Talk:Swain/@comment-24823977-20140923170834/@comment-15244341-20141001182337

RoA into Zhonya's is Swain's core. Pretty much from there you can choose whatever you need to counter the enemy team. That said, Swain shines with just a RoA and Zhonya's in teamfights since the 2.5 stasis time he gets from the item is usually enough to get him healed for about half/a third of his life.

And listen to CutieBoyDarkAngel. That's my exact build and there can't be enough emphasis on not finishing Athene's early but still getting Chalice. All those items are also pretty much golden in combination, giving you a lot of damage and a deceptive amount of surviveability thanks to your heals.

I also HIGHLY recommend scaling health yellows for runes on Swain. 200 extra Health on him is pretty much better than anything else you could get and Swain curbstomps any AD mid so the armor is not even needed most of the time.

As a last advice, do not shy away from Merc Treads if the enemy team has a lot of peel. As a close range DoT mage you can't afford to be out of Ravenous Flock range, since it is most of your AoE damage and your surviveability mechanism.