Maokai Rework Concept

Hello, I have been a Maokai player since I started playing LoL and seeing his current state (super low pickrate, gets outclassed by almost everything, no clear identity...) is sad. I made this rework concept as a try of making him a bit more reliable, making his passive less obnoxious if he can auto attack, giving him a clearer identity as spell-eating tank and giving Maokai more skill expression. So here it is.

Passive: Water of Life Each second Maokai fills his Water of Life bar with 1. Hitting an enemy champion with an ability or getting hit by an enemy ability grants 15 water of life. Hitting large or epic monsters grants 10 water of life while hitting minions or small monsters grant 5. Upon reaching 100, Maokai heals for a % of his max HP.

The goal here is to make his passive more reliable in all situations by removing the need of auto attacking, while making it more rewarding when you consistently hit your abilities. It is also weaker early, offering less sustain while Maokai isn't strong enough to duel his opponents.

Q: Bark Bash / Bramble Smash First Cast: Maokai starts a shoulder charge in the target direction, stopping the charge while dealing phsical damage and knocking back the first enemy champion or large monster on collision. Maokai walks over minions and small monsters, dealing reduced damage to them. Hitting at least one enemy unit with the charge gives Maokai the ability to recast the spell.

Second Cast: Maokai slams the ground, the force of which knocks nearby enemies back and sends an arcane shockwave forward, dealing magic damage and slowing his enemies by 99% for 0.25 seconds. Enemies close to Maokai are knocked back slightly more. Bramble smash deals only 50% damage if Bark Bash only damaged minions or small monsters.

I want to make Maokai's boring Q spam more interactive by making it a 2 cast ability. In order to make use of the second cast, you have to take some risk by charging into the enemy, especially early on. The reduced damage against minions should keep his waveclear between limits.

W: Twisted Advance Maokai dissolves into a cloud of arcane energy, becoming untargetable and traveling in the target direction for 2.5 s. Maokai can steer during the dash. He deals magic damage to the first two enemies hit and roots them for 1/1.1/1.2/1.3/1.4 s. Hitting at least one target with Twisted Advance reduces the cooldown by 50%. (The base cooldown is about 2 times the current version.)

Turning Twisted Advance into a skillshot similar to Nunu & Willump's Biggest snowball ever might make Maokai less frustrating to play against. In return for the reduced reliability, skilled players get rewarded with a possible 2 man root instead of single target. Using the ability defensively comes at the cost of a longer cooldown.

E: Sapling toss Maokai hurls a sapling to a target area. The sapling becomes implanted in the ground, warding a nearby area for 30 seconds. After a 1 second delay after landing, the sapling will seek out nearby enemies. When an enemy approaches, the sapling will chase for up to 2.5 seconds and explode in an arcane blast that deals a % of target's maximum health as magic damage to enemies and slows them by 35% for 2 seconds.

Saplings have 400 base movement speed increasing based on Maokai's boots.

Saplings tossed into brush last 30 (+2.5% of Maokai's bonus health) seconds and have a larger detonation radius. Enemies caught in the explosion take 67% damage on detonation plus two additional ticks of 67% damage over 2 seconds.

Damaging an enemy champion with an ability rallies nearby saplings to run in the direction of the target enemy champion, seeking out targets on their way and exploding after 2.5 s.

Maokai stores a sapling every 15 s, up to a maximum of 2. Maokai has to wait 1 s between casts of this ability.

The biggest change here is making the ability more useful out of lane/jungle. Being able to summon the nearby saplings to attack your target in combination with the charge system gives Maokai players more skill expression and creativity with it. Outside of using it as wards or as traps, saplings have no use as they are really easily outrunned. The change gives you the chance to use them in more different situations, like placing them at a side so you can make the saplings flank the enemy.

R: Nature's Vengeance Maokai slows himself for 70% during 7 s and summons a small zone around him that reduces the damage from spellcasts from enemy champions in the zone by 15%. By recasting this ability or at the end of the duration, the zone explodes, dealing magic damage that goes up the more damage he has absorbed during Nature's Vengeance.

His updated old ultimate can confirm Maokai's identity as an anti-spell casting tank. Instead of granting his allies damage reduction, Maokai reduces some of the spell damage from enemies while they are in his zone. Because Maokai has a big self slow while ulting, he relies on correct use of his abilities to keep the enemies locked in his zone. Kiting him and the use of CC shouldn't be too hard in order to offer enough counterplay.

Tell me what you think about it or explain me what I should change to make it better.

Thanks