Just as Maokai’s gnarled branches twist and turn, so too does his path through Season 14. Once king of the forest, will new changes make him into just another tree?
By looking at Riot’s changes and analyzing them in the context of win rate, Summoners can discover Maokai’s Season 14 Support Journey: Past, Present and Future.
[An update from This Champion has Ridiculous Win Rates]
The Past: A Golden Era
Riot’s Take
Early Season 14 is close to the strongest Maokai has ever been. Armed with the smashing buffs and quicker saplings from Season 13, his win rate soared.
Maokai seemed to slip by unchanged during this time, whether because Riot approved or because they simply needed more time to implement changes. There is no specific mention of Maokai in the Patch 14.1 or Patch 14.2 notes. The closest discussion was during 14.1 when Riot Phroxzon commented that Support “looked to be in a good place overall” – but clearly this was a blanket statement and not meant to apply to every single individual Support champion.
Regardless, this was a Golden Era for old and new Maokai players alike, which is made clear by just how well he performed statistically.
Win Rate
Despite Maokai’s low-key change log, his win rates were anything but. These statistics are from Patch 14.2, but note that his abilities remained the same between both patches.
Reaching even toward 65% win rate at some levels, it was impossible to deny Maokai’s impact. Additionally, he performed similarly well in comparison to other champions during this time:
In terms of win rate, Maokai single-handedly outclassed every other champion, all the way from Iron to Master. He was an easy pick for anyone looking to climb, and his strength was uncontested.
However, change was on the horizon.
The Present: Trouble in Paradise?
Riot’s Take
Today, Maokai remains incredibly strong, although he may not be the juggernaut of before. This is potentially due to a balance change that occurred with Patch 14.3, in which many of Maokai’s abilities were adjusted.
On paper, this does not look like strictly a nerf or a buff – some abilities took hits, but others gained solid improvements. His mana regeneration decreased, but his ultimate cooldowns improved. The cooldowns on his Q increased, but the mana cost was reduced. While there were quite a few changes, most of them seemed to have both upsides and downsides.
Win Rate
The 14.3 changes reflect interestingly in Maokai’s current win rate. As one would expect with changes that both increase and decrease power, there were technically both increases and decreases to win rate. However, almost all were decreases. Take a look below:
At first glance, it’s difficult to truly categorize the effects of this change. On one hand, he skyrocketed above other champions in Challenger, bringing him up from 43rd best all the way to 18th. However, in most other ranks, including both Master and Grandmaster as well as every rank below Platinum, he fell. But through Platinum, Emerald, and Diamond – no change.
The full win rate percentages make this clearer. He had a lower performance in all ranks except Challenger.
Overall, this was likely a positive balance adjustment, as Maokai no longer has a stranglehold on every rank. However, considering there are 167 champions available, falling from #1 winner to say, #6, is still not a huge move. Perhaps he is still too strong.
A larger change is what it would take to alter this, and a larger change is exactly what is to come.
The Future: The End of an Era
Riot’s Take
On February 12, Riot dropped the news as part of the 14.4 Patch Preview – it may be time to nerf Maokai. Rather than a season-long reign, Maokai is instead slated to receive nerfs to his base armor, Q, and Ultimate. Note that all of these changes are potential, and may be different by the time 14.4 is officially released. See the exact changes below:
While certainly not the biggest nerfs that have ever existed, these could still have a large effect on Maokai’s play and place among other champions.
Win Rate?
If the new nerfs goes through as planned, Maokai’s win rate is sure to look lower than before. Will this be the change that finally displaces him from the top of every leaderboard, and his place in many games? Will he settle toward some much-needed balance, and find a happy medium between dominant and underpowered?
Only time will tell where Maokai truly ends up. But if the 14.3 adjustments are any indication, this will cause a big change in his win rate. If even a mixed bag of changes causes Maokai to drop, a true nerf is sure to cause at least a small plummet. The question now is how far?
Featured Image from ProBuilds
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- Source: https://thegamehaus.com/league-of-legends/a-winding-road-maokais-search-for-balance-through-season-14/2024/02/15/
