Swain has been due some major changes in League of Legends. He has fallen out of the meta in Season 10, only making token appearances in support. However, on Patch 10.15, he’s back — and he’s going to be a monster in the mid lane.
Swain was given a rework in the run into Season 8. That was over two years ago now, and while he was a mainstay in the meta for six months, he quickly faded into obscurity.
Riot are looking at giving the Noxian Grand General a new lease of life though. In Patch 10.15, Swain is set to receive a bunch of changes to bring him back to his home in the mid lane.
Riot’s goals with the changes are to “shift power to allow Swain viability in high MMR without making him OP in lower,” according to lead developer Mark ‘Scruffy’ Yetter.
“[We want to] push some unique elements of the kit and help him feel more like the ‘battlemage who must be in close range.’”
His passive will now remain on a flat 10 second cooldown at all ranks, but will scale with cooldown reduction. To compensate for its increased uptime, it’ll no longer restore mana. His Q will also be on a shorter cooldown and pass through champions, although will be slightly smaller.
His W will be near global — having its range practically doubled at all ranks. Its mana cost will also be culled, but so will its damage. Finally, Nevermove will be moving to a flat 10 second cooldown and a flat 50 mana cost, so as to not force Swain players to max it second.
The buffs will be music to any Swain main’s ears. Riot are targeting all aspects of his kit, from his passive, to his wave clear, and his global pressure with W. The only ability that is remaining unchanged for now is his ultimate.
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“We believe the higher cast cadence on Q and the range on W are going to skew as high elo buffs where people are generally better at managing their mana (thus they know when they can afford to spam Q vs when not to) and have more map awareness,” added Rob ‘King Cobra’ Rosa on Reddit.
Swain was one of five champions Riot listed as needing changes to bring them back into the fray.
Karthus’ changes were shipped on Patch 10.14, increasing his wave clear to help him in the mid lane while not overbuffing his role in the jungle. Pyke was also sent back to the bot lane, with some much-needed support buffs.
Tahm Kench is due a mini-rework, but Riot are pushing that back to after Worlds so as to not disrupt the pro meta. Kench, while a popular pick in top-level play, is almost non-existent in solo queue. Riot are hoping to change that with his Season 10 rework.
Skarner, the final champion on the list, hasn’t had any tangible changes outlined by Riot yet. However, their goal with the Crystal Vanguard is to give him “stronger damage threat against fighters and tanks.”
The Swain changes will be shipped as part of League Patch 10.15, which is now live on the PBE. The update should hit live servers on July 22.
