Previously we discussed Vayne's competitive history as well as her strengths and weaknesses in the current meta. We will be following up on that analysis with an observation of the Braum in conjunction with Vayne.

Image courtesy of Sionnes

The Shield

Braum’s design revolves heavily around the idea of protection and protecting one’s teammate. This is made obviously by Braum’s ‘Stand Behind Me’ (W) and his ‘Unbreakable’ (E). With these two abilities Braum is able to aid and rescue allies from incoming spells and ranged attacks.

Vayne benefits from these two abilities greatly as one of her more apparent weaknesses is her range. Against longer ranged marksman such as Ashe and Caitlyn, Vayne can struggle in lane due to her smaller starting HP. These marksman also have tools for punishing Vayne on her retreat from a trade.

While Braum does not completely compensate for Vayne’s weaknesses in these more difficult match-ups, he does provide tools to help Vayne trade more favorably. Applying the third proc of ‘Silver Bolts’ helps to even the odds when trading but Vayne can come under a lot of fire while attempting to do so. Overextending to land the third proc of Silver Bolts can sometimes cost a player more than what they gained from the proc.

For whatever consequences Vayne may suffer from a trade, Braum is there to compensate for. With a quick ‘Stand Behind Me’ and ‘Unbreakable’ Vayne can pursue her target with more confidence as Braum can intercept skill shots such as Janna’s ‘Howling Gale’ (Q).

In team fights Braum can play more into the protector role as Vayne is often the target of many would-be assassins. Champions with blinks or jumps can be particularly weak to Braum’s brand of protection as he can cast ‘Stand Behind Me’ on Vayne following up with ‘Glacial Fissure’ (R ). Vayne the gains the added armor and magic resist to assist her in surviving an attack while ‘Glacial Fissure’ knocks-up enemies in the vicinity of Vayne and Braum, allowing the team to counter attack.

Image courtesy of LoL Wikia

Due to the many abilities 'Unbreakable' interacts with it is beneficial to go over special interactions such as Draven's 'Spinning Axes' (Q) and Nami's 'Aqua Prison' (Q).

The Sword

While Braum’s protective abilities are unique to him alone he also provides strong precesence and pressure while in lane. Braum’s passive ‘Concussive Blows’, triggering bonus damage upon procing, and ‘Winter’s Bite’ (Q) put pressure on the enemy whenever Braum lands an attack or a ‘Winter’s Bite’.

Ideally Vayne would begin attacking the target with Concussive Blows, Braum would then hop towards Vayne with a ‘Stand Behind Me’ and activate ‘Unbreakable’. Once Concussive Blows procs the stun the target is then at risk of being chain stunned with Vayne’s ‘Condemn’ (E). Due to the heavy presence of walls in the bottom lane, the opportunity of creating a chain stun is more realistic and the duo has an even longer CC chain once Braum reaches level 6.

In the above image Kalista was only able to apply ‘Rend’ (E) stacks on Braum due to his ‘Unbreakable’. As Lee Sin moved into attack Vayne, Braum switched targets to Lee Sin, applying his ‘Concussive Blows’. The image captures the moment after Vayne used ‘Condemn’ on Lee Sin and is able to extend the duration Lee Sin will be stunned for with another basic attack or switch onto Kalista.

Favorable Match-ups

I previously discussed Vayne’s favorable match-ups such as Ezreal and Sivir, these match-ups are made easier with Braum’s lane presence and stun threat. More difficult match-ups become less threatening due to the projectile guard from Braum. Lucian, Caitlyn, Graves, and Kalista see a reduction in kill threat from having their basic attacks blocked. Braum is also able to absorb punishment from ranged supports being able to block Nami’s ‘Aqua Prison’ (Q), Annie’s ‘Disintegrate’ (Q), Morgana’s ‘Dark Binding’ (Q), as well as Sona’s offensive abilities.

The deadliest situation for the opposing bottom lane to be in is when they are furthest from their tower. It is well known that Vayne prefers to chase her targets down and when facing marksmen with lower mobility of the likes of Jinx and Ashe. With enough distance Vayne and Braum can proc the stun from ‘Concussive Blows’ and move in for the kill.

Counters

While Braum can block skill shots with ‘Unbreakable’ there are many champions played in the bottom lane that can work around this ability. Alistar is a prime examples of this as Alistar is able to ‘Headbutt’ (W) + ‘Pulverize’ (Q) Vayne, CCing her and allowing Alistar’s marksman to retreat until ‘Concussive Blows’ has worn off. Nautilus is also able to do something similar as his ‘Depth Charge’(R ) is able to bypass ‘Unbreakable’. Due to the beefier nature of melee supports Braum’s ‘Unbreakable’ is more effective against range supports as he is able to block more abilities where melee supports can afford to walk past Braum and onto Vayne.

When considering one champion in conjunction with another champion in the bottom lane, we must consider the alternatives. This is very much a case of opportunity cost as when we pick Braum we must consider what we are losing in his place. Across many different divisions Vayne has had the most success with Janna. This is likely due to Janna’s powerful peeling spells and protection. Janna is able to help Vayne through a rough laning phase while supplementing more attack damage with ‘Eye of the Storm’ (E).

Image courtesy of LoLTopComp.com

In the above image we can see the the highest winrate duo lane in the diamon divison is Vayne and Janna. Alternatively the same duo has the third highest win rate in the bronze division.

Weaknesses

Braum does not provide sustain, reliable initiate, or immediate CC. Other champions such as Annie, Nautilus, Morgana, and Thresh all have abilities that immobilize champions in a quicker fashion than Braum. Braum has a weaker roam than other more common support picks as ‘Concussive Blows’ requires auto attacks to proc the stun in addition ‘Glacial Fissure’ has a strongly telegraphed casting animation. This gives opponents time to flash or move out of the way where Thresh’s ‘Death Sentence’ (Q), Annie’s stun, Nautilus’ ‘Dredge Line’ (Q), and Morgana’s ‘Dark Binding’ (Q) are a bit more difficult to read.

Conclusion

While Braum is not the most successful support for Vayne, he offers unique defensive and offensive pressures in and out of lane to enable Vayne to succeed. This is not to say that Braum is a better support than Janna when paired with Vayne but the purpose is to highlight the opportunities Braum opens up when played with Vayne. Overall Braum is a beefy frontline support that intercepts the enemy's attempts at returning damage on Vayne. Braum also assists in overcoming difficult match-ups as well as presenting more threat in easier match-ups.