Thoughts on Maokai's Rework

tl;dr

The tree-man (or man-tree?) is fine as is. He takes some getting used too - but the new changes are underwhelming and will be an overall nerf to him.

Ahh... , the humanoid tree that actually hits the gym more than once a month (looking at you, ). Maokai has been one of my favorite champions for a while...and after seeing the recent rework, I couldn't help but feel...disappointed.

has been a very strong top laner in my opinion. His natural tankiness combined with his heal-passive and his strong base damage made him quite the dangerous log.

Now, with the recent changes, he seems to have lost his "get down and dirty with that hella-nasty W, root the enemy so she can't have intimate time with your midlaner as you simultaneously smack the shizznips out of , and taking all the damage so you can say "pop goes your health bar", effectively winning the team fight as your team asks where Teemo has been for the last five minutes and your 0/5 ADC steps on a shroom for the fifteenth time.

His new Sapling Toss is actually a nerf. In laning phase, Maokai has pretty much no way to poke the enemy laner without diving in with his WQ combo. And then, he has no escape. So now that the saplings NEED to be placed in bushes in order to do significant damage, they've basically become quite worthless as any top laner with a brain will know to avoid bushes at all costs.

His new ult, "Nature's Grasp"? It's like Zyra and Nami had a baby and out came that monstrosity. It would be REALLY good if the roots traveled quickly, say around maybe 20% more speed than Zyra's current Q travels. BUT NO! It's like a crippled elderly-woman riding a blind turtle in four feet of snow trying chasing a rabbit with and . I can't see how it will ever catch the enemy off guard, as most champions have some form of gap-closer and utility spell that allows them to escape in time so they don't get conked on the head by a few prickly branches.

Overall, not really pleased with Maokai's upcoming changes. I appreciate all Riot does for the community, but on Maokai, I think they could have done a better job, and hopefully they will reconsider the drastic effects these new abilities will have on our beloved champion