There's no doubt that Swain is one of League's popular and powerful midlane/top laners right now, and he quickly rose to be one of my personal favorite champions to play right now. Ever since his rework earlier this year, players shave found ways to utilize his new CC-oriented kit to his advantage, dominating the mid and top lanes. Even professional League of Legends players are all about Swain. But what makes him so good? How can you improve your Swain to dominate lane also?

Swain is centered mostly around landing CC. His passive lets him pull CC'd enemies, snag their souls, and power up his ultimate. his E damages then roots the first enemy hit, and his W (if hit) gives you a little window of opportunity to land your E, or allow teammates to also engage onto an enemy, also healing you. To fund such endevours, he needs mana. His Q refunds a certain amount of mana when it kills targets (you can kill multiple targets at once to stack the mana refund), and can also be used after pulling a CC'd enemy for some extra damage. Swain excels at the bruiser and midlane matchups (if you're taking him mid), but has a slower start against tanks in the toplane (where I prefer to play him).

Runes

Aery is one of the most common runes to take on Swain in the current meta for extra trading damage. Manaflow Band allows you to increase your max mana pool up to 250 mana, Transcendence for the extra AP from CDR that you'll get in the build anyways, then Gathering Storm for some bonus AP as the game goes on. Your secondary runes can vary, but I like taking the Inspiration route with Biscuit Delivery for mana sustain, and Cosmic Insight for a head start on CDR.

Laning

Swain has a "meh" early game, but starts to scale better as he levels up to 6. In the early game, las hit as many minions as you can in a row with your Q, and try to take reasonable trades against your opponent. Tanks will be easier to trade with, but bruisers might present a harder matchup depending on the champion and the summoner behind it. Auto attacking will end up being your best friend, but if lanes are pushing in your favor and mana isn't an issue, feel free to throw in Q's as well. Upon hitting level 3, your bread-and-butter combo will be your best friend. E your opponent, drag them into your W, then Q for the cherry on top afterwards. While not a huge damage dealer early game, it'll give Swain a little more sustain and hopefully relieve some pressure off of your lane. Because your opponent is likely to retaliate (depending on matchup), I'd recommend staying back during the combo, then peeling off once landed. This applies to not just top lane, but mid as well.

Itemization

The most common and widely-used build revolves around Rod of Ages first, followed by Lucidity Boots, Zhonya's Hourglass, Liandry's Torment, Void Staff, and Rabadon's/Banshee's. This build grants extra mana and magic damage/penetration, followed by survivability of the Zhonya's, health of Liandry's, then the extra AP from both Void Staff and Rabadon's. Of course, this build isn't set in stone. Against a heavy AD comp? Feel free to switch the Lucidity Boots to something along the lines of Ninja Tabi's, or Merc. Treads depending on matchup. Equally, Rabadon's can be switched out for Banshee's Veil, if an extra ability shield is something you're looking for. All in all, Swain's job here is to be semi-tanky, reliably healing off of his soul fragments, W, and ultimate. If you find yourself getting shredded in team fights, play towards the middle of your team and kite out your abilities, or maybe change your build (like the examples above) in order to survive a bit longer to land your second ultimate cast.

Teamfighting

Swains have a lot of fun in mid to late game teamfights. His W either grants him free healing and soul fragments or forces the enemy team to split up and avoid damage from his demonic eye. Looking for some engage? Swain's E, if landed, presents your team with a great opportunity to focus down one target, or bait the enemy into a teamfight they're bound to lose. Equally, your ult drains health from each enemy inside of your AoE, which should grant survivability and a quick second cast of your ult, dealing some hefty damage to those caught out. If your team is shy or too behind to pull off a great start to a teamfight, feel free to step up as long as your team is behind you. Otherwise, you'll get shredded down! Remember, you're semi-tanky with some self-healing, and traditional tanks will definitely outlive you in teamfights you're caught out in.

Conclusion

And with that, those are the basics of Swain that should help you in deciding how to play. Aggressive or passive, Swain is one of the best top/midlaners in the current meta. With practice, you'll upgrade from Master Tactician to General of Noxus in no time!