Talk:Swain/@comment-5557556-20131011214141/@comment-15244341-20131014134326

Malzahar's is worse early than Swain's, and better when he has some AP. Veigar's is better than Swain's period. Swain's is more than enough in early laning fase (pre-6) if you don't try to W-E-Q each time they are off cooldown. If you just throw Es and occasionaly Qs, you just need to last hit to be at a comfortable mana level. Veigar, however, needs to throw Q whenever it is off cooldown. So the passives are good for what they do in laning fase.

If you notice, though, his new passive will be applied to teamfights mostly, which is when Swain's ult costs can really cripple him. Whenever I'm playing Swain I try not to engage in early teamfights unnecessarily if I don't have blue or at least the Grail.