Maokai appears in the support role from time to time and dominates it regardless of the competition. This is a tank champion capable of applying heavy AoE CC as well as loads of magic damage that help his partners carry games in all elos in solo queue.
In most cases, the ideal partners for Maokai support would be ADCs that lack crowd control but offer lots of damage in return. And since Maokai is an expert at controlling the battlefield, he only requires more damage in order to take everybody down.
As a Master elo player myself, I crafted this article of the 7 best ADC picks you should play with Maokai very carefully. All 7 champions on this list perform very well regardless of the patch and matchup because they’re based on synergy.
That said, let’s go deeper into detail and talk about how each of them can help Maoaki win more games overall.
7. Jinx
I start this post with Jinx because I believe that anyone who’s played against Maokai and Jinx knows how difficult it is to win that lane. It seems like they have everything, so let’s break their strengths down one by one.
First, Jinx and Maokai are perfectly capable of matching their damage even to the most aggressive bot lane duos early in League of Legends. Jinx’s poke potential through Q is huge and Maokai can contribute with his E as well.
Speaking of Maokai’s saplings, they’re perfect for controlling the bushes and forcing enemies to play on the left side of the lane. This can help Jinx position herself in a more safe manner when she needs to, by standing on the right side (diagonally from her opponents).
When it’s time to score a kill, Maokai can do a simple engage with his W root and Q pushback. This is enough CC for Jinx to start auto-attacking and even cast W and E successfully. The combined snare effects can last for over 2 seconds, which is a lot early on.
After level 6, it’s really easy for Maokai and Jinx to outplay their opponents. It usually takes a good cast of Maokai’s R to set the stage and have Jinx bombard the opponents with Q-enhanced auto-attacks.
Moreover, Jinx can even aim her own R freely while Maokai holds the targets rooted, so the synergy is definitely there.
I personally love playing Maokai with Aftershock and Liandry’s Anguish in this duo, but you’re free to experiment for yourself.
Read Also: 6 Best Synergy Supports for Jinx
6. Sivir
As I mentioned above, any ADC that lacks CC but can do a lot of damage benefits from having Maokai as a support partner. This also includes Sivir who’s simply fantastic at spreading her damage across multiple targets if they’re stacked together.
For this, Maokai can help Sivir because of his snare effects from the W and R abilities. The first one can catch one target and allow Sivir to burst them down with Q. But the second can affect all 5 of the enemy champions and let Sivir spread her damage with W.
The cool thing here is that even if Maokai is out of range, Sivir can simply activate her ultimate to grant him a burst of movement speed so that he can use his W. It’s also useful for quickly applying his R, so the synergy is there.
In team fights, Maokai is excellent at peeling for Sivir who works well on her own too. His CC helps Sivir outrange most enemies and keep auto-attacking from a safe distance.
Since Sivir doesn’t have any immobilizing effects in her kit, I’ve found that Everfrost works very well on Maokai, especially when his ulti is down. It’s just another root that aids Sivir during the fighting, so I dare you to try it out.
Read Also: The Best Supports for Sivir
5. Ezreal
Ezreal is a mage/marksman that relies on landing his skill shots. This can be a difficult task for players of every elo, so Maokai support serves as an easy band-aid fix for that.
For example, each time Maokai roots an enemy champion with W, Ezreal can use this to quickly perform his W+Q or W+E combo. And because Maokai has his W every 5 seconds or so, you can see how impactful it can be over the course of the laning phase.
After level 6, the duo becomes even more effective with both partners gaining an AoE ultimate ability.
For Maokai, this means snaring multiple enemies with Nature’s Grasp and setting the stage for Ezreal. And for Ezreal, he gets to freely aim his Trueshot Barrage against the immobilized enemies, hopefully, aligned perfectly for it.
Since Maokai’s ultimate covers such a big area of the map and Ezreal has nearly infintie mana due to Tear of the Goddess, this is one of the best duo to contest Dragons with. The allied jungler can always count on you to secure bushes and bot side control, so don’t hesitate to call them for every drake early on.
In terms of runs and items, I’ve found that Arcane Comet and Imperial Mandate go very well together in combination with Ezreal. The first will help you poke more during the laning phase and the second will give Ezreal more damage later on.
Read Also: The Best Synergy Supports for Ezreal
4. Kalista
Kalista isn’t a very popular ADC in solo queue although she performs well on a professional stage. Still, when it comes to synergizing her with Maokai, the process goes very naturally.
For starters, the bonding between Maokai and Kalista results in a fantastic teamfight setup on level 6. With Kalista’s R, Maokai can dash into multiple enemies from great range, snare one enemy with W and apply his ultimate on all the rest.
This is a powerful strategy of apply as much crowd control as possible. And in the late game, when Kalista has a couple of items in her inventory, it can lead your team to an ACE.
One thing I love about Kalista is that she also increases Maokai’s safety. When ganked, she can simply press her R button to pull Maokai toward her and allow him to escape. Remember, Maokai has no mobility when running away, so Fate’s Call is really helpful.
On the other hand, Maokai’s ability to control the battlefield directly increases Kalista’s safety. He can keep enemies immobilized and away from Kalista’s reach, so she can focus on dealing damage.
These two champions also synergize with their saplings and ghosts. Maokai’s saplings can stop enemy junglers from committing to a gank while Kalista’s ghost can uncover them and change their mind about ganking altogether.
Here, I’ve found that Locket of the Iron Solari and Evenshroud are better options than super-offensive AP items on Maokai.
Read Also: The Best Synergy Supports for Kalista
3. Seraphine
Like it or not, Seraphine is one of the best AP carries that have ever been added to League of Legends. She’s a dominating champion able to control the bot side from level 1.
Seraphine E plays a huge role in the synergy between her and Maokai, so let me tell you how you can best take advantage of it. First, understand that Seraphine’s E can either slow, snare, or stun, depending if the target has been affected by one of these effects recently.
For example, if Maokai slows an enemy champion with E, Seraphine’s Beat Drop will snare them. But if Maokai roots them with either W or R, Seraphine’s E is a guaranteed stun.
This may not sound like much, but it’s essentially a double effect that Seraphine has just by being around Maokai. In late game teamfights, this synergy can be game-breaking, especially if you take into consideration Seraphine’s AoE charm too.
Speaking of, Sera’s Encore can be a perfect follow-up to Maokai’s Nature’s Grasp. This is partly because the opponents can’t escape it but also because Seraphine can extend her ult’s range through Maokai who, of course, is between her and the enemy team.
Because both of these champions are AP and deal magic damage, the best item to get on Maokai would be Imperial Mandate together with Arcane Comet as your keystone.
Read Also: 5 Best Supports for Seraphine APC
2. Miss Fortune
I also posted an in-depth guide to the best supports for Miss Fortune in LoL and there I included Maokai as well. These two champions fit very well and you can always count on their synergy to win teamfights and games.
First of all, the whole point of playing MF and Maokai together is to unify their ultimates from level 6 onward. Before that, it’s all about staying safe in lane, poking safely when you can, and making sure the enemy jungler doesn’t capitalize on your mistakes.
And when you unlock these two ultimates, the fun begins. Maokai’s engage with his Nature’s Grasp can line up all enemy champions for Miss Fortune’s Bullet Time. We all know how deadly MF’s ulti can be, especially when enemies can’t run away from it.
Here I recommend switching between Imperial Mandate and Everfrost, depending on how mobile the enemy team is.
If you don’t have a problem catching up to them, Imperial Mandate would be the better choice. But if you’re up against champions like Kayn, Zed, or Ezreal, Everfrost is a must-have.
Read Also: 13 Supports with Amazing Synergy with Miss Fortune
1. Twitch
Twitch has been the number best-performing ADC in a duo with Maokai for a very long time. There are a couple of reasons for it, so let’s go over them.
First, Twitch isn’t the most aggressive ADC early on and he prefers to play safely and in a calculated manner. He can engage pre-6 when Maokai pokes an enemy champion enough or catches them with W, but not without those conditions.
Second, Twitch doesn’t really care whether Maokai lines up the enemy team perfectly with his R. He just needs Maokai to immobilize them long enough for him to spray them with his own ultimate.
And third, Maokai’s entire kit helps Twitch kite and peel better, whether that’s through snares or slows. And because of that, Twitch can do more damage overall and be the hyper-carry AD carry that he truly is.
Maokai and Twitch can create many tricky situations for the enemy team, including Maokai casting R while Twitch is in invisibility. This, for example, gives you the element of surprise and can catch your enemies off-guard.
Here, I’d advise you to switch between Evenshround and Imperial Mandate based on your opponents. You don’t need Locket since you’ll always be in a favorable position in each fight.
Conclusion
It’s not difficult to find a good ADC partner for Maokai support because of how useful the champion is in general. And besides these 7 picks here, you can pair him up with almost any marksman in the bot lane.
But if you want the highest chances of winning games with Maokai support, those are the 7 ADCs you should prioritize playing with!
Read Also: 7 Best Synergy ADC Picks to Play with Brand Support
