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Spells:
Flash
Ignite
Ability Order
Ravenous Flock (PASSIVE)
Swain Passive Ability
Introduction
Swain is awesome. That's pretty much all I need to say. He can dish out a good deal of damage, heal himself, control the movement of the entire enemy team, and survive almost any gank.
I cannot stress enough how good



Just a couple games I had before I hit 30 :) The loss was due to 4v5 :(

- Good early game harass
- Much more survivability than other AP carries
- Fantastic crowd control
- Great sustainability in lane with
Ravenous Flock
- Good AP ratios (0.7 on
Nevermove, 0.8 on
Torment, 0.9 on
Decrepify)
- Has 3 new jokes while in his Ultimate form
Cons
- Fairly squishy early game
- Some mana issues mid/late game without BLUE BUFF.
- Doesn't have any escapes without running with
Flash
- Doesn't have a legendary skin yet :(









































Every other Summoner Spell is simply not going to be a good choice for Swain.
My rune setup doesn't really need much of an explanation, but I will provide a little anyway :).




Other options:
In my opinion, Seals and Marks should stay as is, but you can play around with the Glyphs and Quints a bit. Some alternative glyph choices would be










Until a decent amount of time has passed with these new masteries it will be hard to tell which ones are good and which are not. As it sits right now they look to be fairly balanced.



Starting of with Boots of Speed is very important for mid lane. The additional 50 movement speed is invaluable when soloing. Being able to run in, get off your dots, and run out before the opponent can even respond is absolutely amazing. Even if your opponent in mid lane also started with boots you at least aren't at a disadvantage. The added mobility is also extremely helpful in avoiding ganks. There really isn't any other option for off-tank

catalyst the protector
First trip back buy a catalyst the protector. Everything about this item screams "Pick me up during the laning phase!" So, we do just that. All of the stats are self explanatory.


These are going to be your next 2 purchases no matter what. You will need the magic pen from


After playing the Off-Tank style quite a bit I've realized that the added health from


This is the point where you are going to have to start assessing your situation in game.

Almost 100% of the time I would suggest purchasing




If you aren't doing so hot either get a





If you are still doing quite well after purchasing




If you didn't already build a





One of my favorite items to build on


If you feel you are being focused down just a little bit too quick, consider building a



If you have used a


If the enemy team is pretty tanky and your AD carry or jungler refuses to get a


TL:DR
Highest Damage






Most Defensive







Middle of the Road






The "Middle of the Road" build is probably the build I most commonly go with. It maintains good damage output while still building bulk on top of the core items.

My skill sequence focuses on maxing






Rotation:
Single Target
The primary rotation I use it this








If you are still getting used to placing


If you're going for a kill you can, of course, throw in






Multiple Targets
Team fights are where things get more interesting. All the previous tips on how to play




Somethings to remember when in a team fight:
- You are not the initiator. If you attempt to initiate
Warwick will probably ult you and you'll die in 2 seconds.
- You are there to control the movement of the other team. If you see an enemy player trying to flank you team, snare or slow him so your team can re-position.
- If an enemy champ starts attacking your AD carry, disable him. If your AD carry dies, your teams damage will be severely gimped and you will probably lose the team fight.
- Your job as
Swain is always fluid. Sometimes you will be a babysitter to your AD carry. Sometimes you will be the nuke to burn down the enemy carries. Sometimes you will be the tank that takes aggro from the enemy team so that your AD carry can have free reign of their team. But most of the time your job is simply Crowd Control. Snare, Slow, Slow, Slow. That is the main point of Off-tank
Swain. He controls the movement of the enemy team confining them to a space that makes it easier for the rest of your team to do what they are supposed to do.
8/25/11 - Added a bunch off BBCode at the guidance of Jhoijhoi's fabulous guide making guide.
8/29-11 - Added the second build and made some minor changes required to have 2 builds in the same guide.
8/31/11 - Removed the initial Glass Cannon build leaving just the Off-Tank build.
9/2/11 - Added


10/3/11 - Made some minor changes. Changed some wording issues.
11/16/11 - Updated the Masteries section for patch 1.0.0.129
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