Is Swain or Vlad better?

Depends on the game.

In general, I go for Swain due to reliability. I know you said not just in laning, but Vlad's laning really is THAT bad that it hinders his post-laning phase unless his opponent is really bad.

However equal farm late game...Vlad's stronger. No sustain issues, and one of the best teamfight ultimates in the game.

In my personal opinion, I would go with . The CC he provides is more effective than vladimir in teamfights, not to mention his higher damage output. Though I would say vladimir beats him when it comes to kite sustain.

Swain is better.

They are both different and unique in their own ways. I like Vladimir more, since he uses no mana or energy. Swain after lvl6 becomes very mana dependent. I think depending on who you are going against each on has their own advantages, eg vlad can counter two of the most annoying champions in the game and . I can't decide on who is better, the are both fun to play, even though Vladimir is hilarious, people chasing you around thinking, i got him this time, while you keep lifestealing if them, they think they got you but then you pool away, and when all your cds are down (q with low cd) pop a And piss everyone off. When it comes to teamfights, Vladimir's ultimate will make enemy champions receive 12% extra damage during the 5 seconds it lasts, which can be amazing for team fights and also w can help take the aggro off of you while you are aiming for the enemy adc. Farm is also much easier to get with Vladimir.

Last thing i wanna add is that swain is really easy to play, on my very first match with seain my stats were great, and i loved that champion. On the other hand vladimir was very difficulty, hard to master, took me many games to start doing good and he can be extremely weak vrs certain champions. Once i learned him good tho, he became one of my favorites.

having cc is always better in any situation