Modernizing Malphite's Kit

Hi I'm Masala Chai, a Karma and _____ main and I'd like to talk about Vanguards.

Back in 2017, Riot updated 3 tanks to serve as the design for future tank designs, one of which would eventually manifest into Ornn. Some other tanks gradually evolved to meet the demands over time through rune changes and balance updates, such as Leona, Rammus and Braum.

But the thing that hasn't changed is Malphite, he represents an old and stale era of champion design that hasn't been changed nor meaningfully updated to have a more interesting kit.

Engage tanks such as Old Zac, Malphite, and old Sejuani had the same problems. Their power was largely banked on landing one ability, if they landed it with finesse, the next objective was theirs. If they didn't, they were just standing around tanking damage and doing whirly bits for around 100 dps on 3 people or less. The updates to Sejuani and Zac during the tank update were better directions as they put power out of their main engage ability and redistributed cleanly along the rest of the kit. Their instant highs became lower, but the echoes of their kit that were so blatantly power still were preserved in the kit. They finally became contested in proplay while being relatively balanced in Solo Q. (cinderhulk meta sejuani anyone?)

But Malphite clearly hasn't had the same thing happen to him, he's still way too dependent on his ulti to do anything in a fight. If he does land it, it's too successful and can often burst a carry out of a fight, if he doesn't, he may as well not exist except to serve as a mini training dummy or stat check monster if he's fed because he doesn't have any hard cc options outside of his ultimate, and with the release of Kalista (new champion from 2014?), pro players had even less incentive to pick Malphite over another top laner such as Nautilus, Poppy or Ekko (RIP, as in Rest in Pain)

My solution? Draw power out of the flat damage and knockup duration on his R and draw it into his W and E by giving him a flat slow or something. As a shard of a monolith he should be focused on being the Vanguard that rocks a teamfight by bringing frequent tectonic alterations that modestly impact his play pattern, not a nuclear bomb of a mountain that will flash R your backline to instantly win a teamfight or be a useless meat shield, this should hold him time to get a more meaningful update down the line, Malphite deserves a gameplay update just as the rests of the other outdated and old champions of League.

The other alternative is to completely revamp his kit entirely by moving around the wonky parts of his kit (mainly his W and R) and giving him a more definite niche, a tank that reshapes the earth to grant advantages to his team, and lock enemy champions with a host of terrain based tools. Or rolling juggernaut of rock that emphasizes more on armour stats as opposed to health. The possibilities are endless.

I hope that Riot can execute on this in some form or another.