Maokai's Rework: Was The Old One Better? | League of Legends

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Maokai used to be a staple tank top laner thanks to having arguably the best combination of damage, durability and control. Following his rework he has since been more of a jungler and a support. For today's Rework Retrospective I wanted to talk about his old and new versions to see which one was the better choice.
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[@VarsVerum]

~SPONSOR~ New Bespoke Post subscribers get 20% off their first box of awesome - go to bespokepost.com/vars20 and enter code VARS20 at checkout. Thanks to Bespoke Post for sponsoring!

[@EpicMozamba]

does the box have level 2 ohio skibidy toilet kai cenat grimace shake rizz gyat?

[@lissandrafreljord7913]

I think the problem with tanks like Maokai is that Riot started killing the warden class, by turning these protective tanks into engaging tanks (vanguards). This happened to Maokai, Alistar, Galio, Tahm Kench, and even Nunu, who excelled at peeling and providing buffs more than initiating.

[@Billy_Agnes]

Galio and TK are still more wardens than anything else.

[@skywalkerjohn8965]

​@Billy_Agnes yeah but people could straight up smash your face with them so no need to protect

[@lissandrafreljord7913]

@@Billy_Agnes But not on the same scale. Old Galio provided shields and heals to his allies, which has now been moved to his ult, while his old ult's taunt has been moved to a basic ability. He also doesnt speed up allies with his gust to get them out of unfavorable situations. Plus his new ult has an extremely long cooldown, and is nowhere near as protective as Shen's ult in most scenarios. Tahm Kench swallowing his allies was also moved to his ult, so its a one time peel he can do, whereas before he was such a cockblock champ denying hard engagers like Leona from getting kills in lane

[@guifdcanalli]

​@@Billy_Agneshe could eat and save the carry 2+ times per fight, as it was his W instead of R They did rework Tahn EXACTLY because of this skill

[@alsderda]

​@@aaronarjona7152unless your the 10/0/25 xerath support then it's fun xd

[@joshuajones1721]

Old Maokai was my favorite champion by far. He was one of the most effective tanks, even bordering on AP bruiser that I have ever played. I miss the old ult ao much. New Mao ult just doesn't hit the same way the old one did.

[@Nikolai0169]

The new ult just feels like it isnt doing much half the time. I get its power has to be restrictive because of the massive root it CAN have, but that requires hitting it at max range which is really difficult to do with such a slow skillshot that can be body blocked. Despite the range and size of it it just feels underwhelming.

[@5224halo]

and his past photo way better either

[@wastingsun]

This makes me think of how aesthetically and functionally speaking, I actually preferred the LeBlanc rework they tried. Her global clone thing was broken, but it made me realize LeBlanc could be WAY cooler. Currently she just doesn't...do anything. She throws some "magic" at you and dashes into your face. Isn't she supposed to be a trickster and master manipulator? Instead we get a football player.

[@lillyie]

the failed leblanc rework is a prime example of great concept terrible execution. it was great that they added a delay before she can unleash burst but the delay was just..... too much. in league, 1.5 seconds is simply too long for someone whose role is an AP burst assassin. if the timer for sigil's activation was lowered 1 second or 0.75 let's say, there's a chance the rework wouldn't have been reverted. it was a cool rework, shame that it failed

[@grovehoLP]

@@lillyie I played a lot of leblanc prior to the rework and even after it. I genuinely miss the reworked LeBlanc. I like how they changed her from just a very lame assassin into something else entirely. It wasnt good and ended up being toxic for the game, but I agree that the reduction of the activation would have been amazing, obviously after nerfing her else to balance it. I loved that rework, unlike Aatrox rework. Bring my homie back.

[@walkelftexasranger]

@@lillyie That wasn't the problem. Problem was that she had huge AoE burst wave clear on demand on champion who is balanced about having terrible wave clear.

[@eli2210]

@@walkelftexasrangerthis is the dumbest take I’ve ever seen. There are so many other champs EVEN ASSASSINS with incredible wave clear. At least Leblanc needed to proc her sigil to wave clear while others don’t

[@misteriousgamers9290]

@@eli2210yeah but compared to le blanc other assasins have to go into a line off fire to waveclear she doesnt have to meaning that she as an champion ends up playing much safer

[@lillyie]

i wish they give maokai the zac treatment of keeping the new reworked abilities but reverting to the old ultimate. the old one has more use in teamfights as it actually allows maokai to deal damage rather than just being a drain tank. the current one, despite the midscope changes, still feels awkward to use and enemies can just run away from it, made easier with all the mobility in this game

[@lucassaverstam8498]

old mao kai slapped so much better in 1 v 1 and team fights more fun in aswell

[@SylviaMoonbeam1127]

A weird point that sometimes gets missed is that Maokai’s old ult didn’t USED to be centered on him. It actually worked similar to Anivia’s Blizzard for a while, where you could just drop it on a point. It made it really good for setting up choke points, or even allowing the area to persist if you had to hang back. Plus, like Amumu’s tears and Swain’s old ult, it would shut off if Maokai ran out of mana and/or died, allowing for some potentially spicy revenge kills

[@zacthesecretweapon9931]

9:00 , karthus wall give full vision if i remember correctly

[@swiftwop73]

As much as 3 wards next to eachother its kind of insane

[@blastcraft9067]

i miss old maokai.. never played him before rework.. my first main.. my first otp.. my first godlike.. when I learned his rework.. i was sad.. it looks so much more fun on paper..

[@shadowseeker97]

11:19 ah that reminds me of when everyone built runic bulwark. (Or so i was told i just started playing back then lol) That passive was lovely. I miss when being tanky was possible. Pre lethality. Good times 😌

[@astraldestiny2904]

The music of final fantasy EXVIUS is a cherry on the cake 🤌

[@justascarecrow6988]

The music in the background for this video is the Final Fantasy brave exvius menu music. It's tranquil af.

[@einjharrelraca]

We need old maokai ult more now than ever before. Maybe we could have a teamfight last longer than 1.6 seconds.

[@DeathRebel369]

Please do your review of the Shen Rework next.

[@curser63]

which one? the one when they updated his abilities or the one when they removed ADAPTIVE HELM?! RIOT! COME ON! BRING BACK ADAPTIVE HELM!!!

[@mistywww3199]

He is also potentially going to get a mini rework soon, High elo shen mains are protesting rn so we might see something happen.@@curser63

[@Underworlder5]

@@curser63 nah, just build visage, FoN, mercury, and gargoyle, then get melted by cassio and brand anyway

[@curser63]

@@Underworlder5 this is why I miss adaptive helm. those poisons and burns, man.

[@turbulenttranquilities4207]

Fun fact, gangplank's barrels still give vision when they explode actually!

[@Ichigoeki]

Gotta love how Maokai became one of the most oppressive tanks in ARAM, right up there with Leona in my opinion.

[@DylanGosseye]

Can you do a video about brand please ? I'd love to see your take on him being a pro pick for mid to a support

[@panzerswineflu]

Sapling move speed was made to increase with different boots. I'm not sure if that stayed the same after the change

[@nayber2352]

The initial damage on the old sappling was great for safe farming too, that was one of the biggest nerfs he got back in the day

[@Sniper2sword]

This guy has such a calming voice I love it

[@Maru4992]

I miss my old tree man :( my favorite team fighter. Popping his ulti in the middle of a team fight always felt so freaking impactful. He was my 1st tank and played the man in all roles just such a fun champ.

[@AsDerouxWoofWolf]

I have nothing much to say about Maokai except I like the visuals of his saplings post rework.

[@mummifiedwanderer]

As someone who has played both versions, old maokai was more straight forward. You pop your ult, throw a sapling, twisted advance, then punt the enemy back towards your allies with arcane smash. It was like playing a more tanky leesin with more limited range. His sap magic made it so he could potentially stay longer in a fight as both teams would be throwing out spells like crazy. The old version also helped distinguish his role better from Zyra, as they are both plant based champions. The reworked version made him more into a support control mage that feels like an off-brand Zyra. His reworked ultimate, Nature's Grasp, just feels like a wider yet weaker version of Zyra's Grasping Roots. As like another commentor has stated, you can just body block the aoe, so if the enemy tank just gets rooted first, then all of the teammates of the enemy tank that were hiding behind them don't get rooted. For an "ultimate" ability, it feels lame.

[@fanficologist6621]

"Unconditional so long as you stand in the zone..." What an oxymoron considering how many champions love clumped up enemies or can force you out of an area both in the past an today. Not to mention with his past combo, it usually land him in the middle of the enemy team or at least straight smack in the middle of their frontline and far away from his actual backline.

[@forevertrolling5786]

Vars, I need an answer. Have you (or your editor) played Final Fantasy Brave EXVIUS? If so, thank you for using the menu music in your video. I played the game for years and this video sparked so many memories for me. Thank you so much for that!!

[@joshwew9551]

Funny enough, in WR, J4’s ult currently has enemy damage reduction, y’know, Maokai’s ult

[@bmac4]

Any time I think about old Maokai I think about the LEGALIZE CRYSTAL WEED video of full AP Mao ("MLG Jungle Maokai Guide 420") and it takes me back to a better time of League

[@90kalos1]

I played a lot of Maokai before and after rework and I personally find his new ult more fun to use

[@tuongpham7609]

I miss playing the new maokai as a support. He practically made it ungankable bot lane, at least surprise gank. You can ward both yours and opponent's tribush, the river bush, and jungle entrance bush. With the jungler getting punished for trying.

[@kyel_25]

The nostalgic whiplash of seeing a rengar ult in front of you and go invis.... 5:04

[@mrflawless1165]

Man. Poppy's og splash art was scary.

[@mayonaise000]

"only construct granting full ward vision" depends on what you classify Ori's orb as.

[@filthyyasuomain2147]

That exvius menu music be hitting hard. Loved that game, too bad the powercreep completely destroyed it.

[@Rangaleon0140]

Hey Vars, what's the music you used in the intro and the sponsor section please? Great video as always!

[@aaronscott7467]

Don't forget, 20% reduction is better than the equivalent of armor/mr because it doesn't get reduced by pen, such as cleaver which from what I understand was a frequent buy back then

[@lordnichard]

Don't tell rito, but Orianna's ball provides vision if thrown into a bush.

[@Poppy69182]

i know this has nothing to do with maokai or the video in question. but ive been watching your videos for a while. and i love most if not all the music you play in them. any place i should go for the music you go? or do you have a link to a playlist. ill love you forever

[@AsazLeague]

Galio video when

[@thedarkdragon1437]

Except....for one big problem: current maokai does not offer damage reduction anymore. This really changed his supporting capabilities and difficulty in peeling off tons of damage aoe comps

[@erupter76500]

Funny enough tanks have fallen to the wayside because of how much damage and pen items are in the game now. Short of ornn, nearly every tank in the game is too squishy in the mid game when most of the important plays are happening to really do the job they were meant to do. Maokais old ult would actually fit the current meta a lot more to help off set the extreme burst nature of the game currently that even riot is fully aware of and are looking into how to fix. TTK is just too short in the game right now.

[@KHfan0011]

This literally coulda been a 3 second video where you just say, "Yes." :P

[@Whatzitooya226]

i love playing current maokai in top lane he spooks squishy damage carries with his damage

[@skyler1469]

Miss the old ult, balance the heck out of it, but it was fun to play with and gives your team a conditions

[@LabrnMystic]

As a low elo player, New Maokai as a jungle works. He was one of the 10 champions I had when I was first getting into league. So many times no one would stand in my damn Maelstrom! Now that ultimate setup for a good gank, or to help my team make an escape after collecting a objective is great. Since these days it seems to be all about kiting and bursting

[@nathanielskinner6868]

This. I started playing in 2012 and I picked up Maokai because he looked cool. As a newbie with no concept of teamfights, activating the maelstrom in the correct place was difficult and frustrating. The updated version of that ult was more usable, but they decreased the damage output. Nature's grasp is nice, but relatively avoidable if you see it coming. Bronze players don't usually know to follow the ult into a teamfight, so it ends up getting wasted about half the time.

[@Arob4343]

Battle tree does feel more intuitive

[@lincolnaszhal5527]

Every champion has a gimmick and combo that is crucial to their playstyle. Maokai's old ultimate was helpful for himself and his team. The engage from the W along with his E helps CC the enemy long enough for his OLD ultimate to be utilize, especially since it had reduce damage for both himself, and his teammates. His Q was also important to help push off any advances towards his team. The current ultimate is still good, but I feel as if the champion itself relies on items and runes to be more tankier, rather than a tank having built-in passivcs like Rammus or Galio.

[@soulglitcher]

I wasn't around to play with his ult for long, but I remember it being super fun, and I wish I got the chance to play back when it was spawned at a set location, which sounds to fun. New mao ult is find but I would prefer old ult.

[@sortilien2099]

old version of passive was nuts with soul shourd

[@omermilo4871]

Correction about the damage reduction: Due to the way armor and magic resist influence damage taken, 20% damage reduction does not mean 25% bonus resistances, it changes depending on your resistances. If you have 100 armor/mr, 20% damage reduction os the equivalent of giving you extra 50 armor/mr (50% bonus). If you have 150 armor/mr, 20% damage reduction is equel to another 62.5 armor/mr (~42% bonus) which is a lot more valuable than just 25% bonus.

[@kevingriffith6011]

So coming from someone who lived the old maokai days personally, his ultimate had one *big* problem: It didn't "feel" good to use. The human brain can't really... visualize 20% damage reduction, it's an extremely powerful and effective ultimate that can feel like it doesn't do anything. There's a reason why when someone says 20%, they usually have to follow it up with a number. "If your team had 15,000 combined HP, this ultimate is essentially 3000 HP worth of shielding. That's a whole extra champion." That kind of stuff. The new ultimate, while less effective, really feels much more impactful.

[@Archinemi]

Is that really what exhaust looks like zoomed in!? 😮

[@sycario6373]

top tier music choices btw lol

[@TheSzamosza]

The Maokai trework got me good

[@DtownBlade313]

i remember i left League for some years i came back played maokai totally fed the kit had changed i had no idea still till this day ill never get over this or galio rework Rip 2 of the greatest old kits

[@makiiavely]

So I've figured out the best way to enjoy this game You boot it up and play it. Get a main, master it, check some guides, never get into ranked and once you start feeling frustrated with most of your games you quit League alltogether and just stick to watching vars and exil. to this day I'm the only person I know who can say their experience with league has been pretty positive

[@panzerswineflu]

Reworked him right after the season reward skin i believe

[@jususi71]

afaik the only thing that was kinda broken about pre rework maokai was his w cast range was really huge, like 600 range, they made it so u could actually kite maokais engage unless he flashes on u now, all in all tho old maokai was 1 of my favourites.

[@gretchling5012]

i like both versions of his kit, but damn if i don't miss the immediate damage of his sapling toss. all in all i think his current version fits a lot better into modern-day league. not sure i'd want to play against his old ultimate in the game's current incarnation...

[@frostyloid]

I think Maokai's rework main goal was adding variance to his kit. Old Maokai kit was extraordinarily consistent; his passive also charged from enemies meaning he also synergized with enemy skill spammers too, leading to him getting more sustain the more the enemy tries to his team; the landing damage in his E also made this skill free harass, because even if he missed he threw it right next to you so it's unlikely you could dodge the explosion (especially in the less mobile times); there was almost no way to use his old ultimate wrong, use it too late well you still prevented a lot of damage just not as much as possible, use it too early then the enemy backs off well you just prevented a team fight with one ability, it was extremely strong to use in a 1v1 that only got stronger in team fights. His skill floor was so high he could get away with countless mistakes and still preform well, but he still had so much potential to do more if he was played well. He was all reward and no risk. So they when they changed his stills they made it so if you don't use his skills well Maokai won't have as much impact. The more you land your abilities the more you heal, you need to be proactive with his saplings and play around the brush or deal significantly less damage. His new ult can easily do nothing if used poorly, but has the potential to cause a lot of disruption. So they definitely succeeded in making his kit less reliable, but they definitely lost some cohesion in his overall play style and may have made his skills a little too easy to play around now.

[@greg5435]

They made his skills much to easy to play around now. If you're support, you cast ult and the enemy support just eats it for the ADC. In teamfights, everyone walks behind one person and you only hit one person. Max root duration is 2.6 seconds. Any tenacity and you're out of it in no time. Q's slow reduction, 99% for .25 seconds, makes it feel almost useless other than putting a big slow for a fraction of a second. You HAVE to land the knockup or it is pointless. Also, what wasn't mentioned in this video was your old W had about 200 more range. You out ranged opponents Flash, so flashing away didn't help you escape.

[@mrdata9823]

You could make a video about the removed runes like colossus, as a main tank I miss that one xD It was so broken...

[@MrRadosz]

"Some players argue the old Swain was better than the current one" - because he was. Im still salty that riot removed my main and replaced him with something completly different.

[@dracotoy]

atleast you mostly kept your ult, aatrox mains were on suicide watch for a while

[@twbro2001]

Cries in old Galio main

[@MrRadosz]

@@dracotoy both versions of new ult are inferior to old one. Specially current one, which deals no damage and is just a big rylai-abusing zone. But i agree they also did old Aatrox players dirty

[@zacthesecretweapon9931]

When they first reworked him , he was atrocious. Since they fixed some stuff.. like passive can now stack better, he's in a better place. Not as good as OG Swain, but still decent.

[@UnknownDream92]

Not to mention his lore retcon. Usually I don't give fuck about League's lore but... They changed him from grizzled and badass general who seen all war can offer to some wimpy prince that made pact with demon for power. That was such a dirty move.

[@hyytuy]

Riot should realize echo characters like smash brosh but in this case you can choose the champ before the rework

[@Juria1987]

I would of loved old maokai if I got to play him I think. I mean when they buffed his q to do max health damage he was funny to use in some fights. I mean in urf he is a real bastard of a champ as the root dodge slash pursuit move plus q bouncing peeps around while doing some legit damage made him so good.

[@Marvin-wz8tg]

i miss old urgot and aatrox i loved them

[@chrisdavis8650]

The old maokai art used to scare and intrigue me.

[@deathtaco4095]

im ok with new maokia but i do want his old ult to come back. it dosnt have to be on him but some one should get it

[@thewizard4215]

The amount of immersion you feel when you play Maokai (God-Emperor) in the Jungle (Natural habitat 🌳) is truly the most ecstatic I've ever felt in my life. When I Q the enemies in the wrong direction 😎😎 When I W the Akali and they dash to their back line and I get blasted 🤙🤙When I stack 5 E's in them bushes 💣💣 When my R is now fast as fuck and roots the whole enemy team 😭😭💪💪💧💧🍞🍞

[@ScottishBonobo]

I'll always miss the old maokai ult, yeah it wasn't great but then they made it move WITH maokai and it was insane

[@glitchexcity]

Imagine Sylas stealing old Maokai ult

[@Billy_Agnes]

It was. Maokai looks like a Battle Tank. Especially in skins like Haunted or Charred. He's been changed into a Utility, CC Tank. He's effective, but he feels wrong to me.

[@jacekmaraj1774]

Yea Old Maokai looks a lot more fun plus the splash looks scarier.

[@kyarthnohktiss]

Definitely preferred playing old Maokai, personally, but it's definitely no Aatrox rework or anything, he's still similar and enjoyable enough at least even if the playstyle isn't quite the same

[@jroyalcrown]

I remember when Maokai first came out, he was the 1st 6k IP champion i bought and i loved him, I havent played in a long time but i hate the new Maokai

[@danielkaz6586]

Love the FFBE lobby music

[@quickredf0x143]

9:00 Karthus W

[@magical571]

His new ult is way better, more satisfying to use, stronger, and has nicer vfx too

[@thelordofthelostbraincells]

Maokai is coming to wild rift on june 14

[@ignacioperez5479]

make one of this for morde. his job was not a rework, but a relaunch. we have nothing of the old morde

[@sammigs34]

Dr. Mundo too but he didn't have cc.

[@AlryFireBlade]

I miss his old detailed look

[@UZIXVIII]

The music always hits with you. first dynasty warriors now FFBE 💯🔥❤️😂

[@nav6808]

Orianna ball also give vision i think

[@gecicihesap901]

I used to spam old Maokai top/jungle. I enjoyed the play style a lot. I think Riot kinda ruined him.

[@jujutsushi]

why did i only hear about maokai today??

[@andy5453]

Does anyone know the background song cause like I know but I can’t remember

[@worthlesstrash9662]

Old Maokai actually had an ultimate. New Mao has a button that only works when enemies are afk. Old W wasn't just a minor twitchy hiccup if any enemy has any tenacity. Old E couldn't just be ignored. They brutally ruined all Maokai's abilkities by the rework just because his passive was OP. And maybe, with the new abilities but the old passive, he would be playable outside of jungle where he has to hide from even the most passive other junglers. Straight up one of the wost reworks.

[@gameplayerone3917]

Iirc, for what it's worth, battle tank Maokai was also more lore accurate. Gives him the edge imo.

[@Underworlder5]

honestly, all i know about his lore is that he lived at the blessed isles before it became the shadow isles and he wants to turn it back to what it used to be. am i missing anything?

[@gameplayerone3917]

@@Underworlder5 Nope, you good. Due to his goals/revenge, it just makes much more sense for him to be more battle oriented rather than support.

[@Kobofromda512]

Ayee love the Naruto Rinnegan reference

[@veiregor]

The best ulti on a tank besides maplh. R.I.P

[@skojuzija]

For me, new ult isnt that bad but old one was just a bit better. They should bring back his ult on another champ kinda like they brought back Yorick's old R on Renata w

[@lfelipe0171]

Didn't even watch the video yet but the answer is yes

[@hyperN1337]

Maokai's update feels more like a consequence of a shift away from the traditional front to back grouped up team fighting towards the more flashy and quick brawls of today. For its time the old one was fantastic, but the new iteration is significantly more durable and still outputs good damage, being rewarded for building up the tankiness, and actually can chase people down in an era of mobility creep thanks to his new ult. Old Maokai would not survive in today's era of league.

[@greg5435]

I disagree. I've played every iteration of Maokai. He was my second main in season 1. His old ult had a short cooldown so you could use it effectively in any gank, or getting dove top, but wasn't a requirement to use. Old Maokai also had around 200 extra range on his W which was nerfed away at some point. And the change to his R following him around instead of being stationary made him much more viable in turning a skirmish into a chase. New league has more CDR in it than the old one. New league has more tenacity in it. Everyone is faster and a longer slow duration on Q makes you chase harder. Old W Rooted for longer and with more Range. Old E wasn't as strong, damage wise, and was technically only used as an extra passive proc, damage in a stationary fight, or to get vision and area denial. And with the amount of true damage in the game now (Which the reason they wanted to rework his ult in the first place was not enough true damage to get around it) It would be in a much healthier spot than in the past. They shifted most of his damage into his E. They moved the %HP damage on W to his E because it was avoidable. You can pretty easily outrun a sapling with Full Boots, plus the delay sapling has when it finds a target. Putting it on E made it so you have some form of counter play. But this was already shown with the changes that they made him fully dependent on bushes and set up. That's why they gave his Q a %HP ratio. Because his E isn't dealing % HP in the middle of a lane. They overloaded his E and made it too conditional. Hence the change. And they don't want to rework his E because it feels core on him, which I agree with. And his Passive. Omg is the new passive piss poor when compared. It's place is only in the jungle for the 1.5 second CD reduction when a large monster hits you. Or, as were seeing nowadays, as a Ksante counter since his Q's damage is so negligible early. His old passive worked on everything. Put out Q or E for some poke, you get stacks for them. The enemy uses an ability to farm in lane or try and land harass, you get a stack for that. Now he has to get hit by abilities to get a 4 second reduction on a 30 second passive that heals 4% max hp before 6. Old passive, in a teamfight, almost every auto would heal you, to the point where a last item Wits End could be viable on him because of the passive heals. New passive doesn't feel strong until lvl 11, and even then, you're only healing for 8% max HP on a 20 second cooldown, reduced by 12 seconds for landing a Q W E rotation which you probably used to get into the fight in the first place. Just his old passive and ult made him a much more durable tank than new Maokai. Old Maokai could mitigate 20% of the damage taken to himself, teammates, and minions. In a quick teamfight you would mitigate >1000-2000 damage. His old ultimate is the ONLY reason he got reworked. Just being present forced opponents to play around it. The change to limit the total time it could be up to 10 seconds was healthy, but also the final nail in the coffin for old Mao. Old Mao would outheal New Maokai by thousands of HP. And this is with Spirit visage only having a 20% healing increase back then, compared to the 30% healing of today. And this is translated into his popular item build order today. For a third item, Spirit Visage is a Secondary option to Abyssal Mask. It's more likely to be build 4th, or not at all if they aren't AP heavy, you already have a MR item. Old Maokai, It was ALWAYS a third item (excluding boots). RoA, Sunfire, Spirit Visage. Then you went some combination of Warmogs, Force of Nature, Thornmail, Frozen Heart, (or Wits End to really rub it in that the game is over). The new passive triggers half as often outside the jungle. While the heal is "larger", it only becomes larger by lvl 11. But since it's half as frequent, and only if you're getting hit/spamming Q, it's less healing total. Old passive output much more healing over the course of the game, making him much more durable than new Maokai, whose ONLY form of "Tankiness" is base stats, being tied for 6th in Armor, with Gwen, Darius, Yorick, and having 66.85 MR (Which is also 6th but there are >30 champs with that same max MR). His Max HP is 41st in the game, which is what he would heal the most off of. He has a lower base Max HP than Zeri and Kalista... New ultimates counterplay is a joke. Put your tank up front, everyone else get behind the vine he stopped. It does negligible damage. It's root duration for an ultimate is laughable. They have enough tenacity that it probably wont last 1.5 seconds, if 1 second based on distance travelled. TLDR; Old Maokai was a much more durable tank than New Maokai. His passive and Ultimate were much better than the new versions and let him tank/heal more damage. The Q slow change gutted sticking potential. Old W had more range, which wasn't mentioned in the video, and a longer root. New E had alot more damage on it but became a bad game mechanic so it got rebalanced to but the %HP on Q. Old Ultimate MADE you a tank. New ultimate is just a longer ranged basic ability with a massive CD.

[@Windsor1492]

The issue with Vengeful Maelstrom was its hidden power which is just terrible from a game design perspective. When an ability has that much power the user needs to *feel* that it's powerful and enemies should also be made aware of it. And Maokai players didn't really appreciate the difference between a good R and a bad R. In general, abilities affecting other players are tricky. His current ult is way better in that regard. It looks visually scary and the Maokai player can much more easily see what they achieved. TF, Zilean and Janna all lost their global passives for a reason.

[@Underworlder5]

visual clarity is a good argument. vengeful maelstrom looks too tame for such a powerful ability. compare with alistar, whose ult activation is very obvious due to the three large objects orbiting around him. basically a big sign saying "this guy is practically invincible. hit someone else"

[@midkailol]

Damn

[@nik_ms]

Old Maokai was better because the identity of the character went all in into one playstyle, new Maokai could easily be two champions and everyone would be happier. I love the zone control of new Maokai but it doesn't mesh well with the other part of the kit.

[@urazoe8240]

To me Maokai feels bad to play since they chnged Saplings to not deal any dmg on landing, the ability just does nothing in a fight. If you see the sapling even if its in a brush you usually have enough time to just walk away from it to avoid the dmg. Its like im missing an ability.

[@phantom3969]

i like new maokai (i play him support because i can't be bothered to play jg) but i never played the old one, so...

[@Blackkray777]

the new one is way better, if old maokai makes u nostalgic u need a better childhood

[@skywalkerjohn8965]

Ah yes the stupid Ivern Maokai bot lane. Crazy synergy.

[@saadghali9803]

sound quality??

[@PhantomMarth]

I'll say it. Old Galio is gone and I'll always be salty about that 😢