How to win lane as Maokai against Cassiopeia · 41.67% win rate (48 Emerald+ games, lolalytics, sampled July 2026) · Matchup data reviewed on patch 26.15
She kites you out — survive, then root her on the Miasma cooldown and grind her with saplings.
Track: Cassiopeia's W — Miasma (24–16s cooldown). Grounds you — dashes and movement abilities are disabled inside it.
Read from Maokai's seat: which stage windows this plan plays for against Cassiopeia.
| Stage | Favoured | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Even / skill | You have one ability and no combo at Level 1, but she has only a single poison tick too — last-hit at range, don't eat free Q (Noxious Blast), and set up your level-2 spike. |
| Level 2 | Cassiopeia | Miasma grounds the ground you stand on — inside that cloud you cannot cast Twisted Advance at all, so she fences off your only engage. |
| Level 3 | Cassiopeia | Her Q+W poison now out-ticks your Sap Magic heal across a full trade, so a clean W-root all-in no longer comes out ahead. |
| Levels 4-5 | Cassiopeia | Repeated poke means her stacked poison damage beats your Passive sustain over the 4-5 window — every trade leaves you lower than her. |
| Level 6 | Cassiopeia | Petrifying Gaze stuns only enemies facing her and she casts it as you close, so your engage eats the stun unless you turn away first. |
| First item | Cassiopeia | Her first item (Liandry's/Malignance) plus boots-free move speed lets her stack poison faster than you heal and kite your step-up. |
| Two+ items | Cassiopeia | Two items in she out-DPSes your full HP bar through your resistances and kites forever — you're a teamfight engage tool, not a duelist. |
Levels 1-3 are your only real window, and even that is thin against her. At 2 your W (Twisted Advance) root into Q (Bramble Smash) is a hard trade she cannot match in melee, so step up the instant she walks forward to last-hit and proc Sap Magic off the all-in to heal the chip back. Do not face-tank her Q (Noxious Blast) poke for free — and respect her W (Miasma): standing in that cloud grounds you and you cannot cast W at all, so launch the dash from outside it.
Pooled Emerald+ win rates from Maokai's side, sampled July 2026.
The full Maokai vs Cassiopeia 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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Cassiopeia — Maokai wins only 41.67% of 48 games, so Maokai plays this as the disadvantaged side.
Not really — Cassiopeia holds a real statistical advantage (58.33% win rate), so Maokai is the one working uphill.
No — Cassiopeia counters Maokai (Maokai wins only 41.67% of games). Play it as the disadvantaged side and lean on the windows in the plan.
Maokai takes Grasp of the Undying on the Resolve tree with Demolish, Second Wind and Overgrowth, and Precision secondary (Triumph and Legend: Haste) vs Cassiopeia.
Start Doran's Shield + Health Potion and back for Core component + boots (≈1300g). Build Heartsteel (the HP engine) first, then Thornmail / Spirit Visage, with Mercury's Treads.
Playing the other side? Cassiopeia vs Maokai guide →
All Maokai top lane matchups →
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