Back when I played League of Legends, Braum was one of my first mains and I always really liked his character as much as I did his ability to save his companions. I thought this would be an interesting build to explore since it focuses on protection and guarding others. It's worth noting that this build and the gear for it is picked in a vacuum without consideration for what adventure it may be in, so certain options might be better in specific situations.
With that out of the way, let's get into the build for Braum, Heart of the Freljord, from League of Legends!
BRAUM, HEART OF THE FRELJORD
CHARACTER Braum
SOURCE League of Legends
GOAL Hailing from the icy mountains of the Freljord, Braum is a long-lived folk hero who serves as a friend and protector to the weak. Wielding a massive impenetrable door as a shield, Braum braves the icy chill of his home in nothing more than a pair of pants and boots. A large boy since his youth, he was taught to use his strength to guide and protect others by his mother, a herder, who also instilled in him the belief that all the people of the Freljord are one family. In time, people realized that Braum was an Iceborn, an offshoot of magically altered beings who were supernaturally resistant to the cold and blessed with longevity. Braum’s passive is Concussive Blows, which causes his attacks and Winter’s Bite to apply stacks to enemies. Allied champions attacks can also apply stacks and once four stacks are on a target, they are frozen and stunned. Winter’s Bite is his first ability, firing a projectile that slows enemies and is one of his few offensive abilities. Stand Behind Me has Braum leap to a targeted ally to grant them bonus resistances while Unbreakable has Braum raise his shield in a direction and intercept all projectiles coming from that direction, reducing the damage they deal. Finally, his ultimate is Glacial Fissure, which deals damage in an area, knocking foes into the area and then creating a slowing effect in that area.
LEVEL 1 For our hoarfrost hero, we must start simple with our ABCs – ancestry, background, and class. To reflect Braum’s nature as an Iceborn, I went with winter-touched human for his heritage and ancestry, making him more resilient against the effects of environmental cold and granting him resistance to cold. As a human, we receive two free boosts that we’ll take to Strength and Dexterity, pointing points into the latter because Braum doesn’t exactly wear a lot of armor – dude walks around bare-chested in snow-covered mountains! We also receive an ancestry feat, for which we’ll take Natural Ambition, giving us a bonus class feat for when we get to that.
Given that Braum’s mother came from a proud line of herders and that it is a simple life he wishes to one day return to, I picked farmhand for his background. From the initial ability boosts presented to us from it, we’ll pick Constitution so we can work towards Braum’s tankiness while the free boost will once more go towards Strength. This background will also make us trained in Athletics and Farming Lore while granting us Assurance – Athletics, which will be handy in certain circumstances.
With Braum’s focus on protecting his friends and bringing people together, champion was an easy choice here, going with the redeemer cause. As a champion, we’ll receive an automatic boost to Strength so that we have that for our class DC. The four free boosts for Braum will go towards Dexterity, Constitution, Wisdom, and Charisma (Str 16, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 12) because his character lends itself to unfortunately being a little MAD. Being a champion also means that we’re trained in Religion and Nature from the faith we follow. We don’t get a lot of other skills, so we’ll become trained in Diplomacy and Survival. We’ll be able to pick out two first level class feats – one normally and then an extra one from our ancestry feat. With Everstand Stance, we can enter a stance to wield our shield in two hands and increase the damage die that it deals. Our second class feat is Deity’s Domain – Cold, giving us the winter bolt focus spell but unfortunately no extra focus point. Winter bolt is going to help us achieve the effects of Winter’s Bite, being a ranged attack that sort of ‘slows’ the opponent in the sense that if they don’t take an action to remove it, it deals further ice damage, vaguely like the effect of Concussive Blows when he achieves four stacks.
LEVEL 2 With the number of animals, well mostly poros, that Braum has befriended, we’ll be using our training in Nature to get the Train Animal skill feat so that we can potentially gain a furry friend. Our next class feat is Deity’s Domain again, but picking the Earth domain this time. Unfortunately, this doesn’t really reflect any of his abilities, but we’ll get to that later. I have my reasons for taking it here.
Gear: everburning torch
LEVEL 3 With our first skill increase, we’ll increase Athletics to expert proficiency. To help Braum serve in his role as a defender and guardian, we’ll pick up Toughness with our general feat, increasing our health. As a champion, we get a divine ally and we will of course be selecting our shield as our divine ally, increasing its hardness, HP, and BT.
Gear: +1 shield boss, everburning torch, dull grey aeon stone
LEVEL 4 As part of Braum jumping into the fray to protect his allies ala his Stand Behind Me, we’ll pick up the Quick Jump skill feat. This next class feat is based more on Braum’s character rather than any specific abilities, but Aura of Courage feels appropriate for him and the inspirational words that he always gives.
Gear: bracers of missile deflection, +1 shield boss, bottomless stein, everburning torch
LEVEL 5 I’m sure you noticed from the initial layout of Braum’s ability scores, but we’re gonna be lagging behind a little bit in regards to more focused characters, but I think his defensive abilities will still make him an asset to the team and his attacks are only going to be behind other non-martial fighters by a single point by the end of it all. Anyway, the four boosts from this level-up will be for Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma (Str 18, Dex 16, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 14). With Braum’s genial and compassionate nature, the next skill increase should obviously be going to Diplomacy, increasing it to expert proficiency. It’s pretty hard to capture the effects of Braum’s Concussive Blows and he’s already gotten be pretty busy with his reactions, but the Cooperative Nature ancestry feat makes him better at aiding others, which slightly helps with that idea.
Gear: +1 striking shield boss, bracers of missile deflection, bracelet of dashing, bottomless stein, everburning torch, dull grey aeon stone
LEVEL 6 To further the distance of our leaps, we’ll pick up Powerful Leap for our skill feat. From our class feats, we’ll pick up Shield Warden, so that we can use Shield Block for our adjacent allies, granting us additional ways to protect them.
Gear: +1 explorer’s clothing, +1 striking shield boss, minor sturdy shield, bracers of missile deflection, bottomless stein, brooch of shielding
LEVEL 7 This time around, our skill increase will get our Athletics skill up to master proficiency. So that we can get into the thick of it and protect our allies before others can threaten them, we’ll grab the Incredible Initiative general feat, granting us a bonus on initiative checks.
Gear: ring of the ram, +1 explorer’s clothing, diplomat’s badge, +1 striking shield boss, bracers of missile deflection, bracelet of dashing
LEVEL 8 With the Lead Climber skill feat, Braum can help others ascend the crags and cliffsides that he grew up alongside, furthering the idea of him lending aid to others. Finally, picking up that initial earth domain pays off as we pick up Advanced Deity’s Domain – Earth. Thankfully, this one at least gives us an additional focus point, but it also gives us the localized quake focus spell, which we can use in its 15-foot cone form to mimic the effects of Braum’s Glacial Fissure though this knocks people down instead of up.
Gear: lesser sturdy shield, ring of the ram, bellflower toolbelt, +1 explorer’s clothing, +1 striking shield boss, minor sturdy shield
LEVEL 9 Just as before, our next skill to get pumped up after Athletics will be Diplomacy, reaching master proficiency thanks to our skill increase. Although this specifies skill checks, we’ll take Cooperative Soul, building out of Cooperative Nature and making it so that we can’t get anything less than a success on skills we’re expert in when we aid others.
Gear: +1 resilient explorer’s clothing, lesser sturdy shield, boots of bounding, ring of the ram, diplomat’s badge, +1 striking shield boss
LEVEL 10 Once more, we’ll apply our ability boosts Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma (Str 19, Dex 18, Con 18, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 16). So that Braum can help his friends survive even in the wilds, we’ll use our skill feat for Forager, allowing us to find more food in the wilds. Our class feat is gonna be a big one - Shield of Reckoning allows Braum to use Shield Block and Glimpse of Redemption with a single reaction against a foe’s attack against an ally that would trigger both.
Gear: armbands of athleticism, +1 resilient explorer’s clothing, frost weapon rune, lesser sturdy shield, ring of the ram, +1 striking shield boss
LEVEL 11 This time around, we get a skill increase that we’ll put towards Survival, increasing its proficiency to expert. Building more into Braum’s friendly personality and his hopes to bring people together, I took A Home in Every Port, meaning that Braum can always find somewhere for himself and his allies rest, for at least a time, free of charge.
Gear: +2 striking shield boss, armbands of athleticism, greater cloak of repute, +1 resilient explorer’s clothing, lesser sturdy shield, boots of bounding
LEVEL 12 While Braum normally wants to fight with both hands upon his shield, there may be instances where he needs to spare a hand to climb. With the Combat Climber skill feat, we can still defend ourself even when we’re in the midst of climbing. For our class feat, we’ll grab Quick Block so that we gain an extra reaction that can only be used for Shield Block. I think this means that we could use Shield of Reckoning more than once, but I’m not entirely sure.
Gear: +2 resilient explorer’s clothing, +2 striking shield boss, moderate sturdy shield, armbands of athleticism, frost weapon rune, lover’s gloves
LEVEL 13 Our next skill to get to master proficiency is going to be Survival with our skill increase. Then, playing into Braum’s heritage as an Iceborn, we’ll pick up Irriseni Ice-Witch, increasing his cold resistance and giving him an innate, single-use wall of ice spell. This grants him another sort of defensive capability and can even possibly be arranged to be similar to his Glacial Fissure if he creates the walls beneath the feet of others, though that won’t be quite as useful as it sounds.
Gear: +2 greater striking shield boss, +2 resilient explorer’s clothing, cassock of devotion, moderate sturdy shield, armbands of athleticism, greater cloak of repute
LEVEL 14 I always have feats that I remember later in the build that I’m like ‘should I have taken that sooner?’ This level’s skill feat, Group Impression, is one of those, which allows Braum to Make an Impression on multiple characters at once. If your GM ruled that you couldn’t use Shield of Reckoning more than once when you got Quick Block, I feel like they shouldn’t have any feet to stand on when you take Divine Reflexes, granting you an additional glimpse of redemption each round.
Gear: greater sturdy shield, +2 greater striking shield boss, pink rhomboid aeon stone, +2 resilient explorer’s clothing, moderate thurible of revelation, talisman cord
LEVEL 15 We’ll keep going with what we’ve been doing for our ability boosts, taking these four to Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma (Str 20, Dex 19, Con 19, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 18). Athletics gets up to legendary proficiency with this skill increase since we can finally raise skills to that level. For our general feat, we’ll pick up Diehard just so that we can make Braum tankier.
Gear: +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, greater sturdy shield, pink rhomboid aeon stone, +2 greater striking shield boss, cassock of devotion, bag of holding (type III)
LEVEL 16 With the Glad-Hand skill feat, we can Make an Impression almost immediately while Shield of Grace allows us to split damage after we Shield Block for an ally between ourselves and the ally, further reducing damage while sacrificing ourselves.
Gear: greater frost weapon rune, +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, greater boots of bounding, greater sturdy shield, +2 greater striking shield boss, pink rhomboid aeon stone
LEVEL 17 Next in line for the skill increase is Diplomacy, getting bumped up to legendary proficiency. Our final ancestry feat certainly isn’t a match for any of Braum’s in-game abilities though you might be able to argue that some of the support buffing items he picks up might achieve these effects. Heroic Presence gives us a single-use innate spell of zealous conviction, which is a defensive spell so its in line with Braum’s theme.
Gear: +3 greater striking shield boss, reforging shield, greater frost weapon rune, +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, greater ring of the ram, boots of speed
LEVEL 18 With that legendary proficiency in Diplomacy, we’ll pick up Legendary Negotiation so that we can talk people down instead of having to fight them. With Divine Wall, having our shield raised makes squares around us into difficult terrain, creating a slowing effect around us like Braum’s Winter’s Bite and Glacial Fissure even if it isn’t exact.
Gear: belt of giant strength, +3 greater striking shield boss, major sturdy shield, greater frost weapon rune, +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, greater boots of bounding
LEVEL 19 Our last skill increase will go towards Nature, boosting it to expert proficiency. To us make more resilient to poisons and the like as well as heal more quickly naturally, we’ll pick up Fast Recovery as our last general feat.
Gear: +3 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, belt of giant strength, major cloak of repute, +3 greater striking shield boss, reforging shield, greater frost weapon rune
LEVEL 20 With our last set of ability boosts, we’ll buff our Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, and Wisdom (Str 20, Dex 20, Con 20, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 18). I wish we could’ve gotten Wisdom higher because I feel like a higher Will is very appropriate for Braum, but I prioritized the ones that I did increase. That increase to Intelligence gives us an extra language as well as the trained proficiency in Crafting. With that, we’ll pick up Quick Repair so that we can mend any shields we might be forced to use. From our champion class, we’ll pick up Shield Paragon for our final class feat, increasing the HP and BT of shields we wield and making it so that we no longer have to spend an action to Raise a Shield. If our shield would be destroyed, it returns to use fully repaired during our next daily preparations.
Gear: +3 major striking shield boss, +3 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, indestructible shield, belt of giant strength, speed weapon rune, greater talisman cord
CONCLUSION We have finished our build for Braum! He's able to wield his shield effectively in combat and possesses considerable defensive capabilities despite going around bare-chested. In my opinion, we missed out on Concussive Blows though I think it could be argued that we achieved it, in part, with winter bolt, which is also how we manage to get Winter's Bite. Stand Behind Me is achieved by Braum through leaping to an ally and then Raising a Shield so that he can defend them with Shield Warden or his Glimpse of Redemption. Unbreakable is covered by that same ability as well as his Shield of Grace, which allows him to partially block the attack himself. Finally, Glacial Fissure is achievable in the form of the localized quake spell that we picked up from the earth domain.
Be sure to let me know what you think of the build! If you want to join in on the discussion of these builds and the ones I do for monsters or just hang out with a bunch of fellow TTRPG nerd, check out the Discord server. We also have a Twitter where we try to post teasers for the blog and are trying to get some milestones made up for. Next week, we're going to explore an uncommon ancestry with a character from one of my favorite comic book series. Have a fantastic Friday!
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