Swain buffs aim to make him more “satisfying” in next League of Legends patch
Swain has struggled to live up to his Grand General title in League of Legends recently. The Noxian ruler isn’t performing across top, mid, and bot lane. However, Riot are planning some buffs to make him more “satisfying” to live up to the name.
Swain has been a bit lost on Summoner’s Rift identity-wise for a couple of years. While he was once a clearly-defined short-ranged mage, he’s morphed into a hybrid of a drain-tank support with enough damage to be played elsewhere.
That lack of identity has soured his win rates slightly, but his play rate significantly. As a support, where he has been shining most, it’s a passable 51.17% win rate as of patch 12.5. However, mid and bot lane carry have both suffered, especially in lower ranks.
His kit is niche, and doesn’t fit into the meta like traditional picks.
In an attempt to try and more clearly define his role — and live up to that Noxian Grand General tag — Riot are planning some buffs for League of Legends patch 12.6.
Riot wants Swain to feel as powerful as his title states.Developer ‘TheTruexy’ explained “the goals here are shifting power out of less satisfying places and into the spells that make Swain, well Swain.”
Riot are removing all damage off his passive to move power to the rest of his kit. This includes reducing the cooldown of his ultimate, Demonic Ascension, as well as tone back his Q’s mana cost a bit.
It should give him more room to spam spells in lane, as well as more access to his game-changing ultimate as the levels rack up.
“This should help both Swain in Mid and support by giving him better access to his meaningful spells. We expect it to be a small [to] mid sized buff to Swain everywhere,” TheTruexy added.
Some Swain changes that will be on PBE this week! Goals here are shifting power out of less satisfying places and into the spells that make Swain, well Swain. More spammable Q in lane, and higher uptime on Ult pic.twitter.com/nIbWiY240p
— Tim (@TheTruexy) March 8, 2022
Swain mains aren’t convinced by the changes — the reduced damage without any buffs elsewhere, they claim, will make his burst combo significantly worse. Much like the Rengar rework, some are calling on the developers to take it back to the drawing board.
However, it’s still early days — and with plenty of time between the March 8 announcement and League patch 12.6 on March 30, expect further updates in this space. You can find the full list of Swain buffs below.
Swain buffs in League of Legends patch 12.6
Passive: Ravenous Flock
- No longer deals 20-105 (+30%AP) magic damage
Q: Death’s Hand
- Cooldown: 9/7.5/6/4.5/3 seconds >>> 7/6/5/4/3 seconds
- Mana: 65/70/75/80/85 >>> 50/55/60/65/70
R: Demonic Ascension
- Cooldown: 120 seconds >>> 120/100/80 seconds
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