The earliest account of Swain's existence comes from a Noxian infirmary doctor's notes. According to them, Swain limped into the ward without cry or complaint; his right leg was snapped in half, with bone protruding from the skin. A small, scowling bird seemed affixed to his shoulder. The doctor gawked in horror as the young adolescent answered questions about his health and age with a calm, even stare. Even behind the echoing crack as the sand counterweights reset his tibia, Swain's measuring gaze never flickered, nor did his eyes twitch from the pop of his fibula. He refused the doctor's recommendation of magical treatment for the leg's inoperable damage, requesting only a spare crutch before shuffling away. He next surfaced in documents from the Noxian military, although it is evident that they are incomplete. Normally a crippled boy would be turned away in shame from Noxus' proud legion, but the records indicate his first designation was that of a ranking officer.

The men who've served under him (and survived) have remained in his charge with unshakable faith and loyalty. He leapt through the High Command's hierarchy, often ascending when superiors requested demotions to join his unit. A cunning strategist, Swain was decorated after every battle he fought, regularly hobbling in contemplation at the front of the assault. His rise to power seemed unceasing until he was suddenly relegated to inactive status prior to the Ionian Invasion - a bewildering decision which reeked of bureaucratic subversion. If Swain was upset by the events which unfolded, he never belied it. His face was so implacable that it was popularly rumored to be a mask, disguising something utterly inhuman beneath. More controversy surrounded the bird that never left his shoulder, whose name he whispered only to it. When Demacia escalated its presence in the League, Swain was immediately returned to active duty.

''If you haven't yet lost the ability to ask, you may not yet ask for relief.''
-Swain

Really up to your preference, as it doesn't matter too much on Swain (or any champ for that matter).

I prefer and because Ignite helps me get kills early on (and does more damage after your E!!!!!). Flash is just my preferred escape ability, as well as letting you get close for surprise burst damage.

Clarity is a viable substitute for Flash if you prefer it.

Don't take any of the team skills, you aren't support, you need to survive and deal damage.

is the big one. I've been struggling with this one for a while. As Swain, you will inevitably run into mana problems. But these problems normally arise after a double kill, or a teamfight. As in, you're going to be recalling anyway. You also have that wonderful passive which makes Clarity almost completely useless until late-game. BUT, if you prefer it, go for it. Swain is very mana-dependent so it does have it's uses, I just can't recommend it over the early-kills with Ignite or the escape of Flash. If there were 3 summoner spells, I'd take Clarity.

If you would like to do at the AP, I recommend the items presented above, they are probably among the best at the AP.

= Good starter. gives u the hp, mana regen and ap to survive early game.

= Prob best boots in game.

= This item will make u tanky, boost ur dmg, that in turn boosts ur survivability.
= This is prob one of the best items on swain. Not only will it give u more ap and hp. It will also make it imposible to run away from u when ur in ultimate form.

= very useful when we manage to kill a lot of people

= mana regenerates quickly, without which you can die

= It gives a lot of AP and is one of the most useful items

Try to slow down and stop the enemies using the skills of W and Q.
You assume the role of a tank in the team for others to escape the skills you use in R and it gives you the opportunity to stop the enemies for a while.

Utility tree if something u got to love when u can still get 15MrP from offensive tree.
Utility tree:
Persevense is nice becose it helps your mana(and health)pool filling up, and besides 1st tear doesn't have anything more usefull (or at least i don't like dieing a lot and feeding enemy champs, and 1 point just to get on next tear).
Expanded Mind works nicely with Archangel Staff and it helps a lot to stay in lane on early game.
Meditation is flat mp5 which again helps more at early game(staying longer on lane=gaining more exp/gold, doh).
Utility Master is something i personally love a lot. Biggest reason for this is Ravenous Flock + blue buff... do i have to explain... plus u can spam w-e-q more and even few times on raven form without complete oom.
Quickness and Blink of an Eye helps u stay alive, which is goodGOOD.
Intelligence let's u combo more offen (and the more u have CDR the closer w-e-q goes each other).
Presence of the master reduces cd of Flash even further down and also affects on ignite cd which is nice another dot/health reduction.
Offense tree:
Archmage's Sawy is a nice little boost to our AP. Always wellcome. and Deadliness is just to get next tier.
Sorcery same as Intelligence
Archanic Knowledge is biggest reason why we want to dive Offense tree. 15% more than our marks give...

First things first. First point on Decrepify so u can get your harasment up and running. snare+damage is always really annoying ;)
Second point on Nevermore so u'r harasment annoys enemy even more and from this point on enemy can start failing and let u root+lazer first once. After cd's are done u'r laning partner uses something and u throw w-q-ignite and voila... Firs Blood might be your's.
Now starts our damage maxing. Use points on Torment until you get lvl 6 when u get Ravenous Flock. Torment is firstly very neat damage and more importantly increases all damage done by swain, summoner spells and items. On lvl3 when u use w-e-q-ignite it means 75+1,08x(80+25+110)=307,2 and that doesn't even count AP from runes and possible items(ofc enemy also might have magic resistance and u have MrP, but that is just simple math). And if that is not enough, nevermove's root leaves enemy vulvenerable to your laning partners abilities and if that doesn't kill enemy it most likely forces him(/her) to at least b.
Ravenous Flock let's u stay in lane and mass murder creeps, but be careful not to burn urself oom. Skill order that i show in this guide is what i like to take when playing(lover cd of Nevermove a little and increase snare of Decrepify while maxing Torment and Flock), but most important is to take 1 for everything at first and max Ravenous Flock on 6, 11, 16. After u have 1 on everything, everyone must take what feels right and good to play ;)

Can you help your fellow jungle by Q, and the skills but do not use this E because it is a poison who can podkras aura of a monster