Swain's small Gameplay Rework is live on PBE right now and coming to the Rift in less than a week. Read on to learn how our favorite Noxian General has been changed!
Swain’s Gameplay Update is hitting Summoner’s Rift with Patch 14.21, in about one week’s time. The gameplay changes have affected all of Swain’s abilities, mostly targeting things such as damage, cooldowns, as well as general fluidity. Ultimately the changes were not as drastic as some of the other reworks we’ve seen recently, and should generally make Swain feel like a better pick, but not drastically alter his win rate or gameplay.
As a general overview before we get into the nitty gritty numerical changes, Swain's base stats have been changed such that he will now rely more on items and abilities to improve his healing. His Q will have lower damage early but higher late, and its mana cost is now lower so you can spam it more. W now has a stronger slow that lasts less. E no longer deals pass-through damage, but the overall damage has remained mostly the same. The ability is now much faster, both on the launch and when you pull enemies back towards you after rooting them.
Finally, you may find yourself relying less on his ultimate ability, Demonic Ascension, after the rework is live. Ideally the rest of his kit has caught up in power thanks to changes in damage, cooldown, and mana cost, such that you won’t feel like you’re just waiting for your ultimate to come up before you can do anything. The ultimate now has a much longer cooldown, taking twice as long to recharge at rank 3. You’ll now be able to use Demonflare to detonate your ultimate ability basically infinitely as long as you continue to drain your enemies, and the detonation now deals more base damage and has a more potent slow. The ultimate in general has significantly higher healing power than before, hopefully enough to keep you in the fight long enough to take advantage of the multiple detonation potential!
Stat Changes
▼ Base health regeneration reduced to 3 from 7.
▼ Health regeneration growth reduced to 0.5 from 0.65.
▼ Base mana reduced to 400 from 468.
▲ Base mana regeneration increased to 10 from 8.
Passive: Ravenous Flock
▶ Healing changed to 3% − 6% (based on level) of his maximum health from 3 / 4 / 5 / 6% (based on level).
Q: Death’s Hand
▲ Mana cost reduced to 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60 from 45 / 50 / 55 / 60 / 65.
▲ Base damage changed to 60 / 85 / 110 / 135 / 160 from 65 / 85 / 105 / 125 / 145.
▼ Bonus base damage per bolt reduced to 15 / 21.25 / 27.5 / 33.75 / 40 from 15 / 25 / 35 / 45 / 55. Now always 25% damage.
▼ Maximum base damage reduced to 120 / 170 / 220 / 270 / 320 from 125 / 185 / 245 / 305 / 365. Now always 200% damage.
▲ AP ratio increased to 45% AP from 40% AP.
▲ Bonus AP ratio per bolt increased to 11.25% AP from 10% AP.
▲ Maximum AP ratio increased to 90% AP from 80% AP.
▲ Mana cost reduced to 42 / 44 / 46 / 48 / 50 from 45 / 50 / 55 / 60 / 65.
W: Vision of Empire
▼ Base damage reduced to 70 / 105 / 140 / 175 / 210 from 80 / 115 / 150 / 185 / 220.
▼ Minion base damage reduced to 35 / 52.5 / 70 / 87.5 / 105 from 40 / 57.5 / 75 / 92.5 / 110.
▲ AP ratio increased to 60% AP from 55% AP.
▲ Minion AP ratio increased to 30% AP from 27.5% AP.
▲ Slow strength increased to 50 / 55 / 60 / 65 / 70% from 25 / 35 / 45 / 55 / 65%.
▼ Slow duration reduced to 1.5 seconds from 2.5.
▶ Reveal duration changed to 6 seconds at all ranks from 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8.
E: Nevermove
▼ Cooldown increased to 14 / 13 / 12 / 11 / 10 from 10 at all ranks.
▼ Mana cost increased to 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80 from 50 at all ranks.
▲ Base damage increased to 80 / 120 / 160 / 200 / 240 from 35 / 45 / 55 / 65 / 75.
▲ AP ratio increased to 60% AP from 25% AP.
▲ Incoming missile width increased to 180 from 170.
▲ Outgoing missile speed changed to 1125 − 1800 (based on seconds) from 935 / 1235 / 1735 / 2735 (based on seconds). Time to reach maximum range increased to 0.585 seconds from 0.562.
▲ Incoming missile speed increased to 2000 − 2800 (based on seconds) from 600 / 1400 / 2200 (based on seconds). Time to reach maximum range reduced to 0.4 seconds from 0.6.
REMOVED No longer deals damage on its way out.
R: Demonic Ascension
▼ Cooldown increased to 120 seconds at all ranks from 100 / 80 / 60.
▼ Base damage reduced to 15 / 25 / 35 from 20 / 40 / 60.
▼ Damage AP ratio reduced to 5% AP from 10% AP.
▲ Base heal increased to 15 / 30 / 45 from 15 / 27.5 / 40.
▲ Non-champion base heal increased to 1.5 / 3 / 4.5 from 1.5 / 2.75 / 4.
▼ Heal AP ratio reduced to 5% AP from 18% AP.
▼ Non-champion heal AP ratio reduced to 0.5% AP from 1.8% AP.
NEW EFFECT Cooldown now starts on-cast instead of post-effect.
NEW EFFECT Heal now scales with 1.25% bonus health, reduced to 0.125% bonus health against non-champions.
R2: Demonflare
▲ Base damage increased to 150 / 250 / 350 from 150 / 225 / 300.
▼ AP ratio reduced to 50% AP from 60% AP.
▲ Slow strength increased to 75% from 60%.
NEW EFFECT Can now be recast up to 100 times.
NEW EFFECT Now has a cooldown of 8 seconds between recasts, unaffected by ability haste.
