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I'm struggling to learn how to play swain. My ult seems to never be enough to save me unless i'm fed

SuperNova0079··2 votes·1,111 views

Just need some expert advice. Swain's ult only seems to make a difference if you are fed. if I am losing it just seems like a big waste because I die never the less when I ult when behind. I am also confused why Riot nerfed his max R explosion damage by 30%. He needed that very much. So maybe you could shift that power to some more bonus max health and more healing in his ult?

also need help against assassins like zed. I cannot defend against them. They always kill me no matter what I do. Now I am certain there is a way to fight back and i am just not seeing it. Swain's ult doesn't work against assassins I still die even early game where damage is small when ulting. So i need some advice to fight the assassin meta we are currently in where assassins are getting buffed when they were already busted and mages that already cannot fight back are getting there damage nerfed. But I am certain that he can still be played efficiently and effectively right? (not being sarcastic)

When ever I think about playing swain I am like. Ah it's fun to 1v3 with ult. Oh wait I have to be fed and that is rare with mages. Then I think about the times I die when ulting as swain and it discourages me to play him. I need some help to put some fun back into him. Can you guys help me with some builds and strategy. If not, maybe some buff suggestions to help get Ideas out there?

Thank you.

12 Comments

Khorvus3 votes

IMO Swain is a support now. Godly down there. Take Glacial Augment and max W then Q. GG.

5050BS2 votes

Yep his ult is shit compared to the old when it comes to healing. Its about damage. The 5 Soul en blast part only.

Its one of the parts of his rework I really dont like.

Even with a TON of AP it heals for maybe 150/s. This is at the point in the game where AD champs with just some LifeSteal heal for 200+ an auto attack.

Old Swain Q and R would heal as single target with item 3146

None of his Kit does now.

SuperNova00791 votes

yeah its a shame.

Rins Thigh Socks1 votes

Okay I'm looking at the last Swain game on your op.gg (which is a whole 25 days ago so if you've got something more recent I'd be happy to analyze it).

First and foremost, Swain's innate tankiness doesn't come from his lifesteal. If it did he'd play more like Vlad or a WoW pvp game. His tankiness is correlated to good defensive items and mind games that draw out fights with him. What this means is you need to get gold and scale into the game. You also need to space properly so that assassins have to expend themselves before actually reaching you.

That's a little philosophy for you to take into games with you so you know how to position yourself in fights.

Anyway in terms of play, you'd probably prefer a corrupting pot to a Doran's. This is because you're going Inspiration for the Stopwatch and you might as well grab Time Warp Tonic. Lots of extra lane sustain.

You need more cs in your game because 4 cs is not going to get you items very quickly at all. Especially when everyone else on the enemy team is getting 6 a minute. If this is just small minions you're down 40 gold a minute, or 200 per 5. Your game lasted 35 minutes so you're down over 1400 gold against the enemies in cs alone.

Your waveclear is garbage so instead of starting Q, start E. The benefit is it procs your passive and you can squeeze in an auto, making you a bigger threat early on. Remember the bigger threat you are early on, the easier it is for you to last hit and it's harder for your opponent, so you're not at an item disadvantage. Ergo, you're tankier for when you ult. Next go W and E -> W + pull. The staggered CC makes it impossible for anyone not named Fizz to dodge your W earlier on.

Finally, understand that your ult doesn't give you tanky stats or a TON of sustain. It just means if they're not doing significant damage to you, you can turn it around. You're still vulnerable to ganks and you're still squishy until 2 items. A Zed will instakill both Swain and Ziggs if he hits triple shurikens on you, but if he misses and he sticks around to auto he's in much greater danger vs. Swain than he is vs. Ziggs.

SuperNova00791 votes

I checked the tier list and it says that Swain mid lane is D tier. Which is second to worst tier. Swain really needs some work but riot won't do anything about it. I do not understand why, I really would like to know why zed was S tier and got buffed and why swain is D tier and got nerfed. It's so plain and simple I do not understand. I cannot have fun with this champion he is just not effective at all.

Pika Fox1 votes

His ult isnt really meant to keep him alive so much as supplement his stats and let him take just a bit more punishment. In a 1v1 situation you wont really drain enough to rely on it unless the fight is close. Even in situations were you have more people to drain from, you still dont want to actively be taking a ton of damage. Its also not something you get to low HP then bait with unless the base HP on active will win you the fight, as again, the drain is moreso to supplement your stats, not be the crux of his ult.

SuperNova00791 votes

you are completely wrong. His ult is there to keep him alive because he has no other survival tools. He has no dash instead he has this ult. If it was not meant to keep him alive then he would never have a way to prevent the enemy from feeding off of him. It even says in his spotlight that without his ult he would be left stranded in an angry enemy team with no access to his survival tools. What I am trying to say is that since it is an ULT with a long ass cool down. It should be powerful, but it isn't. Explosion does same damage as your Q with max soul fragments. The healing is pathetic, and the bonus max health is pathetic. Demonic ascension is just a worse version of Nasus' ult. The difference being that Nasus' ult means the difference between living and dying in addition to being a tank. Swain's ult doesn't do anything to save you. After they nerfed the max explosion damage from demonic ascension by 30%, I'm nervous about the future of swain being a painful road of frustration. (to the people playing as him.)

Pika Fox1 votes

His ult is supplemental. Its not going to be like a darius Q or vlad Q. It will keep you alive in a teamfight, sure. Against 1 champ, not so much. You dont pop it and expect to heal up to full, it just sustains you a bit.

SuperNova00791 votes

Well that shouldn't be a thing. It's an ult. Garen's passive heals more than swains ult and it is a passive while swain's is an ult and it heals less? seems legit. they both do the same thing except you don't get the tickle damage with it nor the balloon pop which does nothing anymore.

Pika Fox1 votes

Garens passive doesnt work in combat. Two different uses.

SuperNova00791 votes

It still does more then swain doesn't matter in combat or not. Swain needs work he is D tier which is one of the worst. Those are based on fact and statistics. You cannot argue against that. He sucks. Deal with it stop segregating champions by doing what ever it takes to stop them from getting buffed once, and being fine with buffing zed. Your kind is the trump of the league boards. taking advantage of everything you can even if it is bad. you just want your outcome and I get it. But I need a way to have fun with my favorite characters and they aren't fun because they are bad and keep getting nerfed for no reason. I am doing this for the community. Not just myself.

Pika Fox1 votes

He is literally top tier bot, and hes played more bot and top than mid.

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