Rant about Brand (dem rhymes thoe)
So, this rant may appear a bit random and honestly i wouldn't blame anyone who says this is personal but this isn't. I just wanted to offer my Opinion about brand and see what others think.
So, i have not really seen brand being played all that often and from a bit of Research i see that he as a midlaner is on a rough 1.5% playrate with an almost 50% winrate. Sure, it seems pretty average, not too popular, not too strong, his scalings are decent But what i think creates a certain issue with him is his Passive. Do not get me wrong here i do not say by all means he is literally OP because of his Kit but i do think his passive, or at least the second half with the burst sequence is a bit over the top for the early game. Sure the % per ap scaling isn't Special but it is the base damage that triggers Me. Brand already feels strong once he gets the ball rolling but an innate 12% at Lvl1? Sure you cannot trigger his passive pre-3 but once you hit that point your power Spikes up dangerously, and 12% of someones Max. Health in Magic damage this early is strong. Too strong.
I will take one imaginable example i think suits this case most, Vel'koz. His passive deals 33-169 with a 50% Ap ratio of true damage once triggered. In the early Levels where you have No ap and the base damage equals maybe an very weak AA-s worth of damage seems like no big deal and it isn't in the early stages. BUT imagine his base damage was almost doubled and his ap scaling was like 40% or 35%? that would shoot his early game poke and 100/0 capability OFF THE CHARTS. And this Scenario in my experience is what is going on with Brand. 12% to 16% between Lvl 1 and Lvl 18 seems like a weak scaling thorough the game's Process thought his AP scaling on his Passive is nothing weak (1,5% Per 100 ap, lategame standart AP on brand 550-700) It still gives a very troublesome fellow to deal with. He can in the early phases Bully hard enough already with his E-Q-W combo to definetly push someone out and with his passive's Secondary burst Proc which happens simultaneously to his DoT Proc just feels wrong. You have all this burst packed into it, thought not many Play Brand the ones that do just hardcore carry with him through the Earlygame because there is few means to win a laning phase with him as your Opponent.
So i have made a Possible Suggestion as to how Brand's Passive Burst could be handled to make his Scaling a Little higher but in return give him a Somewhat harder Earlygame so he doesn't have it all that easy.
Said suggestion is to Lower the Base damage of his Passive Burst and give it a somewhat stronger Scaling per Level, from 12-16% to maybe 8-16% with a slightly raised AP ratio, from 1,5%/100 AP to maybe a 1,75%/100 AP.
Yes i am Aware it would strengthen his already powerful lategame by quite a bit with the AP scaling but with his Late Base damage being pretty much unchanged it would still provide the present balance. His earlygame however would drop a bit in the Powerspike of All-Outs.
I Play brand myself quite often compared to other Midlaners, sure not nearly as much as maybe a Ryze zed and a Talon but the times i do Play brand i find myself winning EVERY laningphase because my Opponent can't do anything until he hits 6, and by the time he does that i am already at least 2 Levels ahead, got at least one item finished + Boots and can pretty much 100/0 at least 3 people at once from the sheer AoE Burst from my W-R and my Passive's Burst proc. As someone who mains the midlane area i think that someone with a Lvl3 this strong and decisive is NOT okay.
I am well Aware that this is going to tilt at least a few people because the Play/winrates do not say this much about brand and he is currently most popular as a support (out of 4 brands picked 3 go supp in the NA statistic) but his powerspike even there is just the same, someone who at Lvl3 with just a Dorants ring and a pod can pretty much hit as hard as a Fizz would in 6 with a sheen is really not okay if you ask me. It is not otherworldly OP but it is not okay.
Rant: End
