Pyke matchup: Hitting him is a waste of mana, getting hit by him is death Why: You can’t reliably damage him, but he can always threaten lethal if he connects. He controls tempo even when behind. In lane: If he starts losing, he just roams and wins elsewhere. You’re forced to respect him constantly. Don’t waste resources trying to pressure him directly, since he heals most of it back. Unless you have a Leona or Amumu support, you probably won't be able to lock him down 100-0.

Ezreal matchup: If he goes any yellow tree, you lose, especially with LT. perma-ban if not Pyke or Sylas Why: He out-ranges, out-pokes, and eventually out-stats you through CDs and uptime, even if you dodge most Qs. In lane: Even with an early lead, he stabilizes and takes over through range and cooldown advantage. You’re on a timer to do something elsewhere.

Sylas matchup: If he exists, your R griefs your team; if he’s support, you die Why: He uses your ult better than you do, and turns your own pick into a liability. In lane: Support Sylas heavily punishes you early. Mid Sylas means you can’t fight him at any point. Your only real out is team fighting while allies handle him, or avoiding him entirely.

Kalista matchup: Out-scales you, out-skills you, if you miss E you die Why: She out-trades and out-maneuvers you at every stage unless she makes a mistake and lets you land E. Even then, she might just stat-check you. In lane: You need consistent E hits or a strong support to compete. That can get you a lead, but she can still outplay later.

Draven matchup: You lose until he dies of boredom and eats E into your turret. They will unironically do this often btw. Why: He wins trades regardless of build and pressures you constantly. You probably only win trades lvl1-3. In lane: You don’t beat him straight up. Your win condition is punishing over-aggression (dives, bad positioning) or getting jungle attention.

Zac matchup: Enjoy not being allowed to play the lane Why: His engage range and threat from fog force you to constantly give space. Even when you see him, you’re still playing around his jump availability. In lane: You need vision on whichever side you’re playing toward (river or lane bush) at all times. Be ready to E him mid-air (the timing is based on distance, and usually shortly after he enters the air). This is your main counterplay, but it requires prediction or early vision. Early fights are rough: your damage isn’t enough to clear blobs - if you can even kill him in the first place - and your ult doesn’t persist on them, so you don’t get real value from committing on him. Don’t walk up blindly or take extended fights. Play to avoid him rather than fight him.

Kog'Maw matchup: If W is up, you lose, otherwise it’s playable Why: His W windows completely out-stat and out-range you in fights. In lane: Play around W cooldown. If it’s up, disengage. If it’s down, you have short windows to trade or pressure. If you hook him, don't plan on Q'ing. Walk away, E2 after you're safely out of range of a possibly W-auto.

Tristana matchup: If your E is down, you die Why: Her all-in windows are lethal and easy to force. If she knows her champ at all, she will immediately jump on you if you miss an E, and run you down. Honestly if she's good she'll jump in at an annoying angle that you can't E her out of anyways. In lane: Avoid interacting without your E available. Look for gank setups since she struggles to control waves.

Varus matchup: if you get hit by R, you die. if you get a lead, you win.

Zeri matchup: stat-checks you most fights. I'm unsure if the more "mosquito" oriented Zeri after Patch 26.9 is still as lethal of a threat.

Zoe matchup: miserable lane, even pre-6 Why: Her bubble is the real threat. Everything else "just hurts" and adds up over time. You can’t fully avoid her poke, but you also can’t afford to get hit by E . You also usually can't afford to spend all your CDs/mana on her if she's the support. In lane: Respect E (bubble) at all times. If it hits, you’re chunked or dead. When it’s down, you have a window to trade or pressure her ADC. You’ll often have to tank Q as part of trades, and that’s fine as long as you’re not already low. Focus on dodging E first, then minimize Q damage where you can. You can generate a lead pre-6 by punishing cooldowns, but the lane stays uncomfortable throughout. If she's good, she will force bubble onto you with her ult rather than fishing for it. Good luck.

Zilean matchup: Can't Killean the Zilean. Why: His R completely invalidates your all-ins and forces extended fights that don’t favor you. His slows also make it hard to stick to targets or disengage cleanly. In lane: You’ll often commit everything just to have it undone by R. Look to pressure before level 6, or coordinate with a support that has strong CC or burst to kill through it. His bomb poke is also hard to avoid if he has space, so you need your support to help contest positioning. If you fall behind, the lane becomes very difficult. If you get ahead early, you can push that lead and stat-check 2v2.

Elise matchup: She nukes you; or, if you win lane, she roams Why: High burst and flexible engage. She can force fights with Flash or Rappel to either commit or disengage, which makes her hard to punish, and even harder to "play safe" away from. In lane: Respect her E+Flash engage range at all times. She can also Rappel in to finish or Rappel out to avoid punishment, so trades rarely feel fair. Even if you’re winning lane, she can leave and impact the map, so you don’t get to safely snowball. Don’t walk up without vision or cooldowns. If she catches you, you usually don’t survive the burst.

Twitch matchup: you win lane by not interacting; skill-check As long as he doesn't have a lead, he usually can only do about half of your HP with a sneak surprise combo. "Deep" vision may let you spot him early if you don't have the timing or game-sense to predict his invis approach. If he gets a lead, he will farm you. If you get a lead, you can eventually freeze him out of lane.

Aphelios matchup: playable Nothing magical to this matchup; just know what Aphelios does, get traumatized by underestimating him enough times, and you'll find the windows to play the game. Until then, enjoy hard-losing lane.

Ashe matchup: if you dont have a lane bully support, you can't play If you are handed a Yuumi and they are handed any CC or Poke champ, your game is over at lvl2. If, instead, you have a real support champion, this is just a normal lane with little room to space out. Always expect an Ashe R.

Caitlyn matchup: every fkin game has a cait; she hurts A good cait will make you sweat for every cs. A bad cait will still hurt. Somewhat of a skill-check, somewhat just accepting you're going to get headshot to touch the wave.

Heimerdinger matchup: you can't interact with a good heimer You'll spend too much mana clearing turrets, so try to coordinate with your support for that. He is tough to pin down long enough to kill without melting to his turrets. But he also doesn't freeze so you can farm things out. FoN and Zonyas will help you out later, but don't skip on offensive items if your team comp lacks damage.

Kai'Sa matchup: skill matchup; you lose once she gets kraken You win pretty handily early assuming an even support matchup. Once she has Kraken, or if her LT is about to be stacked (or is already), look to exit and only take free damage against her. Ideally, you want a support with some damage or an unholy CC chain.

Lucian matchup: whoever gets a lead wins, favors lucian early No magic to this matchup. Don't get chunked when he gets lvl2 first. OR take Q first and force prio and pray their jng doesn't show up. It's unlikely you can greed E->W lvl1->2. Need E and Q both so he can't bully you and your supp as hard lvl 1-2, and so you don't get shoved in and lose all your CS.

Lux matchup: annoying as supp, hell as APC Nice wave you have there, it'd be a shame if Lux E'd you from outside of your range for more damage than your full combo :). idk just try and not interact with her until your supp does something useful

Senna matchup: outscales you, punishable in lane. if she's support for an adc, early armor boots are basically required; an item grab-bag of some AP and the components to Frozen Heart go a surprisingly long way.

Vayne matchup: whoever gets a lead wins Once she gets an item, your fun-time is over. You can abuse her until then, and extend a lead if you got one. Otherwise you're likely on the backfoot since she has so much DPS.

Yunara matchup: winning only if her Q & R are down, or she doesn't have kraken yet Just stat-checks you for fun. But she's also kinda useless if her Q and R are down. Sadly it isn't hard for her to stack it up either. She doesn't seem to run out of mana poking you. You can probably go near-even in CS. There's some room to beat her at lvl7. Earlier if your supp is useful.

Xerath matchup: If he's APC, you probably just lose. If he's Supp, it's super annoying but playable. No special sauce. Skill-check him or farm it out.

Amumu matchup: one of his best synergies, one of the most painful enemy supps Amumu support might be one of the strongest options when supporting Swain. Sadly, it's also one of the more painful options to play against. Disruptive amount of damage despite a CC chain rivaling Leona's. If he goes tank, it's happy days. If he goes AP, prepare to get exploded. Keep wards on the side of the lane you're playing, and always expect a bandage from bushes.

Bard matchup: electrocute bard beats your bum. I think they nerfed this guy at some point and it reigned him in enough to survive against him. Might need green tree options to handle him.

Pantheon matchup: Avoid interacting with him lvl1-3. If you can somehow get to lvl7 without ever getting killed, you're in a good spot. That said he's just gonna hexflash out of bushes on CD and threaten your entire HP bar. Armor boots and frozen heart's components may get you through things, but you won't likely be killing him then.

Yuumi matchup: good luck stat-checking her For a long time this was my perma-ban because her shield and heal were better CDs than Swain combo AND about as strong as the combo. She kept getting nerfed until it was eventually playable again. If the Yuumi is using a mouse instead of a trackpad, you're probably going to get laser-beamed by every Q sadly. Support decides your lane most likely. Of course some ADCs you can abuse by hooking on repeat while hiding in your minions.

Nidalee matchup: lose lane win game. As support, Nidalee kinda only has winning trade patterns against you during laning phase, but she also doesn't contribute much later. She doesn't hit hard enough nor buff/heal enough late-game for you to care that she won lane. Still super annoying to play into and for the right ADC, that lead lets them run the mid-game.

Lulu matchup: she's a lane bully and her shield matches your hook cd. Avoid wasting your mana on her, and try to fake her out by spreading hook and Q on separate targets, as frustrating as that can be. If she's supporting an A- or S-tier difficulty ADC, prepare to lose lane. Anything else, there's at least hope of you winning the 2v2.

Fiddlesticks matchup: if he starts losing, he perma-roams. Annoying near-guaranteed poke on cds similar to yours. But he also doesn't do much for his ADC aside from threatening you. Kill his ADC, stay out of his W and R.

Tahm Kench matchup: a good tahm will not let you play; support reliant lane. If your support matchup is favorable, Tahm becomes a source of healing for you. If your support is a Yuumi, you don't get to play :)

Rakan matchup: idk why this experience is so miserable. Genuinely I must just be a moron. This matchup feels so bad sometimes, even canceling his W with E2. Don't stack on your support. Pray he's not supporting an A- or S-tier difficulty champ.

Neeko matchup: outranges you, out-rats you

Trundle matchup: runs you down, blocks you off, too healthy to kill

Vladimir matchup: he's a single-target drain tank, you're AOE drain-tank. you lose lane, eventually. Your early CDs are a bit better than his and you can go with a CDR build to keep some power in lane, but he'll eventually just outheal you in each trade.

Anivia matchup: can only fight if your support 1v2s the lane, or if she's REALLY bad. If you can egg her in a fight, that's a lot of free healing. Otherwise, try to stand on the opposite side of the lane from her, and get early Boots of Swiftness. If she gets Swiftness, she can run out of bush and wall you before you can get away. If your support can control her (a lot of supports can) then she doesn't do much.

Fizz matchup: thankfully extremely rare in the bot lane. as either apc or supp, there is no winning trade pattern against him 1v1. Need a favorable 2v2 situation for you to do anything. A support that locks him down, or nukes his ADC in exchange for your hp bar. Probably need a Negatron cloak splash to mitigate his overwhelming damage combo.

Syndra matchup: skill-check, outscales you. Even if you completely curbstomp her in lane, at 4 items or so, she is a much scarier champ than you. She's a free camp for a good jng though, so said (assassin?) jungle may have a happy day farming her on your behalf.

Taliyah matchup: Skill-check. Slightly longer CDs than you but also better range and more area of control.

Annie matchup: has hex/flash, you lose, otherwise playable. somehow the same experience as playing against her in mid, you just die if she has flash or hexflash available with R. She'll pretty much always take ignite. I doubt you'll see an Annie APC but should see her in support anytime riot buffs her.

Ziggs matchup: doesn't really lose lane. You can abuse Ziggs early before his damage gets going, and of course positioning and dodging his kit is a skill-check. Eventually he will overwhelm you with range and damage. He will probably have TP and probably always have an out (W satchel or flash) so don't overcommit to pushing him out of lane unless you're sure you get something out of it.

Mel matchup: miserable if she's APC, just annoying if she's Supp

Nilah matchup: lose lane win game Nilah usually loses to you early, finds a kill on someone, and turns into a mid- and late-game monster. You must permanently respect her double-E dash -> R engage.

Seraphine matchup: skill-check, she can't lose lane

Vel'Koz matchup: skill-check

Sivir matchup: kinda outscales you, can be punished in-lane, support reliant

Shaco matchup: pray he's going AP. AD shaco will merc you

Karma matchup: lane bully but she doesnt do quite reliable enough damage to outpace your healing

Milio matchup: skill-check

Morgana matchup: dont get bound, probably dont bother trying to hook

Nami matchup: slightly losing like most enchanter experiences. dime-a-dozen support, you'll see this thing constantly. You'll often exhaust your mana before her so try to time harass around potential ally jungle visits unless you're confidently threatening kills on her or her adc with your support. She'll basically always have her combo up around your E uptime if you're trading with each other.

Poppy matchup: she wins trades, but doesn't have lethal if she fails E.

Soraka matchup: killable but makes her adc unpunishable; will harass you

Sona matchup: hurts early, outscales you, but easy to pop

Janna matchup: she can bully you but you can pop her

Smolder matchup: you will be outscaled; if he gets a lead your lane's over

Aurelion Sol matchup: easy lane until lvl9 ish or if he gets a lead

Veigar matchup: support-reliant, neither winning nor losing, outscales you

Yasuo matchup: in a 1v1 situation he's tough to handle; 2v2 it's fine. This is a significant departure from the mid-lane experience, where it's practically unplayable. If you notice he likes to dash through the wave for clear, you can probably get a hook on him by throwing it into your wave before he dashes. He'll just run into it and won't be able to windwall it. Forcing his windwall feelsbad but it's great as long as you don't get punished during that short exchange. This gives you breathing room on your next E uptime for around 10seconds where he risks getting chunked for trading with you. If you get a lead in this lane, and take either early armor boots or early frozen heart (plus some AP), he can't function.

Rell matchup: makes your life miserable from bushes, otherwise free stacks

Thresh matchup: your hook is lower cd, so just dont get hit

Sion matchup: avoid the bushes and you're fine

Alistar matchup: First to engage loses. Play reactively. Avoid fishing for hooks - take only the sure ones. Why: His cooldowns are longer, and his engage can be punished or practically ignored. In lane: If he goes in, you can either punish him while exiting, or you can turn on his Bot laner. If you engage first, expect him to counter-engage. Just space him and laugh. It's also easy to Q-poke him out level 1 if you want prio. Post-lane: He actually becomes more annoying outside of lane, where he knocks you out of fights, dropping your ult. Consider ghost and/or Cosmic Drive to mitigate.

Malphite matchup: Mostly harmless outside of R. Why: His poke is mana-limited and you can out-sustain most of his damage. In Lane: Respect his level 6 burst if he builds AP. If you survive the initial combo, the fight becomes favorable. Kite out his cooldowns and drain through him while focusing his Bot laner.

Leona matchup: She can lock you down, but she’s basically free stacks. Why: Swain usually doesn’t get instantly burst, so her engage often just turns into extended healing for you while she contributes little damage. In Lane: You're OK letting her engage on you, as long as you don't clump with your support. She often isolates herself, is easy to drain through, and has no real escape unless she burns R defensively. Post-lane: She'll be a bit annoying late-game when she's perma-cc'ing you in front of DPS threats. Consider merc treads, especially to open up a timer to flash between her Q stun and R cast.

Rammus matchup: He hurts and rushes Bramble, but his engage is easy to stop. Why: His threat is almost entirely in his roll or off-screen homeguards ults. His roll is reasonably easy to cancel. If you interrupt it, he does very little. In Lane: Respect Fog of War and his speed, but otherwise he’s easy to control and turns into free sustain if fights go long.

Skarner matchup: Rare pick, but very telegraphed and easy to punish. Why: His engage is predictable and tied to terrain, giving you time to react. In Lane: You can hook his exit point most of the time. Only real threat is instant wall cheese, otherwise he struggles to ever reach you. His R is a real threat, but vigilant warding and respect will make his experience unplayable.

Taric matchup: If he gets to wail on you it sucks, but otherwise it's free Why: His damage is steady and predictable, and his early stun CDs are still long enough to play around. You match or out-sustain him in clean fights. In Lane: He struggles to threaten stun without getting hooked, separates easily from his ADC, and has no real way out if he commits poorly.