Maokai Effectiveness

[quote=Ilynx]A few people have argued to me that [color=#00ff00]Maokai[/color] does not fit in the current meta. So far the reasons have been he only has one cc ability, high mana costs, slow clear speeds with poor single target damage, and he can easily be shut down early with an invade or counter jungling on red buff. The main reasons stated imply that other junglers (e.g. Zac and Lee Sin) can do his job better with an extra slow, more damage, and almost equal sustain and health. What do you guys think?[/quote]

[quote=Lugignaf]*shrug* I play him at plat so, I think he's fine. Mana costs are absolutely high and he dies real easily to invades, but he does have okay clear times, even if his tanking isn't the best. His scouting is awesome as well as the [b]20% damage reduction[/b] for the team. The low cooldown AoE knockback is nice too.[/quote]

[quote=sirell]I've played him a few times recently and I personally don't like him. His mana costs are really crippling and his ganks aren't absolutely amazing, nor something that other champions can't already offer.[/quote]

[quote=DillButt64][quote=sirell] I've played him a few times recently and I personally don't like him. His mana costs are really crippling and his ganks aren't absolutely amazing, nor something that other champions can't already offer. [/quote] idk i think his ganks are pretty great with his twisted advance, unless you get screwed into snaring someone under their turret, its sorta like a mini vi ult without the damage i think his problems, that havnt been addressed, are that he doesnt really have an initiation other than his twisted advance, which is single target, and fights are waaaaaaaaay too mobile for his ult to be really effective[/quote]

[quote=sirell]It's kinda like if you or your team don't kill the enemy upon the snare+Q, you're screwed.[/quote]

[quote=DillButt64]well i wouldnt say screwed, i think maokai has a place in a disengage comp or like a...get engaged on comp? idk he would work against a team that cant disengage from a fight or a low mobility team so once they engage you can throw your ult on the fight and peel for your carry with your snare and knockup, but even then fights are a bit too mobile for that, but you are right about snare+Q being the only thing so just want to hope your team has someone else that can engage on a fight[/quote]

[quote=sirell][[maokai]] is fun though. It just kinda sucks that there are so many other champions that do his job better.[/quote]

[quote=Vynertje]His ganks are amongst the best, but besides that he falls off incredibly hard because he literally doesn't do a thing besides soaking up damage. He doesn't have any clear speed so he naturally falls behind other junglers. Problem is that other junglers like [[jarvan iv]] have stronger ganks, more utility late game and better clear speed. Wouldn't say he is not viable at all, but other junglers just do his job better.[/quote]

[quote=Lugignaf][quote=Vynertje] Wouldn't say he is not viable at all, but other junglers just do his job better. [/quote] Bingo. Also, Maokai's damage, or lack there of, is tied to AP itemization. J4? Passive %HP damage. Vi? Same thing. Lots of the current junglers don't need to build a lot of damage to actually do it.[/quote]