Swain could use a minor update on his kit

Oakleaf Ranger·Oct 26, 2015·3 votes·428 views

Hi ever since I started playing swain, I have found the champ that fits my tastes but as I have continued to use him I have begun to feel like his kit is a little outdated when compared to most champs. I don't think his is a bad state or anything at the moment but he is beginning to feel underwhelming when compared to other champs. I just think he needs a minor quality of life/buffs changes to his kit. His play style is awesome and would prefer to remain the same but I just think he needs a little extra to help keep up with his opponents like maybe lower mana costs or a change into his passive that scales better into the game rather than something that less useful as the game progresses. An update that is comparable to lux's is what comes to mind when I think of an example

8 Comments

KING OF MASKSOct 26, 20152 votes

Swain is in a nearly perfectly balanced state right now. He does not need a buff or update of any sort (some people have suggested having a mana cost indicator for his ult, but this is superfluous for experienced Swain players anyway). Just keep playing him. Once you master his mana consumption (and replenishment, via his passive), he is incredibly strong.

Also, stop making Swain threads; he must remain an unknown and unpopular pick, lest rito rediscovers him and fucks up his kit with some bullshit rework.

Oakleaf RangerOct 26, 20151 votes

He is in a decent state imo, but as we keep seeing more updates his kit or/and numbers are starting to feel outdated and in need of a tweak. Last hitting is very important on him to get his passive, but you start losing your bang for your buck as the mana costs go up. So his passive feels like it come becomes irrelevant during mid to late game, if that was the intent well I think it needs to scale better or something so it still has an impact

KING OF MASKSOct 26, 20151 votes

Thing is, it already has pretty good scaling in the form of a mini Athene's passive. Last hit during the laning phase to get mana, then start eating enemy champions in the mid to late game to get mana. Whatever issues he might have with mana are further alleviated by the right items (usually I make do with just a RoA, since his passive + Athene's/Morellonomicon can be serious overkill; decent combo for players who are newer to him, though).

I guess you could say that the passive is a bit feast or famine (no pun intended), since if you're behind you won't be getting that many kills/assists and thus no mana restoration; but that's kind of the point. Most champions are less effective when behind, after all.

Oakleaf RangerOct 26, 20151 votes

Sry I messed up the poll probably best to ignore it

CrettOct 26, 20151 votes

When he's strong most champs can't do anything against him, so I assume Riot's playing it safe by not touching him until they can really buckle down and give him a proper rework, hopefully one that makes him more interesting to play as and against.

JacknifeOct 26, 20151 votes

I used to play Swain a lot back in season 3, and I would love to play him again, but the problem I found is that in order for him to scale well he needs EVERYTHING. With his ult he burns through all his mana in about 5-6 seconds, so he needs a mana item to balance that out. Even with the 20% increase in his kit his damage falls off, so since his threat and his sustain are tied to damage he needs a respectable amount of AP to be scary, and penetration to back that up. Even then he needs to get fairly close to do his combo, so unless the frontline is godlike you're going to need defensive items to live long (armor, mr, health). He just needs so many items in order to succeed as a champion. Six slots OP :(

YumaS2AstralOct 26, 20151 votes

{quoted}

I used to play Swain a lot back in season 3, and I would love to play him again, but the problem I found is that in order for him to scale well he needs EVERYTHING. With his ult he burns through all his mana in about 5-6 seconds, so he needs a mana item to balance that out. Even with the 20% increase in his kit his damage falls off, so since his threat and his sustain are tied to damage he needs a respectable amount of AP to be scary, and penetration to back that up. Even then he needs to get fairly close to do his combo, so unless the frontline is godlike you're going to need defensive items to live long (armor, mr, health). He just needs so many items in order to succeed as a champion. Six slots OP :(

His damage scale really well with item 3151 . In fact, now that Liandry has been buffed, I think that Swain can actually scale into late game like he should. If you pick him into a favorable matchup, it isn't that hard to carry with him.

Oakleaf RangerOct 29, 20151 votes

I'm liking the feedback back I got here but I would also like to hear from someone at riot to know their opinion on the state of swain and if I can look forward to some changes or not.