[Mardagg]

Also,nerfing the base damage of the brands would open options for some other 1h weapons as well,i.e. all weapons with good to very good base damage but without AoE damage could fill a niche spot in the future.

And just to clarify:

Nerfing the base damage will not affect the AoE damage.Those are not influenced by each other.
The Brands will still be very powerful therefore.