To those that wrote the Lore for Malzahar

DW Diana·8/1/2018, 5:04:09 PM·25 votes·13,253 views

How bad does it feel to have created this great story, with lots of interlocking Champions, that spans the whole of runeterra only to see little to none of it in his actual gameplay?

I mean he is a Seer with no vision, the Leader of a Cult but has no followers, opens portals to the void but has no portals in game unless you count that pathetic thing under his ult, and summons monsters that terrify the world but die to anyone with a pokey stick...

You wrote a great story with a wonderful character, so I'm just wonder how you guys feel about the champion that it is associated with?

Edit: Given the interest in a more Lore accurate Rework Suggestion I'm going to do a Thread with one based on the conversations of this thread. Watch this space :)

42 Comments

RiotSkiptoMyLuo8/1/2018, 5:49:50 PM18 votes

Hey there! Thanks for thinking the lore was decent. Ideally, we'd love for everything to match as close as possible, but sometimes the limitations and freedoms of one medium (written word) do not pair 1 to 1 with another (the game). For example, written words, as powerful as they can be, still won't allow me to point and click CC the pesky mobile fed LeBlanc on the other team.

Personally, I find great joy in making the lore the ultimate fantasy of what one experiences in game. Indeed, sometimes when we update the stories for older characters, their gameplay tends to stay the same since that's been their identity for so long, and/or there is no major gameplay reason to buff/nerf/rework them. However, seeing posts like this that show how much players care about thematic cohesion is always encouraging! It reminds us all to work harder at making both what you play and what you read/watch feel as awesome as possible!

So thanks for reading, and thanks for playing!

GreenLore8/1/2018, 11:44:54 PM2 votes

I agree that Malzahar isn't really living up to the fantasy of a cult-leader or a seer ingame,however I don't think that he is in a bad enough situation to warrant a rework over other champs like Leblanc (she is an illusionist,with barely any illusions) or Karma (the whole reincarnation-aspect isn't present ingame at all).

He definitely needs a rework eventually,but I'd say for now they should look at other champs before him.

Phieldworker8/1/2018, 6:09:49 PM2 votes

His e symbolizes the fact that the void eats your mind.

Metallikaiser8/1/2018, 8:18:27 PM1 votes

What a coincidence, I was looking at various Malzahar rework ideas earlier, and I realized your name was familiar for good reason, I think some tweaks could be had, but as a whole, I really like your rework suggestions. Have a cookie.

SociopathFriend8/1/2018, 8:51:47 PM1 votes

I mean he is a Seer with no vision, the Leader of a Cult but has no followers, opens portals to the void but has no portals in game unless you count that pathetic thing under his ult, and summons monsters that terrify the world but die to anyone with a pokey stick...

To be fair: his visions were never really all that fleshed out and IIRC League has a pretty loose use of fate/destiny/future sight to begin with so putting that into gameplay would be a bit difficult, quite a few champions have armies or henchmen so those not showing up is hardly unexpected, his Q is portals to the void too remember, and 'The Void' is scary- that doesn't inherently mean every given thing in it is capable of becoming a Kaiju like Cho'Gath.

The emphasis on his Voidlings is what I maintain made the new Malz so hard to balance. A built-in Banshee Veil truthfully isn't THAT hard to work around- spammable minions are and always have been a major hurdle for every champion that relies on them (Heimer, Zyra, Azir, Yorick if he were ever good). All of these champions are supremely overbearing in the wrong spot- Malz had that spot for a bit too.

IainG108/2/2018, 8:43:03 AM1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Lord Loki1987,realm=NA,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=4HYwLIQz,comment-id=,timestamp=2018-08-01T17:04:09.466+0000)

opens portals to the void but has no portals in game unless you count that pathetic thing under his ult

Where do you think Voidlings come from; also, his Q shoots out from between 2 portals....

Camille Ferrøs8/1/2018, 5:28:07 PM1 votes

Imagine if when he ults you the portal under you opens and voidbeasts start attacking you from that area. Also....We have no glue of a void virus spreading...so his E makes 0 sense..

DW Diana8/3/2018, 7:01:40 PM1 votes

OK so as the edit on the OP says, I will be doing a Lore accurate, gameplay viable rework of Malzahar. It's going to be a series starting with the Lore I'm trying to recreate him to. The first part is here: https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/story-art/YvmbAmzn-recreating-malzahar-part-1-the-lore-of-the-void

There will be a part where I will want the community to help so read up! XD

Warlord Rhinark8/1/2018, 7:12:31 PM1 votes

Honestly, I don't know why his E doesn't give him vision of the target it's currently on.

That'd make a lot of sense, given that he's a seer.

Pale Mask8/1/2018, 7:29:37 PM1 votes

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