How will Braum change the LCS Meta?

by Reece "Sabrewolf" Dos-Santos

Braum’s release into live play has had a huge impact in solo queue and normal games. With the highest win rate of all the champions so far, it’s hard to deny that this new support is more than free elo. The question, however, is how much of an impact he could make on the LCS meta-game and, in my opinion, he has the potential to change a lot.

First and foremost, Braum will most likely be picked or banned most of the time. It’s hard to deny how useful he is in many situations: he brings invade potential, hard engage, hard disengage and powerful shielding with the absolute negation of one piece of damage. His level 1 is crazy strong because not many supports can reliably trade with the stun he brings out, especially if it’s synergized with a Lucian double shot. Braum/Lucian will likely be a very popular lane considering how Lucian is already picked in almost every LCS game as the main contested ADC outside of Caitlin or Twitch, who are more situational. However, Braum’s kit also enables the play of ADC’s like Jinx and Kog’maw that can dish out tons of damage provided that they are kept safe from being blown up. Kog’maw has already begun to see more play in recent times and now is the perfect time for him to ascend the ranks as one of the highly-contested ADC picks. Jinx already is a situational pick as she is considered by some as the best ADC to play when you have enough protection for her high damage output.

In the same light as Jinx and Kog’maw, another lane that could be affected greatly by Braum’s release is the mid lane. Froggen at the All-Star event showed the world what can still happen when Anivia is allowed free reign. He mentioned himself that Anivia simply doesn't fit into the meta which is why he cannot play her on a regular basis in the LCS. However, with the protection of Braum as well as the synergy of a potential stun lock between them, Anivia might actually be able to sneak back into the Meta and could be allowed to wreak havoc in the mid lane. Her wave clear, lane control and high burst have always been valuable assets to a team; they just always needed a shield to stop her from being bursted. The same could be said for other double-edged sword mid laners like Vel’koz, who never actually made it into regular competitive play or even live play due to an inability to dish out the high sustained damage he brings without being completely exploded. The second that Velkoz is caught out or while he is channeling his ultimate, the protection of Braum could allow him to quickly re-position and be valuable to the ensuing fight. The synergy of Braum’s ultimate knock-up and the Life Form Disintegration Ray could also prove deadly if played right and in unison. This could finally be Vel’koz’s patch to shine.

But with setting up many champions to do well, Braum will also push some champions out of the Meta. Braum has the ability to push some champions that rely heavily on single target damage out of competitive play because of his main ability: Unbreakable. Champions like Nidalee and Leblanc will see their effectiveness reduced greatly in siege situations where they rely on the ability to blow up one key target. Added in with a Yasuo wind wall and that’s a near impossible situation for Nidalee, in particular, to get any poke damage with spears without a monumental mistake being made by the enemy team. Provided that the Braum is quick, Rengar’s ability to burst out a squishy target could also be completely negated by the power of Unbreakable.

But of course this is all still speculation for now and we won’t know the true extent of Braum’s impact on the LCS until he makes it through. But if the regular play stats are anything to go by, he could completely change the flow the duo lanes or simply force teams to re-evaluate their ban choices which could allow other contested picks to get back onto the rift.