Guide to play Maokai jungle in League of Legends season 13

Maokai has recently become quite a popular choice in League of Legends. He is immensely strong and can be annoying to play against in the late game.

This champion is arguably one of the best for clearing out enemies hiding inside bushes. Maokai provides a lot of utility not just in team fights but also during objective control.

Hence, a brief guide to Maokai's jungle build has been provided in this article, including his runes and item builds. This position is something that players refer to as a much better version of Teemo.

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Maokai's jungle rune path and item build in League of Legends

Maokai can be leveled up in several ways, but the one that offers the most value is AP. This build is extremely overpowered and burns down the health bars of enemies even before a fight begins.

One simple yet crucial thing players need to do is throw a sapling inside a bush. Eventually, someone will walk in, and it will destroy any squishy champion.

The damage keeps scaling as the game progresses, which makes Maokai quite terrifying. The biggest problem about dealing with Maokai is that there is no counterplay against the saplings he throws inside bushes.

These saplings are indestructible and will follow around enemies as soon as someone gets in range. Of course, there is more to the champion than just a few saplings.

Maokai is one of the best engage champions in the game, and his ganking potential is immense. He can go for a three-camp clear and gank a lane.

He's excellent both in professional play and solo queue, making him one of the highest priority champions as a pick as well as a ban. In any case, it is time to focus on Maokai's rune path in League of Legends.

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Rune path for Maokai in League of Legends

Maokai rune path (Image via Riot Games)

Primary Rune (Sorcery): Phase Rush, Nimbus Cloak, Transcendence, and Waterwalking

Secondary Rune (Domination): Cheap Shot and Treasure Hunter

This rune path is the best for Maokai, who is looking to gank a lot. Phase Rush provides movement speed, which is always valuable as a jungler. Nimbus Cloak makes him even faster, while Transcendence provides AP scaling.

Waterwalking gives both movement speed and ability damage.

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Item build

The item build for Maokai in League of Legends is as follows:

• Liandry's Anguish
• Demonic Embrace
• Morellonomicon
• Ionian Boots of Lucidity
• Mosstomper Seedling
• Zhonya's Hourglass

This build for Maokai absolutely shreds through enemies in League of Legends. Demonic Embrace is the key item as it provides a huge damage spike. This ability should be followed by Liandry's Anguish and then Morellonomicon.

Players can also build Void Staff or Rabadon's Deathcap for more damage.

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Gameplay tips

Maokai is pretty easy to play in League of Legends. Ideally, players would want to focus on his Q and W abilities as those are his primary engage tools. The champion can go for a full clear, but it is better to go for a three-fourth camp clear and gank the lanes.

Players will be fine with allocating only one point to E in the early game, as the saplings offer more value in the later stages. Finally, the ultimate needs to be leveled up whenever possible.