Talk:Swain/@comment-141.210.87.133-20110920192722/@comment-3165723-20111007012747

swain is a difficult call. Carries are generally defined as champs that scale well with items, and ap carries almost always have high AP ratios. Swain has that. But he also happens to APPEAR tankier than he really is since he has the healing from his ult that can keep him alive with some AP and spellvamp. Tanky ap champs usually have damage that trails off lategame. Swain's really doesn't. Cho'Gath is the same way, he still hits hard late game on top of being pretty tanky. Only Cho isn't as popular or damage-reliable because his Q (his heaviest damage for the most part) is pretty easy to predict and avoid. It's easy to overlook Swain's damage late game since it's not done in burst like most other carries. His takes a few seconds, and his ult actually accounts for a LOT more damage than you would notice. In an unfortunate matchup in a normal draft, my team had no tank and i was playing Swain, and I needed to play the tank role. I managed to work out a build that let me do damage and stay alive long enough to take out a carry or so with me, and we ended up winning. Swain's is a strong contender for the most overall powerful mage right now, along with Annie or malz or ryze.