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Why Brand doesn't need a rework

Brosaken·1/22/2016, 7:54:50 PM·2 votes·368 views

First off, let me start of by saying that I love that a Mage update is the next big thing for balance in league. I have always loved mages in all games, and League is no exception. I believe a lot of the current mages have outdated kits, but that's another discussion.

Secondly, as a little background: I am a Diamond V (season 5) player with probably 200+ Brand games. Started playing in about Season 3, with the occasional breaks from League

Finally, let's look at Riot Statikk's post about the upcoming Mage update. He mentions that the Mages being looked at for significant changes are Malzahar, Vel’Koz, Brand, Vladimir, Cassiopeia, and Zyra. I believe some of these do require a Champion Update, but Brand is not one of them.

To start off why I think Brand is in a fine spot, let's look Statikk's aim for these Mages.

  • Cohesive - deliver on their core thematic and gameplay fantasy
  • Healthy- - balance-able and fun to play as and against at all skill levels
  • Distinct - offer a unique reason to be picked

Cohesive: Brand (specifically his kit, voice-over, and model) might be one of the most thematically representing champions in the game. I couldn't possibly imagine a character with more desire to cleanse the world in a fiery, blazing inferno. The first time you play Brand, you feel his intensity and ferocity in just a few minutes by his explosive kit and voice-over.

Healthy: Another area Brand excels at. STOP. Wait before you run to the comments to complain about this godly champion. Brand has been a middle-of-the-pack champion for as long as I can remember, until the introduction of the Deathfire Touch mastery. Before that, Brand maintained a decent winrate (about 52%). This could largely be explained by the fact that most Brand players were Brand mains like myself. Brand went on the rise ever since the AP Item rework, when both Liandry's Torment and Rylai's Crystal Scepter were heavily buffed. However, he was still arguably balanced. But all of that changed when the Fire Nation (Deathfire Touch) attacked. Brand instantly spiked to roughly a 56% winrate, and only recently has the Burning Vengeance been tamed due to nerfs to his mana and Deathfire Touch. Since then, Brand has had the lowest winrate that he's had in years. He's probably the most balanced he's been in a very long time, and his play rate has spiked to respectable amounts.

Distinct: Of the three aforementioned goals, this is probably the one that Brand struggles with the most. When do I pick Brand? The obvious answer would be when you want an AoE nuke Mage with average distance and good CC. The rebuttal to this answer would be that Lux, Ziggs, and Xerath fill very similar roles. However, if this was a respectable reason to rework someone, dozens of champions would require reworks. The three previously mentioned champions are essentially different versions of the same champion. This alone is no reason to rework a champion.

Now, don't think I'm saying that Brand is a perfect champion. His ultimate's unreliability in lane is one major problem that I could support a change to. However, his basic abilities should remain completely unchanged in my opinion. Brand's complexity for a relatively old champion is impressive and highly interactive. The reliance on several different possible ability combos due to his passive is incredibly fun to play, and allows for several lane counters (Fizz and Zed being the first to come to mind).

tl;dr Brand is a healthy, balanced champion that needs little to no changes. He has a strong thematic identity that ties into his kit, and he is relatively distinct from other Mages

4 Comments

Cowgirl Ed1/22/2016, 7:57:45 PM1 votes

lol

Meep Man1/22/2016, 8:12:09 PM1 votes

Brand isn't very distinct. That's why he is being reworked. Dozens of champions do need reworks. If you look at a lot of older champions, they need reworks, Brand included.

Brand is turning into an abuse champion. He is making DoT mages hard to balance and get new things since anything they benefit from, he benefits from 10x more. He is turning into Warwick with on-hit effects, but Brand is with on-spell effects. He needs a new passive namely. His E could also be changed to not just be as simple as it is, I think most would agree with me here.

I think all Brand needs is a passive and E change.

Quepha1/22/2016, 8:13:14 PM1 votes

Every mage wants to land their combos for loads of burst damage, giving brand bonuses for it doesn't really make him stand out when every mage already wants to do that tons of mages have middling range with a little bit of cc and a lot of aoe, you listed artillery mages which are a completely different class when you should have listed annie, vel'koz, cassiopeia, ahri, azir, malzahar, orianna, and zyra. being countered by fizz and zed is not unique or interesting, those are assassins that counter EVERY mage once they get rolling.

coeurloyal1/22/2016, 8:19:06 PM1 votes

To be clear, they aren't targeting all six of those champions for major changes. Just changes. Some (specifically Vel'Koz, and likely Brand) are only getting minor kit changes to make them more unique from others in the same class. I wouldn't expect much more than a single kit change or passive changes for either of them.