I'ma go with Brand simply because he could still lay down one of top tier amounts of dmg before this patch. The new passive just does more with his multi-kill and dmg ability.
Malz his great but he's more of a slow passed burn through team one by one damage where as Brand is complete AOE and does even more now.
LadyRenly2 votesPersonally, I don't see the appeal of Malzahar at all. Sure, his jungle is okay but that's it. Cass is, okish. Brand is still obnoxious and annoying as hell.
Overall, I don't think anything meaningful has changed in the grand scheme of things. The meta will still favor the likes of Zed mid, and the mages won't overthrow the current meta like the juggernaut/marksman updates did. Malzahar is being banned because he has a high ban rate, it feeds into itself and many people don't even know why he's banned because they refuse to respect him or play around him. Overall, his damage is down. His tank shredding capability is also reduced, but now he's a safer jungler. I'm not too impressed with his performance, and I am not intimidated by facing him, either. People who try to 100-0 malzahar and cry OP are the same people who "trade" against Yasuo without even popping his shield. The only reason Malzahar has any consideration right now is his objective control, which was always his strong point, but its only relevant now due to the changes in the rift herald/dragon buffs, not because his kit was reworked.
The only one I actually kind of like and will probably get me downvoted the most(even moreso than saying that malzahar is craptastic) is Vladimir. The age old meme of "Vlad is a minion until level 9" is obsolete, unblocked Es will wreck you fast. He's not perfect, but I think he is relatively strong right now, and I thought for sure that on the next update, Vlad would be getting NERFS, not buffs which I find mind boggling. He's going to be the next Tahm Kench, aka hes declared shit on arrival, buff him and then everyone realizes hes broken and everyone calls for nerfs
IWrath1 votesPersonally, I don't see the appeal of Malzahar at all. Sure, his jungle is okay but that's it. Cass is, okish. Brand is still obnoxious and annoying as hell.
Overall, I don't think anything meaningful has changed in the grand scheme of things. The meta will still favor the likes of Zed mid, and the mages won't overthrow the current meta like the juggernaut/marksman updates did. Malzahar is being banned because he has a high ban rate, it feeds into itself and many people don't even know why he's banned because they refuse to respect him or play around him. Overall, his damage is down. His tank shredding capability is also reduced, but now he's a safer jungler. I'm not too impressed with his performance, and I am not intimidated by facing him, either. People who try to 100-0 malzahar and cry OP are the same people who "trade" against Yasuo without even popping his shield. The only reason Malzahar has any consideration right now is his objective control, which was always his strong point, but its only relevant now due to the changes in the rift herald/dragon buffs, not because his kit was reworked.
The only one I actually kind of like and will probably get me downvoted the most(even moreso than saying that malzahar is craptastic) is Vladimir. The age old meme of "Vlad is a minion until level 9" is obsolete, unblocked Es will wreck you fast. He's not perfect, but I think he is relatively strong right now, and I thought for sure that on the next update, Vlad would be getting NERFS, not buffs which I find mind boggling. He's going to be the next Tahm Kench, aka hes declared shit on arrival, buff him and then everyone realizes hes broken and everyone calls for nerfs
I'm only going through the first two sentences but you're wrong
A lot has changed with Malz, and he was good before if you played him right he just lacked one thing and that was the ability to survive against cc.
His passive now gives him that, whether it be against laning an annie, lux, etc. The cooldown on the passive if you play right also enough to protect from ganks.
His W from how I've been leveling him is also pure domination and I've never even jungled with him. I still go Q first, but instead of going Q,EQQQR I go Q E W W W R
once you hit 6 if you can land your E W R there's really no legit mid that can survive that onslaught if you land it.
And that' the thing with all mages you don't try and go 100-0 lol, esp malz. You sit in the back and let your abilities work for you.
Zerolera1 votesI understand Brand and Malz but you really chose Cass over Veigar or heck even Zyra?
IWrath1 votesI understand Brand and Malz but you really chose Cass over Veigar or heck even Zyra?
I didn't add them simply because I've destroyed both Veigar and Zyra with Brand and Malz. The one Cass I got to play since the last patch proved somewhat challenging in fights but was still a win.
ofart1 votesThis isn't debatable. It's Malz (but he's best JG). He's destroying Korean SQ.
Oleandervine1 votesVeigar is nuts. You may have toasted them with Brand or Malzahar, but that's like saying "I used my rocket launcher to destroy a tank, so therefore tanks are nothing but Hotwheelz." Veigar stacks on hit with a power that passes through units. If he goes bottom or can roam and wrack up hits on other lanes, he will be at absurd power levels late game and pretty much obliterates anyone not stacking the hell out of MR.
IWrath1 votesVeigar is nuts. You may have toasted them with Brand or Malzahar, but that's like saying "I used my rocket launcher to destroy a tank, so therefore tanks are nothing but Hotwheelz." Veigar stacks on hit with a power that passes through units. If he goes bottom or can roam and wrack up hits on other lanes, he will be at absurd power levels late game and pretty much obliterates anyone not stacking the hell out of MR.
you can do that with malz and brand, roaming comes down to if you're winning or losing lane. That' not veigar, it's your choice of playstyle and champion.