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Who is Malzahar? What is his unique identity? Rework failed, so blank page, what is he?

slash mute yall·5/4/2017, 6:26:21 AM·4 votes·3,189 views
malzahar chibi by cilundi-d8jhhpg

Looking back at champion development blogs, lingo like "identity" "clear, unique theme" "thematic fantasy" "unique to play" "unique identity" "visual theme" "ripe for design exploration" "Looking into...lore and art" have been used when discussing what is considered when reworking a champion. I am not sure if Riot would use the word 'rework' to define what they changed on Malzahar in the Mages update. However, it was clear they took some time to tweak him. With all of the changes that have been made since then, I feel that Malzahar's identity is more unclear than ever (when your mid lane main has been shelved at mid, but is being nerfed for OP support play). He is the most powerful seer in Runtera, but has no predictive powers which is all a seer really has. He has seen the void and can now use void magic that seems to be completely unrelated to his seer powers (other than his eyes shoot lasers; though seers powers could operate in someone that has no eyes so that's pretty dumb and let's be honest, turns Malz into a 1-dimensional ult-bot). The void powers seem to also be virtually unrelated to any purpose of the being that enthralled Malz. In fact the power of the void itself is fairly vague. Is it a variation of magic? true damage? something different? Therefore, I wanted open a discussion about potential directions for this champion in a real rework.

Based on previous board posts, I know that trolls will not let me get away with opening up a discussion (Aurelion forbid) without giving my opinion, for them to tear apart in order to make sure that they appear high up on at least some ladder. So, below is my take. I decided to study the lore around Malzahar and then sort of build his powers from his story and the lore around the void itself. Furthermore, I use the powers to reinforce and enrich the Malzahar's place in that story (as we know it that is, they can change or add to the narrative of the void to take this in other directions too, and that is fine, especially since there is little out there on the void).

So he is about to be Runetera's greatest seer ever...which according to my 2 min of research is someone who can see (shocking) the future. So what would that look like as a pre-void power if we made a champion that had "seer" powers?

Okay lets say that seer is a passive or passive ability. Maybe even a passive ult that he starts with based on what I'm thinking. Let's say you're mid farming away on Malzahar and playing opposite you is a Morgana. It's getting close to the time that the first ganks should be coming and all the sudden you see something in the topside river brush at mid. It is the enemy Lee Sin! But wait! You never put a ward in that brush, AND you notice the Lee Sin is either wearing a green skin that looks like the tracer that runs after Ekko, or that is your seer power kicking in. It tells you that Lee Sin is in the top river and headed towards that brush when he pierced the big 'seer' zone circle around you. Realization hits as you process that it is not the real Lee Sin and you are just tripping hard seer magic. This is great because now you can avoid possible destruction (after all you lack escapes right? Voidshift? Are we just pulling powers out of the random suggestion box and slapping void in front of them or is there some reason this is a thing?).

Since Malzahar is tripping hard, no one else can see the Lee Sin image but him. Side note, if you think I am being too "street pharmacist" with the tripping, then read what happens to people when the void portals begin to form in parts of Runtera, they literally hallucinate. Malzahar went crazy because he could see too much, so lets imagine what that's like for him pre-void. Back to Lee Sin! If Lee Sin continues into the brush within a certain radius of the premonition Malzahar originally saw, then it activates a 2-3 sec speed boost to Malzahar. This is because Malzahar was already ready to turn on the jets, he saw this guy coming and so whether Malzahar stays in lane or backs off, he gets the speed boost if the enemy fulfills the vision's estimate. But what if Lee sin was only headed towards that bush when he broke the seer barrier because he was punching the scuttle? Instead of going into the brush, where the seer powers foretold, Lee pulls a 180-turn still punching the scuttle but now following it towards the top lane. The green looking hologram-like version of Lee Sin updates with the likelihood that Lee Sin will arrive in the bush before the vision fades out (the seer powers readjust to account for free will and all). The hologram turns green, yellow, orange, and red as Lee Sin moves towards or away from the vision for X amount of time before it disappears altogether. This tells the seer that actually Lee Sin is now moving away and while although he could have, he most likely will not be headed into or around that bush extremely soon.

Now our boy gets mentally seduced into the dessert where he finds a city that cannot be found and gets his ability to see what will happen in the future hijacked. The channel he usually watches when he is doing the seer-thing is turned (by some voice in the void, might help understanding his new void powers if we know more about the owner of the voice that drove him mad), to a channel that basically plays a video what I can best describe as the Zerg overrunning Runetera on a loop (Yay Blizzard, in fact even the descriptions of what the void looks like that I found made me think of a hellish Zerg home-world). So now that he watches nothing but Fox News all day, all he can see are creatures of the void ripping apart the world around him, and he sees this so vividly that unlike Kassadin, it makes Malzahar say "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." He then either forms or joins 'the Cult of the Void'. Malzahar is the only champion in this cult so far, so that may make him de-facto leader, I do not know.

So again, Malz sees void creatures all around that are not there but that could be or will be in some future. Also, hes's now on team void, so what is his role supposed to be for team Zerg-like annihilation? Well, it could be that the driving force in the void needed more champions with which to ravage Runtera, however based on the current champions in Runtera that hail from the void and the description of an endless sea of such creatures as described by those that have seen the void, I do not think the void is short on powerful champions to send to Runetera. So if Malz is not needed specifically to be a powerful soldier for the void, then again, what is his role here?

The void portals that open up around Runtera give little bursts of power, people hallucinate around them, and then "...if the Void is able to consume enough biomass to survive, it can grow and evolve into something ferocious and terrifying." If we combine visions of an incoming void army, with the fact that there are portals which can bring something from the void into Runtera (if the portals are fed enough biomass), and add to it the idea that the whole reason the voice from the void took the time and effort to reach out to Malzahar was for something beyond being a soldier and that the voice apparently could not have managed on it's own, then where does that leave us? My hypothesis would be that the owner of the voice that drove Malzahar mad can push on the places from the void side where the barrier between worlds is thin. However, he/she needs someone or something on the other side to unlock the door from our end, in order to quickly break through, thus opening the way for something bigger (than a voidling). The voice owner is what causes portals to start to form, but clearly he/she needs help from this realm to force the door open in a significant way.

This gives Malzahar an identity and purpose. In Runetera, only his (the best) seer powers can see and/or predict where the weak points made by the voice of the void will appear. Only Malz can see them, and only Malz can use the powers given to him by the owner of the voice in order to control the creatures that are sent through the portal. So basically Malz is Medivh to keep the Blizzard references coming.

To wrap up, Malz rework based on considering story line:

Passive - Seer's Eyes : Malzahar seer abilities allow him to see places where the barrier between worlds is thin. Portals can be opened on these spots once activated. Malzahar activates a spot by moving into the area around a spot. Once activated, when Malzahaer stands in the area around a potential portal location he gets +AP (or "+void damage") and any enemy (non-void?) that enters the location will be charmed (hallucinate) for X sec.

(Q) - Call of the Void : Once spots have been activated, Call of the Void allows only Malzahar to see a vision of the void creature a portal would summon, atop the activated spot.

Active - With enough biomass, Malzahar can create a portal. Portals summon different void spawn (This could be done in two ways. The void creature summoned could evolve or be a more powerful type as the game progresses or as Malzahar opens more portals, similar to old Cass poison evolution into more dangerous creatures. It could also be like 1 of 3-5 possible creatures randomly assigned to each new portal location from the start, but they scale, similar to the TF cards, but in this case Malz is stuck with whatever the portal location says will be summoned that time). After summoning a void creature Malz has control over it, it lasts for X seconds (In picking these creatures, I would suggest thinking of what an early evolutionary form of or lesser member on the family tree of the current champions from the void on the rift. Each could have an ability that reflects that relationship to Vel or Rek or Cho or Kog's group. Like for Vel it might summon a lazer shooting over the shoulder hovering drone-like mini-Vel that Malz can send somewhere to act as a hovering turret similar to Heimer's or Malz can keep/bring back mini-Vel on the shoulder as a second gunner similar to Lulu fairy. OR make a new void creature that learns/evolves as it is summoned and grows stronger. Maybe it could be some soldier or creation of the voice that spoke to Malzahar and drove him mad).

With the change to (R) so that Malz is not just an ult-bot, this has to be a major source of his damage to champions, towers and dragons/Barron.

(W) - Void Swarm : Summon voidlings. When voidlings attack a target they collect biomass. Malzahar stores biomass, which is used to open portals.

(E) - Malefic Visions : can stay but buff damage to champions (maybe make "void damage" a thing it has that is something different like how true-damage is different)

(R) - Premonition : Seer ability that grants visions of the future. Anytime an enemy fulfills the vision by passing through the vision [hit-box], Malzahar and all allies within X yards of Malzahar gain X movement speed increase that deteriorates over Y seconds. This effect can be triggered by more than one enemy, but never by the same enemy twice in Z seconds (basically like Nautilus's passive, he can root everyone, but there is a CD on each person as he roots them that prevents him from spamming).

I am with discussing my idea, HOWEVER I would really like this to be more of a space for other Malz enthusiasts to submit their vision of Malzahar, so that we can benefit from a plurality of ideas.

Feel free to friend and message me in game for direct comments.

9 Comments

GigaPube5/4/2017, 10:40:22 AM2 votes

at least you have suggestions for changes. when i saw "rework failed" in the title, i thought for sure you, just like many others, would have left the actual post blank hoping the title spoke for itself and other people would do the work for you

Skreechy5/4/2017, 9:50:39 PM2 votes

I like the idea of delving into his being a seer and giving him "vision" mechanics as a method of gank protection, but I would limit that to his passive (replacing and trashing his current passive that is either broken or useless).

His Q and E, I would definitely keep the same aside from possible number tweaking (and of course letting voidlings chase Malevic Vision targets into bushes, because why can't they already?). His voidlings are a big problem, as voidlings have always been a huge part of his kit (and I'd like it to stay that way), but they have been changed and changed and now nerfed into inviability (at least mid) because of his support game. His ult is another big problem. Once too good at nuking an opponent (press R and win), it is now pretty mediocre when not in a teamfight, and is unreliable in some cases (the suppressed target can completely avoid damage if they leave the null zone in any way, which happens more than you'd think).

If they change his passive completely and fiddle with his W and R in a way that feels more reliable mid (without being so strong for support), I think that could put him in a good spot.

Mataka Tek5/4/2017, 3:25:33 PM1 votes

I like the creativity. Nevertheless I LIKE Malzahar's current game mechanics, and I would prefer that the QWER remain essentially the same. Riot's problem with Voidlings is how they interact with the support lane. So we need to fix that issue.

First Let's Address the "Seer" aspect of what that might look like:

Q: (Call of the Void): Remains the same (silence). Add Seer of the Void: Penetrates nearby bushes and reveals hidden, camouflaged, and invisible creatures within a radius. Currently it only reveals bushes it is cast into. This adds your "seer" creativity.

W: Change to "Summon Null Zone" Similar to the Void Swarm and Void Pool combined as follows:

CAST: Places the old pre-rework "Null Zone" at the specified location and doing "true damage". From the center of the Null zone, it spawns ONE frenzy enabled voidling. This voidling will behave similarly to the pre-nerf voidlings with some changes. The voidling will have hitpoints that scale with Level. It will frenzy on a champ that is being attacked by Malefic Visions or Nether Grasp. Lastly, it will multiply versus Jungle Camps, and Monsters like Dragon, and Baron, but NOT vs minions or Champions.

So, essentially this is exactly the same as the current W, except the voidlings are pre-nerf and they don't multiply vs champs.

However, if they don't give frenzy to the Voidlings, then they are essentially a useless gimmick because enemy champs easily outmaneuver them. One "alternative" to frenzy would be to increase the melee bite range of the Voidlings.

E: Malefic Visions: Same as current Malefic Visions AND Actually grants true "seer" sight of the afflicted enemy to Malzahar and his voidlings. (But not his allies).

Problems with Nether Grasp: The main problem is that it gets interrupted by anything and everything, any kind of CC, QSS. And that negates the whole ult.

R: Nether Grasp: Create a Tether which Suppresses the enemy, rendering them unable to cast or auto-attack. During this time they take damage equivalent to the current version. IF the tether is broken or interrupted, the enemy champion is slowed for the remainder of the cast.

The conversion of the tether to a slow is critical to maintaining Malzahar's ability to play in the big leagues versus high ELO players. Without it, anyone can buy QSS and simply negate his ult instantly, leaving Malzahar without any protection, and severely nerfing his damage.

His Passive: Should remain intact, but the CC protection should be increased to 0.5 secs. Additionally, the cooldown for the passive should be affected by Malzahar's CDR bonuses.

Mataka Tek5/4/2017, 6:19:41 PM1 votes

His back story does not need to change. Both the Back story, and his theme are fine.

Malzahar's story and the integration of game mechanics are supposed to fire up the imagination. Nevertheless, the connection of Malzahar's in game mechanics to his back story is simply a matter of asking "does that in game mechanic make sense with his back story.". I think in most cases it does, especially if you add in the "SEER" Idea, ie adding "True Vision" when he casts his spells.

So, Some developer could just as easily say that the when he casts void, the enemy falls into and loses health until he can escape it... its creative / artistic license.

So, yea... I prefer his in game mechanics because I have been playing Malzahar quite a lot.

I don't really see the need to modify the game mechanic per se' when simple changes to the QWER can suffice.

Adding true sight to his Malefic Visions DOES fit with his SEER back story and improves Malzahar's game mechanic slightly... (I mean watching a voidling chase after the enemy champ and totally stop in its tracks as soon as the enemy runs into a bush EVEN with Malefic Visions ON HIM, is very frustrating)

Mataka Tek5/4/2017, 10:00:16 PM1 votes

Removing his Shield passive leaves Malzahar with no form of protection. He has no QWE CC at all. And no QWE heal.

Poppy has a shield and it allows her to be tanky. Orianna gets "shield protect" every 9 seconds!

If anything, his shield should last longer to protect from CC.

The other alternative.... is simply make it a "CC" shield rather than a "spell" shield

Void Shift: Innate: Malzahar receives Void Shift if he hasn't taken damage nor been affected by crowd control in the last 30 / 24 / 18 / 12 seconds. Damage from minions does not interact with Void Shift. Auto-Attacks do not affect his shield unless they will result in a slow.

Void Shift phases out Malzahar, making him immune to crowd control for 4 seconds after the shield is hit by any form of CC or destroyed.

(No damage reductions). Lastly, allow it to be affected by CDR.

slash mute yall5/5/2017, 3:14:52 AM1 votes

Okay I get the vision on Malefic Visions, but is that really 'seer-power' on par with "one of Runeterra's greatest boons"? I want to feel the epicness of wither that power in some original sense, or that epic level power twisted by the void. Which again, the ult kinda is that, but it doesn't feel like part of the story of who he is. Again, I feel like the tendency is to focus inside the box that we have already constructed. I feel like we are making Malz's current kit fit a preconceived idea of who Malz is, rather than completely blanking out our minds and letting his and the void's lore paint the picture of his identity.

This isn't just about fixes and tweaks to spells for playability. Going at it from that perspective could lead us to sitting around thinking up all kinds of random ability changes or power adjustments. However, that would miss the point of his identity and theme, and if he did have one in this scenario, it would be sort of creating lore to fit whatever we created instead of drawing upon the lore that already exists and enriching or enhancing it while doing so to the champion at the same time.

If you read through these lore pieces then you will see how i derived new powers from his story and reinforced and enhanced the lore that is already there.

On Malz...

"Malzahar was born a seer, blessed with the gift of prophecy. His talent, though unrefined, promised to be one of Runeterra's greatest boons, but destiny plotted him another course; his sensitivity to the roiling tides of fate allowed other, unwelcome things to tug at his subconscious mind. In his dreams, where the veil of separation is thinnest, a sinister thing beckoned. For some time, Malzahar was able to resist its prodding solicitation, but with each passing night the voice grew louder, or perhaps deeper, until he could withstand the call no more."

On the Void...

The Void is a nightmarish dimension said to exist outside space and time, where terrifying living weapons were wrought to win an ancient and long-since ended war. No-one truly understands how the Void came into existence, but tales of its terrible denizens have wormed their way into the dream consciousness of almost every culture's legends, creation myths, and dark folktales. Those few scattered grimoires and madmen that dare speak of the Void at all speak of it as an infinite realm of unfettered creation, tortured landscapes of crazed organic machinery, magical weapon-looms and mountainous flesh-forges. None have yet ventured into the Void and lived, for mortals would almost certainly be consumed and woven into the endless process of creation.

In places where the mystical barriers between Runeterra and the Void have been worn thin, the air feels charged, and fantastical occurrences are the norm. Rivers run with vibrant colors, flowers bloom with incredible perfumes, and living beings experience psychedelic visions and surges in magical power. For a time, such places are wondrous and brimming with miracles, but soon the landscape is twisted into new and deadly forms, and if the Void is able to consume enough biomass to survive, it can grow and evolve into something ferocious and terrifying.