League of Legends: Maokai Abilities and Analysis

Abilities:

Arcane Smash: Maokai slams the ground, the force of which knocks nearby enemies back and sends an arcane shockwave forward damaging and slowing his enemies.

Twisted Advance: Maokai dissolves into a cloud of arcane energies. He regrows near a target enemy, dealing damage and rooting it in place.

Sapling Toss: Maokai hurls a sapling, dealing damage on impact. The sapling becomes implanted in the ground warding a nearby area. When enemies approach, the sapling attacks, exploding in an arcane blast that damages enemies.

Vengeful Maelstrom (Ultimate): Maokai shields his allies by drawing power from hostile spells and attacks, reducing non-tower damage done to allied champions in the area. Maokai can prolong the effect as long as he has mana to spend on it. When the effect ends, Maokai unleashes the absorbed energy to deal damage to enemies within the vortex.

Sap Magic (Passive): Each time a champion near Maokai casts a spell, he gains a charge of Magical Sap. When he has 5 charges, his next melee attack drains energy from his target, healing Maokai for a percentage of his maximum HP.

Analysis

You know what, I think he sounds really powerful. He can clearly lane, his passive gives him sustainability, his mines can ward against ganks and his Q + E combo could really hurt. It reminds me of a kind of reverse Alistair, where he uses his E to close the gap and then Q to headbutt back, rather than pushing back on the dash.

As well as this he could be a really good ganker for the same reason - a dash stun and a knockback could really cause some chaos. Perhaps the tree could be a jungler? Hilarious Riot. A potential little trick I imagine he could use is a bit similar to an AP Shaco's JitB traps. Maokai could plant a whole series of saplings then knock the enemy into the bush for some carnage.

Lastly, his utility is exceptional. Not only do his saplings grant great map control like a support, his ultimate may well prove to be one of the best defensive abilities in the game. It could prove exceptionally powerful against melee teams, but perhaps not so much against AoE teams, with the area effect causing your allies to cluster together inside it. Perhaps you could all hide in the small bush in front of Baron, all inside his ultimate, and launch a surprise. Time will tell, but I think he'll be one of the strongest characters released in a long time, he has it all.

Well, he has it all except looks. He looks a bit weird.