Hey everyone, I'm a Swain Support one trick and am currently playing him in Plat IV (Plat 4) ELO. This is my first guide, so if you need anything clarified or have questions, leave a comment and I will happily reply! Let's get into the ol' meat and potatoes behind this monstrous Support: Swain.

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Pros

-Kill Pressure at Level 1
-High damage throughout the game makes you a target, taking some pressure off of your carries
-CC chains are ez pz thanks to your passive
-Multiple build options are available, from tanky to damage
-Self Sustain in lane thanks to your passive and W
-W is incredibly versatile, it can ward, deal damage, sustain you, and slow enemies
-E can snare 5 champs at once (rare), and GOES THROUGH MOBS!
-For realsies though, E is like a Thresh/Blitz/Pyke/Naut hook that enemy laners CAN'T HIDE BEHIND MINIONS from (unless they sit in the middle of the wave, in range of our other spells and ADC dmg.)
-Q goes through minions for easy Support quest stacks (8-9:30 completion isn't rare)
-Synergy with a lane partner with CC in kit (see matchups)
-W opens up safer warding options and allows you to quickly check objectives

Cons

-Weak to hard CC
-Weaker synergy with no CC
-Weak to poke supports

Here's the game's description of Swain's Skills. Make sure to check out the Trading Combos section for more information. My biggest recommendation is to spend some time in the practice tool, getting a good feel around:

- The max range of E and the timing/angles of it returning to you.
- The timing of your W between cast and detonation.
- How long you have to Passive someone after they are hard-cc'd.
- How much damage your Q does at different ranges.
- How long to wait between landing your E snare and casting W for the perfect damage/CC combo.
- The damage of your ult at different stages of the game.

If you have specific questions about the skills, please let me know by leaving a comment!

Ravenous Flock Passive Active - 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% of ability power) magic damage and pulling them towards him.

Flock: Enemy champion takedowns leave a Soul Fragment behind for 16 seconds. Swain restores 4 / 5.5 / 7% of his maximum health and mana whenever he collects a Soul Fragment, while also permanently increasing his maximum health by 5.
Range - 1125
Cooldown - 12/9/6

Death's Hand Q
Swain unleashes five bolts of eldritch power in the target direction, dealing 55 / 75 / 95 / 115 / 135 (+40% of ability power) magic damage to all enemies in a cone. Enemies can be hit multiple bolts, taking 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 / 35% bonus damage.

Bolts stop on impact with enemy champions.
Range - 725
Cooldown - 10 / 8.5 / 7 / 5.5 / 4
Cost - 65 / 70 / 75 / 80 / 85

Vision of Empire W
Swain summons a demonic eye at the target area, revealing it for 2 seconds, which explodes after 1.5 seconds, dealing magic damage to all enemies hit, halved against minions, and slowing them for 2.5 seconds. Enemy champions are revealed for an additional duration and have a Soul Fragment ripped from them.
Damage - 100 / 150 / 200 / 250 / 300 (+ 70% AP)
Slow - 25 / 35 / 45 / 55 / 65%
Reveal Duration - 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8
Mana Cost - 70 / 85 / 100 / 115 / 130
Cooldown - 22 / 21 / 20 / 19 / 18

Nevermove E
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.
Damage - 35 / 70 / 105 / 140 / 175 (+ 25% AP)
Detonation Damage - 35 / 45 / 55 / 65 / 75 (+ 25% AP)
Mana Cost - 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80
Cooldown - 13 / 12 / 11 / 10 / 9

Demonic Ascension R
Swain frees the demon within for 12 seconds, gaining 125 / 200 / 275 (+5 per Soul Fragment) bonus health.

While Demonic Ascension is active, Swain drains the 3 enemies closest to him, prioritizing champions, dealing 35 / 50 / 65 (+14.167% of ability power) magic damage to them each second, up to a potential 420 / 600 / 780 (+170% of ability power) damage per enemy. He also restores 20 / 35 / 50 (+16% of ability power) health per second for each enemy hit, reduced by 90% against minions and monsters.

Swain can end the effects of Demonic Ascension early to cast Demonflare, and automatically does so at the end of its duration.

Demonflare: Swain unleashes a nova of soulfire, dealing a minimum of 100 / 150 / 200 (+50% of ability power) magic damage to all nearby enemies, plus 75% of the health Swain drained during Demonic Ascension. Demonflare's damage is capped at 200 / 300 / 400 (+100% of ability power).
Range - 650
Cooldown - 120
Cost - 100

Level 1 Trades

If your team has the level 1 advantage, make sure to aggressively use your E > AA > Passive. This allows you to maximize your cc duration as well as your damage output. If you aren't in AA range, make sure to wait about 0.5 seconds from the time that your E snares the enemy champion(s) to when you right click them to use your passive.

Level 2 Trades

You should usually pick up your W at level 2, so we now trade with E > AA > Passive > W > AA. You should place this W so that they are slightly back from center of the targeting circle, back meaning toward their tower. The goal is to have the W go off when you use your passive on the E'd target. This slows, heals you, does great damage, and gives you soul shards. This will likely get at least 1 flash from the enemy.

Level 3 - 5 Trades

Now that you have all of your primary skills, we can really set up kill pressure. The combo is E > W > Passive > Q > AA.

Level 6+ Trades

You Level 3-5 trades are the standard combo in most cases, but now we have our ult. If we have kill potential on my next E hit, I'll make sure to pop R as soon as my E lands into a combo like this:

E > R > W > Passive > Q > AA > Orb Walk > Orb Walk > Q

With this, your orb walking keeps you in range for your R to continue to damage and vamp from them, and make sure to recast your R to send out your R burst, Demonflare.

You'll notice that unlike other Swain Support builds, mine includes Mobility Boots over Sorcs or Tabis. The reason I do this is simple... His W Range is absurd! Want to help your mid laner out with a long-range gank? User your W to zone or slow their opponent. Want to rotate quickly to check objectives or the enemy jungle with wards or a quick W? The MS comes in handy here too. I find these boots too important to replace for some extra damage, especially when getting top 2 damage is very common with this build.