Brand

Brand is an AP mage in the adc, and on patch 16.11 they grade out as a solid mid-tier pick — a 54.5% win rate, 3.4% pick rate, 40,144 ranked games sampled. On the power curve, Brand spikes hardest in the mid game around the two-to-three-item mark — that is the window to force fights and objectives.

How Brand wins: grouped 5-v-5 teamfights, where Brand tips the fight, and sieging objectives and turrets with sustained pressure. The kit grades 8/10 teamfighting, 8/10 siege. Play around where Brand is thin, engage and disengage (3/10, 3/10), and the enemy loses their angle.

The most-played core build is Blackfire Torch, Rylai's Crystal Scepter, Liandry's Torment, which holds a 57.5% win rate across 6,391 games this patch. The build above re-optimizes once you lock in the enemy composition.

The matchup to respect is Lux, where Brand sits at just 42.8%, the lane swings the other way into Mel (61.6%), and on the team side, Brand gains the most from a Zaahen (+10.1% pair win rate).