Talk:Swain/@comment-25037679-20180212054335

Swain rework has a couple issues. The best midlaners right now have plenty of peel to keep him at bay, or can punish him for trying to get a good Q in. (Zoe's sleep comes to mind, or Viktor's gravity field) Most other bruiser/duelist toplaners have a stronger all-in, and plenty of tools to get on a Swain. Swain also doesn't have enough CC to justify going tanky, and needs to build a good amount of damage so he can contribute to fights properly. While he might have a better matchup against tank toplanes, all of his damage is flat, so the tanks will eventually outscale him unless he gets a solid lead.

It's hard to give Swain more power because of his W's insane utility. So that needs to be nerfed. Make it start at something like 1000 range instead of 3500, and with ranks in his ult the range can be changed to 2500/3000/3500. He can still use it to check brush early on, but using it to scout objectives or the enemy jungle from complete safety would have to wait until he's gotten his ultimate.

In return, you can give Swain more CC. Make his W ground and slow enemies caught in the windup. That'll give him more ways to contribute to fights, and give him some extra reliability in his engages. (open with W to ground and slow into E's snare) It'll also give him a way to peel off people diving him. Combine that with making his passive deal % max health damage, like 5% max + 30% AP flat, and he'd have a lot more going for him.