How to win lane as Maokai against Kennen · 56.76% win rate over 37 Emerald+ games · Updated 2026-07-27
| Stage | Favoured | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Even / skill | Even at 1 — I have only a single ability and no combo, but Kennen's early is also weak, so we trade farm while he chips me with Thundering Shuriken. |
| Level 2 | Kennen | His level-2 poke comes online and out-ranges my W (Twisted Advance) dash, so unless he hands me a flat overstep he chips me for free with Q and Electrical Surge. |
| Level 3 | Kennen | With his full poke kit and energy sustain he kites me between my W cooldowns, denying the root-into-Q trade I need to proc Sap Magic. |
| Levels 4-5 | Kennen | He out-ranges and out-pokes me through the 4-5 stretch; my E (Sapling Toss) holds the wave but I can't catch him to punish. |
| Level 6 | Kennen | Slicing Maelstrom AoE-stuns me and stacks Mark of the Storm to lock out my W gap-close — his single biggest window, and my R doesn't swing the 1v1 back. |
| First item | Kennen | His first-item AP poke out-chips my Sap Magic heal, and R plus Flash keeps him outside any W I throw. |
| Two+ items | Even / skill | Even again — late, neither of us wins the sidelane cleanly, but my R (Nature's Grasp) engage and teamfight CC matter more in a 5v5 than his poke. |
Level 1 is a wash — I have one ability and no combo, and Kennen just pokes me with Thundering Shuriken from range I can't answer, so I farm and eat a little chip. The moment I have W (Twisted Advance) plus a Q (Bramble Smash) point, I get my only real lane threat: if he steps into the wave to last-hit, I W-root onto him, Q-knock him, and proc Sap Magic to heal the poke he's been stacking on me. The catch is his energy kite — he has no mana to run out, so I can't fish for a W I'll miss. I only commit when he's flat-footed in CS range.
The full Maokai vs Kennen 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? Kennen vs Maokai guide →
All Maokai top lane matchups →