Braum somewhat flawed - plus Relic Shield, Targon's Embrace needle

Needless complexity

Just a couple of thoughts:

1. Relic Shield and Targon's embrace and Face of the mountain - these are practically the go to items for Braum - however these are inferior to every other gold income item in the game. Why? Take a look at this:

This is a long and detailed explanation, so read it, when you have enough time. Let's have a look at the gold income first. On Summoner's Rift you gain passively 114g per minute (without GP10 masteries!). A Siege Minion is worth 40g in the beginning. A Melee Minion is worth 20g in the beginning. A Caster Minion is always worth 5g less than a Melee Minion. The Minion gold increases throughout the game. I do the calculations without increasing gold. Minions spawn at 1:30 and they need about 30 seconds to reach lane. A Minion wave spawns every 30 seconds. Every 3rd wave includes one Siege Minion. Relic Shield recharges (1 charge) every 60 seconds, Targon's Brace recharges (1 charge) every 30 seconds.

With this knowledge we can state some things: We have 114g at 2:30, 228g at 3:30, 342g at 4:30, 456g at 5:30, 570g at 6:30, ... Siege Minions give the most gold - You want to use your charges to kill them. Siege Minions reach lane at 3:00, 4:30, 6:00, 7:30, 9:00, ... - ALWAYS have a stack ready at these times! Melee Minios give more gold than Caster Minions. Use the remaining charges for Melee Minions. Relic Shield recharges every 2nd wave. Targon's Brace recharges every wave. How do you get the most gold with this information?

Note: I always add 15 seconds to when the wave arrives on lane and you kill the Minion.

Relic Shield: We start the laning phase with 2 charges. Take one Melee Minion (+20g) in the first lane (~2:15). Save your second charge for the 3rd wave because it can get close with the 60 seconds time to recharge if your lane is pushing. Take 1 Melee (+20g) and Siege Minion (+40g) in the 3rd wave if possible (take 1 Melee Minion in the following wave if you still have one charge).

Time: ~3:15; Gained Gold: 200g + 80g = 280g

From now on we have 1 charge per minute -> 3 charges in 3 minutes and we start with 0 charges. There are 2 Siege Minions in 3 minutes. Repeat the following scenario until you go back and buy Targon's Brace: Wait for the next Siege Minion wave (90 seconds) and take the Siege Minion (+40g). Wait again for the next Siege Minion wave and take the Siege Minion (+40g) and one Melee Minion (+20g). This results in +100g per 90 seconds (plus 171g passively).

Time: ~4:45; Gained Gold: 371g + 80g + 40g = 491g (enough for Targon's Brace) Time: ~7:45; Gained Gold: 713g + 80g + 40g + 100g = 933g 933g - 491g = 442g/3min = 147.3g/min

Targon's Brace: Take every wave one melee (or if possible siege) minion = 80g per 90 seconds (2 Melee and 1 Siege Minion). For further calculation, I assume that we bought Targon's Brace at ~4:45. Note: You don't lose charges when you go to base and buy Targon's Brace. They are loading while you go back to lane.

Time: ~7:45; Gained Gold: 713g + 80g + 40g + 160g = 993g 993g - 491g = 502g/3min = 167.3g/min

This means that we get 20g per minute more after buying Targon's Brace.

But how can we say now, that it's worth to buy Targon's Brace before Sightstone?

Time/Costs - Relic Shield -> Sightstone -> Targon's Brace: Sightstone + Targon's Brace - 491g = 1300g - 491g = 809g 809g / 147.3g per minute = ~5:29 4:45 + 5:29 = 10:14

Time/Costs - Relic Shield -> Targon's Brace -> Sightstone: Sightstone = 800g 800g / 167.3g per minute = 4:46 4:45 + 4:46 = 9:31

10:41 - 9:31 = 50 seconds This means we are about 50 seconds faster with finishing those two items. In these 50 seconds you would gain another 140g. You could buy a Vision Ward with this gold which could deny your enemies enough vision for your jungler to do gank successfully.

Note: Two placed wards with Sightstone are worth 150g. But you should seldom need Stealth Wards in laning phase because you have 2 Warding Totems.

Remember: In the calculation I ignored some things that could change the outcome a bit: GP10 masteries Kills / Assists Minion gold increases over time You can miss Siege Minions if you die or get zoned HP5 of Targon's Brace HP gain on minion kill

******Credit to inT0xicaTing **

**Bottom Line on 1 - This item takes mega micro management of which minions to kill and when to use your charges most efficiently. More importantly, waiting until 9 minutes to get a sight stone is usually too long for a support to really help his team with map awareness. On top of this if you're managing charges to get the most gold you're at a disadvantage experience wise by your low number of cs in order to max your gold. My answer to that problem is to use experience quints to keep up, but even then I usually fall behind - especially if the team you're with is average. It's a team game but this seems a bit much to efficiently earn gold and keep up experience wise. Can't there be a more simple mechanic for a gold income item design for a tank support?

2. Braum is a health based champion when it comes to damage both offensively and defensively - the current mechanic for offense is +2.5% of max health for additional damage. I believe damage done also acts as defense - an opponent taking more damage either has to take down his target quicker or disengage before teammates show up to assist. So let's look at the beginning of the game if you get the first two items which are Targon's embrace and Sightstone. It takes 9 to ten minutes to just get these two items.

• no boots
• no defense other than your runes and the eventual addition of 325 health from both items

Lets say you use flat health seals - that will add another 72 health for a total of 397 health. That's + 9.925 damage to only Braum's Winter's Bite. Note-- Braum is a tank support with low damage - I get that - but 10 minutes into the game he can do the following (this is a rough calculation) At ten minutes the max level you could attain just on a perfect minion farm would be level 9 with a perfect 107 minion score - Braum and his adc will usually not have a perfect minion score.

So I took my last victory and calculated my level at the nine to ten minute mark to be around level 5 (the raw math [length of game}/total levels attained= time per level, then 10 minutes/time per level = roughly 5. **so lets say level 6 by the 10 minute mark for dragon, jungle etc.

Braum's raw damage output puts him at (0/22/8):

• Basic attack Damage 72.2
• Health 1400 (6 scaling health seals give you 72 health at level 6 + targon and sightstone)
• Armor 44
• MR 37.5
• Winter's Bite dmg and slow level 2 (Q2 W1 E2 R1): 105 + 35 = 140 cd 9 seconds, slow for 2 seconds to 70% with decay
• Stand Behind me at level 1, if I understand it correctly, it says it gives a percentage of bonus armor and bonus mr with the above items is 0 armor and 0 mr -- you essentially get a gap closer and escape at this point with the above items. Nothing else.
• Unbreakable - Braum's bread and butter - at level 2, 3.25 second shield that blocks one full attack and 32.5% of incoming attacks for the duration. cd 16 seconds Glacial Fissure - knocks target up for 1 second, slows enemies in fissure to 40% and lasts .25 seconds once out of fissure. CD is 140 seconds. Damage is 150 +60% of AP - no AP at this point.

Summary: It seems to me that Braum's design is somewhat flawed - the +2.5% damage bonus to Winter's Bite is negligible at best - I get it - he's a support. But he's not really health based champion when you look at Stand Behind Me, is he? His tankiness really comes down to - Unbreakable - unless of course you build more armor and magic resist items which are going to cost you. And - Glacial Fissure - .25 second slow outside it? - talk about draconian. What about the +60% AP - what items are you going to build there - pretty useless stat if you ask me.

Lastly, Relic shield and Targon's embrace are needlessly complicated and slow the purchase of sightstone.... and more importantly defensive items that have armor and mr.

Maybe the EXP Quints are a mistake... but my gameplay experience has been such that I still fall behind albeit a lot less. I'm confused riot. Thoughts suggestions and feedback appreciated.