LoL Champion Build Guides: Swain

Swain The Noxian Grand General

Find the best Swain build guides for League of Legends S12 Patch 12.1. The MOBAFire community works hard to keep their LoL builds and guides updated, and will help you craft the best Swain build for the S12 meta. Learn more about Swain's abilities, skins, or even ask your own questions to the community!

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Season 12 Guides // Patch 12.1 & Patch 11.24

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Season 12 Builds // Patch 12.1 & Patch 11.24

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Swain Build & Runes

If you're looking for the best rune build for Swain we've got you covered. Below you can find the best items and runes to build for Swain, as determined by LeagueSpy's calculations of thousands of Plat+ League of Legends games. If you are already familiar with how to play Swain this is a great resource to quickly get a good rune selection for Patch 12.1. However, if you are a new Swain player we highly recommend reading through some of the guides above to learn why this build is strong on Swain!

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Patch 12.1: 490336 matches scanned * Each section of the build is rated independently of the others

Domination

Inspiration

Second Best

50%

Win Rate 3064 Games

Domination

Inspiration

Third Best

50%

Win Rate 1860 Games

Domination

Inspiration

More Swain Runes

Second Best

49%

Win Rate 6015 Games

Third Best

61%

Win Rate 61 Games

Second Best

52%

Win Rate 4446 Games

Second Best

45%

Win Rate 5436 Games

Third Best

42%

Win Rate 550 Games

Don’t forget
to Buy Wards

Passive Ability

Second Best

67%

Win Rate 645 Games

Passive Ability

Third Best

65%

Win Rate 611 Games

Passive Ability

Patch 11.20: 494917 matches scanned * Each section of the build is rated independently of the others

Domination

Inspiration

Second Best

52%

Win Rate 550 Games

Precision

Domination

Third Best

54%

Win Rate 133 Games

Precision

Domination

More Swain Runes

Second Best

53%

Win Rate 902 Games

Third Best

50%

Win Rate 937 Games

! Small Sample Size Warning * There is either not a lot of games played on this champion or the builds vary greatly, we have provided the top build but it does not have a high confidence rating so use your own discretion.

Second Best

100%

Win Rate 3 Games

Third Best

33%

Win Rate 3 Games

Second Best

51%

Win Rate 1264 Games

Third Best

55%

Win Rate 767 Games

Don’t forget
to Buy Wards

Passive Ability

Second Best

Win Rate 1 Games

Passive Ability

Third Best

100%

Win Rate 1 Games

Passive Ability

Patch 12.1: 490349 matches scanned * Each section of the build is rated independently of the others

Domination

Inspiration

Second Best

59%

Win Rate 123 Games

Domination

Inspiration

Third Best

58%

Win Rate 230 Games

Domination

Inspiration

More Swain Runes

Second Best

50%

Win Rate 1432 Games

Third Best

54%

Win Rate 779 Games

Second Best

54%

Win Rate 2562 Games

Third Best

52%

Win Rate 917 Games

Second Best

53%

Win Rate 3041 Games

Third Best

54%

Win Rate 1608 Games

Don’t forget
to Buy Wards

Passive Ability

Second Best

68%

Win Rate 118 Games

Passive Ability

Third Best

63%

Win Rate 265 Games

Passive Ability

Patch 12.1: 490367 matches scanned * Each section of the build is rated independently of the others

Domination

Precision

Second Best

53%

Win Rate 144 Games

Domination

Inspiration

Third Best

40%

Win Rate 53 Games

Precision

Domination

More Swain Runes

Second Best

52%

Win Rate 1134 Games

Third Best

56%

Win Rate 71 Games

Second Best

51%

Win Rate 426 Games

Third Best

50%

Win Rate 429 Games

Second Best

55%

Win Rate 516 Games

Third Best

53%

Win Rate 662 Games

Don’t forget
to Buy Wards

Passive Ability

Second Best

63%

Win Rate 112 Games

Passive Ability

Third Best

62%

Win Rate 60 Games

Passive Ability

Swain Counters

Learn 's counters and discover matchups where they have an advantage! When you're starting a game of League of Legends you should always keep in mind if you'll be at an advantage or disadvantage against your opponent, so you can know whether to bully them or play safe. You can find detailed breakdowns of each matchup on CounterStats, and you can also check out some Swain guides to see how to build and play against other champions you may find yourself up against!

This counter data is for Swain Support in Plat+ games. The percent shown is the enemy champion's counter rating against Swain. Counter rating is our own statistic that factors in counter kills, overall kills, early lead ratio, comeback ratio, and win percent to give the whole picture of that champion's effectiveness as a counter pick.

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Counters powered by CounterStats

CR is Counter Rating, which is a combination of multiple counter factors. Counters shown are for Swain Swain Support

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Swain Skins

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Find Swain's skins and when they were last on sale. Never miss a sale for your favorite skin by using our Wish List feature! You can also find all Swain skins and chromas on Swain's skins page.

Skin Release Wishlist Popularity Cost

Crystal Rose Swain

Special Events

February 11, 2021

+ Wishlist

1350

Hextech Swain

Hextech Crafting

December 12, 2019

+ Wishlist

Dragon Master Swain

February 22, 2018

+ Wishlist

1350

Tyrant Swain

May 23, 2012

+ Wishlist

1350

Northern Front Swain

October 5, 2010

+ Wishlist

750

Classic Swain

Original

+ Wishlist

Bilgewater Swain

October 5, 2010

+ Wishlist

520

Swain's Abilities

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Ravenous Flock Swain's Passive

1125

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.

Death's Hand Swain's Q Ability

725

65 / 70 / 75 / 80 / 85

9 / 7.5 / 6 / 4.5 / 3

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.

Vision of Empire Swain's W Ability

7500

70 / 80 / 90 / 100 / 110

22 / 21 / 20 / 19 / 18

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.

Nevermove Swain's E Ability

850

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.

Demonic Ascension Swain's Ultimate (R) Ability

650

100

120

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).

Demonflare Swain's Ultimate (R) Ability

675

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).

Demonflare is automatically cast at the end of the Demonic Ascension duration, which can be ended early by recasting the ability.

Questions About Swain

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Latest Questions

How to play against Swain?

Asked by Hamstertamer on March 26, 2018

The combination of [[nevermove]] + [[ravenous flock]] is basically an instant cast [[death sentence]] that hits you through creeps on a 9 second cooldown. His ultimate is literally just press R win teamfight, and he can always force a fight...

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Is new Swain good?

Asked by LeBlanco on February 5, 2018

I've played a bit of new Swain on the PBE with mixed results, while I'm not sure what to build on him yet I'm leaning towards a AP/Health type build (like old swain). While Swain is fun he doesn't seem to be doing the damage I feel like he should,...

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Swain skin

Asked by Skidush on January 15, 2015

Is there any news about the Dragon Master Swain skin? Wasn't that discussed a few years before? I'm itching to get that one. (Don't get me wrong, Tryrant Swain is the shizz).

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Least played champions?

Asked by dudm on April 30, 2014

I have just been curios guys about why some champions are not played that much. I know that unpopular picks like swain, galio, mao'kai, and yorick are all strong picks in their respective fields. What I am trying to get to in this is why some...

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Swain's time to shine

Asked by Balzarinn on January 20, 2014

I have a hunch that Swain will rise in popularity with all the innovation that has been going on in the LCS, both in the middle and top lane. I was wondering if you could help me find the best runes and build, but currently I like this one alot:...

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Shouldn't Tear of the Goddess work with Swain?

Asked by FalseoGod on December 5, 2012

So the new [[tear of the goddess]] says "whenever mana is spent" or something like that, but when I used it on [[Swain]] it wouldn't work whenever I toggled [[ravenous flock]]. Isn't it supposed to?

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LoL Champion Build Guides: Swain

Swain The Noxian Grand General

[ NEW SEASON 12 - 11.24 UPDATED!! ] - SWAIN is the GOD OF MI

MID Swain, the Ruthless Crow General

Swain Botlane Carry Actualizado [season 11] para partir raja

An honest guide to Swain Toplane

[12.1] BUILD MID TOP BOT SUPP

Swain complete guid

[12.1] Swain Build/Guide

Swain Support Carry

PRESEASON/S12 OBLITERATE SOLO QUEUE WITH SWAIN!

Swain Bottom Lane Season 12 Hyper Carry

GOREDRINKER SWAIN (Top/Sup)

Swain

Swain Support Carry

Damn this Swain - APCarrying the Botlane 101

Swain Sup

Swain Hyper Carry Season 12 ALL LANES

SWAIN MID BEST BUILD AND RUNES

Tank AP Swain

[11.23] A SUPPORT SWAIN GUIDE by a Silver Hardstuck Player

Moondrive Swain

Swain Build & Runes

Swain's Top Items

Swain's Top Items

Swain's Top Runes

Swain's Runes

Second Best

Third Best

Swain's Summoner Spells

Second Best

Third Best

Swain's Starters

Second Best

Trinket

Second Best

Third Best

Swain's Core Items

Boots

Swain's Luxury Items

Swain's Ability Order

Ravenous Flock (PASSIVE)

Death's Hand (Q)

Vision of Empire (W)

Nevermove (E)

Demonic Ascension (R)

Second Best

Ravenous Flock (PASSIVE)

Death's Hand (Q)

Vision of Empire (W)

Nevermove (E)

Demonic Ascension (R)

Third Best

Ravenous Flock (PASSIVE)

Death's Hand (Q)

Vision of Empire (W)

Nevermove (E)

Demonic Ascension (R)

Top Swain Players

Top Swain Players

Swain's Top Items

Swain's Top Items

Swain's Top Runes

Swain's Runes

Second Best

Third Best

Swain's Summoner Spells

Second Best

Third Best

Swain's Starters

Second Best

Third Best

Trinket

Second Best

Third Best

Swain's Core Items

Boots

Swain's Luxury Items

Swain's Ability Order

Ravenous Flock (PASSIVE)