Talk:Swain/@comment-7145241-20140122123754/@comment-9048637-20140124201552

It's a root, not a stun, actually - important difference! One stops that pesky Katarina mid-Death Lotus, the other... doesn't.

Anyway, yeah, Nevermove's damage is nice when it gets levelled, but the damage it gets by levelling is outclassed by his other two basic abilities (it just doesn't seem that way because they're DoTs while Nevermove is a nuke), and is also the most unreliable unless you're particularly good at landing it (or your opponent particularly bad at dodging it). The mana cost also swiftly becomes a headache, which in lane rather takes the wind out of the reduced cooldown. Yes, Nevermove makes farming easier, but you don't really need helping doing that post-6, I find; besides, in lane, you shouldn't be using the skill to farm unless you really feel you have nothing to fear from ganks, since Nevermove is then your closest thing to an escape tool.

Again, I'm not saying I would never max Nevermove first (I find its range invaluable against certain mages - Brand springs to mind), but it's rather situational. I do often find myself maxing it second, though. I'd say it's about 50:50 between that and Q.