CHAMPIONSSwain
Swain
CHAMPION · MID

Swain

Verified across 3 sourcesLast updated · 2026-05-26
midA5 src
01

Overview

last updated 2026-05-26
Editor's pick · most-quoted
So, it means that you become a lot stronger and you can do a lot more base damage yourself, which I think becomes pretty scary with casting because as soon as casting gets ahead, yeah, good luck doing with him. Uh, Swain got a bit of a nerf to the second part of his ultimate with the recast version of his ultimate, but I still think he's very strong. I think he does a lot of burst damage.
itzstu4rt · patch 7.1b · (42:47)
Open questions (4)
  1. 01~~Build path~~ — answered for 7.1e in [[#Build (WR Meta, 7.1e)]] (2026-05-26)
  2. 02~~Rune setup~~ — answered alongside builds above (2026-05-26)
  3. 03Power-spike timings
  4. 04Specific matchups
02

Tier history

6 entries · 3 sources · 3 patches
PatchSourceRoleTierΔDateNotes
7.1ehellsdevilmidA−22026-05-19
7.1eroyalmidS=2026-05-17
7.1ditzstu4rtsupportC·2026-05-08
7.1ditzstu4rtmidS·2026-05-08
7.1droyalmidS·2026-05-08
7.1hellsdevilmidS·2026-05-08
03

Builds

1 source
WR Metaaggregator statspatch 7.1e
WR51.39%PR2.77%BR2.63%
Items (in order)
Malignance
MalignanceAn item made for Ultimate-centric playstyles
  • +80 Ability Power
  • +7% Magic Penetration
  • +400 Max Mana
  • +20 Ability Haste

Scorn: Your Ultimate abilities gain 20 Ability Haste.

Hatefog: Damaging a champion with your Ultimate burns the ground beneath them for 3 second(s), dealing magic damage equal to 60 plus 5% AP per second and reducing their Magic Resist by 10. Burn radius increases with damage, reaching maximum radius at 800 damage.

3000 gold
Boots of Mana
Boots of ManaAbility Power, Magic Penetration, Mana Regeneration
  • +15 Ability Power
  • +100% Mana Regeneration
  • +45 Move Speed.

Magic Break: +8% Magic Penetration.

Equilibrium: Champions without Mana gain 50% bonus health Regen.

Big Bully: Attacks and active abilities deal 18 bonus physical damage to minions.

900 gold
Infinity Orb
Infinity OrbAbilities deal bonus damage
  • +80 Ability Power
  • +7% Magic Penetration

Destiny: +5% Move Speed.

Balanced: +15 Magic Penetration.

Inevitable Demise: Abilities and empowered attacks Critically Strike for 20% bonus damage against enemies below 35% Health.

Thunderfall: When an enemy champion dies within 3 second(s) of you applying Inevitable Demise to them, a lightning bolt strikes at the spot where they died, dealing magic damage equal to 50-75 () plus 10% to nearby enemies.

2900 gold
Rabadon's Deathcap
Rabadon's DeathcapBoosts Ability Power
  • +100 Ability Power
  • +7% Magic Penetration

Overkill: Increases Ability Power by 20-45%.

3400 gold
Soulstealer
Mejai's SoulstealerTakedowns increase AP
  • +70 Max Health
  • +25 Ability Power
  • +7% Magic Penetration

Glory: Gain up to 30 stacks of Glory after a champion takedown. Melee champions gain 3 stack(s) for each kill and 2 stack(s) for each assist; ranged champions gain 4 stack(s) for each kill and 2 stack(s) for each assist. You lose 10 stack(s) on death.

Fear: Gain 5 AP for every stack of Glory you have. At 10 stack(s) of Glory and above, gain 10% bonus Movement Speed.

1800 gold
Crown of the Shattered Queen
Crown of the Shattered QueenBlocks an enemy ability
  • +60 Ability Power
  • +7% Magic Penetration
  • +200 Max Mana
  • +20 Ability Haste

Safeguard: Grant a spell shield that blocks the next hostile ability, reduce incoming damage by 40% for 1s (40s Cooldown).

Poise: AP increases by 20 while Safeguarded. Dealing magic damage to enemy champions using an active ability reduces Safeguard's cooldown by 4s.

3000 gold
Runes
Conqueror
KeystoneConqueror
ConquerorKeystone

Basic attacks and abilities generate stacks of Conqueror on enemy champions hit, up to one per attack or cast. Each stack of Conqueror lasts 6 seconds and grants 3 - 7 (based on level) bonus (Adaptive) Attack Damage 4 - 12 (based on level) or Ability Power 4 - 11 (based on level), stacking up to 6 times, for a maximum of 12 - 36 (based on level) bonus Attack Damage or 18 - 54 (based on level) Ability Power (Adaptive). While fully stacked, gain 8 % melle ( 5% ranged) Physical Vamp and Magical Vamp. Adaptive Damage: Deals either physical or magic damage depending on your bonus stats, defaulting based on the origin of the effect.

Source: wildriftfire.com/rune-list (maintained by iTzSTU4RT, scraped 2026-05-18)

Axiom Arcanist
Axiom ArcanistMinor · Sorcery

Your ultimate ability has 10% increased damage, healing, and shielding. (AoE damage is reduced to a 5% increase) Scoring a takedown on an enemy champion reduces your ultimate ability's remaining cooldown by 7%.

Source: wildriftfire.com/rune-list (maintained by iTzSTU4RT, scraped 2026-05-18)

Transcendence
TranscendenceMinor · Sorcery

Gain a bonus when reaching the following levels: -Level 1: Gain 6 Ability Haste. - Level 5: Gain an additional 6 Ability Haste. - Level 9: After a basic ability hits the target, reduce 10% of the ability's cooldown. (8s cooldown)

Source: wildriftfire.com/rune-list (maintained by iTzSTU4RT, scraped 2026-05-18)

Nimbus Cloak
Nimbus CloakMinor · Sorcery

Casting a Summoner Spell grants 10% - 40% (based on Summoner Spell cooldown) bonus movement speed for 3 seconds.

Source: wildriftfire.com/rune-list (maintained by iTzSTU4RT, scraped 2026-05-18)

Bone Plating
Bone PlatingMinor · Resolve

Blocks damage from the next triggering champion attack and 2 more attacks.

Source: wildriftfire.com/rune-list (maintained by iTzSTU4RT, scraped 2026-05-18)

Skill priority
QWE
Spells
FlashFlashGhostGhost

Source: [[Sources/web-pages/2026-05-26-wrmeta-swain-build-7.1e|WR Meta]] · sampling: Diamond / Master / Challenger (Legendary tier).

Situational item swaps (explicit):

  • Morellonomicon — vs high-healing enemies like Soraka, Dr. Mundo, Vladimir
  • Riftmaker — for ramping damage in extended fights
  • Oceanid's Trident — vs shield-heavy enemies
  • Mercury's Treads — vs AP-heavy matchups

Counters / threats: Pantheon, Kassadin, Tristana, Fizz, Gragas, Zoe, Brand, Aurelion Sol

04

Commentary

verbatim creator quotes
hellsdevilauto· Auto-extracted commentary (HellsDevil, 7.1)
patch 7.1

Generated by /wr-extract from HellsDevil's patch 7.1 video transcript. Re-running this skill OVERWRITES this section. Promote keepers into your hand-written ## Patch 7.1 analysis (HellsDevil) sections above. Mid "She's just okay. Swain got nerfed, he's still S tier. if you're really good at her, she's S plus tier. But for your average Joe, she's A tier." (20:10)

hellsdevilauto· Mid
patch 7.1·mid

She's just okay. Swain got nerfed, he's still S tier. if you're really good at her, she's S plus tier. But for your average Joe, she's A tier.(20:10)

itzstu4rtauto· Auto-extracted commentary (iTzSTU4RT, 7.1b)
patch 7.1b

Generated by /wr-extract from iTzSTU4RT's patch 7.1b video transcript. Re-running this skill OVERWRITES this section. Promote keepers into your hand-written ## Patch 7.1b analysis (iTzSTU4RT) sections above. Mid "So, it means that you become a lot stronger and you can do a lot more base damage yourself, which I think becomes pretty scary with casting because as soon as casting gets ahead, yeah, good luck doing with him. Uh, Swain got a bit of a nerf to the second part of his ultimate with the recast version of his ultimate, but I still think he's very strong. I think he does a lot of burst damage." (42:47) Support "And then you have decent amount of burst damage with Brandon Locks, which are okay. And then down to CT, your Swain and Yumi. Yumi, just completely just ignore Yumi." (01:12:20) "Her runes are now pretty terrible as well. Um, and Swain is just kind of mid. I I think people like playing Swain support because you can play more of a carry, but I just think there's better supports to play that can impact your entire team." (01:12:30)

itzstu4rtauto· Mid
patch 7.1b·mid

So, it means that you become a lot stronger and you can do a lot more base damage yourself, which I think becomes pretty scary with casting because as soon as casting gets ahead, yeah, good luck doing with him. Uh, Swain got a bit of a nerf to the second part of his ultimate with the recast version of his ultimate, but I still think he's very strong. I think he does a lot of burst damage.(42:47)

itzstu4rtauto· Support
patch 7.1b·support

And then you have decent amount of burst damage with Brandon Locks, which are okay. And then down to CT, your Swain and Yumi. Yumi, just completely just ignore Yumi.(01:12:20)

Her runes are now pretty terrible as well. Um, and Swain is just kind of mid. I I think people like playing Swain support because you can play more of a carry, but I just think there's better supports to play that can impact your entire team.(01:12:30)

hellsdevilauto· Auto-extracted commentary (hellsdevil, 7.1e)
patch 7.1e

Generated by /wr-extract from hellsdevil's patch 7.1e video transcript. Re-running this skill OVERWRITES this section. Promote keepers into your hand-written ## Patch 7.1e analysis (hellsdevil) sections above. Mid "Again, same story as Gallio, and he's going to be great. Swain is good. Victor is also really good if you know how to play him." (17:50)

hellsdevilauto· Mid
patch 7.1e·mid

Again, same story as Gallio, and he's going to be great. Swain is good. Victor is also really good if you know how to play him.(17:50)

06

Patch notes

mentions of Swain

No patch-note mentions parsed yet.