Is Malzahar not meant to be a Mid Laner anymore?

Toastersaot·4/5/2017, 12:08:03 PM·75 votes·4,811 views

Just asking. The new set of nerfs hurt both his support and Mid Lane, however his "Support" is currently the reason why he is good in competitive. Isn't there a way we could balance him around Mid Lane like Old Malzahar, and leave Support as an off-role like his Jungling?

Edit: I wish that I had some ideas here besides increasing AP ratios, but right now what used to be his best ability (his Space AIDS) seems to be his weakest ability, and his former weakest ability (W) is now his strongest. Granted it is different, however I feel they might have reduced the skill cap of Malzahar with that change to his W and how E bounces aren't required to play him well anymore, and with his rework by adding that passive as well.

46 Comments

FiddlesOnTheRoof4/5/2017, 4:13:39 PM19 votes

As a huge fan of old Malz, and a frequent defender of champion reworks, PLEASE BRING OLD MALZ BACK. I miss playing him so much. His W made him good against tanks. No one was asking for a summon voidling option. Please just give him the Kog'Maw treatment, and give me my Malzahar back :(

Supreme Senpai694/5/2017, 1:08:26 PM16 votes

Zyra Welcome to the club

BeatzBoyFTW4/5/2017, 12:59:43 PM13 votes

Or the fact that they straight up removed Graves's ADC potential & pushed him into the Jungle role.

Otherworldz4/5/2017, 12:16:25 PM4 votes

No because Malzahar has been frequently abused as a support for his ult in the pro LoL scene as well as many elos in ranked. At this point he would need a complete rework to prevent said abuse, and instead of another rework riot has opted for more subtle balances.

Malz as a support is extremely oppressive when played properly and there is no doubt about that.

Hexs Fortune4/5/2017, 12:53:58 PM4 votes

Looks like pet based midlaners always end up as support

PlsTouchMeGently4/5/2017, 4:55:57 PM3 votes

Apparently not according to Riot. I used to main Malzahar but absolutely hate the changes and have switched to Ryze.

Anu3isII4/5/2017, 1:53:57 PM3 votes

The best change would be to nerf his abilities Base Damage and increase their AP Ratios. I would personally look at his W, as his Voidlings are one of the main reasons he is a lane bully.

Only Play Darius4/5/2017, 3:46:01 PM3 votes

Poor Malzahar mains, I couldn't imagine this mess happening to my favorite champion.

SociopathFriend4/6/2017, 1:03:03 AM3 votes

The new set of nerfs hurt both his support and Mid Lane, however his "Support" is currently the reason why he is good in competitive. Isn't there a way we could balance him around Mid Lane like Old Malzahar, and leave Support as an off-role like his Jungling?

Remember, the game is not divided into balanced and unbalanced, but good and bad play patterns. Old Malz really didn't have much better of a play pattern and was much more binary in his kit in that he essentially had to flash to combo you and otherwise you'd only die if you walked into his kill-range. Malz had one ability with counterplay, the Q, which you could dodge. Literally everything else was essentially unavoidable.

Cutting up his power and stuffing it into the minions essentially gave him healthier counterplay in that you now have ways to play around his damage. I'm not saying I like that it happened, but the reason why is self-evident, it's all you can do and retain his general kit.

I liked Old Malz, I commissioned his outfit to wear to conventions and mained him, but even I can't deny he wasn't healthy. Reverting to Old Malz is not the right answer and no amount of (well intended or just general toxicity) community crying is going to make it the right answer.

The only way Malz is going to be healthy again is an overhaul of his abilities in some way.

Mannny4/6/2017, 7:00:15 AM2 votes

Current Malzahar is a horribly designed result of a failed rework. They should really just revert him back to his previous state pre-rework because it's clearly a failed attempt.

chipndip14/5/2017, 9:11:59 PM2 votes

The issue is that his kit in undeniably toxic and uninteractive no matter how you try to angle it.

Erockandroll4/5/2017, 3:53:22 PM1 votes

You know, there's probably no room to actually move him to another position, without addressing the problem that makes him a really good support. (Which buy and large is his ult)

Personally, I don't have much preferences in position, Malz should feel like Malz regardless of what position he's played in. Though it could be argued that his support tools are getting in the way of his Void Swarm Fantasy.

ProfDrDeath4/5/2017, 9:26:04 PM1 votes

I honestly think that it was only a question of time for Malzahar to be played as a primary support, even with pre-rework Malza. That ult is super-reliable lockdown. And with the changes to dedicated supports with that kind of lockdown (Taric lost his targeted stun, for instance) and the increased demand for reliable CC generated by the assassin rework, one thing leads to the next.

AcidTheWarlock4/5/2017, 9:34:16 PM1 votes

Change the ult and he's out of support.

Make it a really damaging ability for lategame that can give him stronger DPS, since he's classified as a Battle Mage.

deadlychuck4/5/2017, 10:58:57 PM1 votes

Honestly, they just need to redistribute his power, move it away from his W and onto his E/Q/R, and that'd probably be enough.

Though i personally will not be satisfied until they revert him to a state which voidlings are not wet paper bags and AD is sufficiently different again.

The thing preventing them from doing this however, is that if they don't commit a disproportionate amount of his power budget to his W, then people will literally just skip the ability like how TF often skips E. Riot seems to think that there is something wrong with kits that are designed this way, despite it being a much more flexible and controlled method of design. [slayer-jinx-unamused]

FakeGravity4/5/2017, 5:08:19 PM1 votes

this all is a result of his passive, he couldnt be an efficient support if wasnt because is so hard for other supports to break his shield and cancel his R before it does what it suppose, without it a simple soraka E will cancel it right away, his voidlings are annoying for sure but are only a mean to get to level 6 most of the time and are useless unless the adc is lock in place, they need to make it so his shield no longer reduce damage probably, that way poke will actually hurt

Calabok4/6/2017, 3:11:46 AM1 votes

he's still a midlaner.

New Tool Album4/5/2017, 8:27:36 PM1 votes

i would be fine with a revert, just get rid of the ult and make it something less stupid to fight