Concerning Brand

Ok so I'm most certainly not super qualified to pass judgment on champion balance, primarily because I'm silver and haven't been in gold ever. My goal in stating that is that is to enter into this from a state of humility and openness to listening. However, my concern is around Brand. What I am curious about is why his kit is so combo-dependent. What I mean by that is that Brand's spells all work together very fluidly and combo off of each other, primarily, if not completely, based on his passive. In essence, the way Brand feels to me is: "Land full combo - win. Don't land full combo - lose."

Now, I'm not trying to give off the impression that Brand is a bad champion or poorly designed champion; I have no right to charge the Rito team with that. Brand is not a bad champion, he is just overshadowed by other champions who are strictly better or stronger or more useful. My big concern is just that this mentality makes Brand feel highly one-dimensional. Compare that same mindset to someone like Syndra. Syndra is also combo based to a degree, but to me it doesn't feel as flat, for lack of a better word. Sure Syndra can Q, throw the Q with the W, E the Q to stun, Q again then R, and all of this requires hitting all of the skills to get a good result, but she still has more options for complex play, such as her positioning around the Q or repositioning it with W while waiting for the Q cd to turn off in order to maximize ult damage or position for her stun.

Brand doesn't have that type of depth; the only repositioning he/she (the player) can do is to move Brand himself to try and find a better position for a W Q or E Q combo (I word it that way just because the Q stun is quite strong and worth trying to get off). Now, I know some people will say that Brand and Syndra are two completely different champions with completely different kits, lore, purposes, etc. or that Brand has been played in the LCS. Both of these statements are true. However, differences in kits don't excuse a lack of depth, so that point is negated. Yes, he has been played in the LCS, but as a support, which I don't believe was his intended role. I don't seek to negate player creativity and the adaptability of a champion, but Brand is almost fully used as an off-ap carry as a support rather than for his utility. Now to the dimensional aspect, I don't forsee a reason to combo the Q into something. By that I mean Brand's stun is far more useful that the increased E spread or the extra damage on the W or the R bounce prioritization. So in essence, the combo usually goes either E Q... or W Q... and that's as complex as it gets.

Now, I'm not going to point out a problem then not give some option for change. What I propose is to change the passive procs for the W and E and possibly the R, or change some of the normal effects of the Q and E, or maybe both changed could be used. So for the E, it could be that the passive proc of the E, the spreading to units be kept as the normal effect, which would maintain some waveclear, and the new passive proc would be each passive on the units the E spreads to would detonate, sort of in the form of a smaller Karthus Q so that it wouldnt be too overbearing on the graphics and clutter but could still add some (10% bonus based on E's base damage) damage to help with waveclear. This would make his E more favorable to proc in some situations, such as in a teamfight or in clearing large waves.

His W's proc could be changed to adding more bonus percent damage (50%, up from 25%), but the base damage could be lowered. Overall damage on a passive proc + the W could increase some, not enough to be overbearing or oppressive. This would make proc-ing the W passive more favorable for following the in teamfights and in clearing large waves. This would even be good in general lane trades and add a more complicated aspect to Brand's combos.

The Q could have the natural effect of adding a small slow (10%-20% maximum for no more than 1 second max) to make comboing the W into it more favorable and easy to land. The stun proc for the passive could stay, as the utility on a 2 second stun is quite good. The skill shot would remain a single target and most likely the same width and speed so that the same level of challenge would apply as it does now. Now, the reason I say the slow should be no more than 20% is because if the slow is too much, then it makes the W too difficult to dodge for immobile champions, whereas a Zed can just W away. Same issue with the length of the slow, if it is too long, Brand's W cast time will trigger and immobile champions would have no way of escaping. The slow or duration could be longer to punish players for not staying behind minions or other champions or rewarding the Brand player for a god-like Q, but the reward/punishment seems good enough as it is; the W is harder to dodge or easier to land, based on who you are playing.

The R is tricky. One possibility I would propose is to have the R proc the passive in a stacking manner, similar to Darius's passive (i.e. the damage increases but the duration doesn't), but only if the ult was used AFTER the passive was applied. The ult would not stack the passive if Brand's passive was not applied before the ult hit the target for the first time. In addition, this stack would only apply during the ult bounces and wouldn't count the passive procs from the Q, W, or E. Now, this means A LOT of damage for being hit multiple times (from 5 bounces, maximum amount of times to be hit is 3, which equals 24% of one's max health in magic damage). This may sound crazy, but consider this: Brand's ult minus the passive will not prioritize anything as it bounces, i.e., it works based on proximity. As long as you avoid where it is, it most likely won't hit you. With the passive proc though, it will prioritize champions on its bounces, which makes the passive stacks more impactful, i.e., it rewards the Brand more and punishes the player more. Now, this also makes Brand's R more impactful in small skirmishes (2 - 3 champions per team) since it is more likely one will be hit multiple times, especially if monsters/minions are not nearby. This effect is somewhat negated in full 5v5 fights because there is much smaller chance that one will be hit more than once, especially if monsters/minions are present. This gives Brand more skirmishing power but would keep him full 5v5 power roughly equal and would reward him for applying his passive before ulting. In addition, it motivates players to try and diffuse Brand's ult to prevent the bouncing, since its damage potential is higher.

Now, part of the reason why I propose these concepts is that it offers more variability to Brand's combos and gives him more rewards for succeeding in each ability following the other. All of these changes together may be too much, but I think they add a lot of depth to his combos while keeping his damage a little higher than live, but his damage potential for playing well very high. Let me know what you guys think! I'd love to hear opinions on these ideas. I spent most of today thinking of ideas when I should have been working or paying attention in school :D Thanks for reading, and good luck on the rift guys! #BeVictorious