How to win lane as Karma against Maokai · 50.46% win rate (218 Emerald+ games, lolalytics, sampled July 2026) · Matchup data reviewed on patch 26.15
Free poke forever — he farms at half HP and your real job is exporting Mantra to the river.
Track: Maokai's W — Twisted Advance (14–10s cooldown). Point-and-click root — count its cooldown before stepping up.
Read from Karma's seat: which stage windows this plan plays for against Maokai.
| Stage | Favoured | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Karma | At Level 1 Mantra is already up — open RQ Soulflare for a free chunk before his passive sustain and saplings can heal it back. |
| Level 2 | Even / skill | Even trade at 2: your Q out-ranges him but he has no W dash yet, so neither of you can force — last-hit and don't overstay. |
| Level 3 | Maokai | Once he hits 3 and has W he dashes and roots you, and his Q knockback plus passive heal flip any trade in his favour. |
| Levels 4-5 | Maokai | His passive sustain and sapling damage heal through your Q/RQ chip, so you can't shove him off the wave like other immobile targets. |
| Level 6 | Maokai | Your Mantra is no power spike at 6 while his W-dash root sets up a kill or a tower dive — this is the level he closes the gap. |
| First item | Even / skill | Your first AP/haste item sharpens RQ but his tank items and passive heal blunt it — it's a wash, the best you do is trade tempo. |
| Two+ items | Maokai | He scales into an unkillable frontline whose W-root locks you down — your chip means nothing and your thin frame dies to one lockdown. |
Your only clean window is Level 1: open with RQ Soulflare for a real chunk before Maokai's passive sustain and saplings are online to heal it back. After that, respect his W — the moment he has it at 3 he can dash to you and root you in place, and your Q poke just feeds his passive heal. Hold Inspire (E) for that dash-root, not for a casual trade, because if your shield is down when his W lands he chains Q knockback and you have no escape.
Pooled Emerald+ win rates from Karma's side, sampled July 2026.
The full Karma 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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Nobody on paper — a 50.46% win rate over 218 games makes this a coin flip decided by play, not champion select.
Yes — Karma vs Maokai is a genuine skill matchup: 50.46% win rate, and the favour swings window to window rather than being set at champion select.
No hard counter either way — the Karma vs Maokai win rate is 50.46%, an even lane decided by execution.
Karma takes Arcane Comet on the Sorcery tree with Manaflow Band, Transcendence and Scorch, and Inspiration secondary (Biscuit Delivery and Cosmic Insight) vs Maokai.
Start Doran's Ring + 2 Health Potions and back for Oblivion Orb (≈800g) — cuts his healing. Build Malignance / Blackfire Torch first, then Cosmic Drive, with Sorcerer's Shoes / Mercury's Treads.
Playing the other side? Maokai vs Karma guide →
All Karma top lane matchups →
More Karma top lane matchups: vs Locke · vs Lucian · vs Malphite · vs Master Yi · vs Mel · vs Mordekaiser
Also played in: Support