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[Champion] Swain - Page 10

Forum Index > LoL Strategy
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Tooplark
Profile Joined October 2008
United States3977 Posts
July 26 2012 14:56 GMT
#181
Spellvamp is overkill on Swain. Your ult is enough healing most of the time, and if you really want to get more out of the healing it's more efficient to buy resists and Zhonya's.
WHAT POW'R ART THOU WHO FROM BELOW HAST MADE ME RISE UNWILLINGLY AND SLOW
h3r1n6
Profile Blog Joined September 2007
Iceland2039 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-07-26 15:13:25
July 26 2012 15:12 GMT
#182
I used to get the WotA on Swain before both of the WotA nerfs. WotA was too good to pass up on. Right now I don't see a reason to get it over Abyssal/Zhonyas though, just not as strong anymore.
clickrush
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Switzerland3257 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-08-21 11:07:01
August 21 2012 11:04 GMT
#183
I think swain is very underplayed and very strong in alot of matchups top and mid. roa+grail feels like a very solid core to have, the cdr is also extremely welcome. I think FH can be a viable option as well. The two common ap items WotA and DC never really work well from what i've seen. DC (WotA to a lesser extend) makes swain too weak to really use his ult to it's potential, even with the high AP scaling it has and the damage amplyfy from E. The only pure offensive item I consider is a late voidstaff against a bruiser heavy team, when you got enough mr through grail+mercs(+mb abyssmal). rilays makes you and your carry safer against alot of bruisers and is a natural counter to ignite and burst (the primary tactic to shut down a farmed swain). Basicly anything that gives at least two of those: defense, ap, utility/mana are items I want to consider with grail+roa as core choices and an optional voidstaff as a sixth item in really long games.

I've played with a swain in soloq who claimed to be a very experienced swain player. He got fed early and built roa, wota, dc into the mid-lategame, but didn't manage to really be a huge presence. With this setup he was not tanky enough to really soak up any damage and he didn't really do alot of damage with his ult because of that. Kinda sitting on the back with his high cooldowns and using ult when he got dived, dying to ignite + burst was all he was able to contribute. AP carries who deal sustained/poke damage or burst AoE/ very high burst ST can do well with such a squishy build because they don't rely meleeing bruisers. Swain is certainly not one of them. On regular AP carries I focus on getting damage and add defense when I can spare the gold. On regular Bruisers I do the opposite: focussing on defense and get in damage as I can squeeze it in. With Swain I do the latter.
oGsMC: Zealot defense, Stalker attack, Sentry forcefieldu forcefieldu, Marauder die die
Cloud9157
Profile Joined December 2010
United States2968 Posts
August 21 2012 16:42 GMT
#184
Swain is op as fuck in lane. His problem is that dot's are mostly garbage late game. You won't be killing any ad carry(which is pretty much your job) when they have 4+ items and are life stealing right through your damage. Peeling for your carry is probably the better choice, and not ulting until you start getting targeted.

Focusing more on defense is perfectly fine on him imo. He does not need a lot of ap to hit like a truck. Tag someone with e and unload everything on them and they go down pretty quick.

My own preference on building him is pretty much boots+3>cata>rod>zhonyas. After that, it depends on how the game is going. If I'm fed and killing everything, I usually go for a DC to insure that I keep killing everything. If I find myself getting focused a lot or they have a lot of magic damage, I grab a SV or Abyssal. If you also have a Kennen/Vlad/Rumble and see that they got a wota, you should consider grabbing one as well, just because double wota is stupid. Grail will also be an item of great usefulness, especially if you decided to grab a cup during lane. And of course a Void should be one of your last items if they are stacking a lot of mr.

Basically, there isn't one distinct way to build him(outside of rod>zhonya's imo). You really need to observe how the game is going and anticipate how it will play out. How farmed/fed is everyone, how late the game is, it all matters. There are so many items that can go on this guy, it really boils down to your judgment and experience in playing him.
"Are you absolutely sure that armor only affects the health portion of a protoss army??? That doesn't sound right to me. source?" -Some idiot
clickrush
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Switzerland3257 Posts
August 21 2012 19:08 GMT
#185
just had a game as swain vs fiora top. was very easy to lane vs her but noct kept camping and diving me. I was ahead in CS and kills compared to fiora still so she switched lanes with kat. Kat farmed very well during that time. she had more cs than me so i played defensively and waited her to make mistakes. was able to kill her too and get a decent farm and items. I still lost the game though since my team kept losing 4on3 fights at dragon etc so I had to leave kat and set up good dragon fights which i did 1 time successfully. In the end we still got pwned hard. Dunno. Our AD carry was never really on the right place and got caught in every 5on5 despite me being in the front line. I couldnt combo on noct though because kat would go rampage too much then. my build was tabi, roa, athenes, zonyas.
oGsMC: Zealot defense, Stalker attack, Sentry forcefieldu forcefieldu, Marauder die die
Sufficiency
Profile Blog Joined October 2010
Canada23833 Posts
August 21 2012 22:00 GMT
#186
The problem with Swain is that he crushes a lot of mid and top lanes but he doesn't really carry very hard.
https://twitter.com/SufficientStats
zulu_nation8
Profile Blog Joined May 2005
China26351 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-08-21 22:03:46
August 21 2012 22:03 GMT
#187
he carries very hard.. he also snowballs harder than like every AP
Sufficiency
Profile Blog Joined October 2010
Canada23833 Posts
August 21 2012 22:07 GMT
#188
On August 22 2012 07:03 zulu_nation8 wrote:
he carries very hard.. he also snowballs harder than like every AP


The problem is that he is mostly damage over time.
https://twitter.com/SufficientStats
zulu_nation8
Profile Blog Joined May 2005
China26351 Posts
August 21 2012 22:12 GMT
#189
what does that have to do with anything?
Craton
Profile Blog Joined December 2009
United States17303 Posts
August 21 2012 23:26 GMT
#190
Get fed, walk in middle of enemy team, press Zhyona's.
twitch.tv/cratonz
Cloud9157
Profile Joined December 2010
United States2968 Posts
August 21 2012 23:39 GMT
#191
On August 22 2012 07:12 zulu_nation8 wrote:
what does that have to do with anything?


dots are not good vs people with life steal. I hate whenever I go after adcs in a team fight, only to have them life steal through part of my damage. When they have ie, bt, pd(s) it becomes very difficult to kill them. Usually have to rely on someone with hard cc holding them down for you.
"Are you absolutely sure that armor only affects the health portion of a protoss army??? That doesn't sound right to me. source?" -Some idiot
clickrush
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Switzerland3257 Posts
August 22 2012 07:27 GMT
#192
On August 22 2012 08:39 Cloud9157 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 22 2012 07:12 zulu_nation8 wrote:
what does that have to do with anything?


dots are not good vs people with life steal. I hate whenever I go after adcs in a team fight, only to have them life steal through part of my damage. When they have ie, bt, pd(s) it becomes very difficult to kill them. Usually have to rely on someone with hard cc holding them down for you.


nice post count!

yeah I guess I should have tried to concentrate more my ad carry during teamfights. Swain is very, very good at protecting them if you are aware of it. But I figured Swain does not hard carry by default, even if fed early on. You have to be smart about what you do in lategame and how you fight and not just cawcaw into them when noct ults on your carry.
oGsMC: Zealot defense, Stalker attack, Sentry forcefieldu forcefieldu, Marauder die die
Tooplark
Profile Joined October 2008
United States3977 Posts
August 23 2012 05:27 GMT
#193
Swain doesn't assassinate the enemy carries. If you want to do that, pick Ahri or Kass.
Swain doesn't start teamfights explosively. If you want to do that, pick Annie or Brand.
What Swain does is live forever and do stupid amounts of damage. You are not protecting your team's carry - you ARE your team's carry.

Also, I still think that Rod of Ages is a pretty crappy item for Swain. Resists and damage are much more important. The mana pool is nice, but I'd rather leave catalyst alone (if I buy it at all) and just get Zhonya's Hourglass faster.
WHAT POW'R ART THOU WHO FROM BELOW HAST MADE ME RISE UNWILLINGLY AND SLOW
MVTaylor
Profile Blog Joined October 2011
United Kingdom2893 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-08-23 05:46:54
August 23 2012 05:45 GMT
#194
When he gets god like farm he can carry like a mother fucker and going golden raven mode when on 10% HP to come out of it at 50% with 2 kills is maximum troll mode but he just seems lacking everywhere else.

If you're up against anyone who can push a lane moderately well then best of fucking luck as every second you don't have blue buff is crippling essentially meaning you have to either never leave your lane, blow a large portion of your mana to clear the wave before going or let your turret take the hits during which time your opponent is ganking your teams lanes or robbing your wraiths. When ganking he's nothing like an Ahri, TF or LB, if their top or bot lane are pushing they'll still be able to get out fine with standard ward positioning and basic reflexes, your best hope is their stupidity or counter ganking.

So, in my opinion while he can be fun to play occasionally and can snowball stupidly hard he doesn't really dominate in lane, doesn't have the ganking power and mobility like many other mid champs do and while having a fair amount of cc still not as strong or as much as other mids. To me that's why he gets so little use in competitive play and isn't exactly a go to champ for carrying yourself through solo queue, jack of all trades, master of none.
@followMVT
zulu_nation8
Profile Blog Joined May 2005
China26351 Posts
August 23 2012 05:49 GMT
#195
the thing with swain is, you dont have to hit a skill shot to kill the other mid if youre ahead
Sufficiency
Profile Blog Joined October 2010
Canada23833 Posts
August 23 2012 06:15 GMT
#196
On August 23 2012 14:45 MVTaylor wrote:
When he gets god like farm he can carry like a mother fucker and going golden raven mode when on 10% HP to come out of it at 50% with 2 kills is maximum troll mode but he just seems lacking everywhere else.

If you're up against anyone who can push a lane moderately well then best of fucking luck as every second you don't have blue buff is crippling essentially meaning you have to either never leave your lane, blow a large portion of your mana to clear the wave before going or let your turret take the hits during which time your opponent is ganking your teams lanes or robbing your wraiths. When ganking he's nothing like an Ahri, TF or LB, if their top or bot lane are pushing they'll still be able to get out fine with standard ward positioning and basic reflexes, your best hope is their stupidity or counter ganking.

So, in my opinion while he can be fun to play occasionally and can snowball stupidly hard he doesn't really dominate in lane, doesn't have the ganking power and mobility like many other mid champs do and while having a fair amount of cc still not as strong or as much as other mids. To me that's why he gets so little use in competitive play and isn't exactly a go to champ for carrying yourself through solo queue, jack of all trades, master of none.


Really? I am always under the impression that he can dominate a lane quite easily once he is a little ahead - because of his stupid sustain via R.
https://twitter.com/SufficientStats
Alaric
Profile Joined November 2009
France45622 Posts
August 23 2012 09:48 GMT
#197
You can't kill him if he gets ahead, well, I guess you could with your jungler... but then you have to commit so he just rejoices at the sight of you remaining in range and takes the kill with a squeal. And sometimes a second one, if you've already done that a couple of times and your jungler doesn't pack enough burst.

A fed Swain can very well assassinate in the midgame thanks to the power of Torment, especially squishies, but the thing is—after the assassination, he's still probably got all of his kit except for W available on short notice, ready to trash somebody else (who's already lost some HP through your ult).

He's a dueling/teamfighting champion, not an assassin, nor a roamer. Everybody doesn't get to be Lebonk, 'happens. You just have to keep this in mind when you build your teamcomp. Or you just send him top and go all "Sorry Vlad, I'm liking that spot, now please leave me alone". Or weep because everybody and their mother has an instant dash up there these days.


Regarding RoA, it's simple: resistances are cool. Stacking them without HP and getting killed before your ult can kick in is not. Kinda the same as Mundo where you need a HP buffer for your ult to start ticking before you die.
Cant take LMS hipsters serious.
clickrush
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Switzerland3257 Posts
August 23 2012 10:15 GMT
#198
not getting roa is just weird considering that all the stats are very much needed and its an extremely costefficient item.
oGsMC: Zealot defense, Stalker attack, Sentry forcefieldu forcefieldu, Marauder die die
Amui
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
Canada10567 Posts
August 23 2012 11:05 GMT
#199
I think RoA is too good to pass up. He uses every stat in RoA extremely well, and the buildup is extremely good for laning. The addition of grail into the game just makes him a monster.

Also Swain has been my goto pick against Diana. Punishes her extremely well pre-6, and post 6 you are relatively safe from all-ins.
Porouscloud - NA LoL
clickrush
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Switzerland3257 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-08-23 11:22:24
August 23 2012 11:21 GMT
#200
On August 23 2012 20:05 Amui wrote:
I think RoA is too good to pass up. He uses every stat in RoA extremely well, and the buildup is extremely good for laning. The addition of grail into the game just makes him a monster.

Also Swain has been my goto pick against Diana. Punishes her extremely well pre-6, and post 6 you are relatively safe from all-ins.


the swain vs diana matchup has a some weaknesses though. diana naturally pushes through Q poke and her passive without wasting mana for it. this makes her vulnerable to ganks but your jungler is not your personal laning bodyguard so you can't ever count on him to come at exactly the right moment. So diana will most likely be able to gain quite some farm and mapcontrol if she hits some Qs on you. you need to litterally bait out and dodge her Qs to do good trades and you need be on spot with your CSing (because the lane is pushing to your turret). It is also very easy for her to mitigate your E and Q damage in lane with her shield since they all dots, so even if she isn't spot on with her reaction she will tank quite alot of it's damage.
oGsMC: Zealot defense, Stalker attack, Sentry forcefieldu forcefieldu, Marauder die die
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