Maokai is receiving massive changes in the upcoming League of Legends patch 14.3.
We have only gotten a few balance patches in League of Legends this year. The first one was on patch 14.1b. On that patch, we saw some much-needed nerfs to many AP users and items. Additionally, there was also a buff to assassin items as, at the time, they were not up to par.
However, since it was a micro patch, the adjustments were not massive, and the meta overall stayed the same. On the other hand, the next patch, 14.2, was a huge game changer. They nerfed all of the strongest items in the meta while also giving some buffs to the champions who need them the most. Additionally, they also provided hotfix changes to Rumble, Teemo, and Brand.
With the reworked item system, not all champions are performing the same around the board. There are some champions who are extremely strong in one role and very weak in their main. One such champion is Maokai.
While Maokai can play support, he was one of the strongest junglers in the game last season. He was so strong that he received countless nerfs as well. Currently, Maokai has a 55.35% win rate and a 9.7% pick rate on support, but his win rate is only 49.75% and a 1.1% pick rate. This is a massive shift compared to last season.
With that said Riot has revealed the patch notes for 14.3. One of the champions who is seeing massive changes is Maokai.
Read more: LoL Lunar Revel 2024 Event.
League of Legends Patch 14.3: Maokai Changes
- Base Stats:
- Base mana regen: 7.2 >>> 6
- Passive – Sap Magic:
- Base heal removed
- Heal increased: 4 – 12% max HP >>> 4 – 13.25%
- Heal health ratio: 4 – 13.25% max HP >>> 4 – 12.8%
- Q – Bramble Smash:
- Cooldown: 8 – 5 seconds >>> 7 – 5
- Mana cost: 60 >>> 40
- E – Sapling Toss
- Cooldown: 14 seconds >>> 16 – 12
- Mana cost: 45 – 85 >>> 60 – 80
- R – Nature’s Grasp
- Cooldown: 120 – 100 seconds >>> 130 – 90
Now, let’s talk about these Maokai changes. Almost every single ability is receiving changes except for his W.
Firstly, his base mana regen has been lowered. While it sounds like a nerf, some of his other abilities are also getting some mana-related changes as well.
Now, his passive doesn’t have base healing. But it still has healing based on max health percentage. Additionally, it got increased as well. As for his Q, that got some much-needed cooldown and mana cost reduction.
Both his E and R are getting some changes based on the game state. Now, both his E and R have higher cooldowns in the early game while having less cooldowns in the late game. Moreover, his E also got some extra mana cost changes.
With these cooldown and mana changes, Riot is trying to nerf support Maokai slightly, but not by much. So, we can still expect Maokai support to be prominent. Additionally, with the Q changes, we might see the resurgence of Maokai top. Regardless, even with these changes, Maokai is still a very strong champion in the current meta.
