I think Swain's age and limp walk add a lot to his personality.
I'm SUPERHYPED about his visual update. I CAN'T WAIT. Just imagine how cool his skins will be!!!!! I might just have to buy them all once he actually turns into a were-parrot or were-owl.
But please do keep his rather old age and his limp walking. Those are defining characteristics!
Núll18 votes[deleted]
SpecterVonBaren2 votesThat's been retconned. That was before they removed the Institute from the lore.
Chromatic Eagle13 votesI can't see why they would change his age considering they kept Urgot mechanical and ugly, and Sion undead.
Arakadia15 votesYeah but look at a bunch of the new reworks. Urgot got beefy and doesn't have his pudgy fat beer belly, Galio is like a comic super hero and has a super macho muscle look. Ryze is even pretty freaking fit.
Big Lincoln58 votesryze is in good shape cos he spends all his time running from the rework team
Chaos Milk Tea3 votesI nearly busted laughing in a public bathroom holyshit
Tails90165 votesThe reason he doesn't want anyone to touch his runes are because they are the key to the next rework. "All that has been done can be undone" Pretty sure he has a quote that goes something like that.
Rozzeta9 votesI bet the scroll on his back has the instructions on how to make him perfectly balanced.
Steelflame4 votesToo bad he won't let anyone, even Rioters, look at it.
Chromatic Eagle1 votesYes but Urgot is still a monster, and Galio is still a gargoyle made from stone.
Arakadia2 votesBut being and old guy with a limp is not Swains thematic. Being a robo monster is Urgots.
And not everyone needs to be fit in league. I don't think we have any variety beyond super fit, skinny guys, and comically heavy guys for league men.
SociopathFriend2 votesTechnically speaking this is only half-right.
People who routinely fight (AKA champions) will more than likely be somewhat fit due to enforced exercise.
Arakadia1 votesTo an extent your right.
Rikari2 votesDo you see how Many Qs Ryze launches in 1 minute,far less every other spell? You'd be fit too if you moved that much.
General Esdeath 2 votesI think OP means visibly old
Velasan7 votesEh honestly as someone who actually plays A LOT of Swain I was kind of sad to hear about the upcoming changes. I mean, sure he needs the visual update, but when I read that article it was basically saying hey the champ you like to play doesn't exactly jive with us anymore so we are just deleting him and you are getting a new one in the future.
Granted that they didn't actually say it, but felt that way. I really hope they keep his life draining aspect as part of his kit. The drain tank play style and the Gothic horror theme are why I like to play him.
I doubt they will keep the staggered walk if they redo his entire model.
Arakadia2 votesTaking away his sustain would be a terrible idea, its so core.
50000000000000005 votesThat's what Riot considers to be feast or famine (not exact words), based on what they said. Old Poppy's ult (invulnerability/CC immunity except from one enemy target) was also core to her gameplay, but that changed. It also seems like they don't want Swain to be a battlemage anymore.
Arakadia2 votesWah.
Sustain is not feast or famine by default. Swain can keep his sustain and not be feast or famine. One way or another.
I can see Riot disliking battle mages, but that is why most people play Swain.
EternalFrostFire1 votesI'd like it if they made Swain this grand Noxian General with a dark secret (being a bird BRRRT). Butttt because he no longer limps, it makes space for new crippled champs. E.g. They could have some sort of cripple who drains the life from others to become strong again. E.g. their ult could be toggle and transform the character. The cost could be from some sort of tertiary resource bar that is obtained from damaging (draining the lifeforce of) enemy champs. Think Elementalist Lux's Evolution bar, except instead of changing elements, you change into a stronger demon thing.
Having so much in one character (being a demonic bird general who drains the life of others) is just too complex. Keeping it simple is good :D.
Arakadia1 votesToo complex is bad I agree.
However I don't think you'll find many other characters where being a cripple would be fitting.
EternalFrostFire1 votesHmmm how about a hag? Idk, maybe that wouldn't be too appealing for the game. Or maybe A SHEPHERD OF SOULS, oh wait that's Yorick.
Lord Jericho2 votesWhat they consider feast or famine is the drain tank playstyle that he has currently. His new kit may involve healing of some kind, as they intend to keep his warlock gameplay and lifestealing is a common trait of warlocks in most games. BUT it won't be built in such a way to encourage drain tanking as a play pattern.
50000000000000001 votesthat's a good point. Fiddlesticks is a good example I think. He has healing, and one that's powerful, but it has a lot of ways to counter it.
Lord Jericho3 votesMost mage champs in this game have hoops they need to go through to get the kind of healing that Swain does. Vlad needs to hit an empowered Q or get a good ult off, Cass has to hit poisoned targets, even Soraka has to sacrifice her HP in order to heal. Swain gets rewarded by just standing near enemies and hope they don't have the stats to outdamage his heal.
It doesn't seem that bad because it's a damage/heal-over-time. But kinda let that sink in that for simply pushing a button, Swain gets to unleash as much damage as he wants, and simultaneously heal himself, so long as he has mana. And this skill is on a 20 second cd. Swain's should probably have more of a limit on that power other than, "Do I have enough mana to out stat-check my opponent here?"
50000000000000002 votesHealing supports should be probably considered separately, although I definitely see how healings are gated in various ways across classes. Nami needs to use her heal in combat to maximize the output. Bard heals needs to charge up. Alistar heal is gated behind minion deaths and CC. Only "free" heals I can think of are Nidalee and Kayle, but those are horribly mana inefficient and gated that way.
JMoormann4 votes"Being an uncounterable laner whose main win conditions are having the enemy ragequit or die of cancer before 15 minutes" was also core of old Yorick, yet we can all agree that Riot did the right thing by not keeping him like that
Arakadia2 votesYes but having sustain and "Being an uncounterable laner whose main win conditions are having the enemy ragequit or die of cancer before 15 minutes" are not comparable. You can have sustain and be a healthy, fun champion.
JMoormann2 votesOf course, but you get the point: something being core to a champion doesn't mean that it should never be removed.
Dream High2 votesI'm a Swain main as well, he may turn out pretty good like Galio's rework did but he wont be the same champ. I'm hoping his skins beside Tyrant Swain get improved.
Ravore5 votesIf i had to pick swain as a character he'd be this guy
http://assets.viewers-guide.hbo.com/larges1-ep1-people-profilepic-lannister-tywin-800x800.jpg
Krabohod1 votesAgreed. Swain should have this powerfull vibe just like Tywin have (had). Just make him limp-like Guldan and it's will be awesome.
Krabohod4 votesWe need Guldan-level of limp. That shit looks scary and for some reason perfectly in-line with both Warlock archetype and Grand Master General of Noxus archetype.
50000000000000001 votesBut for Swain to get that much limp, what should he give in return?
Kouaku2 votesEverything...
Valor Bot2 votesExcited for that owl skin. The more birbs the merrier.
Honestly though I just can't wait to see what his new ult is gonna be like, hoping it's still some sort of transformation.
Arakadia3 votesMy bet is his transformation will be a lot more interesting than just press R. Not necessarily something like Gnar's, but more interesting.
Arakadia2 votesI'm so excited for this and upset because its going to be a while. At least there's something to look forward too.
Is it likely like 8 months for Swain's VGU or what?
EternalFrostFire2 votesProbably less, Idk where I got this from, but I think Azir's mini rework will be here sometime during/slightly after worlds (during October) Something someone said about patching and what champions Riot want to be in this years worlds.
And since it was mentioned that both reworks are in their "early stages", and since Swain's rework is bigger than Azir's rework (Azir's rework is just a mini rework, while Swain's rework is a fullscale Gameplay AND Visuals Update), We can probably expect Swain's rework to come live, at the latest during December, but probably sometime during November .
Sinlaire2 votesReav3 says champion release schedule is currently;
"New champ > Xin > Eve > New champ > Swain"
Azir not included probably because they haven't decided what to do about the shuffle yet.
Tin Obliterates2 votesDon't forget about Aatrox's gameplay update. IIRC it's scheduled to come before Swain's VGU, though I might be wrong.
Karakot2 votesusually what ive found is a pattern of a new champ then vgu every other month, with class updates counting for vgu's... if correct he would come out December-early January
TyrekGoldenspear2 votesThis is legit the happiest I've seen you on these boards. :D
GGLineaR2 votesI heard a rumor that he'll have ties to the Darkins.
Maybe they're giving his bird some importance?
sirwaterfles1 votesPLS PLS PLS JUST change his lore and keep his gameplay. He is really unique and the only true battlemage/apjuggernaut out there! Also his taunt is the best in the game, his laught is hilarious with beatrice taking him up in the sky, his dance makes me laught every time and his joke sums him up perfectly. His last update fixed all his problems, he can be viable in proplay without ruining soloq, he never gets to popular but always keeps at a steady lvl of play, he is easy but stil has room for masteryexpression. I REALLY dont get why you rework him when there are TONS of messy champs out there that need it more: 
Kairoptra1 votesSorry to disappoint, but they made it clear that they wanted to rebuild him from the ground up:
His gameplay has also been a design problem for a while. If Swain gets behind, he doesn’t really make an impact on the game. If he gets ahead, he becomes a unkillable tank that can also output massive amounts of damage. Swain also has a lot of his power pushed into abilities and effects that enemies can’t really do anything about. Looking at him as a whole, we feel there’s a great opportunity to revisit Swain and truly deliver a champion worthy of leading one of the most ruthless and iconic nations of Runeterra. We’ll be updating his visuals to better match his theme as the leader of Noxus, as well as doing a major overhaul on his gameplay. We want to keep the “essence” of Swain intact, even though we will be completely rebuilding his entire kit from scratch.
sirwaterfles1 votesBut why ? I dont believe anyone that plays swain does it for his lore because it got nothing to do with his current karaktar. You play him for the birdz, his ult ,his awesome emotes,.. If they want a tactical mastermind then make a new champion because that isnt swain
Kairoptra2 votesIf you want to complain, take it up with Riot, not me. Not trying to sound snarky, it's just that you're arguing with the wrong person. I don't really have an opinion one way or the other, so it'd be a waste of both of our time.
DJMason882 votesHis gameplay is one of the worst things about him imo, draintanking seems to always end up being unbalanceable (
). But at least Aatrox has to auto and stick to you, Swain just walks at you.
sirwaterfles2 votesbut his draintanking has clear windows instead of aadraintanks like atrox that always draintank. His ult manacosts ticks become really high after 5 seconds. It also has a decent cooldown and he loses a lot of his power when its down. If he doesnt turn it of after 5 sec and he goes oom he has to base because an oom swain in worthless even more than other oom mages because they will be able to trow out their fairly lowmanacost higher impact skillshots out while swain basicly has a slow and gets to aa.
