Hello Guys and Gals, I am 'UK Lunacy' (in game name, feel free to add for any questions and even one of these things they call 'games') I play on EU West servers, and this is my first guide here on mobafire, featuring - Swain - The Master Tactician.

I feel Swain can add so much to a team, not only outrageous damage output but he can tank like a garden patio when he has the items I will mention later. He is seriously fun to play, HE TURNS INTO A F**** BIRD. >>>>> AND WE ALL KNOW THE BIRD IS THE WORD. ;)

Please read the guide, and make some constructive criticism, yes trolls this is a real thing and it does exist, go check it out its quite a cool thing, before judging the guide.
Thanks in advance,
yours swainfully,
el grande tactician.

Also the MASTERY tree is bugged and is saying some very weird stuff, check my 'Masteries' section for detailed and proper tree guide

Okay, so I have experimented, successfully unlike that douche bag Singed, and have yet to change colour, meaning only one thing - these runes, if played correctly, should yield some nice damages and some blue bar regenerations.
You may disagree, but hey its a Free LoLzy world, so go trial yourself but I strongly recommend these

As with every AP caster, Swain decides that Greater Mark of Magic Penetration gives you that Magic Pen that lasts throughout the game, works even better early game, that will prove wwwweerrrryyy handy. Dont be a Singed take these. Swain takes these.

Swain feels that come level 6 his blue bar of mana regen just isnt growing as much as he would hope, being a well endowed tactician, this disappoints him, and so he takes ][Greater Seal of Clarity]]. By level 6 the mana regen you get OVERPOWERS, insert a picture of irelia or whoever will make you smile, the mana regen you get with flat mana regen yellows/

Swain loves Ability Power <3, but also he is aware that his damage at low levels isnt going to turn the heads of any scouts assessing potential candidates for the next Avengers Film. Swain notes this potential candidacy as makes sure to pick up Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power for his reds. Come level 6 these again OVERPOWER, insert picture of Darius or whoever makes you grow in your pants, there flat chested counterparts.

When Quintessences are mentioned, Swain enters a state of vampiracy - this is a real world ask Vladimir. I have tested with flat AP quinits, AP/lvl quints but I find that 2 Greater Quintessence of Spell Vamp, Spell Vamp Quints, make swain that much better late game, when he has bought himself a will of some ancient dudes, and has some nice powers involving ability. I also take 1 Greater Quintessence of Ability Power for a little bit of early game AP and hitting power.

http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/rune-page-planner#&rune=351:9-254:9-309:9-388:2-338:1

Now, I feel the name Masteries, is abit excessive here. They dont mean you are 'The Master Tactician' just yet, but they help, so try and get these right. There isnt too much room for messing these up, they don't exactly requiring excessive 'mastering' and intellect to get these ones right.

Swain loves damage, as previously noted in his pocket book of pwnage, and so he decides 21 point in offence is perfeck. Swain also loves his blue bar and so the relevant points in Utility are the ones he takes, giving him 9 in this tree, please note: Swain hates trees as his bird friend is sometimes known to abandon him for leavy endeavours and all things tree-y.

http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/mastery-tree-planner#&tree1=1-0-3-0-0-4-0-0-0-1-3-0-0-4-0-4-1&tree2=0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0&tree3=1-0-3-0-1-3-0-0-0-1-0-0-0-0-0-0&v=2

I take a point in improved flash over death timing reset thingy, because.... are you planning on dying?!!? WTF?! 1 Point in movespeed and ofcourse the extended buff duration, as Swain likes blues and will take Blues. note: please get the blue buffs whenever possible and try to invade theirs, generally spawn around 7:14 and 12:14 dependant on where their jungler started.

So the Last thing we can change before we jump 'balls deep' into the 'facerolling' (I used balls and face in the same sentence, small but nonetheless rewarding win) is our summoner spells.

Swain usually decides to bring along Flash and Ignite.
With the extra point in Summoner's Wrath swain somehow obtains more AP, again small win, and along with his aoe abilities Decrepify and Torment makes for some fun kills that will envitibly ensue mad amounts of R-A-G-E, always handy for continuing said pwnage and winning this ELO thingies.

Flash is just handy for escaping, Swain refuses to mention the words running and away in close context as he feels this associates himself with evil doers and all things cowardly. Seriously though, a well timed Flash can earn you those early and late game kills, as you can flash in drop your combo or Torment > Decrepify > Ignite > Nevermove with the constant BIRD (is the word) FORM, or of course the always fun Flash active Ravenous Flock and THAT OP Zhonya's Hourglass.

Other Viable mentions include: Ghost Exhaust Teleport Heal
note: heal on swain, although not needed, can be hilarious, fun begins and heads roll.

Swain does tend to adjust these, dependant on whether his team, decide they are ballsy enough to invade the enemy's jungle. If so, Swain usually will take his W, Nevermove, instead of his E, Torment. However, its usual for Torment to be picked up.

The main thing that will determine a 'Master Tactician' from the 'Average-at-Best Tactician' is your ability to cast torment before any other spell, as it increase the damage take by all attacks fromSwain, whether it be autoattacks, ignite, and other spells. NOTE: this is not Hemoplague in that all attacks from all sources is increased, its just from the Half Swan, Half BirdmanPig himself.

COMBO: E, Q, W, Ignite = with constant bird from.

Okay, so when we see that we are facing champions such as Cassiopeia, Ahri, Brand, Karthus bascially, any champion that will rely on aoe skill shots, we always take boots and 3 health pots. This not only gives you a chance you recover from damage taken, but also gives you that extra movement speed for landing that Nevermove when you jungler ganks, and helps you to gank yourself.

When Swain have roughly 1400gold, or he has dropped his enemies health lower than Charlie Sheen's following a heavy night, Swain will clear his lane using Ravenous Flock and auto attacks, and then teleports back to HQ. Here he picks up a catalyst the protector and a sight ward to prevent him from ganks and give him that much needed health and mana regen upon leveling up. At this point, you will be roughly level 6-8 so feel free to go and kill that pesky ad carry in bot lane, or that guy who thinks hes OP in the top lane. Swain wants kills, so Swain gets kills, usually for gold and experience but also fun and to let his bird, muriel, have a little feed.

GET THAT BLUE BUFF = THAT BIRD WONT COME THROUGH THE SCREEN AND SAY ' WHY YOU NO GET ME MANAs'

Continue said pwnage, until we have enough gold to go B and pick up a Blasting Wand and/or sorcs boots. (please note if the enemy is running duel AP, or have CC upto their QQing eyes grab merc treads, same goes for Ninja Tabi if they are all loaded up with AD and BF swords.

I generally prefer getting level 2 boots, before getting that [rod of ages] however make sure that you do get that early Rod as it improves over time, Swain always likes to get his rod in early ;)

Following the ROD and BOOTS, Swain begins to build towards a Staff, not for him as he is already weilding his rod in his hands (ha), this one is for muriel, the bird. Swain. We should always get that Giant's Belt first because we have enough sustained damage with our aoe spells and bird form, so the more health we have the more health we can vamp from them and the more we can tank for our team. Again, keep creeping, ganking and attempting to kill the enemy mid, until we can build into the Rylai's crystal scepter.

This item is perfeck for all of Swain's needs.

• 1.) the slow, for 3 seconds, will apply from the last tick of your D.O.T on your E and Q, loads of slowing capability.
• 2.) when you are mocking your team by turning into a bird for a while, you can hit upto 3 enemy champions, with this item, you can slow them all allowing your team to catch them up or slow them down when they attempt to jump onto your ad carry - weeerrryy handy, also more assist here pls :)
• 3.) it helps you escape, not run away, when being chased and you have your bird form active.
  
  Once Swain has managed to get enough monies together to splash out on a new staff for him and his bird, he begins to reaise that an hourglass would be useful. enter zhonya's hourlgass from stage right. I tend to get the armoured Chain Vest first as it helps me tank more, by this stage we have approximately 2500 hps, so the armour with this health pool, along with the spell vamp from ULTIMATE and QUINTS make for a very tanky BIRDMANPIG. Use the hourglass, when you want to take a break from the middle of a fight, to vamp health back, damage all nearby enemies heavily, and to tell the time.
  
  'You would be suprised at how many times checking the time, whilst not taking damage, has saved me and allowed me to vamp all my health back' said Swain when asked by reporters about his consistent 'laid back' confident attitude about carrying a watch into battle. true story.
  
  Once we have the hourglass and staffs we are unstoppable, almost. Next swain considers buying a Hextech Revolver as the AP it gives him a nice, albeit little, AP increase, but more importantly MORE SPELL VAMP. Wuth this little beauty and a zhonya's hourglass we can easily can at least 75% of our hp back with out ulti and activated time-telling device, belonging to some hag Zhonya, on.
  
  To Finish, Swain tells that man at HQ that he would like to swap some gold he collected from dead bodies of his enemies for a rabbadon's deathcap. All wizards need a hat, ask Gandalf, he'll tell you. This will massively increase you ability power and will make you sooo stronk its untrue.
  
  'Yeh, I sometimes wear my friend Rabbadon's Hat, but only when im tanky enough, mainly because it has the word DEATH in it, but also for some reason it makes me feel more stronk' admitted Swain when asked about the rumours that he likes to dress up in weird clothing. He later admitted that he was 30% sure that it increased his ability power.......
  
  Then we should consider adding the Will of some ancient people to our battling cause, in steps Will of the Ancients looking all brown and bookish. Why not add some elixirs to the cause when we are fully built? yeh why not. Elixir of Brilliance Elixir of Agility Elixir of Fortitude

In summation, Swainwith some decent farm, a few kills here and there, and assists :( becomes a very useful asset to his team.

So:

• Try to lead your snare as people will walk into it, excellent for trapping escaping enemies, preventing yourself and team mates from being jumped and chased, and also a little thing called creeping - yeh im not sure either something about stalking girls from a dark corner of a room :s
• Dont be the first into the team fight, but make sure you jump in the middle of it as you do soooo much AOE dmg it hurts me to even think about it.
• Dont forget about that hourglass, dont get lost in time and space... but mainly time.
• Get blue buffs whenever possible - you need them.7
• have fun and enjoy Swain
  
  When the Ionian's came and round on Swains Door, they said: 'Knock, Knock' (i dont know why they audibly said this but anyways...) Swain replied: 'ARRRGGHHHHH, and his bird ate them'
  This is a true story and is noted in the scrolls of... this happenend, deal with it
  
  
  THANKS FOR READING, I hope this will help you in controlling a game with swain, and bring you as much pleasure as it does when I follow this guide when I play him.
  
  
  ALSO THIS BUILD ISNT FINISHED - IT TAKES A WHILE TO DO THIS, SO PLEASE COMMENT ON WHAT I NEED TO ADD AND CHANGE. THANKS GUYS, IT HELPS.