Massive changes for Swain have arrived on the PBE servers
Riot game designer Tim “Truexy” Jiang released the newest update list today, saying the developers are aiming to pull some of his burst power to focus more on Swain’s vision of becoming a drain-tanking horror. To compensate, they are removing part of his power from his passive to account for the modifications to his ultimate.
“This version of Swain aims to pull some his burst power into investing in Swain’s fantasy of becoming a drain-tanking terror while in R.” “We’re upping how often Swain can use R and removing the “ticking clock” on how long he can stay in his form.”
Ravenous Flock (P)
- [REMOVED] No longer pull crowd-controlled enemies.
- [REMOVED] Pull no longer deals damage.
- Healing: 4/5.5/7% (levels 1/6/11) maximum health >>> 4/5.5/7/9% (levels 1/6/11/16) maximum health
- Health Per Soul Fragment: 5 >>> 12
Death’s Hand (Q)
- Mana Cost: 65/70/75/80/85 >>> 45/50/55/60/65
- Cooldown: 9/7.5/6/4.5/3s >>> 7/6/5/4/3s
- Damage: 55/75/95/115/135 (+40% AP) >>> 60/80/100/120/140 (+40% AP)
- Additional Bolt Damage: 15/20/25/30/35% >>> 12/22/32/42/52 (+10% AP)
- Maximum Damage: 88/135/190/253/324 (+64/72/80/88/96% AP) > >> 108/168/228/288/348 (+80% AP)
Vision Of Empire (W)
- Mana Cost: 70/80/90/100/110 >>> 60/65/70/75/80
- [NEW] Pings now display enemies in range similar to Twisted Fate (R) and Nocturne (R)
Nevermove (E)
• [NEW] Can now be reactivated to pull all champions rooted by Nevermove
• [NEW] Cooldown is reduced by 20% during Demonic Ascension (R)
Demonic Ascension (R)
- Cooldown: 120s >>> 100/80/60s
- Drain Damage per Second: 35/50/65 (+14% AP) >>> 20/45/70 (+10% AP)
- Drain Heal per Second: 20/35/40 (+16% AP) >>> 20/40/60 (+16% AP) > >> 15/40/65 (+25%)
- [REMOVED] No longer grants 125/200/275 health
- [CHANGED] Upon casting Demonic Ascension, Swain gains 50 Demon Power. Demonic Ascension lasts as long as Swain has Demon Power, which drains at a rate of 10 per second. While draining an enemy champion, Swain gains 20 Demon Power per second. After 3 seconds, Swain can cast Demonflare (R2).
Demonflare (R2)
- Demonflare Damage: 100/150/200 (+50% AP) >>> 150/225/300 (+60% AP)
- [NEW] Demonflare now slows enemies by 60%, decaying over 1.5 seconds
- [CHANGED] On casting Demonic Ascension, Swain can cast Demonflare 1 time. This does not end Demonic Ascension
- [REMOVED] Demonflare no longer charges up based on health drained, up to double damage
Swain was one of the most popular champions throughout season 8 following his VGU in patch 8.3. He had a respectable win rate for having played three distinct roles. And because of his potential, he was subjected to a number of nerfs.
His presence decreased dramatically after those nerfs. Despite Riot giving him some buffs in Season 10 and small modifications in Season 11, he is rarely seen in both solo queue and pro plays while having a relatively low win rate (currently at 48.65% at his main role: Support), according to op.gg.
With the massive changes to all of his abilities, Swain is hope to rise from the grave and once again dominate the Rift. The Swain mini-rework is presently being tested on the PBE, and the entire modifications will be available in League of Legends patch 12.8 or 12.9.