Hi, I'm Michael, aged 12, and I'm a level 22. Surely you think that this guide will be bad, as it is by a young person and he's not even 30. However, with my experience with Maokai, I think this guide will be efficient. I've played Maokai for awhile Top and Jungle, and he's really a beast top. Here's a guide for The Twisted Treant, Maokai.

Maokai. A great top laner in Pre-season 5. However, he does have some disadvantages.

Pros:
Lots of CC
Mini ward with E
Very tanky
Sustain with passive
GIANT TREE (MUHAHA)

Cons:
Mana hungry early game
No escape
Iffy in teamfights if behind
You are a tree. 'Nuff said.

I like to play Maokai with more AP to start out with than tankiness. If you really want to, then switch AP Marks for Armor Marks.

You want to use your Q arcane smash, for lasthitting creeps and also harassing your opposing laner. If your jungler starts on your side, you could start with E Sapling Toss, to help him out.

This gets tough.

If your entire team is ahead, including you, then go with this:

This will give you extra AP with a lot of tankiness and your team is ahead, so basically you should fear nothing.

If you are ahead, but your team is not, then go with this:

If you want, you can switch out Randuin's Omen for Iceborn Gauntlet. This allows you a lot of tankiness, and you have an extra life in case you need it.