In the current meta, it is a running joke that top lane does not impact the game very much. Oftentimes that can be true, unless your top laner is snowballing and taking over the game, many top laners do not bring a lot to teamfights. Many top laners spend much of the mid game split pushing, which don't get me wrong is a viable strategy, but that hinders your ability to impact team fights.

Swain on the other hand will bring an immense amount of utility to team fights. Consider several areas that he excels in.

Area of Effect damage

When Swain gets into the middle of a teamfight and uses his Demonic Ascension he will begin to pump out consistent magic damage to anyone in a wide radius around him. Dropping his Vision of Empire onto a cluster of enemies can add a large amount of burst damage and slow onto the group, in addition to healing himself and restoring mana. Using Nevermove will also do group damage on it's initial pass-through. Though his Death's Hand bolts will stop at an enemy champion hit, any bolts that do not hit a champion at point blank range will continue a short distance and possibly hit another champion. Overall, if you are involved in the majority of teamfights, do not be surprised when you did the most damage over the course of the match.

Peel

Swain's ability to root and yank an enemy is fantastic when you need to pull an enemy assassin off of your Carry. A well executed Nevermove will allow your Carry to reposition and possibly even eliminate the threat.

Sustain

Swain's passive Ravenous Flock allows him to recover immense amounts of health and mana whenever he is able to pull a hard CC'd enemy, or when he hits an enemy champion with his Vision of Empire. There is nothing better than being in the middle of a teamfight, dealing a ton of damage, and then walking away with full Health and full Mana like nothing ever happened. Not to mention the constant healing he receives from Demonic Ascension and the bonus health that he gets as well. To summarize how this bonus health works, suppose you have 50 stacks from his passive, either from landing his W or pulling CC'd enemies. This equates to a total of 250 permanent bonus health. When he activates his Ultimate Ability, he gains a bonus of double that health, therefore suddenly you have 500 extra health for that teamfight! Just imagine lategame when you have nearly 100 stacks!

PROS + High AP Damage + Amazing in teamfights + Built in sustain + Synergies with many Meta champions + Rarely banned + Safe First Pick Having an AP top laner who also can serve as an unkillable raid boss brings many benefits to a team comp. With many midlaners picking AD champions, such as Zed and Talon, there will be times where you are the only AP threat on the team. Because of this, your enemies may build armor but disregard building any Magic Resistance, allowing you to carry in teamfights. On the other hand, if they do invest in Magic Resist, it may free up your ADC or AD Jungler to do hefty damage. Overall, Swain just brings so much to a team.

CONS - Immobile - Weak against all-in champs early - Can pull an enemy into your team on accident - Cannot split push well - Countered by Grievous Wounds - Few Skins T-T While he excels in team fights, he suffers when it comes to duels with high mobility champions. If you aren't hitting your abilities, you simply aren't going to be doing much damage. This can be countered by building Rylai's Crystal Scepter and slowing the enemy, or going Glacial Augment as your keystone rune, but these are not always the best options. If you are struggling in the early game and cannot get your Rod of Ages early, you will also be somewhat squishy until you gain a few stacks on the item.

EARLY GAME

Be a Bully ✦ Swain is a fantastic lane bully against melee champions. In order to get CS, they will have to step up to the minion line, allowing you to auto them and allow you to stack free health from Grasp of the Undying and also your Nevermove and Vision of Empire abilities. Yes they may get some CS, but if you can get 2 Ravenous Flock stacks and Grasp of the Undying that is a free 13 permanent health for you every time those are off cooldown. ✦ Learn how to manipulate the waves as Swain. If you get a lead, position yourself so that you don't harm minions when you use Nevermove against the enemy. Try your best to simply last hit minions. If you are struggling to last hit minions as Swain, you are not alone, his auto animation is slow and the auto's are weak. Time and practice will hone your skills. In the meantime, if you are doing decent with mana management, you can use your Q ability Death's Hand to last hit minions, though it is best reserved for poking the enemy. ✦ If you are worried that the enemy jungler may be near and you don't have a bush warded, use your Vision of Empire for vision on a bush or even the Rift Herald/Baron pit.

MID GAME

Look for Teamfights ✦ Look to roam to mid lane or into the jungle if you see a fight potentially breaking out. You can and will turn fights around for your team. Swain stands to benefit a lot from being in fights, as it allows for very easy Ravenous Flock stacks. If you get ganked while alone though, your Demonic Ascension may very well turn that into a double kill for yourself, or at least a safe escape. ✦ Even if you cannot reach a teammate who is getting ganked, or be a part of a teamfight, a well placed Vision of Empire can easily scare off an enemy, and potentially restore HP and Mana for yourself!

LATE GAME

Raid Boss ✦ Time to Shine! Though the enemy may very well be building to counter you now, teamfights are nearly constant at this stage in most games. Use your high AOE damage to whittle down the enemy team, be looking to peel for your carries, and continue to build stacks. If you are helping your team take baron, save your Nevermove for when you want to halt the enemy jungler looking to steal. Be ready to flash INTO the enemy team and soak up some damage for your team. You will likely have 1k-2k more health than your teammates, and remember your Demonic Ascension still does damage when you are in stasis from Zhonya's Hourglass, you will also be healing yourself while in stasis! ✦ Don't forget that your ultimate does more damage the more you have drained your enemies. It is not uncommon for a fully stacked Demonflare to oneshot squishy enemies.

E > W

✦ Generally the easiest way to hit your Nevermove properly is for it to be at max range, so the enemy will have less opportunity to dodge the incoming root. If it looks like it is going to hit, quickly use your Vision of Empire where you will be pulling the enemy towards so that it will explode as the enemy get's yanked into it. If it will be dangerous to pull the enemy close to you, such as a Renekton or a Darius, sometimes it is safer to forego pulling the enemy closer and just placing the Vision of Empire on top of them when they are rooted. Play Video ✦ For more damage you can also easily walk towards the enemy and add your Death's Hand to the mix. A Point blank Death's Hand will be your highest damage in these short trades. If you are also using Grasp of the Undying make sure that you are also including an auto towards the end to increase your damage and healing.

E>W>Q

✦ For more damage you can also easily walk towards the enemy and add your Death's Hand to the mix. A Point blank Death's Hand will be your highest damage in these short trades but sometimes you may want to keep your distance. If you are also using Grasp of the Undying make sure that you are also including an auto towards the end to increase your damage and healing. Play Video

Thank you for taking the time to read my guide, this is my first ever guide written for any video game! I have been a gamer all my life, and have primarily played MMO's over the years, but League of Legends was the first and favorite MOBA that I have ever played. I hope that even Swain veterans can appreciate this guide and hopefully there were little gems of information that everyone came away with from it. Please check out the notes for the item builds and runes as there is more information tucked away in there. I hope that if there are corrections that I need to make, that people kindly let me know in the comments, and I would be happy to make adjustments!

Over time I hope to add more to the guide to keep it relevant. Eventually I would like to add more matchup specific information, as well as a full breakdown of different runes. I know personally I shift between running Grasp of the Undying, Electrocute, and Phase Rush as my keystones, depending on the matchup. And if I feel especially trolly, I will run Glacial Augment and pick up a Everfrost and really add some more utility to teamfights!

Also, I am not the most artistic person in the world, so if there is anything I can change with the formatting of the guide, please let me know! I would love to make adjustments to make the guide easier to ready. And lemme beat you trolls to the punch, "It would make it easier to read if you just deleted the guide, har har, Kappa", well too bad for you, I don't care about deleting it, just care about improving it!

So once again, thank you so much, if you gleaned anything from the guide, please like the guide and if you have any questions or feedback, feel free to drop a comment!