Let's talk about Swain

Swainey Todd·Mar 11, 2016·10 votes·1,368 views

I was reading Surrender at 20's most recent red post, when I noticed they talked about Swain's eventual rework. According to Reav3, Swain's ON the list, but that no one's sure whether he'll be on the agenda for next year or not.

Which got me thinking...

Let's say, due to "unforeseen circumstances and excuses" he's not on the list until two years from now, 2018. If a champion hasn't gotten a skin in over 4 years, and he's not set to be revitalized enough to potentially change his kit for another two, are you seriously going to tell me that Swain won't be getting a skin for, at the minimum, SIX YEARS TOTAL?

Because, I'm sorry, but that's completely and utterly ludicrous. Yes, I am a Swain main. Yes, I do love playing the guy and killing unsuspecting Yasuos. But six years?

That is completely inexcusable.

17 Comments

TeemoJenkinsMar 11, 20165 votes

Preach!

Murphys LawyerMar 11, 20165 votes

The whole concept of "holding off on giving a champion a skin because they have a rework coming soon" is very much negated if said rework isn't even planned to happen within the next two years, I think. They should bite the bullet and give Swain a skin already, instead of making him wait EVEN LONGER for no reason! This is the same champion, mind you, that TOOK OVER Noxus not so long ago, and has been a part of SEVERAL of the biggest lore happenings in League history on both ends of the canon.

Yet they give his underling's BROTHER two skins in as many months, and the Grand General of Freaking Noxus nothing but excuses and maybes? No, Riot, this does not wash. If it's a personnel problem with getting enough people to work on Swain, HIRE MORE PEOPLE. If it's a personal problem you have with Swain himself, GET OVER IT ALREADY. He may be a masked demon birdman with a bad leg, but he is also a gentleman and a man worthy of respect and consideration, not outright disdain and neglect. He is just as deserving of skins as everyone else in this game.

Swain

SO GIVE HIM SOME ALREADY!

ArakadiaMar 12, 20163 votes

Atleast put him in a event! A skin or something! I need something for my birdman!

BrutusnessMar 11, 20164 votes

This is what scares me, and why I hope they get him a skin SOON. Otherwise they'll use the excuse that he's got a rework coming, wait as long as possible to put it out, then say that because he's got a rework, he doesn't need new skins. AKA the regular Riot approach.

Swainey ToddMar 11, 20163 votes

Exactly. That's the excuse they had for Tristana, Poopy and Sion, I bet. And only one of them has gotten a skin.

ArakadiaMar 12, 20164 votes

I suggest changing this posts title to: Swain Mains Unite!

As a Swain Main myself, its so sad to see him have no luv. He has so many cool skins he could have like Dragon Master Swain and Desert Nomad Swain. I like to say that he's so forgotten, that he doesn't even get memes about how forgotten he is like Yorick and Urgot do. I literally see Taric, Yorick and Urgot more often then Swain. The only time I've ever seen him played, which was like 2-3 times, was once when he was on the rotation.

Swainey ToddMar 12, 20164 votes

You know... I like you. You seem to understand where I'm coming from. :3

And yeah, Swain doesn't get grouped in with the group of misfit toys. He's just kind of invisible. Which, I mean, is kind of OK, right? It means that us Swain mains take them by surprise when we show up, yes?

But at the same time, it's so BLATANTLY OBVIOUS that Riot doesn't seem to care about Swain. "His kit and his character are a mess." Perfect opportunity to make the Journals of Justice null and void, right?!

Taric is meme'd as the flamboyantly gay one, Yorick's meme'd as sort of the reject, and Urgot's just... The ugly one. But they're all famous and infamous for it.

I'm not even asking for Dragonmaster anymore. I WAS, of course. But Riot would never give Swain the beautiful skin he rightfully deserves. But just... ANYTHING, you know? ANYTHING is better than having a gap of SIX WHOLE YEARS between skin releases.

ArakadiaMar 12, 20163 votes

But just... ANYTHING, you know?

Oh boy do I know.... Swain could be such a cool character. I mean Garen is kinda cool, but just the cleche paladin good guy, yet hes getting more luv. Draven just got another skin and Vi is wayyyy newer then Swain, but has more skins. He could be such a cool character and Rito makes the mistake to turn him down...

P.S I like you 2

Swainey ToddMar 13, 20162 votes

The thing is, Demacia and Noxus are both pretty cliché. One of them is "good guy land," and another is "bad guy land," for the most part. But the thing was, for the Noxian Grand General title to be given to a physically disabled but genius tactician was a rather cool concept! And to give him such an impact in Runeterra as a whole was something else! He was the mind behind Sion's rebirth, and Darius being his right hand man. I really wish they expanded on that more so he wasn't just a man with a bird.

fatyboomboomMar 11, 20163 votes

I haven't seen much of anything about swain in a long time but I thought his niche was pretty secure, I mean he's one of the few ap mages that can brawl and come out in a good place. Wouldn't mind seeing a new skin for him though, he's one of my flavor of the month champs since he's got a unique playstyle for a mage.

Swainey ToddMar 11, 20163 votes

Mm hmm! I'm guessing that people aren't comfortable with his ability to heal AND restore mana. I hope they don't change him too much though, cause he seems to do alright while also having clear counters.

ArakadiaMar 12, 20163 votes

I hope they keep his awsome looking ult, theme, sustain, beatrice interaction, semi good CC, and DoT. I worked pretty hard on learning his W so I hope thats not changed too much.

Swainey ToddMar 12, 20162 votes

Mm hmm. I love playing Sustain Swain. I never die. It's a work of art if people don't know what Swain does, which is 9.5/10 times. And he's unique while also being terrifying. He's a force of nature. I hope they keep that about him instead of making him, I don't know, a Noxian that blindly kills everything he sees. We have Sion for that.

And his W got nerfed recently, just the root time on it per level, but I honestly don't see too much of a change in my personal play style.

DwarvenGiantMar 12, 20162 votes

I think that, if they are mostly sure they won't work on him in the next year and a half or so, they'd probably make some kind of skin for him. Keep in mind that, since Swain is quite up there on the list, and that it probably won't take more than a year and a half for them to start working on him, a Legendary skin (such as the famous Dragon Master Swain concept) wouldn't make much sense, for it takes at least 9 months to make a Legendary skin.

Swainey ToddMar 12, 20162 votes

Hence I'm not really on here demanding that skin, you know? All I'm really doing on here is asking that they consider closing the four year gap with SOMETHING.

But at the same time, they use "we're redoing the champ" as an excuse for not making a skin for them. It's been four years since Tyrant Swain came out; and then we'd potentially have to wait 2 more years for _potentially _ another skin. They had many years to make a skin for him before realizing that Swain needs a rework. They've just been slacking off. There's... Not really much of an excuse for them that'll be all that valid.

WordofmaskMar 16, 20161 votes

Can we state the names of champ who have been forgotten for such a long time? Warwick? Nunu? Eve? At least they have more skins (I don't say Yorick because his VU is on its way this year). The degree of Swain denying is too high to the point that I was glad they nerfed him last year because finally my bird man gets some spotlight!

From then on, I thought Riot can't deny touching Swain when it came to Mid year mage update but I was wrong LoL. What have we got then? Nothing. They haven't given us even his new splash art which floating around on PBE for a long time.

Let alone Dragonmaster Swain which is now more like the treasure in a far far away land for me.

Your 2 years prediction is what I have concerned most. You know, I don't think League's popularity could be last that long. With lower budget I afraid deleting Swain from main lore is a choice for consideration. I hope I'm just pessimist.

I will make a thread asking for more information about him later this year. At least we could get a glimpse of what they are planing for him this December.

Swainey ToddMar 17, 20162 votes

Swain, I feel, is forgotten for many reasons:

His lore is VERY old but VERY important for what makes the League of Legends unique. He IS the leader of Noxus. He even had lore relating to the Crystal Scar (which is called Kalamanda, something something Demacia butts in, something something YOU COULD EVEN SEE HIS BIRD BEATRICE ON THE MAP). Although people read the Journals of Justice way back when it was actually canon, it's a minority. And even then, who the hell KNOWS of the JoJ these days??
His kit is VERY old. He came out almost six years ago. Isn't that nuts??
He has some clear strengths, but in the metas of yesterseason and now, he's got SO many counterparts that give more immediate gratification.
This is obviously a silly one, but... He has no sex appeal, unless you look at some fan art pieces. There IS an aesthetic to some peoples' play styles. Why would you want to play a sickly man with a cane and a bird when you can play a Noxian assassin with two blades, a well-endowed chest, and a scar on her eye? People would buy more skins for the pronounced-chested woman than they would for the bird man. Please, for the love of god, don't investigate what I have found on accident.
Because he hasn't gotten a skin in a long while, no one really knows him. They probably only click his picture on accident when they want to play as Soraka! It's a self-fulfilling prophecy!

Some people at Riot seem to deny Swain's existence, because he HAS been so untouched for such a long while. But that doesn't make it right or fair. No, I don't see him ever becoming the next Ekko or even the next Akali, in terms of popularity. But just the sheer fact that they're ignoring him so much while Draven gets two skins in the span of six months... Is all VERY telling.