Maokai ARAM Mayhem Build

The Twisted Treant. A middle-of-the-pack pick in ARAM Mayhem on patch 26.21: #92 of 173 champions.

BPatch 26.21TankSupportNo runes in Mayhem

Tier: B
Win rate: 49.3%
Pick rate: 7.5%
Rank: #92 of 173
Games: 1,744,028
Patch: 26.21

How to play Maokai in ARAM Mayhem

Maokai is a solid, middle-of-the-pack pick in ARAM Mayhem on patch 26.21: tier B, #92 of 173 champions, with a 49.3% win rate over 1,744,028 games. Riot rates it 3/10 for difficulty: easy to pick up when it lands on your bench.

76% of Maokai's damage to champions is magic, so enemy magic resist is what slows it down. It soaks 65,697 damage per game and mitigates another 77,130, so it belongs at the front: start fights and absorb the poke your carries can't. With 82 seconds of crowd control per game it is one of the team's main sources of lockdown.

Most Maokai players go Tank (47% of games), but the AP path, ability power items, is ARAMKit's top-ranked build: Blackfire Torch, Liandry's Torment and Rabadon's Deathcap, with a 49.1% win rate. On this build 61% of players skip boots and spend the slot on another item.

The cards that do best on Maokai are Infinite Recursion, Mad Scientist and Steel Your Heart. Cards built around ability haste fill most of the top of its list, followed by movement speed. Skip Nightstalking and Surge Field when you can: they do worst on Maokai. A pair to look for: Ocean Soul with Giant Slayer.

Take Flash and Mark (90% of players). Max E (Sapling Toss) first, then Q, then W.

Maokai ARAM Mayhem build

ARAMKit groups every Maokai game by build path. The top-ranked path comes first, with the items most players start with, buy first and add later.

AP build · top ranked

49.1% win rate · 31% of Maokai games · 464,946 games

Start

Lost Chapter

Core items, in buying order

Blackfire Torch
Liandry's Torment
Rabadon's Deathcap

Boots on the AP build for Maokai, top ranked first, with the share of players who buy them
Boots, best first	Players
Gluttonous Greaves	6%
No boots	61%
Sorcerer's Shoes	16%

Situational, after the core

Shadowflame39% buy it
Malignance12% buy it
Imperial Mandate3% buy it
Void Staff21% buy it
Archangel's Staff4% buy it
Bloodletter's Curse6% buy it

Other build paths

Other Maokai build paths with share of games, win rate and core items
Path	Core items	Games	Win rate
TankHeartsteel, Unending Despair, Warmog's Armor		46.7%	48.8%

Games: the share of all Maokai games that went this way.

Most bought items

Heartsteel52% of games
Liandry's Torment42% of games
Unending Despair36% of games
Blackfire Torch36% of games
Warmog's Armor32% of games
Spirit Visage25% of games
Malignance24% of games
Thornmail23% of games
Mercury's Treads18% of games
Rabadon's Deathcap16% of games

Best augments for Maokai

Every card with enough Maokai games, by tier and best first within each tier. Tiers are Maokai's own: a card can be S tier here and C tier on another champion. As Riot's policy asks, cards are shown by tier and order only, never with a win rate. Click a card for its own page; the augment tier list ranks them over all champions.

PrismaticBest prismatic cards

GoldBest gold cards

SilverBest silver cards

S- and A-tier cards for Maokai

15 S tier and 27 A tier, best first.

The S- and A-tier augments for Maokai in ARAM Mayhem, best first, with their rarity and what they do
Augment	Rarity	Tier	What it does
Infinite Recursion	Prismatic	Tier S	Gain 60 Ability Haste, plus 3 Ability Haste per takedown.
Mad Scientist	Prismatic	Tier S	On each Revive, you grow large (gaining 30% Adaptive Force and 20% Health) or tiny (gaining 70 Ability Haste and 40% Movement Speed).
Steel Your Heart	Gold	Tier S	QUEST: Possess Heartsteel with 300 stacks. REWARD: Multiply Heartsteel stacks by 3.
Erosion	Silver	Tier S	Damaging enemies shreds 1.5% Armor and Magic Resist for 4s, up to 30% at 20 stacks.
Giant Slayer	Prismatic	Tier S	Become tiny, gain 20% Movement Speed, and deal between 10% and 30% bonus damage to champions based on how much larger they are than you.
Courage of the Colossus	Prismatic	Tier S	Gain (150–450 (by level) +4% Max Health) Shield after Immobilizing or Grounding an enemy champion.
The Boom and the Bass	Gold	Tier S	After casting an Ability, your next Attack within 6 seconds is faster, deals Melee (50–200 (by level) +50% Bonus Attack Damage+30% Ability…
Upgrade Immolate	Silver	Tier S	Hollow Radiance and Sunfire Aegis grant 12 Gold per target affected with Immolate. Gain 250 Gold.
Eureka	Prismatic	Tier S	Gain (30% Ability Power) Ability Haste.
Forged By The Master	Silver	Tier S	Your Item and Augment damage are increased by 45%.
Soul Eater	Gold	Tier S	Immobilizing an enemy champion grants 20 max Health. If taken as your second Augment, starts with 300 Health.
Escape Plan	Silver	Tier S	Gain a massive (65% Max Health) decaying Shield, decaying 150% Movement Speed, and a decaying shrink effect upon reaching 35% Health (75…
En Passant	Prismatic	Tier S	Periodically identify Vitals on enemy champions. Hitting Vitals with Attacks or Abilities deals an additional 6% + 1.5% per stack max Health…
Cruelty	Prismatic	Tier S	On Immobilizing or Grounding an enemy champion, summon a comet above them. The comet lands after 1 second, dealing (50–150 (by level) +40%…
Shrink Engine	Gold	Tier S	Takedowns grant a stack that makes you 4% smaller, grants 8 Ability Haste, and 1% Movement Speed. Lose 65% stacks on death…
Armored Impact	Gold	Tier A	After casting an Ability, your next Attack deals (50–125 (by level) +250% Bonus Armor) bonus physical damage to nearby enemies.
Pressure Cooker	Gold	Tier A	Every second, apply an infinitely stacking Burn to nearby enemy champions, dealing (0.5% Max Health) magic damage per second for 2 seconds…
With Haste	Gold	Tier A	Gain (70% Ability Haste) Move Speed.
From Beginning To End	Gold	Tier A	Gain the First Strike and Dark Harvest Keystone Runes. First Strike: When you initiate champion combat, deal 10% extra damage for 3 seconds…
Omni Soul	Prismatic	Tier A	Gain 3 random Dragon Souls.
Goliath	Prismatic	Tier A	Become large, gaining 35% Health and 15% Adaptive Force.
Purist - Caster	Silver	Tier A	Conversion Rate: 0.65 Ability Haste per 1% Attack Speed
Heavy Hitter	Silver	Tier A	Your Attacks deal additional (3.5% Max Health) physical damage.
Fruitify	Silver	Tier A	Scoring a Takedown causes the slain champion to explode into 3–6 (by level) Fruit. Fruit restores 6% of your maximum health and restores 6%…
Tank Engine	Gold	Tier A	On takedown, gain a stack that grants 5% increased size and 5% max Health. Lose 65% of stacks on death.
BEES!!!	Gold	Tier A	Every 15–10 (by level) seconds, your next Ability hit against an enemy champion throws a beehive at the target. Upon arriving, the hive…
Sap Magic	Gold	Tier A	Every 20 seconds, your next Attack deals (80–300 (by level) +5% Bonus Health) bonus physical damage and restores (50–250 (by level) +8% Max…
Spell Split	Prismatic	Tier A	Your selected ability missile splits into two on hit, at max Range, or when Recast. Enemies take less damage if hit by the same spell.
Weapon of Destiny	Gold	Tier A	Your first Legendary Item becomes the Weapon of Destiny. When a champion you damaged within the last 3 seconds dies, increase the Weapon of…
Growth Spurt	Gold	Tier A	Gain Growth Spurt as a Summoner Spell. Growth Spurt suddenly increases your size, Knocking Up nearby enemies for 1 second and granting…
Take'em Down Down Down	Gold	Tier A	Attacks and Abilities apply a stack to enemy champions for 5 seconds and deal Melee (5–30 (by level) +35% Bonus Attack Damage+15% Ability…
Recursion	Gold	Tier A	Gain 60 Ability Haste.
Donation	Gold	Tier A	Receive 1750 Gold. Thanks chat!:)
Shark Tempest	Gold	Tier A	Sharks circle your Snowball, slowing and dealing 100–200 (by level) magic damage to enemies they pass through. If your Snowball hits a…
Celestial Body	Gold	Tier A	Gain 1500 Health, but you deal 10% less damage.
Leg Day	Silver	Tier A	Gain 50 Movement Speed and 50% Slow Resist.
Lich Brain	Silver	Tier A	Gain (30+4% Bonus Health) Ability Power.
Pursuit of Haste	Gold	Tier A	QUEST: Hit enemy champions with selected ability 10 times. REWARD: Gain permanent 80 Ability Haste on your selected ability. QUEST: Hit…
Biggest Snowball Ever	Prismatic	Tier A	Gain 100 Ability Haste on Snowball. Your snowball is BIG and will pass through minions. It Slows enemies for 20% for 2 seconds, Knocks Up…
Ravenous Bind	Gold	Tier A	Minimum healing: (50–200 (by level) +5% Ability Power +10% Bonus Health) Healing increases up to 50% based on spell cooldown.
Flash 2	Silver	Tier A	Gain a second Flash Summoner Spell and 70 Summoner Haste.
Transmute: Prismatic	Gold	Tier A	Gain a random Augment Tier Prismatic Augment.

Average on Maokai
52 cards, best first

Below average on Maokai
36 cards, best first

Weakest on Maokai
7 cards, best first

Best first augment for Maokai

Your first card decides the early fights, and a card that is great as a first pick can be a weak fourth. ARAMKit ranks Maokai's cards for each pick on its own; these are the top five per pick, with their tier in that pick. For the first pick, Infinite Recursion, Upgrade Immolate and Giant Slayer come out on top.

The best augments for Maokai in each pick of an ARAM Mayhem game, best first, with their tier in that pick
#	First pick	Second pick	Third pick	Fourth pick
1	Infinite RecursionTier S	Bread And ButterTier S	Hand of BaronTier S	With HasteTier S
2	Upgrade ImmolateTier S	Bread and CheeseTier S	Mad ScientistTier S	Arcane AxiomTier S
3	Giant SlayerTier S	Infinite RecursionTier S	FlashbangTier S	EurekaTier S
4	Armored ImpactTier S	Mad ScientistTier S	ErosionTier S	Giant SlayerTier S
5	Mad ScientistTier S	ErosionTier S	Courage of the ColossusTier S	The Boom and the BassTier S

Strong card pairs

Two cards that do especially well together on Maokai, best pair first.

Summoner spells and skill order

Summoner spells

Flash + Mark90% of players · 49.4% win rate
Flash + Ghost8% of players · 48.7% win rate
Flash + Ignite0% of players · 48.1% win rate

Skill order

ESapling Toss
QBramble Smash
WTwisted Advance

Max E first. 51% of players use this order (49.9% win rate); put points in R whenever you can.

Maokai in an average Mayhem game

Averages per game over every game on this patch.

K / D / A: 7.1 / 10.3 / 30.7
KDA: 4.19
Damage to champions: 36,772
Damage taken: 65,697
Self-mitigated: 77,130
Healing on allies: 21
Shielding on allies: 0
Crowd control: 82 s
Kill participation: 68%
Game length: 17:14

Damage type

Physical 18%Magic 76%True 6%

Questions and answers

What is the best Maokai build in ARAM Mayhem?

On patch 26.21 ARAMKit ranks the AP build first for Maokai: Blackfire Torch, Liandry's Torment and Rabadon's Deathcap. The most played build is Tank.

What are the best augments for Maokai in ARAM Mayhem?

The S-tier cards for Maokai, best first: Infinite Recursion, Mad Scientist, Steel Your Heart, Erosion and Giant Slayer. The full list by tier is on this page.

Is Maokai good in ARAM Mayhem?

Maokai is tier B on patch 26.21, #92 of 173 champions, with a 49.3% win rate over 1.7 million games. That makes it a solid, middle-of-the-pack pick in ARAM Mayhem right now.

What is the best first augment for Maokai in ARAM Mayhem?

For Maokai's first pick on patch 26.21: Infinite Recursion, Upgrade Immolate, Giant Slayer, Armored Impact and Mad Scientist, best first. Cards rank differently in later picks; the table on this page has all four.

Other Tanks in ARAM Mayhem

Get Maokai's build and card tiers in your game

LazyElo is a free Windows app that sits next to the League client. In the Mayhem lobby it shows which champion on your bench is strongest; in the game you type the three cards you're offered and see their tier for Maokai side by side, with this build in the overlay.

Download LazyElo for Windows

Free plan, no ads. For Windows 10 and 11.

Plans and pricing The ARAM Mayhem overlay

ARAM Mayhem tier list
Every champion by tier on patch 26.21.
ARAM Mayhem augment tier list
Every card from S to D over all champions.
All Mayhem builds
Pick a champion from the full list.
ARAM Mayhem rules
Augment levels, rerolls and why there are no runes.
ARAM Mayhem guide
How the mode, the cards and the picks work.
Maokai counters
Its lane matchups on Summoner's Rift.
ARAM Mayhem overlay
The card picker and build in the app.

Source: ARAMKit, used with permission. Patch 26.21, 23,177,263 ARAM Mayhem games, data of October 28, 2026. Riot keeps Mayhem games out of its public match API, so these aggregates come from ARAMKit. Card tiers are shown without win rates, as Riot's developer policy asks.