Swain ARAM Mayhem Build

The Noxian Grand General. A middle-of-the-pack pick in ARAM Mayhem on patch 26.21: #95 of 173 champions.

BPatch 26.21MageSupportNo runes in Mayhem

Tier: B
Win rate: 49.0%
Pick rate: 9.4%
Rank: #95 of 173
Games: 2,175,603
Patch: 26.21

How to play Swain in ARAM Mayhem

Swain is a solid, middle-of-the-pack pick in ARAM Mayhem on patch 26.21: tier B, #95 of 173 champions, with a 49.0% win rate over 2,175,603 games. It is also one of the most picked champions, showing up in 9% of games, so expect to see it on both sides. Riot rates it 8/10 for difficulty, so give it a few games before you judge it.

75% of Swain's damage to champions is magic, so enemy magic resist is what slows it down. It soaks 94,588 damage per game and mitigates another 81,333, so it belongs at the front: start fights and absorb the poke your carries can't. With 60 seconds of crowd control per game it is one of the team's main sources of lockdown. It dies only 9.3 times per game on average, fewer than most.

Most Swain players go Tank (49% of games), but the AP path, ability power items, is ARAMKit's top-ranked build: Rod of Ages, Rylai's Crystal Scepter and Riftmaker, with a 47.0% win rate. For boots, Mercury's Treads are both the most bought and the top-ranked pair.

The cards that do best on Swain are Infinite Recursion, Circle of Death and Armored Impact. Cards built around health and resistances fill most of the top of its list, followed by movement speed. Skip Nightstalking and Totentanz when you can: they do worst on Swain. A pair to look for: Circle of Death with Ravenous Bind.

Take Flash and Mark (85% of players); Ghost is the common alternative. Max Q (Death's Hand) first, then E, then W.

Swain ARAM Mayhem build

ARAMKit groups every Swain game by build path. The top-ranked path comes first, with the items most players start with, buy first and add later.

AP build · top ranked

47.0% win rate · 32% of Swain games · 607,980 games

Start

Catalyst of Aeons

Core items, in buying order

Rod of Ages
Rylai's Crystal Scepter
Riftmaker

Boots on the AP build for Swain, top ranked first, with the share of players who buy them
Boots, best first	Players
Mercury's Treads	34%
Gluttonous Greaves	11%
No boots	38%

Situational, after the core

Spirit Visage39% buy it
Liandry's Torment21% buy it
Warmog's Armor5% buy it
Malignance5% buy it
Rabadon's Deathcap7% buy it
Unending Despair15% buy it

Other build paths

Other Swain build paths with share of games, win rate and core items
Path	Core items	Games	Win rate
TankHeartsteel, Unending Despair, Spirit Visage		49.3%	46.9%

Games: the share of all Swain games that went this way.

Most bought items

Heartsteel68% of games
Spirit Visage49% of games
Riftmaker47% of games
Rod of Ages39% of games
Rylai's Crystal Scepter39% of games
Unending Despair38% of games
Warmog's Armor26% of games
Mercury's Treads25% of games
Liandry's Torment23% of games
Jak'Sho, The Protean16% of games

Best augments for Swain

Every card with enough Swain games, by tier and best first within each tier. Tiers are Swain's own: a card can be S tier here and C tier on another champion. As Riot's policy asks, cards are shown by tier and order only, never with a win rate. Click a card for its own page; the augment tier list ranks them over all champions.

PrismaticBest prismatic cards

GoldBest gold cards

SilverBest silver cards

1Lich BrainTier S
2Flash 2Tier S
3ErosionTier S

S- and A-tier cards for Swain

15 S tier and 30 A tier, best first.

The S- and A-tier augments for Swain in ARAM Mayhem, best first, with their rarity and what they do
Augment	Rarity	Tier	What it does
Infinite Recursion	Prismatic	Tier S	Gain 60 Ability Haste, plus 3 Ability Haste per takedown.
Circle of Death	Prismatic	Tier S	Your healing and Health Regen deal 70% of the value magic damage to the nearest enemy champion.
Armored Impact	Gold	Tier S	After casting an Ability, your next Attack deals (50–125 (by level) +250% Bonus Armor) bonus physical damage to nearby enemies.
Mad Scientist	Prismatic	Tier S	On each Revive, you grow large (gaining 30% Adaptive Force and 20% Health) or tiny (gaining 70 Ability Haste and 40% Movement Speed).
Giant Slayer	Prismatic	Tier S	Become tiny, gain 20% Movement Speed, and deal between 10% and 30% bonus damage to champions based on how much larger they are than you.
En Passant	Prismatic	Tier S	Periodically identify Vitals on enemy champions. Hitting Vitals with Attacks or Abilities deals an additional 6% + 1.5% per stack max Health…
Omni Soul	Prismatic	Tier S	Gain 3 random Dragon Souls.
Lich Brain	Silver	Tier S	Gain (30+4% Bonus Health) Ability Power.
Flash 2	Silver	Tier S	Gain a second Flash Summoner Spell and 70 Summoner Haste.
Shrink Engine	Gold	Tier S	Takedowns grant a stack that makes you 4% smaller, grants 8 Ability Haste, and 1% Movement Speed. Lose 65% stacks on death…
Steel Your Heart	Gold	Tier S	QUEST: Possess Heartsteel with 300 stacks. REWARD: Multiply Heartsteel stacks by 3.
Erosion	Silver	Tier S	Damaging enemies shreds 1.5% Armor and Magic Resist for 4s, up to 30% at 20 stacks.
Forged By The Master	Silver	Tier S	Your Item and Augment damage are increased by 45%.
Escape Plan	Silver	Tier S	Gain a massive (65% Max Health) decaying Shield, decaying 150% Movement Speed, and a decaying shrink effect upon reaching 35% Health (75…
Heavy Hitter	Silver	Tier S	Your Attacks deal additional (3.5% Max Health) physical damage.
Leg Day	Silver	Tier A	Gain 50 Movement Speed and 50% Slow Resist.
Hellbent	Prismatic	Tier A	Striking enemy champions with Attacks or Abilities grants you a stack of Revivemaxxing for 6 seconds (max: 10). At max stacks become…
Ravenous Bind	Gold	Tier A	Minimum healing: (50–200 (by level) +5% Ability Power +10% Bonus Health) Healing increases up to 50% based on spell cooldown.
Back To Basics	Prismatic	Tier A	Your Ultimate Ability is sealed. Gain 35% Ability Damage, Healing, Shielding, and 70 Ability Haste.
The Boom and the Bass	Gold	Tier A	After casting an Ability, your next Attack within 6 seconds is faster, deals Melee (50–200 (by level) +50% Bonus Attack Damage+30% Ability…
Sap Magic	Gold	Tier A	Every 20 seconds, your next Attack deals (80–300 (by level) +5% Bonus Health) bonus physical damage and restores (50–250 (by level) +8% Max…
Fruitify	Silver	Tier A	Scoring a Takedown causes the slain champion to explode into 3–6 (by level) Fruit. Fruit restores 6% of your maximum health and restores 6%…
Stackosaurus Rex	Silver	Tier A	When you gain permanent Stacks of an Ability, gain 100% more!
Ocean Soul	Silver	Tier A	Gain the Ocean Soul, granting high Health and Mana Regen after damaging enemies.
Weapon of Destiny	Gold	Tier A	Your first Legendary Item becomes the Weapon of Destiny. When a champion you damaged within the last 3 seconds dies, increase the Weapon of…
Upgrade Immolate	Silver	Tier A	Hollow Radiance and Sunfire Aegis grant 12 Gold per target affected with Immolate. Gain 250 Gold.
Phenomenal Evil	Gold	Tier A	Permanently gain 1 Ability Power when you damage enemy champions with Abilities. If taken as your second Augment, starts with 40 Ability…
Recursion	Gold	Tier A	Gain 60 Ability Haste.
Blue Barrier	Silver	Tier A	Gain 200–450 (by level) % of the Max Mana Mana you spend as a Shield for 1.5 seconds. Shields up to 300–800 (by level)
Tooth Fairy	Gold	Tier A	When you deal more than 25% of an enemy champion's Health in less than 2.5 seconds, they drop a Tooth. 4 seconds cooldown per target
Infernal Conduit	Prismatic	Tier A	Your Abilities apply an infinitely stacking Burn, dealing (2–20 (by level) +1.2% Ability Power +2.8% Bonus Attack Damage) magic damage per…
Cruelty	Prismatic	Tier A	On Immobilizing or Grounding an enemy champion, summon a comet above them. The comet lands after 1 second, dealing (50–150 (by level) +40%…
Pressure Cooker	Gold	Tier A	Every second, apply an infinitely stacking Burn to nearby enemy champions, dealing (0.5% Max Health) magic damage per second for 2 seconds…
From Beginning To End	Gold	Tier A	Gain the First Strike and Dark Harvest Keystone Runes. First Strike: When you initiate champion combat, deal 10% extra damage for 3 seconds…
Transmute: Prismatic	Gold	Tier A	Gain a random Augment Tier Prismatic Augment.
Soul Eater	Gold	Tier A	Immobilizing an enemy champion grants 20 max Health. If taken as your second Augment, starts with 300 Health.
Goldrend	Prismatic	Tier A	Damaging a champion with Attacks or Abilities deals an additional (50–150 (by level) +20% Ability Power +40% Bonus Attack Damage) magic…
Tank Engine	Gold	Tier A	On takedown, gain a stack that grants 5% increased size and 5% max Health. Lose 65% of stacks on death.
Kill Secured	Silver	Tier A	Gain 60% Movement Speed towards enemies below 40% health.
Hand of Baron	Prismatic	Tier A	Gain 25% Adaptive Force. Nearby allied minions are greatly empowered.
FireFox	Silver	Tier A	Autocast: Gain 25% movement speed and conjure three flames that orbit you every 9 seconds, targetting the closest visible enemy in range and…
Slap Around	Silver	Tier A	Each time you Immobilize or Ground an enemy, gain a stack granting 10 Adaptive Force. Lose 50% stacks on death.
Goliath	Prismatic	Tier A	Become large, gaining 35% Health and 15% Adaptive Force.
Fey Magic	Prismatic	Tier A	Damaging with your Ultimate Polymorphs enemies for 2 seconds (15 second Cooldown).
Transmute: Chaos	Prismatic	Tier A	Gain 2 random Augment Tier Augments.

Average on Swain
54 cards, best first

Below average on Swain
36 cards, best first

Weakest on Swain
6 cards, best first

Best first augment for Swain

Your first card decides the early fights, and a card that is great as a first pick can be a weak fourth. ARAMKit ranks Swain's cards for each pick on its own; these are the top five per pick, with their tier in that pick. For the first pick, Armored Impact, Infinite Recursion and Circle of Death come out on top.

The best augments for Swain in each pick of an ARAM Mayhem game, best first, with their tier in that pick
#	First pick	Second pick	Third pick	Fourth pick
1	Armored ImpactTier S	Bread And ButterTier S	Hand of BaronTier S	Flash 2Tier S
2	Infinite RecursionTier S	Circle of DeathTier S	Circle of DeathTier S	Circle of DeathTier S
3	Circle of DeathTier S	Mad ScientistTier S	Lich BrainTier S	Mad ScientistTier S
4	Omni SoulTier S	En PassantTier S	The Boom and the BassTier S	Giant SlayerTier S
5	Back To BasicsTier S	Lich BrainTier S	En PassantTier S	Lich BrainTier S

Strong card pairs

Two cards that do especially well together on Swain, best pair first.

Summoner spells and skill order

Summoner spells

Flash + Mark85% of players · 49.1% win rate
Flash + Ghost12% of players · 49.0% win rate
Ghost + Mark2% of players · 48.7% win rate

Skill order

QDeath's Hand
ENevermove
WVision of Empire

Max Q first. 51% of players use this order (49.3% win rate); put points in R whenever you can.

Swain in an average Mayhem game

Averages per game over every game on this patch.

K / D / A: 9.5 / 9.3 / 31.3
KDA: 5.29
Damage to champions: 43,263
Damage taken: 94,588
Self-mitigated: 81,333
Healing on allies: 5
Shielding on allies: 0
Crowd control: 60 s
Kill participation: 72%
Game length: 17:06

Damage type

Physical 20%Magic 75%True 5%

Questions and answers

What is the best Swain build in ARAM Mayhem?

On patch 26.21 ARAMKit ranks the AP build first for Swain: Rod of Ages, Rylai's Crystal Scepter and Riftmaker. The most played build is Tank.

What are the best augments for Swain in ARAM Mayhem?

The S-tier cards for Swain, best first: Infinite Recursion, Circle of Death, Armored Impact, Mad Scientist and Giant Slayer. The full list by tier is on this page.

Is Swain good in ARAM Mayhem?

Swain is tier B on patch 26.21, #95 of 173 champions, with a 49.0% win rate over 2.2 million games. That makes it a solid, middle-of-the-pack pick in ARAM Mayhem right now.

What is the best first augment for Swain in ARAM Mayhem?

For Swain's first pick on patch 26.21: Armored Impact, Infinite Recursion, Circle of Death, Omni Soul and Back To Basics, best first. Cards rank differently in later picks; the table on this page has all four.

Other Mages in ARAM Mayhem

Get Swain's build and card tiers in your game

LazyElo is a free Windows app that sits next to the League client. In the Mayhem lobby it shows which champion on your bench is strongest; in the game you type the three cards you're offered and see their tier for Swain side by side, with this build in the overlay.

Download LazyElo for Windows

Free plan, no ads. For Windows 10 and 11.

Plans and pricing The ARAM Mayhem overlay

ARAM Mayhem tier list
Every champion by tier on patch 26.21.
ARAM Mayhem augment tier list
Every card from S to D over all champions.
All Mayhem builds
Pick a champion from the full list.
ARAM Mayhem rules
Augment levels, rerolls and why there are no runes.
ARAM Mayhem guide
How the mode, the cards and the picks work.
Swain counters
Its lane matchups on Summoner's Rift.
ARAM Mayhem overlay
The card picker and build in the app.

Source: ARAMKit, used with permission. Patch 26.21, 23,177,263 ARAM Mayhem games, data of October 28, 2026. Riot keeps Mayhem games out of its public match API, so these aggregates come from ARAMKit. Card tiers are shown without win rates, as Riot's developer policy asks.