Out of curiosity, what are Swain's weaknesses?

African Mundo ·Oct 3, 2015·5 votes·1,795 views

I'm not saying he's op or anything. I just hope that maybe a swain main or player can clarify how to beat him other than ganking.

35 Comments

MathbalnaseOct 4, 201514 votes

0 mobility mediocre range low burst poor waveclear prone to mana issues vulnerable to Grievous Wounds long CDs early

Stiv1234Oct 4, 20152 votes

Agreed except low burst and mana issues (if you know what youre doing).

MathbalnaseOct 4, 20153 votes

3/4 of his abilities are DoTs. DoTs make poor burst, as they are particularly susceptible to shields, heals, and almost every other defensive ability out there. The Swain player 'knowing what they are doing' can only mitigate that vulnerability to a very small extent.

The mana issues are slightly more subject to the Swain player's skill, but will always be a factor relative to a comparable opponent playing a less mana dependent champ. Swain can't casually 'fish' with his abilities (for fear of going oom, and because his CDs are obscene early), but plenty of his opponents can do that to him. This is a relative weakness.

Sire HippingtonOct 4, 20151 votes

his skills might be dots, but thats only relevant vs strong shields, the damage his E+Q+W Rotation does is incredible high, especially with some AAs and ult on top. people are often suprised to die from one swain-rotation cause they always think 'muh, low burst...'

Just Q+W+E hits for 750+2.4AP, 900+2.88ap if you add the 220% damage amp from his E, so the basic rotation delas nearly the same damage as a Diana full burst with passive and double ult...

MathbalnaseOct 4, 20151 votes

[{quoted}](name=Don Pavoni,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=1Aw05g32,comment-id=0010000000000000,timestamp=2015-10-04T16:07:47.261+0000)

his skills might be dots, but thats only relevant vs strong shields,

DoTs are weaker than equivalent instant burst abilities when facing opponents with almost any kind of defensive ability. Yes, even weak shields. Yes, heals of all kinds. Yes, defensive steroids of (nearly) all kinds. No, not just strong shields.

How much health will the ADC gain back from lifesteal over the duration of a Swain 'burst'? How much will they gain back during a Leblanc burst? What was that? One hell of a lot less? That's what I thought.

OhthePiplupOct 4, 20155 votes

Between his 3rd and 4th Rod of ages he has a weak spot. Abuse this! If you don't, you lose!

WalkingInACircleOct 4, 20155 votes

Extremely boring. The player playing him is in constant danger of dying to boredom.

53436278DEL1Oct 3, 20154 votes

he is weak against burst

ltmetalOct 4, 20153 votes

Swain has lowest in class wave clear. Not only is he the mid champion with the lowest wave clear, he takes home the trophy for mages as well. Pick a sieging champion with range and waveclear who builds Morellonomicon, like Ziggs or Viktor.

YossarianSenseiOct 4, 20152 votes

I wouldn't even say he belongs to the mage class though, he's in a grey area

YumaS2AstralOct 4, 20152 votes

{quoted}

Swain has lowest in class wave clear. Not only is he the mid champion with the lowest wave clear, he takes home the trophy for mages as well. Pick a sieging champion with range and waveclear who builds Morellonomicon, like Ziggs or Viktor.

If you count Fiddlesticks as a mid lane champion, then Swain actually has better waveclear than him.

Otherwise Swain is the mid laner with the worst waveclear.

3TWarriorOct 4, 20151 votes

well, not quite, if he's facing a mage or casting reliant opponent, fiddle can max his E early. It deals double damage to minions and monsters and when you have a semblance of AP, he can clear most of a wave in one cast

Prospector PeteOct 3, 20152 votes

He's mana hungry, for one.

AtheosisXOct 3, 20152 votes

Lack of mobility and lack of range are the two main things that come to mind.

LaughingMan11Oct 3, 20152 votes

Really, the best thing you can do, is burst the daylights out of him, get a morellonomicon as a first/second item if you can, because if you can stop his R sustain, you can beat him.

MazohistOct 3, 20152 votes

weak wave clear - shove the wave, make him use his abilities and mana to wave clear and farm
mana issues and ult cd - once his ult is activated you disengage and wait for him to turn it off after which u have a 7 second window to fight him while he cant use ult
weak to high range, champs that can poke him from safety, tho thats a risky method
not engaging while marked with his E

Reynard the ƒoxOct 3, 20152 votes

summoner 14

YossarianSenseiOct 4, 20152 votes

Immobile and his early game is relatively weak. He also has high mana costs

If you let swain get fed though your 'counterplay' options basically disappear.

RenailleOct 4, 20152 votes

No wave clear and weak last hitting under tower. Just shove him in.

IpolsOct 4, 20152 votes

burst dmg doesn't let him heal in time, also early game he can't wave clear so if you don't stand inside the minion wave he'll go oom tryng to cs. When he tries to take a minion using his W he'll lose a lot of mana, when he tries to take a minion auto-attacking you should punish him.

If he's not a god he'll lose 300 gold of farm just by doing that

EnvironmentalistOct 3, 20151 votes

His early game is fairly weak, especially pre 6. I personally find him harder to farm with than most, because none of his abilities are built around farming, and his aa's are extremely weak. I'd say shut him down before 6 and keep pressure on him most of the game, though when he's 6 and has a blue buff then fml runaway. :P

Death by GlamourOct 3, 20151 votes

Low range

searchman15Oct 3, 20151 votes

His cool downs. If you see the bird gun just get out of it, walk back in immediately after it stops. He has nothing really to defend himself but his slow and his snare. One of which has a 15+ second cool down. I'd honestly just pick an assassin into him, get him to burn flash, and all in at lvl 6 with ult + ignite.

African Mundo Oct 3, 20151 votes

More specifically top lane swain? When I'm a melee and I'm up against one, I can barely touch him and by level 2 he has me at half health.

The RaidbringerOct 4, 20151 votes

Swain's levels 1 to 4 are weak, while toplane bruisers usually thrive in that part of the game. Also a big portion of Swain's damage is his Q, but it's rarely optimal to max it first because it leaves you with weaker sustained damage and zero waveclear. As much as I hate the W I usually max it first just so I can farm waves and disengage more often. Basically if you want to toplane Swain you'll have to adopt cheesy strategies like rock some armor pen (hybrid runes) and start with a Doran's Blade, then use E on your opponent and auto him. Remember that E also increases your auto damage to the target.

Sire HippingtonOct 4, 20151 votes

if he's toplane, it's all up to your jungler, he's pretty squishy and imobile with no reliable hard cc, he's a easy target for ganks if he pushes to your tower. Now, if your jungler doesn't use that, you are screwed...