Swain/Strategy

Skill usage

 * Due to and,  can stay in a lane for a very long time. Combined with aggressive lane control, it is recommended  take a solo lane to amass gold and experience.
 * Around level 4, you will have gained full combo.  and  followed by  and some basic attacks will devastate your enemies. If you are too far for his other two abilities, using  first can allow you to close the distance.
 * basic abilities each have different benefits when leveled and maxed over the others.
 * grants moderate damage and a good slowing effect, on a short cooldown and good range. Ensuring foes stay trapped in the tether with or allied disables is key. The downside is that you are either forced to choose between safely using it at max range, thus making it easier to break the tether, or going in closer to more reliably get the full effect. It is also not as useful when being ganked/receiving a friendly gank.
 * As your main AoE and crowd control ability in one, leveling makes it more usable by reducing its cooldown significantly. Alongside the damage increase, Swain's farming/pushing becomes much faster and easier, and the snare is absolutely amazing for countering ganks and assisting during one of your own. However, it is unreliable against enemy champions if one is not able to land it consistently, and if they predict you leveling this first, they can grab early  to counter the ability directly.
 * By itself, offers nice harassment at a low mana cost. Even at low levels, you can take off 2-3 bars of health at a time using  followed by autoattacks against a squishier champion. In combination with, Swain can provide fatal damage output early on. However the damage dealt by  alone is slightly low, while your unleveled abilities will not benefit very much from the damage-amp effect. The best scenario in which you would level this ability first is against a squishy target that is more succeptable to the damage from it and . The worst case is against targets with high sustain or health.
 * While laning, try to gauge the strength of your opponents to determine the right balance of aggression with . If they're stronger, it might be more beneficial to stay back and farm and counter-aggress.
 * For utility purposes, followed by  makes for a nearly guaranteed root. The time taken to cast  can cost you your disables, so choose based on the situation.
 * is not channeled, and cannot be stopped by stuns, silences, or any form of crowd control. You can use it during teamfights to drain the enemies' health, as well as restore health on minions after the fight. With extra spellvamp and a, one can nearly be a unstoppable force.
 * You should still be wary of disables preventing you from stopping the spell, especially if left on for longer durations; those few seconds more can quickly deplete your mana pool.
 * Be cautious when using to farm, as it opens you up to ganks, as you will have no survivability.
 * While escaping, you can activate, as it will heal you as your enemies pursue you. This can be very effective because the projectiles prioritizes champions and heals youself 75-88% of the damage dealt to them. Healing with your ultimate while throwing down your slow and snare gives Swain an easy escape.
 * The best combo for is, ,,. This combo is especially effective against melee champions near creeps, because you gain health from the creeps while you engage the enemy champion. This drains your mana quickly however, so make sure to buy some mana items to fuel your combo.
 * If is doing well, giving him  can greatly increase his effectiveness, and even if he is doing poorly, the buff could allow him to make a comeback or at least get back on level ground with his team and the opposition.
 * With all the control and healing you have as, MR is inherently more important and useful. This is because almost all physical damage is done over time, which your healing counters, and most of the significant physical damage is put off by squishy carries, who are almost free food to your combo.

Build usage

 * and (DFG) can provide extra burst damage due to the 20% damage increase from.
 * For this reason, do not overlook getting a in mid/late-game. Swain has tankiness, damage-over-time, crowd control, and self-healing. The only thing he is missing is nukes, something the  grants him generously in combination with.
 * Throwing and  on a dying-yet-retreating enemy will almost always ensure their death, even if they are healed by a moderate amount.
 * It is also extremely effective to throw this combo on a squishy carry like at the start of a team fight. The damage from this and  other abilities is usually enough to put them into a retreat, cutting away their dps, and may even kill them.
 * If you aren't satisfied with the one-hit-wonder characteristic of the DFG, a great alternative is, as it provides greater amounts of the same stats without the restrictive active effect.
 * A build that is centered more around teamfighting and staying alive is, , and . With a build initialized by these items, building AP directly translates into more healing, which in turn allows for more damage. After these items, it would be wise to build , and  to provide massive AP and the invulnerability of Zhonya's. This build is perfect for protecting your carry and being an anti-carry yourself.
 * As almost all of skills rely on positioning,  can be invaluable to keep foes in range of  and, and ensure landing.
 * works through the active component of, allowing to use it for up to 6 ticks' worth of damage and healing.
 * is very mana dependent, making a early ensures he always has plenty of mana for.

Countering

 * mostly deals magic damage, investing in magic resistance will mitigate his damage.
 * Do not underestimate 's damage; although he only has one burst skill in, he can dish out massive damage over time if you allow him to.
 * High movement speed and good mobility counters most of spells.
 * When is cast, quickly break the tether by moving away from the bird.
 * Avoid getting hit by to engage him.
 * Move away from if he uses his.
 * Attacking right after he cancels  is the best time to attack him.
 * Get out of his spell range when you are in effect of his as you will take more damage while affected by.
 * Use healing reduction effects such as or the active from  to prevent him from healing a lot of damage from his . This strips  of his primary survivability mechanism and makes him much easier to focus and kill.
 * If you notice him with or, it may be a better idea to use  on another target to avoid wasting it.
 * On top of this, if you notice him with a build similar to the second one listed above, you may have no choice but to try to take down the rest of his team before him, as killing him could be extremely time consuming and difficult.
 * can save you from a well-placed.

Champion spotlight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i19hj3LVP7A