How to win the jungle race as Warwick against Maokai · Matchup data reviewed on patch 26.15
Read from Warwick's seat: the race windows this plan plays for against Maokai.
| Stage | Read | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 Clear | Warwick Dominant | Eternal Hunger sustain means you win any fight where both sides arrive off full camps. Later in the game this bites, because Twisted Advance's untargetable root locks you down for the counter-trade. But before either of you has a second camp down none of it is online, so take the level-1 crossing and tax every camp Maokai concedes. |
| Level 2 Skirmish | Warwick Dominant | Blood Hunt (W) attack speed plus Q healing out-sustains every trade pattern, while Twisted Advance root trades keep skirmishes on their schedule. Only one of those wins on the second camp, so press it: take the level-2 skirmish, then leave with the second buff and the tempo that comes with it. |
| Level 3 Route | Warwick Dominant | Primal Howl (E) damage reduction caps an early kit with no real counter-trade. Bramble Smash knock-back plus the W root is a solid pick kit, not a stat-check, and as the first scuttle timer lands that is not an answer. Take the level-3 river fight and make Maokai path away from the camps you want. |
| Levels 4-5 Macro | Warwick Dominant — Keep Fighting | You are the stronger side all through 4-5. Maokai knows it — he plays 4-5 through sapling vision and root ganks into lanes that already hold the wave — so shadow that side of the map and make them fight you anyway. |
| Level 6 Breakpoint | Infinite Duress Favoured | Infinite Duress suppression plus Blood Hunt frenzy ends any duel that starts below full. Maokai's six is not empty — a forest of roots arrives ahead of every objective contest. Take the duel from even health rather than from behind, and flank around the root wave — it is slow and dodgeable from the side. |
| First Item Spike | BotRK / Stride Spike | Blade of the Ruined King or Stridebreaker turns your already-strong dueling into outright stat-check dominance, with percent-health shred and stick potential layered onto your healing. Your camp clear accelerates sharply, letting you full-clear and still arrive for every river fight. Force extended skirmishes around objectives where nobody on their team can out-trade you 1v1. Maokai's first item mostly buys health and cooldowns — his spike is durability, not damage, and it arrives early. |
| 2+ Items Scaling | Respect Maokai Late — End Early | The full-build comparison goes to Maokai: he is a root wall with a health bar — hard to kill, and the whole river is his zone. Play for picks and objectives, and end before the fight has to be fair. |
Start either buff with Q sustain — you need no leash and end the opening camps near full health. Note Maokai's starting side from lane leashes; your level 3 is strong enough that you can path toward them rather than away if you spot their entry point. Maokai clears comfortably with Sap Magic sustain and saplings, and he is close to full health at every crossing.
Ranked by the race windows in Warwick's plans — the jungle race carries no win-rate sample.
The full Warwick vs Maokai 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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Warwick's race plan controls 6 of the 7 windows — Warwick holds the tempo advantage in this jungle matchup.
Not exactly — Warwick's race plan controls 6 of the 7 windows, so Maokai is playing catch-up and has to lean on the map.
Playing the other side? Maokai vs Warwick guide →
All Warwick jungle matchups →
More Warwick jungle matchups: vs Lee Sin · vs Lillia · vs Locke · vs Master Yi · vs Morgana · vs Naafiri