Braum, The Heart of the Freljord
Welcome to League of Legends news! We will start with the announce of Braum, a new support/tank champion. Bot lane sorely needed a change up, we always see Leona, Thresh or Morgana as bot lane supports. Though there is nothing wrong with these champions,and they are actually quite good, it just makes for uninteresting bot lane combinations and boring strategies.
Lets hope that with the release of a new support, we will see some new energy in bot lane. I hope this new support is well balanced but is also a strong pick so that he doesn't end up being a rarely used support like Zilean, Lulu and Janna.
Braum's abilities.
Passive: Concussive Blows
Braum’s basic attacks apply Concussive Blows. Once the first stack is applied, all basic attacks from Braum and his allies apply further stacks. Targets that sustain four stacks are stunned and suffer bonus magic damage. After being stunned, Braum cannot apply Concussive Blows to his target again for a moderate duration.
Q: Winter's Bite
Braum propels freezing ice from his shield in a straight line skillshot, dealing magic damage (based on Braum’s max health), slowing and applying a stack of Concussive Blows to the first target hit.
W: Stand By Me
Braum leaps to the aid of a nearby ally, positioning himself between his target and their nearest enemy champion, and granting both Braum and his target bonus armor and magic resist based on his total armor and magic resist.
E: Unbreakable
Braum raises his shield in a target direction, negating the damage from the first attack from the shield’s direction and reducing the damage of all subsequent attacks as long as the shield is raised. Braum intercepts projectiles with Unbreakable, causing them to hit him and then be destroyed. He also gains a minor speed boost until he lowers his shield.
R: Glacial Fissure
Braum slams his shield into the ground, sending out a huge long-range skillshot that knocks up and damages all enemies caught before leaving behind a strong slow field.
Riot's About/Insights on Braum
As with all champions, we designed Braum to fill a specific gap in the League of Legends champion pool. Specifically, he’s the first true tank support that we've created, a champion who takes the hits for their team. We’ve had plenty of defensive supports – champions like Nami, Soraka, Janna etc – who negate damage through heals or shields, along with fighter supports like Leona and Alistar, who are generally great at initiating teamfights before diving deep into the enemy team and disrupting as much as possible. Braum’s something different: he’s a tanky support who literally takes the hits for his team, and as such requires a new mindset, position and playstyle to most conventional supports.
The key to Braum’s unique playstyle is Unbreakable, his E. It’s an active defense, similar to Yasuo’s Wind Wall, but while Yasuo’s ability was created so that he’d have the means to protect himself (the team utility is considered a secondary bonus), we specifically designed Unbreakable so that Braum could protect his team. It makes Braum different because he – more than any other champion - creates zones of safety behind him. He defends throughout the game, first by protecting his marksman during laning, then by protecting his entire team and tanking during late game. While other supports focus on buffing, heals or disruption, Braum fills a unique role between the two teams, taking the brunt of the damage for his team and letting his damage dealers do their thing.
This positions him literally between the two teams, and gave us some interesting design questions to answer. Specifically, how else does a defensive melee support contribute in fights when he has limited damage and can only land basic attacks on the enemy’s beefy frontline? This is where we brought in his passive, Concussive Blows, and Q, Winter’s Bite. Braum can harass while protecting, not necessarily through his own strength, but by applying Concussive Blows to enemy targets. This greatly amplifies his team’s power while keeping Braum’s positioning consistent throughout teamfights. And while Braum can’t easily harass the enemy backline (Winter’s Bite only affects the first enemy it strikes, and Braum’s basic attacks are melee), when his allies get jumped by enemy fighters and tanks, he can quickly reposition with Stand Behind Me before peeling multiple targets with Concussive Blows. We’re excited to see what you guys make of Braum. If you’re interested in testing him before his live release, get into the PBE and give him a whirl. We’d love to get your feedback!
Well that's what Riot had to say about their latest champion, lets just hope its not another rushed un-blanced champion release, and that we get some diversity bot lane. Well that's all, good luck league players!
