Greetings from Librarian Husky! Over the last couple of days, Brand Bronzebeard has undergone more changes than David Bowie’s “Changes.” Last night, Blizzard released more hot fixes that many players initially celebrated. However, they quickly realized that things had actually worsened. But don’t lose hope yet. I went into a Tier 8 Bountiful Delve today, using no personal cooldowns, no crowd control, no stuns, no Leg Sweep, Ring of Peace, or anything like that. I didn’t heal myself a single time with Vivify, though I had some passive healing. And it was easy. I’ll explain exactly what you should do to make it just as easy for you.

Blizzard’s Explanation of Recent Issues

Blizzard mentioned that over the past several days, they’ve received numerous player reports detailing variations in Brand’s performance and contribution during delves. Upon investigating the data, they discovered a significant bug that, under certain circumstances, caused Brand to inherit the damage and health bonuses meant for enemies. It’s clear why this would be problematic. When the bug was active, the higher the delve tier, the stronger Brand would become. Blizzard has confirmed that this bug has been addressed and deployed a hot fix to resolve it.

Testing Brand Bronzebeard in Tier 8 Delves

I can confirm the changes are live, having run multiple Tier 8 delves. Testing shows that Brand now has a consistent baseline of power that will progressively increase with your gear, which is quite interesting. I’ve done a lot of delves, as I’m sure most of you have, because let’s face it—it’s one of the best ways to get geared before Mythic Plus.

Obtaining Champion and Hero Track Gear

Through delves, you can get Champion track gear, and with a bit of luck, Hero track gear. However, to get Hero track gear, you need one of those elusive maps that are hard to come by. Everyone wants to use all their Cofer keys on Tier 8+ delves to maximize their loot at the end.

The Shift from Damage Brand to Healing Brand

This is where you’ll need to adjust your approach slightly. Up until now, we’ve mainly used damage Brand, but healing Brand is now incredibly powerful. In their post, Blizzard acknowledged feedback that Brand felt less impactful, so they increased his damage by 125% across all tiers.

Brand’s Damage Performance Post-Hotfix

Despite the increase, Brand is still delivering poor damage. After the hotfix, I ran a Tier 8 delve with Brand focused on damage, but he contributed almost nothing. At times, he just stood there doing nothing, and when he did help, his efforts were still underwhelming.

Testing Brand’s Healing Capabilities

I was soloing and mainly had Brand along for the buffs. When I switched him to healer, he was doing around half a million HPS. I interrupted nothing, letting every Fireball cast go through. I was pulling three, four, even five mobs, relying entirely on Brand to keep me alive. I used no Leg Sweep, Diffuse Magic, Touch of Karma, or Vivify. My only aid was a small amount of passive healing and 100% trust in Brand.

Brand’s Healing Abilities in Action

I was playing purposefully poorly, just to see how easy it would be. The key thing is to watch your feet. If you can spot the healing potions, you’re golden. Brand’s Dwarven Medicine was healing me for about 1.9 million, and his bag of snacks gave 300K heals each. He even has an idol that dropped a max heal of 1.3 million.

Managing Healing Potions and Relics

Brand often places two, three, or even four healing potions on the floor at once. I would wait until I took a big hit, then step into one potion and repeat. I never needed to interrupt any casts and sometimes pulled packs of two or three Mystics, all casting Fireball simultaneously. I used no cooldowns, relying solely on Brand’s healing.

Blizzard’s Notes on Spec Playstyles

Blizzard mentioned that certain specs with a more passive playstyle tend to hang back and let Brand take the lead. This style of gameplay aligns perfectly with Brand’s healing capabilities, as demonstrated in the above scenario.

The Impact of the 125% Damage Increase

I’m guilty of relying on this strategy, and so should everyone else because it made life a lot easier. We were more likely to trigger the bug than others. For those players, Blizzard understands that this may make Brand feel significantly weaker, especially in the highest-tier delves. That’s why they increased his damage by 125%. However, even with this increase, his damage is still so much lower that you barely notice the extra boost.

Comparison Between DPS and Healing Roles

Honestly, when I did a Tier 8 delve with Brand as DPS, it felt much more dangerous and stressful compared to when I played him as a healer. Side by side, there’s simply no comparison between the two roles. Healing is far more effective in terms of survivability and overall performance in delves.

Optimal Healing Setup for Brand

This isn’t exactly a guide on how to do delves, but I’ll share what I use when playing Brand as a healer, as it makes a significant difference. First, I use the Idol of the Earth Mother, where Brand’s spells and abilities have a high chance to awaken the idol, shielding injured players for 70% of their missing health. This works perfectly for a healing setup.

Utility Curio and Relic Choice

For utility, I use the Relic Blood of Zir. The reason is simple: losing max health doesn’t matter as long as you avoid being hit by anything that could one-shot you. This setup allows Brand to perform more absorbs and healing, maximizing his effectiveness in high-level delves.

Max Health vs. Survivability in Delves

If you’re standing in front of a frontal attack or an AOE explosion that you’re supposed to dodge, having max health won’t save you from being one-shot. However, having extra damage and healing is fantastic. During combat, a blood beast periodically attaches itself to Brand, launching morels at players. These grant Bloodstain Blessing, which increases damage and healing by 2% but reduces max health by 3% for 1 minute, and this stacks.

The Benefits of Bloodstain Blessing

Once Bloodstain Blessing stacks up, I deal more damage and healing. Max health becomes irrelevant since Brand is there, keeping me alive. With his absorb shield ability from his first spell, everything feels much more manageable. Even at level 33, Brand makes a significant difference in my gameplay, and he’s not even maxed yet.

Final Thoughts on the Delve Changes

Yesterday, I hardly ran any delves because I didn’t have enough keys, and I’ll admit, I was feeling a bit lazy. But that’s the gist of the changes made to delves and how I’m navigating those changes with Brand as a healer. It’s made the entire process much easier, and if you follow these tips, it should be for you as well.

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