Talk:Swain/@comment-16494910-20140214191207/@comment-5266525-20140216015134

Swain's prime time is his obscene midgame, IMO, so he does fall off a bit. His AoE damage isn't high, his mobility is poor and he relies completely on his ult for his tankiness (which gets slashed by Ignite) so he can't do too much in a teamfight. He's an okay peeler, though.

He can function top but his matchups mostly depend on if he can kite them or not, because he doesn't have any sustain pre-6 and tends to lose in drawn-out trades. He can bury most top laners when he gets his ult, the problem is getting there.

If you ration your mana usage then RoA is fine as your sole mana item.