Guide Details x Conclusion Champion x Abilities x Combos x Synergies x Counters

Pre-Game x Summoner Spells x Runes In-Game x Items x Situational items x Laning phase x Teamfight

PASSIVE

Ravenous Flock ✦Ravenous: Swain can periodically target a nearby immobilized enemy champion to rip out a Soul Fragment from them, dealing 20-105 (+30% of ability power) magic damage and pulling them 290-units towards him before a 0.25-second cast time (depending on level). If the target would be brought past Swain, they are instead knocked back the excess distance. Enemy champions also leave behind a Soul Fragment for 16 seconds upon death, which can be harvested after 1 second if Swain is near them. Flock: Enemy champion takedowns leave a Soul Fragment behind for 16 seconds. Swain restores 4 / 5.5 / 7% of his maximum health whenever he collects a Soul Fragment, while also permanently increasing his maximum health by 5.

Q

Death's Hand ✦ 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 by multiple bolts, taking 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 / 35% bonus magic damage.

W

Vision of Empire ✦ Swain summons a demonic eye at the target area that reveals it for 2 seconds before exploding, dealing 80 / 120 / 160 / 200 / 240 (+70% of ability power) magic damage to all enemies hit, halved against non-champions, and slowing them by 25 / 35 / 45 / 55 / 65% for 2.5 seconds. Enemy champions are revealed for 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 seconds and each grant Swain a Soul Fragment.

E

Nevermove ✦ Swain launches a demonic wave in the target direction, dealing 35 / 70 / 105 / 140 / 175 (+25% of ability power) magic damage to enemies it passes through. Upon reaching its maximum distance, the wave returns to Swain, detonating at the first enemy hit, dealing 35 / 45 / 55 / 65 / 75 (+25% of ability power) magic damage to all nearby enemies and rooting them for 1.5 seconds.

R

Demonic Ascension ✦ 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).

SUMMONER SPELLS - Flash: is obvious choice and MUST HAVE! If you are playing against long range comp, flashing in in teamfights is your only hope. Exhaust personally I prefer Exhaust over any other secondary choice. It's great in early all in's and also is really good if enemies are melee range and forced to go into you. Ignite is also available choice, I like to you see it if I'm playing against Soraka or any other sustain lane, to have stronger all in's in early/mid game. Teleport is good if you are facing long range poke botlane. So you can base early and losing pretty much nothing.

Conqueror is curently best rune choice for Swain. It helps Swain at what he already excels at which is all-ins with his Demonic Ascension and team fights. .

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Electrocute gives Swain kill pressure in the lane and allows him to play more aggressive without his Demonic Ascension.

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Phase Rush can be used both to escape a sticky situation or to chase down a mobile enemy.It gives you cleaner and safer trades, as you'd usually land an E, pull into W, AA and either back down, dodge retaliation skillshots or position yourself to Q and AA.

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Conqueror → Huge sustain in team fights → More damage in extanded fights → Higher carry potential → Better dueling → Better againts tankier enemies

Electrocute → Better against squishy enemies → Burst potential → Better laning phase → Better against long range

Presence of Mind is best rune choice for Swain in this tier, mana sustain in late game teamfights is insane, and if you get some early kills/assists, it helps you with mana sustain in lane too.

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Legend: Tenacity is obvious choice in this tier considering that two other runes are not viable for Swain at all. It provides you tenacity that is really important in late game teamfights.

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OR

This rune choice depends on your playstyle. Personally, I'm taking Last Stand becuase of it's buffs from few patches ago and because of fact that it usually outdamages Coup de Grace.

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Cheap Shot is best rune choice here, considering that you will usually play with cc supports on lane, you can proc Cheap Shot easily with Ravenous Flock and Nevermove.

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OR

Ravenous Hunter is great rune for Swain considering that you are already running Conqueror and that you are getting heals from Demonic Ascension. It usually heals you for 4k-5k trough normal game. Even though I was totally sold on Ravenous Hunter I was recently started playing with Ultimate Hunter, and honestly, I think that this rune could be good contender to take spot over Ravenous.

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Luden's Tempest This item gives Swain everything that he needs. It gives him mana/mana sustain, cdr, but also gives him additional poke damage/wave clear with it's passive.

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Sorcerer's Shoes I like this boots the most on Swain, even though you can go for deffensive ones if you are facing full AP/AD team comps. Also Mercury's Treads are not bad choice if enemies have a lot of CC.

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Liandry's Anguish Combining your Demonic Ascension and the way you want to play teamfights, Liandry's Anguish is BY FAR best second item on Swain proc'ing it's passive on all 5 enemies and figthing longer for it's full stacked 10% more damage feels just so good, and it's really good if enemies are stacking HP.

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Zhonya's Hourglass Zhonya's is insanly good item on Swain, considering that Swain heals up with his Demonic Ascension during the time he's in active of the item. It's also good if enemy team comp wants to go into you or if they have a lot of assasins. Overall, this item is great, and core for Swain.

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Rabadon's Deathcap This item simply ramp up your damage A LOT and even it has bad build path, the final result is just so powerfull.

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Void Staff Void stuff is great final item for many mages, and Swain is definetly not exception. It can be built as 5th item too, if enemy team is stacking too much MR already.

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I like to buy Dark Seal early into laning phase, even on first back, and if the laning phase goes well I usully upgrades it to Mejai just to snowball harder. Overall, item is underrated, it's gold efficient on 10 stacks, everything over it is just

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Even though this item is really good on solo lane Swain, I don't like building it when im playing on bottom. Reason is really obvious, you are damage carry, and for that you need to build raw damage, anyway, this item can be built if you are facing a full AP team comp.

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Great item for Swain if you are facing hard AP oriented team, you can also buy this item even though you are playing against hybrid damage enemies because it also amplify your healing from Conqueror and Demonic Ascension.

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Obvious good choice if you are facing a lot of enemies heal, like Soraka, Yuumi, Senna etc...

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You are using Early Ravenous Flock to finish off enemies with your Vision of Empire and Death's Hand. Proc'ing your passive really early can be good in chase, if you hit your Nevermove you can use fast Ravenous Flock and by doing that, pulling enemy into other form of cc in your team.

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You are using Late Ravenous Flock when you want enemies be cc'ed as long as possible, this works for all cc abilites, you can wait to proc your passive by waiting last moment of any cc, this is especially good if you are playing with Zac, Thresh or Nautilus. Instead of instant right clicking enemy, you should wait for last moment of their cc and then right click to proc Ravenous Flock.

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You want to open lane with your Nevermove, you are looking for early stacks of Ravenous Flock by hitting your E or just following up cc of your support.

On level 2 you want to take Vision of Empire to combo it with your Nevermove or any other cc. I explained combo here.

From level 3 to 5 you are level uping Death's Hand, and still using Nevermove + Ravenous Flock combo to harass enemies.

On 6 you get access to Demonic Ascension and probably already have Lost Chapter, you are looking for potential all ins with your support. You are usually stronger in 2v2 than enemy bot if you are even at that point. I would recommend you to harass enemies with your other abilities a bit before going all in with your ultimate.

On 9 you get access to 5 point Death's Hand and at that point it's cooldown is 2,4 seconds, at that point you are super strong and you continue to look for all in's with your Demonic Ascension.

As Swain you want to be in center of teamfight, you want to open teamfight with possible Nevermove hit into Ravenous Flock, or just follow up the cc of your allies with Ravenous Flock into your Demonic Ascension. Once you activated Demonic Ascension you want to hit as many enemy champions as you possibly can, if you ever get into trouble you have Zhonya's Hourglass which is basicly giving you second life, considering that you are getting healed in it by Demonic Ascension. Play Video

Swain has great syngergy with Nautilus. Nautilus has 3 form of hard cc, including his Staggering Blow, which is pretty much his AA, so it's really easy for Swain to proc his Ravenous Flock. When Nautilus hits his Dredge Line on lane it's really important to not right click target insantly but actually wait Nautilus' AA and then right click target to proc Ravenous Flock. Post 6 you have insane all in potential considering that Nautilus gets access to his third hard cc abillity, Depth Charge.

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Thresh is similiar champions as Nautilus, he has 2 hard cc abilites and is really good when paired with Swain. Playstyle is similiar, you are looking for him to hit Death Sentence first into Flay, to then follow up with your Ravenous Flock and Nevermove, target could be cc'ed for 4+ seconds if comboed well so you will probably need some pratice. Just like Nautilus' hook you should wait at last moment of Death Sentence to proc Ravenous Flock.

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Just like Nautilus, Leona has 3 forms of hard cc. Weak side of Leona is that she has more skill reliable cc, both her Zenith Blade and Solar Flare are skill based abilites, unlike Nautilus's Depth Charge. Good thing is that Swain can help her hit those skillshots easier with his Vision of Empire slow and Nevermove root.

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Honestly, this is my favorite synergy, and I might be bias because I'm Jungle main, but this is combo I had THE MOST SUCCESS playing Swain with my duo. As Swain, you are waiting for Zac to hit his Stretching Strikes and then you proc your Ravenous Flock into his Elastic Slingshot and then end the cc chain with Nevermove, of course if you are 6+ Zac can simply Let's Bounce! on enemies. As Zac you want to take Stretching Strikes on level 1 and on level 2 you want to have Elastic Slingshot.

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Swain really strugles against Caitlyn. Caitlyn has the highest base basic attack range at level 1 with 650. If paired with any range high range supports such as Vel'Koz, Xerath, etc Swain can't really play the lane. Usually the way you want to play in this matchups, is to try to trade hard at level 3. Especially if your support is one from syngergies. On level 6 you want to all in with your Demonic Ascension being such a powerfull spike. In all ins Caitlyn can't really use Ace in the Hole.

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Lux, Xerath, Vel'Koz are all counters to Swain because one reason and that is, of course, HIGH RANGE. The way you want to play this lane is similiar as you want to play Caitlyn lane, you want to force level 3 trade and then wait for 6 and your Demonic Ascension to all in. All of these champions don't have any escapes, so once they use Flash on lane, they are really to chase and kill, especially if you hit your Nevermove.

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Swain as APC is really powerful off meta pick, it's really good in short range ADC's and melee supports. He's much better with cc supports that can help him proc his Nevermove. If you want to play Swain you need to know that he is much better in teamfights than on lane. Despite him being better in teamfights, he's not weak at all on lane if paired with hard cc supports. Hope you find this guide helpful, and that you will try to play Noxian Great General Swain. I wish you good luck in your ranked games! And don't forget to have fun!