Hey gamers, how's everyone doing? Hope you're all doing great! So, continuing with my adventure in Predecessor, one of my main missions right now is purchasing the characters I'm still missing. And well, buying new characters also comes with the responsibility of actually testing each one in their role. This time around I went ahead and picked up MACO, one of the newest characters added to the game, who plays the role of Support in the Dual Lane. And let me tell you, this little guy had me both impressed and completely lost at the same time.
MACO is Way Stronger Than He Looks — And That's the Problem
First things first, when you look at MACO, you see this tiny adorable little critter called a Chitterkin, running around with gemstones and looking like he belongs in a children's cartoon, not a MOBA battlefield. The game's lore actually says he's on a quest to replace gems he accidentally scattered from his king's crown, and honestly, that's the most innocent origin story I've ever seen in a competitive game. But don't let that fool you, because behind that cute exterior there's actually a character with a solid and surprisingly complex kit.
MACO has a passive that builds movement speed stacks as he moves, and once he hits 25 stacks, he enters what the game calls Mach Speed, which makes him immune to slows. That alone is already more interesting than a lot of supports out there. Then his Q, which is called Maco Gift, is a dual-purpose ability — throw it at an ally and it heals them and gives them a speed boost, throw it at an enemy and it deals damage. Sounds straightforward, right? Well, here's where things start to get tricky, because hitting that moving gemstone accurately while everything is exploding around you during a team fight is a whole different story. His RMB, Maco Sparkle, is a slow-moving gemstone that you can detonate early by pressing the button again, and it stuns enemies. The stun duration actually increases the farther the gemstone travels, which is a nice mechanic — if you have the patience and the aim to pull it off. And then there's Maco Fly, where he leaps into the air and slams down with his gemstone, slowing enemies and giving himself a shield if he connects with an enemy hero. His ultimate fires a huge charged gemstone forward that pushes and stuns everything in its path. On paper, all of this sounds fantastic and well-rounded. In practice? A completely different experience.
Best Items for MACO's Support Build
So, when it comes to building MACO as a support, the idea is to stack items that amplify his healing output and keep him alive long enough to actually be useful. The combination of Tainted Charm and Raiment of Renewal works really well for him, since it lets you spam his Q ability to heal teammates continuously while recovering your own health and mana in extended fights. From there, you want to lean into items that boost magical power and survivability since his heals and shields scale with magical power. The Solstone item is also recommended since it boosts your ward cap from 2 to 3, which is critical as a support because vision control in Predecessor can quite literally win or lose a match. And like any proper support, don't forget your wards — always be controlling bushes and vision around major objectives early. If you're roaming, do it when the bottom lane is pushing high, since MACO's kit allows him to close gaps quickly and create an advantage for his teammates.
MACO — Difficult Character or Just Intermediate?
Officially the game classifies MACO as an Advanced difficulty character, and after spending several games trying to figure him out, I'd say that's accurate, maybe even a little understated. The problem isn't that his abilities are complicated to understand — they're actually pretty clear once you read them. The problem is the execution under pressure. Landing his Q heal on a moving teammate while simultaneously trying to peel for them and position yourself correctly is genuinely challenging. And the thing is, if you miss your heals or waste your abilities at the wrong moment, you feel completely useless to your team. A support that can't support is pretty much the worst thing you can be in a MOBA. That said, when everything clicks — when you nail a heal, follow it up with a stun, slam down your Fly on an enemy and then launch your ultimate to push them away — you feel like an absolute menace. The character has real moments of brilliance that show just how much potential he carries, but getting to those moments consistently requires a lot of practice.
What makes him genuinely tricky is the dual-purpose nature of his kit. Every ability has a combat application AND a support application, which means you constantly have to read the situation and decide in a split second whether you need to be aggressive or protective. That kind of decision-making under pressure doesn't come naturally in your first few games, especially in a match where everything is moving fast and your ADC is screaming for heals.
I Need to Keep Playing MACO to Get Used to Him
Honestly, right now I'm still in that uncomfortable phase where I feel like I understand what MACO wants to do but I can't quite make him do it consistently. There were games where I genuinely felt like a terrible support — missed heals, wasted ults, positioning that got me killed instead of protecting my carry. But then there were moments, brief and beautiful, where everything came together and MACO felt like one of the most fun and rewarding supports I've tried in Predecessor. That contrast is actually what's keeping me hooked on practicing with him. So I'm going to keep grinding games, keep working on my aim with his abilities, and hopefully by the time I write about him again, I'll have a very different and much more positive story to tell. So hey gamers, I hope you enjoyed this one, and I'll catch you in the next post!