Maokai :(

This is what was done to Maokai not so long ago when he decimated 2014 Worlds as a TOP LANER, not a jungler. 92% pick/ban rate with a 63% win rate, clearly he was problematic at that level, but as a top laner, not a jungler. Here it is:

Q- Slight mana cost buffs, slow duration lowered to 1.5 seconds from 2.

Alright not so bad.

W- Lost 125 range, damage changed from 220 +.8 AP to 13% max enemy health + 3% per 100 AP, cdr buff at later levels.

This change I'm super not okay with. Biggest issue is with the range, he now can't hop over walls to get to his jungle camps. That's a huge fucking deal for junglers. I'm not happy with the damage change either, but I understand why they did it, so he targets tanks diving carries instead of just hopping on the enemy carry. I get that, I don't get why they nerfed his jungle so bad when he was problematic as a top laner

E- Lost 60 base damage on landing damage, forty on explosion damage, added slows for both initial and explosion damage.

Meh. I'm okay with the initial damage being lowered, but the explosion damage should have been buffed a bit to compensate instead of nerfed along with it, especially since the slows were just a super shitty way of trying to compensate the W nerfs. All in all, I wish this was done better, but it doesn't kill him as much as the W changes.

R- Stored damage lowered by 100 at all ranks. Loss of 75 range on the radius, but it's now self cast and follows Maokai instead of just chilling in one spot. Lowered mana costs, and now only lasts 10 seconds.

Okay, this is a big hit as well, but again, not as big as the W range nerf. Basically what it comes down to is you can't just put the ult near a teamfight and dive their carry anymore. You've gotta stick with your team if you want to get any use out of it, which sucks, but there are obvious advantages about it as well.

So as you can see, because Maokai was such a force in the top lane instead of as a jungler like he was meant to be, they changed his kit to be less jungle friendly and more powerful in the top lane. Pardon me for not taking that lying down.