I put some games on new swain

And it isnt good. He seems good in lane, especially verse melee match ups, but his team fight is terrible.

Q, E, and passive all feel good to use. W and R however are terrible. W feels useless even though it isnt. It just doesnt seem to fit in his kit. His ult though, is just for looks. Old swain ult was amazing because of the sustain, not the damage. New swain ult does really good damage but its gated harshly and has terrible sustain. Its so bad too because his kit is such short range. Q deals more damage at shorter range. But even old swain never had to go melee with the enemy to deal decent damage. His range is actually shorter then it used to be for damage now. Worse yet his ult has a ridiculously long cd that requires at least 1 soul to use and you have to wait to pop it. Its nothing like the old swain at all. I have tried tanky mage and do no damage( might work top lane but not mid) I have tried full damage and im so squishy its hard to get in range to deal damage.

Worst part is, riot had said that one of the biggest issues with old swain was how he sucked from behind and was a god when ahead. That feels even more true now. If you get ahead on swain then you get to go damage and you cant really die. But if you get behind, the fact your a melee mage makes it so you can only use your entire kit in skirmishes and not team fights. Overall he doesnt have the damage or reliability you need from a mid laner. So he is stuck top but currently he needs a really good aoe initiator on his team to be effective.

But besides his kit, there are other things that miss the mark. His walk animation is awkward. His ult looks more scary then it really is. But most of all they took away the most unique thing about old swain. That being his core ability synergy.

Old swain had 3 abilities, each one being weak on there own. But when combined they fed off each other. Other champs have this mechanic between 2 of there abilities but swain had it done perfectly.

Ill show you what i mean q=1 damage w=1 damage e=1 damage

q+w=3 damage q+e= 3 damage w+e= 3 damage

q+w+e if done in proper sequence, e>q>w= 6 damage

This was because of how well the abilities worked together. Q was a dot in an area. W would help keep them in that area for full duration. E would amplify damage dealt. The abilities could of used some more finesse but they felt perfect and led to a fantastic skill expression kit. SO why did this interaction get removed for a very typical and generic, land your cc to make ur other abilities hit with more precision kit. Dont get me wrong, i love swains new E and passive, but every other ability has issues.

TLDR- Swains art team did a really good job. Animation team did good except for the walk animation. Kit design doesnt have a place in league. Turn his ult into full sustain over damage and his kit might work.