vs Maokai
FavoredDifficulty
Press the Attack
Extended trades, 1v1 dominance
Summoner Spells
Starting Items
Standard Build
Situational Items
7-5
14-10
18-14
130-90
What To Do
- -First, Maokai players will use their W, Twisted Advance when you use your Q on him to dodge your Q.
- -His W is 525 range, which is spot on perfect with our auto attack range.
- -However, our Q is 1025 range, so the goal for maokai is to try to land longer ranged Qs on him.
- -Legit the only way you'll get this ability off because if you walk to close then he will dodge your Q with his W every time.
- -If you blind Maokai, he cannot W you since it is a lock on ability, but make sure he is actuall nearsighted first before walking up so that he doesn't get his W off before the nearsight de-buff applies.
- -Maokai actually does incredible damage, but he relies on his all-in combo to really ever do damage to you.
- -His Qs are easy to dodge in lane, which makes his sapplings his only form of threat, which aren't that easy to land.
- -If maokai Ws you, just retaliate with vault insantly and consume a harrier proc to out run the rest of his combo.
- -Be careful of entering bushes top lane becasue maokai will likely stack those with sapplings. You can't really outrun Maokai R, and so just watch out for his engage post level-6.
- -If he iniates with his R, and you can't get out of it, save vault for after. Let the R root you, then when Maokai Ws you, vault away after his W to allow you to escape his engage.
- -Play to scale, any 2-3 item combination including last whisper will shred any armor maokai built up until that point.
Level-by-Level
Conduct the Quinn Cheese level 1 from the bush. Mao will throw his Q back to trade, so what I like to do is wait for my passive to mark him, then E him and side step instantly to juke his Q. After he uses it, I run him down with autos until he is under tower, and then I zone him off the wave by standing in between the wave and him so he loses EXP.
Mao W range is the exact same as your autoattack range. If you are in AA range of Mao, don't use Q on him because a good Mao will dodge your Q with his W on you. Only use Q if you are further than your AA range. If Q lands, go in for a trade because he can't W you.
Be careful walking into bushes because his sapplings will be there. A neat little trick is to use W in lane when he has sapplings in the bushes, and then walk near them to make them chase you. Since they are revealed, the sapplings will run after you without you having to facecheck the bushes, which will make him waste these sapplings. Try not to use E too aggresively in lane because if you do, Mao will W you after and get a really good trade on you. I like to save E to disengage for when he Ws onto me.
[S16 Note: Because no more unflinching, his R is a bit of a threat, not so much on its own, but how easy it can set up ganks into his full combo.] If you are alone with Mao and can't escape it, let it hit you early because his R root increases based on the distance travelled. After it roots you, Q Mao to force his W. When his W is down, use E to disengage with ease. Consider flashing using flash if jg shows on the map.
