How to win lane as Maokai against Karma · 51.41% win rate (2,587 Emerald+ games, lolalytics, sampled July 2026) · Matchup data reviewed on patch 26.15
Their sustain answers chip — your W answers their carry directly; root the windows.
Track: Karma's W — Focused Resolve (12s cooldown). The root tether — break it with range or line of sight.
Read from Maokai's seat: which stage windows this plan plays for against Karma.
This is Maokai's own plan; across 2,587 pooled games the lane is leaning Maokai.
| Stage | Favoured | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Karma | Karma's level-1 Mantra empowers RQ to root and poke you before you can engage. |
| Level 2 | Karma | Karma's early Q and RQ poke keep chunking you through Sap Magic at level 2. |
| Level 3 | Even / skill | By level 3 it evens out: you contest the wave while she still out-pokes, so it's skill. |
| Levels 4-5 | Even / skill | Levels 4-5 stay even as your zoning trades against her shields and sustained poke. |
| Level 6 | Maokai | At 6 your Nature's Grasp gives an engage Karma's utility ult can't escape, flipping the lane to you. |
| First item | Even / skill | First item keeps it a skill trade: landing W through her RE shield decides the fight. |
| Two+ items | Maokai | Late, your engage range and CC chain overpower Karma's poke-only, no-disengage kit. |
Karma out-points you at levels 1-2 thanks to her level-1 Mantra: empowered RQ roots and chunks you from range while your saplings barely heal it back. Don't over-step to W her, farm safely, and accept you're behind on poke until your ult comes online. Her empowered rotation roots and chips you from outside your reach, so stop contesting and let the passive cover it. Seed the ground between you to slow the poke war down, and take your engage only once her empowered cast is already spent on someone else.
Pooled Emerald+ win rates from Maokai's side, sampled July 2026.
The full Maokai vs Karma 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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Maokai, slightly — a 51.41% win rate edge over 2,587 games; execution can flip it.
Mostly — Maokai has a small statistical edge (51.41% win rate), but execution decides this lane far more than the pick does.
Not a hard counter — Maokai has a slight edge (51.41% win rate), and play quality decides the rest.
Maokai takes Guardian on the Resolve tree with Font of Life, Bone Plating and Overgrowth, and Inspiration secondary (Biscuit Delivery and Cosmic Insight) vs Karma.
Start World Atlas + potions and back for Bramble piece vs sustain. Build Locket / Zeke's first, then Knight's Vow path, with Mercury's.
Playing the other side? Karma vs Maokai guide →
All Maokai support matchups →
More Maokai support matchups: vs Galio · vs Hwei · vs Janna · vs Leona · vs Lulu · vs Lux
Also played in: Top Lane