Talk:Swain/@comment-10813891-20131104091100/@comment-15244341-20131126172349

You didn't really get my point or I was bad at getting it across. Tear is mediocre at best (in my opinion) on Swain, which is the item we were asked about; no one said the stats you get from AA is bad. The problem is you are spending a ton of money on something that is amazing past your prime (Swain's power spikes twice in the midgame when you get Zhonya's Hourglass and when you get Rabadon's Deathcap). His lategame is fine, don't get me wrong, but since Swain has no mobility without flash he is not going to burst many squishies unless they get severely out of position or no one peels you off and that is something I've never felt Archangel's gives a solution to. Swain does not scale with mana, so there is a point in which you can have too much of it and not be getting enough regen. Is the shield great in a teamfight? Might be, but defensive stats are good too and help you live to heal. Plus I'll bet on the actual mana you have left after a teamfight with two or more enemies dead being actually higher than with any Tear related item. And that is really important for Swain. He has no omgwtfbbq10minuteCDultimateofdoom. Whenever you win a teamfight, you do the ADC thing: heal in the jungle, go for objetives since NONE of your spells are actually on more than a 15 second cooldown.

And people will maybe flame me for this, but Swain has something he needs to buy carefully and that is AP. Swain has not a burst or die playstyle such as LB, he wears people down and tanks all the hate they throw at him. When you deal basically three times your AP in a full spell rotation but have one of the lower range kits you can't go without defensive items and you don't want to go overboard with AP because you are getting less survivability out of those purchases. Tear/AA is the damage/mana approach to mana regen while AUG/Chalice is the tanky approach and that is a fact.

The shield you speak about you get it 2000 gold+24 minutes post purchase because Swain is bad at stacking Tear, period. However, the 25 MR plus the awesome mana regen passive from chalice is something you have the instant you spend the 880 gold and it WILL save your lane/midgame the games you lose blue. Taking Swain's need of a good early/mid for having a successful game, you can't say Tear is not a mediocre item. It might fit your playstyle, but the defenses the late game item that it builds into gives are not something to point out as a good thing on a champion whose midgame is his strongest point. Plus, the point in buying Tear/Chalice on Swain is mana regen, of which the Grail gives a ton more of, as I said before.

I'm not saying it's bad per se, I've even had some success with Rilay+Liandry+Tear against a stupidly tanky team. It just feels like making your bad early even worse, your mid worse too (because 25MR and the passive are noticeable) and setting yourself up for disappointment if you ever get a jungler that can't help you secure blue or just takes it for himself.