Overview
How to play Briar effectively requires mastering her unique dual-stance system, optimizing combo chains, managing blood resources, controlling map positioning, and understanding matchups. The aggressive champion rewards strategic thinking and proper form transitions, with her Beast form excelling in all-in engagements while Human form provides more controlled approaches to teamfights.
Table of Contents
- Tip 1: Master Briar’s Dual Stance System
- Tip 2: Optimize Your Combo Chains
- Tip 3: Blood Management is Key
- Tip 4: Map Control and Positioning
- Tip 5: Counter-Pick Strategies
- Conclusion
- Frequently Asked Questions
Briar, the newest addition to League of Legends’ roster, has quickly established herself as a formidable force on the Rift. With her unique dual-stance system and blood-fueled abilities, she offers a refreshing playstyle that rewards aggressive positioning and strategic thinking. However, mastering how to play Briar requires more than just mechanical skill—it demands a deep understanding of her kit and playstyle nuances. Whether you’re looking to add her to your champion pool or struggling to climb with her, these five essential tips will help you dominate your matches and leave your opponents in the dust.
Tip 1: Master Briar’s Dual Stance System
The foundation of playing Briar effectively lies in understanding and mastering her unique dual stance system. Briar can switch between Human form and Beast form, each offering distinct abilities and playstyles.
In Human form, Briar excels at controlled engages and strategic positioning. Her abilities are more precise, allowing for calculated approaches to teamfights. This form is ideal for the early laning phase, careful skirmishes, and situations where you need to conserve resources. Your Q ability provides respectable poke damage while your E offers crucial mobility for positioning.
Beast form transforms Briar into a relentless predator with enhanced movement speed and attack-focused abilities. This stance shines during all-in engagements, jungle clear, and chase scenarios. In Beast form, your abilities deal higher damage but come with less control, making positioning even more crucial.
The key to mastering Briar isn’t just knowing each form but understanding when to transition between them. Optimal transition timing includes:
- Switching to Beast form when engaging on low-health targets for the execute potential
- Reverting to Human form when you need more control during extended skirmishes
- Using form changes to reset certain ability cooldowns in extended fights
- Transforming strategically to surprise opponents who may be counting on the limitations of your current form
Practice these transitions in the Practice Tool until they become second nature. The most successful Briar players can seamlessly flow between forms based on the situation, giving them a significant advantage in versatility.
Tip 2: Optimize Your Combo Chains
Briar’s potential is fully realized through her devastating combo chains. Learning these sequences will dramatically increase your damage output and effectiveness in fights.
In Human form, your bread-and-butter combo starts with landing your Q (Bloodfrenzy) to slow your target, followed by an auto-attack to proc your passive, then E (Blinding Rush) to close distance, and finishing with W (Territorial Slash) for maximum damage. This sequence allows you to maintain control while dealing significant damage.
In Beast form, initiate with E to quickly close the gap, followed by Q for an immediate blood extraction, auto-attack for the enhanced damage, and finish with W to secure the kill. This aggressive combo chain maximizes your burst potential.
For extended trades, practice weaving auto-attacks between abilities to maximize your passive procs. Remember that successful ability hits reduce your cooldowns, allowing for extended combo sequences when executed properly.
Frame data insights: Briar’s abilities have specific cast times that can be animation-canceled with Flash or by transitioning between forms. For example, you can cast W in Human form and immediately transition to Beast form to cancel the ending animation, allowing for faster follow-up.
Dedicate at least 15 minutes in Practice Tool before each play session to build muscle memory for these combos. Focus particularly on the timing of stance switches within your combo chains, as this is what separates good Briar players from great ones.
Tip 3: Blood Management is Key
Briar’s unique blood resource system is central to her gameplay. Understanding how to efficiently collect and utilize blood will dramatically improve your effectiveness.
Blood is gathered primarily through your Q ability and by eliminating jungle monsters or enemy champions. Each unit of blood enhances your abilities, with full blood reserves unlocking Briar’s maximum potential. However, maintaining too much blood for too long triggers Blood Frenzy, forcing you into Beast form and potentially compromising your strategic positioning.
Strategic blood management involves:
- Harvesting blood efficiently from jungle camps between ganks or waves
- Using abilities that consume blood when you’re near maximum to avoid unwanted transformations
- Saving blood reserves for crucial objectives like Dragon or Baron fights
- Understanding that the transition to Beast form can be both an advantage and a disadvantage depending on the situation
The best Briar players maintain their blood levels in the 60-80% range during neutral situations, giving them enough resources for potential fights while avoiding unwanted transformations. When preparing for a gank or teamfight, consider building up to nearly full blood for maximum impact.
Practice watching your blood bar while performing other actions until monitoring it becomes second nature. This awareness will prevent the frustrating scenario of transforming unintentionally during crucial moments.
Tip 4: Map Control and Positioning
Briar’s kit makes her particularly sensitive to positioning, with her effectiveness varying drastically based on terrain and team positioning.
When playing Briar in the jungle, prioritize paths that allow you to utilize your E (Blinding Rush) over walls for unexpected ganks. The southeast and northwest quadrants of both buff areas offer excellent wall-hop opportunities that many opponents won’t anticipate.
In teamfights, position yourself on the flanks rather than diving straight into the frontline. Briar excels at disrupting backlines and eliminating high-priority targets, but requires strategic approaches rather than straightforward engages.
Use the fog of war to your advantage, especially when in Beast form. Your increased movement speed allows you to circle around fights and approach from unexpected angles, creating confusion among enemy teams.
When low on health, remember that Briar can utilize her enhanced mobility to traverse jungle paths that other champions might find inefficient. Memorize escape routes through the jungle that leverage your E cooldown reset potential for maximum survivability.
If you’re looking for other mobile junglers with similar playmaking potential, learning how to play Bel’Veth might complement your champion pool nicely.
Tip 5: Counter-Pick Strategies
Understanding Briar’s matchups is essential for both playing as her and against her.
Briar performs exceptionally well against immobile champions who rely on skillshots, as her dual-mobility options allow her to dodge crucial abilities while closing distance effectively. Champions like Xerath, Lux, and even Jhin struggle against a well-played Briar.
However, she faces challenges against champions with point-and-click crowd control or those who can match her mobility. Champions like Rammus, Udyr, and Vi can disrupt her engage patterns and lock her down between form changes. Tanks like Braum with his defensive capabilities can also present challenges for Briar’s all-in style.
When facing counter matchups, adjust your playstyle accordingly:
- Against mobile counters, focus on short trades in Human form rather than all-in engagements
- When facing heavy CC teams, prioritize Cleanse or Mercurial Scimitar in your build
- Against tankier compositions, consider rushing BOTRK to maintain your damage output
Briar works best in team compositions that can follow up on her engages or provide additional crowd control to lock down targets after her initial burst. Pair her with champions like Ahri whose charm can set up perfect engages, or Ashe’s long-range initiation for devastating combo potential.
Looking at specific synergies, pairing with Blitzcrank’s hooks or Bard’s roaming support style can create unexpected gank opportunities that capitalize on Briar’s burst damage potential.
Conclusion
Mastering how to play Briar requires dedication to understanding her unique stance system, optimizing your combo execution, managing her blood resource efficiently, controlling map positioning, and adapting to various matchups. With consistent practice of these five essential tips, you’ll see significant improvement in your performance.
Remember that Briar rewards an aggressive playstyle balanced with strategic thinking. As you become more comfortable with her basics, explore advanced techniques like form-specific wall jumps and counter-jungling patterns that leverage her unique mobility.
For players looking to expand their champion pool with other aggressive fighters, learning Aatrox’s playstyle can provide complementary skills, while Azir’s zone control offers a different but equally rewarding challenge.
According to Riot’s official champion overview, Briar was designed to reward players who can master the risk-reward dynamics of her transformation system. The statistics from OP.GG’s champion analytics indicate that experienced Briar players maintain significantly higher win rates after 25+ games, confirming that practice truly makes perfect with this champion.
At League Coach Merch, we’re dedicated to helping players like you master champions through in-depth guides and coaching services. We’d love to hear about your experiences with Briar in the comments below! Share your favorite combos or strategies, and join our community of passionate League players looking to level up their game—both on the Rift and in style.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best jungle path for Briar?
The optimal starting path for Briar typically begins with Red Buff, followed by Krugs and Raptors. This path maximizes her clear speed and health sustainability while building blood efficiently. For ganking-focused games, a Red > Wolves > Blue > Gromp path allows for faster level 3 and an early gank opportunity. Remember to utilize your form changes between camps to optimize clear speed and maintain health—Beast form for multi-target camps and Human form for single-target objectives.
Which items should I build on Briar?
Briar’s core build typically includes Eclipse or Divine Sunderer as a mythic item, followed by Black Cleaver and Death’s Dance. For boots, Plated Steelcaps or Mercury Treads work well depending on enemy composition. Situational items include Blade of the Ruined King against health-stacking teams, Maw of Malmortius against AP-heavy compositions, and Guardian Angel for late-game insurance. For runes, Conqueror is her primary keystone, with Triumph, Legend: Alacrity, and Last Stand in the Precision tree, complemented by Sudden Impact and Relentless Hunter from the Domination tree.
How do I manage Briar’s transformation in teamfights?
For teamfight transformation management, enter fights with approximately 70-80% blood to maintain form flexibility. Initiate in Human form for controlled engagement, then transition to Beast form once you’ve reached the backline or when you need the additional burst damage. If you’re forced into Beast form by Blood Frenzy during inappropriate moments, use the movement speed to reposition rather than commit to unfavorable engagements. Practice using form switches to reset certain ability cooldowns, which can provide crucial extra damage in extended fights. Communication with your team about your transformation timing is essential for coordinated follow-up.
What are Briar’s biggest weaknesses?
Briar’s main weaknesses include vulnerability to point-and-click crowd control, especially during Beast form when she lacks defensive options. She also struggles against champions who can match her mobility or kite effectively, such as Vayne or Ashe. Briar has relatively poor objective control compared to other junglers, making it challenging to solo secure drakes or Baron. Additionally, her forced transformation mechanic (Blood Frenzy) can sometimes lead to unintended engagements when blood management is neglected. Teams with strong disengage tools can nullify her all-in playstyle, forcing suboptimal Beast form transformations without securing kills.
Is Briar better in jungle or top lane?
While Briar was designed primarily as a jungler and performs optimally in that role, she has found success as a top laner in certain matchups. In the jungle, she benefits from efficient clear speed, strong ganking potential, and the ability to manage her blood resource through jungle camps. As a top laner, she excels in melee matchups where she can utilize her strong early trading patterns but struggles against ranged champions that can harass her safely. According to statistics from high ELO play, her jungle win rate typically exceeds her top lane performance by 2-3%, making jungle her recommended primary role for most players looking to maximize their impact.
