LoL players demand hotfix for Maokai as champ’s winrate keeps soaring

Liam Ho
Victorious Maokai splash art

League of Legends players are demanding a hotfix nerf to Maokai after the champion’s win rate continues to soar despite nerfs in Patch 14.4.

The balancing team on League of Legends has one of the most difficult jobs at Riot Games. With over 160 champions, hundreds of items, runes, and more, it’s a nigh impossible task to keep the game in a somewhat balanced state, making sure all champions are somewhat viable without any of them being too powerful.

This is compounded in difficulty when the devs make larger sweeping changes to the game. Season 14 brought a heap of changes to the game, with new support items, new jungle camps, and map updates. The devs have been hard at work adjusting the game’s balance to the new season, with patches bringing sweeping changes across the board.

One champion that massively benefited from Season 14’s changes was Maokai. The Shadow Isles tree saw ridiculous levels of power in support, so much so Riot nerfed him in Patch 14.4. Unfortunately, these nerfs were clearly not enough, as players are demanding the champion receive a hotfix nerf after his win rate remained strong.

LoL players demand devs hotfix nerf Maokai

“It’s still early in the patch but there’s enough data to see he’s still busted and the nerfs have clearly not done much.” one Redditor stated.

According to LoL stats website op.gg, Maokai currently sits at a 55.23% win rate as support, dominating the role.

“This champ has been broken since the season started but all they did was nerf him lightly and come up with excuses, just do a proper adjustment already. Some champs get instantly murdered for less.” another user complained.

Totemic Maokai in League of Legends
Maokai has held steady as one of the strongest supports in Season 14.

Despite the nerfs in Patch 14.4, buffs to items like Solstice Sleigh pushed Maokai’s exuberant power even further, resulting in a net event change. Many users argued that the nerfs were not enough.

“He’s been 55%+ for 4 patches, he’s clearly not getting hotfix nerfed. He’ll probably see another small nerf to tone him down next patch” one user claimed.

“They keep nerfing him like he’s a barely 51% win rate champ like I don’t get it” another agreed.

With Patch 14.5 already in the works at Riot, it’s likely we see further changes to the tree as the devs continue their precarious balancing act.

About The Author

Liam is a writer on the Australian Dexerto team covering all things gaming with an emphasis on MMOs like Destiny and FFXIV along with MOBAs like League. He started writing while at university for a Bachelor’s degree in Media and has experience writing for GGRecon and GameRant. You can contact Liam at liam.ho@dexerto.com or on Twitter at @MusicalityLH.