Not at all, especially not in lane. Riven has one of the highest early level damage trades in the game. It's very easy to harass and zone a maokai immediately and keep him behind for the whole laning phase. The most he'll be able to do is remote-farm with his saplings, but he'll still miss enough CS for Riven to win the lane.
If you want to beat Riven, you have to pick someone who can handle her damage by sustaining it off quickly or have even stronger trades.
If you want to beat Riven, you have to pick someone who can handle her damage by sustaining it off quickly or have even stronger trades.

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Pretty much that. ^
He survives because of that heal but you will need a lot of jungle help in order to win the game or the lane.
EDIT: You're not going to miss much CS. Trust me, I've run the lane quite a few time. Psi. :P
He survives because of that heal but you will need a lot of jungle help in order to win the game or the lane.
EDIT: You're not going to miss much CS. Trust me, I've run the lane quite a few time. Psi. :P
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I love my favorite tree, but i have to admit laning against a riven is not something that can be done easily. Farming pre-5 is gonna be a hazard to your health against riven. After that you should be good, but thats 5 levels that riven has been able to have pretty much free farm, so she is gonna b way ahead. As previously stated, alot of jungle help would be needed to win lane after that.

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Lugignaf wrote:
EDIT: You're not going to miss much CS. Trust me, I've run the lane quite a few time. Psi. :P
So have I, from the opposite side (let me tell you, most Riven players aren't nearly aggressive enough). It's next to impossible to deny Maokai's ranged creeps when he gets his sapling to a high enough level, but he'll be missing the melee minions almost every wave. Since they're worth more, the CS differential adds up quite quickly.
It gets easier if the Riven pushes to your tower at the wrong times, but you're still going to lose CS. Even a good maokai player would be behind like 40 CS by the end of laning phase imo.

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Im afraid i have to agree with PsiGuard here, as much as it breaks my heart :'( Lvl 5 is when his sapling toss is at a high enough level to clear the caster creeps. As previously stated, then he can start catching up on CS, but its still too little, too late.

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You know you can CS the melee minions with saplings, right?
You don't only have to use it for harassing or getting the caster minions. :P
Also, how often have you run this matchup? Because... I never see any other Maokais top lane.
You don't only have to use it for harassing or getting the caster minions. :P
Also, how often have you run this matchup? Because... I never see any other Maokais top lane.
Slappiz wrote:
There is a reason why there is no trees in lane ^^
It's because of Oddone and because nobody high ELO lanes him.
He's damn strong there.
EDIT: Not just in jungle but lane too. he has too many losing fights in the jungle for me to like doing it too much. :P
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I would like to ask if Maokai counters Riven?
I think it's a good choice vs her, because when he snare her, she can't use Q or E. Additionaly when Riven use Q 3 times, Maokai gets 3 stacks on his pssive, dont he? Also Maokai has better sustain and often transist to tank, so he can buy armor early.
What do you think about this?
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