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Maokai: The Broken Champion

Malcolm Reanolds··9 votes·3,910 views

I am writing this as a player. As a previous Maokai player I am writing this from a place of wanting to see a change. He is not what he used to be. He is no longer a JG. Or a viable pick. When the changes were made to Maokai they ruined his gameplay. Just the other day I was actually able to out run my own ult and watch the enemy team just slightly move to the side to let it pass by. His old ult gave him utility and his new ult gives nothing to himself and to the team he is part of. Granted this is my own opinion on the matter however I will say that I ended up not playing League for almost a year after these changes went through. My main champion was Maokai and I jungled with him. His kit was build for a bruser jungler build that was just massive tank with massive damage. Some saw this as broken but in reality there are many champions when fed and built correctly do become very broken. It boils down to build, skill and what happens in the game.

So here are some stats (op.gg is source) 1.89% pick rate in Ranked Gameplay across ALL ranks ~50% Win ratio in Ranked Gameplay across ALL ranks 0.16% Ban Rate across ALL ranks

So with a 1.89% pick rate he is not being played very much. Granted there is a 50% win ratio. Maokai is @ slot #137 for picked champion in ranked. I am asking that Maokai be looked at again for another rework.

Personally I would love to have his old "R" back and also his passive. But that is all I would want to have looked at. Don't get me wrong having a timer on his passive is a good thing and honestly I would have no problem keeping his current passive. But his ultimate needs to be looked at.

It is my opinion that Maokai is broken, not in a he's super powerful way, but in a way that his changes made him unappealing and actually hurt his gameplay and his core as a champion. It hurt his jungling and utility.

If he could be looked at for a change that would be awesome. But again this is just my opinion. If you agree or disagree it's your choice. And honestly I would love to hear different opinions on this! But from the perspective of an ex Maokai main the changes hurt the champion and the champion's identity.

-Mal

TLDR: Maokai's rework and changing of his Ult destroyed him as a champion. i would like to see a rework or revert to his old ult before the roots. Opinions welcome and will be heard/replied to without flaming.

15 Comments

Done254 votes

They just need to increase the starting/max speed of his R and give him back his AP ratios so he has self agency again.

Malcolm Reanolds1 votes

{quoted}

They just need to increase the starting/max speed of his R and give him back his AP ratios so he has self agency again.

This is an option. In the end his ult is still meh and I do not believe that his "R" fits with who he is. His old ult had a ton of utility and depending on how you used it determined how powerful you could be. Building tank made sense with his old ult and as the OG treeman tank was a legit build. Now his utility as a tank has been greatly diminished IMOP. I think

Galaxyburstz2 votes

{quoted}

They just need to increase the starting/max speed of his R and give him back his AP ratios so he has self agency again.

we need survivability stats not more damage : )

Malcolm Reanolds2 votes

{quoted}

we need survivability stats not more damage : )

With his old Ult you got both! Survivability and damage.

Done252 votes

{quoted}

we need survivability stats not more damage : )

Maokai is already pretty damn survivable later on in the game thanks to his passive. What he needs is some personal self agency. Which can be gained with a more reliable ult and some boost to his own damage

Lovelle2 votes

I feel like if I play anything other than Trundle, I cannot do anything to Maokai. He's a god tier pick on 3v3 right now.

Malcolm Reanolds1 votes

Almost forgot 3v3 existed. I only play Rift and ARAM. Don't really care for the 3v3 format personally. But that is interesting to know he's good on 3v3.

Lovelle1 votes

It's all I play now, when I play. If Ascension was around I would probably play more often.

Ahri Baka1 votes

Really ? Maokai is one of my Chill champions Whenever I'm tired I just pick him He is really fun and doesn't feel that bad unless the enemy has some specific champions

Malcolm Reanolds1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Hikari Sakata,realm=EUNE,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=U5HEgkjh,comment-id=0001,timestamp=2019-03-21T17:40:04.935+0000)

Really ? Maokai is one of my Chill champions Whenever I'm tired I just pick him He is really fun and doesn't feel that bad unless the enemy has some specific champions

Where do you play him?

I am talking about his functionality, ability to influence the game and also utility. As a jungler his new ult is pretty useless and terrible. As the ability to influence the outcome of a team fight or his engage/ganking power his ult is useless.

Ahri Baka1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Malcolm Reanolds,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=U5HEgkjh,comment-id=00010000,timestamp=2019-03-21T18:02:05.866+0000)

Where do you play him?

I am talking about his functionality, ability to influence the game and also utility. As a jungler his new ult is pretty useless and terrible. As the ability to influence the outcome of a team fight or his engage/ganking power his ult is useless.

Top When it comes to jg , Tanks sucks because other junglers are just better

Malcolm Reanolds1 votes

Really? I have to 100% disagree with that statement. Tank junglers are actually very strong if you know what you are doing and have somewhat decent lanes that don't fall on their face in the first 7-10 minutes. Or scream relentlessly for ganks because they don't understand how a tank jungler works. To many people rely on early ganks to win lanes. Sometimes that doesn't happen. And 90% of low ELO players won't try to invade or they will fail invade a tank jungler. Amumu, Poppy, Naut and Sedj are all tank junglers. You saying all those suck? In my experience late game tank junglers have more influence over the outcome of the game if your lanes don't fall apart pre-10 minutes.

This has been my personal experience playing from the jungle. So data set is limited.

My point about Maokai needing another look is he used to be a very strong jungler. He is now nothing but a top lane figure head. But this is all my personal opinion. I play jungle, top, bot/support. I have yet to see Maokai in ranked or on draft. Why is this? Why is his stats on op.gg say 100% top. His jungle percentage is gone!

MAKE MAOKAI GREAT AGAIN! hahaha...couldn't resist

Paroe1 votes

Previous maokai was a mix between a tank and a bruiser; He had an ult that screamed ' im a tank ' but a kit that screamed ' im a bruiser '. The current maokai is a solid bruiser, with a kit that screams "IM A BRUISER".

That being said.... Saplings need to deal 80/120/140/180/220+0.4AP + 20/25/30/35/40% slow in an area around them on impact. Maokais saplings are honestly the least fun part of his kit because they have no actual value outside of position punishing, and even then they can be easily outplayed by just walking away. Another helpful thing would probably be to just remove the arming time if you hit someone with the sapling. That would also really help.

Malcolm Reanolds1 votes

I personally feel that removing the "I'm a tank" aspect of him removed a great deal of who he is. And the saplings are GREAT for jungling. But with his "I'm a bruiser" in his current setup jungling is not as effective IMOP. But it destroyed what made him great in my eyes. Not everyone is going to agree like I said but that's why I made the post. Was wondering what those who play him think.

What position do you play him in?

Paroe1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Malcolm Reanolds,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=U5HEgkjh,comment-id=00030000,timestamp=2019-03-21T19:39:45.385+0000)

I personally feel that removing the "I'm a tank" aspect of him removed a great deal of who he is. And the saplings are GREAT for jungling. But with his "I'm a bruiser" in his current setup jungling is not as effective IMOP. But it destroyed what made him great in my eyes. Not everyone is going to agree like I said but that's why I made the post. Was wondering what those who play him think.

What position do you play him in?

When i play him nowadays its mostly top or support as a counter pick to bush wookies and slippery enemies, but i used to main him before his rework when the saplings did impact damage. There was nothing at the time more fun than being the artillery tree. Its why i suggested giving him impacts damage back... or just removing the arming time if you hit someone with a sapling. Its a really awful feeling when you hit someone and they can just walk away from it with base MS.

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