Hello, this is my second build on this website. My Urgot one was pretty sad I will admit, but now I am here with Maokai the Twisted Treant! This is the build I run each game with him and it has been working out pretty darn good so far! With the masteries/runes/and items you will be able to support and dish out some mean damage with your team if you follow this guide and play smart with your team and your mind. Please feel free to comment on anything you like or dislike so I can further explain or take tips from you guys!

-Mehsana-

The runes that I use are: Greater Mark of Potency x9, Greater Seal of Replenishment x9, Greater Glyph of Potency x9, And Greater Quintessence of Fortitude x3. For this build you want the AP from the marks and glyphs for your early game assault on the minions. Replenishment runes for faster mana regen to keep taking those minions out and the flat health quints for more health of course.

I run the standard 9/21/0 support build seeing that is what you are after all. I believe Maokai is best at being built as a support not a DPS.

I start with a Doran's ring to give me that little extra mana regen, health, and AP. It is in my opinion the best starting item for Maokai. Next I rush the Catalyst this will give you more health and mana plus that big extra from leveling! After you have you Cata go and get Mercury's treads <---- These and forever will be your best friend on Maokai, why do you ask? The less time you are stunned/snared or slowed the more time you have supporting your team with rooting knocking back and keeping your team out of harms way. After you got you those boots get you Rod of Ages, this is a must as fast as possible after your boots. The sooner the better seeing every 1 minute you get stats that beef up your health and ability power, try and make you target time before 20-25 mins. Next grab the crystal scepter for more health,ap, and that slow from your spells. It does wonders! Afterwards grab the Sunfire cape, this is good for more health, armor to make it a bit easier on you for supporting your teammates, PLUS that 40 dmg per second can go a looong way when you have them snared inside your ult ring getting pelted by your sapplings, knockback, and teammates it just adds what they say more to the table =). Getting near the end grab that Banshees for the health increase and magic resist and that awesome shield that everyone loves! The banshees does so much for you when you are trying to keep you and your team alive inside that ult ring of yours. Last but not least, the Guardian Angel! Get rid of that silly Dorans and grab your GA for that Armor/MR and to stay in the fight with your team if you get focused down to just keep up some heat.

The skill sequence that you see is legit and a bit aggressive at first, but the real supporting and fun doesn't start till mid/late game. Start with your Sapplings seeing this will be your bread and butter of farming the minions and keeping pressure on the enemys. You want to max your Sapplings first. At level 4 do make sure to grab Arcane smash, but the rest of the way is Sapplings first Twisted Advanced, then your Arcane Smash. Of course you already know to Level your ULT at 6/11/16.

The summoner spells I use are Ghost and Flash. I find them both very good for chasing down an enemy almost dead, running away while you are near death, or getting close enough for a Twisted Advanced to save a falling ally.

The summary of the build is pure support and shut down. You want to make sure you can shut down those carries on the other team while keeping your teammates out of harms way! This champion is very fun if played correctly and if played correctly you will be the hero of the day!

SO I've done some ranked games as Maokai using this build and it works tremendously well. Just use your sapplings as wards as often as you can it helps you and your team out. In ranked don't try and farm those minions play smart and last hit. =)

Team work, team work, and more teamwork! This is how you make Maokai so powerful. Try and coordinate with your allies to move in when you do. This will let you lay your ult down with your team inside with the enemy team most of the time. As hits get dealt damage gets absorbed to unleash your fury as well as keeping your team taking 20% less damage. While inside the ULT with the enemy team throw a sappling in followed by a root on the carry being torn apart followed with a Arcane smash by then the enemy should be retreating or falling lower in health. Deactivate your ult to unleash the absorbed damage, now they should really be hurting. Root the runners and profit. Carry on to push!

Very important you do this otherwise your mana is wasted and time. Early/Mid game with your sapplings being leveled make sure you are tossing your saps at the 3 minions in the back. DO NOT ATTACK CHAMPIONS WITH IT. The only time you will be throwing them at champs if you are laned with a partner. but like I said you want to be solo for fast sap levels and a fast ult to start your supporting. If you are laning with someone still continue to hit the back minions with sap and usually you will be hitting enemy champions. When an enemy is of range and low health ping to indicate your advancement on that enemy. Toss the sapling a little bit over the enemy and Twisted Advanced. This will root the enemy as the sapling uproots and explodes on the enemy as well as your teammate bashing on him/her. This should result in a kill or assist. When your sappling spell is level 3 you should be able to one shot the minions in the back as long as the toss hits then explodes on them. The sappling does damage on landing impact and then on explosion!