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Brand Masteries (and general ap mage) Theorycraft

PXEL·11/13/2015, 6:54:42 PM·1 votes·695 views

So I like playing a lot of high damage immobile mages. Specifically Velkoz and Zyra but more recently Brand . Before the new masteries I liked the feel of 21/0/9 with the mana, biscuits, and such and I would take the CDR Blues+Masteries 5%+Morello/Athenes= 40% approach. Now however, I have to choose between the CDR and the magic pen (both very nice stats on Brand). Which seems like the better option?

Then there's the keystone issue. Deathfire Touch seems like a nice option for Brand, but does his DoT passive re-apply the DFT? I tried the Stormraider's Surge when I did a game with the CDR cunning route. The movement speed after a pillar combo was nice to reposition in a teamfight, but I felt that I was missing some damage from DFT. Any advice on a good keystone?

Then that all culminates with my last question, why do ad champs get a lot of favor in these masteries? I get that it is pre-season and a lot of stuff is subject to change, that there is a lot of complaining right now, and that I probably don't know what I'm talking about. Someone care to mention some of the positives that have come for mages in these masteries?

Also I like these stickers, and zombie Brand. Even if it was late [zombie-brand-clap]

1 Comments

JJI74411/13/2015, 7:29:27 PM2 votes

You should really, really try out the Ferocity tree with Brand. It is the tree that favors sustained/tank-busters. The Magic pen there is % based, and the burn on Deathfire's Touch is.... is... its kinda crazy on Brand really. Like, REALLY strong. If you are playing as a burst mage (more focus on raw AP) Cunning tree can work for Brand, But if you are going Rylias/Liandries nad some CDR, you wil likely get more mileage out o the Ferocity tree.

For real though, the burn of Deathfire's is very powerful on Brand.

Champions with high AS get a lot of benifit from Fervor, with the tradeoff of needing to ramp up the damage. (In theory, right now I think it is too easy to keep stacked.)

Warlords is weak (useless) on most champions early-game, but very powerful later in the match. There are a couple of outliers that are abusing it for lane sustain, hopefully the hotfix is enough to eliminate those abuse cases.

Deathfires is hella strong on sustained damage mages, including Brand.

Storm: Is kinda meh IMO, but I suppose there are champs that really benifit from the MS.

Thunder is good for extra burst. Also increases the poke damage of some champions that can fairly reliably combo 3 hits.

Windspeakers is, quite frankly, stupidly strong on champions that can repeatedly shield or heal. Especially if they are shielding an allied tank. For real, a Rammus that is getting buffed by this mastery just does not die.

I really like the tank masteries, they are all stuff that tanks would like, and there is real choice between them. (Do I want more flat HP, damage reduction, or some extra damage/HP restoration)