Swain's Counters and problems (My opinion)

Perigrin Took·5/3/2015, 8:28:47 PM·3 votes·1,134 views

Ok so i think SwainSwain has waaay too much counters, and way too much ways to be killed early and so get rekt late game. Simply because the best spell to take early (in my opinion) is Nevermore (the root). But the slight.. Ok big ass problem is that Nevermore is easy as hell to dodge. You can simply move around and never get hit my Swain early game, + if you got high mobility he wont be able to land the Decrepify or the Torment, because of their low range (wich is dumb considering the fact that Nevermore has more range you have to get close to actually hit him in it so he got the time to get out). So yea most of the champs in the game can easily take an advantage over him early, and so get fed after. Yes he's is really fun to play but also really easy to lose with. Some of you will say "Baaah u suck thats all"...Well when u look at the facts it's true that Nevermore should have equal range with the others. When it is kinda true that im bad Swain since it's kinda hard to play well, another problem is nearly ALL the easy champs counter him easily. Like AnnieAnnie (kind of op dmg imo but mehh) can easily get him with the fact of the high dmg and run and hit. Any assassinTalon ,Zed, Katarina, etc. can just "teleport" up to him and since he's squichy as hell, when u don't got ult well...#DeathJustRektYou. NidaleeNidalee can VERY easily kill you cause she has high as hell mobility, and Swain is slow so most of the lances hits. adn wayyyy more! Ex: Yasuo the knock up from long distance and the shield gets you dead in a second (knock up then combo and you're dead no way to get out of it). So yea still way more of them these were the worst i've encountered so far.

Thanks for reading #Longest Message I've Ever Writen For A Game (cause the game is awsome) PS: Sorry for the bad english, yes im in NA but a French Canadian PSS: I'll make sure that everyone here knows that i got Swain only a week ago so not even close to "mastering" it yet

(Also just a question on the side, is Swain JG doable at some points?)

EDIT : It's been a while since I posted this. Adn now that i got experience, i got to agree that Swain is actually pretty fucking strong.. :/ Sorry for the thread guys i was just really bad at the time.

10 Comments

ModKnightsKemplar5/3/2015, 8:39:31 PM3 votes

Swain main here, tuning in.

Swain is difficult, it's true. And I might be able to agree he's outdated. But he isn't weak. Swain is weak in lane because he is RIDICULOUS in the mid game if he gets ahead. You ever won a game against a fed Swain? I haven't, and I rarely lose them.

The point is, it's balanced. If his Q range were any longer, it would be in danger of being extremely OP. W is hard to hit because when you hit it, you typically kill or push someone out of lane (if you know what you're doing).

As far as going against assassins... build resistances. Again, he may feel squishy lvl 1, and that's good. He can't be strong early and mid and late. He has an exploitable weakness. Against Talon and Zed, build cloth and you will be okay (if you play correctly). Against kata, honestly, you should be able to harass the crud out of her early, and then you can get some MR and crush her. The problem against her is her roaming.

Anyway, I disagree with your main premise, which I read as "Swain needs help in the laning phase." He really doesn't, because of his enormous power spike after his first items get built. He would be OP, and just get nerfed again.

P.S. I typically crush Yasuo. Is he annoying? Yes. Is he a Swain counter? Not at all.

Voluug135/3/2015, 8:34:32 PM2 votes

Because you need to use Nevermore as a defensive spell, which means you use it when they blink to you. Something to consider too is that E is a better spell to max early, specially against Zed , Katarina and Talon , because they allow you to outrade them with E+Q+AAs. And bulding tanky (RoA+Zhonia's+Abyssal to start) is better on Swain.

Also, Annie is supposed to counter Swain , and that is OK. Because counterpicks exist and are healthy to the game.

Edit: If you have problems evading skillshots without ZedYasuo levels of mobility, you need to improve because that means you have been spoiled by mobility.

ModAcademy Kayn5/3/2015, 8:41:01 PM1 votes

Your main problem: You're playing Swain mid. I play him mainly top, switching depending on the match-up, like Fizz or Akali mid.

Top, most people bring Tele/Flash. No ignite to stop you.

Epilogue of Life5/3/2015, 9:42:28 PM1 votes

Swain deserves nerfs, if anything, because his ult requires absolutely 0 fucking skill. Simply by standing there, I deal tons of AOE poiint-and-click damage that also happen to heal me for 2/3 of my health bar...yeah, wonder which fucking genius thought that was balanced.

KamakaziGumiBear5/4/2015, 1:41:39 AM1 votes

I always max his Dot first in lane, You can win almost any lane against an assassin with just that one skill. Its so easy to just drop a E on them and back off. Champions like zed need to commit suicide to kill you, He ults you, you throw your stun under yourself. But then again I always go the super tanky swain build. Not the deathcap one.