Malphites W changes are heading in the wrong direction

Its a super tank meta, yet malphite is nowhere near as popular as people would expect him to be so riots trying to give him some love in his least appreciated skill, brutal strikes(w). However, they are planning on reducing the amount of bonus armor it grants in exchange for making it passive armor instead of tied to the buff. They are also adding 15% aoe ap scaling on hit to it, in addition to some base damage at the great cost of the current existing splash damage and ad amplification.

Instead of making the bonus armor a passive, a better idea would be to have the mana cost(its already pretty low though, a good change from the ridiculous numbers of long ago) and cd decrease slightly per level, so that a cdr focused malphite can have his buff more often. The current numbers are simply better so the original will probably not have a very positive effect. If it lowers by 1 level each rank up, full cdr malphite can have the buff on indefinitely, which to me seems like a proper late game buff for all his playstyles, in addition to making it more appealing to level earlier.

As for the damage changes, I believe the flat damage should be scrapped. The aoe ap scaling damage sounds like a good idea to buff ap/ap offtank malphite, but the current physical amplification and splash already serves as a good base damage point, except its physical damage. The current splash and amplification should be kept along with the ap scaling so as to not invalidate a tank malphite that chooses to get trinity or hydra as a damage item instead of an ap item. Also, having one of the best physical steroids in the game allows malphite to be played as a melee carry, something I believe was intended in his original design. This playstyle doesn't have to be invalidated in order to exact change.

Another problem I see is that his w shouldn't use malphite's crit animation. Currently, the w skill is lacking in range clarity but changing his auto animation will bring more clarity issues. What if a malphite builds trinity force, or goes carry? Then the clarity issues would run rampant. These problems wouldn't exist if the damage amp goes away though, since crit would stop being an appealing stat. However, I believe that stifles diversity and should thoroughly be avoided.

Basically, if you want to buff his tank capabilities lower his w's cd and possibly manacost. Maybe at max rank make it cost 0 mana so he doesn't get punished for using one of his skills. Another idea that could buff his defense capability is giving his ult the yasuo treatment by refreshing his shield. If this idea isn't enough, then the ult shield could be higher than the normal shield by a small amount. If you want to increase his magic damage, the aoe ap on hit ratio is enough since base damage would just be making up for the lost ad splash anyway. The only real difference is that the on hit would affect the primary target a bit more than the damage amp when only taking into account base ad, so a non aoe on hit could be added to compensate. However, I'm not sure if thats even necessary, the ratio itself should be enough. If anything, buffing the ratio from 15% to 20% would serve better.

Although almost everybody seems to have forgotten about Malphite's ad playstyle, from the ones in charge of changing his W to the residents of the boards who silently let it go on, I think this might be a good opportunity to give it some love in addition to his other playstyles. A simple increase to his damage amp separated from his armor amp(This could also be a good opportunity to strengthen his tank playstyle) would probably suffice, since during the beta his w used to go as high as 70% damage amp before it amplified armor. They don't both have to be 40%, but 70% bonus ad will probably be too much also. If thats no good, then its possible to add a new mechanic to it like the current 15% aoe ap ratio. I have 2 ideas here, either a buff to critical damage or a percentage critical strike multiplier. These changes affecting crit would ensure that a malphite who is tanky with some damage items would not become too strong, as crit is traditionally a stat reserved to carries that comes with itemization sacrifices. This is why a crit multiplier is better than just straight up chance, so current tank/bruiser malphites won't just pull lucky crits out of nowhere. I believe half of the current numbers is a good start, 20% crit damage would be a good buff that won't put him overboard, or 20% critX which can give a max of ~16% crit chance with heavy itemization.

*Edit: Something I forgot to talk about, a lot of people don't like being forced to push. The flat and on hit damage being an active is a good workaround to it, so we can use that idea with the original splash damage, only being on when its active. That way you can control when you want to do damage or push regardless of what you max.