Swain

Orochi·Sep 7, 2016·2 votes·640 views

How good is Swain currently? I know he got nerfed a few patches back, but is he still any good?

6 Comments

ZanTwilightSep 7, 20164 votes

He's definitely playable, just not meta. Honestly the a big reason (imo) is that his sustain-tank, damage over time identity overlaps a lot with Vladimir, who doesn't run out of mana and isn't reliant on an ult with a now-sizable cooldown. He's definitely still fine to play in both mid and top, but he lacks burst compared to a lot of mids and isn't as tanky as a lot of tops, so make sure your comp is right for him.

ModCaliCoastReplayAug 25, 20171 votes

I agree, but also think there are lanes that are really tricky for Vlad before 6 that Swain handles with ease. He is indeed a mana fiend, but when he has enough and enough feed he has few weaknesses. I think he's a very strong pick.

He's being reworked next year, however, which fast approaches, so any time invested in him now may or may not carry over. He's not being seen in LCS, and one of the announcers mentioned that Swain was a "great solo queue champion" but that he has a hard time surviving early ganks against coordinated teams.

However, I definitely think that for day-to-day play in Fall/Winter 2017, he is still a brutal top laner.

He is able to deal a tremendous amount of damage from range - especially if his autoattack is feared as well, with the underrated tactic of packing a (relatively few) damage runes or sometimes a single autoattack item - and he has few truly bad matchups. And one he gets his ult, he is very hard to gank if fed. Fiora and Yasuo tend to counter him very hard as they can engage and disengage at will, Karthus can counter him but is a rare pick, and a good Lulu's polymorph can be deadly - but other than that I can't think of many viable tops that give him problems. And if you're good with him - in solo lane he smashes a lot of traditionally dominant toplaners like Darius, Nasus, Maokai and Riven - all the melee/tank tops who aren't super agile - to pieces, by dancing around them, dotting, stunning, and autoattacking to deny their CS until they can't effectively venture out in the wave to feed.

He's a very strong counterpick to these super-close-range melee mids if you're skilled with him and can deal damage at distance.

KeepeSep 7, 20163 votes

As Zan over there said. He's playable. That's about all I can say for his current state. For me personally, I play him because I am a masochist and like seeing all I love destroyed.

Zane ZephyrSep 7, 20161 votes

Pretty sure the only literal thing that got nerfed was his ulti CD. He should still be just as good as before.

KeepeSep 7, 20162 votes

Decrepify was nerfed into a mess of a skillshot as well as having it's damage reduced.

Root duration on a hard to land skillshot reduced, overall turning his kit from a well functioning unit into a fractured mess to which "fluid gameplay" does not exist.

I should know. I mained Swain for most of my League experience before people decided to screw around with his kit and decide he was "Overpowered". I don't know if I still main him. I love, Swain, but playing him now is... painful... And I hate the fact. Not as painful as MORD, but still.

newbinSep 7, 20161 votes

he is in a rock in a hard place. Not enough damage or CC to be worth picking as a AP(mid) and not tanky enough and still able to deal threatening damage as a tank (top). He is a niche pick now.

The best way to fix him would be to add more CC/utility to his kit. Uping his substain, Damage,or Tankiness would tilt him too far and he would get another round of nerfs.

Should give damage reduction on anyone being hit by his ult. 8-12% and cupled with the rest of his kit it would make him a great backline babysitter.