New Swain

why he looks nothing like old swain?

Swain had 3 themes before Grand General, Warlock and Ravens, Riot wanted to settle in on the Grand General theme the most of the 3. Old Swain look a look closer to a Warlock, more than a Grand General, they even explored his old look when they were working on him but he didn't give off a Grand General vibe. At least not the kind you'd expect from Noxus. Noxus' theme is black steel and red, so old Swain's green had to go. Ravens ended up staying indirectly.

he doesn't even look old or walk with a cane

His arm was cut off and he was crippled in the Ionian invasion, since then he captured Beatrice a demon, so he has an arm again and he wears a leg brace. The community probably could have gotten Rito keep him with a slight wobble in his walk (or maybe a full limp when slowed), but of all the things the community wanted they came up with #GiveSwainaHaircut. So its probably too late now.

and where the hell are the birds?

Everywhere, as you play as him Ravens perch all over the map watching you fight. I noticed after he recalls apparently he sends out 4 Ravens, one to watch each teammate perhaps. In his passive and W Ravens come back whispering to him secrets they have learnt. His ult has Raven wings because of the nature of his powers but not the full body transformation (Tyrant Swain has the full body though).

There are still parts of what he was is stilll there but the ratios in which they were are mixed around.

The old Swain looked like a random pirate with a parrot, the new one fits a lot more as the cruel leader of Noxus

why he looks nothing like old swain?

Swain had an incohesive theme that didn't have much to do with being the ruler of Noxus.

he doesn't even look old or walk with a cane

He's still somewhat old and uses a cane in his dance.

and where the hell are the birds?

They're in his passive and joke. They also perch around the map like Beatrice did on the Crystal Scar.

So, when a big change happens that is received either midling or negatively you get about 3-4 days to voice your disagreement. After that the outraged people go away and the standard board posters remain, usually either supporting Riot’s change or just annoyed at the topic in question overwhelming the board for those 3-4 days. You missed your window, so you’ll probably just be downvoted a lot.

That said, I’m all for discussing what we think the successes and failures of the Swain rework was. Besides downvotes don’t actually matter, so I’ll join you.

So, Old!Swain is kind of a muddled mess. He was supposed to be the greatest military mind of his generation. But he looked like an evil warlock, and his abilities were strong magic area control and cc except for his ultimate where he suddenly became a close range drain tank. There were also birds involved for some reason.

This creates a lot of contradictions, between gameplay, design, and lore is he a general? An angry bird man? A warlock?

Now when they reworked him there were two options. Keep the tangled mess as is but just make it healthier to play, or, pick a roll and shape the rest to fit.

And after looking at what Riot ended up doing, I honestly do not know which they decided to do. So, as of now Swain’s appearance is high society aristocrat with a funky arm. He no longer looks like a sickly warlock, he has presence and a flowing mane of well groomed hair. In short he looks like an older Vladimir. With a slight military twist. Basically, the coat. That’s it. That’s the only thing about him that looks military.

So, you’d think that means they’re getting rid of the whole evil warlock thing. But, no. All his abilities are 100% things that would come from a devil worshipping warlock in any other game. He turns into a demon and summons the freaking Eye of Sauron.

Now since none of that has anything to do with birds, you’d think the bird aesthetic is gone. But again, no. Birds pop up all around him. They don’t do anything. And hell he has two of the single most obvious abilities ever to incorporate the bird aesthetic: his ult, and the aforementioned Eye of Sauron ability that could easily have just been a bird. But they didn’t.

Alright so, all of that means the greatest commander of all time thing has gone by the wayside, right? Well, again, no. His VO (which is amazing by the way) is basically Swain either talking about secrets or saying “I am the very model of a modern major general” except, you know, seriously.

So the end result is that he is somehow more muddled since they added high aristocrat to the list of archetypes Swain was trying to encompass.

Yet every time Riot talked about their changes they commented that old Swain was being pulled in too many directions before and they consolidated. But... they didn’t. So, what gives?

This, I believe left a lot of Swain fans feeling confused as hell. They managed to keep the muddled nature of old Swain but they strangely rearranged where everything was placed in the gameplay, aesthetic, and narrative. So it just didn’t feel at all how anyone thought Swain was supposed to be. Those who wanted creepy warlock, well the old defining creepy warlock features were gone and replaced with warlock abilities. Those who wanted bird mage, well the old defining bird features were gone and replaced with a few birds scattered around the game. Those who wanted the greatest general ever only got that represented in the VO.

And then Riot sort of added insult to all that by telling people “oh his hair is going to be slightly darker. And I’m sure most of you wouldn’t be complaining if it was slightly darker originally.” Which isn’t at all what people were saying. So it felt like Riot was telling people how they feel instead of actually listening.

But on the other side of this, there’s not much Riot can do without setting a precedent of catering to any loud angry body. And if they didn’t after the Varus thing they certainly won’t budge after this one.

changing his VU, fine I can deal w/(coulda done less mr malfoy), but they destroying hit playstyle and kit swain didn't need rework, he just needed an update adjustment, such has having his pass gain him mana or hp based on which is lower based on dmg dealt, q add blind and silence(animation Beatrice pecking interact w/ e for 2x dmg lose silence blind Beatrice animation beam), e aoe "WHILE marked dmg to swain is reduced by 20%, and if target DIES furture dmg is increased by 5%,& if target kills swain their future dmg to swain is reduced by 5%"increase range so can lead w/ it w when snare enemy champ gain ms, 10sec cd all ranks R when hit send out another raven at attacker(increase mana cost/for current mana cost) to counter that he can only send one every other second

they made a new champ, plain and simple, and they did a crap job of it.