On both Swain and Vladamir, I look at other people play them and they're monsters. They're single-handedly taking out armies of enemies, and never dipping below 70%.
When I play them, I'm lucky to annoy the enemy by playing like a bitch. Is there some key to nuking people that I'm missing?
Fullmetallic3 votesThe key has gotta be TIMING. Know when to go in and shred the enemy when they have minimal defense, and ALWAYS have a get out of jail free card (Swain R+ stopwatch, Vlad W+Flash)
Phieldworker2 votesDisclaimer I’m a silver Swain player but I do have mastery 7.
Early game: poke when you can but focus on farming mostly. Swain runs out of mana a little quick early on. Save e until they go to cs and trap em, aa, and q if there aren’t healthy minions in front. Once you get a hang of that throw in w. Best way to w is land snare, start w where the pull will go, pull them and walk up to auto and q. But remember if the poke combo is hard just keep farming. After 6 if your one enemy is too slippery look to shove and roam when ult is up. Swains w makes good for ganks. If they aren’t slippery let them push into you while poking them with autos when you can. Then pop that ult and use the combo to pull them in
Mid game look to stay with team. He’s very distruptive in a team fight and a lot of the time you can land w in clusters to get damage and shards. Hit whoever is close. Don’t risk jumping into back unless you have fully stacked shards and a bunch of damage.
Late game is the same. Team fight like crazy. People underestimate the burst you can do. Also don’t pull tanks if you can avoid it unless the enemy team can’t react as fast as yours. Try to save it to pull someone that is squishy.
Build: I go roa against burst champs or bruisers with mobility. If they don’t fall under these two I go ludens first. Second if I need defense I’ll go zhonyas and if they are heavy ap Banshees. If I’m not worried about defense second I’ll go liandry for tankier comps or morello for squishier. 3rd item ill Get the defensive item if I didn’t need it sooner or I’ll get the items I mentioned before. Then 4th if they are stacking mr I’ll get void but if not I’ll get deathcap. Honestly with items just look up builds.
Last tip, always fight with front line. Don’t sit too far back where you can’t land moves while your front line is doing their thing. Swain is pretty strong just learn ranges and kinda float within your team but still stay in range as much as you can.
Evil Bisex Plant1 votesI onetrick Swain since the rework and this is basically it.
Just need to point out that you will build RoA 80-95% of the time because every champ nowadays is a burst champ, don't let it distract you into thinking you should be building Luden way more often than you do, cuz you shouldn't.
To throw my bits in this:
This is my usual build - even though I would like to diversify it more often, I almost always just buy these because they just feel the most efficient:
-> 
-> 
-> 
-> 
-> 
-> 
(under obvious circumstances) -> the game is over by now.
And some runes are extremely helpful to your performance. If you learn to manage your mana well, Nimbus Cloak is like an Ace in your sleeve and Waterwalking is just something I have a hard on for because I essentialy spend the whole early game in the River (Phieldworker's mentioned roaming).
Just learn your ranges and damage, that's all up to you.
Phieldworker1 votes[{quoted}](name=Evil Bisex Plant,realm=EUNE,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=8Avi9OZd,comment-id=00010000,timestamp=2018-07-10T21:01:36.724+0000)
I onetrick Swain since the rework and this is basically it.
Just need to point out that you will build RoA 80-95% of the time because every champ nowadays is a burst champ, don't let it distract you into thinking you should be building Luden way more often than you do, cuz you shouldn't.
To throw my bits in this:
This is my usual build - even though I would like to diversify it more often, I almost always just buy these because they just feel the most efficient:
And some runes are extremely helpful to your performance. If you learn to manage your mana well, Nimbus Cloak is like an Ace in your sleeve and Waterwalking is just something I have a hard on for because I essentialy spend the whole early game in the River (Phieldworker's mentioned roaming).
Just learn your ranges and damage, that's all up to you.
Thanks i even got some tips from this! I’m gonna try the build path you mentioned tonight.
Glad I could help, hope it works for you.
M00ndanc32 votesFor vlad, you have to play like a bitch early and late game you just spam e and q, try to use your r when your team engages and use your w as either a way to avoid burst or as a way to hit more targets with your e.
Swain on the other hand, you build more tank than vlad but you really need to be constantly getting your passive procs. His ult heal is good, but landing your e/w or activating passive on an allies cc will make or break your ability to survive a fight.
Javi Is Here1 votes
Too much sustain?
No problem
Noor Sakata1 votesVlad isn't a mage , I do not approve of this.
Mordepool1 votesVlad is a Battle Mage. But please delude yourself if you want
Noor Sakata1 votesVlad is a Battle Mage. But please delude yourself if you want
Cmon he has no resources .. he doesn't even use his mana and his blood costs are a joke
Evil Bisex Plant1 votesYes, these are the conditions we classify mages by. I also hate how everyone says 
isn't a mage, she obviously uses mana! Or 
, she does it too! Smh
Noor Sakata1 votesthat's nit funny lol a Mage is meant to be a ranged champion that uses magic , and which is ap , and to generate this ap , mana is needed
FlameHalbrdOkido1 votesI think all these guys gave great advice the best advice id give is to prioritize the spells or mechanics that return health to you.
With Vlad make sure to be keeping ur eye on your Resource bar to let u know when your window of power is coming
currently I think Vlad is a bit overturned his E allows him to build very tanky and gain burst damage as a direct result, I don't feel this is good design for a battle mage as they should be more about constant dmg over time, its ok to be a bit bursty but for all the sustain Vlad has the burst E can put out isn't properly gated like how Swain's is. His E cost should be increased at later ranks just like how other mages spells cost more (this way the cost scales as he gains HP), and either his Max HP scaling dmg needs to be reduced on E or changed to current HP, this way he can't just use W into E to get free access to high dmg on the back line.
