Strength at each game stage
Strength in early game/laning – medium
In the early game, Brand brings everything that you would want out of a support or mid laner. Huge damage, strong CC, and mana costs that aren’t terrible. If he can land his abilities, Brand can burst down almost any opponent.
However, Brand does have a few problems against heavy shield and engage lanes. That doesn’t hurt him too much in the mid lane, but it does sometimes keep him from getting off the ground when played as a support.
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Strength in mid game/skirmishes – low/medium
Brand’s biggest problem is that the items that he generally wants (Haunting Guise and Rylai’s Crystal Scepter) are quite expensive and don’t have any good components to sit on. As a result, Brand can struggle in the mid game as he tries to build up his core items.
Now, he does have good AoE damage that can help turn team fights on their head, and he benefits highly from fighting in choke points. However, his lack of mobility and squishiness continues to hurt him at this point of the game. If he gets singled out he can die quite easily.
Strength in late game/team fights – medium/high
Brand can be a monster in late game team fights. Against very tanky teams his percent max health damage can completely wreck team fights. When enemies cluster up his ult and AoE abilities will make quick work.
However, against heavy engage teams or teams that can block a lot of his AoE damage (teams with Taric or Kindred) Brand will have a really hard time. He definitely can be a huge difference-maker in late game, but his damage is all burst. If it doesn’t go through and his abilities are on cooldown, he has almost nothing to offer.