Tank
Beginner Rule
Be careful walking through unwarded bushes — Maokai's saplings can deal surprising damage.
Maokai is a tank who excels at controlling space and starting fights. He wants to use Twisted Advance (W) — his targeted root ability — to lock enemies down before his team follows up. Many beginners underestimate how much vision and control Maokai gains through his saplings.
Level 6 – Nature's Grasp adds powerful engage tools.
First Tank Item – Becomes significantly harder to kill.
Objective Fights – Excels at controlling space.
Targeted root
Sapling vision control
Long-range ultimate
Objective setups
QWhat it does
Knocks back nearby enemies dealing magic damage and slowing.
How to play against
Short range knockback. Back off if he's close — the slow enables his team to follow up.
WWhat it does
Becomes untargetable and dashes to a target rooting them on arrival.
How to play against
He's untargetable during the dash — don't waste CC or abilities. Use hard CC right after he roots you.
EWhat it does
Flings a sapling that guards the area. Far more effective in brush where it deals full damage.
How to play against
Ward brush near him. The saplings in brush deal massive damage and are hard to see.
RWhat it does
Summons a massive bramble wall that slowly advances forward rooting enemies it reaches.
How to play against
The wall crawls forward rooting everything it touches. Move behind it or to the sides — not in its path.
W → Q → Follow-Up
Standard engage combo.
Sapling Setup → Objective Control
Creates pressure before fights.
R → Team Engage
Starts teamfights safely.
Sap Magic: each nearby spell cast charges his passive. At full stacks his next basic attack heals him for a portion of his max health. Every ability cast around him charges this heal — he sustains in teamfights passively.
