This is just a quick guide to explain how I play Brand, I know there are many different builds and play styles to Brand, But I thought I would share how I enjoy playing him, and have had the most success, which is quite a lot. Hope you all enjoy!

Brand is a Nuke. That means, He's very squishy, and also hard to play. It makes it harder that he is a combo nuke meaning all his skills need another skill to start his passive and make his combo's available.

Pro's: Amazingly High Damage
Tons of AOE damage
High skillcap
Excellent Poking
Great Farming

Con's: Very squishy until your WotA and your Rylai's
No escape routes except a quick stun combo which is hard to land and Flash
Slow as anything
Hothothotfire

Basically, When it comes to runes, we are just going with the standard mid build, You want some defense from the armor and mag resist that the runes give you, and the magic pen and flat AP gives you a nice early game boost as well, along with the mag pen helping you through the game.

Masteries is the 21-0-9 build as most AP carries use, I put 1 in movement speed just for the runic affinity, that one really doesn't matter, The rest are completely essential to being the best brand you can be.

Boots and 3 HP pots is how I start, Then I finish them into my mag pen boots and move onto my Athene's purely because it gives you unlimited mana, Resist, CDR which is great for his ult through the game and his nukeyness, and a nice amount of AP. After that you build a rylai's for some CC and some durability, Then raba's for your massive damage. Then you build as the game requires, I normally like to take a WotA and a Voidstaff if I can. A DFG is a nice item too if they have just too many tanks and kiters. Try to condense when you buy them so you aren't B'ing so much.

Brand's passive is a mini ignite which deals 8% of their HP in magic damage with any skill you hit them with, this also let's you combo his skills as I'll talk about more, and you learn just from playing as him
With skills, you need to get your AOE first for the high damage it has, and its creep clearing ability, Grab your stun combo at level 2 then make it easier to proc with your level 3 Conflagration grab. It will make your stun combo a lot easier thereby making your poke great. Maximize your Pillar of Flame, Then your sear after getting level 2 in Conflag at level 10. This will allow you to clear any creep wave at that point. Obviously maximize your Ultimate first when you can.

Take Flash and Ignite. I took the Flash CD mastery so you'll be able to have some avoiding power if you need it ever. Ignite is just fun with his passive and makes him so much better.

Farming with Brand before your athene's is one of the most annoying things ever. High mana costs and needing to be able to stun your opponent in mid if he gets to close means your mana runs out extremely quickly. Just basic hit them from a distance, When you see one low, Finish him, help them along so they are staggered and you can last hit them all. If you want, Poke their mid with your AOE while hitting their minions, It works quite well.

Basically, Brand is a Nuke. He's not a character for everyone, or even most people, he needs a lot of care and quick thinking, but if you like character's like this, try out Brand. He's fantastic at damage dealing and killing people quickly
I hope you enjoyed this Guide! Vote it up!