As a Support 51.13% Win Rate72% Pick RateMaokai As a Support Counters: 23 counter champions
Counter RatingCounter rating is an expression of how strong or weak a counter is based on win rate, kills, and deaths, as well as early laning advantages or disadvantages. A higher number means an easier laning phase against that champion.
Counter RatingCounter rating is an expression of how strong or weak a counter is based on win rate, kills, and deaths, as well as early laning advantages or disadvantages. A higher number means an easier laning phase against that champion.
Tips Against Maokai as a Support Tips Provided by MOBAFire Guide Authors
Nobreav says “
Interrupt Maokai's W with Q
When Maokai uses W (Twisted Advance) to engage, use Q (Sapling Toss) before he becomes untargetable or immediately after his dash to interrupt his engage and knock him up, gaining an advantage in the trade.
Ignore Maokai's CC with your Ultimate
When hit by Maokai's Q (Bramble Smash) or R (Nature's Grasp), use Alistar's R (Unbreakable Will) to cleanse the crowd control and reduce incoming damage, neutralizing Maokai's combo damage.”
saucyyyy says “One of the worst champs you can pick into urgot. You can buffer every single one of his CC's. He has very low damage, minimal poke, and he needs to hit you to utilize his passive. You beat him at every point in the game.”
Alchemyr says “All-in engage tanks like you. Whoever has better jungle backup wins. Try not to overlap CC; if Maokai roots, wait half a second, then E-W to extend the lockup instead of stacking it.”
Quoko says “Maokai can be annoying with his point-and-click [[Twisted Advance]](W) and strong setup for all-ins. His saplings make it hard to control bushes, and his ult [[Nature's Grasp]] (R) can catch you off guard if you're not careful. Try to poke him down and avoid extended trades. Respect his engage range.”
daltonfresh says “Both his root (W) and knockback (Q) will cancel your engage. He will wait for your W to root you and push you back into his adc, so try to play around his cooldowns.
His R will also cancel your engage, you can outrun it with your mobility, but you're probably better off blocking the ult for your adc. (Yes, Maokai's ult can be blocked, but make sure your adc knows that too).
He is tankier than you and his E”
innae says “Maokai can lock you down very easily. You can bait him by going in on W and sending him into your backline, just be wary that this can backfire.”
ShriekingMammoth says “Similarly to Leona, Maokai cannot do his thing without getting hard punished by you. Just make sure that he is not cancelling your taunts with his Q smash as it can interrupt your taunt. Outside of that, this is an easy matchup for Shen.”
Dom1nus says “He has good sustain and survivability, he cant kill u but after a point u can kill him, shove lanes as he cant farm under turret and roam/steal enemy junglers camps.”
JVS8 says “he difficulty of the Maokai matchup depends largely on your experience playing against him. Maokai is considered strong into Bard due to his superior objective control and slightly better laning phase. However, there are ways to counter him. One effective tactic is to bait out his W and then quickly use your portal to take him with you to your turret. Once there, stun him immediately—this can either secure a kill or force him to flash to escape.”
BabyCuddlePunkin says “A great Maokai is a bit of a skill matchup, but will punish ANY mistakes you make. He can buffer your stun to avoid it with his warp. He can really throw you out of position.
The key to this matchup is poking him outside of his warp range. If he gets onto you and you aren't extremely ahead in the lane, you're probably dead.
You need to also beware if he goes on your ADC. You'll have to decide between a trade on him, using your stun after he warps, or walking right past him to make sure his ADC is CC'd or threatened to de-pressure your ADC that is engaged on. Very nuanced decisions here.”
mUI0g says “His long range E poke applies heavy slows, his ulti is a strong engage tool that is difficult to avoid.
If he catches you with W, it is best to just all-in and die.”
Aerenax says “Maokai has tools to get on your carry without you being able to do anything. You can block his R easily with your E, so look for these opportunities. ”
ZedAway says “ never disrespect his damage, even when played as tank, he has heavy CC ur best bet is to go pull peel mode or full tunnel vision on ur adc if he engages on ur adc.”
Aerenax says “Maokai is annoying as he gets on top of you easily and he can CC you very long with his W and Q. However he has no way of getting out easily so you can punish that.”
JVS8 says “The difficulty of the matchup largely depends on how well you know how to play against Maokai. Maokai is considered strong against Bard due to his superior objective control and slightly better laning phase. However, there are strategies to counter him. You can bait out his W ability and then use your portal to transport him into your turret range. After that, use your stun quickly—he will either be eliminated or forced to use his Flash.”
Arctic Arrow says “Maokai can be mildly annoying due to his ability to disrupt your engagements with his Q (Sapling Toss), which can make it harder to land your E (Crimson Curse). However, if you wait for him to engage or use his cooldowns, you can focus him down or target the enemy ADC effectively.
His overall impact is manageable, and once his abilities are on cooldown, he has limited options to turn the fight in his favor.”
BigodeOfLegends says “Can use his roots and poke to counter Senna in trades, and his durability makes it difficult for Senna to beat him in extended trades.”
Abarame says “In his prime a few patches ago, he was the top counter to Milio. Currently, despite being less picked, the matchup remains unchanged. He's exceptionally difficult to punish due to his W functioning like Master Yi's Q, making it challenging to peel him off your ADC with Q. His entire kit provides strong crowd control to keep his team on top of you, making it a nightmare for Milio. The only advantage is his low pick rate, but if he's chosen, focus on playing even and avoiding early game deaths.”
Baby_Driver says “U can go for inpiration tree 2nd or resolve tree with demolish it's up to you.
Do not start trades with your pull as he will just Q you away.
”
TnDD says “Maokai sana W ile atlarsa onu geçidinle uzaklara götür. Bard koridoru Maokai'ye karşı kazanıyor. Onu kolayca dürtebilmenin sebebi portalınla birlikte güvenli alanlara gidebiliyorsun. Sana engage atamıyor.”
IMANOOBOKOWO says “he can make you miss your E with his Q so its a bit annoying but if you wait him to engage you can focus him down or the enemy adc and he wont be able to do much,”
Foxirion says “Maokai's crowd control and tankiness can be a challenge for Rakan, but Rakan's mobility and engage potential can help him disrupt Maokai's engages and pressure him effectively in fights.”
glimppi says “Set up defensive boxes, and use Q under turret to pull Maokai in when he tries to jump on you. You can also pop up his kids with your boxes.”
TTV_h3x0rcist says “More of an annoying matchup more than anything, limits bush access with saplings, can be negated with W shield still annoying because Skarner has heavily predictable skills we need those bushes.”
Thefrenchkefta says “The kit is very good agaisnt you, his W cancels yours and is point and click so unmissable, his Q can cancel too. His ult in late is very good for teamfight.
If he is ahead, he is going to be a pain in the ass”
schizoslvt says “annoying lane and difficult depending on the state of maokai and how broken he is in the patch.
IF he W's you wait till he goes half way then E so you guarantee stun.”
AWierdShoe says “Position your blade, make 1-2 empowered Q auto’s and apply your grasp whenever it’s up, and back out, and repeat. You’re simply so much stronger all early levels than he is, abuse it to the max with short trades. The only thing you should be careful about is taking longer trades inside a minion wave, since he can lock you down for a long time with W + Q, while healing himself up with the passive. So keep short trading him down for every CS he goes for until he’s low enough for you to all in him.
”
Velkyann says “Maokai is very good right now but he cant get to you very easily the major problem is for the rest of your team because he has alot of map control and teamfight power. In lane you can E him without him being able to W but only if you have Footwork, his ult is very easy to dodge with your W but it can move you away from your team so you can take his ult on purpose.”
Razing42 says “Maokai is really overtuned as of late and will be really effective at roaming or killing your adc in lane. It's quite difficult to peel him off because of his W making him untargetable.”
Kcmichalson says “[SUP] Maokai's saplings detonate on minions, so drag them through the wave if they're chasing you.
Every time Maokai hits a champion with a sapling or gets hit by an enemy ability, his heal cooldown is reduced, so poking him with low-damage abilities is futile. Feel free to smack him with your shield, though.
”
Cyndakyu says “very annoying, since you can't tornado his cc
make sure to go mikaels into maokai and don't instinctivly waste your tornado when he goes onto someone
past level 6, ult him away when he engages”
sillycatslover says “Eversince season 14 has started Maokai is major threat for almost every support out there. If you are able to never let him get close to you you win.”
Arcadia06 says “This is currently my permaban, this champ is insane. Forces you to play super super patient and he controls every part of the lane and bushes.”
Your_ Local_Eldritch_Horr says “A lot of cc, it's horrible. And super tanky. However, he's nice and slow, a great target if you're running low on mana and are running Presence of Mind. Careful of his R though, it sucks.”
Murder Yuumi by Your_ Local_Eldritch_Horr | Yuumi Player
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quecck says “Maokai is a super annoying support. The guaranteed way to win is by playing safe in lane phase. Try to make opportunities for your ADC to poke the enemy down while not over-extending. He is better than you at engaging a teamfight with his ult.”
Lurs says “Don't walk in bushes. If he w's in you kill him. My best trick is that if he w's you then you can dash under your tower and he will follow you.”
Loggit says “Most hard-engage supports have less combat power than Xin and not enough peel to deny his engage, so it is generally not too hard to beat them. Don't get careless, make sure you play around their cooldowns.”
MusicJG says “You out dps and out clear him.
Be careful of him late invading your raptors with his Q.
He is annoying to deal with once he has demonic but he can never deal with you 1v1.”
Boptimus says “Maokai is also hard to stick to unless you can time your W to avoid his Q. If Maokai can land W before you can use your W he can easily disengage with Q.
Maokai doesn't have any threatening damage but if you take too many bad trades he can out sustain you through his passive. Over all very easy lane.”
Boptimus says “Maokai Top is pretty much going extinct. Look to out CS early and take short W-E trades if he tries to get on you. You'll have a hard time killing him without Oblivion Orb but he should also never be able to kill you. CS and outscale.”
quecck says “Maokai is a super annoying support. The guaranteed way to win is by playing safe in lane phase. Try to make opportunities for your ADC to poke the enemy down while not over-extending. He is better than you at engaging a teamfight with his ult. ”
mazewalk says “He is really annoying whenever he is AP or Tank. It is hard to disengage his W because he is untargetable during its animation, it is hard to pressure him from fog because of his Maokais juniors. During teamfights let your team tank ultimate if you are escaping and throw them lantern or tank it yourself if you are willing to fight. Luckily, his heals procks off autoattacks so Thornmail counters his Jungle/Top version.”
TheBougis says “Maokai is more annoying than painful, he may have a lot of cc and some healing, but he doesnt have too much damage (depending on his build). He can be easily out-sustained.”
Jasic says “Bit off-meta in the top but you see it here & there. Really hard matchup, virtually zero kill pressure. He outsustains and peels himself. Dodge, farm safely, or play another champion. 75/25 odds favoring Mao.”
Rebaulten says “Good Maokai will Twisted Advance your charms and push you out of bush control. Try to avoid getting engaged on and look for positive trades early.”
Lunar Empress says “He can go untargetable so avoid getting hit by your tornado. His saplings in the bushes can also do major damage when you don't notice. Great all-in champ and you should go Aery here. ”
mazewalk says “Three simple CC skills will not allow you to do anything on lane and during teamfights. If he uses W you can time your E to get him deep into your backline, when he'll die or root your whole team. Rush Mikael's Blessing to peel for your carry, when he ults, hide behind your teammate and then use cleanse on him.”
RobinValentine1 says “Once he is on you there isn't much you can do. But his W range is tiny so use your Q W to zone him off. His saplings are no threat, use your E the moment he throws them to completely negate the sapling damage.”
Dotje says “Most often played as Jungle these days. Pay attention to his saplings, since they are empowered when thrown into bushes, you don't want to get hit by these.”
Aerenax says “Maokai is an angry tree that loves to hang around in your face with his saplings behind him. He has full bush control and can interrupt your engage with his Q, while you can't stop his engage when he uses W. Be patient in this matchup and punish mistakes. When he ults you can safely get hit by a root and use your ult to start the offence again. ”
Cyclic says “Very annoying matchup. His point and click CC counters you pretty hard and he can blow flash to set up a gank early on. Make sure you don't get caught out and ulted by him after 6 and try to be wary of bushes filled with saplings. Other then that try to punish him levels 1 and 2 as he is relatively weak and can't beat you until he gets his full combo or a jungle gank”
ZharMeny says “He can pretty reliably cancel your W with either his Q or W, you gotta play safer and don't be too close to bushes as his E Saplings are empowered when placed there. Recomended Stance: Unmounted.”
Lulu Mushroom Teas says “[ Patch 13.3 — Season 2023 ]
Perma-Ban (if our Team is not seriously planning to get Maokai at 1º Pick — Blue Side only possibility), the Champion is currently overwhelming especially as a Jungler. There is nothing that can be done against its Brushes' Potatos, longe-wide and multiple-targets Rooting Ultimate, and insane AP Damage (especially on its First Strike Keystone mining strategy) and Tankiness. Thanks Riot.”
WolfDelt4 says “Look out for Maokai E, his W root range is not that big so you can outrange him easily. Look out for big all-ins with his ult. If you are ulting he can push you with his Q.”
Toches says “If he saves his W to juke your E, you can be in for a bad time, but mostly this matchup goes even and you outscale him, your ulti is stronger and at best he neutralizes it with his, but your base kit is better.
poke maokai is garbage as support due to season 12 changes, you easily outheal it and he basically will be a glorified shaco support.”
mellorwastaken says “similar as Leona and Amumu, you can win with short trades, if he goes ap his lane will be much weaker since you can heal with passive and hes much more squishy. His W-Flash combo is hard to react so be careful. Always go unflinching.”
iveye says “Maokai is a lane you have to play by his rules, if he throws his E bait it with your high move speed. You can get to him so you have to counter engage on his carry, and always make sure to tank a root from his ult for your carry or else you will most likely lose the fight. His R also shuts most of your engage down but it moves so slow that you could get what you wanted in time before it reaches you anyway.”
GG Cannon says “While it isn't too easy for him to get you, his root while turning invincible for a split second can already be enough for him to turn a fight on you and on the other hand, it is really hard for you to kill him. He can also easily stop you when you try to engage on his team and even ult you if you hide on your smoke in a bad spot.”
Amelioratelol says “Maokai can dodge your hook with his [W] and is fairly tanky so you will need an evenshroud to be able to kill him as most tanks. Grevious will help and someone with black cleaver will drop his armor.”
WhiteLotus says “They will look for early Bot gank most of the time, care about his Flash W. Else he is only a useless Tree, that you can Poke out of lane if u keep your distance ”
T1vladimir says “Throws Saplings with ETips into side bushes as damaging wards. ETips is stronger if placed in bushes. RTips can only hit one target with each bramble; stay in line with your tank on the front rather than scattered around. Grievous items are effective against his PTips healing.”
gizemdeniz says “He will drop minions in the bush and jump on you. When he jumps on you, you have to lock him with a charm and inflict some high damage with a good combo. With a good ADC he can be dangerous.”
NegativePhoenix says “Try to avoid the brush if you know he throws a sapling in it or that poke will build up on you. You should be able to W his root pretty easy but he'll still Q you away before hand, but it wont be far enough to make him lose the fight if he isn't careful. If he ults you can easily W it too, just be careful his jungler isn't coming since a random ult most likely means they're planning to gank”
mazewalk says “He also has good CC and tons of sustain, but he has E, which will annoy you a lot. Escape his ult with your E, keep your distance so he doesn't get you with W+Q combo. Pray he won't build AP items and max E.”
aRhesty says “Obviously try and NEVER get hit by his W, his W counters you. However, as long as you space correctly you'll find that you can win more often than not. E early while he's chasing you so he doesn't get in that critical W range. ”
KeisariKarma says “If maokai engages on you, you are most likely dead, he can also control your essential bushes with his sapplings denying your early game pressure.”
Fenreee says “|||SUPPORT||| This pick is technically in the extreme category, but you'll rarely see good Maokai players, so you won't actually need to dodge it. The main problem is that he beats you in every aspect except roaming and general map pressure. He has a more oppressive laning phase and controls bushes and key FOW locations that Janna players like to Q from, by using his sapplings. He also doesn't fall off, but you can't cancel his engages early on. Take Glacial if the enemy has enough AP for you to justify rushing Mikael's in lane, otherwise run Aery and play purely for scaling. If you have a rather diveable ADC you should probably just dodge it.”
PypoulaPyp says “If he reach you, you can't escape him. Maokai is one of the best support on this game and if you don't aknowledge him like the Tribal Chief, he'll show you nightmares. Always respect him. ”
L9NunuChillump says “He is tanky and easily stops/gets in the way of your snowball but if he uses his ability to root you it can allow him to easily be hit by your snowballs”
zotet says “He can easily catch up to you and slow you down, his ability to tank for his ADC is very annoying. When you attempt to play from range in most cases he will W over to you and create space for his ally. Make sure to dodge his moves to shut him down and play more towards the back of the lane.”
unhben says “Maokai is very strong individually after his rounds of buffs. Pray he goes tank and doesnt max his E so. Your turrets are good for taking his saplings in bushes if youre not sure what to do. Max W and poke and go nuts here. Barrier is recommended incase of flash engage. ”
NotAragami says “He acts the same way as you, harass people with E and has a point-and-click CC combo. He will not let you play bushes as those saplings hurt. Keep your distance from bushes AND him, ward them is optional but recommended if you have wards to spare. ”
OakuMarai says “AP Maokais are useless. Guardian. If he starts E level 1 poke the hell out of him and his ADC. If he picks Q do the same but be cautious about it. If he levelled W, respect his engage threat. Other than that he's more or less Treeona. CC his ADC if he engages.”
OakuMarai says “he's got good poke and he can engage quite easily. try to engage onto his ADC if he engages onto yours. if he engages onto you, wed him to your turret with W and pronounce them dead treant and wife.”
DixonTheGuideMaker says “Maokai is at his weakest during the early game. Look for an early advantage to force him to miss out on gold and XP. Once Maokai is level 3, he can start trading with you once he has all of his basic abilities. Try and get him low so he is unable to look for a favourable trade. Avoid standing towards the top side of the lane if you know he’s placed Saplings Sapling Toss(E) in them. However, you could walk towards it before running away to “bait” out his E.”
DixonTheGuideMaker says “Avoid standing towards the bottom side of the lane as Maokai will place Saplings Sapling Toss(E) inside the bushes and they’ll deal a lot of damage to you if you’re caught by them. Make sure you hit level 2 at the same time or before Maokai as he has great all-in at level 2. At level 1, if you’re unsure what ability he has taken, make sure you stand back and out of range just in case he starts Twisted Advance(W), he can’t gain an early health advantage. In the early game, try to use your range advantage to poke and harass him down. Try and stay at max range though so he cannot get on you with his W.”
DixonTheGuideMaker says “Avoid standing towards the bottom side of the lane as Maokai will place Saplings Sapling Toss(E) inside the bushes and they’ll deal a lot of damage to you if you’re caught by them. Make sure you hit level 2 at the same time or before Maokai as he has great all-in at level 2. At level 1, if you’re unsure what ability he has taken, make sure you stand back and out of range just in case he starts Twisted Advance(W), he can’t gain an early health advantage. In the early game, try to use your range advantage to poke and harass him down. Try and stay at max range though so he cannot get on you with his W.”
DixonTheGuideMaker says “Avoid standing towards the bottom side of the lane as Maokai will place Saplings Sapling Toss(E) inside the bushes and they’ll deal a lot of damage to you if you’re caught by them. Make sure you hit level 2 at the same time or before Maokai as he has great all-in at level 2. At level 1, if you’re unsure what ability he has taken, make sure you stand back and out of range just in case he starts Twisted Advance(W), he can’t gain an early health advantage. In the early game, try to use your range advantage to poke and harass him down. Try and stay at max range though so he cannot get on you with his W.”
DixonTheGuideMaker says “Avoid standing towards the bottom side of the lane as Maokai will place Saplings Sapling Toss(E) inside the bushes and they’ll deal a lot of damage to you if you’re caught by them. Make sure you hit level 2 at the same time or before Maokai as he has great all-in at level 2. At level 1, if you’re unsure what ability he has taken, make sure you stand back and out of range just in case he starts Twisted Advance(W), he can’t gain an early health advantage. In the early game, try to use your range advantage to poke and harass him down. Try and stay at max range though so he cannot get on you with his W.”
M4DN355 says “Save your E for when Maokai engages on you and you can turn fights around easily. If he uses his full combo on you, just E away since his damage is so littler and Q him into your teammates if there are no minions in the way since he'll be on cooldown for a moment. Laning phase is really easy, but later game (after level 6) will become a bit more difficult due to his ultimate.”
Mr Jamba Juice says “Type: Support - Any Tank played in the Bot Lane is somewhat easy for Taric. Tank Maokai Support is actually more of a Level 2 Threat, as he's more reliant on his Engage (W) and R rather than his Saplings (E). Don't play in the bushes in this matchup, you will get poked to death. Play Parallel to your ADC when the wave is Pushing towards you, and in front of your ADC when pushing Towers to prevent them from being W'd by Maokai so far away from safety. If Maokai tries to engage in this way, you can Stun him and punish him harshly.”
Navn says “Laning phase won't be too rough, but there's also not a whole lot you can do with him putting sapplings into bushes, and it'll be hard to find opportunities to engage since he'll have a lot of vision control too.”
Jageiko says “Maokai Support is your bane. He will break your spine. Perma keeping you from bushes with his E, his W goes through yours, he is too tanky to kill and has too much CC for your ADC to follow you. You got counterpicked and Its gonna suck a lot.”
RoseOfInnistrad says “Mao'kai actually is quite the nuisance in lane, but not great at following up your roams so look more for those. It's very hard to engage on to him or his ADC because of his W and Q (which of course cancels your mounted W), and his saplings also make it very hard to play around bushes. After 6 his disengage gets even better, but he is quite slow and one dimensional, leaving you with a lot of opportunities to find some game winning fights, playing peel or engage. ”
LordZaneLP says “i dont know this matchup, but you can tank him for sure, since most maokais support go ap you outtank him easily and kill him if he engages you, never engage him tho. Thats what he wants.”
LordZaneLP says “he makes so much dmg like blitzcrank and also heals himself and has poke and engage, rly unbalanced champ, but in mid late game you can beat his teamfight potential. Just dont try to win lane against him, its kinda impossible but after minute 10 you already outscaled him.”
Demonsedge90 says “Maokai's passive gives him a heal, so you must watch this and not overcommit to him. Instead, please pay close attention to his bot lane, focus on them, and always respect him when deciding whom to target.”
SunnySneezer says “You're both ranged but the diff is he just spams saplings that apply constant pressure until they die while you have to actually hit your skillshots to do that. ”
Nozul says “Há quem ainda faça Maokai suporte. Compre Mikael e teu jogo ficará mais fácil. Não se posicione mal, senão ele te acerta o W, te enraiza e te deixa vulnerável para que o time dele te mate.”
TheBlueImperial says “He's a major counter to you purely because he almost impossible to engage on. However, you can counter his engagements pretty easily or counter engage onto his carry. Absorb his ultimate for your carry if he tries engaging with it, you will survive it but your carry wont.”
beefyylol says “Really tough matchup. It is virtually impossible to get bush control versus Maokai and his engage is super reliable with his W. Maokai ult is also great for peeling his team or counter engaging whenever you ult. ”
PumpkinMatters says “Eu botaria essa árvore chateada em "menor ameaça", mas acho que precisamos respeitar o que um Maokai consegue fazer. Existem outros sups que fazem tudo que ele faz, só que melhor, mas ainda assim esse champ apresenta algumas ameaças. Há duas builds possíveis pra ele: AP ou tank. Se seu oponente for pra dano, qualquer iniciação nele garante uma eliminação para seu adc, mas você precisa ter cuidado com o E do Maokai, que joga as cria dele no mato, porque elas dão muito dano. Caso vá para tank, o cuidado tem que ser redobrado, mas segue os passos das outras brigas com sups de iniciação. Quem começar, perde”
PumpkinMatters says “I would put this upset tree on "minor", but we need to respect what a Maokai can do. There are other sups who do what he does, but better, but still this champ has some menaces to us. There are two build he can go to: AP or tank. If he chooses AP, any engage on him can guarantee a kill to your ADC, but be aware of his children inside the bushes, because they HURT. In case he goes tank, you need to watch out, but the matchup will be similar to other engage supports: whoever starts, dies”
TheAngryJacket says “Tank support, poke early for gold and damage, if he all ins target the adc, watch for bushes, e to lead saplings into the wave to control the push”
Winter Nicole says “Maokai: He can be annoying his his Q that he throw and his ult where he can trap us for awhile and he can be a annoying champion when it comes to him being a tank supp. (Recommend playing it safe and stunning him and heal your teammate the second your guys are stun and ult them so his adc doesn't do damage on your adc and Q them to do magic damage on them)”
pastelzia says “Maokai is a engage tank but can also be played as an engage mage.
Maokai's Bramble Smash allows him to release an arcane shockwave that travels forth in a line in the target direction, dealing magic damage to all enemies it passes through and slowing them by 99% for 0.25 seconds.
Maokai's Twisted Advance allows Maokai to dash towards a target, becoming untargetable during the dash, and rooting enemies upon arriving to the area, canceling You and Me! and refreshing it's cooldown.
Maokai's Sapling Toss allows him to fling a Sapling to the target location, granting sight of the area. Once landed, Saplings remain stationary for 30 seconds or until they react to the first nearby visible enemy, chasing them for up to 2.5 seconds. Saplings explode upon colliding with an enemy or when they expire, dealing magic damage to all nearby enemies upon detonation, capped at 300 against non-champions, and slowing them by 35% for 2 seconds. Saplings placed in a brush instead last 30 (+ 2.5% bonus health) seconds and deal double damage to struck targets over 3 instances as well as revealing them for 3 seconds. The first instance of damage is dealt instantly and the second and third instances occur each 0.75 seconds thereafter. The total damage is capped at 600 against non-champions.
Maokai's ultimate, Nature's Grasp, allows Maokai to summon a colossal wall of 5 thorny brambles that slowly advance in the target direction, accelerating over time, each stopping when they collide with an enemy champion. Each bramble deals magic damage to enemies caught within and roots them for 0.8 − 2.6 (based on distance traveled) seconds.
Overall, Maokai has a lot of crowd control, making him a good counter to Yuumi.”
Discord231 says “Maokai suele ser el soporte con mayor win rate vs Rakan, y tiene razones para hacerlo, pues puede cancelarte los combos, y pokearte desde gran distancia, además de que será amo y señor de los arbustos, haciendo que no puedas presionar a su adc.”
beeinthefranxx says “I havent been against maokai before as senna but im going to assume he will be a tough matchup. E poke in bushes, point and click cc, and fast moving ult.”
Quinncidence says “Immobile!
Maokai will never kill you.
Focus on farming and you will be a monster,when maokai had enough of the laning phase and he decides to join his team, bonk some towers.”
Sandor Clegane98 says “I prefer to call this the lumberjacking lane,literally outpoke his pansy ass and soon you'll find yourself wondering what to do with all the wood you just piled up.
Dblade.”
neuroplasticity says “
One of few champs that can rival you in terms of synergy with Imperial Mandate even though most Maokai players prefer tanky builds nowadays.
He is surprisingly scary in lane and annoying as hell ontop since his saplings make bush control Impossible.
His engage is point and click making it a pretty reactive matchup where you have to keep your distance.
His flash-W has little counterplay when setting up ganks for his jungler. That being said Maokai similar to Leona has no tools to escape once he engages and from 6 onwards you can disengage reasonably well with your ultimate.
In lane you want to save bubble for the enemy ADC and just scale up. You provide more utility for your team later on.
Redemption and Mikael's are both reasonable options depending on how fights play out.
”
Mr buckets says “How hard the matchup is really dependant on your experience playing against Maokai, Maokai is listed as a champ great into Bard since he has way better objective control than Bard has, and his laning phase is a tad better, but there is ways to counter him. Bait out his w and quickly enter the portal to take him with you into ur turret, and then quickly stun, he will either die or be forced to flash.”
Aerenax says “Maokai is annoying as he gets on top of you easily and he can CC you long enough with his W and Q to avoid you from dashing or running away from him. Also have to be careful on face checking bushes as the sampling brigade is waiting to blow up in your face.”
LimTheDestructor says “Engage his adc. Don't greed for killing Maokai when you aren't 100 % sure it's freekill - respect his health, healing and Aftershock.”
warmfishu says “Sap Magic (P) gives him a lot of sustain. Bramble Smash (Q) will stun and knock you back if you are near him. Twisted Advance (W) is a dash root. Nature's Grasp (R) is a large-scale root, though slow. Sapling Toss (E) does percent health damage, so watch out for brushes.”
Rasta Da Masta says “This may come as a surpirse, but this is a skill matchup. He has tools to sustain through lane, zone you out of bushes, juke your kit with untargetability, and set up ganks with his long ranged R.
Use your range to your advantage, don't take even trades, and”
Korippo says “I don't really know where to start with this scratching post. He has self heal, his tiny tree minions are really annoying, and he has quite a number of ways to CC both you and your ADC thanks to his ult, Q, and W. Mid to late game he will mostly heal off any poke or peel damage, so it's very hard to get to him with his team around thanks to his number of ways to setup around them. I don't generally recommend playing Yuumi into this.”
Distinger says “Maokai is a joke of a champion. All he does is staying AFK in a bush waiting to Flash W on you if you get any close.
Just perma ward bushes so you have vision of him and his traps.
Same as Blitcrank, if he engages on you wait for him to use Q so it doesn't cancel your E.”
0Banda says “ Maokai hard counters you so hard, he's W counters your combo as he can stop you and root you mid-air, and in teamfights he's R is really difficult to escape from
Against Maokai you should build as usual, but in the rune section you should take Unflinching in order to counter some of Maokai CC. You should also roam as much as possible since you have 0 kill pressure against him”
Idleangelo says “His point and click engage is manageable, but damn the saplings are annoying to deal with, especially mid game, when you're trying to set vision down for objectives”
Jowoey says “This is only really picked with something like Samira or Lucian because of how annoying the root is. Lane phase is really hard to play against him but you can almost certainly outroam him. Never extend too far into the lane to poke him. Wait for him to try to last hit a minion for his Relic shield and then maybe get a W on him if it's safe.”
King Crow says “He can deny bushes, which is what you do. His engage range isn't the best, but the amount of zoning he creates naturally counters Fiddlesticks.”
Topazor says “His lockdown is a tad worrying, but if he dashes on to you he leaves himself completely open to being counterstruck and autoed from there.”
Naut1Trick says “Tree man. watch his saplings. Keep an eye on them. Keep an eye on his ult in team fights, become a wall for that to prevent your team from being rooted and then dying.”
DanNS12 says “Don't stand near the bush and be careful when harassing him he can flash all-in you and watch out for his lvl 6 he can cover the whole lane in vines and all-in you. Also in the later stages of the game, it's extremely annoying to contest objectives or ward because he just throws his garden gnomes in bushes which chunk you for half hp lol.”
Jaori says “It's easy to lose in this one if you hadn't played it before. Whenever he uses his W, wait with your E until the root goes off. If you use it before, the body slam will not cc him, neither will it damage him. You'll be left with no escape and a wasted ability.”
Bardificer says “Rush warmogs and you're chillin. E and second wind / revitalize means you're unpokable for him. Get that warmogs too, and he's useless.”
qosmox says “Position your blade, make 1-2 emp. Q auto’s and apply your grasp whenever it’s up, and back out, and repeat. You’re simply so much stronger all early levels than he is, abuse it to the max with short trades. The only thing you should be careful about is taking longer trades inside a minion wave, since he can lock you down for a long time with W + Q, while healing himself up with the passive. So keep short trading him down for every CS he goes for until he’s low enough for you to all in him.”
Alenich says “На линии он сильней, поук урон у него сильней, сустейн огромный, дизэнгейджит отлично. Советую не наглеть против него на линии и фокусить его постоянно. Можно так же собрать порез лечения.”
HerYandere says “Positioning is KEY here for you and your ADC. This lane is going to be tedious and painful, but if he engages first you win (granted the enemy ADC has not engaged simultaneously with Mao)”
DasNerdwork says “Very hard to play against. Too tanky to kill and too much CC to play it easy. I suggest mercurys and magic resist if his damage is too high, also mikael's crucible to protect your adc from his easy-to-disable ultimate. ”
Daraysen says “He is pretty open to you but he is tanky, he will try to use his saplings in the bushes, use it against him, activate them and pull them into your minions to make the wave come to your tower.”
KeleiX13 says “Maokai excels at brush control with his saplings. Keep brushes warded to keep yourself from being hit by one. If you know there is a sapling in a brush, either wait for it to die by itself or lure it out and try to out run it with your E. Maokai ult doesn't usually hit unless you are already CC'd, be it soft or hard. His W range is rather small so you can still slap some powerchords onto his without worrying too much.”
Discord231 says “Maokai suele ser el soporte con mayor win rate vs Rakan, y tiene razones para hacerlo, pues puede cancelarte los combos, y pokearte desde gran distancia, además de que será amo y señor de los arbustos, haciendo que no puedas presionar a su adc.”
LilRidge says “Maokai's (E) Sapling Toss is going to be a big problem in this lane. They make up for a lot of his poke, so you will want to avoid walking into unwarded brushes as they get stronger when in brush.
Try to get the saplings out of a brush by checking the brush and moving away from the saplings as you are faster than them when mounted.
Play to Counter-Engage as he will stop your engage with his.”
Starchase says “Care of his E, his poke with that ability can cath people off guard most of the time, sustain all the damage with your E.
Tell your ADC to stay away from the bushes, there is where his E becomes much stronger.
Care about his lvl 3 and lvl 6 all in, he has great setup for ganks.
Rush Mikael's Blessing.
You outscale him pretty hard.”
Takitsu says “Great matchup for Thresh. If maokai jumps onto you, flay after he lands, he won't be able to hit you back towards his team. If maokai jumps onto a team mate, hook or flay works.
If your team can click lanterns, you can bait maokai into tower shots with a well timed lantern.”
losolkos says “He is tanky but very slow also he have
seeds that make him anoyin this seeds deal much dmg also he have jump to you and push and stun you need to deal him dmg and run when he try to jump in tou you when he jump adc just use w and e to help him escape. ”
Discord231 says “Maokai suele ser el soporte con mayor win rate vs Rakan, y tiene razones para hacerlo, pues puede cancelarte los combos, y pokearte desde gran distancia, además de que será amo y señor de los arbustos, haciendo que no puedas presionar a su adc. ”
Kadiyarch says “Focus the adc, use your plants to kill his E. If you push the lane, you have to be 100% sure the enemy jungler isn't there because he is very efficient to slow and cc you.”
Bear Gummies says “I would either go Comet to whittle him down, or Guardian to stay alive/ kill the enemy ADC. You can poke him easily, so just be careful of his all ins, because his W can enable him to move through your tornado. ”
WinterAardappel says “Since you roam a lot in lane, you are likely to walk into his sapplings. I ban him every time since hes just really hard to lane against”
mscocca says “High defenses and too many Crowd Control effects - that Nidalee fears the most, are going to give you a very hard time.
Plus, he is going to abuse and get you out of the bushes where you should be staying the most during the laning phase.
”
vnillz says “He's not really played as a support anymore, but I have seen him occasionally. Watch out for his sapling toss, because they can easily burst you down and he has the upper advantage with it to harass you. Try to out poke or trade evenly as much as you can. ”
Jexeff says “One of the cheesier supports. Although Maokai is starting to lose popularity, it is still a pick that you will run into. Keep track of his saplings in order to avoid unnecessary damage. A good Maokai will also place sapplings in bushes that will cutoff jungle paths and bushes you will pass through in your rotations. You can always try to drag saplings from lane bushes towards your creep wave to control the wave closer to your tower. This can be beneficial in some cases where it will be ideal to have the wave closer to your tower. Other than that, hold your flay if you see them approaching to prevent wasting it during their twisted advance. Once they have used twisted advanced it is important to flay away from you so that they cannot combo into bramble smash. If they have used twisted advanced they become fair game for all of your CC. Definitely one of the harder and more annoying matchups you will encounter.”
icebombhunter says “Stay away from brushes, he has a good engage so try to grab him away from your adc. He can stop your e with his q and avoid your r with his w. Roam and play safe.”
fishbully says “ONLY IN SUPPORT ROLE: You can poke Maokai easily, however his "children" are the main factor that makes him a difficult opponent. Take aery or guardian, relatively passive lane.”
Find0 says “Mao sup has fallen off a bit but basically he doesnt get to jump on you otherwise you send him to the nether realm into your team. He can also bait his team into thinking you are cc'd and you can get a fat engage for your team
WIN CON IS PEEL”
Frank6264 says “Actualmente uno de los mejores soportes del meta y uno de los peores enfrentamientos para una Karma. Eviten entrar en los arbustos sin visión porque puede pokearlos con su E y bajarles mucha vida sin siquiera acercarse, además de que su engage no se puede esquivar. Traten de pokearlo en línea para que no pueda entrar ya que es un personaje cuerpo a cuerpo principalmente.”
nZk01 says “(AD/AP) should win with both playstyles, if he W on you you can Q away and he will follow you so you can just hard force him to flash out etc, into box/turret”
Dannala says “Maokai has some sustain and some mobility with an untargetable ability which makes making a proper Cocoon engage difficult if he has a nearby target. Most likely will be a farm lane as he's too tanky and slippery in most cases, but poking him early is simple and with little risk but low reward. ”
Titans Revenge says “Maokai support is, well, broken at the time of writing this guide. He is definitely annoying for Thresh players as he can simply just dodge your hook by pressing E and engaging on you with an instant root. Even as full AP he is hard to kill due to his passive healing on auto attacks.”
RedNBlue says “He is sort of wonky, he will use his sapling toss and bomb you as you take wraith stalkers from him. You just have to hope while your slowed you don't get rooted and jumped on by everybody in bot lane and die. That will be very hard and troublesome.”
ANC Bence says “Position on the left side of the lane no matter what, in this match up you can use bushes because of his E, but with a strong adc on the left side of the lane you can win all ins. Just don't walk into bushes. ”
YourCut says “Conq+Dom, Electro+Inspiration/Electro+Precision. Pretty bad early on, try to cut losses. Stay away from bushes, you outscale pretty hard.”
Borusky says “O poke das batatas dele vai ser chato pra você, mas, se ele der engage em você... DESÇA A PORRADA EM FORMAS DE LÍNGUA ÚMIDA E LEVE NELE.”
GMGZ2 says “A skill match up, whoever hits there abilities better wins. Sadly for Shaco I say Maokai has a slight advantage, both of you have something that can be used in bushes to deal DMG to anyone that gets close. Also, both of you have good poke and CC. Maokai has better sustain though so that is the difference.”
fm Mac says “Maokai can get on you or your adc easily meaning you have to stay on your adc, it shouldn't be the end of the world if he gets on your ad and your ahead but if you get behind he can perma 1 shot you if his adc is there.”
just_juniper says “Imagine Lux. But with way more CC. And instead of being a Demacian noble, it's a literal tree. Avoid bushes like the plague and always stay out of his W range whilst poking. The matchup is winnable, but so annoying.”
InsaneWind says “Does it really need to be said? Saplings! you can use your W to eat them up, at level 4 when you put your second point into your W you wont take much if any health damage from them. Late game thou AP Maokai struggles to survive but deals TONS of damage, be mindful of bushes do not blind check them or you will fall victim to 3-5 little saplings that can take you well below half hp or kill your carries.”
bandeide10 says “Um pouco dificil pois possui uma ótima habilidade de harass ( platinha infinita) e engage quase que inevitáveis. Procure sempre ficar longe das bushs durante a fase de rotas.”
White Cr0w says “Skill matchup.
An smart Maokai will ward his jungle, and ask for help when he is countered so they destroy you in 2v1 with his CC.
When invading, avoid taking common paths, and going 1v1 him isn't a good idea if he has everything up. Focus on feeding your lanes and securing all drakes. Since his ganks are epicly strong earlygame due to jump-stun, make sure your lanes are warded so enemy jungle is, so your allies can predict his ganks.”
moon827 says “Maokai support is not very common, but when you see one, you should not be super afraid of him. Given he does have a lot of cc, he can't do much, unless he has a strong burst adc to follow up.”
Vahlok says “Just try to disengage him as much as you can, so he can't use W on an ally. Depending on the situation, maybe it is a good idea to tank his R to save your allies.”
glorious7678 says “Maokai can wait out your R with his cc. He does alot of damage and will win most short trades, If you take an extended fight you will win.”
Twist21 says “Maokai is one of the tanks that is killable for you in the late game if you itemize properly but for the most part you will have to play for tp roams aswell as against any tank matchup.Standard runes for this one.”
Wicked Cherry says “I've seen it happen and at that time I hated it but he's not really that much of a threat. He can only root you with two of his abilities. So stay out of range or silence him. He's too tanky to kill but great to harass.”
orbiterpluto says “Loads of tankyness and cc. Building enchanter would be the better option as he may target the carry instead of you. Once he roots someone you root him back. Pop your ult when he engages. Keep in mind that Daisy can shield you from him ult so stay behind her when he uses it.”
Stiwy says “He has good early damage so avoid trading at early levels.
When you're level 6 you can try to all-in him, but be aware of his healing passive.
Bramble vest/executioner's + mercury are good items for this lane.
Conquer is your go to rune here.”
TotallyEclipse says “Small window pre-6 where you can maybe kill him if he has zero tank items. His cc however is super annoying you'll never catch him, and his life steal keeps him healthy.”
McConnell2111 says “Depending on their skill they can solo win lane with their cc but you can go in on their adc while he is on yours. Tough trades with his passive but later on you should come out on top with your cc ult.”
HeyItsLeemo says “This guy is just really annoying and tanky, don't rush lane against him, as if he is smart, he will root you under turret and you'll die horribly.”
Daedralus says “This guy can be quite annoying due to his rather stupid damage compared to how tanky he is as well. His hard CC abilities are your main problem as you cannot heal off during these time periods and will really hate the game due to your Q having a delay on its damage and heal proc as you might die during that time interval (personal experience here). His ultimate is also annoying as it provides him damage reduction which also means heal reduction. But overall, if you simply get a sprit visage at one point, his damage will be greatly reduced and your healing increased, that you shouldn't have a problem. Keep your ultimate as a last result and do not engage him with it as it is better to keep it for a 100% heal from a low percentage.”
EnchantedCat says “One of Kayle's easiest matchups since it's practically a free farm lane as Maokai is just a CC-healing machine. Beware of the enemy jungler since if Maokai can get close to you it's probably a free kill and can easily towerdive you with his jungler, however apart from that this lane should be pretty free and you should be able to scale nicely.”
Quezel says “Maokai does a deceptive amount of damage especially in short trades but you win the all in easily just be careful of his w as he can use it to dodge your q.”
SNOBOY says “He has a lot of natural sustain, good base damages, and gets really tanky. Hard to poke him down, and near impossible to kill unless he really messes up.”
Xelaadryth says “This is just awful. Incredibly tanky so he'll outsustain you, teleport even if he gets low, and he can snare you out of your Energy Ball. Just try to push back and cs and land Qs on him when possible.”
Mr. Nyahr says “You can easily outrun his saplings and ultimate, especially with your W. He builds a lot of health, which you shred. Dodge his Q when possible and burn him down. ”
aimez says “Maokai support is not very common, but when you see one, you should not be super afraid of him. Given he does have a lot of cc, he can't do much, unless he has a strong burst adc to follow up.”
PandaSenpai101 says “Never facecheck bushes as his E does more damage if it comes out of a bush. You should look to poke him with Q and vitals. His sustain can become annoying, but it's not too big of a problem. His E costs a lot of mana early, so look to all-in him when he doesn't have mana.”
bluejaypig says “After the rework he is more broken with his ultimate root being very annoying, don't fight him in tight spaces and buy sweeper or ward to not get cheesed by his saplings.”
SawyerNelson says “Thresh's abilities don't stop him much. ULT helps against him like most tanks. But if Maokai is weak it's easy to solo him out and kill him.”
The Lost Drawing says “Se cura mas porque su pasiva depende del daño que reciba por habilidades, y tu daño en mayoría es eso. La 'Cota de Espinas' es buena pero el pega AP y se arma 'Capa de Fuego Solar' que es AP, un 'Yelmo' o de perdida una 'Mascara Abismal' si es conveniente para tu TEAM”
TheComicalBiker says “Let minions take the Saplings (E) and do not let him get close. Be ready to peel for your carry post-6 when Moakai uses hit ultimate.”
drunken hunter says “Maokai is a very tanky champ that doesnt get picked really often. But if he gets picked you have to be careful. He can dash to you, slow you and he takes almost takes 0 dmg when he activates his ult. You can try to do the lvl 2/3 engage but this champ is almost unkillable.
”
L3gislacerator says “His point-and-click CC makes him tough to peel, but you can do it regardless. Just make sure to stun him after he roots a target because if you try to before he can dodge it with his untargetability.”
Pykings says “Pyke vs. Maokai: Simplified Tips
Early Game (Levels 1-6):
Avoid Poke: Maokai has strong poke with his [Q] and [E]. Stay behind minions and avoid unnecessary damage.
Engage Carefully: Maokai can root you with his [W] and burst you down with his [Q] and [E]. Wait for him to waste abilities before going in.
Roam: If lane is tough, roam to mid or help your jungler. Maokai is weaker when alone.
Mid Game (Levels 7-12):
Pick Off Squishies: Focus on catching out squishy targets with your [Q] and [R]. Maokai’s poke can’t save them from your execute.
Vision Control: Use sweeper to clear his wards and deny vision for his team.
Late Game (Levels 13+):
Flank and Execute: Look for flanks to catch carries with your [R]. Maokai’s poke can’t stop your burst if you catch him off guard.
Focus on Carries: Ignore Maokai in teamfights; he’s not a threat. Focus on eliminating his carries.
General Tips:
Bait His Abilities: Maokai’s [W] (root) and [E] (saplings) are key to his poke and disengage. Bait them out before committing to a fight.
Vision Control: Keep key areas warded to track Maokai’s movements and set up picks.
Conclusion:
Avoid Maokai’s poke, bait his disengage abilities, and focus on picking off his carries. Use your mobility and vision control to outmaneuver him.”
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As a Support
