Possible Immobile Mage Rework and Malzahar

“We increased item costs generally in preseason while modifying gold income and item premiums. We have seen a lot of early feedback on AP mages feeling punished by that, from the looks of it so far though some are struggling and some aren't however, so we'll need to be more tactical about changes than just straight AP item buffs across the board (Heimer and jungle Nid look too weak for example, Brand and Swain too strong). I expect we'll look at AP items in the coming year. Immobile mages in particular are one of the classes we're thinking of tackling next and some item adjustments would likely be part of that process as with Marksmen/Juggernauts.”
-Meddler

So the immobile mages rework would be really fun, I'm very interested in which mages you would be changing. I think Brand has shown he is quite strong, im really glad people are seeing how strong he is. Also Malzahar, mostly AD Malz, has become quite popular which is pretty fun, i just hope being dont start calling him OP. If Malzahar is one of the mages on the list for rework, I'd like to know what you think is his core and what does or doesn't fit it. To me, Malz is in a weird spot, he is a niche pick and while he can be very strong in the hands of someone who can use him, he is easily deal-able with if you know what he can do. Since i play him often I can tell you how to deal with each of his abilities and that it is quite simple if you know what you are doing (Q is a delayed skillshot, W dont stand in it, E stay away from minions or sometimes its better to take the hit to stop him from regaining mana depending on who you are, R use CC before or after he ults just before you are suppressed).

Personally I think his Kit is fine, maybe some small changes to his Malefic Visions, how it bounces, and his Voidlings AI. The biggest problem with Malz his reliance on team cooperation, it all depends on how your team reacts to your ultimate. If they devalue it, they will either not protect you and let enemies run right up to you or they will attempt to steal the kill at the cost of losing the teamfight. If the team values your ult they will use this chance to attack or defend, normally you'd want to make sure no one can interrupt Malz's ult. Of course this also depends on who you ult, but assuming you area a good Malz, a good team with react the correct way depending on the situation (ulting an engager to stop a flank the team should either kill them or attack, ulting a carry team should let you handle while they deal with the rest of the team). Its not so much of an issue at higher levels of play where teamwork is more important, but than again Malz is not so much of a problem at higher levels of play because its easy to deal with him if you have QSS. Unfortunately i am not at higher level of play so most of the time its hard for me to make good picks since my team either blows everything they have in order to take the kill im 100% already going to get or they just let the enemies jump on me without doing anything to protect me. You might say its my fault for ulting the wrong enemy, but when i am standing behind all my teammates its hard to imagine they are just going to abandon me if they actually want to win... Another issue i have is that while he does fill a niche and he is quite unique in how he does what he does, he can still be pretty easily replaced by several other more powerful mages. Yes, he does what he does the best but he sacrifices for it, other mages can make a pick like him without sacrificing (like Brand or Lux). His Silence is the only reason to pick him over the others so i really believe that needs to stay.

So what does this have to do with him being reworked? Well i think he should either be reworked to be less teamwork reliant or rewarded for being teamwork reliant. If you go with option A, id suggest making it so his ult can not be cancelled by CC from a target he is already suppressing, i mean this shouldnt be a thing anyways but its whatever. It would also cool if his abilities had more interaction with each other like bonuses for hitting an enemy with multiple spells. Not necessarily bonus damage but maybe something like enemies effected by Malefic Visions will be slowed when walking through Null Zone. If you go with option B, i would say something like CD reduction, maybe even mana regain, if his target dies during his ult regardless of who kills them. Make it so Teammates gain bonus damage to targets effected by his ult and malefic visions (does not apply to Malz or his Voidlings). Idk actually but i feel like there should be a feeling every team has where its like "Malz is ulting? we gotta protect him" because as it stands there is no real reason to protect Malz, "if he can't kill his target than he is useless anyways right? why protect him?" this happens far too often. Played a game where a Kayle refused to ult me no matter what instead saving her ult for our Kog who always died last anyways (even without the ult) like he would be focused last because he would run away until they focused me then he would come back. I kept telling Kayle to ult me so i can get all my spells off since Kog just runs anyways its its useless to keep him alive i a 1v5 for a few seconds longer, he is going to get killed anyways, where I can at least do damage after im dead. The Kayle and the Support couldn't see the value in me being kept alive because i couldn't kill anyone, mostly due to the fact i was being focused first and no one tried to stop it.

Changing Malzahar's niche, currently he sort of revolves around harassing his opponent in lane and pushing then becomes the ultimate pick with his ult being able to lock one person down. Malz could definitely be focused more on pushing, something like if Malefic Visions kills an enemy champion it will bounce to the two nearest enemy champions. Each tick of Malzahar's ult will count towards his passive allowing him to create several Voidlings pretty easily. This also helps him after he ults as he has little defense once he ults and is easy pickins (unless he is fed or his team properly protects him or he has primo placement). Alternatively Malefic Visions could count towards his passive every time it kills a target. Being focused more on picks id recommend against, there are plenty of mages that can easily make a pick without sacrificing their teamfight abilities and this would only further force him out of the spotlight.

Some small changes that could be done instead are things like being able to cast Malefic Visions and ignite, and possibly some item actives, without cancelling his ult. Maybe even extending their range when used n an enemy he is ulting if they are out of range. Giving his W a small slow or having his E and W together on the same target causes a root. Voidlings surviving longer the more they attack enemy champions, etc.

Things i really do not want to happen are him becoming OP, people already have the false assumption he can 100-0 which is not true even with all his abilities and his ignite he can only take you down to maybe 1/4 of your life assuming he is not fed. You might think that is a lot but you need to remember this is an immobile mage (no escape or gap closer) with very high mana costs and decently long CD's, so assuming he is alone he should be fairy easy to kill. I don't want a possible solution to be improperly implemented, such as Darius's heal which i still think is the wrong way to balance him. I don't want a mechanic implemented that will give him free power without any real cost like Garen's Villain mechanic, just to be clear i dont think its op but everyone else does.

Sorry for the long post, i just really enjoyed playing Malzahar, i stopped a while ago because i was tired of teammates doing everything they could to steal my kills. That changed as i got better to stop caring so much about kills and more that my teammates were wasting abilities and CD's on already dead enemies or just letting me die while i was ulting causing us to lose teamfights. Now i just dont feel like playing him all the time, but i still think he is a great champion Id really love to learn a bit more abut how Riot thinks of their Void Prophet.