Maokai

Introduction

Maokai is a tanky Support champion in LoL that is often seen in the top and mid lane. He’s a powerful champion and has a lot of utility to offer. In this article, we’ll cover all of Maokai’s abilities, strengths, and weaknesses so you can get the most out of playing as or against him. Read on to learn all about this powerful champion!

Overview of Maokai

Maokai, the Twisted Treant, is a tanky caster champion from the renowned MOBA game, League of Legends. Belonging to the Nature family of champions, Maokai has a unique set of abilities that are focused around his role as the protector for his team. He is especially adept at dealing with groups of enemies and pushing out lanes with his team. His spells and ability effects complement his playstyle extremely well, making him both an incredibly versatile champion and a great asset for any team composition.

Maokai is often seen jungling or laning with another tank due to his extremely potent crowd control abilities. While he can obviously deliver damage in lane trading against foes, Maokai’s true power lies in being able to set up teammates for kills through creative use of crowd control abilities like Roots (W) and Sapling Toss (E). Alongside this are powerful defensive spells like Sprouting Destruction (Q), which provides an AOE shield to himself and allies around him while also slowing enemies within its range. His ultimate Vengeful Maelstrom provides an area-of-effect damage reduction aura while providing vision on enemy champions who stand within its perimeter.

All these aspects make Maokai a great side kick champion no matter what situation your team finds themselves in; whether it’s defending towers or engaging into a big fight, you can trust your Treant friend to make sure Allies have the required utility needed for success!

Maokai’s Abilities

Maokai is a tank champion who relies heavily on crowd control and area-of-effect damage to help his team. His kit of abilities lets him provide frontline protection, not just to himself but also to other members of the team.

Maokai’s passive ability is called ‘Sap Magic’. This ability grants him bonus armor and magic resist when near friendly champions, while dealing bonus magic damage whenever Maokai decides to strike an enemy unit.

His first ability, Saplings Toss, allows Maokai to throw a sapling at his opponents which will then explode after a brief delay for area-of-effect damage. The second ability is Arcane Smash; Maokai smashes the ground in front of him with both hands sending out an arc of arcane energy that damages nearby enemies.

Twisted Advance is Maokai’s third ability granting him movement speed if he moves near enemy units who are rooted in place from their Sapling Toss or Summoner spells such as Exhaust or Flash. Lastly, his Ultimate – Vengeful Maelstrom – allows Maokai to create a circle of storm around him to trap enemies while slowing them and also increasing magical damage they take while they’re inside it.

Maokai’s Strengths

Maokai is a unique and powerful champion in League of Legends. His ability to control the battlefield makes him one of the most sought after champions by players. The sustain he provides to his team and his ability to stay alive in fights makes him a great choice for any team composition.

Let’s get into the details of Maokai’s strengths and how they can help you dominate in the game:

His Tanky Nature

Maokai is a formidable tank champion in League of Legends, thanks to his natural tanky nature and his crowd-control power. With his passive, Sap Magic, Maokai gains bonus health and reduces damage taken whenever he is hit by an enemy ability. Additionally, Maokai’s E skill, Twisted Advance, can be used to root an enemy champion or minion in place for a few seconds. This gives Maokai the opportunity to either follow up with another root or use a powerful ult if needed.

Maokai’s ult, Vengeful Maelstrom, also helps him survive against ganks or when focused by enemies in teamfights. When activated this spell creates a magical ring around Maokai that applies a slow effect on enemies and absorbs damage on allies inside the area-of-effect of the spell. After the duration of the spell ends or it soaks up enough damage (whichever comes first), it explodes dealing magic damage to all opponents caught inside of its area upon detonation.

Overall, due to his skillset composition as well as ability effects plus passive bonus health and damage reduction capabilities, Maokai will often have both enough time and self-sustainability against multiple projectile attacks while being able to effectively protect himself and allied champions against incoming crowd control effects.

His Ability to Control Crowds

Maokai is an incredibly powerful champion and is known for his ability to control crowds in League of Legends. His kit includes a variety of crowd control options which can help him survive in almost any situation.

His passive, Sap Magic, gives him bonus health and movement speed whenever nearby enemies use their spells or basic attacks on him. This allows Maokai to survive dive attempts from the enemy team, as well as giving him an opportunity to heal up with spells or items.

Maokai’s W, Twisted Advance, is a strong crowd control ability which can be used both offensively or defensively. Maokai can root multiple enemies at once while also dealing significant damage if they are caught in the attack radius. Additionally, using this move strategically during teamfights can help separate a team’s backline from the frontline which allows Maokai’s allies to isolate targets easier and gain an advantage.

Maokai’s ultimate ability, Nature’s Grasp, gives his allies extra protection while in battle by surrounding them with five untargetable saplings that stun and explode when enemies get too close. When combined with Maokai’s other abilities, he can cause great disruption within a chaotic fight allowing his allies further advantages over their opponents as Nature’s Grasp knocks away any enemies that move too close – giving his team plenty of time to engage multiple targets at once or retreat away from danger if needed!

His Ability to Heal and Protect Allies

Maokai is a formidable champion due to his ability to heal and protect allies. His passive, Sap Magic, gives him mana regeneration for every enemy he strikes with an ability. His Q, Twisted Advance, roots the target and deals damage in moderate range. His W, Sapling Toss, releases three bouncing saplings that root enemies on impact and deal magic damage over time. The saplings also act as wards with a high vision radius when planted on the ground granting Maokai more awareness of his surroundings.

In addition to dealing damage, Maokai has two abilities designed to provide protection to himself and allied champions – Vengeful Maelstrom and Nature’s Grasp. The first creates a vortex around himself that absorbs all incoming damage while protecting allies in the area while Nature’s Grasp gives him a shield in form of entangling roots which stops enemies from entering the AoE radius for a certain duration. These two abilities give Maokai great staying power and sustain both for himself and his teammates in team fights or skirmishes alike making him a very reliable teammate in the game of League of Legends!

Maokai’s Weaknesses

Maokai is a strong tank character in League of Legends, but like all champions he does have weaknesses. He is relatively immobile, has a low range attack and has limited crowd control options. All of these weaknesses can be exploited by a smart opponent and can lead to a quick defeat.

Let’s take a look at some of Maokai’s weaknesses in more detail:

His Lack of Mobility

Maokai is a powerful and tanky champion, but his lack of mobility can be his downfall. During team fights, the enemy team will often disengage or reposition to exploit this deficiency and make it difficult for Maokai to keep up. Without the ability to quickly get into position or pursue enemies, he loses much of his effectiveness.

Additionally, Maokai has a limited array of tools at his disposal. His main source of damage comes from saplings, which are easy to avoid if enemies predict them well. On top of that, most of his crowd control comes from Twisted Advance, which only stuns one champion at a time and relatively short duration. This forces Maokai to use other abilities such as Vengeful Maelstrom in order to make plays or protect allies from multiple damage sources at once. It also leaves him vulnerable if the team needs him to peel for other carries during extended engagements.

His Lack of Damage Output

Maokai’s primary drawback comes in the form of his lack of damage output. This is especially true during the early game, where Maokai will appear at best irrelevant and at worst completely useless in team fights due to his inability to deal any meaningful amount of damage.

Maokai’s ability set is unable to produce a significant burst or sustained damage and any output he provides is primarily intended to disrupt enemy champions, rather than kill them. While this can be beneficial in certain scenarios, it can also become counterproductive if Maokai enters a fight without adequately prepared teammates who can capitalize on his disruption.

In result of this weak damage output, Maokai heavily relies on his allies for success since he lacks the capability to close out most fights single-handedly. As such, the champion works best in team compositions with strong frontliners and ample follow-up crowd control that can take advantage of Maokai’s debilitating effects on enemy champion priority targets.

His Vulnerability to Crowd Control

Maokai is exceptionally vulnerable to hard crowd control abilities in the early game, as he needs to engage with the enemy team in order to be effective. If he does not have dependable forms of either crowd control or protection, Maokai is likely to fall behind during team fights despite his impressive tankiness.

Additionally, Maokai’s innate reliance on auto attacking leaves him vulnerable in terms of kiting. Without a Followup gap closer like Twisted Advance, Maokai often struggles at closing distance and performing his best plays in the top lane.

By actively managing his abilities and focusing on positioning, Maokai can use different positioning tools available to him (Sapling Toss) for a unique playstyle that both protects him and enables aggressive plays when necessary.

Maokai’s Role in Teamfights

Maokai is a powerful champion in League of Legends (LOL). With his crowd control capabilities, he plays an important role in teamfights. Maokai is a tanky and resilient character who can absorb damage and protect his teammates. He can also use his ult to initiate teamfights, root enemies, and setup kills.

Let’s go over some of the key aspects of Maokai’s role in teamfights:

Initiating Teamfights

Maokai is a tanky champion with crowd control and area of effect abilities that make him well-suited for initiating teamfights. He typically initiates fights by using Twisted Advance to dash in, stunning enemy champions, and followed up by using Sapling Toss to slow the enemies down. This creates an opening for his team to follow up and allows Maokai to use Vengeful Maelstrom to protect his team while they break through the enemy’s lines. Additionally, Maokai’s battle-starting ultimate, Nature’s Grasp, can be used to drag an enemy back towards his team or away from a dangerous situation.

Once a fight is already underway, Maokai can use his natural durability and crowd control effects such as Roots or Vengeful Maelstrom to prevent enemies from disrupting his team’s formation or entering their backline. His damage output may not be as high as some other champions in the game but he excels at creating openings for his teammates that his opponents have difficulty dealing with.

In conclusion, Maokai can easily recognize chances to start fights and then excel at disrupting enemy formations with strong crowd control effects that allow him and his teammates to gain an advantage. He may not have the highest sustained damage output but he takes on the important role of protecting your teammates from harm while providing them with much needed opportunities for victory during teamfights.

Protecting Allies

In teamfights, Maokai excels at protecting his allies from incoming damage. His passive, Sap Magic, allows him to heal himself and nearby allies when using abilities. Additionally, his Twisted Advance can be used to engage or disengage, either snaring enemies or freeing allies depending on the situation. His Sapling Toss acts as an area denial tool that discourages enemies from pushing in; even if they get too close, the saplings will burst into exploding seeds that deal damage and slow opponents.

Finally, Maokai’s Ultimate Spell (Vengeful Maelstrom) can protect his whole team by reducing incoming damage with a massive AoE shield. All of these tools combined make Maokai an incredibly useful ally in chaotic teamfights.

Disrupting Enemies

Maokai is a powerful disruptor in teamfights, able to single out a priority target and cut off opponents’ escape paths. His ultimate ability, Nature’s Grasp, spreads thick thorns which root any enemies caught in its area of effect. This makes it extremely effective for disrupting the enemy team from long range and allowing your allies to swoop in for the kill.

Once engaged in close combat, Maokai can use his Twisted Advance ability to pull enemies towards him or knock them away from his allies if needed. This makes it an effective disengage tool as well as a strong crowd control ability that keeps your backline safe from prospective assassins or skirmishers. Finally, Maokai also has an AoE slow with Bramble Smash and Sapling Toss as well as a shield with Arbor Dash which allows him to protect himself and his team mates in heated team fights.

All of these abilities combine to make Maokai an ideal disruption initiator who is hardy and versatile enough to play multiple roles within the team fight scenarios; be it executing assassins or providing body blocking, Maokai is always ready to lend a hand.

Tips and Tricks

Maokai is a powerful champion in League of Legends. With his high mobility, resilient nature, and powerful crowd control abilities, he can be an invaluable asset to any team. If played correctly, he can be a real game changer in any match.

In this article, we will be discussing some key tips and tricks to help you better play Maokai and get the most out of his potential:

Positioning

Positioning is one of the key aspects to playing Maokai effectively. Knowing when and where to place your saplings, teamfights stances, and roaming patterns can make or break a game depending on the matchup.

When playing against champions with long ranged harass like Lux or Orianna it is important to understand how far away you need to be in order for your saplings to react before they deal damage. Keeping in mind you can always use your W (Vengeful Maelstrom) for protection as well as allowing yourself time to retreat if needed; this is where the importance of good positioning comes into play.

In teamfights, it’s important to try and position yourself towards the backline, this will allow you more time to set up placements and also target their carries that are obviously positioned more towards the back. When engaging it’s always better to have vision of most of their front line before jumping in because Maokai has no gap closers, meaning he relies on surprise factor when engaging onto an enemy.

When considering roaming patterns on Maokai look at opportunities around the map where you may be able to help lanes pick up kills or give assists; this could even mean a walking into a bush near mid lane or top side so your nearby presence forces enemies out of the lane which would give allies time get farm off easier by just zoning them off. Lastly keep an eye out for skirmishes and teamfight spreading across different parts of map, remember Maokai has very strong AOE CC which can decide fights even from other parts of the map if used correctly determined whether or not your allies will come out ahead or behind; potential fights should be closely monitored and acted upon with correct timing.

Timing

When playing with Maokai, understanding the timing of your abilities is essential for success. The size of his character allows for a large hitbox in teamfights and the range on his abilities meshes well with this. Maokai’s Twisted Advance is an ability that can be used to reposition himself or teammate in a duel or teamfight. Its cast time is rather fast, and it’s greatly recommended to have this key-binded for maximum effectiveness during combat scenarios – especially when paired with his Ultimate: Vengeful Maelstrom.

Furthermore, due to its low cooldown timing, you can use this ability offensively or defensively while engaging or disengaging fights; which is why it’s important to understand the timing of his Twisted Advance because this helps improve your reaction time and better position yourselves strategically and defensively on the battlefield. His Sapling Toss has a medium range and its damage increases based on how far away they are from Maokai so one has to consider how well they throw it – you also want to make sure you throw it right when enemies walk inside its blast zone; similar goes with his empowered auto attacks – so being able to react fast helps in such situations. Additionally, understand that some of these abilities are skill shots linked with an area effect which bestows the privilege of having effective crowd control options on the battlefield if done correctly; situational awareness must also be noted since knowing where your enemies are before casting them will give you greater advantage over your opponents. Lastly, having ample amount of health prepared by using items along side with Ribbons (Maokai’s passive), will give greater survivability against opposing damage dealers during engagements throughout stages early/mid game.

Choosing the Right Abilities

When picking abilities for Maokai, it is important to keep his tanking role in mind. There are three main abilities to focus on for a successful Maokai – Sapling Toss, Twisted Advance, and Vengeful Maelstrom.

• Sapling Toss deals magic damage and snares its target upon contact, allowing you to disrupt their movement and control the battlefield. This ability can also be used as a scouting tool when placed in the fog of war.
• Twisted Advance causes Maokai to quickly rush forwards after releasing magical tendrils outwards, granting him an accelerated movement speed upon successfully making contact with an opponent. Once attached to a target, they become rooted and unable to move or act until the effect ends. This increases Maokai’s effectiveness in teamfights by keeping enemy champions close at hand while also ensuring their safety from harm so long as he remains nearby.
• Vengeful Maelstrom allows Maokai to create an area of effect (AOE) circle on the ground that absorbs incoming damage from enemies inside it for a short duration before dissipating harmless energy into the air. When hit with an attack from outside of the AOE circle, impacted allies gain bonus health regeneration and defensive stats which both help maintain effective tanking performance during fights.

Each of these abilities offer strong contributions towards enabling Maokai’s tank performance during fights – making sure enemies remain focused on him rather than his allies – while also providing crowd control effects that force enemies into undesirable positions if used correctly. With individual game knowledge and practice of each ability’s strengths and weaknesses, you’ll find that any line-up featuring Maokai can easily become a formidable force on Summoner’s Rift!

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1: What is Maokai’s primary role?

A1: Maokai is a tank champion who primarily works as a crowd control and front line champion. He is usually seen in the top lane.

Q2: What abilities does Maokai have?

A2: Maokai has an array of abilities that allow him to be a formidable tank. His abilities include Sap Magic, Twisted Advance, Sapling Toss, Vengeful Maelstrom, and Nature’s Grasp.

Q3: How can Maokai be played effectively?

A3: Maokai is best played when he is able to use his crowd control abilities to initiate fights and then protect his teammates. To do this, he should focus on building tanky items, such as Warmog’s Armor, Thornmail, and Randuin’s Omen. He should also use his ultimate, Vengeful Maelstrom, to help protect his teammates from enemy damage.