In Depth Maeve Guide(No Longer Updating)

This is a Guide for the Champion: Maeve
This guide will cover her stats, abilities, and mechanics. If you are looking to improve as Maeve, or just learn a bit about her, please, take a look.

I'd reccomend reading the guide on a PC, as mobile does not support all the fonts used.

Hey Fellers

OB67 just dropped and I couldn't be happier! I've really missed Paladins, its felt like somethings been missing from my life since I left, and I'm glad to say I'm back! I'll be updating the guide with relevant information, builds, and tactics after I get used to the new loadout system, hope to see you in the realm!

Qualifications

As to further the depth of the guide, I thought it would be best to shed a little light on myself.
I am a Maeve/Drogoz Main. At the time of making this guide, I am within the top 2.44% of players with KDA, and top 2.87% in wins. I will also provide my PaladinsGuru profile, as I think some of you may be interested in looking at my stats so you can call me out for being a giant
ＷＥＩＮＥＲ ＳＣＨＮＩＴＺＥＬ.[paladins.guru]


ᵃ ˢʰᵃᵐᵉ ᵗʰᶦˢ ʷᵃˢ ᵃ ᵇᵘᵍ, ᵇᵘᵗ ʰᵉʸ, ᴵ'ᵐ ᵖʳᵉᵗᵗʸ ᵍᵒᵒᵈ ᵃᶰʸʷᵃʸ Note the screenshot was from before I changed my name to "ScatCat"!

Overview

Role

Maeve is primarily a ＦＬＡＮＫchampion. This means her job is to:

1. Get Behind Enemy Lines
   
2. Take Out Squishy/High Priority Targets
   
3. Be A General Nuisance For The Enemy Team
   
4. Gank

Why Choose Maeve?

ＰＲＯＳ
Maeve has incredibly high mobility and burst potential. Her Prowl Ability allows her to traverse the map incredibly fast, and her knives deal a decent amount of damage, assuming both land.
ＣＯＮＳ
Maeve is squishy and loud. Her movements and attacks are audible to enemies, smart people will use the audible cues to guess where you are, and what you are doing.

Counters

Maeve can be easily countered by enemies with CC, Reveals, and Burst DPS. Such champions include but are not limited to:

• Skye: She can sneak up on Maeve and burst her with the LMB/RMB combo.
  
• Sha-Lin: He has single shot damage, and he can use his impaler arrow to stun Maeve to a wall, allowing for a quick execute, or a stylish Q use.
  
• Torvald: His Runic Blast can shut down Maeves abilities, leaving her primed for a beating.
  
• Buck: Buck's net can slow Maeve and allow for some follow up shots, which will likely be enough to put her down.
  
• Other Maeves: Maeve has high mobility, making her hard to hit and track.
  
• Kinessa: Kinessa's high damage can quickly execute Maeve if she is caught out of position, a single charged headshot is all that is needed to disbatch a naughty kitten.
  
• Grover: Grovers crippling axe can shut down Maeves escape abilities, and god forbid he's using the legendary that also applies a root. Goodbye kitty cat, it was nice knowing you.
  
• Makoa: Dredge Anchor! Avoid it at all costs, Makia has decent DPS especially at close range, if you have taken ANY damage beforehand, Makoa can delete a Maeve with minimal effort once hooked.

Stats(Updated as of OB67)

Health: 1900

Maeve is very quishy, she has the lowest healthpool in the game, along with Eevie, who has the same 1900 health. This can be increased with the "StreetCred" Card.

Speed: 385

Maeve is incredibly mobile; along with her double jump passive, she can reach high areas without the use of a jetpack or ladder.

DPS: 800

HEY YOU GIANT CABBAGE! Now that I have your attention, I'd like ot address that Maeve throws 2 seperate knives that do 400 damage each. To reach full burst potential, both of these need to land. These thrown daggers also have an arc, so be sure to aim appropriately. The damage type applies is Direct Damage, so it can be countered by Haven

Cute: Yes Very Cute

Her AlleyCat skin pack is 300 crystals, and unable to be bought individually.

Abilities(Updated as of OB67)

Daggers(LMB)

Direct Damage, Maeve will throw 2 daggers that have an arc. This attack can be done roughly in a third of a second. Note that it takes a little over 1 second to throw both dagers. Each dagger does 400.

Pounce(RMB)

Also Direct Damage, Pounce is a quick dash forward, it can be used to ascend to even greater levels of ＳＨＩＴＰＯＳＴ, or reaching higher ledges. If you collide with an enemy, you deal 400 damage. It has a 10s cooldown by default.

Nine Lives(Q)

9 lives is basically an "ᵒʰ ˢʰᶦᵗ ᶦ ˢᶜʳᵉʷᵉᵈ ᵘᵖ" ability. It resets the cooldown of Pounce and Prowl. If you have the Artful Dodger legendary, it will also heal you for 400 health. The legendary also allows you to escape any CC or slows, the healing effect also CANNOT BE MITIGATED! That means cauterize, or Willo's deadzone is null. By default it has a 20s cooldown.

Prowl(F)

Prowl is Maeves Movement ability, it briefly(4s) allows maeve to move 65% faster, and increases your jump height by around 1.5%(Roughly). But be wary, using another ability or throwing daggers will cause the ability to cancel, which will result in a default 12s cooldown.

Midnight(E)

Originally posted by Maeve:

Good Niiiiiiiiiight

Maeves ultimate ability will cause enemies within 300ft to be partially blinded to a 30f radius for a total duration of 4 seconds. It's great for point pushes, and shutting down long range damage dealers like Kinessa. However, the blinding effect will end a ssoon as Maeve is downed, so be sure to stay safe when using it, and not panic press when low health. It's best to save it and use it effectively rather than use it and lose it.

Gameplay(Updated)

As Maeve, its in your best interest to flank the entire enemy team, and have little to no presence on the point.

Originally posted by Player Of Questionable Skill:

But Catter! The game is centered around teamplay and objectives! By not doing an objective, you're handicapping your team by reducing the effective player count on the team to 4!

ＯＨ ＨＯＷ Ｉ ＷＩＳＨ Ｉ ＣＯＵＬＤ ＢＥ ＡＳ ＳＴＵＰＩＤ ＡＳ ＹＯＵ
　　　　　　　　　　ＡＲＥ ＬＩＴＴＬＥ ＯＮＥ
When I say don't get on the point, I do mean it, but I didn't say to stand around and AFK in the spawn. Flankers are generally more proactive than defensive. Maeve would get swept up like the cutie she is on the point, I mean just look at this face!

Maeve is better suited to flanking the enemy team, and disrupting combat, leading away key players, or assasinating squishies such as supports and Ying.

ＨＩＴ ＬＩＳＴ

As Maeve, your burst damage is incredibly effective against squishies, so make sure to target these guys, and anybody you feel confident enough you can cut, kill, and get out of alive:

1. Supports:
   
   Healers are a vital component of any viable team comp, and as such, can often be seen near the frontlines, supporting the tanks and DPS.
   
   Mal'Damba is an excellent example of a prime target. His gourd allows for enemies to stand on the point and get healing, without Mal'Damba even needing LOS he can heal his team, without a Cauterize to fight this, he can single handedly keep his allies alive, and his enemies slowed with the appropriate legendary.
   
   Pip is kind of a weird case, while he is designated as a support champion, only one of his abilities actively benefit the team. And even then, the ability is only effective when paired with the Super Potion legendary. However his decent DPS, dangerous chicken ultimate, and explosive vials make him dangerous to have around, so be sure to kill him quick! Else he may use his movement ability to escape.
   
   
2. Beautiful Women:
   As the title states, oddly enough, most of the females Maeve should be wary of, the bustier they are, the more danger they pose to you!
   
   Cassie has decent damage, and her roll ability allows her not not only escape you, but power up her bolts for a finishing blow! She's best to be taken by suprise(Meow) and bursted before she can react. She is to be avoided if her ult is on use, as the element of suprise is primarily what keeps you alive, with it gone you're in more danger than she is! Keep away, bide your time, and wait for an oppertunity!
   
   Seris has quite a bit of healing potential, but for her own safety she tends to hide towards the back of an enemy team, use this to your advantage and flank her! Be wary that she can an escape ability, so she may use it to avoid damage, and lead you towards her team so don't overextend!
   
   Willo can be a massive detriment to your teams point control potential with her No-Healing zone. As such, when making a push its imperative that you take her out of the picture! Willo is relatively weak at close range, as her primary weapon can deal damage to herself, and don't have too large of an AOE. So be sure to try and remain airborne to make it harder to hit you!
   
   Kinessa can deal huge amounts of damage in a short amount of time, which can be fatal for a squishy Maeve, along with her teleport ability, she can reach weird angles and be hard to take down, if at all possible, sneak up on her and quickly dispatch her, if she deploys mines to slow you, either finish her quickly or skedaddle, her damage is no joke! It's not entirely uncommon for a Kinessa to camp in an area she has already ladden with mines to slow flankers, the mines are considered deployables, so bulldozer is effective against them, but theyre destroyed so quickly that I wouldnt reccomend purchasing it. She's best to be taken by behind(Meow)!
   
   
   Ying, besides being the best waifu, is incredibly slippery, her shatter ability can injure a Mave, and her teleportation ability can make her really hard to pin down. A reliable strategy is to camp one of the illusions, and throw daggers, when she panics and starts to teleport in a tandom, you can execute her.

Duel Ettiquete

Originally posted by Just Another Guy:

I've never really played as Maeve that much because everybody always instalocks Androxus and I always fill for the team

Couldn't have said it better myself friend!
To build on what he said, Maeve is a glass cannon of sorts! Her DPS is pretty considerable, but her healthpool is quite small, so you need ot play very carefully!
You should primarily engage if:

　　　　　　　　　　　　(Important Bits Are Marked With Stars)
• Enemy Is Low Health:
  Fairly simple, if the enemy has low health before engagement, you chances of reducing that meager amount to 0% is higher than otherwise.
  
• Enemy Has Wasted All His/Her Abilities:
  A lack of escape. movement, or cheese abilities means an opponent is at a disadvantage, especially if you have Nine Lives up, basically giving you 2 of each ability to burn.
  
• Your Team Is Pushing:
  If you need to fall back after a failed engagment, it'd be super neat to have people to hold them back while you retreat! So be sure to position your attacks carefully in accordance with your tank/DPS movements!
  
• ⋆ You Have No Cooldowns:
  Pounce, Nine Lives, Pounce Again, Profit
  Having all abilities off cooldown opens up a whole new variety of engagment tactics! Proper managment of cooldowns is key to being a good Maeve.
  
• ⋆ You Are Full Health:
  Your chances of survival and succesful escape are larger when you are full health! So be sure to run even if you don't get a kill! It only takes about 1/2 the time of respawning to regenerate your missing health, so be careful and don't overextend!

Legendary Use(Updated as of OB67)

ＡＲＴＦＵＬ ＤＯＤＧＥＲ

This legendary modifies your Nine Lives Ability by adding the ability to cleanse Crowd Control as well as slows, additionally you will heal for 400 health. This is the default card, and for very good reason, most Maeve players suck. Not as hard as Lex mains, but Maeve is very vulnerable when CC'd or slowed, this is to act as a safety net. It can also be used while dueling enemies to heal and gain an advantage, Nine Lives will still reset cooldowns.

ＣＡＴ ＢＵＲＧＬＡＲ

A fairly simple legendary, Cat Burglar adds an additional 30% damage with your first 2 daggers after Prowl for 5s. This card encourages a player to use Prowl as an engagment tool, or retaliation while escaping. When used with Prowl's additional jump height, you can get some pretty good snipes with your daggers on low health enemies.

ＲＯＧＵＥ'Ｓ ＧＡＭＢＩＴ

Another relatively simple legendary, Eliminations will instantly reset the cooldown of the Pounce Ability by 100%, and Pounce will additionally deal 10% more damage.. Comparable to Skye's preparation legendary, Eliminations will reset pounce fully, allowing for another engage, or quick escape! This legendary is most often used when the matchup allow Maeve to thrive on executing squishy targets such as Viktor, Cassie, Androxus, Ying, etc. The extra damage is minimal, but every little bit helps when trying to either chip damage from tanks or quickly eliminate wounded targets

ＳＴＲＥＥＴ ＪＵＳＴＩＣＥ

Yet another fairly simple legendary, but an important one to cover nonetheless! Street Justice causes Pounce to deal 30% of an enemies missing health as bonus damage. Since pounce does a default 400 damage, this is an excellent ability for finishing tanks or eliminating an already wounded enemy! However its important to be mindful that this legendary changes Pounce from an engagment tool, to a finisher. If you start a duel with this, you aren't taking advantage of the potential DPS you can deal via missing health.

Utility Items

Utility

ＣＨＲＯＮＯＳ

Chronos is a card that can lower the cooldowns, however, its quite pricey! As such it may not be an effective purchase for the long run, however, when paired with a complimentary loudout, it can be incredibly effective at keeping Maeve mobile enough to slip out of dangerous situations!

Rank	Effect
1	4%
2	8%
3	12%

ＭＯＲＡＬＥ ＢＯＯＳＴ

Morale Boost is normally my go to Utility card! It increases the % of your ultimate gained through actions such as damaging opponents, assisting the objective, surviving through damage, and of course getting kills! The higher the rank, the more often you'll have Midnight available!

Rank	Effect
1	15%
2	30%
3	45%

ＭＡＳＴＥＲ ＲＩＤＩＮＧ

Master Riding is fairly redundant when it comes to Maeve, as it can act as a faster reset when you die, I personally don't use it often, but players may find it useful for getting further into the action, or for early game flanking!

Rank	Effect
1	15%
2	30%
3	45%

ＮＩＭＢＬＥ

Nimble, oh Nimble, where do I even begin. Nimble is a card that increases the base movespeed of a Champion, allowing champions with no mobility abilities to dodge and weave more effectively, or simply cover more ground to assist allies. As for its usefulness, especially with Maeve, is debatable. Maeve is already a highly mobile champion, so I wouldnt buy it for her, but players who favor constant movement! But be wary! Nimble doesn't stack with prowl, so you'll only see its effects during normal movement.

Rank	Effect
1	10%
2	20%
3	30%

Defensive Items

Defense

ＩＬＬＵＭＩＮＡＴＥ

Illuminate is entirely situational, as such, you won't see its use fairly often in game. The purpose of Illuminate is to see cloaked or hidden enemies at a closer distance to you, so you can either premptively attack them, or run away. It's every effective against Skye, who thrives on sneaking up behind enemies. Or Sha-Lin, who can retreat with his Withdraw ability.

Rank	Effect
1	15 Units
2	30 Units
3	45 Units

ＲＥＳＩＬＩＥＮＣＥ

Oddly enough, one of the most useful cards for Maeve, but I rarely seem to see it purchased. Resilience lowers the duration of CC and slows on Maeve, meaning that stuns, knockback, slows, and the like will have less effect on you, allowing to to escape, or finish the enemy. A perfect example of this is Grovers Root legendary, which would normally root you in place, unable to use abilities or escape, for 2 seconds. But with Resilience maxed, if you blink you may miss the root! It's also effective against Eevie's ultimate, Sha-Lins impaler arrow, and a variety of other dangers!

Rank	Effect
1	30% Reduction
2	60% Reduction
3	90% Reduction

ＨＡＶＥＮ

Haven is one of the most popular cards to get as soon as a game starts. Haven is a card that allows the user to mitigate incoming damage from direct attacks. This means that a Drogoz Rocket, or Bombking's Bombs are not effected at all, because they deal explosive damage. Bullets or arrows from Viktor, Tyra, Cassie, and Sha-Lin are examples of Direct Damage, it's good to read up on all the chapions and find out of what kind of damage they are capable of dealing, so you can properly counter them.

Rank	Effect
1	7%
2	14%
3	21%

ＢＬＡＳＴ ＳＨＩＥＬＤ

Blast Shield is the explosive version of Haven, similar in price, application, and effectiveness, only this time against explosive damage. Also known as AOE. This is great if you're a squishy champion and the enemy team has a decent Drogoz or Bombking who is absolutely shredding you constantly.

Rank	Effect
1	7%
2	14%
3	21%

Offensive

Offensive Items

Offensive

ＤＥＦＴ ＨＡＮＤＳ

Just don't. Deft Hands has no effect on Maeve, I repeat, IT DOES NOTHING AT ALL. Maeve is special in reguards that she cannot benefit from Deft Hands, so if you buy it, its a waste of credits and a slot. I'll repeat it one more time, just in case some of you missed it.
DEFT HANDS, IF PURCHASED ON MAEVE, HAS NO EFFECT WHATSOEVER.

Rank	Effect
1	Don't Buy It
2	Don't You Dare Buy It
3	God Forbid You Actually Bought It, You Absolute Fool, You Bafoon, Why Would You Buy It? Please Read The Description, There Is No Reason You Should Buy This, Just Don't, EVER

ＡＧＲＥＳＳＩＯＮ

Removed, thank god. Filthy Skye and Viktor Mains thinking they were tough ＳＨＩＴ with this damn thing could have caused WW3.

ＣＡＵＴＥＲＩＺＥ

Cauterize is hands down, one of the BEST things you could possibly get to assist your teamates during a capture. Even if you're just in the sidelines, the daggers you throw in the general direction of the point will have a higher meaning, a purpose, and that purpose is just making that Tanks day a little harder. Cauterize will reduce the amount of healing an enemy can recieve for a limited time.

Rank	Effect
1	30% Reduction
2	60% Reduction
3	90% Reduction

ＢＵＬＬＤＯＺＥＲ

Yet another rare pick for Maeve, and for good reason. Bulldozer is only picked up to deal damage to deployables, such as Bariks Turrets, Inara's Impass and Ward, as well as Kinessa's Slow Mines. And normally, these things (Save for Inara's Impasse) aren't too hard to deal with, so Bulldozer is rarely picked up.

Rank	Effect
1	+50%
2	+100%
3	+150%

ＷＲＥＣＫＥＲ

Wrecker is picked up when the team is having difficulties taking down the enemy tanks shields. Wrecker amplifies the damage dealt to shields, so it's a natural counter for Torvald, Fernando, and Ruckus! While a Maeve is normally better off getting Cauterize, if that role is already taken, a Maeve can purchase Wrecker to assist in chipping away at the enemy Tanks shields, allowing the rest of the team to finish him off!

Rank	Effect
1	+75%
2	+150%
3	+1225%

Support Items

Support

ＫＩＬＬ ＴＯ ＨＥＡＬ

This should be your normal pickup when facing a squishy team.Why? Because as a flanker, you are to prioritize important targets, then escape. The burst of health will allow you to heal a bit while retreating, or allow you to continue the killing spree by hopping from kill to kill.

Rank	Effect
1	300 Health
2	600 Health
3	900 Health

ＬＩＦＥ ＲＩＰ

LifeRip is great for when you are unfortunate enough to not have any clear targets on the opposing team. Liferip will allow you to still deal peel from a distance(or up close if you are bold enough) and keep yourself topped off. Liferip is also absolutely fantastic for dueling. If you are against an Androxus worth his salt, and find yourself dueling with him, Liferip can give you a cutting edge over your adversary.

Rank	Effect
1	10%
2	20%
3	30%

ＲＥＪＵＶＩＮＡＴＥ

If you have a mobile healer, such as pip, or a long range healer, such as Seris, then feel free to buy Rejuvinate if you are confident in their abilities to manage the teams health effectively. Otherwise, I'd leave rejuvinate in favor of another card.

Rank	Effect
1	10%
2	20%
3	30%

ＶＥＴＥＲＡＮ

A savvy Maeve will be able to get in, get out, and then hop in again when her cooldowns are over! But a great Maeve will want to minimize her time out of a battle, thats where Veterancomes in! Veteran will increase the % health regenerated when out of battle, speeding up the process in which you can get back in. But with a decent support, this issue can be overlooked entirely.

Rank	Effect
1	10%
2	20%
3	30%

Reccomended Loudouts(Currently Updating)

(Its taking me a hot minute to update these, as some values have been changed and I've got much less spare time nowadays, but I'll hopefully be making a few of these current within the month, so keep an eye out!)
Maeve loudout capabilities can drastically change the way she plays the game, so it's always wise to look at her loudout, to get a general sense of what she'll be doing. If she's on your team, ask who she will be primarily targeting, and what her playstyle is if you feel like it.
So, since quite a few of you asked for it, and a Russian guy commented in all caps, here it is!

Aggresive Playstyle

This is one of my more aggresive loudouts, its focus is to stay within the enemy backline, and constantly disrupt enemy movement, making them favor killing you rather than getting onto the objective! Fight or Flight is aimed at making you more slippery once you've burned your abilities to land yourself into the enemy line of sight, so Scar Tissue can negate some of the damage. But of course, 20% reduction is nothing on somebody with a hella squishy healthpool, so to make up for that, Savage will heal you slightly whenever you land a succesful pounce. Persistence is dedicated to making sure slows don't kill your spree or you, prematurely. On Edge is just there as a filler to keep 9 Lives up whenever possible. Feel free to change the cards around as you like. I'd personally run this build with the legendary Rogue's Gambit. Why? Because after you get a kill, you can use the now reset Pounce Ability to make a quick escape if prowl is on cooldown.

Hit & Run Playstyle

This build however, iis a little different, it's focused around being able to sustain your health without the need of a healer. When used corrently, I want to say that I find it as one of the most reliable builds available. With this, you can engage without using pounce, and save it for when you get a couple clean hits in, as by doing this, you can regain a chunk of your health back with Savagery. Street Cred will boost your healthpool to the second most squishy(In more ways than one, Meow) chamption, Skye. This slight health increase can save you from a potentially fatal shot. Patch Up is a tiny pick me up for when using 9 Lives, to escape, or move back in. Shred will lower the amount of time the ability is down by 1 second, assuming you aren't using Rogue's Gambit, and know what you're doing. For even more sustain, I'd use this loudout with the legendary Artful Dodger!

Backline Playstyle

This build is more suited to staying within the back of your team, and using the daggers to chip away at opponents that make themselves seen. Scamper can assist in chasing down enemies or making a hasty escape! Savagery is a small pick me up for engaging the enemy, Street Cred is to top off the health pool, and Walk it Off is for retreating to the safety of your teamates or backline!

End Credits

Thanks For Reading!

Okay wow, you made it, thank you for reading my guide. Let me know if you learned anything new at all. Rates and suggestions are always appreciated.

If you feel like using my refer code, look here!
It's not at all neccisary, but if you're looking to get into the game, you get some neato burrito rewards!






My plan is to make one of these for just about every champion, reccomendations will be considered. Got Questions? Puddem in the comments! I try to answer all of them.



http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=936989844I also made a Drogoz Guide which is arguably worse than this one, if you want to check it out then please do so!
(Click Here!)

[Valor Style]

Sadly she loses to VII

[Catter]

Big Thabk

[Emlik]

This is my favorite maeve guide ever

[Catter]

I'll definitely be updating it again, I kinda lost interest in paladins when Cards Unbound hit, haven't played since.

But since CB will be hitting the road soon, you can bet your bottom dollar I'll be in the loop!

[GoldMember]

Please update this guide as of OB65 patch.

[Catter]

You're right! Updated!

[johnruby80]

Nice guide! I think Maeve now has 1900hp instead of 1800?

[Catter]

FUCK
I forgot that updates are a thing. Thanks for the heads up, I'll get right on it.

[Maa De Griff]

Update pls. Cat Burglar now gives additional damage after Prowl instead of a 3rd jump.

[firepheonix01]

I wish i had diamond maeve like you and with this guide now i can thank you m8