How to win lane as Teemo against Maokai · 51.41% win rate over 319 Emerald+ games · Updated 2026-07-27
| Stage | Favoured | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Maokai | Maokai's passive heals off sapling and ability hits from level 1, and you have no blind yet to stop his auto-retaliations — accept a neutral first wave rather than trading into his sustain. |
| Level 2 | Teemo | Blinding Shot cancels his auto-based passive healing trigger entirely, and his Twisted Advance is on a long cooldown at level 2 — this is your first real edge and the start of your poke loop. |
| Level 3 | Teemo | Full kit online: Q blind into E poison into W retreat is impossible for Maokai to answer without burning Twisted Advance, and if he does he hands you a free all-in window when it comes back up. |
| Levels 4-5 | Teemo | Max-rank Blinding Shot now covers a 12-second window where Maokai physically cannot auto you, and your poison DoT runs the full duration while his passive sustain stays dormant — freeze and deny freely. |
| Level 6 | Teemo | Noxious Trap at river entrance and tribush means any Twisted Advance approach lights him up with slow and poison, stripping the surprise from his only gap-close — Maokai's kill threat drops to near zero. |
| First item | Teemo | Liandry's Angueur turns every mushroom tick into percent-health burn that overwhelms his passive healing, and your poison DoT now genuinely threatens a 40% HP Maokai even through Bramble Vest. |
| Two+ items | Even / skill | Maokai's full tank build absorbs your single-target damage faster than mushrooms can chunk him; neither side holds a decisive duel advantage, and the outcome is settled by side-wave control and vision, not trades. |
At level 1 Maokai wins the passive sustain race — his sapling bounces off minions and heals off every ability hit, so if you try to brawl the very first wave with E autos you will trade even or slightly behind. Hold back, last-hit at your auto range, and wait for level 2. The moment you hit Q, the entire dynamic flips: Blinding Shot erases his auto-trade window completely, and his passive cannot heal off attacks he cannot land. From level 2 onward, stand at the edge of your Toxic Shot range, poke one or two E autos, then Q-blind when he walks up to retaliate — his passive only procs off allied spell hits, not your attacks on him, so your DoT stacks accumulate while his sustain sits idle.
The full Teemo vs Maokai 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? Maokai vs Teemo guide →
All Teemo top lane matchups →