[2018] Forum - Announcements - Skill Reveal: Armageddon Brand - Path of Exile

The Brand is a spell you're casting that directly deals damage to enemies. It's your damage, just like if you cast Orb of Storms or Fireball and they hit enemies. It just has a slightly more complicated way of working out which things you're damaging.

Of course, if a totem, trap, mine or minion casts the Brand, then they're the one dealing the damage.

There is not a currently support gem that makes supported skills interact with brands, and cannot be one that works the same way as the Totem, Trap and Mine supports, because Brands are fundamentally very different - they are themselves a spell cast by you that's damaging things repeatedly, where Totems, Traps and Mines are separate enties that themselves cast spells, and have those spells deal damage.

Technically yes, but they'll only be useful if you get a totem, trap or mine to cast the brand, rather than casting it yourself. They are a spell you cast that damages things, and Ancestral Bond prevents you doing that.

Not at this stage - numbers are still being finalised with regard to how much the base limit is and how much you can invest in raising it.

It takes a roughly equivalent amount of total experience to reach max level as a regular gem, split over fewer level ups.

Yeah. They're pretty similar to Orb of Storms in this respect - a spell you cast that repeatedly damages things around it, and is still your damage.

As opposed to a totem, which is a separate entity with it's own life which actually casts spells itself to damage things.

My understanding is this was necessary to achieve balance goals regarding the value of bonuses granting additional levels being useful at all levels.

if some other unit casts the brand can the brand still be recalled to me?

Also more out of curiosity i assume traps(and totems) wont let me bypass the brand limit either, but a minion (in theory) could?

Totems, Traps and Mines use your skills - the Brands they create will count towards the same limits as your own Brands you cast yourself, and you'll be able to recall all of them. They'll also show in your UI that helps you keep track of your brands. Minions use their own skills, so they'll have their own Brand limits separate from yours, and you won't be able to recall them (but the minion could, if it has that skill).

Effectively you're "in charge" of all Brands created from your skills, regardless of whether you used those skills yourself or not.

do the brands count as projectiles

No.

Yes.

Nothing of what you said precludes the ability to have a Brand support.

It does prevent having a support that works the same way as the totem/trap/mine ones, which is what I specified. Those work by casting spells. That means they're separate entities which are actors (able to take actions), with all the knock-on effects that entails (having life, having AI, being able to die, etc).

Functionally brands are just like a totem that attaches to the monster that they cast at.

No, they very much are not. Totems are an entity which casts spells. Brands are a spell - to the extent they exist in the game world, it's only as a visual effect. They're fundamentally something your character is doing. They're like a fireball, not a totem - a spell in progress, as cast by your character.

Yes.

Can Brands be supported by Spell Echo?

Yes

Would you both create two Brands with one cast

Yes

and would the activations from the Brands repeat?

No. Spell Echo makes casting the spell repeat. Repeating is a specific mechanic that means when you use a skill, you pay the cost only once, but play the animation (and thus cause the effects of the skill) twice. Casting a Brand spell is casting a spell, so can be repeated. A brand activating is nothing to do with casting anything - repeating can't apply to it.