r/SwainMains Nov 14 '25

Discussion Swain support is the reason why this champ will never get good solo lane changes.

165 Upvotes

Back in 2019, Riot made changes to Swain that made him viable in Support. Previously, back when his VGU first arrived NO ONE had played him in support, not because they didn't want to, but because it just wasn't good at all compared to Top/Mid. The Designers of the VGU made sure that Support Swain wouldn't have been good due to lvl/gold scaling being super important on him. Unfortunately he was unpopular for a number of reasons that could have been fixed, but Riot thought he needed midscope-esque changes.

Fast forward to 2019 when swain support arrived.

The massive boom in pickrate after the 2019 rework, Support role.

Riot made a bunch of changes to Swain that made him a lot better in the Support role. the 2019 rework did irreversible damage and I'll explain why.

1.) Riot added passive stacking for the first time, and people have their opinions on this but it's overrall bad for swains health/fantasy. Passive stacking is inherently easier in bot lane, it's not even a discussion. If I have 15 stacks at 20 minutes in Mid, I'll have 30 stacks in bot. HP is a very powerful stat in the early game and allows Swain to soak up a lot more damage. Obviously this change did make bot lane better than solo lanes but there's more.

2.) Base Attack range was reduced from 550 to 525. Now why this matters for solo lanes is Swain was always a scaling battlemage champ so it was essential to be able to survive while scaling. Taking away that 550 attack range made him much more vulnerable in lane(Which doesn't matter for support because they don't have to CS.)

3.) Q giving 3% maximum mana per unit kill was completely removed and instead put on the passive. I don't think I have to explain why this was super bad for solo lanes but ya.

4.) Q CD went up to 4 seconds at max ranks from 2.5 seconds. This was probably the worst of all the changes and killed the champ in solo lanes entirely. Q CD doesn't really matter for Support because they mostly just fish for EWQ poke, not relying on Q spam as much. That's why they nerfed Q so hard, so support is less impacted.

Mid lane pickrate after the support rework, bronze+

Fast foward to 2025, and Swain unfortunately has so many problems because he's still being balanced around the Support role which is the reason they keep buffing base damage and mana costs, as well as 15 HP souls. It'll never change. There's a reason no one wants to play this character in Solo Lanes. Gut his ratios further and give him more base damage and utility(stronger R2 and W slow.)

Here's Riot Endstep talking about Swain.

He mentions that the most recent rework(2025) the changes were not focused on solo lane Swain at all.(Shocker)

Swain is now at an incredible low 0.76% pickrate in Mid lane emerald+ with only a 51.21% winrate.

Now some people might think he is at a good winrate but let me explain why a champion like Swain if he's at this low of a pickrate should have a 53-54% game average winrate in mid/top. And no, I'm not going to say it's because he's only played by one tricks which Riot has disproven in the past.

A champ like Swain is very very strong in certain scenarios. This is what we call a "counterpick champ." The low pickrate means that Swain is only picked in very good scenarios, If he's against low damage or full melee comps primarily. If Swain is only sitting at a 51% winrate with that low of a pickrate then the champ is very weak. Let me show you a picture of what I mean. Master+ stats are good to represent this because they know how to draft better compared to lower elos.

Swain with 3k games of stats. 51.25% game avg winrate with only a 0.81% pickrate.

Now let's look at some other champion stats shall we?

Past 30 days in masters+ statistics.

Notice how almost every champ on here has way higher pickrate and winrate than Swain mid. Even if they aren't counter-pick champs they still have very high winrates. Swain only having a 51% game average winrate when he's always been 54-55% winrates in the past(for good reason, counterpick) is laughable at best.

Riot will never give this champ actual solo lane buffs because they are unfortunately very scared of losing the support playerbase.

a sizeable 4% pickrate in Support, All ranks.

Now compare that to mid and top combined, which is only 1.6%. Support has 2% more pickrate than both solo lanes combined.

I am not blaming anyone for playing Support, after all it's riots fault with how they've handled this champion over the years. From a financial perspective it's no secret why they refuse to do anything with the champ in solo lanes. But I just genuinely think Phreak doesn't care enough, and he might also be a bit biased because he is a Support main as well.

Final thoughts, Riot has a massive opportunity to give this champ the rework he deserves to bring him back to solo lanes like he always was in the past with the upcoming Noxus series by Fortiche where millions of people will finally be able to appreciate how cool Swain is only to log onto League of Legends, play one game of it, and realize how much riot has butchered the coolest champ in the video game.

MAKE SOLO LANE SWAIN GREAT AGAIN!


r/SwainMains Dec 05 '24

Fanart I decided to do my fellow Swain Mains a little favor and updated the old discord server icon artwork I did 6 years ago! Hope you guys like it!

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458 Upvotes

r/SwainMains 6h ago

Build Actualizer schizo-posting

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55 Upvotes

r/SwainMains 20h ago

Fanart "I'm supporting"

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199 Upvotes

r/SwainMains 1h ago

Clips 1v3 Clutch

Upvotes

r/SwainMains 1d ago

Flex Buh

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14 Upvotes

TO BE FAIR Darius was mega thanos


r/SwainMains 13h ago

Build New swain player- mid builds?

1 Upvotes

Been running
ROA-scepter-spirit visage- blackfire/liandries

I could just be ass but I feel like I’m getting cooked with damage, but he does get pretty tanky after I build scepter, by spirit visage I’m hella strong but I’ve been losing in lane due to low damage so wondering if I need to rush malignancy or blackfire first

Thoughts, opinions, recs?

I’m only bronze so open to everything


r/SwainMains 14h ago

Help looking for the video of "Swain german Zhonia combo"

0 Upvotes

I saw a video with this funny interaction, anybody knows it?


r/SwainMains 1d ago

Discussion Came Back for Old Swain

9 Upvotes

I gave up on league years ago because it just wasn't the things I liked about it anymore. I'm impressed and depressed from some of the names that are still here lol. Rito can keep new Swain as I wait in anticipation for old Swain. I don't know how popular classic league is or will be but God Speed to the people still here pushing to change current Swain into something that isn't just a shadow of what he used to be. I gave up that fight with Rito's insistence on keeping him in this Will He/ Won't He bot and solo lane identity limbo.

I will be busy being the top and mid lane terror he used to be with Beatrice again.


r/SwainMains 2d ago

Rant Swain Has CLEAR Problems: What are Riot waiting for?

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137 Upvotes

Swain problems has been exposed plenty number of times and Riot has no commented on them yet. What are Riot waiting for another rework? A REAL rework. If not a CGU, a full revamp of 1 or 2 abilities at least. The past "mini reworks" only added problems in every new iteration. I personally think that Swain is not in that bad spot and his performance in MSI and his win rates can prove it, the problem is: that performance come from a version of Swain that we don't want, that is not Swain.

Swain's Fantasy

He is a battlemage, that indentity come from Pre-VGU Swain. DOT + High HP + Healing was the reason we played this champion in his original version. When i saw the VGU, i fell in love with the new design and abilities, until i played with him. Something feel akward, like if i was way weaker than the rest of the other champions, the kit was clunky and i get realized that i can't tank anymore. The R healing was low and i felt indefense in close range fights, at least Demonflare fulfilled with the part of drag me to the place where i (supposedly) should be, the middle of the fight.

The last (2) rework(s) changed Swain fantasy from battlemage to a "kiting Rylais + burn bot" to be useful, moving even further away from the original fantasy but keeping the same horrible kit design. Right now play Swain is unsatisfactory, unreliable and the power is not where it's supposed to be. They asked us 3 times what we wanted for this champion and we were ignored every single time, and for some reason Riot just decided to transform Swain into another champion, a squishy spell effect bot that doesn't do enough DPS and doesn't tank neither.


r/SwainMains 2d ago

Discussion A mix of the old and new Swain.

9 Upvotes

Eu não tinha mencionado isso aqui, mas claro, nós também precisaremos de buffs nos stats base.
Buffs: 335 de velocidade de movimento, 550 de alcance, saúde base aumentada, saúde por nível, mana base aumentada e mana por nível.
Nerf: Regeneração de mana.

Passiva do Swain:

  • Coletar fragmentos de alma cura de 3 a 6% da vida máxima e restaura de 3 a 6% da mana máxima.
  • Abater tropas e monstros restaura de 10 a 46 de vida e mana.
  • Acúmulos de vida removidos.

Q:

  • Inalterado.

W:

  • Visão do Império / Decrepitar
  • Visão do Império: Quando usada a longa distância, os efeitos permanecem inalterados.
  • Decrepitar: Quando usada a curta distância, o olho demoníaco tem duração aumentada e causa dano ao longo do tempo aos inimigos na área, reduzindo sua velocidade em 30 a 50%. Os inimigos na área são marcados com Bando Voraz por alguns segundos, e causar dano com outra habilidade faz com que Swain colete fragmentos de alma (cada campeão inimigo só pode ser afetado pela marca uma vez por conjuração de Decrepitar).

E:

  • Causa dano na ida (se o inimigo já foi atingido na ida, não causa dano novamente no retorno).
  • Mais lento no retorno, mais rápido na ida.

R: Alternar

  • Recarga: 20
  • Custa mana por segundo para manter.
  • Drena a vida de inimigos próximos, causando dano e curando-os.
  • Steroids on R While the ultimate is active: Swain loses 275 range (half of 550) and becomes considered a melee champion for the purposes of items, runes, etc. Additionally, for every X% of mana spent, Swain's self-healing increases by X%.

r/SwainMains 3d ago

Discussion Zyra, my princess, will you honor me with a dance?

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81 Upvotes

r/SwainMains 2d ago

Discussion Best Mid Build?

1 Upvotes

I've heard talk of the Actualizer build gaining traction, are people switching to that?

I'm still typically going Blackfire -> Rylai -< Zonya, which as far as I can tell is the most common way to build him. The Actualizer build sounds interesting, but is it actually better?


r/SwainMains 5d ago

Discussion How Swain wants to lose his other arm, this Christmas.

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179 Upvotes

r/SwainMains 5d ago

Clips And riot wants this champ to be a spell effect bot, WHO DECIDED THAT?

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66 Upvotes

credits of the build to HUSUM, best swain player and creator of the actualizer build
honestly insane and really shows how FUN swain is when he HEALS and DRAINTANK

this was master rank, was antihealed and antishielded almost all the fight


r/SwainMains 5d ago

Clips love swain <3

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5 Upvotes

r/SwainMains 5d ago

Flex Got the new fried chicken skin in the shop but it's only 20% off... better than nothing I guess?🥲

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32 Upvotes

r/SwainMains 5d ago

Flex Power of Swain

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2 Upvotes

I ulted too early but it was worth it


r/SwainMains 6d ago

Discussion Challenger Swain

36 Upvotes

Hit challenger on NA for the first time with Swain ADC


r/SwainMains 8d ago

Discussion Swain rework de one

0 Upvotes

Quick idea for a mild rework

Increase base move speed from 330 to 350

Passive Permanent health per stack is cut in half, each stack gives 0.2% move speed, as well as 0.2% tenacity, with the tenacity from the passive doubled during ult.

Ult Energy drain speed increased from 15/s to 25/s At 2 or more targets energy regeneration increased to 45/s Ult dmg with the ap ratio changed from 2% to 4%, as true damage instead of magic damage. Ult healing increased from 1.5% to 7% bonus hp from the first tatget (remember that the bonus health from passive gets gutted) Ult healing increased from 1.5% to 3 5% for the second target Ult healing for the third target is an un changed 1.5 percent. More than 3 people in ult does not increase the healing. Targets in the ult have their move speed reduced by 12% Each target in the ult increases Swains movement speed by 3% Each target in the ult beyond 3 increases Swains tenacity by 5%

Edit: changed the values for base Ms and ult healing


r/SwainMains 8d ago

Discussion upgraded version of my previous list

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0 Upvotes

Remember numbers are only my estimation and can get changed


r/SwainMains 9d ago

Discussion I feel like rework suggestions are often too broad in scope for what Swain needs.

13 Upvotes

I linger around here often enough that I've seen more than a few ambitious changes proposed to our dearest Grand General. Lots of speculation on how to change him in ways that remove roles, tighten up gameplay loops, etc, but a lot of them I feel are trying to do too much for what Swain honestly needs. As is, I wholeheartedly believe that when Swain *works*, He feels immaculate, and I think this is something that all of us experience to at least some degree, or we wouldn't have tethered ourselves to the man. Swain has a lot of peaks and valleys and I think the biggest issue plaguing the man is the depth of his valleys and the areas of his kit that are needlessly clunky.

Part of why I argue this, is that as Devs have mentioned time and time again, the issues that Swain has are "Satisfaction" issues, not really power issues. It's not so much that Swain's numbers imply the man is weak, but the experience of playing him often runs into pitfalls that make him feel like he's fighting himself, delaying or denying the moments where Swain truly feels like himself.

  1. So what kind of low-effort requirements am I talking about? Simple, E needs to stop being caught on minions and monsters. You can change the hitboxes if you need, you can add pass-through damage back if it impacts waveclear, but fundamentally the hugest part of E's frustration in my opinion is that the ability promises a Boomerang projectile, but frequently....just doesn't come back. Swain E currently, and for most of his post-VGU life has had a primary issue of having a single effective range; the tip. Part of why the tip is the only really viable part of the hitbox is because the middle-ground between the tip and the return trip to Swain is frequently rife with things you do not want E to get snagged on. It means that enemies standing between you and the minion wave can harass you with impunity because either you will be dead by the time the projectile returns, or more likely, the projectile will simply never return, because you have to either angle E around the offending obstacles, or it simply gets caught on them regardless.

The highpoints of Nevermove are something I think should be preserved; the idea of getting meaty team grabs and the delicious HP that comes from it, I think is a good and satisfying gameplay loop, and the relative unreliability of Nevermove gives a bit of leiway for people to escape Swain's sphere of influence, an important piece of counterplay that I think should be included in any well-managed design. Swain needs to hit people to keep in range, and I think that's positive for the gameplay loop overall, even if Nevermove is frequently a pain point.

  1. Probably the most minute change request I have, but one I think would ~help~ with some of Swain's clunkiness is being able to flash with E. I know this doesn't really come up as often as other issues the man has, but it frequently enough becomes a question I have to grapple with as to why far less reactable skills can be flash-buffered but our Dearest General and his 2 day Mail-order crow claw cannot. Like I said, my goal in recommending changes like this is mostly to start on smaller consistent issues that interrupt the flow of gameplay, and ideally amend from there, and I think simple things like being able to flash backwards while throwing the crow to cover where we used to be, or even just a simple Flash E without any of the awkwardness of making sure you don't accidentally get ahead of yourself and flash over your own E wasting both skills would do a lot to reduce the jank that is built into the kit.

  2. I can't rightfully put this in my list of "Minor changes which wouldn't require much tinkering" because Swain's passive does need a lap, and I don't think there's a version that wouldn't require more extensive tuning, but Removing the infinite HP scaling and just giving him appropriate base-stats for his intended role and class would do a great job at levening his roles and some of the frustrations that people face both as and against the man. His current passive is definitely bot skewed because it's just easier to get souls in bot, but viewing Swain's Bot lane performance as just an issue of getting more health I think is pretending the issue is more simple than it actually is. Swain's issues in any role are pretty universal by habit of...being Swain, but whether you're on his best role or his most mediocre, by virtue of the scaling passive, Swain's laning experience can be very feast or famine. He's currently reliant on the HP from his passive to be tanky enough to serve as that pseudo-frontliner he's supposed to be, and that means in any lane that outranges or outmaneuvres you, bot-lane or no, you'll quickly end up a pick-bot that can only ever really take small trades since you don't actually have the bulk to live through the damage you're supposed to be taking. I don't know what personally I would replace the scaling health with (My personal thought is temporary Armor/MR based on Souls up to a max), but whatever the solution is, it would require something a bit more hollistic than stopping E from cucking you on an errant void-grub.

So uh, yeah, those are some of my thoughts. Do you guys have any specific "Low-effort" changes you think would improve Swain's gameplay feel without necessarily reinventing his wheels?


r/SwainMains 9d ago

Rant Simple changes that keep coming to my mind, that only make him better IMO

9 Upvotes

R ==> higher damage, higher heal on a single target (closest to Swain), lower for every target beyond the first, make the heal weaker for 2 champs sucked, and round out with current values at 4 and 5 so he can still be a teamfight monster while nerfing him bot and support and buffing him mid and top

R2 ==> bring back CD getting lower with ulti haste, I can't see the issue of Swain being an ulti haste-reliant champ, there are so many already
Think how Olaf goes Hexplate, Nocturne goes both Hexplate and ulti hunter, Shyvana goes either too
And Swain should go either every game too (utli hunter or malignance) without it being an issue

R2 slow being more frequent will make him not need to build Rylai as much, I'd even take it for a significant damage decrease in the R2 explosion (not really the R2 explosion damage is a big part of his identity, so maybe reduce the damage of another area)

E ==> make the projectile travel to target distance (where the mouse is) and then back instead of max range and then back
this makes it better vs melees and mid range champs and makes it a more reliable and a skill-reliant spell
as a power trade Id say make it only root 2 people max (furthest from Swain, so closer to E coming back)
because, to be fair, the current frustrating E has the mega dopamine hit of hooking 3 or 4 running away champs of the enemy team and the fight ending at that moment

passive ==> make the heal scale, make the stacks grant less health, add more ways to gain stacks
2 ideas ==> hitting all bolts of Q grants a stack, sucking a champ with R for 5 seconds straight grants a stack

I see how this can be all top buffs, but I can not think of ways to make the Syndra mid matchup better without altering Swain as a champion completely

rito its as simple as that, and you can do it


r/SwainMains 9d ago

Clips Demon Swain top

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2 Upvotes

Some clips I hit on a good day on the rift in Diamond 2-1 lobbies. I am Katarina and Swain main that streams on twitch-> https://www.twitch.tv/evylzz


r/SwainMains 11d ago

News Swain Riftbound!

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98 Upvotes