Guide · Support

Maokai Guide

the Twisted Treant

Tank

Support

Tier A Support

Maokai, the Twisted Treant, is a tank and support champion that is easy to pick up. Across our 326 analysed ranked games, Maokai is mostly played as Support (57% of its games), and more rarely in the Jungle (26%) and in Top (17%), with a 52.7% win rate in that role: tier A among Support champions (#6 of 39, ranked by win rate). Maokai's damage is mostly magic (82%): magic resistance items are therefore effective against this champion. Win rate stays steady whatever the game length (51.7% to 51.8%): a reliable pick in every phase of the game.

Averages measured over 186 Support games played with Maokai, from our ranked Solo/Duo data collection.

Combos and how to play

Maokai is a control tank-support: his basic attack heals and deals bonus damage, with a cooldown reduced by every ability cast or taken. Bramble Smash pushes back and slows, Twisted Advance roots on arrival, Sapling Toss watches an area, and Nature's Grasp advances slowly while rooting.

The engage

W › AA AA › Q

When: A carry is within range.

Twisted Advance makes you untargetable and dashes you onto the target, whom it roots on arrival; Bramble Smash pushes back and slows.

Area control

E › R › Q

When: You are defending an objective.

Sapling Toss watches an area; Nature's Grasp summons a wall of thorns that advances slowly, damaging and rooting the enemies.

Sustain

Q › AA AA › W

When: You are engaged.

Your passive restores health with your basic attack; each ability reduces its cooldown.

Laning phase

Cast abilities to recharge your passive. Sapling Toss is more effective in tall grass.

Common mistakes

• Casting the ultimate with no direction.
• Forgetting your passive's attack.
• Using Twisted Advance with no target.

Riot's official tips for playing Maokai

• Saplings can be tossed into brush for empowered effect - but don't stack well.
• Try looking for flanks or other situations where Nature's Grasp is unavoidable or takes enemies by surprise.
• Maokai's passive makes him extremely durable against focus fire from spells - so long as he can still basic attack something.

Build, runes and summoner spells

The most-played core build is Bandlepipes, Knight's Vow, and Locket of the Iron Solari (10 games, 80.0% win rate).

Bandlepipes+Knight's Vow+Locket of the Iron Solari

10 games · 80.0%

Summoner spells

Flash + Ignite54.2% · 96 games

Flash + Heal49.2% · 65 games

Exhaust + Flash56.0% · 25 games

Most-played runes

Aftershock + Inspiration

57.0% · 121 games

Primary tree · Resolve

Font of Life99%

Bone Plating81%

Unflinching90%

Secondary tree · Inspiration

Cosmic Insight95%

Biscuit Delivery55%

Shards

Adaptive force60%

Movement speed51%

Health scaling48%

Aftershock + Precision

44.4% · 27 games

Primary tree · Resolve

Font of Life100%

Conditioning96%

Overgrowth93%

Secondary tree · Precision

Legend: Haste96%

Triumph96%

Shards

Attack speed89%

Adaptive force85%

Health scaling93%

For each row, the most picked rune among the games played with this page (share of games in brackets).

Which items to build against the enemy team?

We sort every game by the enemy team's damage. These are Maokai's completed items and their win rate in each situation; "▲" marks an item that does at least 3 points better than its usual win rate.

Mostly magic-damage enemy team55.3% · 47 games

At least 50% of their damage is magic

Locket of the Iron Solari 59.3%

Bandlepipes 70.0%

No item clearly stands out in this situation: the usual build remains the reference.

Mostly physical-damage enemy team60.3% · 58 games

Less than 35% of their damage is magic

Locket of the Iron Solari 79.3% ▲

Bandlepipes 70.4% ▲

Knight's Vow 63.6%

The item that stands out most is Locket of the Iron Solari: 79.3% win rate, +19 points versus its usual win rate.

Balanced enemy team45.7% · 81 games

Mixed physical and magic damage

Locket of the Iron Solari 48.9% ▼

Bandlepipes 46.2% ▼

Knight's Vow 50.0%

No item clearly stands out in this situation: the usual build remains the reference.

Counters and matchups

How to play against Maokai

• Saplings will chase the first enemy that gets too close, but detonate after a few seconds or if they collide with other enemies. Be especially careful around brush sapling, as they are much more dangerous.
• The cooldown on Maokai's self healing is heavily gated on how many time you hit him with spells. Careful about wasting abilities on him.
• Maokai will avoid taking damage while he's using Twisted Advance, so don't waste your spells.

Win rates measured over direct same-role duels; only matchups with more than 15 games are listed. See all of Maokai's matchups.

Abilities

PassiveSap Magic

Maokai's basic attack also heals him and deals additional damage on a moderate cooldown. Each time Maokai casts a spell or is struck by an enemy's spell, this cooldown is reduced.

QBramble Smash

Maokai knocks back nearby enemies with a shockwave, dealing magic damage and slowing them.

WTwisted Advance

Maokai contorts into a mass of moving roots, becoming untargetable and dashing to the target. Upon arrival, he roots the target.

ESapling Toss

Maokai flings a sapling to the target area to stand guard. More effective in brush.

RNature's Grasp

Maokai summons a colossal wall of brambles and thorns that slowly advances forwards, damaging and rooting any enemies in the path.

Frequently asked questions

Full Maokai page · League of Legends tier list · All champion guides