How to win the jungle race as Maokai against Rek'Sai · Matchup data reviewed on patch 26.15
Read from Maokai's seat: the race windows this plan plays for against Rek'Sai.
| Stage | Read | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 Clear | Danger — Avoid Rek'Sai | Hard no-contest for Maokai at level 1: Fury-fueled Q autos clear fast and win the first raptor fight, and an Unburrow knock-up from an unseen tunnel starts every fight on her terms. Ward her tunnel entrances — if you can't see the burrow line, don't walk the river. Path opposite, ward your entrances, and let the clock carry you to your own spike. |
| Level 2 Skirmish | Danger — Avoid Rek'Sai | An Unburrow knock-up from an unseen tunnel starts every fight on her terms. The Unburrow knock-up gives a free engage on anyone walking their tunnels on top of that, so level 2 is a straight stat check Maokai loses — ward her tunnel entrances — if you can't see the burrow line, don't walk the river, and give the river vision-line respect. |
| Level 3 Route | Danger — Avoid Rek'Sai | Rek'Sai out-classes you at the opening scuttle — the full tunnel network plus knock-up means they dictate where every fight starts, and an Unburrow knock-up from an unseen tunnel starts every fight on her terms. Give up the level-3 river fight, full-clear away from them, and trade map pressure instead of health. |
| Levels 4-5 Macro | Danger — Avoid Rek'Sai | Rek'Sai owns 4-5 outright. He builds a tunnel network through 4-5 that lets him arrive in a lane from an unwarded direction, so treat every crossing as theirs and take the camps they are furthest from. |
| Level 6 Breakpoint | Respect Rek'Sai's R | Void Rush's untargetable execute finishes any trade that drops you low — Maokai loses the straight post-6 duel. Stay above execute range — a marked duel at half HP is already over, and shift your pressure to the side of the map Void Rush is not on. |
| First Item Spike | Sunfire Aegis Spike | Completing Sunfire Aegis gives you a constant area burn plus health, so camps melt while you stand in them and every extended fight with a brawler has free damage ticking on your side. Rek'Sai's first item is a real jump in duel power, but it is also close to the end of her scaling curve. |
| 2+ Items Scaling | Maokai Favoured at Full Build | Two items on, the edge is yours. The one thing to plan around is that he executes anything below the Void Rush threshold from across the map — take that away and the fight is a formality. |
Start your clear at the Raptors or Wolves camp utilizing your stacked E saplings to maximize early AoE clear speed without a leash. Rek'Sai clears fast on Fury-fuelled attacks and Furious Bite, and her tunnels make her map speed better than her clear suggests.
Ranked by the race windows in Maokai's plans — the jungle race carries no win-rate sample.
The full Maokai vs Rek'Sai 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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Rek'Sai pressures 5 of the 7 windows in this race — survive the early game and scale into your windows.
Not exactly — Rek'Sai pressures 5 of the 7 windows, so Maokai is playing catch-up and has to lean on the map.
Playing the other side? Rek'Sai vs Maokai guide →
All Maokai jungle matchups →
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