Greetings Summoner

First of all i apologize for the clickbait title. There is no way i can keep this kind of a score in the long run. But i truely believe the new Maokai as a Support is underrated especially in the lower ELO.

I'm garYo, a Japanese LoL Player on the EU West Server. My best score was Diamond I with 50 LP playing Shen/Vladimir Top (before the rework) in 2014 (or in 2015, i don't even remember...). Playing tanks with sustain is what i really love.

After one year of not playing, i'm back trying new things on other Lanes (Lee Sin, Hecarim Support etc. thank you for not reporting me...) and thought Maokai could work pretty well as Support so i tried it in Ranked Games several times. Now I'm actually quite amazed by how well Maokai performs. He has four (!!!) CC Abilities which have huge impacts and can often turn the tide in a major teamfight.

I always take Ignite as Support because in my opinion that's the most logical choice. Why? Because every ADC runs Heal and Ignite reduces the heal effect... pretty simple. If you disagree just take Exhaust.

As Maokai you have absolutely no escape. You need either flash or Ghost. I prefer Flash to have a more explosive Initiating Potential.

Pros

• Every Ability has CC
• Sustain in Lane
• Strong Bush Control + Zoning

Cons

• No Escape
• Can't shield allies
• Running out of Mana fast

To be honest i think Runes don't make much of a difference. Personally i like diversifying to have many different early and late game benefits.

For Maokai i think Hybrid Runes would also be great because you will be hitting your enemies with close range Spells and your cute Tree Fist AA to use your passive for sustain.

As Support Maokai you can choose to be tanky or bursty. I prefer the tanky one. But if you want to go the bursty way, take Thunderlord's Decree and go full AP items.

This is why Maokai is so strong. You have 4 (!!!) abilities with CC. This is actually insane.

Passive:
Your passive gives you a nice Sustain in Lane. Always use attack move to AA to avoid misclicking in crucial moments when you need the healing badly.

Q
Q is your main source of damage. After the rework it feels more impactful and it's knockback is really useful in ganks (offense and defense). You can hit multiple enemies at once so try to use it in crowded close combat fights.
Use this also to defend your ADC. He/She will love you for that.

W
W is your initiating Spell. It roots your target and brings Maokai in Range to hit the Q. Your full Combo with Maokai is E -> W -> Q -> R. You can also use this for peel.

E
E became pretty strong after the rework. Put two saplings in the bush to help your Jungler at the first buff. Your jungler will love you for that. Don't use three because it does unexpectingly huge damage and you risk stealing your junglers buff. Always place the saplings in bushes to increase their damage.
In the laning phase you use Saplings to control bushes to Zone your opponents. Saplings are also useful to punish enemy support for trying to destroy your Pink wards in bushes.

R
R is such a great spell now after the rework. The only downside of this spell is the slow speed of the crawling roots. This is why i almost always use this spell backwards as a combo. In this way you can hit your enemy instantly and flashing out is almost impossible.

Just take the typical support items to shield your ADC. In case you are facing many heavy AP, replace Randuins with Spirit Visage.

Remember you have five items that you need to activate yourself. This is crucial to help your ADC. Shield, heal them and peel for them with your abilities. As a Support your duty is to keep your ADC alive at all cost.

situational

Sometimes you have a pretty fed carry who is not your ADC (e.g. fed Yi). In this case shield and heal them and just peel for your ADC.

Theories on paper don't work in Realtime Games like LoL.

But watching a game gives you a better feeling for how it is like to play Maokai as support.
So I recorded some of the Maokai games with the new Replay function of LoL and uploaded on Youtube for you to see. I would love to have some critics.

Here are some of the Replays on youtube: Click here

Have a nice day summoners and i wish you good luck at climbing ELO with Maokai.

best regards,
garYo