Out of all the updated Tanks, Maokai is the one which I'm quite disappointed with

BeatzBoyFTW·Apr 19, 2017·8 votes·782 views

His passive got a nerf where it only counts spells that hits him instead of being casted near his face (I can be wrong assuming they will pump up the heal ratio a bit).
Q seems fine & basic.
W cast speed is seriously slower than pre-work.
E seems like one of a good example of an updated kit. Just hope that its slow duration is untouched.
His ult was unnecessarily reworked to become a slow & snaring version of Nami's ult. Unlike old Sejuani where she becomes quite useless due to her ult being her entire kit, at least Maokai can use his old ult to reduce his teammates' damage taken depending on where they're positioning, which also requires Maokai to keep watch where he's walking while taking damage at the same time.

I'm honestly quite worried about Maokai's updated state. Who knows he can become the 3rd in line of failed reworks after Morde & Malzahar.

11 Comments

PhloatApr 19, 20172 votes

i agree with this they could really have done a better job with this rework and i am a top lane main so this seems pretty disappointing to me

Big LincolnApr 19, 20172 votes

ult feels out of place and IMO he needs more synergy with it. let saplings ride it or something

I like the passive shift a lot though, I was healing for close to 900 health with him last night.

whathemathApr 19, 20172 votes

Yeah, only ONE of his abilities was reworked in a significant way (ult) and they basically just made it a worse version of nami wave. I think it might be alright if they made it pass through champs instead of body-blockable. Plus W speed got shafted.

KuroCaliberApr 19, 20171 votes

His update but was meant to ensure he had clear counters instead of being an easy first pick. You could literally never go wrong with a maokai on your team. Now if only they could do the same thing to Lee

jinxedchefApr 20, 20171 votes

What I want to know is, how is he going to be played as a tank if he doesn't have any damage mitigation? His ult is gone and his new passive is more sustain. So he is going to be the only mainly tank champ without damage mitigation(shield, damage reduction, bonus Defensive stats, etc)?

Big LincolnApr 20, 20171 votes

he has a much larger heal now

i think full build with the runic armor + visage, i was healing for about 900 per proc. might make grasp really good on him for the empowered healing

jinxedchefApr 20, 20172 votes

His passive is more for sustain though. Once every 45 Seconds? Means in a team fight you might get it 2-3 times. And you only get a reduction on it for spells not auto attacks. So late game any crit ADC is going to shred Maokai.

That passive is no where near the defensive value of what any other tank has.

Big LincolnApr 20, 20171 votes

it goes down to 25 i think, might need to be lowered more for late game but he's actually pretty durable, and you get rewarded for tanking spells, too

SpecterVonBarenApr 21, 20171 votes

WTF?! 25 seconds is horrible, he's not even a tank anymore with that. Might as well build him with AP+Health items and forget about tanking at all.

Big LincolnApr 21, 20171 votes

It scales down by 2.5 seconds for every spell you cast and every spell you tank.

It's up WAY more often than it sounds.

AbiwonKenabiApr 20, 20171 votes

For the most part, I think it's fine, except for the ultimate. I'm just baffled why they even changed it, and what they changed it to. Like, I almost think his original ult would work better: he used to have to place the ult on the ground, so he had some decision making to do with it. Since it's stuck on him it's just activate and forget.

And this doesn't really fix his generalist problems. It gives him more CC which makes him more appealing. The R is either going to be way too slow and weak, or too strong, combined with a kit that is only better when he has a way to slow them down on flanks and get in W range.