I> Introduction:
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Mao'Kai has recently became a strong Jungler in season 14, as of season 14.8 he has become one of the strongest tank junglers in the meta right now. I feel as though when I am playing him I become an unstoppable tank that can stun a whole team and wipe them into the dirt.
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With Frozen Heart and Thornmail becoming some of the best tank items Maokai has seen a significant increase in power. Hollow Radiance also allows him to be strong into AP team comps. In season 14 I feel as though he is the strongest he has been in a while and there is no reason not to take advantage of this pick that is climbing back into the meta.
1. Pros & Cons:
a. Pros:
- Nimble
- Tanky
- Great CC
- Amazing Teamfights
- Strong in the meta
- Great Ganks.
b. Cons:
- Weak Carry Potential
- Low Damage
- Susceptible to invades
- Relies on team
- Susceptible to inting with W.
2. Maokai tips and tricks
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Maokai’s Ultimate Nature's Grasp R is great in team fights. Once you engage with your Ultimate Nature's Grasp R, fall back and protect your carries.
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Place down as many Saplings Sapling Toss E as possible before your first camp spawns. Place them in a bush when possible.
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Your goal in the early game is to gank as much as you can with your point and click CC Twisted Advance W. Try and get your allies ahead from the get-go.
3. Combos of Mao'Kai:
- Basic: Q + Flash
- Basic: W + Flash
- Medium: W + AA + Q + AA
- Medium: E + W + AA + Q + AA
- Hard: R + E + W + AA + Q + AA
- Combo fam Jungle: E + W + AA + Q + AA
II> Builds:
- Mao'Kai build guide:
1. Maokai Summoner Spells
2. Maokai Starting Items:
3. Maokai Runes
4. Maokai Skill Order
5. Maokai Items
situational items:
- Sunfire Aegis: Pick this up if you’re in need of tanky stats.
- Abyssal Mask: It’s good whenever you need more defensive stats to deal with AP champions. It’s also good when your team's AP dominant, as it reduces nearby enemy's magical resistances.
- Randuin's Omen: Pick the item if 1) enemy team has a lot of physical damage, 2) you need increased armor, 3) you want to slow down enemy attack speed. Effective against champions who deal consistent crit based damage like Jinx, Yasuo or Tryndamere.
- Kaenic Rookern: This item gives you a magic shield when you've been out of combat for some time. Good versus heavy AP teams.
- Hollow Radiance: Tanky item that provides a lot of defensive stats while giving you extra AoE magic damage.
- Knight's Vow: Helps to protect your allies. Effective against burst damage dealers, as you absorb some of the damage your ally would otherwise take.
III> Game plan
- Early game:
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As Maokai taking fights you are not prepared for is not smart, without utilizing your E you are making a large mistake. Fighting in the river is best for Maokai, and with the addition of new bushes Maokai’s utility has become much better. E in brushes and coordinating fights with your support is extremely useful, you can do this more effectively based on the enemy champion. For example, if the enemy team has a Nunu & Willump or a Kindred they will most likely rush scuttle, being prepared before 3:30 (Scuttle Spawn) with a E in a bush can set up a fight by damaging and slowing the enemy. This is just one of the way’s Maokai can be useful.
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At level 3 Maokai should start ganking, his gap closing W can be great for pinning a target, then pushing them back to your team with Q is the best combo you can make. You can also E the escape route to slow them if they use a Flash or Ghost. Maokai takes advantage of map control a lot, his E helps him with vision and his great kit utilizes it. It is best to try and stay as close to the middle as possible, but if you cannot make sure to use river as a highway with your Waterwalking.
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Maokai’s most significant powerspike is his R which spikes his teamfight power and can turn teamfights into slaughters. The stun at level 1 is 0.6 and scales to 2.8, it also provides Maokai with bonus MS which helps him rush into a fight, as a default R should be used to close the gap and to engage in choke points such as the river.
- Mid Game:
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Throughout the mid game, your main goal will be to look for picks with your team. To do this you must have good vision around the map to catch people out of position, use your E combined with your support wards to do this. Having good vision is one of the most important things for setting up fights and knowing what to do throughout the game
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During this phase of the game you should be really tanky, in teamfights it is your job to tank and pin down high priority champs with your W on the enemy team in order to dominate the fights. Additionally, you have to make sure you peel for your high damage carries, this should be one of your main goals.
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Maokai’s kit is especially great in choke points such as throughout the jungle and in the river, this way nobody can escape your vines (Literally, your R covers the whole river). This makes your objective skirmishes stronger than basically any other Jungler due to the high CC. In these river skirmishes getting into the back line is the most important so you can clean up the tanks and take the objective.
- Late game:
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During this phase of the game you are at your strongest, your R is cooldown will be around a minute meaning you don’t have to be scarce when using it, this will greatly help in practically every fight (Whether it be engaging or running away). In the endgame you will be extremely tanky, susceptible to nothing really, this makes your engage like a speeding brick wall that blocks everything, just make sure to peel for the extremely squishy glass cannons.
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During this phase of the game vision is key, knowing your enemies next move gives you the upper hand every single time, your E will last for 30 seconds acting as a temporary ward that can be crucial in the late game. They can also be used to “cheese” enemies, just wait until somebody walks in and immediately engage for a free kill (Don’t try this on overly fed people, obviously).
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Make sure to play for objectives and stay in mid lane, otherwise you will catch yourself receiving missing pings after your whole team dies sieging mid. You are basically a must have tool for your team at this point, your R can lock down a whole team giving time for your ADC to kill one or two people with a whole 3 seconds of CC (Basically).
