Can braum get a once over?
I've been thinking about this for a while. I love braum. I love the concept, the character, the voice, the art, the splashes you name it. But gameplay is where I feel... frustration. I want to protect people, but I also want to, well, live. I think braum has some of the roughest early games of any support, and it comes down to his ability to survive jungle ganks.
For the unfamiliar:
Braum's basic attacks and Winter's Bite each apply Concussive Blows to his target for 4 seconds, stacking up to 4 times. Once the first stack has been applied, any allied champion's basic attack on the target generates an additional stack. Upon reaching 4 stacks, the target is Stun icon stunned for 1.25 / 1.5 / 1.75 seconds and takes 26 - 196 (based on level) magic damage.
This passive is great no doubt, but in the early game it's Braum's only form of hard CC. Generally its use is for offensive purposes, and it's fine! But defensively? You have to either smack with AA or land your winter bite (not hard mind you.) The slow is great against immobile junglers but with a meta favoring high-mobility Xins. Jarvans, and Lee-Sins, if they're targeting your carry you have to pray they can AA while retreating effectively, or have their own CC/mobility CDs ready.
Soooo why is this an issue? Braum has no form of peel against diving melee, in a jungler that is near 100% diving melee at the moment, and the junglers that AREN'T diving have gap closers or abilities that ignore braum's shield altogether. He can not defend his carry properly, He cannot polymorph like lulu or knock up/CC like janna/Nami. What braum CAN do? Jump onto the carry, and start AAing the jungler. Which leads to a new issue.
Congrats, you stunned the jungler for 1.25 seconds and let your ADC survive. You blew every cooldown you had, and all you have is maybe 1 seconds left of your E. You are now a sitting duck. Assuming the opposing laners are chasing with their jungler, all you can do is pray and run back. Braums abilities practically beg for martyrdom. Jump infront of someone to save them from a morgana, block urgot chains (thank god that's fixed.) or even just give your ally enough armor to survive a nasty Zed Ult. Early game your cooldowns are so long that you are effectively screwed after saving someone. You traded a life for a life and that's nice and all, and your ADC probably appreciates it, but you still gave gold to the enemy. And you ask yourself "What was I supposed to do?" (Ward more dum-dum.) And that gold advantage will be felt for the rest of the game, and the "counterplay" of your kit will be abused to no end.
Let's talk about other supports. Not the Ardent Censor crap going on though, let's talk tanks. Leona, Alistar, Blitzcrank(?). All 3 have a tendency to blow all their cooldowns in one go. But where they differ from Braum is they have a second hard CC to activate (in the case of Leona, with a 6 second cooldown on her Q she might have 3) to help get out of jail. They put themselves in danger in order to save their carry, but each have a way of immediately defending themselves if the need arises as well. Braum's got none of that; the closest he has is a brief 10% increased mobility with his E (which I might add increases the size of your own hitbox to the point you might as well be as easy to hit with skillshots/CC as a full size Chogath.)
Alright, so braum is in a tough spot. But I think this patch, a new option is on the table that Riot didn't have before now. It was small patch, but it made all the difference for The Heart of the Feljord.
https://i.imgur.com/2bUexnO.png
It's time gentlemen, give braum the one-hit spellshield his E craves for. Instead of "The first instance of damage blocked by his shield is negated completely." Let it say "Braum blocks the next enemy ability used on him within the next 1.5 seconds." I know it's been suggested in the past, but with the latest patch I think the technical aspects of such an ability are much more favorable, and it would actually give him a reason to be picked instead of Leona. Choose Leona for stuns, roots and more stuns; choose Braum for his entire reason for existing. A big, massive, burly, ches-Shield.
I meant shield.