So I need some help playing Swain, mainly just exactly HOW to play him. I understand his combo and I build him as most guides suggest but I get targetted in team fights and generally get shat on because I'm under farmed.
Yesterday I was in a duo lane, it was Chogath + Swain (me) vs Mordekaiser and Sona and I couldn't do much without wasting my mana pool to absolute zero, then when I hit level 6 I was so underfarmed and zoned that I never recovered.
So I guess the issue is, how2earlygameSwain?

I have the Northern Frontier skin, so it's an obligation to me that I become godly with him.

NeoIllusions

United States37500 Posts

May 20 2011 20:42 GMT

#42

Swain needs solo. His spells cost a lot so he needs just about every last hit to keep his mana up with his passive. If you're going to lane bot, try Brand.

Tooplark

United States3977 Posts

May 20 2011 21:23 GMT

#43

Step 1: get a solo
Step 2: be careful with your mana. Only harass when they can't break Q tether easily and BOTH Q and E are up.
Step 3: become good at last-hitting minions
Step 4: get mp5/lvl blues or yellows (OR right now just rush philostone)

Ruken

United States858 Posts

May 23 2011 05:34 GMT

#44

Swain officially one of the only champs that can beat rigged as revolver vlad in lane.

El Hombre Lobo

United States24 Posts

May 24 2011 16:49 GMT

#45

Swain is not easy to play unless you solo. I suggest to not auto attack. League of legends is about teh micro. U MUST MICRO HARDER

ManBearPig

Belgium207 Posts

May 31 2011 16:47 GMT

#46

Did I miss anything or is there a 3 page Swain thread without anyone mentioning skilling order?
Btw I think Hotshot is going something like 1 or 2 philostones -> cata -> RoA -> deathcap ?

SHr3DD3r

Pakistan2137 Posts

May 31 2011 16:53 GMT

#47

Its in the OP....
And I don't really think getting philo stones on AP carries is really viable. But on Swain it sounds like it would be really useful. (Manahog that he is).

Tooplark

United States3977 Posts

May 31 2011 17:13 GMT

#48

On November 19 2010 14:01 Tooplark wrote:
Skills: R>E>Q>W wins lanes against anyone who has to get close to you or who you have to get close to. Take a point in W as you feel appropriate. Max EW if you can't get good Qs ever. Max EW in a duo lane if you're partnered with someone with a good slow or stun.

Craton

United States17281 Posts

May 31 2011 18:39 GMT

#49

On June 01 2011 01:47 ManBearPig wrote:
Did I miss anything or is there a 3 page Swain thread without anyone mentioning skilling order?
Btw I think Hotshot is going something like 1 or 2 philostones -> cata -> RoA -> deathcap ?

Yes, he opens Faerie Charm, hp pot x6, mana pot x2 and then builds it into a Philo. The idea is to never leave the lane.

godemperor

Belgium2043 Posts

August 20 2011 16:17 GMT

#50

I recently played swain on a friends account, he was a lot of fun, but do you think he is viable at higher elo play (1500) cos I rarely see swain on ranked games. He is on tier 2 on elementz tier list, but like half of the champions are on tier 1. Recently got my 10 friend referral, thinking about buying him with the RP.

crate

United States2474 Posts

August 20 2011 16:32 GMT

#51

On August 21 2011 01:17 godemperor wrote:
I recently played swain on a friends account, he was a lot of fun, but do you think he is viable at higher elo play (1500) cos I rarely see swain on ranked games. He is on tier 2 on elementz tier list, but like half of the champions are on tier 1. Recently got my 10 friend referral, thinking about buying him with the RP.

Every champ is viable at 1500.

Qualm

721 Posts

August 20 2011 16:34 GMT

#52

On August 21 2011 01:32 crate wrote:

Show nested quote +

Every champ is viable at 1500.

Frankly, every champion is viable in Solo Queue.

godemperor

Belgium2043 Posts

August 20 2011 16:42 GMT

#53

On August 21 2011 01:34 Qualm wrote:

Show nested quote +

Frankly, every champion is viable in Solo Queue.

Thats great to hear, just bought him, swain so much fun! Anyways would you recommend getting a frozen heart on him, since he is a fairly tanky caster who relies on staying close and needs a lot of mana.

Tooplark

United States3977 Posts

August 20 2011 17:39 GMT

#54

Hourglass should cover your armor needs and the active is amazing on Swain.
Tear/Cata should cover your mana needs and build into more useful items on Swain.
Cooldowns aren't really the limiting factor on Swain, and you should always have blue buff which gets you to 40% cdr with masteries and blue elixir.

Cloud9157

United States2968 Posts

November 10 2011 22:47 GMT

#55

Just had the most boring lane ever.

Swain vs Vlad. You can probably already guess, but there was only 1 kill (came close to killing him a few times) done by me thanks to the help of GP's ult.

Then I didn't even go back till around 15/20 minutes in. Had 4.8k gold and went straight for RoA and Sorc boots.

After I killed him, the lane went back and forth forever. We both sustain so well. Ran into mana problems a few times, but I usually got back to 1/2 if not mostly full.

My tower didn't even go down the entire game, about 35 minutes total before they surrendered.

Swain OP?

57 Corvette

Canada5941 Posts

November 10 2011 22:56 GMT

#56

On November 11 2011 07:47 Cloud9157 wrote:
Just had the most boring lane ever.

Swain vs Vlad. You can probably already guess, but there was only 1 kill (came close to killing him a few times) done by me thanks to the help of GP's ult.

Then I didn't even go back till around 15/20 minutes in. Had 4.8k gold and went straight for RoA and Sorc boots.

After I killed him, the lane went back and forth forever. We both sustain so well. Ran into mana problems a few times, but I usually got back to 1/2 if not mostly full.

My tower didn't even go down the entire game, about 35 minutes total before they surrendered.

Swain OP?

Swain vs Vlad is def a boring lane, but if you can land your W before he pools and unload your combo, it shouldn't be too hard. Once he hits level 9, it is basically a farming contest, but if you can get a kill or two before that it is no problem.

W>E>Q>Ignite>R> Walk with him until he is dead or the tower forces you back

Alaric

France45622 Posts

November 10 2011 23:05 GMT

#57

Depends. I know I build to be a little obnoxious (and ask to get ignited) with RoA sorcs into Will/SV, which makes me a bit frail in the first teamfights, where I generally get burst down fairly quickly. Then I get Will, some charging on RoA, one or two more levels, and once they can't get me down in a single burst I mainly try to bait them to chase me (spells on CD but the ult helps contributing and not dying) so the rest of my team focus them.
What I found is that most of the time people still try to burst me after I become really hard to kill, wasting their potential to pin someone down. If you can't burst Swain and he's not fed, just ignore him for higher priority targets, since it takes so long if he survives the engage phase.

He's really weak against other casters early though, I find. Low range, need to autoattack to make torment win trades or be efficient damage-wise (so you take aggro to harass), and ranged champs are hard to keep in Q for full. He's a better solotop against gap closer champs, but I don't see many people accepting to send an AP top.

spinesheath

Germany8679 Posts

November 10 2011 23:07 GMT

#58

And here I thought that Swain shuts Vlad down pretty hard at early levels...

Haemonculus

United States6980 Posts

November 10 2011 23:42 GMT

#59

Swain wrecks vlad hardcore in my experience o.o;

mrgerry

United States1508 Posts

November 11 2011 01:11 GMT

#60

Swain v Vlad is heavily a matchup in swain's favor. Sadly, Vlad has been nerfed so many times that he's a pretty rare sight. Swain has some of the strongest harrass early levels while Vlad's sustain isn't anything special nor is his damage. So you just patiently wait for him to go in for that creep kill then eq auto like the nasty birdman you are then watch his hitpoints go away. As long as you get your cata in a fairly early timing window this early advantage will last for awhile until he gets his spellvamp and MR. Then you will sit there with your blue farming away and he will keep farming away.

And Rugfeeder is a liar, Frozen heart is a boss item on swain =)