How to win lane as Maokai against Akshan · 51.39% win rate over 72 Emerald+ games · Updated 2026-07-27
| Stage | Favoured | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Maokai | You have a single ability and no combo at level 1, but so does he — deny what last-hits you can and don't walk into Q-swing range. |
| Level 2 | Akshan | His Q poke and E grapple let him chip you and slide out before your one ability lands — concede the level and farm. |
| Level 3 | Akshan | His mobility keeps the lane at his range; when E is up he kites your step-up and his Q/W out-trades your incomplete kit. |
| Levels 4-5 | Even / skill | With W+Q+E online you punish every E-down window, but he reclaims the lane the moment his grapple resets — it's a pure skill war over that cooldown. |
| Level 6 | Even / skill | R roots him through the grapple for a free W, but his camouflage and revive passive mean a missed wave or overchase hands the window right back — genuinely even. |
| First item | Akshan | His Q/W poke and grapple kite still out-tempo your trades when his cooldowns are up, and he can roam off the lane with camouflage to snowball elsewhere. |
| Two+ items | Maokai | Your resists plus Sap Magic shrug off his poke entirely — any greedy swing gets W-Q locked, and a tank simply out-durables a no-burst skirmisher. |
Level 1 is genuinely his — I have only Bramble Smash with no follow-up, so I just farm with the Q tip and accept his Q poke rather than walking into a swing-trade I can't win. The lane flips the moment I complete W+Q at 2-3: if he steps up to Q a minion and his E grapple is on cooldown, I Twisted Advance onto him, Bramble Smash him out of the wave, and proc Sap Magic to heal the poke right back. The whole danger is his E — if it's up he just grapples out of my root range, so I never burn W unless his swing is down.
The full Maokai vs Akshan 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? Akshan vs Maokai guide →
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