Mage Update: A Few Thoughts on Malzahar

Malzahar- the Prophet of the Void- is up for a bit of Riot tinkering in the immobile mage update. Personally I think Malzahar is okay the way he is but I admit to being curious to what Riot is going to do to him. That said, I thought I'd post a few ideas of my own to see how people would receive them.

Firstly, what is Malzahar's identity? For me- he's an example of inevitability. Just as the Void will eventually engulf Runeterra- Malzahar will inevitably slay you. He uses the power of the void to bring you to your knees while you can't help but be destroyed. I find this to be a beautiful mirror to his lore and how he believes nothing can escape the void.

But while I personally like Mage-Malzahar more, others are very fond of the voidlings (I have dubbed mine Vincent) so I'll try to think of ways to play with that as well. He's only being updated, not reworked, so I'll be attempting to keep his abilities similar to how they already are. I'm no Challenger Malz main- I'm just a dude who likes him the best out of all the champions.

Innate- Summon Voidling. Ah the Voidlings, I can't pretend I'm not slightly confused about this- no Void creature has ever indicated it really likes being controlled. At best Kog'Maw has some sort of attraction to Malz but otherwise the Void denizens have been nothing less than maniacal death machines of various kinds. I suppose it IS true that Malzahar seems to use the power of the void, so controlling them isn't odd for him, but I think it's quite odd for them. However- the people have spoken- in a horrible impersonation of Christopher Walken "I've gotta have more voidlings!" My proposal would be to limit the Voidlings, instead of growing and gaining frenzy- leave them in the small stage. However, the smaller voidlings can scale with both AP and AD in order to be relevant for both AD and AP Malzahar. Also they might need some MS nerfs if this entire kit were to be used. Now don't worry- our little friends will be still be getting some perks later on. It IS possible the AD and AP scaling might be too far, in fact, if this entire kit was pushed through it undoubtedly WOULD be too far. But it's just an idea.

Q- Call of the Void A sweeping AoE silence? Hells yeah- this is probably the unsung hero of many a game- the power to stop abilities from multiple champions for that long is amazingly useful in teamfights. Since the delay and way this spell is used is fairly unique already- I'm not advocating anything be done to this ability. However, we're pulling the voidlings into the spotlight, so somewhere there's going to be some power redistribution. Perhaps if a voidling is hit by this energy they could gain those armor defenses they get via growing normally now.

W- Null Zone Here would be the most radical change I had in mind. First of all- no more maximum health damage. Give it some flat AP damage instead- maybe make it a bit larger to help shift some power. "Dude, that's a massive nerf!" Aye, it is- but that is because I'm going to be giving some more power to the voidlings. While a voidling in on the Null Zone, I would suggest they gain attack speed similar to frenzy. Now, for those %HP diehards I have a solution- if a voidling attacks an enemy IN the zone AND afflicted with visions- the magical damage would instead be %health-based.

E- Malefic Visions I'm gonna be honest, I have no changes in mind for this ability- throwing space aids around is THE greatest thing about Malzahar in my mind and I wouldn't change it. However, if we want our new emphasis on voidlings to keep going, I'd suggest voidlings proc extra magic damage when attacking targets that have visions on them. This makes the visions even more important than they previously were Additionally, another possible alteration would be for the visions to gain damage as they kill minions, making that "inevitable" theme greater as the threat looms closer and closer; obviously they would have to start off weaker then.

R- Nether Grasp A suppression is a terrible thing to waste- and they're so rare that I hope Malz is allowed to keep his. I've always wanted a full suppression team- Malz mid, Urgot adc, Skarner/Warwick in top and jungle- alas- there's no suppression support (Unless I count Kench, and come to think of it, I think I might). It's the biggest and baddest CC the game has to offer- which is why each champion who has it has a unique way of using it and playing (Exempting Warwick, who is just run and click). Keep the suppression, number-crunch the damage, and make it so the Nether Grasp really is the ultimate call to war- when ulting have nearby voidlings jump Rengar-style to the enemy champion. Is Malzahar a leader? Then watch him command the voidlings to rip his opponent apart!

So in summary: Voidlings would be weaker on their own, but proper ability use will skyrocket their potential. Abilities are still mostly the same in their basic use but will have to be weakened to allow the voidlings to shine.

I guess leave a comment or like if you want. Posting on the boards isn't something I do often.