How to win the jungle race as Maokai against Locke · Matchup data reviewed on patch 26.15
Read from Maokai's seat: the race windows this plan plays for against Locke.
| Stage | Read | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 Clear | Respect Locke | Q nail volleys clear camps at range while banking marks for the first scuttle fight, and Maokai has no clean answer to it at the first buff — a stacked nail string into the blink-through consume deletes half a health bar. Fight him at full marks-zero and punish the ten seconds after his blink — E is his only exit, and give up your opening camps rather than the kill. |
| Level 2 Skirmish | Respect Locke | The window on the second camp belongs to Locke: the blink-auto mark consume chunks hard, but spending E in a duel spends the escape too. Your own line is real — Twisted Advance root trades keep skirmishes on your schedule — but it arrives second here. Fight him at full marks-zero and punish the ten seconds after his blink — E is his only exit, then refuse the level-2 skirmish. |
| Level 3 Route | Respect Locke | At level 3 this window belongs to Locke: W's grey-health refund makes his short trades cheaper than they look — full clears cost him real HP, and a stacked nail string into the blink-through consume deletes half a health bar. Fight him at full marks-zero and punish the ten seconds after his blink — E is his only exit. Give up the level-3 river fight and bank tempo on the opposite side of the map. |
| Levels 4-5 Macro | Respect Locke — Path Opposite | You lose the 4-5 duel. He uses 4-5 to bank marks at range, then blinks in the moment the nail count says the kill is there — so let them have that half of the map and cash the other half faster. |
| Level 6 Breakpoint | Even Ult Window | Level six changes both of you at once: Nature's Grasp roots the whole river — objective fights start on your terms, while the Purgatory totem turns any low-HP skirmish into a chain of executes and blink resets. Leave the totem zone above the threshold and kill him while E is down — his execute can't chase, and let the objective timer say when to commit. |
| First Item Spike | Lich Bane / Shadowflame Spike | His Lich Bane spike is real: the blink-consume chunk one-shots chipped squishies. Respect the first-item window, then note his E is still a one-way door — punish every spent blink. Locke's first item makes the mark consume hit for a real chunk, which is when the blink stops being a poke tool. |
| 2+ Items Scaling | Maokai Favoured at Full Build | Late-game Locke scales with his seal count, not his items — deny executes and his floor never rises. Focus him when E is down and never let "almost dead" linger inside Purgatory. |
Standard start — his level-1 clear is ranged but mana-hungry and his duel is honest at best; you dictate the early tempo, not him. Locke clears at range with Ritual Nails and banks marks while doing it, so his first scuttle arrives with stacks up.
Ranked by the race windows in Maokai's plans — the jungle race carries no win-rate sample.
The full Maokai vs Locke report continues with scuttle & dragon rules, invade windows and safety boundaries, the top-side objective fight, macro rotations and the win condition — plus the live enemy-jungle tracker that shows their start, clear and gank timers in game.
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No clear favourite — Maokai holds 2 windows, Locke 4, the rest are even.
Yes — Maokai vs Locke plays as a skill matchup: the jungle race swings window to window, and the better first clear usually sets the tone.
Playing the other side? Locke vs Maokai guide →
All Maokai jungle matchups →
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