It may not seem like it, but Swain is by far the most fun support to play in League of Legends right now. You are so much actively involved in the fights and in the game with him, than with any other support at this moment!
Introduction
‘’Jericho Swain is the visionary ruler of Noxus, an expansionist nation that reveres only strength. Though he was cast down and crippled in the Ionian wars, his left arm severed, he seized control of the empire with ruthless determination.. and a new, demonic hand. Now, Swain commands from the front lines, marching against a coming darkness that only he can see—in glimpses gathered by shadowy ravens from the corpses all around him. In a swirl of sacrifice and secrets, the greatest secret of all is that the true enemy lies within.’’
Swain’s primary role in the game is to be a battle mage, fighter style of support that can change the tides of the game. While playing Swain is have discovered something weird. He either is brilliant and can carry the whole team as a support, or you simply fall behind and have no damage whatsoever. This is mostly to blame on adc since when you learn to play him pretty well, you will learn a somewhat specific pattern to him and won’t make any unforced errors or mistakes.
Swain’s abilities
PASSIVE: Ravenous Flock
INNATE – RAVENOUS: Swain can periodically target a nearby immobilized enemy champion to rip out a Soul Fragment from them, dealing 20 − 105 (based on level) (+ 30% AP) magic damage and pulling them 290-units towards him over a 0.25-second cast time. If the target would be brought past Swain, they are instead knocked back the excess distance.
Swain cannot use Ravenous while unable to cast abilities.
Enemy champions also leave behind a Soul Fragment for 16 seconds upon their death, which can be harvested after 1 second if Swain is near them.
INNATE – FLOCK: Swain’s ravens bring nearby Soul Fragments to him, healing him for 4 / 5.5 / 7% (based on level) of his maximum health. Each Soul Fragment collected increases his maximum health by 5.
Q – Death’s Hand
ACTIVE: Swain unleashes five bolts of eldritch power in a cone in the target direction, dealing magic damage to all enemies within. Enemies can be hit by multiple bolts, taking bonus magic damage.
W – Vision of Empire
ACTIVE: Swain summons a demonic eye at the target location, granting sight of the area for 2 seconds and exploding after 1.5 seconds, dealing magic damage to all enemies within, halved against minions, and slowing them for 2.5 seconds.
Enemy champions struck are also revealed for a duration and have a Soul Fragment ripped from them.
E – Nevermove
ACTIVE: Swain launches a demonic wave in the target direction, dealing magic damage to enemies it passes through.
Upon reaching its maximum distance, the wave returns to Swain, detonating at the first enemy hit, dealing magic damage to all nearby enemies and rooting them for 1.5 seconds.
R – Demonic Ascension
ACTIVE: Swain frees the demon within for 12 seconds, becoming ghosted, gaining bonus health and doubling the health gained from Soul Fragments.
While Demonic Ascension is active, Swain drains the lifeforce of all nearby enemies, dealing them magic damage each second and healing himself each second per target affected. The heal is reduced by 90% against minions and monsters.
After a 0.5-second delay, Swain can end Demonic Ascension’s effects early to cast Demonflare, and automatically does so at the end of its duration.
The targets do not have to be visible to be affected by this ability.
R(Recast) – Demonflare
ACTIVE: Swain releases a nova of energy, dealing a base amount of magic damage to all nearby enemies plus 37.5% of the health drained during Demonic Ascension, with the total damage capped.
Overview
Swain is a pretty interesting choice for a support if you want to wander off from the classical Enchanter type of support where your only job is to heal, shield and really die very soon if you get caught off position. Swain is really totally different type of champion that can easily pick of enemy’s adc in the earliest moments of the game 1 vs 1 with no items. And can even continue to do that with some kills or assists to his name once the game gets going. Now I know what some of you are going to think now. Support Swain with kills? Omg what a noob and stuff. No, I didn’t say that you should go stealing your adc’s kills, I’m just saying if the fight occurs and there is no certain way that your adc can take that last shot, you should always go for it since you aren’t playing Soraka or Sona, but rather Swain which can really benefit from those kinds of executes.
He scales quite well and becomes a late game monster when the game lasts a little bit longer. With Swain’s ultimate you can definitely change the course of the game, especially if you have had enough gold to secure Zhonya’s Hourglass that goes with his ultimate quite well, and it’s is an integral part to Swain’s build.
His Q is his prime damage dealer, while his E really takes the place in securing that Q lands. You always go for E + Q, and not the other way around except when the enemy is right in front of your nose and you do not have the possibility to miss him with your Q. Then it is okay to go Q + E since that way your E can be used to either secure the kill or root the enemy for a second or two if the tides of the battle don’t come out in your favor.
Swain isn’t really a champion that has high mobility nor he hasn’t god that much of a crowd control apart from his E, but compensates quite well with the insane amounts of damage that he carries in his kit.
Runes
Your prime Runes should be Domination with the key stone of Electricute and others being Cheap Shot, the Eyeball Collection and Ultimate hunter. For the second Rune tree I always go for Sorcery, but have seen some players go for inspiration. I just don’t like to play with inspiration Runes as The Manaflow band is really necessary for me as a player.
The In-game guide:
Early game
You early game isn’t the strongest as Swain is really a scaling champion but you could be also a hell of a lot weaker too. You always take your E on your first level. No exceptions as it can either secure a kill or secure your escape. The Boots should always be Sorcerer’s boots but for the Mythic Emblem I tend to disagree with a lot of people out there. You see the most of the people think that you should go for Leandry’s Torment for your mythic item. And you wouldn’t be wrong. It’s a great item, works well with Swain, no doubt. But I just prefer Riftmaker. I know it’s worse for him and plus it doesn’t give him any mana so you need to be very careful with your abilities and you are required to take some kills for the Riftmaker to even work on him. I wouldn’t recommend it to nobody that is starting to play Swain as you will struggle with your mana so hard that it simply will become boring as you will become an Grumpy old man that walks around the map and throws something at champions with his basic attacks, since you will have no mana to play with.
Mid game
After the completion of The Mythic item, you should always choose between The Zhonya’s Hourglass or The Morellonomicon. Both great items. Both work great. Depends really on how your team is doing in the game. If you are winning you can go for Morello, if you are losing that go defensively and chose Zhonya’s as it can help you stay alive and heal some more with your ultimate.
Late game
Swain’s colours shine the brightest in the late game especially after the level 16 where his ultimate is in its final form. This is the time to complete your build and you should do it by purchasing The Demonic’s Embrace and The Rabbadon’s Deathcap. If the enemy team has a lot of AP champions than the Rabbadon’s Deathcap should be switched with The Spirit Visage. If you have made it this far you are likely to win this game as the late game Swain tends to be unstoppable.
Conclusion
The absolute Support menace, Swain. I hope that some of you will learn something from this guide and you will try out Swain if you already haven’t. Don’t be discouraged if the things don’t go your way on the first couple of games, since META is really not the best for Swain right now but it can easily be overlooked if you manage to learn to play him that well, so that even the META won’t matter against your Swain!