When Riot Games finally gives some love to forgotten League of Legends champions, they normally buff their base stats, damage output, or survivability. League players have found the perfect way to buff one forgotten champion—and it’s not by increasing their numbers.
In a post on League’s subreddit from Aug. 9, fans proposed an unorthodox way to buff Brand by giving him Kog’Maw’s passive ability that allows him to run into the enemy team and explode, dealing true damage.
“You’re an immobile, short-range mage who HAS to play aggressively and his design should lean into that more. You die, your body erupts in even more flames, then you explode in a fiery explosion,” explained one player.
Brand is actually getting a buff in Patch 13.16 to his passive, Q, and E abilities. But again, it’s just a flat increase in damage and nothing else.
Although this may sound like the players are going overboard with this idea, it actually makes sense. Brand’s whole identity, solely because he’s an immobile mage with strong burst potential, revolves around nuking the enemy team and dying. In 2023, except for Zhonya’s Hourglass, Brand has no way to survive bursty or highly mobile champions like Zed and Naafiri. So, all Brand players want to do is cast their rotation on the enemy team and die with a bang.
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Because of the champion’s current identity, Kog’Maw’s passive would fit perfectly into Brand’s kit, leaning into what the champ has became and not what Riot originally intended for him. On top of this, Kog’Maw could really use a rework because he’s incredibly outdated when compared to champions like Zeri and Aphelios, and his passive doesn’t really fit into the whole theme of a hypercarry who needs to stay alive as long as possible.
If you ask me, tweaking champions in a more meaningful way should be the way Riot approaches balancing in 2023. The game has evolved and simply tuning up or down the numbers is no longer enough, especially to bring back forgotten champions.
