Talk:Swain/@comment-10813891-20131104091100/@comment-15244341-20131105115418

RoA and Chalice. Tear has the crippling issue of being a pain in the ass to charge (Swain is not spammy and can't just leave Raven Form on to charge it) and absolutely useless until 30+ minutes into the game when it becomes an okay item that was mediocre during the midgame (Swain's prime). Also, as Space Mushroom said, no defenses for getting a better mileage out of healing.

RoA gives you a good manapool and when you upgrade chalice (I tend to get RoA > Zhonya's > Chalice > Rabadon's > AUG) plus blue buff you already get enough mana regen with the improved passive. Heck, if a teamfight goes well now I leave with more than half my mana thanks to the stacking % of max mana on AUG.

Also, getting all that mana regen that gives almost no damage until late midgame is not something I will recommend. Zhonya is a must, and so is Rabadon's. Rylai's is more (in my opinion, anyway) a situational item for late game to stop enemies with no gapclosers from getting to you or your backline.