@RIOT: What is this trend to just give new champions old names? (Swain)

Raoul·Jan 26, 2018·3 votes·586 views

First of: I Barely care for the rework, I never played Swain, and I think the new one looks great, but lets be honest here...

This is a new champion. This is not a Swain rework, this champion has nothing that anyone would see and say "Ah, its Swain!" You didnt rework Swain, you deleted the champion and just put a new Champion in the game with the same Name.

Only one thing is even slose to Swain and that is that his Ultimate drains Life, but thats not really unique to him.

So, my question is just why?

Is that a trend you will follow from now? create a new Champion, then delete an old one you dont like any more and give the new one its name? I would actually like this idea.

9 Comments

The SoundJan 26, 20183 votes

Well, I think that at the time Swain was first released, Riot's philosophy/outlook on the game was different from what it is now. Therefore, the way Swain is played in modern LoL becomes a bit of an issue. Old Swain is basically a ball of stats that runs at you, slows you, locks you down and kills you while draining your life. If you're a melee champion and you fall behind, you're screwed, simple as that. Not a whole lot you can do, and runs a bit against in the grain in terms of LoL's philosophy that skill and play/counterplay is an important pillar of the game.

So I think radically changing Swain's kit was the approach Riot decided to take, rather than changing one or two little things but having the same overall issues still in place.

RaoulJan 26, 20181 votes

Well, then RIOT has ALOT to do if they want to get rid of all these champions that are like that xD

And hey, I say lets do this!

Dead flag bluesJan 26, 20181 votes

Galio Galio Galio Galio Galio Galio Galio

They even changed his role lmao

RaoulJan 26, 20181 votes

Yeah, kinda same thing.

Didnt care for Galio either...

SadKillJan 26, 20181 votes

From a gameplay standpoint sure he's different, keeping the same theme and tone with abilities that have a hint of the past but are new. From a lore/story standpoint, it's Swain. That's the point of reworks of this size, bring them into the game as if they were made now instead of 5 years ago.

RaoulJan 26, 20181 votes

ok, which ability exactly is in any way relateable to swain? (And no that he grows raven like wings in his ultimate does not count, since he stays in human form)

Honestly, if you take away one wing from the Ultimate, I get more of a Sephiroth vibe than a swain vibe xD

SadKillJan 26, 20181 votes

I digress, the abilities should match his new theme and tone more than the old but they generally have a hint of the past. Essentially gameplay will be different with little hints of the past where as the lore and story and character should remain about the same.

his passive has the ravens that come to him and heal him like his ult did before. Q is rather unique and new. It does have a mana return on kill which he had on his passive. W keeps his area of effect zoning as his Q before E is a cc ability involving claw-like (before talon-like) appearance from his W before. R is an AoE life drain around him (also like how they kept a similar activation sound)

His kit as a whole has zoning, life drain/gain, and a whole bunch of AoE. I'm not trying to kid anyone by saying "he's the same, but different" no. He's quite different, but through voice lines, character and story, he should feel like Swain, a better Swain that has a purpose other than leader of Noxus.

tl;dr I actually agree that he is essentially a new champion gameplay wise. Lore/story wise he is Swain, but with much better direction and story.

HaIlMonitorJan 26, 20181 votes

Its honestly so much better then adding more champions into the game. In fact they could probably get rid of about 35 (keep it at 100) and the game would be so much better.

RaoulJan 26, 20181 votes

hmmm Agreed