Although Swain’s recent rework has left him struggling to find success in the solo lanes, he does not disappoint when queued up as a support. Fans of hook champions such as Thresh and Blitzcrank should feel right at home with this pick and will be blown away by his impressive burst damage. In this guide, I will explain the build I have devised for Swain and why I think he is strong in the support role. Let's get right into it.

Abilities

Swain can fly into the action at level 1 with the combo Nevermove → Ravenous (the hook part of his passive) → Auto Attack, so you should level up Nevermove first. This is your bare-bones ‘hook’ combo, which will pull your opponent inward and proc Electrocute. Look for an early invade with your team, and always take note of your allies’ CC abilities - especially your ADC’s - so that you can be primed to take advantage of Ravenous. The range for Ravenous is not listed at the time of writing, but it is somewhere around 200 units. Casting Nevermove at max range (850) and then activating Ravenous will pull your target in while automatically moving you up forward to execute an Auto Attack. Since your Auto Attack range is 550, the distance closed is 300, with what I estimate is about 50 units moved by you and 250 by your target.

At level 2, take a point in Vision of Empire. This ability does massive damage and is a very potent utility tool as well. If the enemy jungler started topside, or might be moving to botside after recalling, you can scout for them by using Vision of Empire on their bottom buff, outer camp, or the dragon pit. Max this ability second.

I recommend maxing Death’s Hand last and using it somewhat sparingly. Work it into your combos when it is guaranteed damage and use it on neutral objectives while holding up Nevermove and Vision of Empire to use on enemy champions as needed.

Items

Start with Spellthief’s Edge and Refillable Potion. Any hit of Nevermove should lead to a high damage combo that removes all the stacks off of Spellthief’s Edge and the extra AP and flat damage make that combo all the more devastating. Starting with three potions is normally a good choice for non-tank supports, but Flock, Taste of Blood, and your ability to zone off harass (by threatening your superior combo) should leave you very healthy. Upgrade to Frostfang and then pick up Boots of Speed in order to maintain your gold efficiency and lane pressure.

The first completed item you should build is a Zeke’s Convergence. This item is extremely cost-efficient and provides a 20% slow around you when you activate Demonic Ascension, which is just as powerful as a Rylai's slow! Additionally, you will gain a doubled slow (40%) and a very strong damage buff if you can coordinate with your Conduit. The resistances Zeke’s offers also pair extremely well with the bonus health and health regeneration granted by Demonic Ascension, making you extremely tanky for a pittance.

To finish your core items, upgrade your boots into Mercury’s Treads and grab Locket of the Iron Solari for even better front-lining with your ultimate. Round off your build with Knight’s Vow and Spirit Visage. These items will cap you off at 40% CDR and provide you with more sustain for an ally and yourself. Finally, if you find yourself well into the late game, upgrade to Remnant of the Watchers and keep yourself buffed up with Elixir of Iron.

Runes and Summoner Spells

Our keystone of choice for runes is Electrocute in the Domination tree, which can be used from level 1 and onward for devastating burst damage. Take Taste of Blood for more sustain. Cheap Shot might seem appealing, but it does extremely little damage, making it outclassed by Taste of Blood in almost any situation where the enemy can trade back some damage. Take Zombie Ward to make the most use of your Frostfang and Oracle Alteration and take Ravenous Hunter to boost your sustain even further.

For your secondary runes, go into Sorcery and pick up Manaflow Band to keep up your combo potential in lane. For your last slot, grab Celerity for lining up Nevermove, sticking to enemies with Demonic Ascension, and all the other wonderful things extra movement speed can offer.

For summoner spells, take Flash and Ignite. I believe this combination is best in most cases, since you are aiming to maximize your burst potential and get kills off of your picks. Substituting Exhaust for Ignite is probably good as a counter to hypercarries and assassins, or for maximizing your mid-game DPS with Demonic Ascension and Zeke’s Convergence.

Playstyle

Swain is a pick/kill lane champion and should be played as such. Squishy champions should crumble to your combos, but champions with a high degree of safety due to having attributes such as long range and disengage abilities will be hard to capitalize on in lane, just as is the case for standard engage and hook champions (have you ever played Blitzcrank into Janna/Ezreal? It's not thrilling.) In such cases, it may be better to take Ancient Coin in order to make sure you don’t fall behind on gold generation and that much-needed quest completion.

That being said, Swain has a lot of strengths that engage/hook champions typically lack. For one, all of his abilities have fantastic range, with his shortest non-ultimate ability, Death's Hand, clocking in at a whopping 725 range. Even more importantly, all of his abilities can hit the enemy champions through minions (even Death’s Hand via piercing, although it takes a little setup). This means that even in a relatively poor match-up, you will still have the ability to trade onto your enemy when they go for CS, even if you might not be getting a kill or huge damage out of it

Outside of the lane, look to control the enemy jungle with Vision of Empire and Zombie Ward, and use your vision control to make picks or deny the enemy team their camps and lane rotations. With Swain’s kit, you don’t need to be too scared about warding up their jungle alone but look to walk in with your allied jungler (and allies in general) whenever you can in order to accomplish the aforementioned goals (picks, camp steals, favorable rotations). Your neutral objective DPS and siege power isn’t great, but you can off-tank and provide a lot of CC when you have your ultimate and Locket of the Iron Solari off cooldown. Try not to force objectives and be ready to turn and fight.

Why You Should Pick Swain Support

So, why should you pick Swain support over some other catch or engage champion? Let's recap. One of the main reasons is that he can activate all of his abilities through the minion wave, giving him the ability to trade consistently and win lane. The other main reason is that he can keep up pressure throughout the game by having a strong ultimate that has good synergy with cheap, tank support items. The last and most important reason is Ravenous.

Ravenous is literally a guaranteed point-and-click ability, which is kind of absurd for what it does. It's why Nevermove's ability to go through the wave is very scary, and not just mildly irritating. It is strong, it is consistent, and your allies can set it up for you even if you miss every single Nevermove. This makes Ravenous effective with no gold investment, and even better when allies are around - a perfect passive for a champion in the support role. To top it all off, it can easily be triggered multiple times in teamfights due to an amazing 6 second cooldown at level 11. Combined with his other strengths, I believe Ravenous is what puts Swain over the top and makes him a truly excellent support.

If you are a player that enjoys playing hook supports or are just looking for a way to play reworked Swain effectively, I highly recommend giving Swain support a shot. He might just become your new pocket pick.

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