LoL devs eyeing major Brand buffs to make him one of the game’s strongest junglers

Patch 13.21 for League of Legends has proposed some major buffs to fire mage Brand, promoting him to one of the game’s strongest junglers with insanely fast clears. 

League of Legends is constantly in a state of change. The nine-year-old MOBA has been consistently updated throughout its lifespan, introducing new champions, skins, and balance changes to keep the game feeling fresh and keep players engaged.

Developers Riot recently implemented Patch 13.20 for League, which introduced several changes to the MOBA, including a new rework for K’sante and nerfs to the jungle role. And with Worlds 2023 well underway, the developers are looking to take the game in a new direction as we head toward the pre-season.

One such proposed change is to mage junglers, many of whom received buffs or adjustments on the Public Beta Environment. Easily the biggest winner of these changes however is Brand, whose passive damage was tripled against jungle monsters, making him an absolute powerhouse for clearing camps.

PBE Brand Jungle Buffs 2:56 Red Start 2 smite full clear. Brand jungle now has a full clear competitive with Karthus from red start (Karth is 2:55 red start). Will this actually be good I don't know but these buffs are tuned insanely high pic.twitter.com/JKZrbx320r

— Shapeshift (@lolshapeshift) October 17, 2023

LoL Brand buffs may make him the strongest jungler in the game

LoL players have discovered that with the buffs, Brand is able to clear the entirety of his jungle at the 2:56 mark. This means his entire clear time without a leash is just under a minute and 30 seconds when starting on the red buff.

This clear speed is ridiculously quick and will enable Brand to start impacting the map faster than many other junglers. The only other mage jungler who can compare to the speed is Karthus, who beats Brand out by one second. 

Brand’s passive Brand originally dealt 120% of its damage to jungle monsters, but with Patch 13.21 it has been tripled to 360%. These changes are still on the PBE however, and are subject to change, with Riot already chipping off 60% of its damage to reduce his lightning clear. 

The LoL developers have had quite a history of balance troubles when it comes to the game, but with the changes still being tested on the PBE, Riot may look to take him down further to prevent his wildfire from spreading.