How to win lane as Maokai against Nautilus · 53.02% win rate over 298 Emerald+ games · Updated 2026-07-27
| Stage | Favoured | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Even / skill | Level 1 is a coinflip — he only has Q hook and you only have one ability, so neither lands a clean kill setup yet. |
| Level 2 | Maokai | Your W root into Q knockback plus a Sap Magic heal wins the trade before his hook cooldown returns. |
| Level 3 | Maokai | Adding E saplings to your W-Q combo lets you zone his last-hits and out-sustain his poke with Passive procs. |
| Levels 4-5 | Maokai | Your root cooldowns cycle faster than his hook, so you repeat favorable trades he can't heal back through. |
| Level 6 | Maokai | R gives you a second root layered on W — his single Q hook can't break a double-root chain. |
| First item | Maokai | On a Bami/sustain first item your Sap Magic healing fully out-paces his damage; he has no sustain to match. |
| Two+ items | Even / skill | Both of you are teamfight tanks with no 1v1 kill threat, so the 2+ item duel is a genuine Skill standoff. |
Level 1 is genuinely even — he has only Q hook and you have only one ability, so don't facecheck the brush into a hook that procs his passive root and a free R setup. Once you hit 2 you flip it: W (Twisted Advance) locks onto him, Q knocks him back at the tip, and your Sap Magic heals the trade right back. He has no sustain and no dash to peel your W, so every short exchange nets you HP he can't recover.
The full Maokai vs Nautilus 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? Nautilus vs Maokai guide →
All Maokai top lane matchups →
Also played in: Support