How to win lane as Maokai against Cho'Gath · 44% win rate over 50 Emerald+ games · Updated 2026-07-27
| Stage | Favoured | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Even / skill | You're both feeble at level 1 with a single ability — neither of you can punish, so it's a wash while you set up your W-Q spike. |
| Level 2 | Maokai | Your completed W (Twisted Advance) into Q (Bramble Smash) plus a Sap Magic heal lets you root-and-poke a Cho'Gath who has no Feast HP and no lockdown yet. |
| Level 3 | Maokai | You repeat the W-Q root trade and heal it back with Sap Magic faster than he can answer, owning this window before his stacks pile up. |
| Levels 4-5 | Even / skill | Even — your root cadence still lets you trade, but his Rupture knockup and growing Feast HP start matching your pokes, so it's a coin-flip on who lands first. |
| Level 6 | Cho'Gath | His level 6 is the spike: Rupture knockup into Feral Scream silence locks you for a Feast (R) true-damage execute that ignores your resists and out-burns your heal. |
| First item | Even / skill | Around first item you're durable and lane-stable, but his early Feast stacks let him eat your Q pokes and shrug the trade, so neither of you cleanly wins. |
| Two+ items | Maokai | Your CC, durability, and Nature's Grasp engage give you the one window to start a fight on your terms — just commit when his Feast execute is on cooldown. |
Cho'Gath is just as weak at level 1 as I am, but I spike first: once I complete W (Twisted Advance) into Q (Bramble Smash) at 2-3 I can root him onto the spot, poke, and heal the whole trade back with Sap Magic before he has any answer. He has no Feast stacks yet, so my magic damage actually means something here — punish every minion he steps up for. The one thing to dodge is his Rupture (Q) knockup; it's his only real poke pre-6, so don't stand on top of a sapling-cleared wave where he can land it blind.
The full Maokai vs Cho'Gath 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? Cho'Gath vs Maokai guide →
All Maokai top lane matchups →