Try to always set your opponents on fire before ulting because it moves really slow and they can just run away from each other. In a 5v5 fight though , its really hard for champions to just move away in separate directions because they'll be focused down, so they'll just sit there and take it in the butt. In lane when you're fighting an opponent, try to be aware of the creep count because your ultimate bounces off creeps. If there are 2 or three creeps, you can just stun the enemy champion and cast your ult, it'll bounce 2-3 times on the champ depending on the positioning! THATS LIKE 100000 damage, you'll kill them for sure. ( basically explaining the concept)

Focus on Lane dominance, deny them last hits! Cast Pillar of flame, when they last hit. Auto attack them when they're last hitting. Brand is superior! Focus on farming, you can go for kills once you've harassed them with pillar of flame. Brand is always about mana management. You always want to keep enough mana for all of your abilities, because it'll always be a "threat" in lane. Try to get the 3 rd blue golem that spawns, and then you'll be able to clear waves constantly. If you're pushing Mid lane, make sure to ward both sides of your lane. The Pushing will make up for the wards, because your opponent will not be able to get all last hits at tower.

Mid game, your objective is to control buffs, dragons and pull of ganks to create an opportunity to baron. If none of those are available, then just keep spamming pillar of flame and pushing waves to their tower so they lose gold and exp.

Team Fighting is essential to brand. If you get caught you're dead! Positioning is key, your job is to do the most AoE damage possible, while staying alive. Most of the time you're not able to focus their carry directly, so try to hit them with AOE!! You have a really good chance hitting them with your ultimate, W and possibly E. Most of the time you'll find yourself stunning their tanks to peel them off your carry and even yourself! Don't save Your Q to stun the enemy carry, its not worth it! Most of time, you'll only find yourself hitting the enemy carry with Aoe's. Focus on the Tanks up front with your stun and W's if you can't affect the opposing carry's. Brand has very high range, so every fight is situational.

Explanation:

I take ignite because it just adds on to Brand's already high burst and has decent synergy with his passive. It also reduces healing by 50%!

Ignite Damage Chart

Explanation:

In my opinion, and probably most players', flash is the best spell in the game. It just has so many uses such as escaping, chasing, gives you better positioning in team battles, and although not many people know this, it also resets your attack animation!

Other option

Ghost is better than flash for long distance movement. Don't really know what else to say. You can replace either Flash or Ignite with this.

From my personal experience, Ghost+Flash is the best combination for late game, Ghost+Ignite is the best combination for mid game, and Flash+Ignite is the best combination early game.

Spell Cycles

Conflagration->Sear
This is the most important cycle you should try to master. It allows you to set up your Pillar of Flame, gets you kills, allows you to kite, and allows you to get in more auto attacks in a 1v1 situation. You'll be using this cycle with 99% of all your other ones.

Conflagration->Sear->
This is your standard 1v1 cycle. Use it to harass, gank, and net kills. In lane, this combo will take out about 30-45% of someones health at lvl 4.

Pillar of Flame->Conflagration
Use this cycle to farm creeps. Once you're lvl 5, this combo with your passive kills off the ranged creeps. Don't spam this too much in lane though because you'll push your lane hard.

Sear->Conflagration->Pillar of Flame->Pyroclasm
This cycle gives you the most AoE damage as fast as possible with Brand. However, you won't be able to stun anyone with this cycle so I don't tend to use it much.

Pyroclasm->Conflagration->Sear->Pillar of Flame
This is your standard team battle cycle. It doesn't do damage as fast as the cycle above but it does allow you to stun 1 target for 2 seconds (unless they have tenacity or a cleanse). I prefer this cycle over the one above.

Pillar of Flame->Conflagration->Sear->Pyroclasm
From my experience, you should only use this cycle if your team lacks CC because your enemies will be able to disperse from your ultimate because it's projectile speed is pretty slow. I don't use this cycle much because the 25% damage loss from your Pillar of Flame is pretty big.