Best Maokai Build & Guide (2026) — League of Legends

Maokai is League of Legends' Twisted Treant — a tanky support who controls brush with explosive Saplings that provide vision and poke, dashes through enemies with Twisted Advance to root them in place, knocks back and slows everyone around him with Bramble Smash, and engages entire team fights with Nature's Grasp — a massive wall of advancing roots that locks down anyone it touches. Maokai excels at providing unmatched bush control and vision through Sapling Toss that zones enemies from entire areas of the map, locking down priority targets with a point-and-click root from Twisted Advance that guarantees follow-up from his carry, and initiating team fights from long range with Nature's Grasp's enormous wall that can root the entire enemy team if they are grouped. Whether you're a support player who wants to dominate lane brushes with saplings that chunk enemies for massive damage, a player who enjoys being the unkillable frontline that starts every fight, or a beginner looking for a straightforward tank support with massive engage potential, this guide covers everything you need to dominate with Maokai in 2026.

Maokai Overview

Maokai operates as a tanky vanguard support who builds health and resistances to absorb damage while providing crowd control, vision, and engage for his team. His kit revolves around controlling brushes with Sapling Toss to provide vision and zone enemies, engaging fights with Twisted Advance's point-and-click root and Nature's Grasp's massive advancing wall, and sustaining through fights with Sap Magic's healing passive that activates more frequently the more abilities are being cast around him — making Maokai harder to kill the longer a fight goes on.

Sap Magic (Passive) empowers Maokai's next basic attack to heal him for 10–130 based on level plus 4.5–10.5% of his maximum health. The cooldown of Sap Magic is reduced by 4 seconds each time Maokai casts an ability or is hit by an enemy's ability. Sap Magic is what makes Maokai deceptively durable in extended fights — in a team fight where multiple abilities are being cast every second, Sap Magic comes off cooldown almost immediately, allowing Maokai to heal repeatedly by weaving auto-attacks between his abilities. The heal scales with maximum health, so as Maokai builds tank items, each Sap Magic proc heals for increasingly significant amounts. In lane, Sap Magic procs give Maokai sustain advantage over poke supports who chip away at his health — every time an enemy casts an ability on Maokai, they are also reducing the cooldown of his heal.

Bramble Smash (Q) sends a shockwave in a line in front of Maokai, dealing magic damage and slowing all enemies hit. Enemies near Maokai are also knocked back. Bramble Smash deals bonus damage based on the target's maximum health, making it effective against tanky targets. In lane, Q is Maokai's primary disengage and self-peel tool — the knockback interrupts enemy dashes and engage attempts, while the slow makes it difficult for enemies to chase his carry. In team fights, the knockback peels for backline carries, and the percentage health damage adds meaningful chip onto front-line tanks.

Twisted Advance (W) causes Maokai to dash to a target enemy, becoming untargetable during the dash, and roots the target for a short duration on arrival while dealing magic damage. Twisted Advance tracks the target even if they dash or Flash during Maokai's travel time — the root is unavoidable once cast. Twisted Advance is Maokai's primary engage tool in lane and one of the most reliable point-and-click CC abilities in the game. The untargetability during the dash lets Maokai dodge incoming abilities while closing the gap, and the guaranteed root on arrival sets up follow-up from his ADC. Combined with Aftershock, W procs bonus resistances on arrival and deals bonus damage after a short delay, making the all-in threatening.

Sapling Toss (E) flings a Sapling to a target location where it remains as a ward-like sentry. Saplings chase nearby enemies, exploding on contact to deal magic damage based on the target's maximum health and slowing them. Saplings placed in brush become empowered — they last significantly longer and deal double damage in multiple bursts. Sapling Toss is the ability that defines Maokai support — brush saplings provide vision, zone enemies from areas of the map, and deal devastating damage to anyone who walks through the bush. In the bot lane, placing empowered saplings in the lane brushes forces the enemy to either avoid the bush entirely (giving up positional control) or walk through and take massive percentage health damage plus a slow. Saplings also provide temporary vision of the area they land in, making them invaluable for checking brushes, dragon pit, and river without face-checking.

Nature's Grasp (R) summons a colossal wall of five bramble projectiles that advance slowly forward in a wide line, dealing magic damage and rooting any enemy champion struck for 0.6 to 2.4 seconds based on the distance the wall has traveled — the farther the roots travel before hitting, the longer they root. Nature's Grasp is one of the most impactful engage ultimates in the game because the wall is enormous, covering a huge area that is nearly impossible for grouped enemies to dodge. At maximum distance, the root lasts 2.4 seconds — longer than most ultimates in the game — and it can hit all five enemy champions simultaneously. Using R from fog of war or behind terrain gives enemies minimal time to react, and following up with W dash onto a rooted target chains the CC for a devastating lockdown.

Strengths

• Sapling Toss provides unmatched brush control and zone denial — empowered saplings in brushes last for an extended duration, deal double damage based on the target's maximum health, and act as sentries that chase and slow anyone who enters the area, allowing Maokai to completely dominate the bot lane brushes and control vision around objectives without spending gold on wards — A single empowered sapling in a lane brush forces the enemy bot lane to concede positional control or take devastating damage. At dragon and baron, filling the surrounding brushes with saplings creates a minefield that chunks any enemy who tries to contest the objective, and the vision saplings provide makes face-checking impossible for the enemy team
• Maokai's crowd control chain of Nature's Grasp into Twisted Advance into Bramble Smash provides over 4 seconds of consecutive CC that locks down targets from long range — the R wall roots for up to 2.4 seconds at max distance, W roots immediately after, and Q knocks back and slows, creating an unavoidable CC chain that no single target can survive without team intervention — This CC chain is reliable because Nature's Grasp covers a massive area that is nearly impossible to dodge when cast from fog of war, and Twisted Advance is point-and-click with no counterplay except cleanse effects. Enemy carries who get caught by the full chain are guaranteed to die because 4+ seconds of lockdown is more than enough for any team to follow up
• Sap Magic's healing passive makes Maokai increasingly difficult to kill in extended fights — every ability cast by Maokai or hitting him reduces the cooldown by 4 seconds, and in chaotic team fights where dozens of abilities are flying, Sap Magic procs almost every auto-attack, healing Maokai for a percentage of his maximum health each time — Against teams that rely on sustained damage to whittle down tanks, Maokai's passive healing combined with his tank items creates a frontline that simply refuses to die. The heal scaling with maximum health means that each tank item Maokai builds makes his passive stronger, creating a compounding durability loop
• Twisted Advance's untargetability during the dash makes Maokai's engage extremely safe — Maokai cannot be hit by any ability during the dash, allowing him to dodge critical enemy CC and damage while simultaneously closing the gap and rooting his target, making it one of the safest engage tools for a melee support — Unlike other engage supports who risk getting blown up during their gap close (like Leona's Zenith Blade or Alistar's Headbutt), Maokai's W makes him untargetable during transit. This means he can dash through Thresh hooks, Morgana bindings, and Lux snares without being hit, arriving safely at his target with a guaranteed root

Weaknesses

• Maokai's damage output is low compared to other supports — his abilities deal moderate base damage that falls off significantly as the game progresses, and his tank build provides no ability power scaling, meaning Maokai relies entirely on his team to provide the damage to kill targets he locks down with CC — If Maokai's team lacks damage or fails to follow up on his engage, the CC chain is wasted. Unlike damage supports like Brand or Zyra who can carry fights with their own damage, Maokai needs his carries to be present and ready to capitalize on every engage opportunity
• Maokai is extremely mana-hungry in the early game — Sapling Toss costs significant mana and Maokai wants to cast it frequently for brush control, but his base mana pool is small and he has no innate mana regeneration beyond his starting support item, meaning aggressive sapling usage in lane can leave him unable to use W or Q when an engage opportunity appears — Managing mana in the first few levels is critical. Throwing saplings every time they come off cooldown will drain Maokai's mana pool within a few rotations, leaving him unable to fight. Biscuit Delivery from the Inspiration tree helps, but Maokai must still be conservative with E usage before his first base
• Nature's Grasp travels slowly and telegraphs Maokai's engage intent — enemies who see the wall advancing have time to Flash, dash, or reposition to avoid the roots, and teams with high mobility can dodge the wall entirely, leaving Maokai without his most impactful ability for the next fight — Against mobile compositions with champions like Ezreal, Lucian, Ahri, or Zed, Nature's Grasp is significantly less reliable because every member of the enemy team can escape the wall. Maokai must use R from fog of war, behind terrain, or during chokepoint fights where enemies cannot sidestep the wall
• Maokai is vulnerable to poke and sustain lanes that outrange his engage tools — champions like Senna, Karma, and Zyra can harass Maokai from outside his W range while poking his ADC, and Maokai cannot force engages against ranged supports who keep their distance and whittle down his health bar before he can close the gap — In lanes where Maokai cannot reach the enemy support with Twisted Advance without taking heavy poke damage, he is forced to play passively and wait for jungle assistance or a positional mistake. Poke supports who respect Maokai's W range make it extremely difficult for him to find engages in lane

Recommended Runes

Primary — Aftershock (Resolve)

• Aftershock — After immobilizing an enemy champion, Maokai gains bonus armor and magic resist for 2.5 seconds, then deals magic damage in an area around him. Aftershock is the optimal keystone for Maokai because Twisted Advance's root triggers it immediately on arrival, giving Maokai bonus resistances during the most dangerous moment of his engage — when he is in melee range of the enemy. The bonus resistances make Maokai significantly harder to burst during the CC chain, and the delayed damage explosion adds meaningful AoE damage to his combo.
• Font of Life — Marks enemy champions that Maokai immobilizes or slows. Allied champions who attack marked enemies heal over time. Font of Life synergizes with Maokai's kit because every one of his abilities applies crowd control — Q slows and knocks back, W roots, E slows, and R roots. In team fights, Font of Life marks multiple enemies simultaneously, providing sustained healing to Maokai's entire team as they focus his CC targets. The healing is particularly effective for his ADC during lane trades after a W engage.
• Bone Plating — After taking damage from an enemy champion, the next 3 instances of damage from that champion within 1.5 seconds are reduced. Bone Plating is essential for Maokai's all-in pattern because he dashes into melee range with Twisted Advance and immediately takes retaliation damage. Bone Plating reduces the damage of the first three hits Maokai takes after engaging, which combined with Aftershock's bonus resistances makes his early trades significantly more favorable.
• Unflinching — Grants tenacity and slow resist that increases based on missing health. Unflinching is valuable for Maokai because he frequently dives into the middle of the enemy team where he is the primary target for CC. As Maokai's health drops during a fight, the increasing tenacity reduces the duration of stuns, roots, and slows applied to him, allowing him to continue casting abilities and proccing Sap Magic for healing. The slow resist also helps Maokai stick to targets when chasing after W root expires.

Secondary — Inspiration

• Biscuit Delivery — Grants a Total Biscuit of Everlasting Will at minutes 2, 4, and 6. Each biscuit restores health and mana and permanently increases maximum mana by 40. Biscuit Delivery is essential for Maokai support because his early mana costs are punishing — Sapling Toss and Twisted Advance both cost significant mana, and aggressive lane play can drain his pool quickly. The biscuits provide emergency sustain during trades and the permanent mana increase helps Maokai maintain his sapling zoning throughout the laning phase.
• Cosmic Insight — Grants bonus item haste and summoner spell haste. Cosmic Insight reduces the cooldown on Flash and Ignite, both critical summoner spells for Maokai. Lower Flash cooldown means more frequent Flash-W engage opportunities, and lower Ignite cooldown gives Maokai more kill pressure in lane. The item haste also reduces Solstice Sleigh and Locket of the Iron Solari cooldowns, making Maokai's utility items available more frequently in extended fights.

Recommended Item Build

Based on data from over 10,000 ranked Maokai matches tracked on dodge.gg, here's the highest winrate build path.

Early Game (0–10 min)

• World Atlas — The standard starting support item that generates gold when nearby minions die and upgrades into a ward-granting item at higher tiers. World Atlas is Maokai's gold income source since he does not farm minions — the passive gold generation and quest progression let Maokai build toward his tank items while providing wards for vision control. The health and mana regeneration sustain Maokai through the laning phase.
• Boots of Swiftness — Grants enhanced movement speed and reduces the effectiveness of slows applied to Maokai. Boots of Swiftness are optimal for Maokai because he needs to close the gap for Twisted Advance and reposition during team fights. The slow resistance stacks with Unflinching to make Maokai nearly immune to slows at low health, ensuring he can always reach his engage targets. The extra movement speed also helps Maokai roam from bot lane to place saplings at objectives or gank mid.
• Solstice Sleigh — Grants health and ability haste, with a passive that heals Maokai and speeds up nearby allies when Maokai immobilizes an enemy champion. Solstice Sleigh is Maokai's highest priority first completed item because every one of his CC abilities triggers the passive — W root, Q knockback, E slow, and R root all activate the heal and speed boost. In team fights, Solstice Sleigh's passive triggers multiple times as Maokai chains his CC abilities, healing him and accelerating his team toward the locked-down targets.

Core Build (10–20 min)

• Trailblazer — Grants health, armor, ability haste, and a passive that creates a trail of speed-boosting terrain behind Maokai when he moves near allied champions. Trailblazer enhances Maokai's engage and team-fight presence by letting his entire team follow up faster after he lands Nature's Grasp or Twisted Advance. The speed trail helps Maokai's carries reposition during fights and makes rotations to objectives faster for the whole team. The armor and health make Maokai tankier for frontlining.
• Bandlepipes — Grants health, magic resist, ability haste, and a passive shield that activates on nearby allies when Maokai uses an ability near them, reducing incoming magic damage. Bandlepipes is excellent on Maokai because his frequent ability casts in team fights proc the shielding passive repeatedly, protecting his carries from AoE magic damage. The magic resist rounds out Maokai's defensive profile against AP threats, and the ability haste lets him cast abilities more frequently for both CC and Sap Magic healing.
• Locket of the Iron Solari — Grants armor, magic resist, ability haste, and an active that shields all nearby allied champions. Locket is a core team-fight item for Maokai because the active shield can absorb a significant amount of damage on his entire team during the opening seconds of a fight. Timing Locket when the enemy team commits their burst abilities protects Maokai's carries through the most dangerous moment, and the bonus resistances make Maokai's frontline even more durable.

Late Game (25+ min)

• Thornmail — Grants armor, health, and a passive that applies Grievous Wounds to enemies who attack Maokai and to enemies Maokai immobilizes. Thornmail is the optimal anti-heal item for Maokai because he applies Grievous Wounds to the entire enemy team through his AoE CC — Nature's Grasp roots, Bramble Smash slows, and Twisted Advance roots all trigger the enhanced Grievous Wounds application. Against teams with healing from champions like Soraka, Yuumi, or lifesteal-heavy carries, Thornmail is essential.
• Unending Despair — Grants health, armor, and ability haste, with a passive that drains health from nearby enemies in combat. Unending Despair complements Maokai's playstyle of diving into the middle of the enemy team because the drain passive deals damage and heals Maokai based on the number of nearby enemies. Combined with Sap Magic's healing passive, Unending Despair makes Maokai nearly unkillable in prolonged team fights where he is surrounded by enemies.
• Spirit Visage — Grants health, magic resist, ability haste, and a passive that increases all healing and shielding received by 25%. Spirit Visage amplifies Sap Magic's healing, Solstice Sleigh's heal procs, and any allied heals or shields applied to Maokai. Against heavy AP teams, Spirit Visage's magic resist combined with Bandlepipes makes Maokai extremely resistant to magic damage while the healing amplification ensures he sustains through prolonged engagements.

Ability Priority

1. Nature's Grasp (R) — Level at 6, 11, and 16. Each rank increases the base damage and reduces the cooldown, giving Maokai more frequent access to his primary engage tool. Higher-rank R also increases the root duration at maximum distance, making long-range engages even more devastating in the late game when death timers are long and a single pick can end the game.
2. Sapling Toss (E) — Max first. Each rank increases the base damage, maximum health percentage damage, and slow duration. Maxing E first is essential for support Maokai because empowered brush saplings are his primary source of lane pressure and zone control — higher damage makes saplings chunk enemies harder, and the increased slow makes it more difficult for enemies to escape after triggering a sapling. Saplings also provide free vision, making E max the best investment for lane dominance.
3. Bramble Smash (Q) — Max second. Each rank increases the damage and slow percentage. The increased slow from higher Q ranks helps Maokai peel more effectively for his carries in mid-game team fights, and the bonus maximum health damage scales well against enemy tanks and bruisers. Q's knockback also becomes more impactful as fights become larger and disrupting enemy positioning matters more.
4. Twisted Advance (W) — Max last. Each rank increases the root duration slightly and reduces the cooldown. While the root duration increase is valuable, a single point in W provides the core functionality — point-and-click dash with untargetability and root — and the CC duration increase per rank is small enough that maxing E and Q first provides more overall value. The root from rank 1 W is already long enough to chain with Q knockback.

Playstyle Tips

Early Game / Laning Phase

Maokai's early game focuses on dominating the bot lane brushes with empowered Sapling Toss, looking for Twisted Advance all-ins when the enemy missteps, and building up Biscuit stacks and World Atlas gold to reach Solstice Sleigh as quickly as possible. Maokai is one of the strongest early lane supports when his saplings are positioned well in brushes.

Start E at level 1 and immediately place an empowered sapling in the bot lane brush closest to where the minion waves will meet. Empowered saplings deal devastating damage — the percentage health scaling means even level 1 saplings chunk enemies for a significant portion of their health bar. If the enemy ADC or support walks through the brush, the sapling chases them, explodes for double damage, and slows them, often taking a quarter of their health at level 1. This immediate brush control establishes lane dominance before the first minion dies.

Take W at level 2 for your all-in combo. If the enemy triggered a sapling and is at 60-70% health, the W-Q combo plus your ADC's damage is often enough for a kill — Twisted Advance dashes you to the target with a root, Aftershock grants bonus resistances, and Bramble Smash knocks them back toward your ADC. Communicate with your ADC to focus the rooted target immediately.

Continue placing saplings in lane brushes between trades. The threat of empowered saplings forces the enemy bot lane to play away from brushes, which concedes positional control and makes it easier for your ADC to farm. If the enemy support tries to clear saplings by walking through them, punish with W engage while they are slowed. If they respect the saplings, the zone control alone provides a winning lane.

Manage mana carefully — Sapling Toss costs significant mana and Maokai's pool is small early. Use Biscuit Delivery procs to sustain through aggressive sapling usage. Do not throw saplings into empty space without a purpose. Every sapling should either be placed in a brush for empowered damage and vision, or aimed directly at an enemy for poke.

Mid Game

Mid-game Maokai with Solstice Sleigh and Trailblazer is a team-fight initiator who controls objectives with sapling vision, engages fights with Nature's Grasp from fog of war, and peels for his carries with Bramble Smash and Twisted Advance while Sap Magic keeps him alive through sustained fights. The mid game is where Maokai's engage and vision control reaches its peak impact.

Before objective fights, fill the surrounding brushes with saplings for vision and zone control. At dragon, place saplings in the river brushes and the pixel brush — any enemy who tries to contest through a brush takes massive damage and is slowed, giving your team free information and damage. At baron, saplings in the river and tri-brush create a defensive perimeter that alerts your team to flanks and chunks enemies before the fight even starts.

In team fights, look for Nature's Grasp engages from fog of war or over terrain. The wall advances slowly, so enemies who see it coming can dodge — but if cast from behind a wall, through a chokepoint, or during a chaotic fight when enemies are distracted, the root catches multiple targets. Follow up R with W onto the highest-priority rooted target, Q to knock back anyone who tries to peel, and let your team collapse on the locked-down enemies.

Use Trailblazer's speed trail and Solstice Sleigh's CC-triggered speed boost to help your team follow up on your engages. After landing W on a target, the Solstice Sleigh passive heals you and speeds up nearby allies, creating a burst of team movement that closes the gap between your carries and the locked-down enemy. Position so that Trailblazer's trail leads from your backline toward the fight.

Late Game

Late-game Maokai with full tank build is a nearly unkillable frontline who decides team fights by landing Nature's Grasp on grouped enemies, chains over 4 seconds of CC onto priority targets with R-W-Q, and sustains through prolonged fights with Sap Magic procs that heal for massive amounts thanks to his high maximum health. The late game requires patience to find the right Nature's Grasp angle, because one good R root on the enemy carries wins the game.

In late-game team fights, Maokai should be the first member of his team to commit. Cast Nature's Grasp from the maximum range possible — ideally from fog of war or behind terrain — targeting the enemy backline. At maximum distance, the root lasts 2.4 seconds, which is long enough for Maokai to W onto a rooted carry and chain additional CC. After engaging, activate Locket of the Iron Solari to shield your team as they follow up, and use Q to knock back any enemy who tries to peel for the locked-down carry.

After the initial engage, weave auto-attacks between abilities to proc Sap Magic as frequently as possible. In a full team fight where abilities are being cast constantly, Sap Magic's cooldown is reduced by 4 seconds per ability cast or received — meaning Maokai can heal every 2-3 seconds. Combined with Spirit Visage's healing amplification and Unending Despair's health drain, Maokai becomes nearly impossible to kill without focused burst damage or Grievous Wounds.

If the game reaches a decisive objective fight, Maokai's sapling vision and Nature's Grasp engage can force the fight on his terms. Fill the area with saplings for complete vision control, wait for the enemy team to group in a chokepoint or near the objective, and cast R through the tightest angle. A 5-person Nature's Grasp root at maximum distance roots the entire enemy team for 2.4 seconds — enough time for Maokai's team to win any fight regardless of gold deficit.

Matchups

Favorable

• Pantheon — Pantheon support relies on aggressive all-ins with Shield Vault stun and Comet Spear poke to dominate lane. Maokai counters Pantheon because Twisted Advance's untargetability dodges Comet Spear during the dash, Bramble Smash knocks Pantheon back after his Shield Vault stun ends, and empowered saplings in brushes punish Pantheon's aggressive positioning. Pantheon's engage is predictable — he must walk into W range to use Shield Vault, and Maokai's Aftershock resistances plus Bone Plating absorb most of Pantheon's burst damage. Post-6, Nature's Grasp outscales Pantheon's Grand Starfall in team fight impact.
• Morgana — Morgana support relies on landing Dark Binding for picks and using Black Shield to prevent allied CC. Maokai counters Morgana because Sapling Toss chunks Morgana through Black Shield (saplings deal damage regardless of the spell shield), empowered brush saplings zone Morgana away from landing Dark Binding angles, and Maokai's multiple CC sources force Morgana to choose which one to Black Shield — if she shields the carry from W root, Nature's Grasp still roots them, and vice versa. Morgana cannot shield all of Maokai's CC simultaneously.
• Lux — Lux support relies on long-range Light Binding snares and Lucent Singularity poke to harass and pick off enemies. Maokai counters Lux because Twisted Advance's untargetability dodges Light Binding during the dash, Maokai's tankiness absorbs Lux's poke without being threatened by her burst, and empowered saplings in brushes deny Lux the vision she needs to land skillshots safely. Lux is extremely fragile — one W engage onto Lux forces her Flash or kills her outright, and without Flash she is an easy target for repeated engages.

Even

• Nautilus — Nautilus is a fellow tank engage support who locks down targets with Dredge Line hook and Depth Charge ultimate. The matchup is even because both champions provide reliable point-and-click CC and tanky frontlines — Nautilus has stronger single-target lockdown with his passive root and Depth Charge, but Maokai has better area control with saplings and wider team-fight engage with Nature's Grasp. Lane trades are close because both champions proc Aftershock and absorb each other's damage. The lane often comes down to which ADC plays the engage follow-up better.
• Thresh — Thresh is a versatile support who provides hooks, lantern saves, and Flay displacement. The matchup is even because Thresh's Death Sentence can punish Maokai if he mispositions, but Maokai's Twisted Advance dashes through Flay and Death Sentence during the untargetable frames. Thresh's lantern can save allies from Maokai's engage, but Maokai's sapling vision reveals Thresh's hook angles. Both champions provide strong team fight utility — Thresh through picks and lantern saves, Maokai through AoE engage and peel.
• Alistar — Alistar is a tanky engage support with Headbutt-Pulverize combo and Unbreakable Will damage reduction. The matchup is even because both are melee tank supports who want to engage — Alistar's combo is faster and more reliable in short range, but Maokai's Nature's Grasp provides longer-range initiation. Alistar's Headbutt can interrupt Maokai's position after W lands, and Unbreakable Will makes Alistar extremely difficult to kill. In lane, both champions look for level 2 all-ins and the matchup often comes down to who engages first and whose ADC follows up better.

Unfavorable

• Janna — Janna is a disengage enchanter who prevents Maokai from reaching her carry with Howling Gale tornado, Zephyr slow, and Monsoon ultimate knockback. Janna counters Maokai because Monsoon pushes Maokai away after he W engages, completely negating his all-in by separating him from his target and healing her carry. Howling Gale interrupts Maokai's follow-up after W root ends, and Janna's movement speed from her passive and Zephyr keeps her permanently out of W range. Maokai cannot force engages against a Janna who plays patiently and saves her disengage tools.
• Swain — Swain is a mage support who punishes Maokai's engage with Vision of Empire poke, Nevermove root, and Demonic Ascension sustain. Swain counters Maokai because Nevermove's root outranges Twisted Advance, Demonic Ascension's sustained drain damage and healing makes Swain impossible for Maokai to kill in extended fights, and Vision of Empire poke chips away at Maokai's health from outside his engage range. When Maokai W engages onto Swain's ADC, Swain pulls him with Passive and roots him with Nevermove, turning the engage into a death sentence for Maokai.
• Senna — Senna is a poke and utility support who outranges Maokai's entire kit with her auto-attacks and Piercing Darkness. Senna counters Maokai because her massive auto-attack range lets her harass Maokai and his ADC without ever being in Twisted Advance range, her Curse of the Black Mist camouflage lets her and her ADC escape Nature's Grasp engages, and her Dawning Shadow shield can save allies from Maokai's all-in damage from across the map. Senna's poke accumulates soul stacks that increase her range further as the game progresses, making the matchup worse for Maokai over time.

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