A long time Malzahar player's opinions on new Malz
ABOUT ME
So, I finally got the opportunity to play Malzahar in a few games where he wasn't ban. 1 on Twisted Treeline, 2 on Summoner's Rift. And now that I have, here are my opinions. Oh but first! Disclaimer: No, I do not play ranked. Never been that interested in pretending the game was anything more than a game to me. However, I have been playing since 2011 and love this game. While many of my champion ideas have been ignored >.> I do love this game.
So with Malzahar, I have played him since S2. He is honestly one of my most played champions. Originally it was because with bad latency I played champions who I felt could lane more safely. But later on when I got good Internet, it was simply because I had grown fond of him. He took absolute role as my primary mage when they reworked Xerath, and he will remain my primary mage until they release a female mage I like. (Granted they did mostly fulfill my desire to have a spear wielding ghost ADC. though mine was Hybrid AP/AD) If you are interested in my champion ideas see... http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/skin-champion-concepts/OivEGaHj-merlin-project and http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/skin-champion-concepts/EJVWtATz-merlin-the-spellsword-concept Both are similar, but one is a spellsword idea the other a pure mage. But onto the topic.
MAIN TOPIC
I was weary of a rework to my favorite champion. I thought Riot would either ruin the core of his design, like Xerath and a few others. Or would make him clunky and unplayable. Or worse still, they would make him so OP that he would be permaban then nerfed into the Oblivion he loves so much.
But after playing him, I realized... He isn't so bad. The design direction that they took was really nice, the tons of minions are fun and the passive makes it feel like I have more tactical decisions in laning and teamfights. I don't feel helpless without flash now due to it as well. He is really fun, and the visuals are great. But is he overpower? A little. But let's keep things in perspective.
PASSIVE
This is the only thing I feel really is Overpowered about new Malz, however. It also feels necessary. In this new League of Burst and CC it seems everyone needs a momentary invulnerable, insane self heal or absurd defensive spell. So I feel this adds to Malz design without being too strong.
Q
It's pretty much the same.
W
Malz old W was an unremarkable, but very useful, portal into the void. I will miss this spell simply for the zoning and visual effects. But it was rather lackluster and it is nice to see it replaced honestly.
Malz new bread and butter spell. It takes the place of Malefic visions as his terrifying spell you want to stay away from. It lets you push lanes and gives you the power to kill people. But has it been overhyped? I think so. With massive hits on his E's damage it only barely surpasses his old single target potential, and now becomes essential to clearing lanes, meaning you have to spend more mana to clear minions effectively vs just his E before. The only real problem with this spell is that it can tank jungle mobs far too easily. So I think a nerf to the damage they do to jungle mobs would solve this.
E
Old Malzahar's E was his biggest hitter. While his Q had huge burst and his W good zoning. His E was what let him clear waves and camps, chase people out of lane and win team fights even if he died. It was an amazingly overpowered ability.
Malz new E is... actually rather weak. The damage is much lower overall and the spreading effect is harder to achieve. This means mana refund is harder and usually requires you use precise AA planning and/or his W making you spend more mana and put yourself in danger more.
R
Malz old ultimate was a massive damage, decent range spell that could root enemies in place and suppress them for it's duration. Was it overpowered? Against aggressive laners yes. But against other pure assault mages? Not so much. It also was incredibly weak in team fights unless planned very well, as it rooted the caster as well as the target. His old ult, believe it or not, was on average higher damage. Because it could be combined with his W and E to melt almost anybody.
His new ult, it's actually not as strong in my eyes. It now suppresses and does the damage in an area of his W automatically... but any good Malz already did this, now we just lose having the raw ult damage on top of it. Which I think... is just fine. Because it makes him more reliant on his base spells than just throwing out a W-R or W-E-R or E-R then winning. Now even if you get out a W-E--Q-R you and ALL of them get on the target. You are still not assured a kill like before.
OVERVIEW
I think new Malzahar is a lot of fun, well designed and only needs a couple tweeks to fix his rough spots. I don't think perma ban/pick is really needed, if anything his ability to kill an enemy player or team is lessened, he instead has a bit more pushing power and can tank jungle camps now, plus gets a defensive passive that keeps him valid in this design of insane burst and CC in League. With some minor changes to make sure he doesn't tank dragon with just his W, I think this champion would be one of Riot's most successful reworks. And if any Riot designers are reading this, thank you. For doing an amazing job on my favorite champion.