How to play Maokai
Maokai – the Twisted Treant – is based on our LoL Support Tier List on patch 14.23 a A-Tier 
Support champion. Based on ranked matches from summoners with a PLATINUM+ tier, Maokai has a win rate of 51.6%, a pick rate of 3%, a ban rate of 2.7% and an average KDA Ratio of 0.0, which shows that the 
Tank is in a good spot in the current meta of season 14. If you want to learn how to play Maokai on your matches, keep in mind that this champion is mechanically simple to play in LoL. This Maokai guide will give you also an understanding on how to beat Maokai. Besides the upcoming Maokai Support Build the position Top is a valid choice as well.
Pregame Build
In champion select you need to choose your Maokai runes and summoner spells. The best Maokai Support Runes 14.23 are 
Resolve as the primary path and 
Inspiration as the secondary path. The most supportive Maokai keystone rune is 
Aftershock. 
Flash and 
Ignite are the summoner spells, which fits this LoL Maokai Build the most.
Item Build on Maokai
The starter items for the best Maokai Build on patch 14.23 are 
Health Potion, Health Potion, 
World Atlas, and a 
Oracle Lens as the trinket. As the game progresses, the most popular Maokai items are 
Locket of the Iron Solari and 
Trailblazer. 
Boots of Swiftness are the most bought Maokai boots by Pros. This Maokai Build will exorbitantly increase your chances to gain LP and to climb the leaderboard in LoL.
Laning Phase
When it comes to gameplay, Maokai is pretty simple, especially with this Maokai Build. Most of your damage comes from your saplings, so you can focus on planting several of them in a single bush – not too close to the minion wave, or they will be aggro'd by them – and then wait for an unsuspecting enemy to walk in. Because of the fear of walking into the brush, you can zone the enemies away from farming, causing them to lose out on experience and gold.
If you do have a good opportunity to engage, Maokai is pretty great at that from level two onwards. The best thing to do is to whittle down your enemies with a sapling poke, then charge at them with 
Twisted Advance. Once they're rooted, you can walk a bit in front of them and use your 
Bramble Smash to push them closer towards your ally. Remember that your auto-attacks do a lot of damage in the early levels too, and they will heal you when 
Sap Magic is up as well.
Maokai is great at avoiding ganks thanks to the fact that saplings work as security as well. Place a sapling in the tri-bush or the river bush, and they will detect the enemy jungler or midlaner if they approach. If your jungler is ganking for you, don't be afraid to burn a Flash to ensure that Twisted Advance finds its target. Your ultimate is also a fantastic initiation or follow-up tool when you are getting a gank.
Team Fights
While Maokai is somewhat tanky compared to other AP supports, with the AP support build you will want to stay far away from the front line. In a teamfight, your usual job is to either follow up on an engage, find a pick with Twisted Advance, or peel an enemy off for your botlaner.
Sapling Toss is generally not very useful in team fights, unless you are fighting somewhere in the jungle where there is brush to take advantage of. Peeling is a breeze for Maokai with his targeted root, and he can follow it up by knocking the enemy back with Bramble Smash or activating 
Nature's Grasp.
Maokai Abilities
At the beginning of a match start to skill the ability Bramble Smash on Maokai. As the match progresses, it is best to maximise Bramble Smash into Twisted Advance and at last Sapling Toss. Bramble Smash is a very strong ability of Maokai in order to build up a lead and dominate your opponents. The passive is called Sap Magic and there is no need to set it manually on a Maokai Build.
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.
Biography
Read Maokai's bioMaokai is a rageful, towering treant who fights the unnatural horrors of the Shadow Isles. He was twisted into a force of vengeance after a magical cataclysm destroyed his home, surviving undeath only through the Waters of Life infused within his heartwood. Once a peaceful nature spirit, Maokai now furiously battles to banish the scourge of unlife from the Shadow Isles and restore his home to its former beauty.
Available Maokai Skins
Besides the Maokai build you can select a skin for Maokai. The best Maokai skins you can find below.
Explore
- Short Story: Nightbloom by Rayla Heide
The chill wind whips through cracks in my bark with a hollow whistling sound. I shiver. My limbs have long forgotten the warmth of summer.