Old Maokai VO; "Return me to the forest."

Malicious Metal·May 6, 2017·30 votes·1,768 views

Guess they did.

He's once again a Jungler!

25 Comments

JbelsMay 6, 20175 votes

I actually enjoy him as a jungler. His ult will need some QoL buffs at some point. They don't at all feel as epic or impactful as they should be considering they're a LANE-WIDE WALL OF MOVING ROOTS.

Malicious MetalMay 6, 20179 votes

I do feel his ult is pretty great.

It opens up new g/flanking paths and it's devastating in teamfights. It being slow but so very punishing only adds to its appeal.

But hey, that's just me.

JbelsMay 6, 20172 votes

[{quoted}](name=Malicious Metal,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=fZnXxENX,comment-id=00000000,timestamp=2017-05-06T22:24:20.677+0000)

I do feel his ult is pretty great.

It opens up new g/flanking paths and it's devastating in teamfights. It being slow but so very punishing only adds to its appeal.

But hey, that's just me.

I've had cases where I threw it towards the enemy team to get a teamfight started, and they just walked backwards and avoided it completely. It kind of sucks that this gigantic ability has to be used as followup and not initiation

Miror BMay 6, 20171 votes

To be fair, the so called "follow up" is probably the best secondary initiation tool in the game. W onto someone in a group of enemies, toss the ulti towards all of them, wait for them to either flash/take the cc and just repeat in 2-3mins. I only tried the new maokai once, and while his damage/team utility is far worse (specifically his lategame which has kinda become nonexistent now), in the right scenario I was able to pop 3-4 flashes at once by feigning potential engages.

JbelsMay 6, 20171 votes

{quoted}

To be fair, the so called "follow up" is probably the best secondary initiation tool in the game. W onto someone in a group of enemies, toss the ulti towards all of them, wait for them to either flash/take the cc and just repeat in 2-3mins. I only tried the new maokai once, and while his damage/team utility is far worse (specifically his lategame which has kinda become nonexistent now), in the right scenario I was able to pop 3-4 flashes at once by feigning potential engages.

To be honest, it was definitely during the late game I was having these issues with his ult. In the early game, I could gank with W onto somebody, and ult towards their tower. If they flashed, they would get rooted for longer, if they didn't, the root would be shorter, but still there

Asayake 5150glowMay 6, 20171 votes

{quoted}

To be fair, the so called "follow up" is probably the best secondary initiation tool in the game. W onto someone in a group of enemies, toss the ulti towards all of them, wait for them to either flash/take the cc and just repeat in 2-3mins. I only tried the new maokai once, and while his damage/team utility is far worse (specifically his lategame which has kinda become nonexistent now), in the right scenario I was able to pop 3-4 flashes at once by feigning potential engages.

Imagine flanks with it though, providing you have another tank/Nami with your team.

Miror BMay 6, 20171 votes

The problem being though as a direct initiation tool, it's pretty weak and can be dodged by literally every mobility tool in the game (if it "intercepted" those, then it could be good primary initiation as well). To also answer jbels' thing, the reason maokai is bad lategame now is because with the ulti changes comes the loss of that 60% 10s damage reduction that made him a "supertank". Not saying it was a bad thing or anything, it just made him far more reliant on the early snowball.

Samflash3May 7, 20171 votes

Protobelt + W

Zephyrous XMay 7, 20172 votes

[{quoted}](name=Malicious Metal,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=fZnXxENX,comment-id=00000000,timestamp=2017-05-06T22:24:20.677+0000)

I do feel his ult is pretty great.

It opens up new g/flanking paths and it's devastating in teamfights. It being slow but so very punishing only adds to its appeal.

But hey, that's just me.

it's very very very slow... most of the time the enemy can just walk away from it

WheatloafMay 7, 20177 votes

Even if they just move out of the way, the area it can deny like that is ridiculous.

SukishooMay 7, 20171 votes

That's why you have to place it and time it just right.

BlåbæretMay 7, 20174 votes

It'd be too strong if it was any faster. Not saying you can't make it faster, but if so then it'll come at a cost.

ZerenzaMay 7, 20171 votes

It's slow for a reason, your basically accomplishing the same thing as Taliyah's ultimate but with an actual punishment, forcing the enemy to move in possibly only one direction is what makes it so powerful.

OyddAWqJ5rMay 8, 20171 votes

I've never seen a whole team just casually walk away from it. Typically there's a reason the team is there and instead of running they'll just have 1 person tank one root and everyone else file in.

A Basic IslandMay 7, 20171 votes

the entire time people were complaining about the ult, it reminded me of Nami and how people were saying the SAME thing.

Turns out, it not being fast ended up being a huge plus for her ult since it causes the enemy team to scatter for longer

Troll for TrumpMay 7, 20171 votes

I used to think they were really bad, but you just have to adjust to it.

It will always be effective as a counter engage (especially if you fire it from a certain range). As part of an engage, it's a lot more dependent on the team comp.

As for chasing, yeah, it doesn't do that.

They made him a warden rather than a vanguard, sadly.

doodlebob666May 6, 20173 votes

i still like him top his trading power is pretty strong if you play to the bushes and his sustain is a god send against certain matchups, like illaoi

RalanrMay 6, 20172 votes

I like him in the jungle, but boy it is a pain to need bushes to make the most of his saplings in a fight.

Skins ProjectMay 7, 20172 votes

Ivern x Maokai

AmazoXMay 6, 20172 votes

I like how his a fairly viable jungler now, Well done Riot Games.

KoKobotoMay 6, 20172 votes

Ganks are so free once you get level 6, you put down a huge wall of roots from brush and the enemy can either walk into it for 2s root or walk towards your tower lol

Sexy Jack RabbitMay 7, 20171 votes

Despite how 'nerfy' it felt, I really like the new maoki rework (unlikeSeju'sfkthatchampion)

SpecterVonBarenMay 7, 20171 votes

Eh, once people realize how bonkers the numbers are on his E right now then Riot will gut him and he'll only be used as an E bot support.

BatchBustsMetaMay 7, 20171 votes

Yeah I thought that as well, in theory sapling OP af, in practice.... very mediocre. No ones going to face check that brush, and 95% of you sapling will explode on their own, or just aggro to minions. Tried playing him like an AP shaco type deal. Couldn't even carry on the bronze smurf... feelsbadman.

Troll for TrumpMay 7, 20171 votes

It really sucks with Gromp and Wolves though. Especially the Gromp.

The frog is barely out of range of the blue bush, so when you leash it within sapling range, it'll reset.

I think you're supposed to drag it to the bot lane/top lane bush behind the outer turret. Maybe.