How to win lane as Graves against Maokai · 37.5% win rate over 16 Emerald+ games · Updated 2026-07-27
| Stage | Favoured | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Maokai | Maokai's saplings ward the bush and chip you with magic damage while you have one magazine, no E charges, and no clean way into point-blank range. |
| Level 2 | Maokai | His sapling chip plus passive regen out-trades your single magazine, and Twisted Advance threatens a root-dash all-in before your E charges come online. |
| Level 3 | Even / skill | Your full Q-E-W kit comes online — E in, W-blind an auto, Q-cone point-blank — making this your genuine swing window rather than a clear loss. |
| Levels 4-5 | Even / skill | Levels 4-5 trade roughly even: your E charges and magazine reset answer his saplings, and his passive regen answers your shells, so neither side runs away with it. |
| Level 6 | Maokai | Collateral Damage and your Dirk/Eclipse spike give you the cleanest kill attempt of the lane, but his sustain keeps even this a skill check that often slips away. |
| First item | Maokai | Past first item his passive regen and sapling sustain start outlasting your burst, and his Twisted Advance root locks you in melee where you can't reposition. |
| Two+ items | Maokai | Full-tank Maokai out-sustains your shell DPS with passive regen, his root pins you and Bramble Smash knocks you out of point-blank range, and a blind never touches his ability damage. |
Maokai owns the first two levels — his saplings ward the lane and chip you for free magic damage, and you have no E charges yet to weave into your point-blank shell spread without eating a Bramble Smash knockback. Don't walk into a sapling field to last-hit; eat a little CS loss instead. Your one real swing is Level 3: E in, drop W on him so its blind eats his next auto, and detonate a Q cone point-blank, then dash out before his passive regen erases the chunk. Respect his Twisted Advance — if that root-dash glues you to him, no Bushwhack armor stack saves you from being stuck in melee with a tank.
The full Graves 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 Graves guide →
All Graves top lane matchups →