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Maokai Wild Rift icon

Maokai Wild Rift Build — Patch 7.2e

茂凯 · 扭曲树精 Tank B

✅ Patch 7.2e · stats updated 2026-09-12 · real builds of 26 top-ranked China server players captured 2026-09-11

Difficulty Damage Toughness Utility

How the strongest players on the Wild Rift China server (国服) build Maokai: live win/pick statistics by rank bracket, the most-used item and rune sets, and the real loadouts of the top ranked Maokai players, captured in-game.

📖 How to play Maokai

Most-used builds on the China server (Master+)

Support

Core items
51.5% WR
16.01% use
Bulwark of the Mountain
Bulwark of the Mountain
Hollow Radiance
Hollow Radiance
Zeke's Convergence
Zeke's Convergence
53.3% WR
10.39% use
Bulwark of the Mountain
Bulwark of the Mountain
Warmog's Armor
Warmog's Armor
Thornmail
Thornmail
51.2% WR
6.45% use
Bulwark of the Mountain
Bulwark of the Mountain
Yordle Trap
Yordle Trap
Frozen Heart
Frozen Heart
Runes
51% WR
20.48% use
Ice Overlord
Ice Overlord
Courage of the Colossus
Courage of the Colossus
Second Wind
Second Wind
Unflinching
Unflinching
Transcendence
Transcendence
52.2% WR
19.75% use
Ice Overlord
Ice Overlord
Courage of the Colossus
Courage of the Colossus
Second Wind
Second Wind
Unflinching
Unflinching
Hexflash
Hexflash

Most-used items & runes · from our Top-30 screenshots

Counted on 27 real builds captured from the Chinese client, player by player. Independent from the official API above.

Items
Relic Shield
Relic Shield
89%
Armored Advance
Armored Advance
85%
Frozen Heart
Frozen Heart
70%
Warmog's Armor
Warmog's Armor
59%
Amaranth Twinguard
Amaranth Twinguard
37%
Yordle Trap
Yordle Trap
33%
Runes
Courage of the Colossus
Courage of the Colossus
74%
Second Wind
Second Wind
59%
Hexflash
Hexflash
52%
Unflinching
Unflinching
48%
Overgrowth
Overgrowth
44%
Transcendence
Transcendence
41%

Top 30 ranked players — real in-game builds📅 updated 2026-09-11

Taken from the official in-game China leaderboard. Spells, runes and items of every public top player.

26 of the top 30 players have a public match history; the others keep theirs private.

1
player #1 name
summoner spells of rank 1 Maokai player
runes of rank 1 Maokai player
items of rank 1 Maokai player
2
player #2 name
summoner spells of rank 2 Maokai player
runes of rank 2 Maokai player
items of rank 2 Maokai player
4
player #4 name
summoner spells of rank 4 Maokai player
runes of rank 4 Maokai player
items of rank 4 Maokai player
5
player #5 name
summoner spells of rank 5 Maokai player
runes of rank 5 Maokai player
items of rank 5 Maokai player
6
player #6 name
summoner spells of rank 6 Maokai player
runes of rank 6 Maokai player
items of rank 6 Maokai player
7
player #7 name
summoner spells of rank 7 Maokai player
runes of rank 7 Maokai player
items of rank 7 Maokai player
8
player #8 name
summoner spells of rank 8 Maokai player
runes of rank 8 Maokai player
items of rank 8 Maokai player
9
player #9 name
summoner spells of rank 9 Maokai player
runes of rank 9 Maokai player
items of rank 9 Maokai player
10
player #10 name
summoner spells of rank 10 Maokai player
runes of rank 10 Maokai player
items of rank 10 Maokai player
11
player #11 name
summoner spells of rank 11 Maokai player
runes of rank 11 Maokai player
items of rank 11 Maokai player
13
player #13 name
summoner spells of rank 13 Maokai player
runes of rank 13 Maokai player
items of rank 13 Maokai player
14
player #14 name
summoner spells of rank 14 Maokai player
runes of rank 14 Maokai player
items of rank 14 Maokai player
15
player #15 name
summoner spells of rank 15 Maokai player
runes of rank 15 Maokai player
items of rank 15 Maokai player
16
player #16 name
summoner spells of rank 16 Maokai player
runes of rank 16 Maokai player
items of rank 16 Maokai player
17
player #17 name
summoner spells of rank 17 Maokai player
runes of rank 17 Maokai player
items of rank 17 Maokai player
18
player #18 name
summoner spells of rank 18 Maokai player
runes of rank 18 Maokai player
items of rank 18 Maokai player
19
player #19 name
summoner spells of rank 19 Maokai player
runes of rank 19 Maokai player
items of rank 19 Maokai player
20
player #20 name
summoner spells of rank 20 Maokai player
runes of rank 20 Maokai player
items of rank 20 Maokai player
21
player #21 name
summoner spells of rank 21 Maokai player
runes of rank 21 Maokai player
items of rank 21 Maokai player
23
player #23 name
summoner spells of rank 23 Maokai player
runes of rank 23 Maokai player
items of rank 23 Maokai player
24
player #24 name
summoner spells of rank 24 Maokai player
runes of rank 24 Maokai player
items of rank 24 Maokai player
25
player #25 name
summoner spells of rank 25 Maokai player
runes of rank 25 Maokai player
items of rank 25 Maokai player
26
player #26 name
summoner spells of rank 26 Maokai player
runes of rank 26 Maokai player
items of rank 26 Maokai player
27
player #27 name
summoner spells of rank 27 Maokai player
runes of rank 27 Maokai player
items of rank 27 Maokai player
28
player #28 name
summoner spells of rank 28 Maokai player
runes of rank 28 Maokai player
items of rank 28 Maokai player
30
player #30 name
summoner spells of rank 30 Maokai player
runes of rank 30 Maokai player
items of rank 30 Maokai player

Who counters Maokai — hardest matchups & how to play them

The toughest lane matchups for Maokai on the Wild Rift China server, with why each is hard and exactly how to play it.

KindredMaokai vs Kindred Skill matchup

Why Kindred counters Maokai: She kites your slow engage and her zone saves the targets of your roots: the tree hugging thin air.

How to play Maokai into Kindred: Saplings in the objective bushes: vision and damage in one. Cast R AFTER her zone: the roots that arrive second win.

→ Kindred
Lee SinMaokai vs Lee Sin Skill matchup

Why Lee Sin counters Maokai: Aggressive early game against a tree that blossoms late: he prunes you before spring.

How to play Maokai into Lee Sin: Full-clear and place defensive saplings on your entrances. In 2v2s your point-and-click W flips his kicks.

→ Lee Sin
Nunu & WillumpMaokai vs Nunu & Willump Skill matchup

Why Nunu & Willump counters Maokai: A Smite war over objectives: his dragon bite is bigger than yours — bigger than anyone's.

How to play Maokai into Nunu & Willump: Do not play the Smite war straight: root HIM before the last tick. Vision saplings to see his setups coming.

→ Nunu & Willump
WarwickMaokai vs Warwick Skill matchup

Why Warwick counters Maokai: Two regenerators, but one has teeth: in duels his sustain beats yours.

How to play Maokai into Warwick: Zero duels: root and fall back to your team. Your value is the multi-man R: save it for 5v5s.

→ Warwick
GravesMaokai vs Graves Skill matchup

Why Graves counters Maokai: His buckshot hurts even a magic tank, and the smoke cancels your root's aim.

How to play Maokai into Graves: Your W is point-and-click and ignores the smoke: open with it. In ganks root him under YOUR tower: it always pays.

→ Graves

Who to play with Maokai — best team synergies

The champions Maokai works best alongside on the Wild Rift China server, lane by lane, with the reason each pairing works.

Best Baron partners for Maokai

Maokai + Ornn Best pairing

Your page says you have no damage of your own and that punishing whoever you root is somebody else's job: Brittle from Bellows Breath (W) adds max-health damage and stretches both of your roots by 30%. Call of the Forge God (R) lands on top of Nature's Grasp (R).

Maokai + Aatrox Best pairing

Catching a target with the edge of The Darkin Blade (Q) adds a knock-up and 60% bonus damage, and his page says kiters simply walk out of those swings: nobody walks out of a Twisted Advance (W) root. He is the damage you do not have.

Maokai + Gnar Strong

GNAR! (R) into a wall is worth 50% extra damage and a full stun, but it needs the right angle on a target that is not moving: Twisted Advance (W) hands him one. Wallop (W) meanwhile area-stuns whoever Nature's Grasp (R) has already rooted.

Maokai + Darius Strong

His page says opponents disengage the moment they see Hemorrhage (P) climbing towards five stacks: rooted, they cannot. Twisted Advance (W) and Nature's Grasp (R) are the two windows where Decimate (Q) and Crippling Strike (W) stack it all the way up.

Maokai + Volibear Strong

His two written gaps are that everything he owns is single-target and that, once Stormbringer (R) is down, he just gets kited: Nature's Grasp (R) is the area control he lacks, and a rooted target keeps nobody at arm's length.

Best Jungle partners for Maokai

Maokai + Warwick Best pairing

Infinite Duress (R) can be dodged or cut short mid-air, as his page admits: on a target already held by Twisted Advance (W) that never happens. In return that second of suppression is the follow-up your all-roots, no-damage kit can never provide itself.

Maokai + Rengar Strong

If the leap does not close, his page says he has nothing left: Twisted Advance (W) hands him a rooted carry and Bramble Smash (Q) knocks back whoever runs in to peel for her. In return he is the burst your kit completely lacks.

Maokai + Amumu Strong

Cursed Touch (P) adds true damage to every magic hit, and Bramble Smash (Q) is magic damage scaling off max health: your tank poke starts genuinely hurting. And Curse of the Sad Mummy (R) inside Nature's Grasp (R) is a chain nobody walks out of.

Maokai + Xin Zhao Strong

All his damage depends on landing the three empowered Three Talon Strike (Q) hits on one target, and his page says mobile champions simply hop out of Audacious Charge (E) range: two separate roots are exactly those seconds.

Maokai + Diana Strong

If she misses Crescent Strike (Q) she is stranded in the middle with no Lunar Rush (E) reset, exactly as her page says: on a rooted target she does not miss. And Moonfall (R) needs enemies standing close, which is what Nature's Grasp (R) produces.

Maokai + Master Yi Situational

Two windows where the target cannot walk are two windows where he never stops swinging, and Bramble Smash (Q) knocks off whoever tries to stop him. But against the taunt that actually kills him you have nothing, and he sits at 47.8% in China.

Best Mid partners for Maokai

Maokai + Brand Best pairing

The Sear (Q) stun only exists if the target is already burning, and Pillar of Flame (W) is dodged by walking: on a rooted target both of them land. And Pyroclasm (R) bounces between enemies standing close, which is precisely what Nature's Grasp (R) leaves behind.

Maokai + Orianna Strong

Command: Shockwave (R) has a delay any dash can beat, and you cannot dash while rooted. And if she puts Command: Protect (E) on you before Twisted Advance (W), the ball flies into the fight alongside you and shields you the instant you land.

Maokai + Kennen Strong

Slicing Maelstrom (R) pulses every half second for three seconds and keeps re-marking: it only pays if nobody leaves the radius, and Nature's Grasp (R) is a rolling wall that roots the whole line. Bramble Smash (Q) knocks off his divers, the defence he has none of.

Maokai + Swain Strong

Nevermove (E) is a skillshot with a return trip that kiters simply walk out of, and without that root he gets no Soul Shard and no burst: Twisted Advance (W) hands him a target that has stopped walking, and Nature's Grasp (R) does it to the whole line.

Maokai + Vel'Koz Situational

Life Form Disintegration Ray (R) is a hand-steered channel that any crowd control interrupts and that the target dodges on foot: your two roots are the only windows where it reaches the end. He is at 49.5% though, and gives you no protection at all.

Maokai + Katarina Situational

A single crowd control cancels Death Lotus (R), so what she needs is enemies who cannot cast one: Twisted Advance (W) and Nature's Grasp (R) give her two full channels. She sits at 46.8% in China, though, so you are taking the mechanism, not the champion.

Best Duo (ADC) partners for Maokai

Maokai + Miss Fortune Best pairing

Bullet Time (R) is a stationary three-second channel that anyone with a dash walks around and any crowd control cuts short: Nature's Grasp (R) roots the formation in front of her and Bramble Smash (Q) knocks off whoever reaches her, since she has zero mobility.

Maokai + Samira Best pairing

Her page says enemy crowd control and long-range poke shut her combo down before it starts, and that anywhere but point-blank she is nothing: Twisted Advance (W) launches from range untargetable and opens the way onto someone who can no longer run.

Maokai + Jhin Strong

Deadly Flourish (W) only roots someone who has just taken damage: Sapling Toss (E) and Bramble Smash (Q) keep it armed for the entire fight. And Curtain Call (R) is four shots that want a clean line on somebody who is not moving.

Maokai + Kog'Maw Strong

He only deals damage standing still at maximum range and has no dash to get out of anything: Twisted Advance (W) and Nature's Grasp (R) hold back whoever is hunting him, and Bramble Smash (Q) knocks away whoever gets there anyway.

Maokai + Varus Strong

Charging Piercing Arrow (Q) roots him in place and telegraphs the shot, and his page says assassins punish him exactly there: Bramble Smash (Q) throws them off. And Chain of Corruption (R) roots a group the same way Nature's Grasp (R) does.

Maokai + Caitlyn Situational

Her kit lives on targets that cannot move, and you produce two of those per fight between Twisted Advance (W) and Nature's Grasp (R): on a still target every shot becomes a Headshot (P). But she is at 46.5% in China, and your early levels are as soft as hers.

Stats by rank bracket & lane

Diamond+
LaneTierWin%Pick%Ban%Pos.
SupportB50.89%4.25%0.63%#16 / 34
Master+
LaneTierWin%Pick%Ban%Pos.
SupportB50.81%4.42%0.65%#16 / 34
Challenger
LaneTierWin%Pick%Ban%Pos.
SupportB50.78%4.67%0.58%#16 / 33
Sovereign
LaneTierWin%Pick%Ban%Pos.
SupportA51.99%5.08%0.44%#7 / 33

Abilities (original CN names)

Sap Magic
Passive
Sap Magic
吸元秘术
Bramble Smash
Q
Bramble Smash
荆棘重击
Twisted Advance
W
Twisted Advance
扭曲突刺
Sapling Toss
E
Sapling Toss
树苗投掷
Nature's Grasp
R
Nature's Grasp
自然之握

How to play Maokai — Wild Rift guide, combos & tips

Maokai is a magic-damage Tank in Wild Rift built around a single idea: force fights on his own terms. Twisted Advance dashes him onto a chosen target while he's untargetable, and once he lands he chains root into root — his own snare, then Nature's Grasp rolling in right behind it — so his team can clean up whoever gets caught. He has almost no burst combo of his own, so his value comes from initiation, disruption, and raw durability rather than damage, making him one of the more beginner-friendly, high-impact tanks to pick up.

Strengths

  • Safe, long-range engage: Twisted Advance dashes him onto a target from a distance while untargetable in transit, letting him initiate even into poke-heavy compositions without eating damage on the way in.
  • Layered hard crowd control: landing W's snare and then rolling Nature's Grasp through the same fight gives two separate root windows on top of Sapling Toss's slow, more than enough time for a team to punish a priority target.
  • Damage that doesn't need AP: Bramble Smash scales off the target's max HP, so he still threatens real damage even while building a fully defensive item set.
  • Self-sufficient sustain: Sap Magic's free heal comes back faster the more he fights — every cast, or every enemy skill he eats, shaves 3 seconds off its cooldown — so he outlasts extended trades other tanks can't.

Weaknesses

  • No real burst or follow-up damage of his own: outside R's flat hit and Q's max-HP chip, he relies entirely on teammates to punish whoever he roots, so he's far weaker without coordinated follow-up.
  • Twisted Advance is a single-target, telegraphed commitment: once he dashes, he's stuck in the middle of the fight on a long cooldown if the engage whiffs or gets peeled off.
  • Hyper-mobile kiting champions can dodge or outrun his only real gap-closer, neutralizing his whole engage pattern once they see it coming.
  • Soft early levels: aggressive all-in junglers and laners punish him before his tank items and passive sustain come online, and he loses straight Smite races to bigger jungle threats.

Combos

  • W → Q → Auto Attack: dash onto the priority target with Twisted Advance to root them, detonate Bramble Smash to knock away anyone trying to peel, then land a free auto to tick Sap Magic's heal.
  • R → W: open with Nature's Grasp down a chokepoint to root and slow the whole enemy formation, then dash Twisted Advance onto whoever ends up isolated for a second, guaranteed root.
  • E (bush) → W: pre-place Sapling Toss in a river or objective bush; once it detonates and slows a wandering target, follow up with Twisted Advance for a snare they can't outrun.

Skill order: W > E > Q (max R at every level it's available)

Early game

Poke with Bramble Smash whenever the wave crashes — its knockback disrupts channels and all-ins, and the max-HP scaling means it threatens even tankier laners early. Stay patient before level 5: Twisted Advance only roots for 0.8 seconds, so dashing in alone just strands you in the middle of a trade — wait until you have minion aggro or a jungler nearby to follow up. Weave in an auto-attack whenever Sap Magic is off cooldown to sustain through poke, and treat level 5 as your first real spike: with Nature's Grasp online you can start forcing skirmishes around river and the first dragon.

Mid & late game — teamfighting

Look to open fights from a flank or down a chokepoint with Nature's Grasp — it roots and slows everyone it rolls through, and every champion it connects with refreshes your bonus movement speed, which is what lets you stay stuck to a kiting backline. Once the fight is committed, save Twisted Advance for the biggest isolated threat rather than the first body you see, lock them down for your team's damage, then use Bramble Smash's knockback to peel anyone diving your own carries. Sit on the front edge of the fight rather than deep inside the enemy team: in tank items like Frozen Heart and Warmog's Armor, your job is chaining CC onto priority targets and soaking damage, not trading with their carries.

Pro tips

  • Hold Twisted Advance for a target that's already out of position — it's a far stronger pick tool on an isolated squishy than an opener into a full, grouped enemy team.
  • Pre-place Sapling Toss in bushes near river or objectives before a fight starts; the bush-triggered version hits much harder and its slow can turn a would-be gank into a free root chain.
  • Track your own passive: Sap Magic's cooldown drops every time you cast a spell or eat an enemy one, so in a long skirmish it's usually back up — don't forget to weave in that free-heal auto-attack.