I haven’t written a “state of the champion” post in a long time, and though I just posted some negative vibes about Miss Fortune, I’ve got a few left over for Malzahar.
When Malzahar launched I really enjoyed him. He was very mana efficient, a great farmer, and he had an ult that could really decimate some people. If they took Cleanse or bought Mercury treads, though, he dealt little to no damage, which is why I stopped playing him. Riot gave him some range buffs to help his survivability in team fights, which I thought was understandable. It seemed just about perfect, too. He wasn’t so far away that your teammates couldn’t get to him but he wasn’t getting smashed the instant he stepped in the fight.
Fast forward to today, when not only has his range been buffed to one of the longest in the game, it also gets suppression, meaning you have no way to escape it unless you buy a Quicksilver Sash. He retained his incredibly long attack range and his Malefic Visions is still a ridiculously efficient farming tool. After playing him a few times and laning against him quite a bit, I think it’s safe to say he’s been overbuffed. His ult has become a source of great frustration, both because of the stun duration/damage and the fact that it is completely unavoidable.
As it currently stands, you basically can’t be on the same screen as Malzahar without either a teammate present or a tower between the two of you. Between. That’s important. Even if you’re at your tower he can easily put you to the gray screen without much risk to himself. His Null Zone also means that he can take golem easily, bringing his ultimate down to a very low cooldown. You’ll see it every fight for sure, and usually from a distance that will make you scream.
Thing is, I’m not sure what to do about Malz. I think they could lower the range on his ult and maybe reduce the duration. They could also reduce its base damage and give it a small AP bump so that he isn’t such a “level 6, you’re dead” kind of toon. Whatever the case, they need to do something. He’s at the top of my list of toons that are incredibly unfun to play against.
