There’s a whole lot to unpack with League of Legends’ upcoming champion, Briar, whose insatiable hunger is ready to run rampant through the jungle of Summoner’s Rift.
Briar’s arrival on League’s PBE has provided fans with a clear look at what exactly they can expect from the Restrained Hunger, including all of the intricacies surrounding her unorthodox abilities—all of which require her to put herself in the face of danger to feast. This includes detailed information regarding her unique Blood Frenzy form, which truly brings out the hunger lying within this Noxian vampire.
As mentioned in Briar’s reveal teaser, all of her abilities require a specific percentage of her health in order to cast—something that also won’t regenerate over time, setting her apart from other champions. To compensate for this drawback, however, Briar is rewarded with exceptional healing upon constantly attacking her enemies through her passive, Crimson Curse, which increases substantially based on her own current health.
Blood Frenzy can be activated through both Briar’s W and ultimate. This form has Briar place a taunt upon herself toward the closest enemy, gaining a base of 60-percent bonus attack speed while dishing out a barrage of auto attacks on that target, growing to 120-percent later on. Its tooltip specifies that the Tiamat-esque area-of-effect damage of this ability grows exponentially as well, ultimately dealing 100 percent of the damage done to the main target in a small area at max rank.
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Most notably, these tooltips reveal the extent to which Briar gets empowered when unleashing her ultimate, Certain Death. The additional armor and magic resist that she obtains when recasting this ultimate to fly toward the enemy it hits is specified to increase depending on her current AD total. This essentially provides the Restrained Hunger with an entire additional tank item for free, ensuring that nothing will separate her from her desired prey.
This ability will make Briar an even greater threat in the later stages of the game. If she can get to level 16, not only does the ability’s immediate landing damage near-quadruple, but the additional life steal and movement speed granted to Briar becomes almost unmatched by any other champion. Interestingly, Briar’s ultimate also has an AP ratio factored into its damage, though it’s unlikely that this will lead to non-AD builds for the champion.
Briar, the Restrained Hunger, is now available for testing on League’s PBE and is expected to be released on the live servers alongside Patch 13.18 on Sept. 13. Due to the time of her release, she is unlikely to be available as an option for professional players in international tournaments held throughout the remainder of the year.
