How to win lane as Maokai against Brand · 48.78% win rate (1,101 Emerald+ games, lolalytics, sampled July 2026) · Matchup data reviewed on patch 26.15
He pokes the bark — sustain through the chip, sapling his casting spots, and root the conversion.
Track: Brand's Q — Sear (Stun, 8–6s cooldown). Q only stuns the ablaze — after eating W or E, the stun line is the dodge.
Read from Maokai's seat: which stage windows this plan plays for against Brand.
| Stage | Favoured | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Brand | Brand out-ranges you at level 1 with Pillar of Flame poke. |
| Level 2 | Brand | His level-2 Sear stun punishes any step-up before your combo reaches. |
| Level 3 | Brand | At level 3 his W-Q-E rotation chunks you through your durability. |
| Levels 4-5 | Brand | At 4-5 his passive burn shreds your tank HP faster than you sustain. |
| Level 6 | Brand | Level 6 Pyroclasm punishes any grouped engage under his ult. |
| First item | Brand | First item makes his full combo nearly delete your ADC and chunk you. |
| Two+ items | Brand | With 2+ items his percent-health burn and AoE punish your engage all game. |
Levels 1-2 are miserable: Brand out-ranges you completely, poking with Pillar of Flame and threatening the Sear stun the moment you step up to engage. You have no way to close the gap safely before Twisted Advance is up, so you soak poke behind minions and give ground rather than feed his combo. He out-ranges you completely, so stop stepping forward and let the passive heal cover the chip instead. Seed the ground between you to slow his approach, and take the dash-root only once his stun is already spent, because being caught mid-approach is the whole loss condition.
Pooled Emerald+ win rates from Maokai's side, sampled July 2026.
The full Maokai vs Brand report continues with the mid-game plan, the late-game and teamfight plan, every power spike to play around, and the win conditions for both sides — plus cooldown tracking and the live enemy-jungle tracker inside the app.
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Brand, slightly — Maokai wins 48.78% of 1,101 games; winnable with the right plan.
Mostly — Brand has a small statistical edge (51.22% win rate), but execution decides this lane far more than the pick does.
No — if anything Brand has the slight edge (Maokai wins 48.78%), though it stays close.
Maokai takes Guardian on the Resolve tree with Font of Life, Bone Plating and Overgrowth, and Inspiration secondary (Biscuit Delivery and Cosmic Insight) vs Brand.
Start World Atlas + potions and back for Boots + wards (≈700g). Build Locket / Zeke's first, then Knight's Vow path, with Mercury's.
Playing the other side? Brand vs Maokai guide →
All Maokai support matchups →
More Maokai support matchups: vs Alistar · vs Bard · vs Blitzcrank · vs Braum · vs Galio · vs Hwei