Hi there and welcome to my Smite Support guide. I'm Daveroxx and I play on EUW. I started playing League early 2014 so I'm still in the begining of my travels. I actually started playing LoL when I was writing my Master's Thesis and I used LoL as my field of study, but that's another story.

I like to experiment in games, and I'm not a stranger to breaking the Meta. So with the changes made to Smite in this Pre-season I wondered if there would be a place for it when supporting. I play Support 90% of my games (or more).
After a couple of games with Smite I fell in love with it and found a whole new way to play support. Many players seem to dislike playing support and with this build it's a more complex and game changing position. I still get yelled at in Team Builder and it seems alot of LoL players are as conservative as people are in general. "We dislike supports, but how dare You change it!!"
I've been able to turn most of these people around, and at GG I've been getting lots of positive feedback. "We will see this in the ****ing LCS!"

So I hope You try it out and give me some feedback on Your experience. Glhf and stay humble.

This guide is still a work in progress

So these are the pros and cons of this particular build. It's not the pros and cons of Braum in general. Braum has wonderful CC, but not from building him this way, and so therefore this will not be covered in this section.
PROs

• Excellent Dragon and Baron control
• Both damage and slow on Your summoner spell
• Much lower CD on summoner spell than on Exhaust/Ignite
• More versatile game play with smite
• Stronger leash for jungler
• The possibility to get jungle buffs
  

CONs

• Less tanky than with other items
• Weaker early game
• Poor vision control early due to later sightstone

Flash is pretty much a must have. It gives You both offensive and defensive choices that wouldn't exist if You didnt have Flash.

Smite is what makes this build different from the others. So You need it to make this build work.

The runes focus exclusively on staying alive. Lots of flat health and armor will help in the weaker early game. Since Braum's damage scale from health the health runes also make for some early poke and some kill pressure.

My masteries have more or less just been a trial of different setups. The present setup is the one I've been having the most success with. I want the CDR from Sorcery in the offense tree and also the CDR of my Smite from the utility tree. I go for mana regen, since mana will be something of a scarse resource during the game. The movement speed boost will help with map control. The rest of the pointy are put in the defensive tree to maintain as much tankyness as possible without losing kill pressure.

With Summoner's Insight I get a quite spammable Smite with only 54 sec CD.

This is where things differ from other Braum builds. I've not built Braum according to the most used builds here on Mobafire even before I started using this build. I've always built Braum primarily reliant on HP. My main focus has been to fill Braum's HP bar as much as possible. This makes for an aggressive play style and a fair amount of tankyness.

So when I started to work on this build I had the same focus. I wanted to keep my HP as high as possible and still be able to use my Chilling Smite as soon as possible.

Stalker's Blade Is what makes the smite usefull in lane. It also makes You a bit weaker after Your first back. You won't be able to get Sightstone or Targon's Brace as would be recommended for other builds. But it will give You the Chilling Smite which will give You the choice to target Champions with the smite, slowing them and dealing some true damage.

Mid to late game You will be able to stack up on more tankyness. Upgrade to Face of The Mountain and boots to Ninja Tabi and then to Stalker's Blade - Juggernaut.
After these upgrades I go for Warmog's Armor and then Spirit Visage or Banshee's Veil.
If the enemy team don't deal alot of Magic damage I would go for more Armor and health, e.g. Randuin's Omen.

Early Gameis a bit of a weak point but still very managable. You start with Your jungler and giving him/her a good leash. Ask if she needs the buff from the camp Your clearing. If they don't need the buff You can smite directly at 1.55, land a basic or a Q Winter's Bite and go on to the lane. You will now have a buff from the camp which will be helpful in lane.
Try to mitigate as much damage with Your Unbreakable so Your ADC is fresh and clean. Poke with Winter's Bite and stay clear of danger. You are still pretty weak.

After getting Stalker's Blade things get better. You are still not as tanky as would be benificial, but You will have a few tricks up Your sleeve. You can now disengage with Chilling Smite and deal some true damage.
Remember to communicate with Your team. Killing the Dragon will be piece of cake with two Smite and will also be very hard for the enemy team to contest it.

Mid to late will be a breeze. When Your mid/late game items starts landing You will get tankier with every back. Still go for as many Dragons as possible, and Baron will also be hard for enemies to contest.

This is not a build for EVERY game and it still has some drawbacks and dangers. But it's a fun way to alter a position that many feel is too weak and bland. The build will force You to communicate with Your team and practice Your map awareness and strategical thinking. It's a very rewarding way to play.

As a support always remember to keep Your team safe (mainly ADC) grant vision of the map and try to be a positive player. Team work is the only thing OP.