Wheres the Brand love?

Too Many Hooks·5/12/2015, 9:46:47 PM·2 votes·816 views

I am silver, however whenever im brand mid i seem to take games into the palms of my hands and destroy kids. All the people i play though are weary of brand players; like they ask me not to be him sometimes, and i havent ever really seen anyone ever take him at my elo. Why is this? Also riot please make like a toxic brand skin, poison animations instead of fire, the burn passive is like a poison effect instead (graphically), that or acid. but yeah just where is that brand love i NEVER see him anymore.

4 Comments

Inphernal5/12/2015, 9:51:42 PM1 votes

Same problems as Velkoz, hard hitting but no mobility + squish as well as predictable spells and combos

Tshum945/12/2015, 9:52:03 PM1 votes

Maybe part of it is that in some people's opinions, he's not one of the more asthetically pleasing champs. He walks kinda weird and his animations need to be updated (in my opinion).

Another reason is that if someone is destroyed by a champ, they tend to stay away from them at all costs. Even if they might do well playing as them.

MrBuffington5/12/2015, 9:58:11 PM1 votes

Some people don't like their teammates playing champions they don't see in professional play, though most players don't care as long as you're good, in my experience. As far as Brand in professional play, he's generally not favored because his spells are a bit too telegraphed and his stun can be difficult to land against pro players, which is a pretty big deal given how important his stun is.

Vaelix5/12/2015, 10:14:12 PM1 votes

He's no mobility, though amazing base MS. Anything with hard Engage eats him if he cannot stun them and since his stun requires set up there's basically a guaranteed second of them doing something to you before you can stop them if your E is not available.

His CC is conditional and unreliable. My names Xerath, I don't have to set up anything to Stun, and I've got longer range.

His ult is totally unreliable and can be completely canceled by statis / untargetable instead of merely bouncing off them doing nothing and eating a charge.

There is no 'Win' condition to his combo. You have to lose out on something by setting up blaze for the rest of your kit. Want to make sure your Ult prioritizes champs AoE? Then you burn W without 25% Amp, or E after a W or Q, meaning loss of stun or Amp. The only real combo that allows you to utilize your blaze bonuses to its fullest effect is opening with your Ult, but unless you're in a position where there are no possible bounces except champions, its dangerously unreliable.

To put it shortly, Brands kit is super fun, and super powerful, but hes punished by his own mechanics and the payout of this drawback only rarely makes him worth it unless you're someone who just loves his kit / theme. Brand definitely has his upsides, its just that hes counterable, has to work against his own kit, and can be painfully unreliable.

(I have probably 1,000 Brand games as a Brand main since the beginning of S2.)