What's the problem with Maw?

Variks the Loyal·Mar 20, 2016·3 votes·408 views

This isn't me denying that there is. I'm just fishing for information.

As a Jungle/Top main, I don't play mid or bot often. So, I'm wondering - Where does the criticism for Maw's current state stem from?

Is it from ADCs building it? I've seen some ADCs build Maw, and I've rarely seen them build it in any other season.

Is it giving mid lane Assassins too much safety?

I'm wondering what it is. Maw of Malmortius always seemed like a Fighter-ish item to me, giving a little bit of defense, and a little bit of offense. I like it on some Fighters and Juggernauts, and the ArP on it makes me like it on some Assassins too, like when I play Rengar or Kha'Zix jungle.

But, again, I have very little experience playing mid, or bot, as an Assassin, ADC, or otherwise. So I'm curious - What's made this item seem imbalanced?

3 Comments

67chromeMar 20, 20162 votes

What's made this item seem imbalanced?

It's more or less offering anti-AP burst stats for free.

The joint AD and armor pen combo on Maw of Malmortis, along with 25% AS, 10% life steal, and 10% spell vamp are a pretty solid combo of stats for 3250 gold. Ignoring spell vamp: all those together when the shield pops is worth ~3787.5 gold compared to base components and assuming the +15 AD after a kill from Dirk is free.

And it's not like the anti-burst stats are negligible. 50 MR is massive: it's only 5 less MR than the 2 highest MR items in seasons 3,4,&5 in item 3102 item 3065 . Paired with the 300+ HP shield and you've pretty much got a season 3/4/5 Spirit Visage in free combat stats: granting 50 MR+300 HP compared to 55 MR+450 HP.

Then consider "squishy" champions: the main weakness of a glass-cannon combatant is that, well, they're made of glass and have to worry about eating an OHKO combo if they aren't careful. The main way glass-cannons in LoL are glass-cannons is also that they see a huge drop in damage potential and presence if they itemize for something defensive-heavy like Spirit Visage. With Maw, you can get tons of damage and tons of defense at the same time. Albeit you have to drop below 30% HP for a lot of that: but vs. a lot of mages, it's got to be frustrating having an OHKO combo stop right at 30% and then witness a mini nasus-ult empower a carry.

Zero Skill TankMar 20, 20161 votes

Typical mage simply has no chance fighting item 3155 item 3156 . Before this item AD midlaner needed to avoid some part of mage damage to trade them - dodge a skillshot, force them to use an ability to farm - whatever, because a mage was actually able to retaliate. Assassins had tools to outplay you, but they actually needed to do this.

Now they still have those tools, but on top of that they can easily tank through whole mage's combo, meaning that for first 20 minutes of the game Quinn or Zed just bullies you freely with near to 0 risk. They can just go ham on you without minding anything safe for the jungler, because they know that if you don't back off they will just kill you on lifegrip.

This have forced mage meta into absurd state where it doesn't matter what you do, but how safe you are from assassination.

JbelsMar 20, 20161 votes

In my honest opinion, the spell shield portion of it needs to be unique to maw. Seeker's Armguard doesn't share the active with Zhonya, does it? Why does the enemy AD get to spend 1300 gold and never die in lane to you again?