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Lets Talk Malzahar

EternalProphet··5 votes·922 views

To start off I want to thank Riot for doing their best to update champs and make them more fun/balanced for us to play. I think Riot has been doing great job and I love the game and I will love the game in future for sure. You could say I am whining or something similar, well, maybe I am, but I have to say how I feel about the champ I loved the most, about the champ that got me out of silver/gold. I loved playing Malz since forever. I know when I made my acc my brother had Malz and I was so jealous because I absolutely adored the champ and everything about him. After some time I bought Malz and started my journey and he became the champ I was the most comfortable with and the champ that I was the most safe. Malzahar was the safest pick I could have for mid. When my teammates whined about Kata in opponent team I was, honestly happy because they didn't know what Malz does to her. Malz was my first main. Lets skip the part how much I was in love with Malz and go straight to the point. When I heard Malz will get rework I was like: "Oh cool, hopefully he won't get ruined!". When rework came I didn't really like how Malz was, but people won with him and win ratio was huge, but I didn't feel good about him. I missed the old Malz. As you can all understand, all op champs get nerfed to the ground and below and thats what happened to my beloved Malz. He was nerfed, ruined... From the champ I played the most for 2 seasons, had 30 or more wins in plus with to the champ I barely play. I know many feel like me about the champs that got reworked/nerfed and I hoped I won't feel like this, but now I am. I was looking for other champs that I could potentially love like Malz, but never found one. I love Riot and I love LoL, but I can't describe how disappointed I am because of what happened with Malz. item 3070 Malzahar item 3070

17 Comments

Nilok5 votes

I agree 100%

I've been playing Malzahar since he was released way back when and has always been my go to champ. Pre-rework Malzahar was tightly made and spot on thematically.

However, the rework killed Malzahar for me. It turned the power prophet of the void that inadvertently brings forth horrors to a weakened summoner that hides in a bubble. The reworked missed several key design points the Malzahar's creators put into place to prevent him from being toxic, specifically his old passive which prevented him from playing passive in order to get his voidlings like most summoner archetype characters coughOld-Yorickcough. I wish that Riot was better organized back in the day, as I have a very solid suspicion that Malzahar's design documents would actually cover this and specifically why Malzahar's passive worked the way it did.

The compete lack of kills for Malzahar I the Riot API shows how much the missed the mark of the powerful "battle mage" that wades into combat, instead of hiding off to the side hoping their crabs kill the enemy for them.

Honestly, Malzahar was the last thing keeping me in League with all the stuff going on with Season 6, and with his rework, I completely lost interest in the game.

I may come back for season 7, but playing Malzahar right now feels hollow.

EternalProphet3 votes

+1

I found my joy playing supports. Im that kind of guy that likes to jump into everyone, sacrifice for their team if needed, but im also that kind of guy that has that one special champ he always loved. I absolutely loved his skills AND how he looked... It was majestic.

I am honestly sad because I know Riot won't bring back old Malz because that would mean they think they made a mistake. I am sad because I won't have as much fun with a champ as I had with Malz. I know that people say Malz mains are cancerous which I didn't negate. I mean, 2 spells and adc is dead or shredding tanks like they were paper, but Malz mains loved him. He didn't need that rework because we loved the way he was and we also knew that if he gets rework he will be so OP that he would be nerfed to the ground as he was.

Nilok im glad you replied here and im glad I am not the only one that feels like this. I am also sad that we both feel this way because of our fav champ. I wish for a day when Malz will be reworked back to how he was before. I miss Null Zone and Nether Grasp combo. I miss voidlings screwing up my farm and failing to last hit champions...

Stephenizgod4 votes

I feel the same way, he went from one of my most played champions to a champion I no longer have any desire to play. I keep trying to rekindle my love for the champ, but every time I am reminded he is worse in almost every possible way.

Hit kit is boring now, all he does is sit there and farm/push. He doesn't have the damage to kill anyone with half a brain, his ult doesn't give him a powerspike, and he has even less control over his pushing power than before. The new Passive is just stupid strong, its unfair and had to be nerfed almost to the point of uselessness. The old Passive gave his laning phase mechanics and decisions, you needed to work around his Passive. I remember I use to wait until I was almost 6, stack up my passive, then hit 6 and ult them with my E+W and Voidling. Ignite them, boom dead, that person will never underestimate Malz again.

Now just to be clear, Malzahar is in a much better spot balance-wise, but that does not mean he is a better champion now. I know for a fact we are not alone in our dislike of his new kit, but we have trouble speaking out because we always gets shut down by comments like "he is balanced now" or "his win rate is X%, he isn't bad", from people who don't understand that winrate does not mean good champion design.

Point blank, Malzahar is boring. This rework ruined him and I can never get anyone to talk to me about him because "his winrate is good and he is balanced now". Malzahar needs to be reworked again or have his rework reverted, I very much dislike the new Malzahar and want my old Void Mage back.

On another note, I have been having a lot of fun with Yorick. That mechanic with his E and his ghouls is one me and a lot of Malzahar players were asking for before they reworked Malz. I am glad it made it onto another fun champion at least, he has been somewhat filling the void where Malzahar use to be for me.

The Great Divide1 votes

He's not even that balanced right now. HE's actually not that good of a champion. It's just most people don't know the main counterplay (kill the first voidling), so he still has a decent winrate.

In the end, he's not in a good state right now. His passive is nigh on useless, so he turned into a farm bot. Old malz did disgusting damage, but was disgustingly easy to gang up on due to no mobility and weakness to dealing with multiple champions, unless you had great positioning. They got rid of a champ with clear weaknesses and strengths for this mess. Sigh: RIP malz

Stephenizgod1 votes

I think he is actually pretty balanced right now, he isn't overwhelming and he isn't underpowered. If you are smart you won't die to him and if he is smart he won't die to you. That is fairly balanced, but its not very fun for either player.

Crossette1 votes

Malz isn't weak right now, since you're complaining about him being nerfed. He's sleeper op right now tbh

EternalProphet4 votes

Do you remember how much his ult used to deal dmg? Now it deals some small percentage and is mostly used just for supress. Malz isn't op because he was nerfed when he was op.

Crossette1 votes

I mean, people used to LITERALLY only use Malz ult for suppress pre-rework.

Now you use it to allow your voidlings to get damage down while your E shreds their health.

Stephenizgod3 votes

I used his ult to kill my target... Malzahar was not a Suppress bot, he had actual damage not reliant on 3+ items. The current malzahar fits your description more, even at 50% Hp your E + W + R probably won't kill them, the ult doesn't last long enough for Voidlings to do enough damage. For the most part you just ult while your Jungler comes in and kills your laner, you wait until late game when you have a few items before you can start murdering people. Now if your opponent is hellbent on dying, you can easily kill them, but most people will normally run away when they see the E about to bounce to them. You can't just E+W+R them like you use to be able to, it takes about half a second to spawn the Voidling, then they need to run over and hit them before another spawns. Its like half your ult wasted just waiting for the Voidlings to spawn. You need to ult them to keep them in place so the E and Voidlings will transition to them, but even then you won't do enough damage to 50-0 someone, not unless you are already fed.

Malzahar sort of suffered from that before, he had issue with having kill pressure since his opponents just ran away when he got close. Riot buffed his MS and it actually helped him a ton and I thought he was in a decent spot. This new rework has removed pretty much everything I liked about him.

The Great Divide1 votes

No. Great malzahar players would play him like a kite machine. He could do so much damage by positioning well and chaining his spells with rylais. I only ever ulted to protect a teammate, or if I was sure I would get a kill (like on yasuo in lane). Many a teamfight were won by the silence nuke, % health pool, and e bounces, not me being a suppress bot.

Right now he is actually a suppress bot that gets some damage from his other spells that people forget exist mostly...

Nilok4 votes

Malzahar is not sleeper op, his reworked passive is sleeper op.

Everything outside of that passive has been nerfed on Malzahar to accommodate an overpowered passive that nobody enjoys save for people who exploit it.

Crossette1 votes

It's an intended part of his kit, making it utilizing and not exploiting.

No matter how dumb it is. He still has waveclear and solo kill potential, just not as much. If you can keep a few voidlings stacked up until you ult then you absolutely murder anyone that isn't building against you. Easily.

Nilok2 votes

"Easily." I'm sorry, but Riot API statistics contradict that statement. Malzahar is rated as one of the worst mids in the game at getting kills, ranking just ahead of Mid Morgana and Galio (remember him?).

Things get even worse when you realize that Malzahar is meant to be a Mage/Slayer role, which are squishy high damage champions, designed to kill enemy champions quickly are die trying, like classic Malzahar. However, while all of the other slayers rock a solid kill rate, Malzahar is the worst Slayer at doing his job, killing people.

Here is the data.

http://champion.gg/champion/Malzahar/Middle http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Slayer_champion

Also, just because it is intended doesn't mean it isn't exploiting it. It is fully intended for me to be able to run a full Tau Riptide list in a 1500 point Warhammer 40k game, but that doesn't meant it isn't exploiting the rules and trust of your opponent. Would be labeled a "That Guy".

TeineDor1 votes

wtf do you mean hes sleeper op? New assassin item rush, then qss? Thats like malzahars worst nightmare

Kuwabaramulberry1 votes

I absolutely adored malzahar before his rework. Like you said, he was the go-to mid laner and was the first time I even felt close to comfortable playing mid. He was way too strong, yeah (tons of team fight damage with null-zone and great kiting with rylai's and half a brain) but I got rekted just as often as I stomped. And now....you get a purple feather duster that occasionally makes an enemy move out of a minion wave. Not that you'll be able to do anything about it on your own. Just like with taric, it's still mostly the same, but with added thematic and clunky execution

Paroe1 votes

i hate to be a bearer of bad news... but weve known this since right after the rework went live. It was change for the sake of change, and didnt adress problems... The main of which was his W was rather useless.

http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/pEpTVBzc-reworked-malzahar-vs-pre-rework-malzahar Is a thread from six months ago of mine talking about it. The only reason boards isnt jumping on your face is because malzahar isnt popular anymore.

TeineDor1 votes

With preseason changes malz is even more shit. Qss is already a hard enough middle finger to him but now assassins have a second banshees. Going against a malz? rush dirk and qss, then new assassin item, then banshees. Malz then proceeds to afk

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