Quick Swain rework idea

So this link here: https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/eQ0iY5jv-the-big-hypocrisy-of-the-military-general-fantasy

got me to thinking about a possible idea for Swain's rework. While there was also a suggestion to make Swain a straight were-raven, we already have a were-wolf, so... just seems like it'd drain some originality from both champs.

So can a military general champ work in this game, somebody who can both support but carry their own weight? A champ we'd actually call a carry-support. Well, Lux and Brand have been kind of bastardizing this concept for a while, with Xerath and Vel'koz having taken their own turns every now and again, so it's not impossible: what we'd need to do is balance out a rather difficult early game with a high-scaling late game, giving them some solid CC but not so much that it'll pale some other more traditional supports.

So mulling over some quick ideas in my head, I considered some possible abilities for him to interact with each other.

His passive would be his raven, Beatrice. Similar to Kindred, Swain gets a pop-up selection of enemy champs. Swain can select one of the enemy champs that is within a certain range and that Swain has sight of and instruct Beatrice to fly to them. Beatrice then flies about them for a limited duration (and for a limited amount of attacks) and giving off an aura on them that increases the damage that Swain and his allies do to the champion, as well as interacting with Swain's other abilities. This ability should have a moderate cooldown. This will require Swain's team to follow up on his marks to get anything out of them, but also give enemies a clear window where they should attack.

Swain's Q is a toggle-able ability that modifies his auto-attacks. Rather than a normal auto cast, Swain's autos become a steady stream of energy that deals magic damage and slows a bit as he maintains it but costs mana to fire, so it'd be similar to how Beatrice behaves right now but, well, Swain would do it instead. This ability would have a range shorter than his normal autos, but if attacking while Beatrice has marked an enemy, Beatrice will also fire a beam as well, dealing half the normal damage again and slowing by an increased amount (this damage would not be amplified by her aura). Swain should be made immobile while maintaining his fire to force the player to have to plan out a proper attacking position if they want to get their full damage out or, alternatively, if they don't want to get dog-piled.

Swain's W should be kept similar to how it is now - some kind of snare. It is actually probably the ability that takes the most consideration on where to put it right now in his kit, and besides would still fit nicely in this theoretical kit. Doesn't have to be a circle and doesn't necessarily have to be in an area.

Swain's E has been moved to his passive, so we'd need something new here. My idea would be a passive interaction with a slight buff - basically, Beatrice bewitches an ally (himself possibly as well) with a buff that heals them for an amount of their damage done for a limited time. During this time-frame, damage ticks done by the bewitched ally will recharge Beatrice faster. This allows Swain to basically sit back and have his ally do some work for him until he's able to go in for an assault himself.

Swain's current ultimate is nixed - I don't know why he's a were-raven, I'm pretty sure it was never covered, it always seemed kind of weird even for this world. What I was thinking instead was area control, and this is where the entire flock of ravens comes in. For Swain's ult, he commands his flock to take roost in a targeted area nearby for some amount of time, granting vision of this large area for him (these would both scale with level, and there is a small delay between ult activation and the roost effect). The enemy can see that an area is marked by the visual presence of Swain's ravens. If an enemy tarries too long in this area, they will be periodically swiped by Swain's ravens for some amount of damage. If multiple enemy champs are in the area, the frequency is increased by some amount but the target will be random each time. Enemy teams should be wary of this, as they will either have to make fights in this area quick or find a way around. Timing out this ability causes its cooldown to be drastically reduced. However, if Swain has Beatrice mark an enemy within the ravens' zone of control, the raven flock will swarm the targeted unit, drastically slowing them, grounding them, and doing quite a bit of damage. Units marked before entering the zone of control will be damaged for the full duration but the mark will time out as normal. Swain still maintains vision of the area during this time frame. The ult being used in this way will put it on full cooldown. This ability is Swain's strength as a tactician. If a good Swain is planning correctly, he can use this ability to ambush, control objectives, cut off escapes, force fights in his favor, any number of things a tactical minded person could plan out. But misusing it will cost him a very large chunk of his usefulness and force him to have to get in close if he wants to be of any more significant use to his team.

Yes, this is far from perfect, quite far from perfect. But what I do want to see in this game is a champion that a team would actually see as the shot-caller not just through the player but through the champion itself - I do want to see that military general that everyone sits waiting on his command for when the time is right. Swain might never make it to this role, but I would at least like some body to be it.