The Noxian General, Swain, one of League of Legends’ most conniving figures, has existed as one of the more underwhelming champions in the game for years. Swain’s lack of reliability in favor of more meta mages has led Riot Games to pursue changes for the champion, hoping to make him more viable in the lanes he can be used.
Riot Truexy, associate game designer on the Summoner’s Rift team for League, detailed changes to Swain that are set to go live on the PBE later this week. These will be the first changes to Swain since Patch 11.1 and the first major changes to his kit since Patch 10.15.
“This should help both Swain in mid and support by giving him access to his meaningful spells,” Truexy said.
Notably, the bonus passive associated with Swain’s passive is being removed, so pulling in a champion that has been immobilized will no longer deal extra damage to them, though it will still offer Swain a soul fragment.
Swain’s Q, the main source of his damage, will have its cooldown and mana cost reduced at all ranks. This should allow Swain to poke his enemies more in the early game without having to rely too heavily on late-game scaling when, at that point, there might not be much room for the Noxian General to thrive. His ultimate will also have its cooldown reduced from a static 120 seconds to 120/100/80 seconds depending on the ability’s ranks.
These changes to Swain are expected to be released on League’s PBE later this week, likely shipping with Patch 12.5b or later with Patch 12.6. Since these changes are in testing, they may be altered before their release on the live servers.
Update March 9 10:25am CT: Following feedback from fans regarding the damage removal from Swain’s passive, Riot Truexy detailed that there may be further changes coming to better spread damage throughout Swain’s kit.
“We’ll do our diligence and make sure Swain players feel like this list is a win,” Truexy said.
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