Riot , to what conclusion did you come to ? (Brand Rework)

So , I wanted to know what Riot thinks about Brand post mid year update. In your mid season post you said that his power was still under assessment , so I want to know what is the conclusion that you came to. Honestly , in my opinion , even though his win rate when up , I disliked he rework , but more because of what you wanted to change , compared to what you actually changed.

From the Post that you made about Brand - "Here’s where we think he’s at. Stuff that’s good: (These all remained the same , which is good) Simple spells with room to express skill thanks to his combo system. % max health damage means he kills anything eventually -- a strength that goes well with his low mobility and moderate range. Twin souls – a burst mage with a respectable sustained damage pattern. Good counterplay and interaction -- Brand already has clear weaknesses that make room for epic strength, because his opponents have ways to act against him.

Stuff that’s less good: Outside of Liandry/Rylai, there’s not much reason to pick Brand over other AoE mages unless he simply deals more damage than they do. Tough to balance. You still have 0 reason to pick him other then the Rylandry´s combo items. You tried to make heavily punish clumping up as a team , but half a dozen mages do that , as did pre rework Brand. R acts like a violent slot machine, that unpredictability frustrates both Brand and his opponents. It tries to be controllable, but it often isn’t in practice. _This was slightly changed , but it´s still not ideal. His ulti is still pretty RNG related , since it bounces to 4 targets , but there are 5 in the enemy team , and you have no garen tea that it will even hit all 4 targets , it could bounce between 2 and call it a day. _ Great at obliterating individuals or pairs, but the fire fantasy could go farther—he doesn’t often get to burn everyone. Burning the world is a major thing for him. Not sure what you people were aiming at here A bully in lane inherently due to passive and W, forcing him to fade into irrelevance unless he gets enormously fed. _This was about the only thing changed. He lost quite a lot of power in his early game , but scales better now _

Here’s what we’re trying to get out of the Brand changes: Brand should still play like Brand. He’s fun and surprisingly deep. _This is were things go way south. He does not play at all like he used too. You tried to slot him into a Burst Mage + Battle Mage Hybrid , hence the passive change. However , Brand used to be a Burst Mage + Poke Mage Hybrid , so this change was massive. And why even try to make him a battle mage ???? He has terrible hard cc (A single target stun , on a skill shot that requires 2 spells to be cast) , has no sustain and has no "Do not enter" abilities (Aurelion and his passive , Cassie and her W , Karthus and his passive and Rumble with his ulti ). Honestly , I have 0 clue to why you tried to make him into a battle mage _ Brand can still do Brand things—annihilates squishies when ahead, jungle ganks against him have big 1v2 turn potential, strong kill potential in lane (if less bullying). _This actually was put in effect _ There’s a unique reason to pick Brand and it’s expressed in damage. Brand is a combo AoE fire man who explodes things. This will only become more true. Nope. As I said , you have 0 unique reason to pick Brand , unless it´s because you love playing him. The damage Brand deals should not require luck." _His Ulti is still too random , and it is a good part of him damage. However , the new Brand does reward skilled and expert Brand players, due to the 2 ability passive combo explosion _

As you can see, many things that Riot wanted to address , were not changed at all , or the complete opposite occurred. All in all he is still a good champion , I just don´t see what was the point of the rework.