How to Counter Briar in Season 13 of League of Legends
Briar is the 164th champion to hit Summoners Rift, and she is the third champion to come out in Season 13. She is usually played in the Jungle role, and her kit can be extremely obnoxious to play against due to her long range and sustain over a long period of time.
In this Mobalytics article, we will break down a few different things you can use to help you counter and play against Briar in League of Legends. As she is brand new to the game, it’s recommended to check back after a while to see if we have added any more tips to help you counter her!
If you like this guide or want to learn how to play any other champions in League of Legends, head over to the Mobalytics App for in-depth tips to help you play your favourite champions.
How to Counter Briar in LoL
- Group Together
- Place Deep Wards
- Invest in Healing Reduction
- Avoid Fighting Around Dragon IV
- Avoid Overstaying when Low
- Best Counters to Briar
If you’re looking for a guide on how to play Briar, we’ve got you covered!
1. Group Together
The first tip on our list is to group together. Grouping is key versus her as it makes it harder for her to abuse her Ultimate, her range, and her sustain to get kills and win team fights. Briar is really good against teams and champions that do not group together.
By grouping together, you will make it harder for her to survive team fights as you can just focus her as soon as she goes in. Your best bet is to use everything on her as soon as she presses R on one of your carries.
I advise ensuring you group as often as possible during the mid and late game to avoid her catching people out of position or alone.
Here are some example wards you could place versus Briar if you were the Red Team!
2. Place Deep Wards
Briar’s Ultimate range is very big, and it will be one of the most successful ways she will get kills outside of the laning phase. It is advised that you treat her the same as a Fiddlesticks, Nocturne or an Evelynn and place deep vision over shallow wards. This will help you spot her as she moves around the map.
A good rule of thumb is to place vision that isn’t just in nearby bushes. Placing vision on her jungle camps is a great way of spotting her clear her jungle. If you spot her, you can back off slightly to decrease the chances of her Ulting you.
Naturally, this can be quite difficult because the range is huge on her Ultimate, but it’s quite unlikely she will abuse the range to its fullest, so its best to ward as suggested.
3. Invest in Healing Reduction
Briar’s Passive gives her a ton of sustain, and as she will be auto-attacking a lot, the sustain she gets will be quite difficult to handle. Think of her like an overtuned Warwick, and we all know how annoying his sustain is!
This is why investing in items that will apply grievous wounds and reduce her sustain in team fights is crucial. If you don’t, she will likely outsustain you in team fights, and it will be impossible for you to kill her.
4. Avoid Fighting Around Dragon
Briar’s E can stun and CC enemies that come into contact with it and the terrain. Fighting around Dragon, the Baron or inside the jungle can be extremely difficult for you as it may enable her to CC your allies.
With this in mind, if she comes charging at you when you’re coin-flipping the Dragon or Baron, just disengage if you can and avoid fighting so she doesn’t get a multi-person knockback or stun and turn the fight around.
So where should you fight?
Fighting in lane and away from major objectives is preferable. Just watch your positioning and try to stay away from walls if possible.
5. Avoid Overstaying when Low
I am going to keep this one extremely short and sweet. Moving on from one of our previous tips, avoid overstaying when you’re low as you’ll be a sitting duck and a free kill for Briar. Recall out of vision as soon as you get a kill or when you’re low to prevent her from Ulting you.
Let’s not forget that she has a lot of all-in and chase potential, which will make it really difficult for you to escape if she decides to press R on you.
6. Best Counters to Briar
To finish off this article, we will now discuss 3 champions that are, in theory, good versus Briar. They may not be the best counters statistically, but they have tools to help you beat her in fights.
Shen
- Shen’s W is a great tool at blocking incoming damage via auto-attacks. This will make it hard for her to kill a carry.
- His Ultimate is a good tool at keeping high-priority targets alive in the laning phase and in team fights.
Teemo
- Teemo can place shrooms all around the map, which can help keep track of Briar.
- The main reason why Teemo can be good is because he can block her auto-attacks with her Q.
Rammus
- Rammus is naturally a great counter versus AD champions who auto-attack a lot.
- He is a tank champion that will build items that can reduce her sustain, making her weaker overall.
Final Thoughts
Honestly, that’s all we have for now as we wait in anticipation for the release of Briar to the live servers in the upcoming patch. We hope these beginner tips will help you play against her as soon as she is launched on the live servers soon!
Like always, you can find more tips and tricks to play as and against Briar with the Mobalytics App.
