Braum

Bring up Braum in any mead hall north of Frostheld and someone will launch into a tale about him, often involving a stretch of oak forest or a mountain that has since lost its shape. Nobody much cares whether the details check out. What sticks is that Braum built his reputation across the Freljord, and the fondness that followed came honestly.

He fights with an enchanted vault door for a shield, and that choice tells you how he thinks: he isn’t trying to hurt anyone so much as to stand between danger and the people he’s guarding. Pair that with a mustache and a grin that seems permanent, and he comes across less as a soldier and more as a folk hero, the sort of figure people count on to turn up when it matters and to be glad about it.

His kit follows the same logic. Concussive Blows rides along on his attacks and his allies’ basic attacks, piling up stacks that stun a target at four. Winter’s Bite slows an enemy and adds a stack from a distance. Stand Behind Me carries Braum to an ally, and on arrival it grants Armor and Magic Resist. Unbreakable turns the shield to its intended job: it soaks every projectile coming from one direction and ignores the first full hit entirely. His ultimate, Glacial Fissure, launches and slows everything along a line, leaving frozen ground that keeps hurting anyone forced to cross it. He joins other protectors of the region such as Anivia, and between them they show that the Freljord, harsh as it is, still produces people ready to guard it.

Braum is designed for the top lane or the support role, with his Mana powering defense instead of offense. Gnar brings unstable, shape-shifting energy to the same region, Gnar being the contrast here: Braum offers the steadiness an entire tribe can rely on.