Jericho Swain, the Master Tactician turned Noxian Grand General is a Battlemage (aptly subtitled as Warlock). His strength lies in Survivabiliy and his Crowd-Control, coming from short cooldowns and ample sustain from his passive, ultimate drain & natural aptitude for building a hybrid of Health and Ability Power.

In the lore, Swain took control over Noxus from Darkwell. He established the Trifarix (consisting of Swain as Principle of Vision, Darius as Principle of Might and "The Faceless" as Principle of Guile) so that Noxus may never stray too far from it's doctrine. Upon his rework in 2018, Swain was practically a massive loredump character. The roots of today's Arcane were first implemented through Swain with him revealing secrets about Jinx and Vi's backstory previously unrevealed, and setting in motion a lot of this phase of the Runeterra we know.

Outside of the Rift & lore, Swain mains have gotten used to what we could consider the "2 year cycle". Any iteration of Swain has a timed window on it and as a result his build, his kit, his roles might all change. By the time you read this, we might already be on an entirely new version of Swain. But for now, we're so f*cking back.

This guide will be useful for those looking to pick up Swain, beginners, medium and high tier players.
Master+ players might still find it interesting to read You're never too high rank to learn.

Through out this guide I'll be abbreviating a lot. This is what they mean.

• ROA = Rod of Ages
• BFT = Blackfire Torch
• AP = Ability Power
• HP = Health
• bHP = Bonus Health (Health gained from items or runes, etc. Important distinction.)
• AH = Ability Haste (CDR)
• MS = Movement Speed
• HPR = Health Regeneration
• Amp = Amplification. The type of amplification is based on the item discussed.
• Swifties = Just what I call Boots of Swiftness. It's a bad habit.
• Maligma = Malignance, but cursed. Thanks SwainMains for changing my verbiage.
• Bird = If I tell you to "pick up a bird", it means to pick up a Ravenous Flock stack/soul.

Throughout this guide I will be using a color legend to indicate how I see or treat items, runes or otherwise.
Gold means Main option. Green means recommended follow-up. Blue means options. Red is bad.

WANT AN EASY ITEM SET? GO TO COLLECTION > ITEMS > IMPORT SET & COPY THE CODE BELOW

BFT + COSMIC

VS

ROA + RIFT

So first and foremost, building Swain is not a simple cut-and-dry matter. You can't go the same build into every single game and expect the same results like you might with an ADC or other mages. We're not building full damage because we'd die too fast, and we're not building full tank because it results in us having no damage output. Our goal is to both survive and do damage.

Unfortunately, before we can get to that point we have 2 problems to solve.
Mana Issues - We have a small mana pool, and frequently cast spells enough to where this becomes a problem.
Sticking to Champions - Our only form of mobility is in movement speed. So we either speed ourselves up or slow enemies down.

With the 19th lowest mana growth at 29 mana per level resulting in us having the 25th lowest mana total at level 18 at 893 mana, we have some mana issues. This is why we start with either a Lost Chapter or Catalyst of Aeons item and atleast 1 mana rune ( Manaflow Band or Presence of Mind which now sucks for us) as often as we can. Whether you build Blackfire Torch or Rod of Ages, our mana pool increases sufficiently to a point where we don't bat it much of an eye. If Catalyst of Aeons was cheaper, I would even suggest buying it and sitting on it like we would an Oblivion Orb. But it's not, and it's subsequent item doesn't promote the idea of "building it later". Tear of the Goddess is also an option but only if you have to sacrifice your Manaflow Band to run Nullifying Orb instead. Don't fully build it, sell it once you're on your 1st full item.

In the modern era of League of Legends, your new champion will come with some form of mobility. A dash, a blink, or so many dashes you break the sound barrier (hello Ambessa). Swain is not a champion that has dashes, blinks, jumps or whatever. We have our two little leggies and we kinda limp. We need to solve it. So there's 2 solutions; Slow them down or Speed ourselves Up. Solution 1 is easily achieved through Rylai's Crystal Scepter but we want to move away from this item. We want more build agency, and more importantly, there's an item which solves this as well that simply gives us better stats. Cosmic Drive. And since our trend now is to build Boots of Swiftness we passively sit at 406 movement speed, up to 426 when Cosmic Drive's procced. This is higher than the average speed and along with being Ghosted (ignoring Unit Collision) during our Ultimate, we can simply pass through the enemy and move behind them. Combine that with the crowd control and slows we have ( Vision of Empire, Nevermove and Demonflare) we have no issue now catching up to the enemy and being in their face. Yes, Rylais also would achieve this. But it's simply not a comparable item compared to Cosmic Drive. Hell, Rylai's gold value is 2367 gold at a buy price of 2600. Cosmic Drive without it's speed up effect alone is already worth 3918 gold, 4158 gold when active. It provides literally everything we want. And it works off of Blackfire Torch's burn. It trades off 50 health for more movement speed, AP and haste.

When building Rod of Ages and Riftmaker, however, you might not be so quickly inclined to go Cosmic Drive. In which case your mobility issue isn't solved unless you picked Phase Rush and Ghost. Rylai's might become a necessary option at that point and worth considering to solve problem 2. But I'd still pair it with a Liandry's... and again, Liandry's functions better with Cosmic Drive than it does with Rylai's. Sorry.


After that, we're looking to boost our damage and survivability in equal rates. That's where my item choices chapter comes in.
I won't discuss the Korean Build much because it feels like a utility flavor of the month that'll pass.

・CONQUEROR Let's just cover the whole Precision tree real quick. Presence of Mind doesn't provide enough, Triumph is so good in teamfights. Legend: Haste is the only one we like because Life Steal is auto attacks only. Last Stand will do more for you in a teamfight which is what you go Conqueror for anyway. Pick the Precision Tree if you want to orient around the midgame. If choosing Precision secondary, go Triumph and Legend: Haste ・ELECTROCUTE Or go Dark Harvest if you're feeling saucy. But you choose Electrocute into Cheap Shot to deal extra damage very quickly in the Support role. Any of the vision ones works but Eyeball Collection is most chosen. Ultimate Hunter is the best option here, hands down. It does NOT reduce R2 CD. Pick the Domination tree if you're supporting (and new on Swain). If choosing Domination secondary, Cheap Shot and Ultimate Hunter ・glacial augment It's in lower case because I don't care for it much. Glacial Augment for post-E slows. Magical Footwear to go absolute zoom with boosted Boots of Swiftness, Triple Tonic for the useful potions and faster spell leveling or Biscuit Delivery if you're in a skirmish/poke lane and Approach Velocity if there's any other source of CC or Cosmic Insight. You go Inspiration if you're going support, but I generally don't recommend it. It's here because some people wanted it here. To me, there's simply far better options in other trees. If choosing Inspiration secondary, don't! ・Grasp of the Undying I don't really recommend this keystone or tree as a primary but it can be fun. This does force you hard into being tanky. Grasp of the Undying into Font of Life if you're feeling generous or Demolish for funnies. Second Wind against singular poke or Bone Plating into skirmishers/traders. Overgrowth if you wanna be tankier with bHP or Revitalize if you wanna get more healing. The difference between the two is marginal. I don't generally recommend going Resolve tree but play it if you wanna have whacky fun! If choosing Resolve secondary, Bone Plating helps in botlane, Second Wind against poke and Overgrowth for extra bHP. ・Sorcery Now it's time for the REAL discussion! Sorcery I consider our best primary tree. But they keystones are the big thing I wanna cover with this. So I'm using this space for the other options. Manaflow Band is good for Mana sustain. If you're against magic burst though like Syndra or Fizz ults, Nullifying Orb is better here. If you take Orb, Tear of the Goddess is a better starting item. Sell it later. Transcendence gives us free Ability Haste and reduces cooldowns on takedowns. Scorch is good for lane trading but Gathering Storm is better for lategame scaling. Pick your poison there. I recommend going Sorcery most of the time! If choosing Sorcery secondary, Manaflow Band and Transcendence are hard to beat. If you don't want Mana sustain, swap it for Gathering Storm or Scorch ・Summon Aery Summon Aery boosts our spell damage a little bit, but the real reason we pick it is because we want to be able to trade more with our auto attacks. Sometimes we just can't land Nevermove on our enemy laner and we can only get a small number of Death's Hand bolts to land. Aery will do us well there. Pick Summon Aery into lanes with high mobility or when you don't expect to land Nevermove much. ・Arcane Comet Previously, this would've been stupid as the first instance of previous Nevermove did damage so the enemy could easily dodge it. With how it's changed, the damage only applies when it returns meaning the enemy should be rooted when it hits them, meaning Comet lands for free... unless you pull them too early. Your mileage with Arcane Comet is going to decrease drastically if you can't time the landing right. But that's not the only good part. Blackfire Torch's burn and Demonic Ascension's damage overtime ticks, and each of spells reduce the cooldown of Arcane Comets. So in a teamfight, it would not be uncommon to land 3-4 Arcane Comets if you can get to the 2nd cast of Demonflare. To be blunt with you, reader, Arcane Comet is an amazing choice at all times especially as it scales better into the late game than Summon Aery unless you can't land Nevermove on someone like a Yasuo or Ambessa in which case you take Aery. Pick Arcane Comet into the majority of lanes. Unless you can't land Nevermove. ・Phase Rush The only reason I'm putting Phase Rush in here is simply because it's not uncommon. But I cannot recommend it. If you need mobility, there are simply far better options. Take Ghost. Yes I know it's up less. Take Cosmic Drive. Phase Rush is a solution to the aforementioned Problem 2 with Swain, and there are simply better solutions than forcing us into a keystone that does nothing but provide mobility we can get just as well from elsewhere. Now, if you absolutely need to go Phase Rush, it'll be into toplane where movement speed is far more necessary. And finally the minor runes. ROW 1 - Both Adaptive Force and Ability Haste are good. Go with preference. I pref Haste. ROW 2 - Go Adaptive Force. You need some power in lane. ROW 3 - Health into poke/trades, Scaling every other situation, Tenacity and Slow Resist into CC.

---

・BLACKFIRE TORCH (BFT) - Damage, Mana, AP Amp BFT is one of two starting options I'm promoting with this guide. It solves our mana problems with the Lost Chapter start and provides us with Ability Power. This item also burns enemies, and each different enemy champion that is affected by this burn amplifies our AP by 4% to a max potential of 20%. On top of this, the haste it provides is an excellent addition. Even without the haste this'd be worth it. This amplification synergizes well with Riftmaker, Liandry's and Conqueror. And the burning passive synergizes well with Cosmic Drive. Please note that Mobafire's BFT entry is wrong. Here's the correct info. Build BFT+Cosmic when you're against squishies and prefer to do damage over surviving damage. You're not weak with this, but you're not going to tank like you could with ROA+Rift

---

・COSMIC DRIVE - ... Everything? Mobility In the previous iteration of Swain, build architect Alamander and I agreed that Cosmic Drive is heavily slept upon and should be a main staple in Swain's items. Now, through the popularity of BFT (and Maligma) and a desire to ditch Rylais the true power and potential of Cosmic Drive has come to light. It's our omnitool. AP, HP, AH, movement speed AND an incredibly useful item effect. Did you know Malignance's, Liandry's, BFT's and even Sunfire burns each trigger the movement speed increase? They don't stack, but it still provides us good movement speed. In our efforts to gain more agency over our build and not be forced into Rylai's purchases each game, Cosmic Drive provides us with the mobility we normally seek to rob from the enemy. Combined with Boots of Swiftness, we can comfortably run circles around them and not have to take Rylai's or Phase Rush to do it.

---

・ROD OF AGES (ROA) - Health, Scaling, Mana ROA is basically a life-long staple for Swain. Before his massive rework and we still had Beatrice, we went the purple looking version of ROA. And not for nothing, Swain needs Ability Power to deal damage, Health to survive and Mana to cast spells that'll result in the aforementioned damage & restore the health. With ROA, casting spells within itself restores some health and taking damage restores Mana. On top of this, it stacks up to 500 Health, 600 Mana and 80 Ability Power and can gives as a level up sooner. It lacks some of the initial firepower that BFT offers but provides survivability in turn. ROA pairs naturally well with Riftmaker, so that tends to be the combo for it. Build ROA when you're toplane or midlane and don't think you need immediate damage, or you're comfortable kind of sitting on your butt for a bit and just farming. This is not a lane-winning item combo. This is aiming for power just after laning phase.

---

・RIFTMAKER - Sustain, Tankiness, Damage Amp If Cosmic Drive is the natural combo to pair with BFT, then ROA's natural combo is with Riftmaker. Riftmaker provides the additional kick that ROA initially lacks, and then provides you with a little extra. It's unique Void Infusion passive will convert some of the bHP we get from Ravenous Flock and items we build (and stacks gained from ROA) into AP. In addition, being in combat means our damage increases up to 8% and when it hits 8%, we gain 6% omnivamp. It's not an insane amount, but it matters when we have so many bits and hits of damage coming in. The bHP to AP conversion is not enough to warrant a full tank Swain build, but every 100 bHP gives us 2 additional Ability Power and that's always a sweet bonus. Please note that upon purchasing Riftmaker, it doesn't actually give 70 AP, but 77 AP because it takes the bHP it provides itself into account as well.

---

・MALIGNANCE - "Everything you can do, I can do better" - This item was a main choice in the last iteration but it always simply felt bad. Right now, BFT is simply the better version of Malignance. If you mainly built Malignance previously, switch off of it now. Malignance's ultimate haste is not useful and does not affect R2's cooldown. If you genuinely, sorely need ultimate haste, run the Ultimate Hunter rune. BFT's damage amp passive will provide you with significantly more power in the late game. Additionally, BFT's burn applies from all of your spells with Malignance's burn is only relevant during your ultimate. This also means you lose significant synergy points with Cosmic. We Swain Mains continue to thank Malignance builders for keeping our winrate steady while those who don't built it will continue to climb without it. 🫡

---

・Rylai's Crystal Scepter - Utility, Damage, Health "You're as beautiful as the day I left you". Or the more bitter version. Swain's ultimate and spells all apply spell effects in an AoE fashion. So literally every single thing we do applies a slow. Along with the stats it provides (Health, AP) which are decent, it becomes hard to argue against the item. However, I'd advise against the item strongly if you're going the BFT+Cosmic combo. The solution to the aforementioned problem 2 with BFT+Cosmic is *zooming (sp33ding is a banned word on Mobafire?) ourselves up. This item slot can then be filled better with another item. If you're going ROA+Rift, this item becomes more interesting due to it's HP component providing you with some extra AP as well. Build Rylais into mobility enemies. Those with dashes that you have a hard time catching up to, movement speed increases, or other mobility tools. There's a reason it has been a staple for Swain for so long. And yes, this also helps teammates catch up, but we cannot always rely on them. A 12/0 ally will likely not need as much help catching up to enemies as much as a 0/12 ally will use it to run into their next death.

---

・LIANDRY'S TORMENT - HP% Damage, Health, Damage Amp Swain's natural aptitude for applying item effects could never shine any brighter in the realm of damage than it does with Liandry's Torment. If it provided mana, I would 1st pick it every time. It's an excellent damage option that I would consider before most others. 1% maximum health every 0.5 for 3 seconds every tick it's applied, plus a damage amp up to 6% and if we didn't have BFT but did build Cosmic, the burn would also proc Cosmic Drive. Unfortunately as it stands, we gain all-round more useful benefits from other items first and by the time we have to splinter into different directions, you might not be up against enough tanks to build this. Build Liandry's Torment when you see that the enemy has a Tank alongside at minimum a Bruiser, or they're building highly defensively.

---

・UNENDING DESPAIR - Sustain, Health, Armor ... with a sprinkle of haste, of course. Unending Despair is generally considered an armor-first item. I am personally of the belief that it sits more in the same realm as a Spirit Visage. An item which has a nice armor/magic resist stat, but everything else it brings is the highlight. You want to sit in the center of teamfights with your ultimate up and draining enemy health. Unfortunately our sloppy toppy power has been nerfed somewhat, so being able to supplement it with Unending Despair is hardly ever a bad thing. To frame it differently; It's adding more draining to our draining. It also just happens to provide a sprinkle of AH and Health. Armor is literally always useful because everyone auto-attacks.

---

・SPIRIT VISAGE - Sustain, Health, Magic Resistance I could effectively say the same thing I said about Unending Despair here but replace it with Magic Resist and add Health Regen. Spirit Visage provides us with everything we'd like. A slight touch of AH, good Health, solid Magic Resist and restoration help in both HPR and unique passive that boosts literally all healing (and health regen, including it's own!) which includes Ravenous Flock and Demonic Ascension. Sounds good, feels good, is good. It generally is always a good buy but especially so into mages or AP enemies. Build Spirit Visage to boost your own sustain and block out some magic damage from enemies.

---

・Abyssal Mask - MR Reduction, Health, Magic Resist This item honestly fits just as well in the offensive category truthfully. It gives a little health and magic resistance, and the primary benefit is that it's really cheap. The Haste is always useful but the real function is it's magic resist reducing. You sit in front & center of the enemy team so other mages would benefit greatly from enemy magic resistance lowered. And guess who benefits from that too? You do. Which means you deal more damage. Which means they die quicker. Which means you win faster. Math is crazy, eh? Build Abyssal Mask if the enemy is building more than 2 dedicated magic resist items.

---

・FROZEN HEART - AS Reduction, Armor, Haste Again, it's an aura effect that lower the enemy's attack speed. It's another cheap item providing you with great stats overall. The haste is actually really good too. The mana might be the only part I'm so-so on. It's nice to have I suppose. This item becomes key for the Korean strat though. Build Frozen Heart if you're facing AD or attack speed enemy compositions (ie; Yi or Xin Zhao jungle with a Xayah ADC.)

---

・RANDUIN'S OMEN - Armor, Anti-Crit, HP The armor's fantastic and the unique crit-reduction passive can be a lifesaver into the right comp. After all, by being in the center of a fight you kinda end up becoming a target very quickly. That can be bad news against the right compositions. While you're up front and center though, you could also pop the slowing unique passive. Step aside Rylais, this is the real slower right here. Please note the slowing effect radius is slightly larger than your ultimate radius. Build Randuin's Omen if you're against 2 windsh!tters, 2 ADCs, or an ADC jungle with an ADC enemy bot.

---

・KAENIC ROOKERN - Magic Resistance, HP based Shield, Health Kaenic doesn't get a lot of love and I think that's unfortunate. It's expensive as hell for what it does in comparison to other items, but if you're rocking Rod of Ages and other HP items, this feels almost invaluable into anti-mage builds. Though out of all the options listed here I would build this as a last resort. Build Kaenic Rookern if you're fighting 2 or more damage mages. Especially if you're on a ROA+Rift build!

---

・MORELLONOMICON - Anti-Heal, Damage, Health Anti-Heal is an item effect and as we've established, we love those things. We apply them better than no other and while other item effects are damage or movement based for the most part, anti-heal wholely hinders their healing potential. This can sometimes make or break a game entirely. But we're fine with sitting on just a component part of it until the end. So what does it provide otherwise? Well, strong ability power, haste and decent health. Good but we're here for the antiheal. If we wanted this amount of AP and HP we'd be looking at literally any other offensive option listed. Build Morellonomicon if the enemy is building lifesteal or has built-in sustain (like a Vladimir or Sylas. Always build Morellonomicon last and just sit on a Oblivion Orb, the Grievous WOunds amount does not increase.

---

・ZHONYA'S HOURGLASS - Anti-Assassin, Damage, Armor Look, you're not building this item because you sorely lacked 105 ability power and 50 armor. You're building this for the active effect. You enter a statis and the Zed ultimate you're building this for doesn't deal damage. And while you're turning into a golden statue of yourself and the Fizz ultimate chomps below you, you continue to drain while in stasis. So that's neat. You know why you're building this. But I'd be wrong for not mentioning that the armor it provides as well as the damage is great, plus it gives us 2.5 seconds of guarenteed immunity that we still drain through with Demonic Ascension. Plus, we're a big golden bird. Caw caw. Build Zhonya-- YOU KNOW WHY YOU'RE GETTING THIS.

Regardless of where you choose to lane, your early game is relatively weak in the lane itself. During an invade, your early point in Nevermove will be gamechanging. But for now your primarily goal is to get levels as soon as possible by, at a minimum, being close to dying minions or by last hitting them yourself. Be a little cautious about throwing your Nevermove out willy-nilly. It's relatively expensive with our low mana pool and medium length cooldown. If you can hit a Nevermove, put your Vision of Empire in front of the enemy slightly and wait for Arcane Comet to land. Then pull the enemy with the second part of Nevermove into your Vision of Empire and potentially throw a complimentary Death's Hand on them. This is your standard trade pattern with Arcane Comet being optional. E1> Wcast > *Comet > E2 > Wexplosion > Q. And you'll keep this up for most of the laning phase. Nevermove and Vision of Empire will be your primary source of getting Ravenous Flock stacks.

However, watch your sidelanes. If you can afford the time to and an enemy died near your lane, they'll always drop a soul to pick up. In fact, from level 2 onwards it is worth it to click other lanes or jungle regularly. If there's a fight happening, see if you can get a cheeky Vision of Empire in. If an enemy champion dies after being hit by it, you'll get an assist, a Ravenous Flock stack for the hit and an additional stack for participating in the kill. Since Vision of Empire provides a hefty but short slow, it might be the difference maker in your allies catching enemies.

During objective fights, keep an eye on the enemy. If you're expecting 2 or more enemy champions to try to fight you for Dragon, Voidgrubs or Rift Herald, it might be a good idea to start Demonic Ascension as one enters the fight range. Always look to participate in these unless you're too low on Health or Mana to do so. You're amazing at teamfights and the enemy should be aware of that too. Stand between them and the objective, the idea of engaging you for the objective might be bad enough for them to back off entirely. If you do get engaged on, start Demonic Ascension and start walking towards your team subtly leading the enemy to your team with Nevermove and their chase.

And for the love of Raum, PING. PING. COMMUNICATE. PING. PING.

Ooohwebouddamakeanameforourselvesheah. Midgame is where we shine. This is where we peak. We'll have 3 items and boots around this time, and we're starting to decide on our post-key items. Rod of Ages will be highly stacked up. And it's time to make moves happen.

Let's talk simpler stuff first; Shoving lanes is pretty easy for us. We wanna get as close to a minion wave as we can and angle our Death's Hand blast to catch as much as we can. 2 will usually do the trick with maybe some stragglers, and our low cooldown by this point will make that easy.

But we're looking to catch and not get caught, We're gonna fishing with our Nevermove and looking to create uncomfortable zoning situations with Vision of Empire if we can. It's not an insignificantly sized circle that enemies will likely want to avoid. The damage isn't anything crazy if it does hit but the 50 to 70% slow is pretty great. With both build path's key items we're also quite comfortable with fights. Yeah, we're not looking to get blasted in the face by a full kit so keep dodging but look for teamfights where you can. Smart allies will have picked a stronger engage to go with yours. If you're the engager, look for a solid Nevermove catch or Vision of Empire zone that'll let you get in on the backline with a Flash if you have to.

If you're not there, assist with Vision of Empire and pings. Communication is key at all times. Even if they refuse to listen for whatever reason. And just like before, zone them out during objectives and stick with teammates. It's easy to get outnumbered if you're on equal footing. You're also pretty good at peeling for your carries. The distance a well timed Nevermove fully waited out followed by the pull of it can create is pretty insane.

If you can force them and it's not horribly dangerous for you, look for more narrow places where the enemy can only run in a tight direction or they have to stick to you while you hurt them with Demonic Ascension and spells. Fighting in jungles or rivers is typically pretty good. Unless... you know, you're standing in Rumble's The Equalizer ultimate. Or Hwei's Molten Fissures.

Our power starts petering out. It's not that we're terribly useless or anything, but other champions typically get much stronger whereas we primarily get more sustain and tankier. It's why I'm a big on the idea of building Liandry's Torment which will boost our damage regardless of our build. For an example as to how useful a Liandry's can be, the current 14.22 build for Udyr who likes to sit in the face of enemies too is going Liandry's, maxing his AOE spell and building full tank after because his spell and Liandry's will sort the damage.

Much of the gameplan that exists in the midgame exists here too, but with one major difference; You have to become extremely picky with the pick-offs you can do on the enemy team. See a squishy or carry entirely out of position? That's where you guys will have to make a move as a team. Your role also somewhat changes. Instead of being a primary damage source, we tend to sit more into the protector-peeler position now to protect carries. Factually, they'll be dealing more damage than us at this point. And we can survive the enemy's damage. So keep a closer eye on your AD/AP carries and throw a few more Nevermove's at the way of enemies targeting them as opposed to you. Frankly, the enemy targeting you over them is a good thing.

With Demonic Ascension active and our short cooldowns we will be doing damage regardless. But it's likely not our Damage that's going to win us the game anymore. It'll be our Tactics, Survival and Peel that'll be a much greater difference maker.

• Thank you to jhoijhoi for providing Mobafire with excellent templates and info.
• Thank you to the SwainMains Discord (not #Swain_Critical) for being kind, helpful and supportive.
• Thank you to SpyroTF of the SwainMains Discord for finding so many whoopsies.
• Thank you to FG Studios for making the Empire font I used for banners.
• Thank you to Huyy Nyugen of West Studio for drawing Prestige CotW Swain's Splash Art.
• Thank you to Eric Xie of West Studio for drawing Winterblessed Swain's Splash Art.
• Thank you to Victor Titov of Grafit Studios for drawing Tyrant Swain's Splash Art.
• Thank you to Maki Planas Mata for drawing Hextech Swain's Splash Art.
• Thank you to Mike Azevedo for drawing Northern Front Swain's Splash Art.
• Thank you to Alvin Lee for drawing Dragon Master Swain's Splash Art.
• Thank you to HusumLOL for providing feedback and recommending a skill start. I've added this. Additionally, because Husum will be working on a Ultimate guide for Swain video, I've opted not to make my own as to not muddy the waters with too much information. This is my choice, Husum recommended me to make my video anyway, but I choose not to. H̶u̶s̶u̶m̶ a̶p̶p̶r̶o̶v̶e̶d̶ g̶u̶i̶d̶e̶ b̶t̶w̶
  
  
  

---

UPDATE HISTORY

• Nov 22nd - Adding (slowly) Synergies. Threats - Maybe. No changes for 14.22 > 14.23
• Nov 15th - We made it to frontpage featured section of Mobafire!
• Nov 14th - Added Husum skill order.
• Nov 11th - Fixed images via SpyroTF recommendation.
• Nov 10th - Guide uploaded, many fixes.
  
  

---

Quick 'n Dirty thoughts on the new items.

- Crimson Lucidity boots might be the best call for all builds. Stick to Swiftness if you don't get access to them.
- Swiftmarch is also really good. Total MS up is sweet.
- Comes down to a Pure vs. Procced speed (+ haste) preference. Cosmic builders will want Lucidity.

- Axiom Arcanist is the big talking point to me personally. As a secondary tree pick it'll be match-up dependent if you can afford not taking Bone Plating, Second Wind, etc. But for primary? Firstly I don't like them taking away Null Orb because the extra defensive was nice into a Fizz/Syndra/etc. And primarily it feels like you _need_ a mana rune option. Going Axiom over Manaflow means you're sorta forced either into:
1 - Presence of Mind secondary. (with Haste or Cut Down) (and is always worse than Manaflow)
2 - Tear of the Goddess start to sell later. (Which always feels worse than either rune option).