Cooking: A Guide to Roasted Raven

So, it seems during the era of his disappearance from play, people forgot how to handle the birdman. On top of that, people are unaware of what changes Swain actually underwent during his update. This is leading to a lot of people screaming 'Nerf Swain!' and the like, when they are making quite a few fundamental mistakes when playing against him. Believe me, I've played the bird man for a long time, and I can tell you a lot of players simply -do not understand- what Swain does.

So firstly, what is Swain? He is an unusual crossbreed of roles between mage and fighter, much akin to Rumble and Vladimir. He is slow, and appears quite frail, but the reality is that he's deceptively durable once he hits level 6. He thrives on placing himself in the middle of a fight, using his ultimate to sustain while attempting to pick off a squishy or two in the back.

Time to get into his abilities then!

His passive is Carrion Renewal. By killing things, he gets mana! This stacks with Doran's Ring, so you can bet most Swains start with that. It's a fairly strong source of mana regen, so try to deny Swain from last-hitting. His auto-attacks were recently buffed, but are still on the side of awful.

Q: Decrepify - THE FUCKIN' LAZ0R BIRD. Beatrice, his raven, is sent towards an area and begins attacking the closest enemy to her. If a Champion is in her range upon landing, she will focus it regardless of how close they are to her (Ignoring minions). Beatrice deals double damage to minions and executes them at low HP. Enemies hit by the LAZ0R BIRD will be slowed.

Things to note: This is now Swain's PRIMARY damage output after his update. IT BURNS. Do not stand in this. Do not think you can duel him in it. You WILL lose. At max rank, this has a max damage output over the four second period of 440+(1.2 AP). That means a 500 AP Swain deals 1040 damage, and Swain's E can increase that by another 20%. DO NOT FUCKING STAND IN THIS I CANNOT EXPRESS THAT ENOUGH.

This ability gives vision in the area it lands, allowing Swain to check brush.

Now on to W: Nevermove. Get it? Raven jokes.

Nevermove is a simple ground-targeted AoE that after a short delay, damages and snares anyone caught in the area. It deals moderate damage, and should be avoided. The delay is more than enough to simply walk out of it unless you are slowed or otherwise CC'd. There's not a whole lot to discuss here, it's probably the simplest part of Swain's kit.

E: Torment

Alright, so first of all, this ability's damage is -awful- early game. You don't need to worry about it as much anymore compared to the old Swain. It's a very minor poke in lane, however the biggest part of it is that the target afflicted by the curse takes 20% more damage from Swain.

That's 20% more on Q, W, R, and even his auto attacks. This is Swain's squishy-killer, and why you'll blow up so fast if you stand in place around him, even if you're tanky. It also has a 1.2 AP ratio, so lategame it starts to ramp up.

R: BIRD IS THE WOR- I mean, Ravenous Flock

Swain turns into a fuckin' demon bird from the depths of hell and sends out ravens to damage enemies around him. They return to him after dealing damage, healing him for a certain amount.

This ability, believe it or not, got hit with the nerf bat pretty hard in terms of raw damage and healing, before recieving some long-deserved Quality of Life buffs (IE: Increased to 5 targets, no longer RNG targeting). It's healing was easily nerfed by 50% compared to the old Swain.

That being said, it's not something to joke about. It's an ultimate, and it should be respected just like any. Avoid fighting Swain while clumped together or near a minion wave, as the more targets his ult has available, the more he sustains from it.

Soooo, now that we've got his kit out of the way, let's go into some actual strategies against Swain.

-Laning-

You're going to take damage. End of story. Swain has hard to avoid poke in his kit, but using it actually leaves him quite vulnerable prior to 6. If you see him cast his Q out, MAUL HIS FACE OFF. He is -very- slow with minimal defense, and is ridiculously easy to kill before 6 once you get on him. He's a squishy mage like any other until he gets his ult.

Try to prevent him from last hitting so that he can't regenerate mana.

After 6, he'll probably try to all-in you at the first opportunity he gets. Do not charge in. I know, I know, that sounds crazy right, but unless you can burst him 100-0 he's quite the threat. So run, and stay on the edge of his range, and bait him into chasing you. Why? Because that ult eats more mana than you can imagine. Every second he has it up, the mana cost increases dramatically. If you can get him to stay in bird form for about 5 seconds, you should be good to engage on him. He'll either have to cut it, or run out of mana -real- fast.

Avoid fighting near minion waves. He'll heal off those. Try to drag him out to the jungle, as his R can only hit you then.

Swain is -extremely vulnerable- after ulting. The moment he turns it off it goes on a ten second cooldown. It is not an instant toggle contrary to popular belief. Swain has a window of vulnerability after ulting and you should make the most out of it, or he'll just sustain back up after every engagement.

Also is your best friend. Screw TP, you want to shut this guy down.

-Teamfighting-

Swain LOVES being in the middle of your team. Focus him down or you will pay, but avoid clumping. The same strategy of kiting him applies, bait him into chasing you to burn his mana up. Check the enemy Swain's items constantly, because Zhonya's Hourglass can obliterate your team if you don't expect it. Yes, Swain's ult works during Zhonya's, continuing to deal damage and heal him while he is in it. He also will NOT use mana while Zhonya'd. Don't clump around him expecting an easy kill when a low-health Swain turns invuln, because he'll shoot up to full health faster than you can blink while you eat damage.

Two other items to look out for are Rod of the Ages and Morellonomicon on him. Both of these synergize ridiculously well with Swain's ult, allowing him to restore large chunks of health and mana. If you see a Swain building these, prepare for an extended fight.

-GENERAL-

Swain has a huge vulnerability after ulting. ABUSE THIS SERIOUSLY. 10 seconds of being fragile and slow.

SWAIN CANNOT ULT WHILE CC'D. If you get the drop on him, MURDER HIM before he can go bird mode.

ZHONYA'S CAN BE USED TO COUNTER SWAIN! You can ignore his DoT spells, prevent his healing, and cost him a lot of mana while he just stands around.