The Best League of Legends Maokai Tips & Tricks For Beginners

Maokai is the champion that no one is willing to play except the team players who want the team to succeed even if its at the cost of themselves actually enjoying the game. Even though Maokai is such a drag to play, he is a powerful champion that is extremely useful in teamfights and macro play. For that to happen, we’ve prepared some really good Maokai tips and tricks that we collected from high-ranked players in League of Legends.

The Best Maokai Tips and Tricks

Maokai may be one of the most boring champions to play in the game but there’s no denying that there’s efficiency in simplicity. His entire kit is designed to help him provide utility in teamfight preparation. He is a long-range engage champion despite being a melee tank. This means that he can initiate a teamfight from a long distance unlike most tanks who need to jump into the fight to layer down their CC abilities. We’ll explain more about this in our Maokai tips and tricks guide.

When it comes to tanks, Maokai is a champion that can survive the fight at an extended period. Combining natural bulk with his own ability to heal up means that champions without anti-tank tools will quickly crumble when directly confronting this behemoth. Being able to lay down traps properly, use long-range engage tools, and his ability to stay in fights longer will be the primary focus of this Maokai tips and tricks guide.

Using Your Natural Bulkiness

Maokai is one of the tankiest champions in League of Legends with a high HP value and the ability to heal himself with his passive ability. He is extremely hard to kill, especially when he gets inside enemy lines since they will need to focus him down unless they want to deal with a Maokai who is constantly threatening their backline with Crowd Control and damaging abilities. It is important that you use this champion’s natural bulk to dictate the enemy’s movements.

The best way to make use Maokai’s bulkiness is to force enemies to use all their abilities on you after you engage and then immediately try to escape and heal up. Of course, you want to create as much chaos while inside the fight as possible so that your team can follow up on your engage and get the chance to give you a proper escape route. Remember that tanks have fulfilled their role if they manage to create openings for their team to fight.

Displacement & Crowd Control

Maokai has powerful displacement and crowd control abilities. For starter, Maokai’s Q ability – Bramble Smash – is a useful tool for displacing an enemy. Positioning yourself before using Q is an important thing to keep in mind when using Maokai. You can either push the enemy toward your team, making it harder for them to escape or push them away to create space between your team and the enemy that is threatening to take a kill.

In terms of crowd control, Maokai has several tools. His Q and E abilities are excellent for slowing down enemies. Meanwhile, his W ability – Twisted Advance – and his ultimate – Nature’s Grasp – can root enemies in place from a good distance. Remember that when using your crowd control abilities, always prioritize the biggest prize which is usually the AD Carry or the jungler if a teamfight is about to break out over objectives.

Map Control & Zoning

Maokai has excellent map control which is a rare trait among tank champions. Using his E ability – Sapling toss – he can essentially take control of nearby brushes and prevent enemies from freely occupying them without taking a bit of damage in return. Unlike wards that can easily get shut down by sweepers and vision wards, saplings will provide a more reliable source of vision that also deals damage to enemies.

In terms of zoning, your sapling toss probably has that covered. However, if you need to prevent enemies from advancing towards your team, you can use your ultimate as an emergency button to stop them in their tracks. You can also use bramble smash to push enemies away and slow them down drastically. This should buy your teams a lot of space and reposition in a way where they can succeed once they re-engage.

Dueling as Maokai

We have been talking a lot about teamfighting in this Maokai tips and tricks guide but as many tank champions go, they are great at dueling in the early game. Maokai can even duel against non-AD champions in the mid to late stages of the game. Because of his ability to sustain his HP using his passive, he is able to drag out the fight in a way where he can use his abilities multiple times despite their relatively low damage.

The first thing you should keep in mind is to always attempt to lure enemies towards a nearby brush. This will allow you to setup empowered saplings that deal a lot of damage. Also, you always want to displace enemies using your Q ability and dodge high damage skill shots by using your Twisted Advance to become untargetable. Finally, don’t be afraid to use your ultimate to deal extra damage to the enemies if you feel like you can win.

The Best Way to Use Your Ultimate

Maokai’s ultimate is an extremely powerful tool that should be utilized properly. It is one of the most powerful ultimate abilities in League of Legends. It is a long range engage tool that can root multiple enemies at the same time, giving your team the opportunity to take advantage of the opening and deal a ton of damage or layer down additional crowd control effects to keep them in place.

The best way to use your ultimate is to maximize the distance. It’s a terrible idea to use your ultimate point blank because it doesn’t impact the fight much. Remember that your ultimate will root enemies longer depending on the distance traveled by your ability. Also, if you want to quickly root your enemies without giving them the opportunity to escape, we suggest using your ultimate backwards since it will prevent them from dodging the effect.