Let me start by saying that Maokai is a lot of fun to play. There. I said it. I admitted I enjoy the guy. I know I’m probably going to get taken to task for the content of this post, but at least we can agree that he’s fun. Beyond the fun, though, I’m having a hard time fitting Maokai into a team.

What works
It would definitely be unfair to say that Maokai doesn’t have his uses. He does, but a lot of it is pretty low impact stuff. His Q is a really nice slow, but it can be difficult to land when your root is on cooldown. His root is awesome, there’s really no more to be said about it (but you know me). It synergizes perfectly with is Q and offers excellent team support. His ult is also strong, so long as the fight happens inside it.

What doesn’t work
It’s actually tough to write about what works without talking about what doesn’t, which I’m sure you noticed. Though his Q is nice, if your root is on cooldown, it doesn’t feel like much and gets very hard to land. His W has a fairly long cooldown, which makes sense considering it’s strength, but I often found myself wishing it was much shorter. His saplings, though adorable, are easily avoided in lane if you stick near your creeps. Also, the throw arc is so wide when used at his feet that they take a lot of time from toss to explosion. When throwing them a distance it’s no big deal; the travel time makes sense. Up close, it sucks. His ult also suffers from conflicted design. It reduces damage taken as long as it’s on, but it deals damage when broken. Unless you’re using it to last hit or your team is crushing, it’s almost always best to keep it running. A well-timed pop might occasionally turn the tide, but then you lose that 20 percent reduction. Also, as I mentioned in my initial post about his abilities, teamfights are rarely static affairs unless you have a lot of CC.

That being said…
That being said I still think Maokai is in an okay place. He’s definitely not OP, but strong enough when played well to support several different comps. My personal complaint about him is that his skills are mostly low impact, providing support without much pizzaz, pretty much my least favorite spot to fit on any team. On any CC team, though, he’s another force to deal with. To be honest, another part of this issue is that I’ve only played him sporadically, not the usual 10-game spree I get with new champions. It seems a lot of other people are really enjoying him, and I suppose I can understand why.