Maokai Adjustments Go Live on PBE for LoL Patch 12.17

Riot Games is finally showing love to a much-neglected tree in League of Legends (LoL). Riot announced that it was making some vital changes to Maokai’s kit and that they are live on the Public Beta Environment (PBE) for the LoL Patch 12.17 cycle. Lead champion designer August “August” Browning announced on Twitter that developer Dylan Memmott worked on these changes. The main goal of the changes is to bring Maokai back to the top lane and the jungle role while still enabling him as a support pick.

Maokai changes for LoL Patch 12.17

August wrote, “Some Maokai adjustments should be showing up on the PBE today for 12.17. The goal is to improve the feel of some of his spells + get him back into top and jungle without eliminating his support playstyle.” Memmott added that he was also super happy with the changelist. “So happy to have worked on one of my old top lane favorites. Can’t wait to play him on live with you all,” he declared.

The following are the changes to Maokai that are live on the PBE now with LoL Patch 12.17:

Passive: Sap Magic

[New] Getting hit by large jungle monsters reduced cooldown: 1s per auto

Q: Bramble Smash

• [Adjust] Base damage :: 70/110/150/190/230 (+40% AP) >>> 65/110/155/200/245 (+40% AP)

• [New] % max health damage :: 2/2.25/2.5/2.75/3%

• [New] Now deals 20/35/50/65/80 bonus damage to monsters.

E: Sapling Toss

• [Removed] % max health damage

• [Adjust] Base damage total :: 20-120 >>> 45-185 (+40% AP +3% tHP)

• [Adjust] Brush damage total :: 40-240 >>> 75-315 (+80% AP +6% tHp)

• [New] Empowered damage does not affect minions [buff] mana cost :: 60/70/80/90/100 >>> 45/55/65/75/85

• [Buff] Slow Amount :: 35% >>> 45%

• [New] Empowered Brush Slow Amount:: 55%

R: Nature's Grasp

• [Buff] Missile Initial Speed :: 50 >>> 100

• [Buff] Missile Max Speed :: 650 >>> 750

• [Buff] Missile Acceleration : 250 >>> 300

• [New] Move speed on champion hit :: 40-60% MS decaying over 2s

Almost every part of Maokai’s kit is being changed. Although, the majority of changes revolve around Maokai’s Sapling Toss. Additionally, his ultimate will now be faster and also give Maokai a movement speed buff when the barbs hit an enemy.

At the moment, the community is supportive of the changes for Maokai’s kit in LoL Patch 12.17. However, the success of the champion will be clear when LoL Patch 12.17 releases on 8th September.