I am a very well off Swain player and thought I'd share my wisdom on the Master Tactician. Now,

before we begin. I'd like to say that this is my first build and that, at the same time, this is

my most successful build in-game. I hope the people of mobafire enjoy my careful deductions of

how to build the "perfect" Swain

Now for Runes, I take base Ability Power Runes Glyphs considering that is where I will get

the most out of them. I take Base Ability Power Seals simply because Swain NEEDS to have the

early game head start on other champions as a mid lane character. (Provided you use him as the

mid lane character). Now for my Marks, I take Magic Penetration because it allows me to still

an early advantage early game when laning against a tank (Trust me, I get begged to take top

when we have a jungler, you'll need the Magic Pen.). As for my Quintessence, I take more Magic

Penetration to help with the early game head start since Swain is so weak early game.

For Masteries, as show above, I take 22 points in Offense and 8 points in Utility. It should be

fairly clear as to why I take those particular Masteries. It helps Swain early game to be almost

unstoppable and able to take enough damage whilst still being able to have the damage output

necessary to at least get that kill if you can't live.

At first I get the Doran's Ring so I can have a tid bit of mana regen along with my passive

then I get Sorcerer's Boots. I move directly into a Mana Crystal and Health Crystal so I can get

the early Catalyst and then get my blasting wand for the Rod of Ages. I do this because Swain

needs both Health and Ability Power to live. That is all I'm going to say on items because the

rest makes sense. I just needed to elaborate why I got an early Rod of Ages instead of Hextech

Revolver.

Swain's Skill Sequence is jank. I don't take Torment like most people would because, I can't

kill anyone before I am least level 4. Swain is meant to be a nuke, you need all of his

abilities plus some more power behind at least one of his moves (preferably Torment). Your

most powerful move early game is Nevermove because the other player can't move and you can

unload all of your abilities on the opposer.

During early game, I usually initiate combat with Nevermove, then Torment, then Decrepify and

finally ignite or W, E, Q. If I have my R, I initiate my W, then R, then E, then Q and ignite

if it's up.

The extra damage from Ignite and the bonus movement from Flash are a necessity to put the enemy

in their place early on so they can't have a grip in late game. You just have to be sure to get

Nevermove on them for Flash to be worth anything.

If you follow this guide for only a few games, you'll understand why I call it the Perfect

Swain. It's hard to kill him and easy to kill everyone else. You'll end up being the AP carry if

you can pull off your build correctly and in time.