I’ve been spending a lot of my LoL time on Brand, more than most of the recent champions and mostly because he’s a lot of fun to play. His combo system is an absolute blast – one of the best examples of a champions that forces you to make decisions when choosing your spells. For the most part, I also think he’s pretty balanced.
If I have one complaint about Brand it’s that the range on his E is just a little too long. He’s a fairly slow champion – he feels slow, anyway – so I understand that it’s a sizable radius, but coupled with his passive it deals an awful lot of damage from pretty huge distance. Other than that, I love the skill. The Blaze synergy is great for a little bounce damage off the caster minions if your opponent gets too close.
Pillar of Flame is probably my second favorite skill in Brand’s arsenal. The animation is great and the damage is impressive, especially if your target is ablaze. I do think the W->E combo might give him a little too much farming potential, but a simple mana tweak would address the problem.
As far as stuns go, I think Brand is in a good spot. His stun is not just a skillshot but a conditional skillshot at that. You miss it and you’re pretty much sunk if someone’s in your face. That kind of risk also makes it a lot of fun to land, especially when you snake it through a minion or two.
I have mixed feelings about his ult. If the circumstance is just right it feels pretty good, but the circumstance is rarely just right. In most cases I see it wipe out a few minions, dealing damage to a hero or two along the way. Though I do occasionally wish it dealt a bit more damage, I think erring on the low or unreliable side of damage is better than the alternative.
I’ve heard a lot of people complain that he’s OP, but I just haven’t seen it yet. He is very high burst, in much the same way that other casters can be, it’s just that his playstyle rewards skill more than many others.
