Briar build guide: skill order, best runes, items to buy. How to play Briar, next League of Legends vampire jungler champion

Riot Games introduces Briar in mid-September as League of Legends’ first vampire jungler, featuring the unprecedented mechanic of zero base health regeneration. This aggressive champion requires strategic health management and precise ability usage to maximize her vampiric potential while maintaining jungle sustainability.

Briar’s mechanical design combines elements of Warwick’s pursuit capabilities with Vi’s diving potential, creating a specialized backline assassin. Her gameplay revolves around calculated aggression, where proper ability sequencing transforms her health costs into devastating offensive pressure against enemy carries.

Crimson Curse (Passive)

Briar gains increased Healing based on her missing health, and her attacks and abilities apply a bleed for short duration that stacks. The bleed deals physical damage based on the number of stacks and Heals Briar for a percentage of the pre-mitigation damage. Briar has no base health regeneration, and her abilities cost health to cast.

Crimson Curse fundamentally defines Briar’s risk-reward gameplay. The scaling heal based on missing health encourages strategic low-health engagements, while the stacking bleed effect rewards extended combat. This passive synergizes perfectly with her health-cost abilities, creating a dynamic where successful aggression directly fuels sustainability.

Head Rush (Q)

Briar leaps to a target, stunning them for a short duration, dealing physical damage, and reducing their armor. Briar will stop prioritizing champions if she casts this Ability on a minion or monster during Blood Frenzy.

Head Rush serves as Briar’s primary engagement tool and mobility enhancer. The ability’s wall-jump capability opens creative ganking paths, while the armor reduction significantly amplifies her auto-attack focused damage pattern. Strategic use against jungle monsters can cancel unwanted Blood Frenzy targeting during clears.

Blood Frenzy/Snack Attack (W)

Briar leaps to a location and enters a Blood Frenzy, self-taunting to the nearest enemy (prioritizing champions) for a period of time. While in Blood Frenzy, she gains Attack Speed and Move Speed, and her attacks now deal physical damage around the main target. Briar can Recast this ability to empower her next attack. It deals missing health physical damage and heals Briar for a large percentage of the damage dealt.

Blood Frenzy represents Briar’s core identity as an unstoppable pursuit predator. The self-taunt mechanic requires careful positioning but provides guaranteed target access. The recast mechanic offers burst execution potential against low-health targets while providing significant healing returns.

Chilling Scream (E)

Begin Charging: Briar removes Blood Frenzy and gathers energy, gaining damage reduction and restoring health. Release: Briar unleashes a scream that deals damage based on time charged and slows for a short duration. When fully charged the scream knocks back, dealing additional damage to enemies that hit a wall and stunning them.

Chilling Scream provides crucial control over Briar’s frenzied state. The ability serves multiple functions: emergency Frenzy cancellation, defensive damage reduction, and offensive crowd control. Mastering wall-stun combinations separates novice from expert Briar players.

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Certain Death (R)

Briar kicks a hemolith and flies to the location of the first champion hit, marking them as her prey. On landing she deals a large amount of physical damage to everything nearby and causes nearby enemies to Flee. She then enters an empowered Blood Frenzy and will pursue her prey until one of them dies. During this time she gains Armor, Magic Resist, and additional Move Speed.

Certain Death combines global map pressure with unstoppable duel commitment. The ability’s massive range enables cross-map initiations while the empowered stats ensure successful target elimination. Proper ultimate usage requires team coordination and timing awareness to avoid isolated engagements.

Briar’s skill progression follows a deliberate pattern that maximizes her jungle efficiency and combat effectiveness. Understanding the reasoning behind each leveling decision will significantly improve your early game impact and scaling potential.

Start with W at level 1 for optimal jungle clear speed and health sustainability. The attack speed steroid and area damage effect dramatically accelerate camp clearing while the healing component offsets health costs from ability usage.

Prioritize maxing W first due to its comprehensive benefits: reduced cooldown, increased attack speed, enhanced movement speed, and amplified area damage. This priority ensures maximum damage output and mobility throughout the crucial early to mid-game phase.

Max Q second for the armor penetration scaling and cooldown reduction. The point-and-click nature makes it reliable for sticking to targets, while the armor reduction synergizes perfectly with her auto-attack focused damage pattern.

Take E at level 3 but delay maxing until last. While useful for Frenzy control, it provides less consistent value than the damage-focused abilities. The one-point-wonder nature makes it sufficient for most situations until late game.

Always level your ultimate at 6, 11, and 16. The empowered Blood Frenzy and stat bonuses make Certain Death too valuable to skip, despite the longer cooldown compared to basic abilities.

Common Mistake: Many players incorrectly max E second for the reduced cooldown, but this sacrifices significant damage potential and armor penetration that Q provides.

Briar’s rune configuration centers around amplifying her sustained combat capabilities while mitigating her inherent vulnerabilities. The optimal setup leverages her healing mechanics and extended engagement patterns.

Primary Rune – Conqueror: This remains the definitive choice for most situations, providing adaptive damage that scales with fight duration and healing enhancement that synergizes with her passive.

Secondary Option – Press the Attack: While situationally viable against squishy compositions, Conqueror’s sustained damage and healing typically outperform PTA’s burst-oriented pattern.

Precision Tree Synergy: Triumph provides crucial healing after takedowns, Legend: Alacrity enhances attack speed for faster stacking, and Last Stand dramatically increases damage during low-health states where Briar excels.

Secondary Tree – Resolve: Conditioning and Overgrowth provide valuable late-game durability, helping Briar survive initial burst when diving backlines.

Advanced Tip: Against heavy crowd control compositions, consider Unflinching instead of Overgrowth for tenacity benefits.

Briar’s itemization requires careful consideration of team composition, enemy threats, and game state. Her flexible build paths allow adaptation to various game scenarios while maintaining core damage and survivability requirements.

Mythic Item Selection:

Trinity Force: Optimal for dueling and split-pushing scenarios, providing sheen-enhanced burst and sustained damage through attack speed.

Stridebreaker: Excellent for teamfight utility, offering additional slow for sticking to targets and movement speed for positioning adjustments.

Goredrinker: Superior choice when facing multiple melee champions or when your team requires frontline durability.

Legendary Item Options:

Damage Focus: When your team has sufficient frontline, prioritize items like Black Cleaver, Death’s Dance, and Sterak’s Gage for maximum damage output while maintaining survivability.

Survivability Priority: Against burst-heavy compositions, items like Guardian Angel and Spirit Visage significantly enhance durability.

Jungle Starters: Scorchclaw Pup provides enhanced dueling potential, while Gustwalker Hatchling offers superior mobility for map control.

Common Build Mistake: Avoid building pure damage items without sufficient defensive components – Briar’s diving nature requires durability to survive initial focus fire.

Briar’s diving playstyle creates specific vulnerabilities that opponents can exploit. Understanding these weaknesses enables better draft decision-making and in-game adaptation strategies.

Primary Vulnerabilities: Crowd control and long-range poke represent Briar’s greatest threats. Champions that can disrupt her engagement or kite her effectively significantly reduce her impact throughout the game.

Hard Counters:

Leona: Multiple forms of hard crowd control can completely neutralize Briar’s diving attempts, making engagements predictable and punishable.

Nautilus: Similar to Leona, provides chain CC that prevents Briar from executing her combo effectively.

Lux & Morgana: Long-range root abilities stop Briar’s approach before she can reach her targets.

Veigar: The cage ability creates zones Briar cannot navigate during Blood Frenzy, forcing unfavorable engagements.

Jayce: Poke-heavy kit allows constant harassment while maintaining safe distance from engagement range.

Adaptation Strategy: When facing counterpicks, adjust your engagement timing and target selection. Wait for key crowd control abilities to be used before committing with Blood Frenzy or ultimate.

Advanced Tip: Against heavy CC compositions, consider building Mercury’s Treads and potentially a Quicksilver Sash to mitigate control effects.

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