Healing Gourd
by Wispi
Ripened Gourd
Your Gourd no longer damages enemies, but it Heals for twice as much.
Mending Spirits
Many Gourds
Reduce the Cooldown of Gourd by 0.5-2.5s.
Gourd
4
Eerie Presence
Reduce the Cooldown of Mending Spirits by 0.5-2.5s if you miss.
Mending Spirits
4
Lighter Gourd
Increase the Projectile Speed of Gourd by 10-50%.
Gourd
1
Liminal Passage
Increase the travel distance of Slither by 10-50%.
Slither
2
Venomous Gourd
Standing in your Gourd grants yourself and allies 6-30% Lifesteal.
Gourd
4
Guide
Hello, there fellow Paladins player! With the recent changes made in the "Tigrons Tale" update back in January, there were some major changes to the talents of different champions, ones such a Mal'Damba. The "Ripened Gourd" Talent replaced the "Wekono's Curse" talent (insert sad face here). I know some people are upset about it and it's completely understandable, but I guarantee that the Ripened Gourd talent is worth a try if you want to know how to play or use Mal'Damba, as support as least. As a Mal'Damba main, I'm willing to share my own builds with you and maybe you could give them a try!
The first card I have is Many Gourds set at four. It's completely optional if you want to go with five, but for me personally, I enjoy setting it at four so I have more room for tweaking my other cards, this is the same for Eerie Presence. When using Ripened Gourd you often want to support your team by putting out as many gourds as possible, but be warned that champion abilities like Tyra's Fire Bomb or Willow's Dead Zone will completely make your gourd almost useless if you're not careful with your timing. This is why you would want to use your second healing ability of the likes of Mending Spirits, which is direct healing talent. If you're having trouble with aiming and hitting your teammates with Mending Spirits, just keep practicing!
The second card, Eerie Presence, as explained before, could be used as a second healing method if either your gourd is being overrun by a Fire Bomb or it's on cooldown. Eerie Presence four make it so that *if* you miss your target, its cooldown will be reduced. This is extremely useful if you're having trouble hitting your targets or if someone is attacking you and you want to get that quick heal in to help your teammate.
The third card, Lighter Gourd, is completely optional. Another card that could go here is Swift Spirits which increases the movement speed of your allies when being healed by Mending Spirits. I just put Lighter Gourd here if you want to get your gourd on the ground faster so that your heals would come quicker and more efficient, but again, Swift Spirits is another option. Swift Spirits can help your teammates reach areas faster or get away from enemies quicker while Lighter Gourd just makes your gourd healings arrive quicker.
The fourth card, Liminal Passage, is extremely useful for getting away from enemies that are either flanking you or attacking you head-on. Liminal Passage increases your travel distance of Slither (20% on my card). To give you an idea, let's say that a Skye used her ult and you needed to get out of there. The increase in travel distance of Slither would be extremely useful in these cases since you would want to reach cover as quickly as possible. The increases distance will give you a better chance of getting away from such ultimates and enemies. But be careful when you use Slither since it only goes in one direction, one wrong move could lead to an unfortunate fate. Use Slither to your advantage but be careful!
The final card, Venomous Gourd, gives you and your allies lifesteal when standing in the gourd. If you combine the double increased healing of Ripened Gourd and the Lifesteal card, it'll make it difficult for enemies to take out your teammates, but you'll need to watch out for cauterize because if opposing enemies shoot your teammates, the healing would decrease, so paying attention to how cauterize is affecting your healing is important.
Thanks so much for reading my little guide! I love Mal'Damba because of the many possibilities of how he could be used. There are so many other builds that Ripened Gourd can be applied in, but here is just one build that I made up. I might continue to tweak the usage of my builds but by all means, feel free to use it and tweak it to your own preferences! Just remember, it takes practice to understand these kinds of champions completely, so it's alright to feel frustrated. Keep practicing and check out some other builds and talents, if I have the time I'll make builds for Wekono's Wrath and Spirit's Chosen. Thanks again and have fun!