Ambessa vs Maokai in Top lane is a favourable lane on patch 26.16. The one thing to respect: his Flash W is the one setup that catches you — respect it and don't overstep. Below is the exact page the OTP runs — runes, skill max order, summoner spells, item build and the four tips that decide the lane, plus a quick quiz before you lock in.

⇄ ChangeYOU · TOPAMBESSAthe Hound of War

⇄ ChangeENEMY · TOPMAOKAIthe Twisted Treant

VS

Favors youPre-6 EasyPost-6 EasyTake Teleport

How to play it

✓ DO

Respect Flash W

His W can Flash on top of you to root — the setup for his jungler, so don't step up carelessly.

Push and get ahead

Shove the wave — he doesn't need gold, so push to proxy, invade or gank while you get yourself ahead.

Block his poke

Block most of his Q poke with your W, and ignore his non-existent E damage unless he's AP.

✕ DON'T

⛔

Never overstep the wave — he'll set up a gank for his jungler the moment you do.

Runes

RESOLVE

INSPIRATIONuniversal page

SHARDS

No rune change for this matchup — run the universal page, our every-game default.

Spells

FLASH

TELEPORT

Items

Start

Core

→

→

16.14 Emerald+ - 50% WR - 260 games

Skill order

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
	Q			Q	Q		Q	Q
			W											W	W		W	W
		E							E	E		E	E
						R					R					R

MAXQ→E→W

IMPROVE YOUR MACRO

Winning lane is only half the game — rotations, wave control and objective tempo decide the rest. Train the map on MOBA Trainer.

IMPROVE YOUR MACRO →