[Patch 1.0.0.124: Talon] General Discussion - Page 84

On September 01 2011 00:21 STS17 wrote:
Swain is like...stupidly easy to play. How are you failing that hard at him zalz? Now I'm hardly the best player in the world but I've never lost* a lane as Swain when I'm solo top.

Level 1: Melee champs can't harass you because you do more damage with E+Auto attacks then they do (though arguably it's not favorable for either of you to be harassing at this level). So the two of you either trade blows once, then pop a health potion and farm up to level two, or you skip the fruitless harassment and just farm to level 2.

Level 2: Melee champions can probably win in a trade with you now, especially ones with a gap closer, but here's how you handle that. Once they blow their gap closer you put a W right under them. If they (stupidly) continue to trade with you they get rooted in place and you walk away before they can deal their full set of damage, eating your W, E and a few auto attacks from you (which against anyone with a gap closer is favorable for you and not them). You want W here if they have a gap closer (because when they are standing on you it's a free hit which lets you walk away) or Q if they don't have a gap closer (because now they can never close on you).

Level 3-5: If you took E at level 3, re-read level 2, but now you do more damage. If you took Q/W, now anyone without a gap closer can never harass you. See them walking at you? Let them get about halfway into the range of your Q then say "Hey asshole, have you met my bird? He shoots lasers" into all chat and use it on him, then land a W and E (props for getting E off before Q). Free farm with impunity. Against those with a gap closer, See level 2, but add in your slow with nevermove to ensure they can't catch you and are punished even for retreating.

Level 6+: It's all about mana management now, I typically get a catalyst -> RoA which really helps your mana in lane, especially if you're purple and don't have easy access to a blue buff. Hextech Revolver is also a good choice for the extra spell vamp (I always go for WotA in a game) but I prefer the catalyst first because the earlier RoA makes you that much beefier in the mid game which is vital, plus the bonus mana from it is great for your ult and you don't charge a tear fast enough for my liking. Itemization aside, the same principals from level 1-5 exist here, but now you have innate sustain of your own which only helps.

Udyr can do literally nothing to you because laserbird and nevermove let you kite him forever. If he goes BEARSTANCE you just hit him with your Q and walk away, and he can't catch you. If he walks at you with turtle shield active do the same, but laugh at him because he's so much slower without the ms boost from bear so landing everything is much easier (try to wait on your full combo for his shield to wear off, the slow from Q alone will be enough to keep him off of you, it's also wise to time a nevermove to land on him right as Q is about to expire so he does't just BEARSTANCE right at you when your slow is on cooldown.

WW is basically a farmfest for the two of you, since neither of you can really do anything to the other. If you don't let yourself get horribly out of position he can't use his Q on you so he has to regen off minions and your Q + W allow you to play keep away from the wolf if he tries to Q you (since they both have longer range) so just farm up knowing he can't do anything to you but also understanding that the opposite is also basically true.

Irelia's gap closer is shorter range than any of your abilities and it's fairly predictable when she is going to use it so you should never really be caught off guard. Note: I'm not saying it's impossible for her to use it on you, in fact she will, I'm saying it should never surprise you when she is going to use it so you should always be ready to use your combo to get away from her. Are you afraid of her dash stun? You know what needs to be the case for that to work? She needs to be lower health than you, so you're already winning when she does this. If she stuns you, it will even the score, but she's still commiting to eating a full combo from you since she can't get out of a well placed nevermove once Q is on her and she's standing right next to you.

You should also remember that your kit is extremely helpful for assisting ganks, so coordinate with your jungler so he frequents top lane for food and it makes the lane even easier. If your ganks are going well, pink ward the brush so they can't even ward it which makes your ganks that much more potent. If they buy a pink ward to get rid of yours, horray for you! They just put themselves even more behind then they already were and it shows you that they are scared. Don't forget that since we are assuming the most basic level of competence on your behalf you clicked on them when they returned to lane and saw the ward, so you positioned yourself in such a way that they have to eat your combo to place that ward down. If they ran through their jungle to do it, you had a ward there so you saw that, and they have to eat your combo to return to the lane.

* I define losing a lane as either getting zoned, feeding the other team, or coming out of the laning phase behind on cs. Unless you're absolutely horrible and are utterly incapable of seeing how Swains abilities interact with each other, it is extremely difficult to lose a lane with him.