A Truly Strategic Tactician Swain

Hi all! I love Swain, from his lore to his kit, but I find myself disliking his passive and ultimate.

Let me explain my reasoning. The passive on Swain is good early to mid game, because it gives him a source to regain his mana from his relatively high mana costing spells. Once you build the core item, Rod of Ages on him, Swain's passive becomes lackluster, as the mana you now gain from the passive is very low. His cs'ing and waveclears aren't the best either.

Swain is supposed to be the Master Tactician, using strategy to win his lane and the game. I feel that his kit isn't exactly strategic, other than knowing where to place Nevermove and when to use Decrepify to get the most amount of damage. His joke is more true to his kit than his own title is!

Everyone knows that having no mana is extremely frustrating, and it's especially true for champions like Swain and Anivia. On the other hand, Swain can be extremely toxic if he has his ult up for a long time. And while Swain's passive does exist for low mana, it isn't effective late game. Those of you who make the argument that Swain is balanced because of these mana costs are right, but mana problems shouldn't plague champions late game. It is not fun to be manaless, but if Swain should have a reliable source of mana regen, that wouldn't be fun for the other players as well.

Swain is the only transforming champion that does not get new abilities or extra effects to his existing abilities, which makes sense because that ult of his would be too OP.

So, I would like to make the argument that Swain should be considered for a kit change and CERTAINLY for a VU. My idea of Swain as the Master Tactician is here as follows:

*All number values are subject to change. I only put in the percentages because I didn't want to work on the numbers today.

Passive (Regular): Ravenous Flock: Swain releases a flock of 3 ravens on his fourth spell, each dealing a scaling amount of damage (0.2 AP). The ravens prioritize champions. Each raven heals Swain for 100% of the damage dealt to champions and 50% of the damage dealt to minions and monsters.

*This is similar to Ahri's passive and/or Maokai's, except that it has been Swainified for our Grand General. This makes his ult into like Nidalee's ult or Elise's ult, except he can't get his ult until LV 6.

Passive(Bird): Raven’s Guise: Swain’s autoattacks proc stacks of “Carrion Filth”, which reveals enemies for 5 seconds and poisons them for 5 seconds. Swain can proc up to 5 stacks on each champion. Each stack deals (0.1 AP + 0.1 AD) damage every second. Swain gains 5% lifesteal and spell vamp for each stack on enemy champions.

*The "Carrion Filth" stack system allows for some interesting strategies and builds, making Swain pretty versatile.

Q: Decrepify: Swain sends out Beatrice to a target, dealing initial burst damage (0.3 AP) and creating a 3 second tether which deals sustained damage (0.4 AP). If Swain slays a unit with Decrepify or under its effects, Decrepify’s cooldown is reduced by 50% and he gains 50% of the mana used.

*This helps his cs'ing problem and his mana problem, because his old passive was taken out.

Q: Carrion Slash: Swain slashes 3 times in front of him, each strike dealing (0.1 AP + 0.75 AD) damage. Each strike procs a stack of “Carrion Filth”. The speed of the strikes depends on his attack speed.

*A new ability that procs his new passive. Also has AD/AS scaling!

W: Nevermove: Swain summons a flock of ravens to bind and damage (0.6 AP) all enemies in the targeted area after a 0.75 second delay. Enemies caught in the middle are blinded for 1.5 seconds.

*Basically the same ability, but with more utility against AD champs. Plus it rewards you for being spot on!

W: Carrion Cloud: Swain releases a flock of ravens at the target location, marking all enemies with “Carrion Filth”. Swain can activate Carrion Cloud a second time to teleport to the target location, or to teleport to a target champion marked with “Carrion Filth” and deal (0.5 AP) damage. Each extra stack after 1 allows Swain to teleport to an enemy champion 100 unit further than the original range.

*This ability really makes Bird Swain different from Human Swain, by giving him mobility. Remember that Swain lost his ult, making him squishier, but the new stack system can help with lifesteal/spellvamp.

E: Torment: Swain sends out Beatrice to torment an enemy for 5 seconds, allowing Swain to deal 20% extra damage (0.8 AP) to the target. If Decrepify is used on the Tormented target during Torment, Beatrice follows the Tormented target and slows it. Should the Decrepified target be different from the Tormented target, Beatrice follows the Tormented target but creates a slowing tether between them that damages each of them for half of Decrepify's damage.

*Same ability, but now there's more strategics to the kit. Do you Decrepify the Tormented target for more damage, or do you kill two birds with one stone by slowing two champs?

E: Carrion Screech: Swain screeches in the target direction in a cone-shaped area, dealing damage (0.3 AP) and reducing armor (0.2 AD) and magic resist (0.1 AP) for 5 seconds.

*A powerful shredding ability, Swain can deal extra damage should be able to get this spell off correctly.

R: Carrion Reversion: Swain transforms into his other form, changing his spells, attack range, and passive.

*Now you can CAW CAW CAW as much as you want without having to look at your mana!

Let me know whether or not you guys think Swain should get a kit rework and if this kit rework looks interesting (don't talk about damage wise because that can always be changed). Thanks!