Swain tips?

[Bullettime]

Greetings. I recently purchased Swain due to the DoT Mage design he seems to have. The problem is that my games with him are very hit or miss. I'll either dominate a team or feel like I'm contributing very little damage. Any tricks you all would recommend or any build variations? I've been using the guide on solomid so far as my base but again...feels kind of hit or miss here =\

[Deleted]

He will feel hit and miss because he's a champion who snowballs well. However, one or two deaths are not the end and I have managed to come back and win my lane from situations like that. The first thing to remember while laning is that you should make use of your passive. It costs almost nothing to throw out E and Q on your enemy whenever they get in range, as long as you're last hitting well. If you're lucky you can also land a W while they're snared, but it will drain your mana faster, and avoid putting it on cooldown if you think you'll need the root very shortly.

Because of the way his E+Q harass works, Swain has an easy time against short-ranged champions, but he'll get poked out by long-ranged champions. Fortunately, after hitting 6 poke isn't nearly as effective, as your ult gives you a lot of sustain. Use your ult often. What you shouldn't be doing is leaving it on for long periods of time, but for farming, pushing, or harassing up close, use it frequently in short bursts. Last hitting as normal for a bit afterwards will let you recover your mana, and if you have blue you can have your ult up a lot of the time.

To kill your opponent, hit them with E+Q, go into raven form, ignite (all extremely quickly) and then try to predict their movement to lock them in a W while you hit them with your raven form aoe. Another helpful hint is that your ult and W are very effective for preventing ganks. If you see their jungler coming in, activate your raven form and try to trap them in a root. If you can trap them near you and blast them with E+Q, you will probably weaken them enough to scare them away. I've had a lot of "ganks" turn into double kills when. junglers underestimate the damage and sustain of your ult.

In teamfights your main purpose is to kill their carry, your second purpose is to annoy them as much as possible. Killing the carry is pretty self-explanatory. Activate raven form, then hit them with everything + ignite (ignite benefits from the 20% extra damage on your E). Once their carry is down, try to kite or chase around their team with raven form + rylai's (or retreat if you're weak), and catch stragglers in W. Your W can easily win a fight.

Runes - do whatever, honestly. The only point I have to make is that mp5 runes feel unnecessary to me.

Build - I vary this often, it depends on the situation. Start with boots, unless you want extra MR against LeBlanc or something. Rush Rod of Ages. Do not buy Doran's Rings - they do the same thing as Rod of Ages. Pick one or the other. After that I get Deathcap if I'm winning and Rylai's or Abyssal Sceptre if I'm not. However, I almost always try to get all three of these at some point, they're fantastic for Swain. Unlike AP carries with huge ranges, he's quite often up-close and personal with the enemy team, so the aura+MR from Abyssal Sceptre and health from Rylai's are great. Also, the small ravens which hit enemies during your ult trigger the FULL slow from Rylai's - not the diminished aoe slow. Zhonya's Hourglass is another great item, particularly if you're getting focused. Your ult still deals damage (and slows, if you have Rylai's) while the active is in effect. Upgrade your boots whenever you want after RoA. I usually go for the usual Sorc Boots, but Merc Treads are also good.

The items I do not recommend are Will of the Ancients and Deathfire Grasp. Will of the Ancients is unnecessary and it's been nerfed to hell and back. I cringe when I see Swain players buy this. Unless you have a really heavy AP comp (in which case you could get it very late), your ult is enough sustain. Deathfire Grasp is alright, since the active benefits from your E's 20% damage increase, but it's just not as good as the other choices. Get some more tankiness after Deathcap.

Sorry for the wall of text. Also I didn't read the solomid guide - this is just what I've noticed while playing him. Swain is one of the few champions I've tried to understand without the use of any guides.

[Zoloft]

Wota is still a good item on him, just not something I would rush in most situations. You'd have to be a idiot to say its a bad item on him, you can never have enough sustain, lol. But I'd rather get a SV on him then it, just don't get SV as one of your first items. The healing bonus will be negligible with no ap. As for builds I'd say his only real core item is RoA--you need the mana, hp, and the AP on him, no question. After that it's mostly just common sense, I can't think of anything else to add that a guide doesn't already say, just keep practicing with him and don't bother first picking him if you are playing against competent people. You'll just get countered hard. But I guess you can say that for most champions =/.


Also Ignites mandatory. No question.

[Duilliath]

1) All the blues are belong to you
2) Be very wary of Exhaust, Ignite or the new Morello's tome. They can all give you a fit.

[Bullettime]

That's the one thing I have found the most annoying with him. Blue buff dependence. No blue, my ult burns through mana in 1 team fight. With blue, I feel fine so I end up having to take it every single time.

[Rampant Rabbit]

Peel with your DoT's, let them come or move in when they are most unwary so that they'd rather run than retaliate (and then it's already too late), and repeat.

Go for a 15-18 minute RoA so farm actively. Your jungler also has to give you blue every time except for the first time unless he doesn't need it at all.

Also, save your shackles for ganks or dives. They will be decimated if you lock them in.

[Bullettime]

Peel with your DoT's, let them come or move in when they are most unwary so that they'd rather run than retaliate (and then it's already too late), and repeat.

Go for a 15-18 minute RoA so farm actively. Your jungler also has to give you blue every time except for the first time unless he doesn't need it at all.

Also, save your shackles for ganks or dives. They will be decimated if you lock them in.

Yeah I've noticed the pretty nasty combo, esp during laning, with rooting someone who got too aggressive, Torment, then Decrepify before they escape. Ignite added if they don't have Flash. So much dot damage that usually ends in either a kill or a significant chunk. Been getting a lot better at throwing that on people fast and been noticng my damage smoothing out a lot. Guess it comes down to practice practice practice.

Thank you all for the tips btw. I want to attempt to "main" Swain and want to work towards mastering him. Favorite champ so far

Side note, noticed the Athene's Unholy Grail being patched in. Looks like it will be absolutely amazing for Swain.

[Deleted]

Side note, noticed the Athene's Unholy Grail being patched in. Looks like it will be absolutely amazing for Swain.

It's good, but I haven't decided whether it will be better than RoA. All of my games with Swain on the PBE have been total stomps, in which case the grail is definitely worth it. If you're losing, it might be a different story as you need the extra health and healing on levelup that a RoA gives you. Getting both is overkill, as it delays your Deathcap too much. Sustain is good, but you get plenty of that with only one of the items and your ult. Replacing Abyssal Sceptre with Athene's Unholy Grail could be another option if you really want RoA and the grail, but I haven't tested that yet.

[Bullettime]

Saw some discussion about it on the official boards. Some are saying that it could be worth picking up after your Rod as it has every stat that Swain looks for before getting your deathcap/zhonya/abyssal/FH. Curious to try it out.

[Lellybaby]

Next patch Riot are bringing in an upgrade for chalice. I think it will become one of the must have items for Swain due to his mana problems.

[Deleted]

Get blue, seriously, if your jungler doesn't get you every single blue ('cept for the first one, for obvious reasons), you get on your knees and cry your heart out until you get it. You need that thing to even be noticable during teamfights.

Build, always start with boots +3pots (Except against LeBlanc, start null-mantle +1pot), after wich I get 1 Doran's Ring, followed by Hextech Revolver. Then finish boots, go for Rod of Ages, Abyssal Scepter/Frozen Heart (This is depending on who's fed, AP or AD. If everything's neutral, go for Abyssal. If you're steamrolling, take Rylais first and then Abyssal/FH), Rylai's Crystal Scepter, Will of the Ancients and finish off with Abyssal/Frozen Heart.

I really find Deathcap completely useless on Swain. Rather builld tanky and sustained, because you can still carry superhard with this build.

Your job is to either catch their AD/AP Carry with your root, Q+E+Ignite and then hug them with Raven Form running, or try use your root to protect your own carry from their bruisers -- this is all highly situational, completely depends on positioning, where on the map you're fighting and your teammates. I just trap their carry and zerg him down, then go for a "protector"-role.

You can also group up with another, camp sosme brushes and then catch some of theirs, Swain is awesome for that.

As said, your W and ultimate is great defensive tool, if you get ganked, pop ulti for lifesteal and root them, pop some dots, if you see an opportunity, turn around with Ignite and get a kill or possibly two.