Overview
Welcome to the Ultimate Makoa guide! Here you will learn everything you need to know about the amazing turtle we all know and love! Just remember this is my opinion and in no way may be the very best or exactly the right playstyle for you. Nonetheless, let’s get started! (Last Updated: Patch OB 44)
Introduction
Released as a Frontline class on August 4, 2016, Makoa is one of the champions of the realm an ancient and wise turtle.
His very name means courageous and brave and he could not have been given a more fitting name. Impassive and stoic he is legendary showing no emotion to the most terrible assaults, seemingly implacable he weathers and shrugs off hits that would mortally wound a man, thanks to his shell, an inner carapace structure provides him comfortable and natural armour.
Armed with a transcendent power of will and determination, wielding a salvaged naval cannon and anchor he is a fearless warrior. slow and steady he brings retribution to ocean dumpings and crusades for a clean and greener realm.
Recycle. or Makoa will come for you.
Makoa is a Frontline character, he is able to soak up a lot of damage while being able to protect his teammates and hold a capture point. I personally feel that Makoa plays a very offensive frontline role this mainly being due to his ability to “Hook” an opponent towards himself, immobilizing them, dealing a beefy amount of damage even outright killing them and bringing them in range for your team to focus fire them down he is a very self-sufficient character with the right cards he may heal himself or replenish ammunition on activation of many of his abilities, these include Lifesteal on marked targets via his hook ability, healing while using his Shell shield, Healing from Shell spinning into enemies, replenishing ammunition and damage reduction on successful hooks, and increased movement speed after killing an enemy or finishing a Shell spin.
Makoa has a very high hp pool sitting at 4800 base health points and 6300 with a Leviathan card, Makoa even though his damage is mediocre he often comes out on top of 1v1 engagements simply by out tanking his opponent.
He can dish out a decent amount of damage considering you can land those cannon shots and hooks.
He can protect himself and allies via his Shell shield while healing himself even healing to full hp if he manages to hit 4 or 5 enemies with his Shell spin provided he is using the correct cards to do so.
Although Makoa is not invincible
Being the big esteemed amniote he is, he does have a very large hitbox and an enemy team can focus fire him and shred that high hp pool down very quickly even when he is under the effects of his ancient rage ultimate.
His cannon shots are quite slow and have a steep drop off of trajectory and damage. The damage being mediocre will not leave much room for “missing” and will require a degree of “skill” to land those shots consecutively.
Solo killing potential obviously isn’t as high as Damage or Flank characters. But the kill potential is definitely there.
Finally, Makoa does not have very much in the way of mobility, he has a base speed of 360 which is slow in regards to other champions eg; Evie or Androxus and does not possess to ability to travel quickly such as Drogoz or Pip. His Shell spin is more of an evade skill or an offensive advance and lacks the real ability to cover ground even with the Surf card equipped. But on the other hand, his intended role is point control, defending and pushing a payload so this mobility drawback is not that big of a disadvantage.
Skills
A salvaged naval cannon that fires one 650 damage cannon ball every 1 second.
Gain 1-2.5% ultimate charge on hit, based on damage dealt. When you hit an enemy marked with Dredge Anchor’s damage amp, gain 5% on hit.
Has an effective range of 60 meters.
Has damage fall off.
Has an Magazine size of 4 shots.
Has a reload time of 1.3s.
Deals direct damage.
Hurl your anchor and reel in an unsuspecting enemy.
Deals 100 damage when it hits.
Can be used while Ancient Rage is active.
Deals direct damage.
Can be used to pull enemies into hazards
Project a 6000 health shield that blocks enemy fire for 4 seconds.
Makoa is unable to attack while the shield is active.
Can be interrupted by hard Crowd Control effects.
Can be cancelled early by re-activating the skill.
The Shell sheild will continue to work if Makoa is knocked airborne but cannot be activated while airborne.
Retreat into your shell and spin forward, knocking back enemies in your path.
Gain 1% ultimate charge per enemy hit.
Deals 150 damage to enemies hit.
Can be used while Shell Shield and Ancient Rage are active.
Can be used to knock enemies into hazards
YOU CHALLANGE MAKOA?
Call on the powers of the Ancients. Drop Your cannon and swing your anchor, dealing 650 damage a hit. In addition, increase your health by 5000. Lasts 8s.
Heals Makoa full health upon activation as well as adding an aditional 5000 health points
Makoa is immune to Crowd Control while active.
Makoa swings his anchor every 0.8 seconds.
Anchor swings hit all targets in a large melee area in front of him.
Can be cancelled early by re-activating the skill.
Loadouts and Cards
Here we will cover Makoa’s cards
Shell Shield cards:
This card will Increase the duration of your shell sheild by 0.5 / 1 / 1.5 / 2 seconds each level
This can enable you to squeezed out that last bit of shield time, protecting your team long enough to capture a control point, give teammates time to heal or even survive an Ultimate ability.
This card will increase the Health of your Shell shield by 250 / 500 / 750 and 1000 at level 4.
This increases the survivability and shielding capacity of your shield again this card is not too much different from Ancient resolve and really comes down to if you prefer longevity over survivability in this context.
This card will reduce the cooldown of your sheild by 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 seconds for every 3000 points of damage it absorbs.
This card being one of Makoa’s better choices is very useful and can help you get those sheilds up more quickly and can help turn the tide of a battle.
This card will enable you to heal yourself while Shell Shield is active by 50 / 100 / 150 and 200 at level 4 every second you spend inside your Shield.
This card increases the time you can spend healing yourself. This card can be useful by helping you squeeze out that little bit of healing to stall the overtime counter or come out on top of a close encounter. This card also pairs well with Ancient Resolve.
Shell Spin cards
This card will heal you by 250 / 500 / 750 and 1000 at level 4 every time you hit an enemy champion with your Shell Spin.
This card is one of my personal favorites and has the potential to heal your entire health pool. It heals you multiple times for instance if you spun into 1 enemy with this card at level 4 you will receive 1000 health back, but if you manage to hit 4 enemies or 5 more likely in a hallway or on a capture point you have the potential to gain all your health back with this card. it can be difficult to hit your targets with your Shell Spin just keep in mind you will always spin in the direction your reticule is facing this may take a bit to get used to.
Nonetheless, it is a great card in my opinion and works well is most loadouts.
This card will reduce the cooldown of your Shell Spin by 1 / 2 / 3 and 4 at level 4.
This card can be more potent than most people think as reducing the cooldown of your Shell Spin is useful but it only really shines when paired with Spring Tide as it allows you to Spin heal more often and may even save you a few respawn timers this card also stacks its effects for example at level 4 hitting at least 3 enemies with a single Shell Spin will replenish your Shell Spin ability instantly allowing you to potentially chain its effects and instantly use it again and again.
This card Increases the distance Shell Spin travels by 10% – 20% – 30% and 40% at level 4
This card helps you dodge and evade incoming attacks or ultimates even catching up with a fleeing enemy. it’s a pretty standard card but can be quite effective given the right situation.
This card will increase your movement speed by 8% – 18% – 24% and 32% at level 4 for 2s after using Shell Spin.
This card can be useful to get that extra bit of speed to round a corner, catch up to an enemy, to get on a capture point and or payload.
The problem I have with this card personally is that well “yes” mobility is not Makoa’s strong point but it’s not entirely necessary, and to really gain the benefit of the increased movement speed you will have to spend 3 or 4 loadout points onto the card that I personally think would be better off on other cards.
Dredge Anchor Cards
This card reduces the cooldown of your Dredge Anchor ability by 0.5 / 1 / 1.5 and 2 seconds at level 4
This is the essential card for almost every Makoa loadout I come across, Dredge Anchor is Makoa’s most potent ability and to decrease to cooldown? well, all the better! At max level Dredge anchor is ready to use again after every 7 seconds, 4.9 seconds if you have bought full Cronos!
This card will give you 5% / 10% / 15% and 20% at level 4 Damage Reduction for 2s after hitting an enemy with Dredge Anchor.
This card improves your survivability but does not last very long but at level 4 and stacked with Blast Shield and Haven can give you some serious damage resistance. It’s a solid card but has too short a duration in my books.
This card will replenish 1 / 2 / 3 and 4 of your cannon shots with every successful Dredge Anchor hook you land.
This can be especially helpful by guarantying you will be able to place a shot on your hooked targets. I personally have no reason to upgrade this card any further than level 1 but with level 4 you will be able to replenish your entire cannons magazine with a single Dredge Anchor hook.
This card will enable you “lifesteal” 6% / 12% / 18% and 24% at level 4
Now this is a funny card, I am unsure of the numbers behind this one, but honestly even at level 4 it does not seem to provide a substantial amount of healing to really give you an edge most of the time, and the life steal will only work on the enemy that you have hooked NOT anyone else, I would imagine that it lasts for 2 seconds like most of Makoa’s cards do, I may be wrong on that, maybe it does quite well when paired with the Life rip item in game but I prefer other choices over this one.
Armour and Weapon Cards
Upon reaching 40% health the Cooldown of Shell Spin is reduced by 25% / 50% / 75% and 100% at level 4
This Card can be great when paired with Spring tide reducing or instantly replenishing the cooldown of your shell spin, dropping below your 40% of Hp can enable you to Spring tide heal a second time or to shell spin to safety where you wouldn’t have been able to before.
Loadouts and Cards, Continued
This card will provide you with 7% / 14% / 21% and 28% Reduction to Crowd Control effects.
What this card will do is give you some protection against Crowd control effects, such as, Slows, cripples, and stuns. I find this card to can be extremely helpful given the correct situation enabling you to move faster while under the influences of Evie’s ultimate, and reduce the time it takes to recover from stuns and slows such as Bomb king’s Grumpy bombs or Pip’s explosive flask. This pairs well with the Resilience card if you manage to get a tier 3 Resilience card and at least a level 2 Determination card, you will be effectively immune to stuns and slows, but ultimately I would only choose this if I was not running the Resilience card if the enemy team consists of champions such as Bomb king, Evie, Pip and so on.
It’s a solid card but it’s quite situational, and not everyone’s choice of card.
This card will reduce your reload speed by 5% / 10% / 15% and 20% at level 4
This card is pretty basic give you increased reload speed it can be useful to get that final shot off to kill a target or to dish out that extra amount of damage, the card really only shines when increased to level 3 or 4 but it there if you so desire it.
OH LOOK OUT, MAKOA IS ON A RAMPAGE! This card will increase your movement speed by 8% – 18% – 24% and 32% at level 4 for 2s after getting an elimination
This card can be useful to get that extra bit of speed to round a corner, catch up to an enemy, to get on a capture point and or payload.
The problem I have with this card personally is that well “yes” mobility is not Makoa’s strong point but it’s not entirely necessary, and to really gain the benefit of the increased movement speed you will have to spend 3 or 4 loadout points onto the card that I personally think would be better off on other cards. Note that you don’t have to get the kill shot to gain the benefit of this card a mere assist kill will suffice.
Load Outs
Now creating a loadout is really up to you, it lets you define your playstyle and tweak your champion to you liking.
I’m not going to tell you what you should be using, But I will provide an example.
For Example
This loadout has:
Level 4 Ancient Resolve
Level 2 Spring Tide
Level 1 Surf
Level 1 Salvage
Level 4 Strongarm
This loadout is a pretty basic build he has chosen level 4 Strongarm to land those hooks as often as he can and you will usually see most every Makoa running a level 3 or 4 Strongarm, He also has chosen Leviathan giving him that increased health to make his life easier holding a point and giving himself a higher survivability, level 2 Spring Tide allows him to heal himself for 500 upon hitting an enemy with Shell Spin and keep himself alive for longer, a point in salvage guarantees he will always be able to get that sweet hook shot every time, and lastly a point in Surf gives him that little bit of extra ground coverage while Shell Spinning. Finally, he has chosen level 4 Ancient Resolve enabling him to keep his shield up for a total of 6 seconds instead of 4, to keep the damage of him and his allies for longer. Pretty basic but an effective build.
But maybe you might want to specialize in utility or shielding your teammates? you may pick Ancient Resolve, Barrier Reef, Tidal Grace and so on.
As you play Makoa you will realize which aspects of him or your loadout you may need to improve, I know I am always tweaking my loadout every now and then.
Item Shop Cards
Pretty standard card, A solid buy for Makoa is almost any game reducing the damage you take from direct attacks. Eg; Viktor, Ruckus, and Androxus
I would choose this if the enemy team consists of lots of direct damage dealing champions with minor crowd control potential.
Pretty standard card, A solid buy for Makoa is almost any game reducing the damage you take from blast attacks. Eg; Drogoz, Bomb king and Evie
I would choose this if the enemy team consists of lots of Blast damage dealing champions.
Great card but is quite situational, it allows you to recover from stuns, slows and cripples much more quickly, and since Makoa has a lot of health already skipping Haven or Blast shields to run Resilience is a perfectly solid idea, it can help you stay on point and shrug off those Grumpy bombs or Pip, slows.
This card is really only useful for a pesky Sky or Sha lin but ultimately you will be wasting credits that are much better spent on other Defense cards
This card is a good choice for Makoa and for any frontline really as it allows him to get on the objective faster to get that initial point control or to stall the overtime.
This card is one of my favorites and is a good choice on Makoa as it will allow you to get those sweet Makoa super saiyan rage modes more often to help you hold the objective, just be carefull of ultimates like Drogoz or Ruckus as they will be able to shut you down pretty quickly.
Ahh Cronos, a popular choice for Makoa reducing your cooldowns and generally making it easier for everything you do. Shielding your team and hooking prime targets more often can turn a round in your favor. a great card for Makoa.
Like I said mobility is not Makoa’s strong point but it is not a necessity
Although this card does pair well with the Rampage and Tsunami loadout cards and it does help you while strafing in a firefight, so it’s not a bad choice at all, but I would prefer Morale boost or Cronos over this one.
This card can be quite useful on an offensive or even flank Makoa playstyle, but you will need to tier it up to get the most out of it.
Being a frontline you should be the center of the heals for support characters and pick this card will make everyone’s life easier, this should be your go-to card when playing with a competent healer although if Grohk or Pip was my support I would probably choose veteran or max out my Utility instead.
Loadouts and Cards, Continued
This can be a very potent card for Makoa and allows you to get in and out of the fight quicker or even popping your Shell shield and letting that Out of Combat regen tick down can give you some ridiculous amount of healing especially if you are running tidal grace as well. A solid choice.
Life Rip should really only be chosen unless you are very confident with your ability to aim and land those shots paired with Sealegs it could really be effective, but I think for Makoa’s example it just doesn’t provide enough healing vs how often you can hit your targets, I think your credits could be better spent on something else.
This card is a lot more helpful than you may think, at higher levels you will be able to one shot Bariks turrets and remove his healing stations or easily take out those pesky Ying illusions, quite situational but can be pretty darn useful.
This card is amazing and has the potential to turn an entire game in your favor and at tier 3 it can render support champion useless, Its a great buy but If your team already has 2 or 3 competent players running cauterize I would spend your credits on maxing out your utility or defense instead, but it can still really help you out on taking out their frontliners and supports on the objective.
Great for a more offensive playstyle but not something you should regularly buy considering maxing out your other options, it does pair well with Lighter cannon balls, and at max level, you will be able to reload as fast or even faster than the delay between your Cannonball shots, nifty trick but not a necessity.
Lol….
A great card, that allows you to aid in the destruction of those Fernando shields or Ruckus emitters, but I would often leave this for the damages to pick up.
Legendary cards
Half Shield
“Shell Shield is now placed on the ground and is not channeled”
Half Shield is an interesting utility for Makoa to be sure, It enables you to Shell shield your allies without having to channel it, much like Barik’s Barricade, you will be able to continue fighting after activating it and hook the enemy into the shield bubble allowing you and your team to tear them to shreds safely.
In many ways, this is far superior over the standard Shell shield but is quite situational, effectively removing the problem of enemies entering your shield to damage you and your allies, as you and your allies will be able to bob and weave in and out of the walls of your Half shield and if you are running the Tidal grace card you will still be able to heal while doing this.
Although you will not be able to channel the shield anymore, meaning you can not strafe the shield left and right to cover a larger area, nor can you push the payload cart while channeling your Shield. Be careful not to Shell shield, then Shell spin to an ally as you may be used to doing, or you may activate your shield in a useless spot.
Leviathan
“Gain 1500 Additional health points”
This card useful for obvious reasons MAKE MAKOA MORE TANKY? WHY NOT! A lot of people use this card and for good reason, it’s pretty basic but helps you fulfill your role as a frontline. This card will be effective pretty much the entire match in almost everything you will be doing its a very solid card. That extra health may win or lose you that engagement or even the match in some cases.
Pluck
“Gain 65% bonus damage on your first shot after hitting an enermy with Dredge Anchor”
Throw your anchor and reel a foe inwards to clarify his mortality with a single strike.
This devastating card will allow you to mark the targets you hook, your next shot will deal a tasty 1072 points of base damage, this will skyrocket your killing and damage capabilities being able to take some characters out of the fight instantly, a handful of well-placed pluck hooks you could potentially win you the match, This is not surprisingly one of the most popular card choice for Makoa and for good reason.
Makoa Mindset!
Sure I’ve told you pretty much all you need to know about his abilities but now i’ts time to give you some insight into how to actually use him effectively, efficiently and generally keeping the right mindset while playing him.
Makoa is a frontline class. Your main focus and role in the team is to capture and hold the objective and as in any team game Makoa excels when working with teammates you should be shielding your teammates as often as possible and try and use it at the most vital moments. If Androxus or Ruckus has popped their ultimate and had you not shielded yourself and your team, you may not have captured that point.
Make sure to try and hook the most important targets to the situation, towards yourself and your teammates line of sight if possible, as they should be keeping an eye out to help you eliminate your hooked targets, for example, A support character keeping their team on the point alive, fishing an Evie or Drogoz back down to earth, a flanker about to kill your teammate, or even hooking that Ruckus at the first engagement so your team can focus fire their only tank down. A few well placed hooks are far better then just hooking for the sake of extra damage.
Not to mention making educated guesses on which cards to pick for the enemy team composition, Which damage type is giving you the most trouble? Is there a Drogoz who might be able to counter your Morale boost card? Who is your support? Is he competent?
It is also a good idea to provision certain load outs, for example, I’m the only tank so I might choose the loadout that specializes on point control and Shell shields Already got 3 tanks? and I’ve chosen Makoa? Ruckus and Fernando will be on that point I’ll go flank Makoa and choose my offensive loadout with lots of healing and hook capability, You get the idea.
Tips and Tricks
I have discovered quite a few tricky things while playing Makoa let me tell you! Shhhh! Don’t tell anyone!
- You can actually Hook any enemy champion and pull them towards you at any angle, they will usually always be pulled to where ever you are facing, this is amazing since it allows you to turn around mid hook getting the most stun time out of your hook, but you can actually pull someone turn and face the edge of the map dropping them helplessly over the edge instantly killing them from full health, just be aware that Evie, Androxus, Ying and Drogoz have the ability to easily evade this move via their abilities. Or another sneaky Makoa taking you with them!
- Oh no! He is going to kill me if only I had my shell spin to heal me! even though you are at crap all health, pulling them towards you is not the worst idea, it will stun them shortly preventing them finishing you off and providing that extra little bit of time for your shell spin or shell shield to cool down and saving your turtle tail!
- YOU CHALLENGE MAKOA? – BEHOLD THE DRAGONS FURY! ahh, crap.. No hope for me now! Unless… This is the last thing you want to hear especially when you have just used your ultimate, It’s a bit tricky but you can actually jump over Drogoz before he one shots your face. Get close to a wall, this will give you extra jump height just enough to jump over him if he is about ground level, even using the crates near the objective on fish market to get higher up and dance around them, or try to play ring a rosie around the payload to juke him around long enough to save yourself. And play smart, an experienced Drogoz will be waiting for you to ultimate, so wait until he has been killed, he has just used it or as I have done a few times, I noticed he was quite low on health and he was pretty close to the ground so I used my ultimate, and sure enough he did as well but I was able to kill him before he finished his wind up time, since I was close enough to do so, Shell spinning will help you evade but most of the time it does not have the reach to get you out of the danger zone, but by all means use it to get out of sight before he rounds that corner, a wall, or just to get as much distance away as possible.
- You can actually hook some characters and deny them their ultimates and waste them, This works on as far as I know Viktor, Sha lin, and Kinessa and Torvald. Tyra can be hooked during her ultimate but it will not waste it, And try and predict, If you see Androxus Netherstep 3 times upwards, well why else would he be doing that for? he is about to ultimate! Hook him down quickly!
- It’s possible to hook Fernando through and out of his shield at point blank, it may not always work but it helps if you Jump just before and aim your hook above him and it might latch onto his hitbox and waste his shield, it helps if you have a bit of high ground as well. Many times on fish market I have jumped on the crates next to the objective point and gotten a great hook over his shield.
- YOU CAN CANCEL YOUR SHELL SHIELD! There is no reason to stand there and get shot up by that cheeky Viktor running inside your shield, press Q again to cancel the shield and defend yourself. Also be careful, a smart Mal’Dumba will steal the opportunity to enter your shield and stun you, effectively wasting your shield.
- And finally You are playing Makoa, You know no fear you are the crashing tide, you bring swift retribution upon all who oppose you, the Implacable Makoa has awakened from his slumber they cannot win.
References
[link] [link] [link] [link]Final Words
I want to give you a big thank you for reading my guide, Makoa is my favorite champion and I wanted to honor this amazing community and create this guide!
This took a fair bit of work but I enjoyed every second of it, Please let me know your thoughts, feel free to leave comments.
Did I miss something? Could I have done or said something better? Have I made a spelling mistake? I always welcome constructive criticism. This is as much of a learning experience for me as it is for you! Please rate this guide or add it to your favorites I would much appreciate it. I will try and update this guide when necessary.
If you would like to chat or play with me my in game username is Smudgeiyo54 And I play on the Australian server. Feel free to add me to your friends list either in game or on steam!
Now go show them who’s the top turtle around here!
(Last Updated: Patch OB 44)