Base Stats:
Damage 51.66 (+3 / level)
Heath 380 (+76 / level)
Mana 250 (+45 / level)
Move Speed 315
Armor 12 (+3.5 / level)
Spell Block 30 (+0 / level)
Heath regen 0.9 (+0.11 / level)
Mana Regen 1.4 (+0.12 / level)
Masteries : 9-0-21
I saw some guides going for 21 in offense tree. For what? For 0.25 AP per level and 1.25% increased AP. Neahh! I rather put 4 points in greed and 2 in wealth. This combo allows me to start with 40 extra gold, buy my doran's ring and a HP pot. Before masteries were "remastered" you could not do that.
Thats why I put 9 points in offense for the cooldown reduction and +10% magic penetration and 21 points in utility tree.
Offense:
Mental Force 4/4 - adds 4 ability power
Sorcery 4/4 - give you 4% cooldown reduction
Arcane Knowledge 1/1 - adds 10% magic penetration
Utility:
Expanded Mind 3/3 - 12 extra mana per level. Very useful for Brand especially early game.
Summoner's insight 1/1 - boost up summoner spells (I take it for the reduced 15 sec cooldown on flash. I dont see Good Hands or Improved Recall useful).
Swiftness 4/4 - 2% extra movement speed.
Meditation 3/3 - 3 mana regen. Help Brand alot to harras early game, combined with Doran's Ring and Perseverance (see mastery below) gives you guaranteed lane domination.
Greed 4/4 - gain 2 extra gold every 10 seconds
Wealth 2/2 - you get 40 extra gold on start
Strenght of Spirit 1/3 - increases HP regen by 0.4 of your maximum mana.
Intelligence 3/3 - 6% cooldown reduction.
* Note: I prefer taking 1 point in Strenght of Spirit than getting Mastermind (15% reduced cooldown on summoner spells- in my case flash and ignite).
For Brand I use 3x Greater Quintessence of Potency (15 AP), 9x Greater Glyphs of Potency (9 AP), 9x Greater Seal of Replenishment (3.7 mana regen/5sec), 9x Greater Mark of Insight (8.5 magic penetration).
Summoner Spells:
I always play Brand with Ignite and Flash. Why? Because I find very useful the extra damage that Ignite does and also mid and late game I use it for prevent healing for champions like Warwick, Tryndamere, Swain, Volibear and others that have healing spells. And Flash I use it in a critical situation when I'm out of mana or my spells are on CD and I can't use stun. In offensive situations I used it to surprise my enemy: I use Flash to get over enemy creeps where usually enemies have to stay to avoid being stunned, ablaze with Conflagration (E), use Sear (Q) to get stun, then Pillar of Flame (W) and Pyroclasm (R) and/or ignite (depends how low hp was your target).
Other way to go for summoner spells is Ghost and Flash. Ghost can help you get that last hit or spell to secure the kill and also can get you out of trouble.
Skills:
Blaze is Brand's passive skill. Brand's spells get his targets ablaze, dealing 2% of their maximum health in magic damage for 4 seconds.
Sear. Brand casts a ball of fire in a straight line that deals 90/120/160/200/240 (+0.65) magic damage. If the target is ablaze, it will stun for 2 seconds.
Cost: 50 mana
Range: 1050.
Pillar of Flame is Brands AOE (area of effect) skill. A pillar of flame is cast out of the gound with a short delay, that deals 75/120/165/210/255 (+0.6) magic damage to enemies in the chosen area.
Enemies that are ablazed take 25% more damage from Pillar of Flame.
Cost: 70/80/90/100/110 mana
Range: 900
Conflagration a single target spell that does 70/105/140/175/210 (+0.55) magic damage to the enemy target. If the target is ablaze, Conflagration spreads to nearby enemies.
Cost: 60/65/70/75/80 mana
Range: 625
Pyroclasm is his ultimate skill. Brand casts a torrent of fire that does 150/250/350 (+0.5) magic damage each time it bounces between targets. It can bounce up to 5 times. If a target is ablaze, the torrent bounces faster.
Cost: 100/150/200 mana
Range: 750
Tips:
Use Conflagration (E)+Sear (Q) for a quick stun and then Pillar of Flame for maximum damage while your target is stunned and cannot run from the AOE or flash out.
E+Q for a stun requires to get closer to your target, so be careful not to get stunned or silenced before you can stun your opponent. For a safe stun you can use Pillar of Flame to ablaze and then Sear, but from longer range it can be missed easily if the target has good reflexes. Also, using this combo, you will not get the 25% bonus damage from Pillar of Flame casted on ablaze target because you use W first.
Dont use your Pyroclasm (in mid and late game) just for a single enemy because if there are no creeps or another enemy except the target, your ulti will hit only 1 time. Always aim for maximum bounces (5), cast it in a teamfight after you ablaze your enemies with Pillar of Flame (has more range and its your main damage skill from safe range). This way it will bounce to all enemies doing maximum damage.
If you want to carry the team, always take mid lane, get last hits and champion kills. Be very careful against Malzahar and Kassadin. I think those 2 are the hardest opponents for you.
If lanning vs Kassadin, my advice is to damage him as much as you can before level 5. But dont be too offensive because he can silence you with Null Sphere, his Q spell that also does alot of damage. Kassadin's game in mid is to spam Q every time you try to get close to him. You cant evade his Q once casted. He will have mana so dont worry, he will spam it big time. At level 6, his combo Null Sphere (silence)+Riftwalk (slow on AOE) +Force Pulse (blink on AOE doing damage in that area) is devastating for Brand. Your only chance is to spam your Pillar from out of his Null Sphere range or ask for help from your jungler. This way, if you kill him 1 or 2 times, you will be ahead of him in terms of experience gained and items. See your doom below :)
Lanning against Malzahar can be a little bit easier than against Kassadin in my opinion but hard nevertheless. This guy can dominate the lane because he has a good range and damage on his spells. Call of the Void (silence and damage) and Malefic Visions (damage over time) can do alot of damage to Brand. Malefic Visions can bounce to another nearby target if the main target dies while afflicted by the spell, so be careful when Malzahar casts it on a creep next to you. Call of the Void has a delay before it silences and damages you, and if you are paying attention you can evade it.
At level 6 Malzahar can suppress you with Nether Grasp. His combo for the kill, starting from lvl 6 will be Call of the Void (silence), Malefic Visions (damage over time), Null Zone (damage per second on AOE), Nether Grasp (suppress and damage per second). He will try to suppress you while you stand in Null Zone's AOE for maximum damage. Any disable will stop Nether Grasp because its channeling (Malzahar has to stay still and he can cast only Ignite whitout stoping the channeling).
Evade his silence, then stun him and do your combo. You should be fine :P
Skill order:
1. Pillar of Flame; 2. Sear; 3. Conflagration; 4. Pillar of Flame; 5. Pillar of Flame; 6. Pyroclasm;
7. Pillar of Flame; 8. Conflagration; 9. Pillar of Flame; 10. Conflagration; 11. Pyroclasm; 12. Conflagration; 13. Conflagration; 14. Sear; 15. Sear; 16. Pyroclasm; 17. Sear; 18. Sear.
Starting items:
I think the best item to start with is Doran's Ring. The downside is you got no money to buy a hp pot (it costs 475 gold, the amount of gold you start with). But the idea is to damage your opponent and not to take damage. I get Doran's because I will have enough mana regen to spam my skills early game (combined with my mana regen runes and masteries, sometimes I forget to build a mana regen item), 100 hp and 15 ability power.
On your first recall, you should be able to buy boots of speed and your second Doran. You will need a few hp pots too.
Mid and late game:
In a pro team you should be the main AP damage dealer. Let your team initiate the attack (most of the times your tank will), dont be a hero. Brand cannot and will not take damage if you want to win. The enemy should focus you, so make sure they cant and your team protects you if you are in danger.
Use your Pyroclasm when the enemies are close to eachother for maximum bounces and damage, but try first to get them ablaze by using Pillar of Flame.
Sorcerer's boots. +20 magic penetration boots, enhanced movement 2. You can also get Boots of Swiftness for more movement speed (enhanced movement 3), but I usually go with the sorcerer's.
Rabadon's Deathcap is a classic mage item. It has a huge AP boost: 130 AP and 30% increased AP from item's unique passive.
*Note: Item's unique passive wont stack. So if you want to buy 2 Rabadon's you will get 130+130 AP and 30% increased AP ( not 60%).
Archangel's Staff hooks you up with 400 mana, +25 mana regen, +45 AP. Passive: 3% of Brand's maximum mana is added to his AP. Unique passive: Brand's mana increases by 4 each time he casts a ability (max 1000 mana).
Rylai's Crystal Scepter works great with mages and especially with Brand. Beyond the 500 HP and 80 AP, the items also grants you slow on spells (you spell damage slows target by 35% - single target spells - for 1.5 seconds and 15% for multi target and damage over time). Using Pillar of Flame on multiple targets will slow them by 15% for 1.5 seconds. Also getting them ablaze will slow them by 15% as long as they take damage over time. Using Sear of Conflagrate on single target will slow by 35% for 1.5 seconds.
Will of the Ancients grants Brand +50 AP and aura of +30 AP and 25% spell vamp for you and nearby allied champions. In other words Brand gains 80 AP and 25% of the damage dealt to enemies is returned to him as HP.
Void Staff is my ultimate weapon for late game. With this item Brand will go through enemies like a hot knife through butter, thanks to the 40% magic penetration and 70 ability power.
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