Maokai ARAM Build and Guide

Updated for patch 26.21. Ability details come from Riot’s official game data for this patch; ARAM balance numbers come from the League of Legends Wiki’s champion data.

A Maokai ARAM build is a pure tank path, Health and both resistances with Ability Haste, so Twisted Advance and the saplings keep coming. Riot holds him back here more than most: 80% damage dealt, 110% damage taken and 90% healing. He’s a frontline, not a damage source.

What follows is built from his patch 26.21 kit and the item descriptions, nothing else. We didn’t use any win-rate data.

How is Maokai changed in ARAM?

Three nerfs, and the first two are big. Maokai deals 80% damage and takes 110%, so he hits softer and dies faster, and his Sap Magic healing works at 90%. Why so harsh? Look, the ability text gives a clue. Sapling Toss throws saplings that stand guard, and on a single lane with nowhere to hide from them, a Maokai who spams saplings from range turns into a poke champion (that’s our reading of the kit, not Riot’s stated reason). Cutting his damage pushes him back toward what he’s meant to be, a tank who roots people. So build like one.

Why does Maokai still work on the Howling Abyss?

Crowd control doesn’t get nerfed. Every root and knockback in his kit lasts just as long here as on the Rift. From Riot’s patch 26.21 data:

• Sap Magic (passive): on a moderate cooldown, his basic attack heals him and deals extra damage; casting spells or being hit by enemy spells shortens that cooldown.
• Bramble Smash (Q): a shockwave that knocks back nearby enemies, deals magic damage and slows. Cooldown 7/6.5/6/5.5/5.
• Twisted Advance (W): he becomes an untargetable mass of roots, dashes to the target and roots them on arrival. Cooldown 14/13/12/11/10.
• Sapling Toss (E): flings a sapling to an area to stand guard, more effective in brush. Cooldown 18/17/16/15/14.
• Nature’s Grasp (R): a colossal wall of brambles that slowly advances, damaging and rooting enemies in its path. Cooldown 130/110/90.

Nature’s Grasp is the reason he’s still worth picking. It rolls forward as a wide wall and roots every enemy in its path, and on a narrow lane with walls on both sides, there’s not much room to step around it. Twisted Advance pairs with it: untargetable during the dash, a root on arrival, and in ARAM there’s always a target in range. Sap Magic also gets more out of this map than you’d expect. Every enemy spell that hits him shortens its cooldown, and ARAM is a mode full of poke spells, so his healing attack comes back often, even at 90% healing.

What should a Maokai ARAM build focus on?

Health, Armor and Magic Resist, then Ability Haste. With 110% damage taken, the resistances matter more than usual, and with 80% damage dealt, damage items are a waste. Four items and boots.

Unending Despair goes first: 400 Health, 50 Armor and 15 Ability Haste. Its Anguish passive pulses every 4 seconds while he’s fighting champions, burning those close by with magic damage and returning 250% of it to him as healing. The heal is at 90% here, and the damage at 80%, so it’s weaker than on the Rift, but it still ticks every 4 seconds for as long as he stands in the fight, and that’s his job.

Jak’Sho, The Protean second. You get Health with 45 of each resistance, and once he’s spent 5 seconds trading with champions, Voidborn Resilience pumps his bonus Armor and Magic Resist up by 30% for the rest of that fight. Do ARAM fights last longer than 5 seconds? Most of the time, anyway, which is why the item fits.

Abyssal Mask third, for a different reason. Its stats are useful (350 Health, 45 Magic Resist, 15 Ability Haste), but Unmake is the point: nearby enemy champions take 12% more magic damage. Maokai’s own damage is cut, so the item works through his team instead, and Nature’s Grasp holds enemies in place right next to him while his mages burn them.

The last slot is Zeke’s Convergence or Bandlepipes. Zeke’s summons a storm around him for 5 seconds after he casts his ultimate, slowing enemy champions by 30%, which stacks nicely with Nature’s Grasp roots. Bandlepipes grants Fanfare when he slows or immobilizes an enemy champion, giving him Move Speed and nearby allies Attack Speed. Real talk, pick Bandlepipes if your team has marksmen. Boots: Plated Steelcaps against attackers, Mercury’s Treads against magic damage and crowd control.

How do you play Maokai on the Howling Abyss?

• Save Nature’s Grasp for a stacked team. It advances slowly but roots everyone in its path, and the narrow lane funnels enemies into it.
• Twisted Advance onto the carry, not the tank. He’s untargetable during the dash and roots on arrival, so the target choice is the whole value.
• Throw saplings into brush. Sapling Toss is more effective there, and the Howling Abyss has brush along the lane.
• Use Bramble Smash to peel. It knocks back nearby enemies, which protects your own backline as much as it starts a fight.
• Let them hit you with spells. Each enemy spell that strikes him shortens Sap Magic’s cooldown, so soaking poke has a small upside.

How do shopping and Mark work for Maokai?

There’s no recall here, so the fountain is where you buy, at the start and after every death. Tanks die early in ARAM by design, which works out fine for Maokai, since each trip to the fountain is a chance to finish another resistance item. Buy cheap Armor or Magic Resist components on the first visit depending on what the enemy team is, rather than saving for a full item. Health relics on the lane are useful too (he takes 110% damage, after all).

Summoner spells are fixed before the game loads. Mark throws a snowball, and if it hits, you can dash to the target, so a Maokai with Mark has two ways to start a fight: snowball in, then Twisted Advance onto a different target. That’s honestly a strong pairing on a tank. Flash stays the safer pick if your team tends not to follow engages.

Is Maokai good in ARAM?

He’s useful, but as a pure tank. Riot’s three modifiers, 80% damage dealt, 110% damage taken and 90% healing, make sure of that. His roots and knockback are untouched, though, and Nature’s Grasp on a narrow lane is about as good as that ultimate gets. Long story short, build tank items, start fights, and let your team deal the damage.

Five supports that make his Summoner’s Rift lane hard are laid out in the Maokai counters guide. Our guide to LoL roles explains what tank supports do in a normal game, the LoL items database lists the full stats for every item above, and his cosmetics are on the Maokai skins page.

Put simply, the Maokai ARAM build is Unending Despair, Jak’Sho, Abyssal Mask and Zeke’s Convergence or Bandlepipes, and his job is rooting the enemy team in one place long enough for yours to finish them.

FAQ

Is Maokai nerfed in ARAM?

Yes. In the Wiki’s patch 26.21 data, Maokai has 80% damage dealt, 110% damage taken and 90% healing in ARAM.

What items does the Maokai ARAM build use?

Unending Despair, Jak’Sho, The Protean, Abyssal Mask, and Zeke’s Convergence or Bandlepipes, with Plated Steelcaps or Mercury’s Treads.

Why build Abyssal Mask on Maokai?

Unmake makes nearby enemy champions take more magic damage. Maokai’s own damage is reduced in ARAM, so the item boosts his team’s damage on the enemies he roots.

Are Maokai’s roots weaker on the Howling Abyss?

No. ARAM modifiers change his damage dealt, damage taken and healing, not the crowd control from Twisted Advance, Bramble Smash or Nature’s Grasp.

Were win rates used for this build?

No. Thing is, a tank build mostly picks itself once you read what his patch 26.21 abilities do and what each item adds to a frontliner.