Talk:Maokai/@comment-8468980-20140621034647

mao's got some big changes on pbe at the moment:

Maokai 
 * Arcane Smash ( Q ) mana cost lowered to 45 at all ranks from 55 at all ranks
 * Arcane Smash ( Q ) slow reduced to 1.5 seconds from 2 seconds

IMO, this helps his first and second clear and lets him go to lane with more mana. *Twisted Advance ( W ) mana cost lowered to 75 at all ranks from 75/80/85/90/95 The range nerf hurts, but the lower CD allows him to be a true peel tank at later levels. The change to max hp damage allows him to contribute more damage to his target. *Sapling Toss ( E  ) mana cost reduced to 60/70/80/90/100 from 70/80/90/100/110 Could not care less about the damage nerf. Mao now has a long range, aoe slow. Hell yes! *Vengeful Maelstrom ( R ) is now attached to Maokai. Instead of being cast on an area and sticking there, it now follows him as he moves. I'm not entirely sure what to think of this. In some scenarios this is an obvious buff, in others a nerf.
 * Twisted Advance ( W ) cooldown lowered to 12/11/10/9/8 from 13 at all ranks
 * Twisted Advance ( W ) [ looks like it now deals 9/10.5/12/13.5/15 ( +0.04 AP) % of targets maximum health as magic damage, max of 300 to minions and monsters ) from 80/115/150/185/220 ( +.8 AP )
 * Twisted Advance ( W ) [cast range reduced to 500 from 650 ]
 * Sapling Toss ( E  ) landing damage lowered to 40/60/80/100/120 from 40/75/110/145/180
 * Sapling Toss ( E  ) explosion damage lowered to 80/120/160/200/240 from 80/130/180/230/280
 * Sapling Toss ( E  ) explosion now also slows enemies hit by 50% for 1 second.

In all, I'm VERY excited to see these changes. I've played since the only three pure tanks that existed in the game were Rammus, Shen, and Amu. Riot teased creating a fourth pure tank for a while and then advertised Maokai as one but he never really made the cut due to his lack of initiation (at the time, astute players noticed that the recently released J4 was actually a far better pure tank due to his stronger ability to initiate, and his greater array of aoe CC). Allowing him to cast his immob more than once during a team fight, as well as granting him a long range slow, and letting his ult move with him will go a far way into making him a more suitable support tank jungler.