I was wondering what people think about the current state of Maokai. I haven't played Ranked yet, but I have encountered him in Draft mode. His kit strikes me as being overloaded, similar to what I've heard about Azir. He has moderate damage, high survivability, a dash, a heal, a slow, a root, and an ultimate that roots in a large AoE. Compared to a character like Morgana or Darius or Nasus, it seems a bit excessive.
Do you agree? Disagree?
Ragnaveil6 votesAnything with decent amount of damage, grievous wounds, and can run Conq will kill him in seconds. Tanks are paper in this meta.
Monlyth1 votesAnything with decent amount of damage, grievous wounds, and can run Conq will kill him in seconds. Tanks are paper in this meta.
Hmm. Well, in the game I was playing against him, he shrugged off the damage from 3+ champions on multiple occasions. Our composition was Mordekaiser Top, Miss Fortune Bot, Kayle Support, Akali Mid, and Jax Jungle, and we were behind for most of the game.
Ralanr4 votesBeing behind on snowball champions was probably why.
Alzon4 votesA half-decent Morde should just smash Maokai. No way does the tree out-sustain the manaless heal/shield dude. Even if Morde gets camped and gives three kills, he should still win 1v1.
Ragnaveil3 votesThen thats why. You were behind, therefore he could survive. Any team that goes even will kill him.
BlueSmurf20182 votesAnything with decent amount of damage, grievous wounds, and can run Conq will kill him in seconds. Tanks are paper in this meta.
no they really arent
Maxinekslv1 votesThis is the reason why i dont pick him anymore... Too many ad bruisers hypercarries out there that turn Maokai into a training dummy.
Pandemic Punch5 votesMaokai, like most tanks, relies on his team to carry him. In the few match ups where he can actually win the early lane, you will still have no agency over the game at all if all of your damage dealers are getting destroyed. Any fighter, bruiser, or ADC will kill you late game.
If you want agency over the game in your own hands, don't pick him. If you want to be a Support Tank champion that plays Top Lane, knock yourself out. Great engage with W and great siege/zoning with his ultimate. Ban 
because he can free farm in your face and there is nothing you can do about it. You are better off being zoned off all of your farm by every other champion in the game.
Sona Ping4 votesI was wondering what people think about the current state of Maokai. I haven't played Ranked yet, but I have encountered him in Draft mode. His kit strikes me as being overloaded, similar to what I've heard about Azir. He has moderate damage, high survivability, a dash, a heal, a slow, a root, and an ultimate that roots in a large AoE. Compared to a character like Morgana or Darius or Nasus, it seems a bit excessive.
Do you agree? Disagree?
Immediate thoughts are, in order: That's not what overloaded means, he's nothing like Azir, and he is in a pretty bad state currently, probably a large part of why nobody is picking him right now. You may just have gotten a good matchup for Maokai so that he stays through it or he played it well.
Edit: I don't mean anything with that, so please don't read into it. It's just this is the best I can do from what I have to go on.
Iota Theta4 votesIt’s tricky when listing only a champs strengths and then comparing him to ither classes with different roles. Consider you’re comparing a tank to a Mage/support and two juggernauts. I probably wouldn’t put his kit on Azir levels.
Most of Maokai’s damage comes from his bases, especially his Q, but it’s pretty short ranged. His “dash” is targeted, so he can only use it on an enemy and can’t use it to escape. His heal is how he continues tanking damage, much like how other tanks have shields or strong stats on engage (Malphite and Sejuani). He has more CC due to his nature as a tank, and his damage eventually falls off compred to other damage champs. His ultimate’s root duration also increases by distance traveled, but moves slow, so there is a trade off.
Compared to Morg, she has more range, a longer root duration, builds AP, and can negate CC on a target, which can be incredibly strong. But she’s also much squishier.
Darius and Nasus end up with far greater damage than Maokai can put out, especially against a single target. They build AD, and so have better objective taking power over Maokai. Nasus’s Wither is incredibly strong on a single target.
General Matty1 votes[{quoted}](name=Iota Theta,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=ZJEELPdV,comment-id=0002,timestamp=2019-03-12T13:49:25.591+0000)
He has more CC due to his nature as a tank
Due to his nature, HA
Iota Theta1 votes[{quoted}](name=General Matty,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=ZJEELPdV,comment-id=00020000,timestamp=2019-03-12T15:48:04.256+0000)
He has more CC due to his nature as a tank
Due to his nature, HA
Pun unintentional Totally intentional
General Matty3 votesMaokai sucks right now. Just like most tanks
AndurilWielder3 votesHonestly, after what I saw in the spring split, someone ran a maokai, and he got absolutely shredded. It wasn't fun to watch tbh.
I'm not sure I have the heart to use Maokai if a pro gets beaten that bad, even if its at the hands at another pro.
I mean he was already reworked but now he's irrelevant again :/ Its sad, I like him as a champ, and I miss being able to toplane with him, or counter jungle.
Iota Theta1 votesHonestly, after what I saw in the spring split, someone ran a maokai, and he got absolutely shredded. It wasn't fun to watch tbh.
I'm not sure I have the heart to use Maokai if a pro gets beaten that bad, even if its at the hands at another pro.
I mean he was already reworked but now he's irrelevant again :/ Its sad, I like him as a champ, and I miss being able to toplane with him, or counter jungle.
He’s not doing the greatest, though the meta isn’t helping much. A lot of pro play, at least in LCS and LEC, has been focused on 1-3-1 or 4-1 splitpushing, which usually calls for a damage dealer topside. Maokai is better with teamfight comps and metas.
Idk if it’s the match you’re referring to, but I did see part of one with him, Team Liquid versus Optic Gaming, and he got matched up against Impact on Klepto Kennen, so he ended up getting put behind a lot and couldn’t do much.
BlueSmurf20182 votescan still auto attack most bruisers to death after buying armor. Has higher base AD or the same base AD as yasuo XDDDDDDDD
Ahri Baka1 votesWhen with the Conquerer changes , he is in a good spot right now
BlueSmurf20181 votesand btw i didnt know that this post was about that tanks should win lane. Dont you see a problem with that at all?? a tank winning lane. What. No thats not suppost to happen. They are called tanks to be unkillbale not to deal 1000 magic damage with their abilities, then being unkillable.
taleofsonata1 votesDo you even know what overloaded is? Its PASSIVE ON TOP OF PASSIVE, ABILITIES ON TOP OF ABILITIES. Thats overloaded, examples : Yasuo, Ekko, Kai'sa, what do they have in common? more than 1 passive on 1 ability, more than 1 passive.