Swain vs Brand Counter Pick

Blaze does the work in this one. Brand’s spells leave a burn that ticks over four seconds and stacks three times, and those stacks are what turn Sear from a skillshot into a stun, since an ablaze target gets stunned rather than merely damaged. Swain’s kit is built to hold enemies in place with Nevermove and grind them down inside Demonic Ascension, and a stun that arrives first breaks the sequence before the drain ever starts.

• Brand attacks from 550 units against Swain’s 525 and moves at 340 to 330, so he sets the distance in every trade.
• Both deal magic damage; Swain’s 31 base magic resistance to Brand’s 30 is the only defensive edge on the board, and it is worth almost nothing.
• Swain is rated eight for difficulty against Brand’s four, and Vision of Empire has a delay that a mobile opponent simply walks out of.

Swain does hold the sturdier frame in the abstract, with 595 base health against 570 and 104.9 armor at level 18 against 95.4, and Ravenous Flock keeps adding maximum health through Soul Fragments. It is not enough. Pyroclasm bounces up to five times between Brand and nearby enemies, which turns any grouped fight into damage the drain cannot keep pace with. Over 553 games on patch 16.13.1 Swain loses the matchup, winning just 41.2 percent against Brand.