Our Season 11 Support Brand guide features recommendations on rune choices, itemisation, tips and tricks, and more. Be advised that these guidelines are not rigid, and that nothing is set in stone as in-game circumstances (i.e. lane matchup, enemy team composition, enemy team advantages or lack thereof) may lead you to adapt and tweak your approach, particularly after your core build is complete.
Runes
Summoner Spells
Below are the two most summoner spells that Brand players use for the majority of their games. Variations are possible depending on your playing style, match-up requirements, etc.
Core Items
Build
- Liandry's Anguish allows mages to melt enemy health bars, allowing them to excel in prolonged combat.
- Rylai's Crystal Scepter allows mages to slow enemies that they hit with their abilities.
Starting Items and Boots
Skill Sequence
In this section lies our recommendations on skill priority for Brand at the Support role. Depending on the situation, you may sometimes wish to prioritize a different spell.
R > W > Q > E
Gameplay
Brand is an aggressive support with very strong poke and harassment abilities in lane, and terrifying damage to win skirmishes.
- Level 1: Take W - Pillar of Flame to harass or zone your opponent.
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Level 2: Go for Q - Sear to stun an opponent after hitting them with your W - Pillar of Flame.
Brand has massive AoE damage that he can combine with a stun on a single enemy. At the beginning start attacking your opponents with your W - Pillar of Flame to reduce their life as much as possible. Try to secure Level 2 before your opponents (killing nine minions gets you to that point) to surprise them with an all-in: by chaining your W - Pillar of Flame and your Q - Sear. If landed, your Q stuns the enemy, leading to a potential early kill with Ignite or to a significant early lane lead.
Nevertheless, Brand remains a squishy character, so be careful with your positioning relative to your opponents. Bad positioning is Brand's bane, so be mindful of that when facing opponents that also have a strong all-in capability.
Be very aggressive and don't hesitate to use your spells at the slightest opportunity to damage your lane opponents, be they AD carry or support. You are to exert constant pressure on the enemy ADC in order to make them miss as many minions as possible, while providing room for your ADC to farm peacefully.
Beyond the laning phase is where Brand excels. His ultimate is very powerful when enemies are grouped, so are your W - Pillar of Flame and your E - Conflagration as the Area of Effect damage may catch enemy teams flat-footed. Additionally, if opponents are not careful with Brand's Passive - Blaze, the damage can be devastating as it can trigger a chain reaction.
It is essential that your R - Pyroclasm bounces all five times on the opposing team's champions. With that in mind, Brand may give vibes of all-powerful might, but don't get carried away with your positioning; you are playing a squishy champion, and your only way out of a tricky situation is your Flash.
Tips and Tricks
- Each spell has an amplified effect when it hits a target that is ablaze. Managing this parameter is essential to standing out as a lethal Brand player.
- Use your patience to cast your spells at the right time as they have a large cooldown once used.
- Try to apply Passive - Blaze on multiple enemies before using your R - Pyroclasm so as not to waste a bounce on a surrounding minion or neutral monster.
- Brand's basic attacks are fast and very useful given Brand's large cooldowns.
- In order to easily place your W - Pillar of Flame, it is best to stun your target first with a quick E - Conflagration + Q - Sear combo.
Thanks to Mobalytics for their statistics.
