AP Maokai Support with Liandry's Anguish BROKEN OP

Guide to Playing AP Maokai Support

I've been spamming a lot of AP Maokai Support in solo queue lately, and it's honestly one of the strongest fun support builds I've gotten to play. His sapling map control is insane and watching enemies try and run from them is hilarious. 

Check out the details on runes and builds below!

Archive post, November 2020. This build has held up better than most archive builds do, because the item it's named for came through unchanged: Liandry's Torment is still a 3000 gold buy on the Rift with the same 60 ability power, the same 300 health and the same max health burn quoted below. Two of the six core items have left the shop, though, and one of them is the starting item, so you can't open the way this tells you to. Spellthief's Edge went with the rest of the old support starters and supports buy World Atlas at the same 400 gold instead, while Demonic Embrace is no longer purchasable, which retires the optional last slot. The rune page needs no changes at all: Arcane Comet, Manaflow Band, Transcendence and Scorch are all still in Sorcery, Magical Footwear and Biscuit Delivery are still in Inspiration, and Aftershock is still there for the tank build this post is arguing against. Maokai's buttons haven't moved either, so Sapling Toss [E] into a brush is still the whole trick. The sapling numbers printed below are the 2020 tooltip and the live one reads differently, so check it in the client before you count on a one shot, and take the God Tier rating as a snapshot of that patch.

Guide to Playing AP Maokai Support

I've been spamming a lot of AP Maokai Support in solo queue lately, and it's honestly one of the strongest fun support builds I've gotten to play. His sapling map control is insane and watching enemies try and run from them is hilarious. 

Meanwhile, his all-ins are so easy to execute while simultaneously being highly effective. Did I mention this DAMAGE? Look at this, it's almost as much as a Teemo x.X

Check out the details on runes and builds below!

How to Play

Abilities: E, W, Q then prioritize R > E > Q > W

Summoner Spells: Flash + Exhaust

Starting Items: World Atlas + Healh Potions

Strategy: Throw Saplings into bushes for massive damage

Core Items: Zaz'Zak's Realmspike, Sorcerer's Shoes, Liandry's Torment, Morellonomicon, Demonic Embrace, Void Staff

Rune Setup

Primary: Arcane Comet, Manaflow Band, Transcendence, Scorch

Secondary: Magical Footwear, Biscuit Delivery

How It Works

Massive Percent Based Sapling Damage

Combining the below provides Maokai with perfect synergy to absolutely annihilate enemies. Generally, games don't last long enough for you to also pick up Demonic Embrace (Morellonomicon is better as a second item). However, if you do get to build it then it deals even MORE maximum health burn damage.

Liandry's Torment, which is what Liandry's Anguish became, is a lot of why the saplings hurt. Torment burns for percent max health every second it's ticking, so the bulkiest player on the other team is the one who loses the most to a bush they walked into.

Sapling Toss [E]

Saplings placed in a brush have a 30 (+ 2.5% bonus health) second duration and additionally reveal struck targets for 2 seconds, dealing a total of 200% damage to them over the duration, capped at 600 against non-champions.

INCREASED MAGIC DAMAGE:
50 / 100 / 150 / 200 / 250 (+ 14 / 14.5 / 15 / 15.5 / 16% (+ 2% per 100 AP) of target's maximum health)

Liandry's Torment

+60 ability power
+300 health
Passive
Torment: Damaging Abilities burn enemies for 2% max Health magic damage per second for 3 seconds.
Suffering: For each second in combat with enemy champions, deal 2% bonus damage, up to 6%.

Excellent Map Control

Maokai's saplings last a surprisingly long time and he can control 3 or 4 bushes at once depending on how much health he has for duration scaling. The long-range toss also gives Maokai the ability to scout safely and to zone off potential ganks. 

Powerful Crowd Control

As far as crowd control goes, Maokai has some of the strongest in the game, rivaling even Leona when it comes to pure lockdown time in both single target and AOE CC. If you run Exhaust instead of ignite, there's relatively little that the enemy marksman can do to retaliate.

Potential Pitfalls

Not as Tanky
This build isn't as tanky as his Aftershock + tank item build. Given that this build is still relatively new, if you end up with more deaths than usual expect some flame coming your way.

Neutral Reliant Early Game

Since Maokai needs bush control the early game, if your ADC is strong enough to push all the way to the enemy turret he's a bit lackluster since his diving power isn't as good as AP and his saplings won't have much power without bush empowerment. The good news is, if you're dominating your lane you're still winning...until the jungler ganks.

Conclusions

AP Maokai Support is incredibly strong right now with the new items, and even more so with all the tanks running around the rift. He deals considerable damage and simultaneously provides massive crowd-control for your team.

Suggested Tier: God Tier

Read next

This is a Weird Pick, and there are a couple of hundred more of them. The Weird Pick Wednesdays page has every off-meta build we've written up, sorted by role.

If you like a support carrying with damage rather than shields, AP Ezreal with Smite is the same idea taken somewhere stranger.