Briar offers a high risk, high reward playstyle in League of Legends’ Swarm mode? Looking to get into the shoes of this vampirically inclined glutton? This is all you need to know to build her.
The Best Briar Build in Swarm
As always, let’s check the kit before we think about doing anything, as there will be a lot of clues in there that will lead us to success. critical chance passive to evolve, so the path is already being set for us by that double requirement.
| Skill | Effect |
|---|---|
| Survival Instincts (Passive) | You will gain an extra 0 to 50% additional damage and 0 to 80% additional Move Speed based on missing health. |
| Pillory Swipe (Signature Weapon) | You will do a double swipe in front of you, damaging all enemies you hit. Scales with Duration, Area Size, Critical Chance, Damage, Ability Haste, Max Health. Evolves with Max Health into Savage Slice. Any enemies hit will bleed for 8 seconds, with damage ticking every quarter of a second. |
| Ability 1: Fish Frenzy/Survival Scream | Briar will essentially go berserk for 6 seconds, gaining damage reduction and chomping on the nearest enemies. Each attack heals her, and she moves to the next nearest enemy when it dies. She also gains Ability Haste for the duration. If you reactivate the ability while active, this will cause Survival Scream, which will damage the area of effect, heal, and stop the attack. |
| Ability 2: Dive Bomb | Briar dives forward, smashing into enemies and causing damage. She will instantly enter Fish Frenzy upon landing, which does more damage but heals less. |
Best Weapons for Briar
| Weapon | Effect |
|---|---|
| Pilllory Swipe | A lot of her output and healing rest on this one, so you better build that Max Health and jump on ever instance of this that comes up in the cards. |
| Radiant Field | This will do a burning damage aura around you, which is great. You will be in the middle of large groups a lot, and this should chip away, taking a couple of swipes off most enemies. Evolve with Max health, just like your signature, and becomes the Explosive Embrace which will cause enemies that die to explode. |
| Iceblast Armor | Blocks 100% of a damage instance before going on cooldown, also freezes surrounding enemies. Evolves with Armor into the Deep Freeze. Armor gives nice damage reduction overall, so is a solid mix for Briar. |
| Statikk Sword | I love Statikk Sword, especially the fully evolved version that needs, you guessed, Max Health. It will shock and kill random enemies, aiming at the ones with highest health, and anything that dies to the evolved version, Prumbis’s Electrocarver, will leave lighting damage on the ground. |
| Bunny Mega Blast | Launches Orbital Strikes at random enemies on screen. Evolves with Critical Chance to the Rapid Rabbit Raindown that fires a barrage followed by a huge blast. This is a solid option because we should build some Critical Chance on Briar, no matter what, and enemies will stack up hard to get at you, leaving lots of them open for damage but not completely undermining the basis of your kit. |
Best Passives for Briar
So, Max Health is incredibly important for Briar. It might feel like a tempting idea to go low on health and armor so that you are always low on health, but you likely WILL always be low on health, even with those in your kit. Stack Max Health, Armor, and Health Regen, then build into Critical Chance, Ability Haste, and Area Size, which will impact every single one of your weapons.
The real trick with Briar is to play brave. You really can survive a lot once you get going, and your health should generally be low, so there is no reason to be scared. Save your Dive Bomb for emergencies, but use it smartly. Reposition to a less enemy-dense location, then snack on anything that is there to get your health back. Once you get your Pillory Swipe leveled a bit, you will really start to see the job of Briar’s kit, and with enough Area Size you will be doing huge damage with the above build that is striking enemies all around you. The only real worry is bosses that can interrupt you in some way, but I haven’t found them to be too much of an issue, frankly.
Swarm mode is available to play now in League of Legends.
Published: Jul 25, 2024 11:44 am