Thoughts on Maokai's new ult?

UrgottaBelieveMe·5/6/2017, 9:07:21 AM·6 votes·1,652 views

Personally I don't like it. It is soooooo damn slow and the fact that if it hits anyone, one of the lines of branches are destroyed. I cast it and watched as even my minions outran the thing. It is a generic worse-off version of Nami's ult. It goes way slower, and if someone gets hit by one of the 5 branches, well that is it for that entire line. What are your guys' thoughts on it? Going to spam the tree to see if I am. After about 5 games though, I don't think I am. It just feels so sub-par.

13 Comments

DragonShea5/6/2017, 10:08:13 AM3 votes

Needs to be faster or not break on the first champ hit.

junglerboy165/6/2017, 2:22:30 PM3 votes

It's great for forcing the enemy team off of your backline, since the roots are all too large to flash over, and I don't know any blinks large enough to get past, and it's also strong for flank engages, especially since when it casts it starts behind you meaning you can W to someone and right before that root ends the ult hits them.

It's the same deal as with Sion's ultimate, you have to think about how he can function with it when working with a team, not in a vacuum by itself (when it is indeed too weak). It's amazingly disruptive and chaotic as well if you drop it before a fight begins and simply fight in the area it covers, forcing your enemies to either bail out of position or allowing your team to get the upper hand by AoE rooting people.

It might be a touch slow as it stands now, but I think it mostly comes down to people needing to learn how to strategize around it effectively.

Nhifu5/6/2017, 9:56:51 AM3 votes

Yea the ult IS stupidly slow, and maokis doing "okay" seem to land them S grades too

Eternal Torment5/6/2017, 11:22:57 AM1 votes

honestly. it is very very slow that is true, but it also includes many other factors to include. His ult ignores terrain, you can legit flank the lane with such a wide cc ranged ult that not even a flash can save you. Hell, his ultimate's width exceeds max range thresh lantern and kalista ult, so there is no escaping unless you are at the very edge of it and not being pushed into it by other enemies.

Plus, lategame when you are already in the mids of everything, it is way too difficult to pay proper attention to his ult. yeah, if it hits early the root will be 0.4 seconds but it still is a root after all, one that can force the enemy to retreat, creating a very wide gap in their defence. OR it can catch their backline offguard and create an opening. His ult is very slow, and that does get very annoying, but his ult requires not efficient, but accurate use. You have to time it perfectly, create the right circumstances, be very precise with the set up. His ultimate requires a crap ton of Skill and preparation to use efficiently and it will take me at least 30 games until i can use it effectively but i have seen some people carry the lategame with just that R button on maokai ALREADY, and hes been out for about 2 or 3 days now

Chembaron Yamada5/6/2017, 11:47:15 AM1 votes

You have to admit, it makes him a better jungler. If you are coming from the flank from fog of war ganking someone, there is basically no way for the enemy to avoid getting rooted because it is so wide. Then he has an additional root and a knockup. So he is able to hold enemies in place pretty well to enable his laner to kill him.

oSEXYPLATYPUSo5/6/2017, 12:27:50 PM1 votes

his new ult is trash... flat out a waste of an ability...

but i think the idea of his new ult is best used as a counter engage or disengage tool instead of an offensive tool. if you are playing a game and a team over commits to engage on your team then you ult to counter their engage ( and angled it towards walls/and in tight spaces) it can be useful

Ralanr5/6/2017, 12:31:31 PM1 votes

It's best used for counter engage or flanking.

Fed by Snu Snu5/6/2017, 12:35:00 PM1 votes

A summary would be: "Meh"

It's not useless...but all things considered it doesn't even warrant that cooldown.

But it's ok for other champions to have much more meaningfull ultimates on 60 seconds or less back up.

If he had it up more often, it might prove useful for siege/poke champs as a disengage tool. With this cooldown it's pointless.

Chess15/6/2017, 5:04:24 PM1 votes

rightous glory r into stoneplat is very strong

J Eevo5/6/2017, 10:38:39 AM1 votes

Ult pretty much useless except for nullifying things like enemy team hard engaging with sivir ultimate or something. Bad to pop in the middle of a fight as it doesn't do much if it doesn't travel long enough, completely unusable for chasing.

The rest of his kit however is better than before, his passive heals a fuckton more, his E does more damage and stays longer. He might actually need nerfs considering how well he's doing with his base kit while having such a shit ultimate.

ForeverLaxx5/6/2017, 11:21:30 AM1 votes

From what I've seen? It's bad. I like that Riot's idea of making Maokai "more attractive to fill a specific role" was to give him a generic ranged CC engage ult like every other tanky initiator, but worse. Because for some reason, a damage-reduction field centered on him wasn't considered unique or niche enough to be a factor when choosing him. No, a ranged AoE CC skill is definitely more unique and niche. Yup.