The new LoL Champion Briar is going to release soon, but is she a well-designed League of Legends champion or did Riot do way too much with her kit? Let's go over it all to find out.
Briar is the newest champion that Riot is releasing, and while she is quite an interesting pick, some players are worried over her insane amounts of healing. But it's also important to note that she uses her own health when using abilities and she's got no health regeneration at all.
But, what was Riot thinking when they designed Briar and did they do a good job with her kit and fantasy?
LoL: Briar's Kit – Good Design From Riot?
The berserk mechanic is back in League of Legends, but this time Riot is doing something completely different with it. While Renata Glasc will cause her enemies to go berserk, Briar works a little different by taunting herself and going berserk.
Briar is the third 'berserker' in League of Legends with Tryndamere and Olaf already existing, but she does it in a completely different way thanks to her W with which she will charge at any enemies without any regard for her own health or safety.
Like other berserkers in League of Legends, the lower her health is the stronger she becomes, dealing missing HP damage and healing more as well. She's also going to have to consistently fight to heal back up, unlike champions like Dr. Mundo who can passively heal.
But, is her kit broken or is it a well-balance kit for such a champion?
While she is in her frenzied state, thanks to her W or ultimate, she can still utilize her abilities, but she cannot choose who she is auto-attacking. She will prioritize champions over minions while going berserk though.
Her ultimate is the same ability as her W, only empowered and with a huge dash that is basically global across the entire League of Legends map. Now, if you miss her initial ultimate well... then nothing happens, if you do land it on a champion, then you've got no choice but to go all in and go berserk.
To get out of her berserked state, she has to use her E, chilling scream, which lets her take reduced damage while channeling and can even knock up opponents and stun them if they are hit into a wall with it.
Sounds pretty OP, right? Well she does have to channel it and to get the full extent of the ability she will need to channel it for an entire second, which in LoL is a lifetime, so players will rarely get to use the ability at full power. Not to mention the short distance it travels.
Her Q is a simple way to get close to her opponents so she can attack them and while it is a point and click ability is not the end of the world.
So, do all of these things make Briar a well-balanced champion or is she a mess?
While Briar does deal insane amounts of damage, she has almost no disengage tools within her kit, making her an 'all in' champion. She either fights or she is useless, with her also only healing when she is fighting.
Her overall kit works great with her fantasy and story of a crazy berserk who goes in to fight and either dies trying than run away. All of this works perfectly together, so while on paper she might look insane and broken, players have to land her abilities to be able to do so much damage, which means she is going to either carry games all on her own or be nothing more than a caster minion.