Analysis on Old and Now Swain
Swain has been around for months by now and yet almost a year, he is also my main still to this day even before his rework. Yo YoUr WaTcHiNg BiRd Up (beep beep BeEeEp queue berd sound)
Old swain:
Old swain was one of the champions that were already great before their rework, along with galio and akali (the times when akali used to be enjoyed as a champion). He had high sustain and damage even more than you think. His passive, which gives him mana for every kill or cs, allowed him to stay in lane for such a long time so cs with swain is VERY important. His q was... ok, it wasn't the best move, it has a slight slow. His w is an amazing root that is fairly easy to land, and it does a decent amount of damage as well. His e is what most people would have maxed first because its like a DFG became the hulk. Finally his ultimate, which is why he is so well known, is when he becomes a
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/LOM55iLEMVI/maxresdefault.jpg
and drains the life out of everything around him, which is why he has such sustain especially in team fights, but it constantly drains mana over time, but the fair part about it is it's short cooldown, and by the fact you can build a 
so there you go, your all set. However his q was very underwhelming and his design was lackluster, so he was due for a rework, even though everything else about him worked fairly well as a champion, especially in the old days.
New Swain: Besides Nunu's rework, this is the best rework of season 8, he is fairly balanced, and has decent burst. This fixed some issues of old swain, which was range and the underwhelming and pointless q. The only problem I have with this skin is there is no bird form... which is why riot made tyrant swain have the "6-eyed raven form" as the ultimate demon form, which I praise riot for that, thanks for not letting the champion die. His passive is the first activated passive, despite it being called a passive, it heals swain if he pulls rooted or stunned enemies towards him, giving him a soul fragment, which helps him sustain in lane a little bit. Anyway his q is an amazing harass tool that does a lot of damage up close, it works as a shotgun blast, so any melee champs will have to think how they are going to deal with that ability, very helpful. His w is similar to his old w, its a ground channel ability that does ap damage after a couple seconds, but instead with a ridiculous target range, every target it hits can give him free soul fragments for each enemy champion hit, which is amazing, but its challenging to land with champions with a blink or dash. His e is his main cc tool, and a tool for his passive, it does damage forward and back, which explodes on the first target on the way back, its way better if you aim the tip of the ability range at the enemy to do an instant root, also, it has the same name as his previous w for some odd unexplained reason. Finally his ult, not a bird (unless if you have tyrant swain) but at least you have wings. It drains life from everything in the field around him going over nine thousand, which allows him to sustain in again another team fight, like old swain. The only thing different with new swain is demonflare (megaflare from final fantasy in riot-ized form) which takes all soul fragments you collected (up to 5) to do an aoe nuke that absolutely destroys the enemy team. Swain was amazing back then, and now he is amazing up to meta, it's like riot wants him to be one of the best champions in the game.
Against Swain: Swain is a little difficult to lane against, considering the fact he can counter a lot of champions that people hate to fight this meta, such as yasuo and zed I kid you not. First thing you should know, try not to get hit by his e or w, you do not want him to have max soul fragments which contributes to a nuke of an ultimate, but just one or two soul fragments accidently, his ult won't be THAT MUCH threatening. Be tactical when it comes to fighting swain, any mistake up close to him will result in a high damage q in your face. IF someone or yourself got swain all 5 soul fragments he needs, and he pops in his ult, get as far away from him as possible, it doesn't matter if it destroyed your wave of minions to push, it's better that than getting a swain fed. Late game, swain is most likely going to use his w whenever he feels like it, be aware of that since most of the time, your team is going to try pushing mid, this is how he gets so many soul fragments late game so be aware of that. Swain is very vulnerable to silences, stuns, any type of cc, unless if he is ulting, he can still drain health while cc'd, even in stasis.
Playing Swain: Swain is an amazing mid laner to play, he can also work top since he punishes melee champions if they get too close. Whatever you do early game, do not engage unless you KNOW that your damage can outmatch your enemy laner when trading, because your q has a short cooldown. Other than that, use your e, q combo, once your opponent is hit by your e, pull them in with your passive, giving you a soul fragment and healing you, then proceed to nuke them with your q. You can also try poking them with your w, which also gives you soul fragments. In late game, every thing you do counts, so use anything to your disposal, I can't come up with any examples since there is so many way you can preform swains abilities in a team fight, even his standard cast q. In a team fight, use your ult if you have enough soul fragments, if not, get some with your e or w, once you have enough then, use it, I would highly recommend 4-5 soul fragments.
Leveling and Items: Swain's q is what you really want to max first, it does a crap load of damage so always max that first, his e is what you max next because of how well it preforms when fighting anything at all, then lastly your w, since its better for just soul fragment collecting since its hard to land.
For recommended items, get a  so you have a fair amount of health, mana, and ap to begin with so get that first. Then get  so your ult can keep opponents trap in the field of your ult because of the intense slow, added that with your w. Then get  for even more health, ap, magic penetration, and grievous wounds. Anything else after that I would say anything health or ap related.
