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Briar Guide

Ability numbers checked on patch 26.21 · Strategy reviewed: October 2026

Briar splash art for this Briar guide

Briar plays the jungle as the Hunger of the Hollow blood-frenzy jungler on patch 26.22. Head Rush dashes to a target enemy for bonus damage. Blood Frenzy toggles Briar into a frenzy state (random target auto-attacks, bonus Attack Speed) or exits frenzy for Snack Attack (an auto-cancel resetter). Chilling Scream channels then releases a cone that pushes enemies back. Certain Death leaps to a target enemy from a long range, dealing damage over the leap duration.

Briar’s Data Dragon file lists her under Fighter and Assassin tags, 3 out of 10 difficulty rating, 125 melee auto range, and Fury as the pool. Her Crimson Curse passive applies a bleed on basic auto hits; the bleed deals percent-max-HP damage and heals Briar on expiration.

Abilities and role

Briar’s lane plan on patch 26.22 is the Jungle solo-queue blood-frenzy brawler. The committed Blood Frenzy toggle plus auto-attack frenzy state cycles through enemy jungler clears; her Certain Death leap covers cross-map engages on all-in enemy carries.

Crimson Curse (Passive)

Briar applies a bleed on basic auto hits. The bleed deals percent-max-HP magic damage over its duration and heals Briar on expiration. For what it’s worth, Crimson Curse is Briar’s primary sustain engine; a committed auto-cycle on a tanky enemy jungler heals Briar through the all-in burst.

Head Rush (Q)

Briar dashes to a target enemy, dealing bonus damage on contact. 13 to 9 second cooldown, costs no mana (Fury-based). The Q is Briar’s primary engage; a committed Head Rush onto the enemy ADC during an all-in 2v2 skirmish opens the frenzy burst.

Blood Frenzy / Snack Attack (W)

Briar toggles between frenzy and non-frenzy states. In frenzy: Briar gains bonus Attack Speed and auto-attacks random nearby enemies. Non-frenzy: Briar casts Snack Attack, an auto-cancel resetter plus bonus damage. 14 to 10 second cooldown, no mana. The W is Briar’s primary damage toggle; a committed Blood Frenzy during all-in teamfights multiplies her auto DPS output.

Chilling Scream (E)

Briar channels for 1 second then releases a cone that pushes enemies back. The cone damages enemies and knocks them back a fixed distance. 16 second cooldown, no mana. The E is Briar’s primary CC chain tool; a committed Chilling Scream against grouped enemies in a jungle entrance pushes them into an all-in Head Rush setup.

Certain Death (R)

Briar leaps to a target enemy from a long range, dealing damage over the leap duration. The leap travels fast and lands on the first-contact target. 120 to 80 second cooldown, no mana. The R is Briar’s primary cross-map pick tool; a committed Certain Death leap from fog of war onto an isolated enemy carry during a 2v2 skirmish ends the fight.

Build and item spikes

Briar’s jungle start pairs Scorchclaw Pup (ganking) with Smite plus Flash. First item is Eclipse for the Omnivamp proc on committed Blood Frenzy auto-cycle chains plus the raw Lethality that amps her percent-max-HP Crimson Curse bleed.

Slot two picks Death’s Dance for the bleed-conversion that pays off during extended teamfights inside Blood Frenzy windows. Slot three flexes to Sterak’s Gage for the lifeline shield on low HP, Edge of Night against hard-CC enemy comps for the back-pocket spell shield, or Maw of Malmortius against AP-heavy drafts for the MR plus burst. Full first-through-sixth-item path lives on our LoL items database.

How to play by game stage

Pre-6 Briar plays jungle clear with Blood Frenzy auto-cycle on each camp. First gank opens at level 3 or 4 with Head Rush dash plus Chilling Scream push plus Blood Frenzy burst.

Mid game (7-13): Eclipse online is Briar’s mid-game spike. Rotate to Drake with the ally bot-lane in tow. R Certain Death leap from fog of war onto the enemy ADC during committed 2v2 skirmishes.

Late game (14+): Briar fights with the ally frontline. Blood Frenzy toggle during committed teamfights multiplies her auto DPS. A Sterak’s Gage fourth item lets Briar tank the follow-up frontline burst inside the frenzy window.

Who counters Briar

Three distinct pressure types bleed a Briar jungle phase. Scaling junglers who out-farm her early-game clear (Karthus, Udyr, Master Yi). Peel enchanters who cancel Certain Death leaps (Lulu Whimsy polymorph, Milio ult cleanse). Hard-engage top-laners who commit a counter-dive during Briar’s Blood Frenzy state (Jarvan E-Q flag, Vi R, Pantheon R).

  • Scaling junglers: Karthus, Udyr, Master Yi. Each out-farm Briar past minute 25.
  • Peel enchanters: Lulu, Milio. Each hard-CC midlaner stuns Briar during the R Certain Death chase before she reaches her prey.
  • Counter-dive tops: Jarvan IV, Vi, Pantheon. Each commit a counter-dive during Briar’s Blood Frenzy state.

Deeper matchup notes with ability-level timings for every Briar opponent land on the Briar counters page.

ARAM notes

Howling Abyss Briar opens with Eclipse for the Omnivamp burst on committed Blood Frenzy auto-cycle chains across the bridge. Death’s Dance arrives second for the bleed-conversion during long bridge standoffs. Sterak’s Gage lands third for the lifeline shield on low HP. R Certain Death leap from fog of war onto the enemy backline at the bridge choke isolates an all-in pick. The

Briar pairs well with sustained-damage ally ADCs on ARAM (Jhin, Caitlyn, Ashe) that convert her R Certain Death pick into guaranteed kill chains. The Briar ARAM build page carries the full item path and matchup table.

Briar skins

Skins: 3 · Newest: Street Demons Briar (2026)

Theme-wise, the lineup includes Battle Academia, Primordian, Lunar Guardian, Wildcard and multiple event drops. Three stand out for full VFX reworks on R Certain Death animation.

  • Battle Academia Briar (1350 RP): academy-event theme with reworked textbook Head Rush and schoolyard R.
  • Primordian Briar (1350 RP): dark-ritual theme with reworked void-shard Chilling Scream and crimson-leap R.
  • Lunar Guardian Briar (1350 RP): Lunar New Year theme with reworked firework Blood Frenzy and tiger-leap R.

See All Briar skins and prices for the full catalogue with RP tags and release years.

FAQ

Is Briar easy to learn?

3/10 but her AI-on frenzy throws beginners. Riot built Briar for mechanically-weak players: autos drain-heal, Q+E is a point-click dash+gap-close, R is a free teamfight engage. The quirk is W Blood Frenzy — it removes your mouse control for 3 seconds, auto-targeting the lowest-HP enemy. New players panic-flash out of frenzy; mains chain W into R for a double-dash lane gank. She is a hunter, not a brawler.