How to win lane as Gragas against Maokai · 52.26% win rate over 1,018 Emerald+ games · Updated 2026-07-27
| Stage | Favoured | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Maokai | Maokai's Sapling Toss (E) zones the wave and pokes you for free before Drunken Rage (W) gives you a sustain trigger — concede the level-1 contest and farm. |
| Level 2 | Even / skill | You pick up W for a real trade, but his Sap Magic sustain and Bramble Smash (Q) knockback answer evenly — it's a coin-flip on who lands their cast first. |
| Level 3 | Even / skill | He can Twisted Advance (W) root you onto his sapling field before your combo cooldowns are short, so the lane stays even until your W is maxed. |
| Levels 4-5 | Gragas | W max and Happy Hour let you out-sustain his sapling poke and win the extended trade the moment his Twisted Advance is down. |
| Level 6 | Gragas | E (Body Slam) stun into W-auto into Q (Barrel Roll) detonate plus Explosive Cask is a full all-in he can't escape without his W root up. |
| First item | Gragas | Riftmaker spikes your combo damage while Happy Hour out-heals his Sap Magic, turning your trades oppressive into his low-burst tank kit. |
| Two+ items | Even / skill | He scales into a tankier double-CC frontline while you taper toward utility — the duel evens out and your Cask becomes a peel tool, not a kill button. |
Maokai's Sapling Toss (E) is what makes level 1-2 his — the saplings zone the wave, reveal you, and chip you for free before your Drunken Rage (W) is up to heal it back, so don't contest the early push, just farm. The moment you have W, the damage reduction plus Happy Hour erases his sapling poke and the lane starts to even out. Last-hit with the edge of Q (Barrel Roll) and never walk straight at him through a sapling, because that brush of vision lets him land Twisted Advance (W) and chain Bramble Smash (Q) for a free trade.
The full Gragas vs Maokai 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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Playing the other side? Maokai vs Gragas guide →
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