I actually like the new Maokai a lot

In my opinion, his top lane performance is more or less the same. Sustains hard, pokes with Q/E. engages ganks with W it goes for all-ins with W/R. I don't feel like he lost too much in lane, granted I'm a pretty experienced Maokai player at this point. But I absolutely hate his Es bush passive. This feels like such a gimmicky and lazy addition when it could've been far more interesting.

I understand it was supposed to make his jungle clear better but this could've easily been a passive addition to only apply to monsters. The %hp being moved to it is nice as well but his E still feels very random and tacked on and that kind of disappoints me. I would love to see his E factor into his healing somehow because I love his combat healing tank design. And in these moments, his E just feels like it's there to reduce his passives CD while his Q/W/R actually contribute to his design from a lockdown point of view.

Not to mention, his E cheese is apparently making him a ridiculously stupid support and I would hate to see him receive nerfs just because of his E. My only complaint about him is his E, its gimmicky and lazy. The rest of the kit is fantastic. Especially meowkai and the army of cats when he presses R.