LoL Inven Inven Global

In the early game, your job as  Maokai is to farm up, and prepare for the mid game. In the early game you need to farm farm and farm! In Champion select you should make sure that you're playing with the correct runes and prepare for the game. At level 1, you need to get your items and move to a position where you can spot the enemy if they go to invade. If you have to leash for your jungler, make sure they get a good leash. When you're in lane you want to decide if you're going to freeze or push. Once you have made your mind up, you need to stick to it. You should not go for any full trades until either level 3 or 4 as these give you some good damage by then. The majority of the time you can't solo kill your laner unless you get a gank or outplay them. When you have enough gold you need to buy the first part to your item.

You can either Save  TP for a TP bot or go TP top - you must decide. If you are freezing the waves you still need to prepare for a TP bot and keep your eyes on the map just encase your top laner roams. If you're going to follow with a TP, you must first push the wave out as it may go on your tower. If you're being denied CS, be useful and roam with your jungler and get objectives or kills- You're not going to be useful mid game if you're behind in gold and XP because you just sat top doing nothing.

Once you hit the mid game, you will want to leave your lane and group and pressure objectives. You can roam by pushing toplane out, and then rotating to another lane, for example if you toplaner backs- and you don't need to, then you should push the wave out, then rotate and go mid to apply some pressure or alternatively try to get the tower. When you go to group you should focus either the backline, frontline or anybody who can get on your carries. I like to play the "support" Maokai where you protect your carries. When an enemy goes on your carry, you Twisted Advance (W) them and rooting them in position this allows your carries to do damage and stay protected by you peeling for them. In the mid game, you will be looking for picks or to team fight. Don't force anything unless you really have too.

When you've hit the late game, you should be near un-killable. You should be incredibly tanky and able to peel for your carries much more efficiently. As you have past the mid game, you should have some objectives already and should be looking to close out the game. One team fight can win your the game, but can also cost you the game. So your job is to protect your squishy and let them deal damage and win for you. Like i said above, you will want to Twisted Advance the enemy front line and peel back for your carries. This allows them to stay safe and deal damage while you're protecting them.

-Your Q can interrupt many champions dashes, knocking them back cancels there animation and stops the CC, for example you can knock back a Jarvin E Q combo.

-You can Slow push or Fast push lanes with your E and Q, this allows you to group faster because you will not have to spend a long time getting the minions to be even or start pushing.

-Maokai W can make you untargetable, allowing you to outplay the enemy by getting out of sticky situations by becoming untargetable.

-Maokai's Saplings can be used as vision, you can E into bushes to provide vision for your team. Also can be used to Slow approaching enemies.

-Maokai can out sustain lots of champions with his strong passive. You should go for trades when your Passive is stacked or almost stacked so you can get regen when you go for a trade.

-Maokai is great as a frontline tank or a peeling tank. You should be both, in different times in the game your job will change, you will either be a frontline or peel for your carries- both are technically the same thing but you should try to help your carries regardless.

-Even if you're behind, you're still useful because your Ultimate is very strong for you and your team.

-Your kit (QWE) are on relatively low cost so when you go for trades you can burst people.

-Your ultimate is a V like ability- it snares people in the middle first You can use this to your advantage when going for trades.

-In Ultra Rapid Fire you can stack your saplings in a bush and one shot an unsuspecting victim.

Pros
 -Good laning phase.

-Strong Passive.

-Tanky and Strong Mid/Late.

-Game Good Kit .

-W is very strong for surviving or escaping Ganks.

-Your E can provide vision for your team.

-Lots of sustain early game.

-Good wave clear for either Slow or Fast pushing.

-Really fun in URF

Cons
-Hard vs champions with lots of sustain or harrass.

-Slow champion so needs boots early.

-You cannot spam abilities, so be careful with mana.

-Needs a team to follow up with him.

-His Ultimate is slow.

Maokai's Passive is Sap Magic

His basic attacks periodically heal him. The cooldown of this passive can be decreased by every spell that Maokai uses or gets hit by Maokai is healed for health that increases on level and max health. This passive gives him a lot of healing throughout the game.

Maokai's Q is Bramble Smash

Maokai smashes his fist into the ground, knocking back enemies and slowing them. All enemies that are hit get dealt damage.

Tips and Tricks

Your Q is rather versatile and can be used in a magnitude of ways. You can use it to clear waves, push faster and deal damage to the enemies. If you are close to an enemy and use your Q, they will be knocked backwards. If they are far away then they will just be slowed and dealt damage.

Maokai's W is Twisted Advance

Maokai becomes invincible and dashes towards an enemy champion. Once arrived he will briefly root them.

Tips and Tricks

Your W is very strong and be can used in a range of ways. You can use it to engage on enemy champions when you're receiving a gank. In team fights, you have two choices on who to use your W on. The first option is the enemy frontline. You can be a secondary support and peel for your carries and protect them from the enemies who are trying to get onto them. The second option is to go in on the enemy carries. If you are going on the enemy carries, then be aware of how deep you're going and make sure that your team can follow up. You will be tanky but you will not be able to kill the enemy backline, especially if the enemy has a utility support that can peel for them like a Janna or Lulu.

Maokai's E is Sapling Toss

Maokai throws a sapling into a selected area. Saplings will scout vision and chase any enemies that come near it. They will soon explode after coming into contact with them or reaching their maximum range. If it does hit an enemy, they will be dealt damage and slowed. Saplings last for up to 30 seconds.

Tips and Tricks
Your Saplings are incredibly strong especially when they have been placed in a bush. Saplings that are in bushes and deal extra damage to the enemy hit and nearby enemies. Your Saplings can be used as a barrier between you and the enemy, if they step near them they will explode and deal damage to them. You should use this to your advantage when warding by placing them in bushes and the river- if the enemy goes to ward or the enemy Jungler decides to gank, they will be in for a surprise and you will have time to escape.

Maokai's Ultimate is Nature's Grasp

Maokai Summons a wall of thorns that advances forward rooting enemies that are hit by it. The duration of the root increases the further that the wall travels.

Tips and Tricks

Your ultimate is very slow moving so keep that in mind when using it. The best way of using your ultimate is to flank enemies. For example, if they are grouped in the middle lane, you should move off to the side and behind them- then use your ultimate. This should root the majority of the enemy. You can also use your ultimate in laning combo, as it will spring from slightly behind you-you can double CC enemies. An example combo would be E + W + Q + R followed by Auto attacks.