What Malzahar should be
Passive - Summon Voidling
On every fourth ability use Malzahar Malzahar summons a Voidling that remains on the field until it is killed or 21 seconds have passed.
When multiple Voidlings are active, they all gain 50% bonus attack speed.
Q - Call of the Void
Malzahar summons two orbs at the target location perpendicular to which way he is facing after a 0.5 second delay, dealing magic damage to all enemies caught between the orbs and silencing them.
Magic Damage 80 / 135 / 190 / 245 / 300 **(+ 80% AP) **
Silence Duration 1 / 1.25 / 1.5 / 1.75 / 2 seconds.
W - Null Zone
_Malzahar creates a zone of negative energy for **5 **seconds, dealing magic damage every second to all enemies standing on it, capped at 120 against minions and monsters. _
Magic Damage 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9%** (+ 1.5% per 100 AP)**
E - Malefic Visions
Malzahar infects the target enemy's mind, dealing them magic damage every half second over 4 seconds. If the target is affected by Malzahar's other abilities, the duration of Malefic Visions will refresh.
If the target dies during this time, they pass Malefic Visions onto the closest enemy, refreshing the duration and restoring 2% of Malzahar's maximum mana.
Magic Damage 80 / 115 / 150 / 185 / 220 **(+ 70% AP) **
R - Nether Grasp
Malzahar knocks down the target enemy champion and channels for up to 2.5 seconds, suppressing them and amplifying the effects of Null Zone and Malefic Visions.
Bonus - Null Zone _Null Zone expands over the duration of Nether Grasp and refreshes it's duration at the end of the channel. _
Bonus - Malefic Visions _Malefic Visions spreads from the target of Nether Grasp to nearby enemies. _
Context/Goals
Malzahar was best used for his control style with emphasis on zoning and tank busting.
Summon Voidling/Void Swarm
Malzahar is not a summoner at his core. While the niche jungle playstyle uses the Voidlings, it is in no way necessary to amplify an already adequate playstyle to such an extent.
I imagine there was some motivation in removal of randomness regarding making Voidling creation an active. But, Voidling summoning was already a calculated effort and does not need any change.
A removal of the Voidlings' delayed power and a buff for bringing out more than one Voidling is a decent idea and can be kept.
Call of the Void
Required no changes damage-wise. It's not the easiest skillshot to land and it's damage should be a heavy deterrent to chasing Malzahar.
With that considered, the silence reduction is a welcomed change and can even be further reduced with little issue.
Null Zone
A huge part in establishing a zone as Malzahar. The proper use of Null Zone separates the "I'm just an ult" Malzahar players from those who see the real potential of the champion.
It is also a big part in his kiting pattern. With these two things in mind, having it tied to his self CC as well as having the positioning tied to the location of an enemy is almost as counter intuitive as the fixed range of Cassiopeia's anti-dash.
Lastly, the "famous" Null Zone ult combo has a lot of power in it's threat. The threat of a Malzahar ult on Null Zone adds to the zoning provided by placing it well.
Making the combo automatic removes a large amount of gameplay from Malzahar.
Malefic Visions
The change to allow Visions to be extended was a good one. Reducing it's damage with that in mind is fine.
And with Malzahar's proper W ability, his control playstyle is even further supported while retaining his balanced state.
Nether Grasp
An ability that could have been removed, but was perhaps iconic or something. That aside, the changes to Nether Grasp were in somewhat of a good direction, though barely. Very barely.
Nether Grasp as an ability was either frustrating for Malzahar or for his enemy. As it stood, it was either used by pick up Malzahars to be an assassin/burst mage or reluctantly used to secure a prime target, turn around when kiting or as a last resort lockdown.
The ability had 2 players unable to play the game for 2.5 seconds with nothing of note except damage.
Adding the Null Zone to ult instead of magic damage is again, barely sensible, with the key issues being the removal of Null Zone as an ability and still no real reason to use it that fits into Malzahar's playstyle.
The above changes make it so that Malzahar can use Nether Grasp to cash in on the control he had on the fight by either punishing clumped enemies, letting his team deal with the front line uninterrupted, forcing disengage, etc.
What Malzahar wants to do in a fight is
- Keep his assailants away from him.
- Separate the enemy team/break down their formation.
- Shred those pesky tanks.
- Deal sustained multi-target damage.
And these are all well supported with the changes.
With all the above, the reason to pick Malzahar over other mages is well emphasized, rather than changing the champion all together like the update did.
