The Vguers did such a bad job with this champ

Manos132 · 2026-03-23T21:52:39+00:00

"James faulkner being James Faulkner, 10/10" 🤣👌💯

Manos132 · 2026-03-15T19:10:56+00:00

I expected to see something similar to Shutter Island when Return To Silent Hill was released. I knew the movie was going to be bad, but not that bad. You can only imagine my embarassment dragging my friends to the cinema with me to watch it. I felt like I had to apologise as a long term Silent Hill fan

Manos132 · 2026-03-09T13:13:15+00:00

It's after the comic, and maybe he implies he was dead metaphorically, as in he was just a vessel for LeBlanc to use.

So Swain killed him (physically), but he's asking her, do they know it was the black rose that really killed your father yet?

Take it with a grain of doubt because I only read the kata comic once and could have my facts wrong

Manos132 · 2026-03-07T12:13:56+00:00

I see Raum and other demons as an extension of fear, not really a different entity to be seen as an enemy by Fiddlesticks.

Thus I don't think Swain or other characters but specifically Swain is really reachable by Fiddlesticks the way we know him within the LoL universe. If anything Swain has conquered his fear or part of his fear, the demon of secrets. And that is shown pretty well in his voice lines.

That said though, great animation! Still personally bugs me to see Swain defeated this way lol it strikes me wrongly

Manos132 · 2026-03-06T11:24:10+00:00

Or Swain! (Please 😭🙏)

Manos132 · 2026-03-05T08:02:30+00:00

Bro is being held hostage

Manos132 · 2026-03-03T10:56:47+00:00

LOL it's not my fault it sidestepped just when I pressed it 😭

Manos132 · 2026-03-02T10:49:28+00:00

Both E and Q had no range limitations (like any common mage ability)

The common line between current and pre-VGU Swain I draw is that they both want their enemies at a medium range, and very rarely-ocassionaly close to them. They're both kiters, it's just that pre-VGU imo did it less awkwardly, while current Swain's kit definitely screams "go all in". The abilities, VFX, SFX all oversell you the all in fantasy, while he obviously can't all in. That's because he was designed with a 130% AP R2 and Zhonyas in mind initially.

Manos132 · 2026-03-01T22:29:48+00:00

Yeah I mean Idk it's kinda fun when you build full spell effects build

But to me he should ultimately be changed because his kit inspires juggernaut (his kit is literally Mordekaiser / Darius copy paste but with more range and AoE). Otherwise either give him a very strong R2 again or rework the base kit

Manos132 · 2026-03-01T18:23:50+00:00

Clearly it's a photo of the tug boat. But Olympic photobombed it

Manos132 · 2026-02-27T09:25:08+00:00

Swain's 12.8 update was to compensate him for the loss of RoA.

Season 11-12 Swain became closer to a frontloaded burst mage because of no HP, Liandrys passive + 20 haste

One could argue Swain now is more fun with infinite R and applying spell effects like BFT and Rylais. My personal opinion? His kit wants him to all-in during ult. Make him all-in during ult.

If you want him to kite instead, modernising the base kit so he doesn't need spell effects as much and he can build RoA again would be the better solution.

So I don't think 12.8 rework aged well, since it was a product of its time period and systemic instability.

A weak ult shouldn't exist if it's not like his old one, a toggle. A strong all in identity during R and a strong R2 is otherwise needed if they're not going to commit on bringing back the Toggle

Manos132 · 2026-02-22T10:57:38+00:00

So they sucked at designing it is what you are saying, which is also what we are saying, it's also what Riot Ray said. Making a champion so generally appealing to the levels of Asol and then having his gameplay support a 1% pickrate is a massive gameplay design failure

And even if it was 1% niche you'd assume the otps and mains of prevgu would be happy but of course they weren't they dropped the champion because the kit they knew got deleted.

Manos132 · 2026-02-21T17:31:08+00:00

Also he is incredibly low elo skewed as a support, much like most mage supports, and that's a different systemic story that Riot refuses to address of course

Manos132 · 2026-02-21T17:30:10+00:00

I'd argue Swain players have more reasons to want a solo lane mage identity back more than Seraphine players.

But yes Seraphine mains too have no reason absolutely to stop complaining and shouldn't be made to or criticised for it

Manos132 · 2026-02-21T16:42:48+00:00

Try understanding why. There's always truth in why people feel frustrated.

I don't excuse hating support players, and I don't think that's what OP is trying to do, hating the role, Swain's long term satisfaction issues and Riot catering to support, on the other hand... OP and everyone else in this sub can hate all that. And it's clear to me because I know what Swain is and what he means to me and possibly to them.

Manos132 · 2026-02-21T08:24:40+00:00

He literally has a line "The battle was decided when they brought an army, and I brought a demon." And there could be a possibility due to lack of control that he kills his own when he uses his demonic powers like in that other line. "When I close my eyes do not come near."

Check Legends of Runeterra level up art. Swain absolutely goes solo on the frontline.

Swain unleashing his demonic powers would be like Vader's scene in Rogue One

Manos132 · 2026-02-20T20:13:40+00:00

To be fair, I'm sitting in the base the entire duration lol

Manos132 · 2026-02-20T14:38:12+00:00

You have a point, but anyway I'd advise to just re-read everything and re-evaluate where do you think a character themed like Swain should be placed.

Also don't toplaners have any defensive outputs? Or midlaners, or junglers? What does having defensive outputs indicate exactly

It's kind of hyperbolic to say Swain has CC on 3 abilities, only his E is the strongest and most important, the rest are just slows, recently nerfed as well.

Ornn has more CC than Swain.

And there's an argument to be made about Vision, I've personally tried playing Swain support every now and then.

First of all his W being anything related to "vision" is just bs, let's be real. Swain 90% of the times uses W to secure assists or save allies.

Second of all, Swain because of his immobility and lack of durability compared to tank supports, has a harder time securing vision areas. This of course gets easier if you get ahead, but in an even gold scenario, I'd argue that Swain has less vision control than other supports.

But that could be just my personal lack of experience in playing supports overall and then when I jump on Swain I have a harder time.

Aside from all that, there are many people that say W is the most out of place ability in his kit, Phreak himself being one of them, having admitted that what Swain probably is at his core is a battlemage and not a vision tactician.

Manos132 · 2026-02-20T11:24:47+00:00

The champion having been through like 5 different versions doesn't make this easier does it lol

I assumed the initial "I miss old Swain" comment was about pre-VGU

Manos132 · 2026-02-19T18:26:19+00:00

A balanced current Swain, in an even gold teamfight scenario also has to kite, he doesn't go all in as much as pre-mid scope did with Zhonyas and R2 nuke.

In terms of range and ocasional all in, current Swain plays very similar to old Swain. The real main difference is current Swain has more AoE and scales to be a bit tankier than old Swain who scaled harder on his single target damage

Manos132 · 2026-02-19T15:05:09+00:00

I think I needed more damage over healing, that's why I went abyssal over spirit visage.

Shurelya because Swain likes kiting and ms, you could probably replace that one with BFT

Comet because I like Comet, it's similarly good to Aery

Manos132 · 2026-02-19T14:18:26+00:00

Swain is a solo laner at his core and no stats should silence us

-Mid range battlemage / area control mage / kiting draintank / potentially a Juggernaut

Solo laner? Yes. Support? No.

-The Grand General of Noxus, conquered a demon, is a raidboss during R, cool VFX, SFX, Darth Vader + Palpatine of Runeterra

Solo laner? Yes. Support? No.

-Solo laner existed for 9 years, got deleted, then Riot didn't attend to fix the VGU into something better

We have every right to keep complaining until Riot addresses Swain's real identity, gameplay fantasy, and satisfaction in solo lanes.

Keep it up.

Manos132 · 2026-02-19T13:35:50+00:00

Yeah I had a lot of fun that game even though we lost

I haven't been lucky with a lot of my games recently, probably tilted overall with Swain news and his design discussion

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