No real chinese art :( WHY MAOKAI WHYYYYYYYY.This not a very common lane to see I found out about it one day when I was playing rumble (Maybe my second game) and I topped against one. He destroyed me, I had no clue how he could do that much damage and sustain that well. Afterwards I went and played as him completely wrecking a Nidalee in lane, From then on I saw his potential as a top laner and have picked him up every once in awhile .
PS:Read tags at the top if you havent. xD

Champion Overview:
Maokai is a very tanky champion that is strong and scales into late game very well. He is very adept at fighting AoE comps and he is a strong laner vs most Energy/Alternate resource champions. Maokai can be played as a full tank or if your doing well an AP tanky DPS. Maokai is very good at recieving ganks as well so junglers will LOVE to have you at top lane.

Champion Skills:

Passive: Sap Magic- Each time a champion near Maokai casts a spell, he gains a charge of Magical Sap. When he has 5 charges, his next melee attack drains energy from his target, healing Maokai for 7% of his maximum health.

（╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ What is this, a sustain move based off how many skills the enemy uses. And also what is this energy champions spam skills all day. SUSTAIN!. In team fights this makes you VERY durable if you just continue Autoing :D. THIS IS A % HEAL SO BUILDING HP RAISES THE AMOUNT IT HEALS.
Note: this skill is VERY STRONG as a heal bait.


Q: Arcane Smash- Maokai slams the ground, the force of which knocks nearby enemies back and sends an arcane shockwave forward, dealing 70 / 115 / 160 / 205 / 250 (+40% of ability power) magic damage and slowing his enemies by 20% / 27% / 34% / 41% / 48% for 2 seconds. Cooldown 6 seconds. Cost 55 mana

Your melee range move. Lowest CD move, I max this first if im fighting a champion who is weaker in melee range as I Can advance in and Q them. This skill also does a mini knock back like Riven's third broken wings hit, this disrupts channeled moves, remember that.

W: Twisted Advance-Maokai transforms into a cloud of arcane energy, quickly traveling to a target enemy. The target takes 80 / 115 / 150 / 185 / 220 (+80% of ability power) magic damage and is rooted in place for 1 / 1.25 / 1.5 / 1.75 / 2 seconds. Cooldown 13 seconds. Cost 75 / 80 / 85 / 90 / 95 mana.

Your gap closer/Root. AMAZING for recieving ganks. You dash up to them AND they get rooted. You can follow this up with your Q for the enemy being held in place for a decent amount of time.
Note:You fly to where the enemy is with this skill, If they flash you go with them, don't get baited to flying under their tower.

E: Sapling Toss- Maokai hurls a sapling, dealing 40 / 75 / 110 / 145 / 180 (+40% of ability power) magic damage on impact. The sapling becomes implanted in the ground, warding a nearby area for 35 seconds. When enemies approach, the sapling attacks, exploding in an arcane blast that deals 80 / 130 / 180 / 230 / 280 (+60% of ability power) magic damage to enemies. Cooldown 12 seconds. Cost 70 / 80 / 90 / 100 / 110 mana.

One of the funnest spells ever (for me at least) You become Olimar(pikmin reference) and chug a sapling at the enemy dealing decent damage and then it will get up and run and explode on stuff :D. This gives you sight if you use it in a brush, I usually get this level 1 sapling the places the enemy can invade from (And the blue buff for the leash), recall and come to lane with full mana. You should rank this first vs an enemy susceptible to poking or in a lane where you are behind, as you can throw this in the minion wave instantaneously clearing the wave it hit(Might need a Q afterwords to finish.) the mana costs are decently high so do not rely on this as your only wards. If you are maxing this get a Rod of Ages as it will help their damage and manage the mana cost.

Level 1 Jungle guarding video:

R: Vengeful Maelstrom-Maokai shields his allies by drawing power from hostile spells and attacks, reducing non-tower damage done to allied champions in the area by 20%. Maokai can prolong the effect as long as he has mana to spend on it. When the effect ends, Maokai unleashes the absorbed energy to deal 100 / 150 / 200 (+50% of ability power) (+2 bonus damage per damage absorbed) damage to enemies within the vortex. Maximum 200 / 250 / 300 bonus damage.Cooldown 40 second. Cost 75 mana + 30 mana per second.

Think of it as an anivia circle or a swain ult in that your mana will be constantly consumed while using this. This skill is AMAZING, you will love it, and your team will love it. 20% damage off of enemy attacks in the circle, and exploding the circle results in a decent amount of damage to the enemy team. Use this skill every time there is a skirmish or anything that even looks like it could be a fight as the CD is very short, and the effect is very helpful.


Combos/Skillorder:

Skill Oreder:

Max R>Q>E>W

Aggressive lane, want to do damage and zone the enemy off.

Max R>E>Q>W

More of a passive lane want to farm and poke an enemy down.

Combo:

E in-Q-E-(If they begin fighting you and you want to fight them or they have no sustain.) R

Matchups:

Easy: (Easy does not mean all of them will be easy it means the lane in general will be easy for you)

Shen( He will spam alot and when he trys to ult out you can E-Q him for the cancel), Skarner (very spammy top laner youll sustain alot), Garen (If you have your against garen you can sustain and survive the lane easily {Easy does not mean you have to kill them} You scale better into late), Gangplank (unless he uses all his parrleys on you you will easily sustain all of his damage off, You can poke him well and he will generally go OOM if he spams oranges or will be weaker in fights if he maxed oranges to sustain you.), Riven (Yes riven can give anyone hell if shes very good, If you play this lane smart you should win easily. All of Her Qs charge your passive, so if she ever just Qs for mobility you get to heal. When you W her she can not use her Q or E {She can still stun you and ult, but your root is longer then her stun so your can just Q her and walk away} Ult when she does her ult and you'll block 20% of the damage off each of her skills.), Nidalee (Your utility allows her to be ganked AND whenever she goes cougar she will spam and you can enjoy the sustain.), and Rumble (once you get your catalyst just force trades, try and harass him as much as possible when he dosnt have much "Heat".)


Hard:

Olaf (Max saplings and farm, do not get close to him or you'll get a face full of true damage), Malphite (Hes just like you, sustains with a shield he will just sit there and farm so you should to, hes very responsive to ganks so be careful.)
Note: I have not really had trouble with many other matchups, and even these are not that troubling since I can just sit back and farm with saplings.

Playing As/Vs:

As:
-Initiate if you see a good opening stick to a high priority target force them to choose focusing you (and letting your team kill theirs) take your DPS, Or escape the fight.
-Use your saplings for scouting and level 1 map control(on defense).
-If somethings hidden but in range of your W throw a sapling in first and with the sight use your W(can go over walls or be aggressive to someone in a bush.
-Watch your heal stacks they can be used for epic baits :D.
-Play Like a Singed more passive until you get a catalyst.

Vs:
-Play aggressive early down, you have to shut him down or the lane will become very hard.
-Ward very well junglers like ganking for him.
-Be cautious for invades as his saplings will prbably see you.

Big Item Choices:

Rod of Ages- Mana regen and hp regen on level, More damage, and more hp (more sustain for your passive)

Philosopher's stone- Mana regen hp regen and GP5, Farm lane item

Heart of Gold- Hp better sustain off passive another farm lane item.

Abyssal Mask - Vs an MR team gives you damage, defense, and a good AoE debuff

Quicksilver Sash- Stong vs teams with heavy CC, When you engage on the carry they will usually try and burn their CC on you to escape.

Frozen Heart- Armor , Mana, and CDR with a nice aura, build vs AD heavy teams.

Aegis of the Legion- Get if no one else on your team has it a very strong item in teamfights.

Sunfire Aegis- Decent armor amount and does AoE damage constantly
NOTE: WHOEVER SET THE CHRISTMAS TREE ON FIRE IS GONNA GET ARRESTED.

Sherelya's Reverie- Upgrade late for team mobility.

Game Types:

SoloQ:

[/color]Strong for his unexpected pick value, also factor in soloq tanky people are OP people focus them. He can win a lot of lanes and transitions into a very strong late game. Hes a good pickup if your team is being greedy and no one wants to pick a tank or initiator.

Ranked 5s:

Very strong pick here due to the fact your team can pick around it bait picks etc and the ganks up top will be coordinated allowing pretty much any matchup to be ganked and turned in your favor. The sight from your saplings is also very good information that you can coordinate your team with about better than most solo Q players.

Conclusion:
I hoped these facts helped you to better understand maokai the twisted treant and his place in the top lane. He is a very powerful and often overlooked champion that is often overlooked top lane in favor of FOTM champions. I hope you enjoyed reading this and that this helped you. Have a good day and have good luck on the fields of justice summoners.

A general note on the series: I will be forming a guide called The complete guide to Top lane or something in that nature. The intention of this series is not as a "Build guide" or a "play guide", these are more like facts you should know about the champion. These are to inspire people to think of new champion possibilities they might not have thought of or to help a new player with the champion. I do not list runes masteries or a set build ( I give a kind of recommended items) in here due to the fact I want people to think of that for themselves and try new things. This series is an attempt for the LOL community to try new things and have fun in a fun game :D

SERIES UPDATE:
I plan on releasing these every day/other day until I get all of the top lane picks in the league if there are any requests leave in the comments below and ill work on them. I want to make this series for others to better understand the champions of top lane. Once I am done (Or once I have a few top facts out) I will release some Facts about top lane mechanics, eventually I will probably put everything into one generic top lane guide, however until I do that I will continue to watch and update my blogs as needed. Tips and tricks I missed under my Top Facts would be helpful if you put anything I don't have in the comments I will be sure to add it. Thank you and have a nice day:P